.r

t.
.



.
. 

 

QED

 

 1



Interviews, 
scientific poll
Were. grist for

school series

Dayton Desegregafion: A lD-Year?eporr

. Card is the result of a four-month examination by

the Dayton Daily News and The Journal Herald 
of the Dayton City Schools To prepare the series, 
reporters Conducted more than 200 Interviews

with students, parents, administrators, teachers

"and experts, reviewed school records In Dayton, 

Columbus, Cleveland and Cincinnati, and court re- 
cords in Dayton. Richmond, van and Washing-

ton D. and prepared and analyzed a scienti?c
poll of parents in the Dayton school district.

Lead staff. writers were Nathaniel Madison. 
Mark Fisher and Tom. Price. Staff photographer for
the project was Bill Garlow and chief artist was
art director Ted Pitts. Sunday editor Don Balduf did
the layout. Contributing stories were staff writ-
ers Marie Dillon. Benjamin Kline, Terry Lawson. Ray
Marcano, and David Sacash. Assistant Metro
Editor John Erickson and Executive Metro Editor
Jim Ripley directed and edited the project. -

Nathaniel Madison. 38. joined the Dayton
Dam/News and Dre Jayme/Herald as an educa-
tion writer in July 1985M Cleveland native.
Madison graduated from Kent State University. He
worked as a general assignment reporter at the

Akron Beacon'Joumal and the South 

Tribune before joining Dayton Newspapers.

A Mark Fisher, 28. joined the Dayton Daily
News and Dre Journal Herald in July 1983 and
worked in the Greene County Bureau before be-

. coming a general assignment reporter. He Is a Day-
ton- -area native and a graduate of Ohio State 

University. He worked at The News-Messenger In
Fremont, Ohio, for two years before joining Day-
ton newspapers. His father, John. is a retired Day-

ton City Schools teacher.

Tom Price. 40, joined IbeJoumalHerald as
urban affairs writer' In 1975, became politics writer
in 1976 and became Washington cor'respon? I
dent for the combined Dayton Dara! News and ?re
JoumalHera/d reporting staff in 1982. Over the .
years. he has directed numerous public opinion .-
sunreys for both papers. Price, a Pittsburgh na-
tive and graduate of Ohio University, was a repart-

er. Sunday editor and city editor for ?re Athens-

Messenger from 1968 through 1972 and then
was a nationally published freelance writer be?
fore coming to Dayton.

Bill Garlow. 41.joined meJoumaIHeIald as . .

a staff photographer In 1964. Pnor to that, the
award-winning photographer was with the Kent
State University Public lnfonnation Service.- Gadow

lives in Dayton.



 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Dayton, Ohio, Sunday, September? 1986

 

Decade ride on

a yellow bus

1-w-

Students teachers, others assess 1mpact?

 



of desegregatlon efforts

 

1?
and Nathaniel Madison 
3 - 5.5- 5

- 

For all of them, this Was something
new: hoarding yellow buses bound

.1 for schools some of them had no
seen. White faces in halls that useddll
be filled with blacks. Black childreil
in neighborhoods that didn neceii
sarily_ Want them there. i!
Paul Stamas. Who has taught at
- Belmont High School for more than
20 years, recalled that first day 0%
schooladecade ago.

-"White kids and black kids- stood
on opposite sides of the room. looking
at each other," he said.

Today, a new wave of students filial
the city's schools. students who havd
attended integrated classes through-i:
out their school career, and thus 
not know the racial isolation Qt
school district that once prohibite
black teachers from teaching whit
children and built separate swi 
pools for blacks and whites. ?n . .

To them ?busing? a once-inn'oc

-- nous term ifthat transformed into
emotion-chargedi buzzword in the.

19603 and ?Ills ?.-ils a way of life.

The first decade of court-ordered
desegregation in the Dayton City
gSchools has brought blacks and
:whites together and apparently
gleaming more -- in the classroom,
:but has hurt the schools in some key;
areas.. according to a four-month
:s'tudy by th? Damn Dailerews andi
?1.17m JournalHerald. :fi 

.To assch desegregatiOn' impact
on the schools and community, the;
lnewspapers interviewed -?more than
200 students, parents, teachers and
ladminist'rators, commissioned a poll
to determine how parents feel about

the school district. and in an un-1
iprecedented analysis broke down?

alon racial lines scores from the Cal-
.ifornia Achievement Test ?given"- to the
istudents each year. . .
The findings:

IBlaclr 'students are making aca- 
demic gains. Since 1971, black stu-f
dents in the ninth grade have naru
rowed the gap between themselves?

SEE 

 

1" IStudents? participation in extracurricular

,,co~rwueo r;

and white students in the California Achieve-l
.ment Test. But test scores for fourth-graders]
l-the only other grade analyzed. did not reflect
llthe same trend. 

I More than half of all Dayton public school
-_,parents both black and white, give the 3
district a grade of or lower for qualityox
.the same time. however. most parents would
give an to the individual school their youn5
gest child attends.

'IParents have turned to private schools inl
i creasing numbers. in 1970, only 8 percent of
school-age children living in Dayton did not
glittend Dayton? 5 public schools. It is now? 18
,percent.

I Fewer students are attending the Dayton
iCity Schools. There were 33, 600 whites in the
school system in 1970, compared to 13,163 in
{1985- Black enrollment has decreased from
?21,819to 16. 373 during that time. -- 

I More than half of all Dayton public school
parents say they?d send their children to private
schools if they could afford to. according to a
poll conducted by by the Dayton Daily News

and 77119 JoumaIHeJ-ala! But quality, not deseg-

- 'regation, was the reason given most often. 

'i I Blacks and whites are getting along better!
in the schools compared to the first years of:
desegregation. But some racial animosity still:
exists, both in school and in the neighborhoodsl
Jinnund the schools, and black and white stu-
dents rarely mix outside the classroom.

 

 

 

?activities such as Sports and band has sunk to
. dismal levels. The Belmont High School band

1' ?boasted 100 members before desegregation.

Last year it ended the year with 14.

I Parent-teacher associations "are practical-
ly non-existent now in Dayton," according to
-Scllool board President Robert French. who

blames busing for the decline. Teachers also say 

_few parents become involved with schools or
air children' 3 education.

IBlacks are suspended in disproportionate
:numbers, but white students are more likely to
drop out of school than blacks. More blacks
.lthan whites are also expelled each year. but the
umber roughly mirrors the proportion of
blacks to whites in the district.

I_Teachers and principals have a generally,
sit1ve outlook on the school district? future.
Eah'd Some of the district?s desegregated schools
gave been singled out for their educational ac-

..complishments?n with primarily low-income

   
 
     
  



lstudents..



?51: 43%; .

. 

 

 

9 
-: Much has happened in Dayton since those

buses rolled across town a decade ago. A severe -
schools is that black students perform better:

recession dealt the city an economic wailop
that probably had as much impact on the school

system as the court order that put more than
'18, 000 children on buses. In just ll) years. the 
district?s enrollment fell from 44,165 to 29, 536, 

as many people in Dayton moved elsewhere.

?i The School system today is not the same sys-
tem it was 10 years ago.

.. Today, the school district has a black super-

intendent its second in the past two years ir

and three of the seven school board members
are black. 'Ten years ago, the district had never
been directed by a black superintendent, and
had one black on the school board.

Just 14 were ago, 47 of the district?s 68
. schools were single-race schools, with enroll-

ments 90 ercent or more black or white. To-
day, the strict's schools are racially mixed,

and under court guidelines to have between 45
and 75 percent black students and between 25
and 55 percent white students.

Not all students are based. The program is
designed so students are bused for racial bal~
ance no more than six of their 12 years of
school. If students attend a primary school near;
their home for grades 1 through 3, they may be
bused to an elementary school outside their
neighborhood for grades 4 through 6. Audit
students were bused outside their neighbor-
hoods ior grades 7 through 9, they should be

able to attend high school in a neighborhood I

nearby.

. With few exceptions, Dayton schools fall
within the court-ordered guidelines. Other as-
pects of the desegregation plan in Dayton are
.harder to measure. 

- Despite the focus on racial issues made nec-
essary by the federal court Orders, the school

district does not maintain many of its records .

by race, and thus has not been able to accurate-
ly measure achievement of blacks and whites
since desegregation.

Achievement scores, for example, are not
broken down by race, nor are statistics kept on
how many students take advanced placement
and honors courses, intend to go to college, or
are required to repeat grades.

Dr. Franklin Smith. Dayton school's superin-

tendent, said federal regulations prohibit the 

district from keeping some statistics by race.
And he said race alone' IS not an adequate indi-
cator of student achwievement

?We look at the individual student, and race
or color is not a factor. One poor-performing
student has the same needs as another poor-
performing student. no matter what their coi-
or." he said. 

-The study of California Achievement Test
scores by the Dayton Daily News and The
JaumalHemId marked the first time statistics
on race. have been used to look at student

Tachi?veinentin the arena.? 
One argument in favor of desegregated

academically in a mixed school, and whites?.

scores are not diminished by the integration.

Part of the analysis supports the theory. 

Among ninth- -grade students, blacks in 1977,
I trailed whites in reading, language and math by 

-a combined total of 122 points on the California
Achievement Test's average scale score. By

:1986, blacks had narrowed the gap to 32 points.

But the results of test scores of fourth- -grade
istudehts did not show the same trend. In 1977,
it was 37 points. By 1986, it had increased to. 53

. i.polnts The tests are scored on a curve from 0 to 

i 999.

'i Supe?ntendent Smith said he could not ex-'

Epiain the difference in results between ninth-
grade and fourth-grade students. But he said

'remedial programs that teach primarily black.
,students in early elementary grades may be a.

factbr: The benefits from those programs may
not show up as early as fourth grade, he said. -

Vinegar and oil

Both teachers and principals say students are;
getting along better in school, especially com-E;
Ipared to the: first I'years following.-

desegregation.

But there appears to be little mixing of
blacks and whites after school or in the school
cafeterias:

Jim Callahan, a Wilbur Wright teacher for 13
years, gazed across the school's iunchroom last
spring and said, ?It's like mixing vinegar and
oil they?ii stay mixed for a while, but they'll
eventually separate."

While the racial climate has calmed, there
are still incidents of name-calling and occasion-
'al racial violence. .

Race- related fights forced former Wilbur
Wright intermediate School Principal Carolyn
Wheeler to cancel some extracurricular activi-
ties including a girls softball game and jazz
band practice near the end of last school
year.

And desegregation has played a role in stu-
dents? iack of interest in extracurricular activi-

,ties such as'band, sports and academic clubs,

students and teachers say.

. Sports tryouts do not draw nearly as many
students, and some sports appear racially divid-
ied. in a system with 40 percent white students,

ers who finished the season last year was
white. I 

i Teachers also have confronted a_ steep dro-
poll in parent involvement in their children's
education and some teachers say desegrega-

 

 

between parents and the schools.
Virginia Tangeman, a first-grade teacher in

?jher 30th year at Cleveland Elementary School,

only one out of 60 high school basketball play-I 

tion is a factor because 01' the distanceit puts 

said, ?Before desegregation. we had a strong"T

PTA. We had a lot of activities that the commu- i
nity get involved' 11:. Now. there? 5 nothing.
?Parent involvement is practically nil. . I

sent out 13 retention letters with a tear-out

.. 55

form and an Envelope to return it in. I only got
three back. Those were the same 10 kids that.

every time I send out a report card and ask for a
conference, I never hear anything.

Tangeman blames busing for the change.
Some of her students' parents would have to
transfer RTA buses three times to get to the
school, she 'said.

White flight

Dayton? 5 public-school enrollment has suf- 1
{fared a long decline. beginning before the;

. schools were desegregated. Whether for desegi 

regation or. other reasons. an overwhelming
number of these who left were white. pushing
the percentage of black students in the district
:from 49 percent in 1976 to more than _60 per-
cent today.

Between 1970 and 1980. the city? population
.dropped from 242.911 to 193. 538. _The _number?

of whites dropped by 48. 962. while the number,

of blacks dropped by just 4l_7. according to U. S1

'Census Bureau figures. .
While the city lost population. another trend

emerged. Fewer of the families who stayed

were sending their children to- the pubiio'
schools.

in 1970. the Dayton public schools attracted
92 percent of school-age children between 5

and 17. By 1980, the figure had dropped to_

about 84 percent. according to census figures
analyzed by the Dayton Daily News and The
Journal Herald And according to 1986 esti-

. mates based on Census Bureau surveys, the

public school system today teaches only 82 per-
cent of the school-age children in the district

Negative perceptions. 

Superintendent Smith said Dayton schools,
like other urban districts. suffer from a nega-
tive image that is undeserved. 

?Give me 100 parents with negative percep-
tions, let me bring them to our schools and
show them what is happening thereJ would
*convince 80 of them they' re wrong." he said.

School board member Susan Sibbing said
there "is still a perception that a young person

who needs or wants a good. strong academic
_-background can't get it in the Dayton public
f-aschoois We feel it is a perception and not a
reality. but we have to deal with it. 
School officials can point to some success
stories. Edison. aschool at 228 N. Broadway St.

Ewith 570 students in grades 1 through 3. was

nominated among 270 outstanding public and
private elementary schools selected in the na-
tional elementary school recognition program
-for1985-86. 

And Patterson Co-?Op High School has one of
the longest-running cooperative educational

programs in the country. Last year. Patterson?s
sophomore: and juniors scored highest or tied

for highest among the district's five high
-_schools in every category of the California
Achievement Test.

Smith and aren't the only cheerleadi

'ers in the district. Some of the Staunchest de-

fenders of the Dayton schools. and of desegre-
gation, are students.

Colonel White senior Allan Dean said in an
interview last spring that he enjoys the school?s
racial and cultural diversity, and he felt Colonel
White offered plenty of academic challenge.

?i wouldn't want to go to any other school

land I could. because my mom teaches in the

;.school system. I could even go to Oakwood
High School. because my grandmother has a
house there. but I wouldn?t go anywhere else."
Dean said.

Candi Corwin. a senior at Belmont High
?School recalled being based long distances in

. grade school.

?As much as I hated those dumb buses,l
think it had a purpose. ?because when we go
out in the world. we' re not going to be just with
white people or just with black people. so i
think this better prepares us for what we?re
going to go througlfin life." she said.

Others are not certain of the merits of deseg-
regati?o?n. Carol Redford. a Belmont High School
graduate. was among the first blacks to enter
the school in 1972 under the district?s open en-
rollment plan. Now, Redford said she doesn't
want her children. aged. 1 and 2. to attend Day-
ton schools if it means they?ll be bused.

don't like the busing! never did like how_
they did the desegregation. I'm not prejudiced;

ibut why take a little child of 5 years old and bus .

it way across town when there?s a school
across the street?"

- 

Pypils takg their ctums at a favbrite watering Spot during a ??ld day at CleVeland El?mgp



. .

 

- BILL PHD

tary SchgoL .-

in

 

  

TOGRAFHEH

 

 

 

 

 

. . . . . 
m?cams? :mma 3.35.33..an ccmm?wgaoa Em: wage

 

EDayton, Ohio," Monday Evening, Sept. 1936



 

lnth-grade blacks
cl?. se testing gap;
fourth-graders slipi

 

 

By Nathaniel Madison
and Mark Fisher
STAFF WRITERS

. Both-blacks and whites'have im-

proved their overall achievement 

scores sincethe Dayton City

Schools were desegregated a decade

ago', but blacks trail whites in
reading, math and language.

A four- month examination of 10

years of desegregation by the Day-

 

onwoi ossecaeaanou

ton Daily News and The Journal A REPORT CARD

?ersld found blacks have made sig-

nificant gains on white students in.

ninth grade. helping to close a his-
toric gap in achievement between
blacks and whites. But 'the gap
among fourth-grade students has in-
creased since 1977. the study found.
The study of scores from the Call- 
fornia Achievement Test taken
annually by students in- gra?es one
through 11 marked the first time
statistics on race have been used to
look at student achievement. 
The study focused on the Califor-
nia Achievement Test scores for

two grade levels -- fourth and ninth

in three separate years: 1977.

1979 and 1988. and for three sub-

]ects: reading. language and math.
Blacks in ninth grade made gains

in all three subjects. but made the

 

most significant increases in math.
the study found. Black students in

-- ninth grade -- perhaps for the first

SECONDINA SIX PART 

time are performing at essential-
ly the same level as white students
in math. according to the California
Achievement Test scores for the
1985-88 school year.

Black students also closed the gap 
In reading and language, but still lag :f
behind white students in those sub-
lects.

Of the district? 3 eight ninth-grad-
ers with straight averages last
year, four were white and four were .
black. 

see some optimism in the trend -
of the last 19 years." said Deputy
Superintendent Dr. Wanda McDan- 
lei. "I'm optimistic that the progress
will continue. But I?m not content
with that. 

 

SEE 

 

 

 

. ., 

 



Monday, September 8,1986

1986. TheJoumalHernld

.. .. 

Test scores
Combined regdin,
langua and ma
scores or black alnd
White Dayton public
School students on-

the California -
Achievement Tests.

 

-C- A7- -. a


  
 

 

Bold numbers Indicate difference
white combined test scores.

4th grade

  

 

I 1899
1606.
1499 "'37 "56'
1200- 
{31000. 
800
soot. 
.400 
?05 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

1977 .1979 .1936
EJ White I Blackw

SOURCE Ken Hhoads. Supervisor of testing programs.
Dayton public schools . .

    

 

STAFF .

 

 a 4-44 ,7

Pam-w.- --

Monday, Sept. 82.19864}

cap 

CONTINUED 

McDaniel attributed the increase to better preparatidn at

.. .
?a

 

zinc-m:

 

 

 

. i

the primary school grades, which has turned out better stu?;

dents in the upper grades. - . 
However, the experience in ninth grade was not duplicat-

ed in fourth grade, where black students lost ground to.

{white students in language and failed to gain in reading and
gm?th. - I 
Desegregation was supposed to end the division between-

blacks and whites, or at least close the gap in achievement

levels._ By eliminating one-race schools, sociologists argued,
tbla'cks would perform better in a mixed setting without
tilurting the performance of Whites.- . . -
have been mixed. . 7 - . 
to the academic test scores of black students

and White students, the Dayton DailyNeWs and The Journal
Herald examined suspensions, dropouts and attendande re-

cords of black students and white students; studied drug-
related charges; assaults, including assaults on teachers; sta-
itlstics on students who repeat grades and on students who
enroll in advanced placement courses; and interviewed
ateachers, administrators and counselors about the state of



lachodls since desegregation. . . 1

The findings: . 5 
I The schools may be more violent than a decade ago. In
1976, 712 black students and 326 whites were suspended or-
removed from school for assaulting other students. But. in
the 1985-86 school year, school records show 1,606 blacks -
and 450 whites were suspended or removed for assaults on
students, more than in any single year since schools were
desegregated. Assaults ean range from shoving matches be-
tween students to violent fights, according to school
.officialsDayton?s classroom gains

are less impressive when con

sidered against national averages. White students in fourth 

. and ninth grade are now at or above the national average in 2
reading, math and language an improvement from .both'
.1977 and 1979 but black students are below national

because the curvei'or the 1986 test is higher. . .. -

than whites. Three of four students removed from school
last year for suspensions, expulsionsand drug offenses were
black. in a school district in which blacks make up 60 per-
cent ot. the students. More black students were removed
from school last year, 2.427, than at any year in the last -
decade. And In the 10 years of court-ordered desegregation
in Dayton, about twice as many blacks as whites were re-
moved from school for suspensions, expulsions. and drug
offenses. and more than three times as many blacks as
whites were caught assaulting teachers and students. More
than half of last year?s dropouts, however. were white.
While blacks made up 62 percent of the students in grades
seven through 12 last year, 456 white students?and 434
blacks dropped out before the year was over.

averages in all three subjects in fourth grade; and are read- they
-ing below the national average in ninth grade. Moreover, the 
district plans to, shift from the 1977 test it now uses to 3

determine student achievement to a 1986 test this year; i 
which probably will mean fewer students both black and 
white are performing at or above the national average 

-l -

?b



uni-?

..

ago, at least at the high-school level. About 22 percent of
today's high?school students are fabsent on any given day.
Ten years ago, it was about 15 percent..Attendance rates at .
the elementary schools have stayed roughly the same, how-

students in. the district are at school each day. 

A I A higher percentage of high-school graduates today
plan to attend college from a .
39.3 percent of the district's seniors said they planned to go 
to college compared with 31.7 percent in 1976. However, the

students planning to attend college.

I High-school seniors,
1985-86 school year took
vanced placement courses in physics, chemistry and calcu-
lus. The 1985-86 school year was the first time the district
began keeping records by race for students taking advanced
placement courses. 

 

- - I Parents of students in the Dayton'school system have

different ideas on whether the schools are better off since
. desegregation. In a survey of 402 parents of school-age chri-.
3 dren, about 60 percent of black parents believe their children
get a .better
two-fifths of white parents believe just the opposite: Busing,
feel. has decreased the quality of the schools.
Jeffery Jr., president of the Dayton Education Asso?
elation. the union which represents 94 percent of the sys-
em's teachers, said the ?survey results are not surprising. 
"Blacks historically have depended largely on the public-
school system," Mims said. ?They see education as their only

salvation.?

1 But school officials were at a loss to explain some of the
IBlacks have spent more time in the principal's office 

results in the Dayton Daily News and The Journal Hamid
study. . -
Superin

than in fourth grade. But he said remedial programs that
teach primarily black students in early elementary grades
may be a factor: The benefits from those programs may not
show 'up as early asiourth grade, he said. 
Smith said he? was pleased with the academic improve-
mentsnaade by black students and white students, but he

washed that'??ati al comparisons may not look so good a

year from now. Sin 1977, Dayton has used the same Cali-

fornia Achievement rapt";?
curve -- to measure. student achievement. This year, the
. .-. 

a





I Attendance? nipple pi a'probiern pph'i?ii?i??us??

ever. at about 92 percent. On?average, 88.8 percent of the 7

education today because of busing. But nearly 

.. -.

decade ago. Last school year. 

district does notpkeep records by race on the numbers of 

both blacks and whites, in the. 3
about the same number of ad- .

endent Dr. Franklin 'Smith said he did not know 
why black students were performing better in nintirgrade

with the same national test 

5? 



5Monday, Sept 8, 1986 

Poianzed

perceptions

i400 Black and White parents give the Dayton public school
oF

system divergent grades ranging gfrorn

;Numbers are percentages the two categories.

E00 53
E3
9?20
'10

:0
MB -G

 

3
DIF KNOW

 

Black parents. White parents

 

. -- - - . . .- 

district will administer? a new test with a much higher curve.
.. school officials say.

"If. we are talking about improvement we have to talk
about a new test," said Smith. have. to be realistic in
letting this community know where we are. 

.Where the district' is depends on whom you talk to'.

School board President Robert French said desegregation.
.because it exposed disadvantaged students to better pro-
grams and instruction. helped close the gap between black
students and white students. But he also pointed to a nega-

'tive side of desegregation that may also have worked to 

close the gap.

Since 1976. many middle- and upper-middle-ciass whites

fhave moved out of the district or sent their children to
private schools. undoubtedly hurting overall scores for
white students, he said.
-?Some blacks have done the same thing. but not as nearly
in the proportions to whites," said French.
. Board member Virginia McNeai gives the district a 
for the past decade of court-ordered desegregation. and said
-it needs a discipline policy to deal with the high numbers of
?suspensions. dropouts expulsions and assaults. Overall the
?district hasn?t progressed as fast as she would like it to.
?We don?t have any incentives in place so that students
:won?t get disCoura'ged, she Said".
Board member Susan Sibbing gave a more positive ac-



count of the district's performance. saying the busing plan

helped boost inner-city schools in East and West Dayton.

But. said Sibbing. the school system doesn?t do enough to 

foster relations between black students and white students.

"We? ve sort of said we' re going to put everybody together 

and mix them up, but we? re bringing people together from
different economic and ethnic backgrounds.? she said. 
To sephomores Kyra Grimes and Stephen Fogle, court-
Tordered busing didn?t have mudh impact on their straight
averages last semester. In fact. the two said they rarely
. think about it.
- really wanted to do my beet in school and I put forth a
. lot of effort. said Kyra, who 13 black and attends Meadow-
7dale High School. 
?I?ve always pushed myself to do my best. added Ste-
phen, who is white.
But Kyra and Stephen don?t crime to mind when school
officials discuss problems in the district. The suspension
rates. absenteeism and number of dropouts 

i

i

 

 

..auvu-E? vv- 1-



 

Deputy Superintendent McDaniel said a Committee is be- 1

ing formed to look at the problems, and she vowed that by 
?g-the end of this school year. ?we will begin to get a handle on
them. 
I ?i?m not at all satisfied with the statistics," she said. r,
The statistics show that Dayton has an overall attendance 4
rate of 88.8 percent, which is better than Cleveland?s but 4;
.worse than in Columbus, Cindinnati and many districts in ..s
-tl_te ates. such as Huber Heights school district with 93. 3
ipercent and Kettering city schools with 94. 34 percent. The
state average is 93.5 percent. according to the state Depart-

The statistics also show that assaults on teaChers average.
more than one a week. Of the 78 students removed from .
school for assaulting teachers through June of the 1985-86

 

- .school year. 82 Were black. according to school records. And.

-'nearly 78 percent of students removed from school for as-
.saulting fellow students during the same period were black. .
ilt's not clear from the records. however, how many of the
altercations resulted in injuries. ..
Smith contends the disproportionate number of assaults
by blacks on teachers and students is typical in an urban
school district. Smith is black.
"In urban school districts. you find a lack of respect for .
authority and a lower tolerance level among blacks.? he :1
said. ?They don't have the patience to work out solutions. .

The normal reaction is through fighting. - 

While he sailed the number of assaults alarming. he said, 
they aren?t as severe as the numbers indicate. Most teachers .
go through the school year withouta serious incident involv- I
ing a student. :i -
?It all stems from a lack of discipline.? he said. "And we 1
will not tolerate it. 
The district has made at least one change in looking at; i
students? behavior: Fewer of them are getting kicked out of
school. Dayton schools had 350 expulsions in 1983-84 corn- .
pared with 109 last year. William Stoile. the district's eitecu- i
tive director of pupil personnel. said the school system has .t
found alternatives to expulsion. lndluding borne instruction 
and alternative sdhoois. - .
But. he said. need to go beyond what we ?ve been
doing, because we have so many more kids with no support
.syr'ttems at home, and it doesn't take much to set them off. 

 

meat of Education. . -

 




.-

I-Monday. Sept. 3! 1.933. 

 

 

Students K?thy Collins (L), Tonya egucational cup

BILL PHOTOGRAPHER

         

. Sept. 7 l986

 



I Busing oplnions dmde



1.

along racial llnes

.E
I


3:





IByTomPt-ice' - - -- 
WASHINGTON BUREAU I - 

Each morning. the children of Betty Jean Dawson
and Judith Millsap board buses to ride outside theizi
neighborhoods to the schools they attend under,
Dayton 3 desegregation plan. .

Dawson, whose 14-year-old son rides from Low-
.er Dayton View to E. J. Brown intermediate School
I, in Upper River-dale, believes that her child is better
educated because of busing for desegregation. 3
Miilsap, whose 11-year-old son rides from East:

Dayton to Whittier Elementary School in West Day-E

ton. believes her children are not: ?They don?t have.

any school spirit they don?t Iieel like they belong

anywhere. 
Bettv. Jean Dawson is black. Judith. Millsan _ls
rwhite. And, together. they illustrate most ?arentsf;

views of desegregation in Dayton. . .. 44

EA 

an.

'i?en years after it began on a district-wide basis,
busing for desegregation remains a black-and-;
white issue in the Dayton School District. 



 

1

 

 

 

 

Opinion

i.

1 CONTINUED 

Two-thirds of black parents with school-age chil-
dren believe that busing is and should be
continued, 'while just a quarter believe busing should
be ended. a Dayton Daily News and Jaumsl?emid
public?opinion survey revealed. Three-quarters of
white parents would like to stop busmg. while just 15
percent think it should go on. the survey showed. And
white parents tend to hold more negative opinions
about the school system than black parents do.

Judith Milisap spoke for a majority of the district's
white parents in the survey when. she said she be-
lieves her children ?should have gone to the neighbor-
hood schools. 

?When I bought my house. it was for the fact that
the school was close by," she said. ?When you take a
child out of his neighborhood, he? insecure. (Parents)
can't participate because it's so far away you can?t get
there. 

Milisap believes that the schools began to improve
recently, but she adds that."a lot of the damage has

been done. 
'i In contrast, Betty Jean Dawson remembers attend-

?has improved the schools that used to be attended only

believe black students and formerly black schools are
worse off today because of busing'. 

Only a fifth of the white parents believe previously
all-black schools have improved. however, and just a 
quarter think black students are receiving better edu-

- cation today.

Nearly two-fifths of the white parents believe bus-
ing has decreased the quality of education for white
students while just a tenth believe quality has in-
creased.?

The findings do not surprise sc ool officials, who

are aware of long-standing wh te opposition to
- busing.-

_i

ing a predominantly black elementary school in Dayl .

ton in the 19605 end believes her son ?is getting a}
better education than I dId .
3 "We didn' have the advantages of white students 
in our system years ago." she said. ?As black people,

we didn't have in our schools as much as white stu- -

dents had' their schools. .

think (her son) has more opportunities as a black

child, and he' 5 learning about different people.?
. A Da?on Daily News and Journal Herald survey
of 402 parents of school-age children who live in the
Dayton School District revealed that Millsap? and
Dawson? 3 views are Widely shared.

Half of the black parents surveyed believe busing
for desegregation has improved the schools. a view
shared by just a tenth of white parents. Half of the
white parents believe educational quality has suf-
fered. a view shared by just 15 percent of blacks. The

rest have no Opinion or believeibusing hasn't caused. -

any significant change.

Similarly, school board member Leo Lucas said that 

?i think there is a perception that integration was
designed only to benefit blacks, Ddyton schools Su-

baperintendent Dr. Franklin Smith said;

?i take an entirely different interpretation. 1 think
b'oth races can benefit from having integrated schools. e}
We learn from each other. - i 

?what we did was not decrease the quality for whites
but to increase the services for all the schools." 
"That in itself has a connotation that is negative"-
for some whites. who believe improving education for

blacks inevitably meant decreasing quality for.
whites, Lucas said. 

And Smith said. ?The level of performance and the

standards we felt all of us need to at nwere what
-. ?whites were always operating at. 

School board member Shirley Fenste aker. how-

ever, said that parents ?feel less in control the farther. 

away their children are being educated from where
they live particularly when we start- dividing up 5-
and start having children from one family in

three of four different schools. 
?They lost control, lost the ability to mogutor. to get

Similarly, half of the black parents believe busing" -

by blacks and 60 percent believe black students over- .
all get a better education tOday because of busing for 
desegregation. Just about a tenth of the black parents 

 

Sum. Sept. 7. 1936

- . 

 

Polleontacted
1402 parents . 

This survey was Conducted following
standard public?opinion polling procedures.
Between June 25 and July 17. inter-
viewers dialed random telephone numbers In
the Dayton City School District and talked
with 402 parents of children who attended
school In grades kindergarten through 12
during the 1985-86 school year. . .
Opinions of all parents who live in the
school district should be within 5 percent of
those reported in the survey and probably
are closer. the variation could be greater
when results are analyzed by smaller
groups. such as according to race or where
the children go to school. 
For opinions reported today, the varia-
tion should be no greater than 6 percent for
all parents of public-school students, 7
percent for all black parents and all white
parents, 8 percent for black parents of -
public-school students. 9 percent for white
parents of public-school students, 1 per-
cent for private-school parents. 13 percent
for white private-school parents and 26 .

 

 

percent for black 

 

involved," she said. ?And with that goes insecurity'.
which generally is interpreted as questioning the"
quality.? -

Blacks may support busing out of a belief' that
schools in black neighborhoods were inferior to
schools in white neighborhoods; she said. And Lucas
said predominantly white schools definitely were 
treated better than predominantly black schools be-
fore desegregation. .

Fenstermaker said she believes that most parents of
all races would choose neighborhood schools ?if they
felt the quality of education was good." -

Majoritles of blacks and whites believe their chil-
dren benefit from attending school with children of
different races a finding Smith said shows parents
?believe the integrated situation is positive. but what
we must do to achieve it is a negative.?

Fewer whites than blacks are convinced of the
benefits of racial mixing. however. and whites are.
much less likely to believe that desegregation is im-;
proving reiations between the races.

Nearly 90 percent of the black public-school par-
ents surveyed and two-thirds of the white public-
school parents said their children benefit from attend-
ing integrated schools. Three-quarters of the black

parents but just a third of the whites said deseg- 

reg-ation is teaching black children and white children

to get along better. .
"i feel the youngsters need to have a strong appre-r
ciation and feel for the real world,? said a black father;

who favors busing.

 

. A black mother who believes in busing thinks her
3 children ?get a better perception of life." 
I But a white mother who opposes busing says he
children ?are more prejudiced now than when they
started." 7 . . --
"i see nothing was accomplished," she said. 
Some parents express thelr'oppositlon to busing by
sending their children to private schools. And a major-
ity of public-school parents would turn to private
schools if they could afford to, although not solely
because of busing, the survey showed. 

7 or parents who send all of their children to private
2 schools, a majority of the whites surveyed and some
ablacks said busing influenced their school choice. 

01' parents who send all of their children to public

a.



schools, 60 percent of the whites and 49 percent of the .
blacks said they Would like to use private schools. 01? .

those who prefer private schools, a majority of the
whites and a significant minority of the blacks said
busing contributes to that preference.
School Board President Robert French said he be-
lieves ?the time has come to try to give as much
freedom of choice to parents as possible to the limits
- of the law as to where their children go to school." -
As long as the courts require busing, however,
Smith said. the best way for the schools to respond to
busing opponents is to focus on quality and to estab-,
lish more magnet schools. 

Smith said. "But then you?d be being bused for a
different reason? to get to the education program
that would match a particular child's needs."

Although most of the black parents surveyed be-
lieve that busing for desegregation is needed to reme-
dy the effects of discrimination, the survey revealed
that a substantial number of blacks might support
some curtailment of Dayton's current - busing

program.

Two-thirds of the black parents surveyed opposed
the elimination of busing for desegregation. Ending
desegregation busing in elementary schools, hawever,
was supported by 39 percent of the blacks who op-
posed elimination of all desegregation busing. 

- means that 54 percent of the black parents,

favor elimination of at least part of the current busing
program ?as do 82 perent of the whites.

Support for a specific plan to curtail busing of ele-_

Some blacks and whites who favor eliminating all.

busing while continuing to bus older students for de-

segregation in the belief that, if busing is continued. .

at all. it must begin with young children if it is to have
any chance of success. 

That is one issue on which Betty Jean Dawson and

Judith Millsap agree.

?Why? should you start later?" Dawson. who favors
busing. asked. ?They?re much better able to adapt to
busing when they're younger." . 

Millsap. who would like to eliminate all busing for

desegregation. said that. "if they?re going to have
busing, i thini: they should start it out young."
3. ?That way," she said. ?they grow up with it.?

"Manymagnet schools still would require busing." 

mentary students would not be as high, however. 

busing=for desegregation oppose ending elementary -

. . .. -. -. .- 

 

 

 

DAYTON 

 

 

 

 

Black Parents 67% 23% 
White Parents 15% 76?10

   

All Parents 41% 51%

 

 

 

015nm SAME

 

WORSE 

All 29% 31% 11% 
.Black .- 49% 29% 15% 7% 411?
White - 10% 29% 48% 13%

 

attended on! by 

?How 1m buhng for desegregation i? 1:13;?
thequal?ygofeducanoni 
the 3071001: warmed robe

    

 

 

PARENTS SAME WORSE 

All . 35% 31% 12% 22% . 5-:
Black 50% 33% 7% 10% - ..
White -: 19% 30% 18% 33% 



 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

PARENTS

All 42% 27% 15% 16% 
Black 160% 23% 12% - 5%
White 25All 21% 37% 23% 19% 
Blapk 34% 35% 7% 22% - .
Whlte A 9% 39% 33% 14% 

 

 

desgregarmn-qf ?5
151mm: Way chihiren'lcam m-zget._ - E. 
afafong with peopie ofallraoes?? :ggj.? fiijj 

PARENTS BEITER SAME WORSE 1

All 53% 25% 16% 5% 
Black 19% 5% 3% . ?0

 

 

 

PARENTS YES .NOBlack 87%) 9% 
White 64% 23% 3% 

 

The ?rst six poll questions were asked of 402 parents of Dayton 

.public school children. The last was asked of 320 parents. w-q 

- -


 

 

 

I - - is 0mm 

- 


 

 

..A 

 

. Dayton?u an

be ini~Iopeka?g_

- 

outlawed separate schOOIing 




1 WASHINGTON BUREAU . 

WASHINGTON 111195}. the To-
peka. Kara. Board of Education refused 



.. .. 

reasons assessors?
gated school districts to ?achieve a sys-
tem of determining admission to the -
- That county had operated a school 
.for whites and a school for blacks until

Linda Brown?s request to attend the all- 4.- -.

white elementary school in her neigh-
borhood. forcing the young black child 3;

to walk to an all-black school 20 blocks 
. liberation and not enough speed" in ?i 

As a result. children in DaYton for. i" segregating the nation?s 56110013-

the last decade have been forced to ride 

away.

buses to schools outside their neighbor-

hoods under a federal court order de- .
signed to eradicate the vestiges of the .-
discrimination suffered by Brown and 5'

millions of other black children 35
years ago. .

Former Supreme Court Justice Tom 
Clark once said the high court?s deseg- 5-

regation doctrine grew "like Topsy." 

with no grand design.

The court ga've'local school boards 

the opportunity to eliminate? segrega-_
tion in their own ways. Clark said in a
1977 interview with the Richmond
Times-Dispatch. But resistance by
school officials pushed the justices to-
ward stronger and stronger orders that
culminated in b'uslng mandates
throughout the country. Clark said.

The Shpreme Court's first desegre-
gation decision. was a simple declara-
tion of principle that enjoyed broad
support outside the South.

"Separate educational facilities are

. .-
.

I. em, Sept. 7. teas, 

 


a

I.. .. .. .

public schools has nonraclal basis .-..
with all deliberate speed." Nine years
after that. however. a frustrated high

own was moved to complain that .3
?there has been entirely too much de-.

Led by U.S. Sen. Harry Byrd. Virgina

offered ?massive resistance" to deseg- 

regation in the 19503 that included pub-. - rural district. And the U.S. Civil Rights .,

lie-school closings and state funding for

segregated private schools. Mississippi. .
Alabama and South Carolina main-
talned total segregation into the 
Most other Southern states grudgingly 

admitted handfuls of blacks to previ-

ously all-white schools, while erecting -

barriers to keep most blacks out. And
Northern school districts such as
Dayton's continued to operate all-

.. black schools that drew students from

throughout the districts. to segregate
black teachers in all-black schools, to
exclude high administra-

tive positions and to provide generally

inferior facilities to black students.

1 The Supreme Court never said the 

Constitution requires any particular ra-
cial balance in the schools. But schobi
officials' success in keeping the races
apart pushed the justices toward math-

. ematical measures of desegregation.

And. in 1968. the high court passed a

.

Court ruling in Kansas case, -4?0thers.1965. when it adopted 

choice" planthat allowed students to 

?attend eitherschooi. After three years. 

however. one school remained all black 

and the other overwhelmingly white.

despite the fact that families of both .
races were dispersed throughout the 

Commission identified 102 other dis-
tricts with ?freedom-of-choice" plans
that preserved total segregation. 
During oral arguments before the
Supreme Court. Chief Justice Earl:
"Warren suggested that. when school.

officials "took down the fence" against

integration. they "put booby traps in

the place of it. so there wouldn't be any
{white children going to a Negro-
school." 

. The high court ruled the plan inade-
quate in an opinion that included sever-
al key phrases that would be cited to
justify busing orders throughout the
next decade. 

Formal repeal of segregation policy
is not enough. the court said. A school
board must operate a system ?without
. a "white' school and a 'Negro? school,
but just schools," the court said. it was
i the board's burden to ?come forward

with a plan that promises realistically 

.. inherently unequal," the high court

ruled in five cases brought from Kan-

. sas. South Carolina, Virginia. Delaware
and the District of Columbia in 1954.

to work and promises realistically to

watershed in New Kent County. Va; . 
work now" and to "explain its prefer: 



 

he Supreme Court never said the Constitution re? 

quires any particular racial balance in? the schools.

But school of?cials? success in keeping the races
apart pushed the Justices toward mathematical measures

of desegregation.

 

 

ence for an apparently-less effective
method", If more .-effective methods
were available.

Some school districts and states had 
taken actions on their own to promote
Integration by pairing and clustering
schools. gerrymandering attendance
zones and using buses for transporting

students to new school assignments
outside their neighborhoods. Those
tools also had been used to maintain
Segregation. with'black students and
white students bused or forced to?-
walk past nearby schools to distant
schools reserved for their race.

In light of the Supreme Court's New
Kent County decision. some federal
judges felt the need to question deseg-
regation plans that did not eliminate
one-race schools. In urban districts
with segregated housing patterns, only
busing could integrate schools in one;
race neighborhoods. And, in 1971. the
Supreme Court endorsed busing in a
case involving North Carolina's Char-
lotte-Mecklenburg School District.

"The law has moved from an attitude.
barring discrimination to an attitudeEQ'
requiring active desegregation." a fed-
eral district judge had said in ordering
busing to desegregate all of Charlotte- 
Mecklenburg' sschools. .

?When racial segregation was re-
duired by law. .nobody evoked the

neighborhood school theory_ to permit

1' black children to attend schools close toi

. where they li.ved It may not now be;
validly used to
segregation.?

perpetuate,

Neither 'was thiarem a ?treedom- or-
choice" tradition under which students
could pick which schools to attend. the

. judge said.

"It has been a courtesy offered in

recent years by some school boards.

and its chief effect has been to preserve
segregation." he said. - 

In any event. the judge said. ?the test
is not the method or plan but 
results. 

On appeal. the Supreme Court said
the district judge was correct. - i'

Noting the ?plain language? of its
New Kent County ruling, the high
court. said that succeeding years
"brought fresh evidence of the dilatory
tactics of many school authorities?. a 

?In a system with a history of segrq-z
gation.? school authorities must prove
that racially unbalanced schools are not
?the result of present or past discrimi-
natory action," the Supreme Court
said.-

"Desegregation plans cannot be lim-_

.ited to the walk-in school." the, high 

court ruled. 

In 1973. the Supreme Court moved
beyond states that had enforced segre-
gation by law. ruling that Denver could
be ordered to adopt a desegregation

on

plan because school board policies ha'd

fostered segregation in the district.

in 1974, the justices cautioned that
court-brdered remedies were limit?fd
by the constitutional violations ad-
dressed. overturning a lower-court-or-
dered desegregation plan ?that enco -
passed Detroit and 53 suburbs
districts In three counties. such a plan
could be required only if all the dis-
tricts were responsible for unconstitu-
tional segregation in ii violations it:
some districts caused segregation _in
others, the Supreme Court said. 



- not been found.

1976. the high court further re-
i 'sthis lower courts' powers. ruling
. that
.7 forced to adjust its desegregation plan
every year in order to maintain a speci-
fled racial balance in Its schools. Once
the district had become ?unitary? by 

asadena. Caili.. could not be

dismantling its ?dual" segregated sy-

tern a court could order chang'esn

'the plan only upon finding the school

board guilty of new acts of discrimina-?

tion. the Supreme Court said . .1
And. when the high court Issued its

I first ruling In the Dayton case in 1977.
busing advocates appeared to suffer, an-
other setback. 

-.fl'l
Because the remedy must address the

violation. the court said. 
busing could not be ordered in Dayton

Where district-Wide segregation 'had
I -1. mi

Two years later, however. the high

. court upheld district-wide busing in



-Dayton alter _lower courts determined
that district- wide violations had 
occurred. . -





l' :i



i, 1976 sChool buses for desegregation purp

0568

began rolling in Dayt



line With Supreme Court rulings .

 

 

 

 

.- .. was? me

mamm- 

 



Wm ?am,

I

i, 

 

 

923;. 

in?

#31

 

 

eparate educational faci



Ies are

I
.

herently

I

nequaP

 10, 1988 

Dayton Schools

desegregated,
not integrated: 

By Mark Fisher
and Nathaniel Madison
ems? wensns

It's- lunch time at Belmont High
School. and something strange is occur-
ring? at the cafeteria tables. - 

The same black students and white
students who talked amiably in the
haiisbefore school and worked closely
together in classes all morning are seg-
regating. With only a handful of encep-
tions; blacks are sitting with blacks and
whites are sitting with whites.

The same pattern exists in cafeterias
at Dunbar. Meadowdaie. Colonel White
and 'the district's intermediate schools.
and carries over when students are dis-
misStid from school: For the most part,
blacks and whites stay apart. 

"Although this school is: desegregat-
not integrated," said Frank
Keane. who has worked as a teacher
and counselor at Belmont High School
sinca=1963. .

Why? .

?vindon?t know. Maybe it?s because
they__.stili_have segregation after they
leave- school and go home to their
neighborhoods. And. it might be that
kids feel more comfortabielwith their
own race," he Said. 

??panaiiah Johnson. last year's
eighth-grade class president at E.J.
Bro'w'n Intermediate School and a
black. said most of her friends at school
are" white. But she said most students
segregate immediately after the dis-
missal bell rings.

?Most- people. even when they're
walking home from school.'there's a
black side of the street and a white side
of .the street. . . .. The buses are the
sameway." she said. 

Belmont's Candi Corwln. who is
white, said the iunchroom segregation

is not a conscious effort to avoid people

of other colors.

?tsee it, but i never really think
about it." she said.

But fellow Belmont student Randa
Daniels said they segregate because
theyhave more in common with stu-
dents of the same race. - .

"We can relate better with our black
friends.? she said. 7"Many whites-don't
want to bother with us. . . . And some-
times we don't share the same things.
like dance and music. I think it has a' lot
to do with cultural aspects." .

It'sbeen a decade since Dayton de-
segregated its schools. but in some re-
spects not much has changed.

At school-sponsored dances at Mea- -

dowdaie. black students seem to dance
when a black artist's song is played.
and white students dance when a whit
artist?s song comes on. . -
Bias-k students and white students,
said Belmont?s Keane, ?just needsome-

thing extra to bring them together;

You'll find sports or a play causes them
to mix. But a lot of kids don?t get in-

voived in anything."

?failed to bring blacks and whites to- 



Some educators are not concerned
that court-ordered desegregation has

gather as friends.
don't think desegregation was de-

signed to make close buddies out =of .
anybody." said Greer. a retired 
Dayton teacher and administrator who -
testified about discrimination against .
blacks in the federal court trial that led 

to the court-ordered racial guidelines.

The desegregeted system allows stu- 

dents to interact. and it explodes ste-
reotypes they hold oi one another.
Greer said. .
."Withont it. blacks and whites won't
know how to lire and work together."
Greer said. 
On occasion. though, a slice of cui-

Wednesday, September 10,1986

turai exchange will sneak through ?to

barriers.

?I'm in orchestra, and lsit between'
two white girls,? said Lanetta Jackson,?

a student at 13.1. Brown Intermediate 

School. ?I?ll teach them rap songs. (One

girl) seems to get a kick out of it; she

says it fascinates hen",
Michael Maegan, music teacher and

orchestra director at Colonel White

High School. said an equal number of

blacks and whites join his music mag-
net program. which draws students
from throughout the city. . 

0n the whole, students say. blacks
and whites 'get along fairly well in

school, even if they don?t mix much}

after school.

?When you ?re with the people every i



- calling from whites passing by in cars. 



But on consecutive d'a'ys in 'June. 
black students who waited for an ETA
bus on Huffman Avenue in' front of the
school were subjected to racist name-



The students said it happens nearly .ev-
ery day. 
?de never stay in this neighborhood 

I past five 0 ?.ciock said Tony Beasley.a

black Wilbur Wright student.

White students also; report harass? I
meat from blacks. AtiiDunhar, which i
sits in a'predominantiy black neighbor- 
hood, white student Paula Lemance i

i


said she wouldn't attend the school this '5

fall because of an incident last spring
when she said she was harassed by. -
blacks. 

?If there was open enrollment, i

 

.day. they don't become h_la_c_lr ?5"de I would choose my neighborhood;

white." said Erica Myers, a senior at-

Meadowdale.
Some racial problems linger.
however.

Wright Intermediate School Principal
Carolyn Wheeler to cancel some extra-

giri?s softball game and a jazz-band
practice near the end of last school
year.

The tension began with a fight he-
theen a black and white student in
school. and escalated with a second
fight outside of school involving two
black students who had been suspend-
ed and a white student who apparently
was truant. Wheeler said.

A Dayton police officer monitored
the area during the final days of school.
and the year ended with no violence.

EDayton. 
Race-related fights forced Wilbur
High School. a Catholic school .fnz'
Dayton 

curricular activities 7 including a .1

school, she said. "Blacks don' want to}?
go to School in East Dayton. and whites:
don't want to go to school in West":I



She has enrolled this year at Carroll; 3?

Interracial dating remains contro-F? 
'.versiai Mike West Jr.. a white studeriti
?at Dunbar. said he was harassed in his" :3
East Dayton neighborhood because he

dated a black girl.

Students ofier mixed opinions when

asked whether school officials should".c
continue the current system that buses:P
many of them across town to achlei?r v9};
racial i: z.?lances

?There really should be a choice 

said Dunbar senior Marco Ward. ?Stu?? 
dents excel when they attend schools
where they want to be. 



v.


 

 

 

., .V

At'lunc

htirrie, cafeteria tables become all-white or'aII-bleek 

 

am. ennanxsrAFF motoanamen .. .
A student's oprnron: ?We can relate better w1th?our black friends"

 

 

 

BILL 

ti

 

..
IS

. 

   

. 

City schools fare well
under parents? gradlng

1: The district received A or grades 

By Tom Price
WASHINGTON BUREAU

The vast majority of parents with
children in the Dayton public schools
give the school district a high or pass-

ing grade. a Dayton Daily News and .
- Journal Herald public-opinion survey .

revealed.
Those parents are far more positive

?toward the public schools than are par- . -

-ents who send all their children topri-
'vate schools. The parents are even
more . positive towards the public
schools that their own children attend
than they are tovirard the school district
- as a whole. And parents of elementary-
asdh'ooi children rate their children' 

*=schools higher than do parents whose 

?youngest children. are _in intermediate
or high schools. -

As they did when they were asked
questions about busing for desegrega-
lien, bewever. black parents and white
parents differed in their assessements

-. of the quality of the school system.
Blacks Were more likely than whites to
give the schools high grades. Whites
were more likely than blacks to be crit-
lcai of the schools' quality.

{?We lucked out and got a good mag-

net school. said one white mother who
believes her child?s elementary school
is better than the district as a whole-
Expressing a common belief, one
black father said that ?the city school
district does do an adequate Job for ele-
mentary schools. He then went on to
give equally high ratings to his child?s
elementary school and to the district as

a whole.

To determine parental perceptions oi
school quality. The Dayton Daily

News and Journal Herald _asked par-

eats to grade the schools the same way
students often are given grades from A
?to to report the quality of their school
Work.

Dayton public-school system
vvas graded by 400 parents of school-
. age children who live in the city school

district. Each of the 318 parents with

children attending public schools also
graded the individual school attended
by the parent?s youngest child.
Overall. 35 percent of the parents
'ssurveyed graded the city school system

.A or B. 38 percent C. 20 percent or F. .2

and 7 percent said they didn't know.

from 41 percent of the public-school 
parents and percent of the private .-

- .school parents. Just 17 percent at the i
_-puhlic-schooi parents. compared with
30 percent of the private school par-

eats. graded the district or F.

When grading their own children' I.

'percent gave Be or Fs.
is a perfect argument that
-'we re dealing with perceptions rather

than reality," school board President 

Robert French said of the survey find-
ings. "The actual consumers have a bet-
ter perception. -

"They? ve heard all these stories that
.the schools are so bad. But. when it
comes down to their own- child and
:what they have personal knowledge of.

1 it's OK at their own child's school."

77 Similarly. Superintendent Franklin"

_Smith said that, "if you're not there to
Lget the first-hand knowledge. you tend

- to use that national judgment that ur-

aban school districts aren?t as good as

lthey are."

?The more they know and have
g'facts. the stronger ratings we 
Smith said. .2
if Black public-school parents tended
Tito give the highest grades 53 percent

avvarding As _or Re to the district and 65

7 I?percent giving those high grades to

ntheir children?s schools, while Just 8
percent graded the district below the 
leVel and 7 percent gave Be or Fs to
.thelr children' 8 schools. 

Among white public-school parents. 

26 percent graded the district A or B. 43
percent and 27 percent or F. Like
black parents. whites tended to rate
their own children's schools higher 

46 percent awarding As or Be. 28 per- -

r_cent Cs and 21 percent Us or Fs. .
Among parents whose yOungest

child attends elementary school. 64 

percent awarded that school an A or B.
28 percent a and 9 percent a or F.
'A'mong parents of older children, 47
percent gave their children' schools As
Bs. 29 percent Cs and 20 percent Ds
or Fs. . 
That tendency was true of blacks

and whites. although white elementary ..
.parents continued to be less positive. 

than their black counterparts.?
.. French said parents are "absolutely
to think the city?s elementary
6 schools are better.
?Our secondary program has not had
a lot at attention," French said.

.. .- nun?u .

Iland?

- . sohools, 58 percent oi the public-school .-
parents awarded As or Be while just 14 



. that's one of the things we?re looking
forward to Dr. (James) Williams (the
incoming assistant superintendent for

[intermediate and secondary 
ition) to invigorate that program. 

Perception also plays a role in par-

?ents' evaluations of the elementary

. schools. Smith said. because parents

i"hav'e a tendency to get more involved .
in elementary education when the kids
?are younger than we do at the high

. school level. 

School board member Shirley Fen-
_stermaker. however. suggested that
iparents may not recognize problems 
until children get older.
"in elementary school. you haven't
magnified the problem _she said.
"Weaknesses show up With time. he-
come magnified with time."
Differences of opinions among
blacks and whites reflect racial differ-
..ences of opinion about busing for de-_
segregation and its impact on the 
school system 
Older blacks remember being nan-~- 
changed in. predominantly black
schools before desegregation..school
1 board member Leo Lucas said. -. 7?
?Most black parents see and know
that their children are getting far more
'in-depth education than those parents
themselves received." Lucas said.
"That's particularly the case when.
there are grandparents also in the
household.? .

i-m.



 

 DAIION NEWS

 

 

 

 

 

 

'6 _n elementary he actual con-.
school, you haven ?t . sumers have a bet-
magni?ed the ter perception.

problem yet. Weaknesses. They ?ve heard all these sto-

_show up with time, be? He: that the schools are -
icome magni?ed with time. so (1th But, when it comes
- doiim to their own child
-- Shirley Fenstermaker and what they have person-

school board member al knowledge of; it?s OK
at their own child ?s school. g-

Robert French} -i
school board member 

 

 



 

 

  

 

 
  
    

.?GrvenasmleofA arF? 3'

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

whatgmdewouldyougwe'the?ayt
.apubhc Isa/stem?- - 

panama A-B or: 7 mm, ?new
?All 35% 38% 20% 795 
"Private .1095 37% 30% 23%.
Public 41% 38% 1795 4% -

Black 53% .3696 3% 
White 26% ?43Question answered by 400 parents of school-age children Who live in
-- the Dayton School District.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Primary . 73% 2496 3% 0%
- Primary 54% 28% 15% 3%
Blaeli 
Secondary . 56% ?29% 12% - 3%
White 
Wary 30% 30% 34% 6%

 

Question answered by 318 parents of children attending Dayton public

 

 

 

. 

"Sing helped Spec)"

Dayton, Ohio,- Tuesday Afternoon, Sept. 198-6?; 



 

 

rat-n

By Mark Fisher
STAFF warren

- In 1976, East Dayton natives Danny Oney and
his wife Nancy lived directly across from Orville
Wright Elementary School, not iar from where
they graduated from high school.? 

A year later. as the couple? a oldest son was
preparing to- start school. the Oneys sold their
home and moved to Kettering.? 55;

?We. lived right across from the school he? 

would' ve gone to. but instead. he faced a 45-min-
ute bus ride. That just didn?t make sense to me."
Oney said. 

The Oneys are one of many families in Dayton
who have fled the public school system. Some did
so for religious reasons: They enrolled their chil-
dren in parochial or Christian schools. Others
moved out of the city for economic reasons after
Dayton was hit by a severe recession in the late
?70s and early ?805. Still others chose to settle in
the more wide-open spacesthat suburbs provide.

But population and enrollment figures suggest
that court-ordered deSegregation in Dayton
helped speed the movement of students ?-rnost of
them white to the suburbs 

For example: .

IThe first year of desegregation in Dayton
saw the largest drop in enrollment in the school
district?s recent histo_ry._.- from 44,165 in 1975 to
40, 257 in 1976.

ISince 1970. the percentage of school-age
children who live in Dayton but do not attend
Dayton public schools has increased from 8 per-
cent to 18 percent, according to Census Bureau;
statistics analyzed by the Dayton DailvNews and

White ?ight.

I .
. -

-. v-o

The JaumalHerald?.

IMore than half of all Dayton public~schoei
parents would enroll their children in private
schools if they' could afford the tuition. according
to a poll commissioned by the newspapers. For
nearly half of those parents. busing for desegrega-
tion had a "great deal" of in?uence on their desire
to send their children to private sChools. the poll
_.found . .5.

I Private school enrollments have held steady
since Dayton desegregated its schdois. Last school
_y_ear, 12. 738 _Montgomery County students at:
tended state-chartered private schools. Ten years_
ago. the figure was 14,115, scam-ding to the state
Board of Education, which doesn't have figures
for private schools that are not chartered by the
state, and many are not. 

Desegregation alone cannot be blamed for the

enrollment declines in the Dayton public schools; . 

which have 29. 536 students now compared with
40, 257 in 1976. . - - 

Some of the decline reflects fewer births as the;
baby boom burst both locally and nationally: To-.
tai enrollment in Ohio public schools dropped 14. 
percent from 1976 to 1985.

And while Dayton was losing students, some
private and suburban schools also suffered losses.
due mainly to the lower birth rate and a faltering
economy.

Between 1976 and 1985, Kettering? enrollment'
dropped- 37. 3 percent. Centerville lost 14.3 per-
cent at its student enrollment and Northmont lob
percent. -

. .SEE WHITE 7

I

 



1? F?a?

".1927.

?rm;

A:

 

 

 

 

 

 

CONTINUED 



lheard the arguments before. While he?
jisaid it is a misconception that Dayton -9
{public school teachers don?t challenge
students in the classroom. he said the
district has done little to "dispel that 
myth." 

- . ..- .. .La- 
(flight from the school district) is

rout there. it's leveling off.? said Lucas. tend at averages," Smith

Chaminade-Julienne. a Catholic high 5who has served 21 years on the school
school in downtown Dayton. dropped "ard. ..
from 1,082 students in 1978 to 9881ast Some of the students who have al- 
year. And Dayton area Catholic schools eady left the Dayton system were
(which include parochial schools out-r bmong the ?best and brightest" Who?
side Montgomery County) have had a lset positive examples and propped up
21.2? percent drop in enrollment since :teacher morale. according to teachers
1976. . 7 and counselors.

3 However, the first year of desegre-
gation in Dayton marked one of only

inear Dunbar High School. enrolled at

Brian Gooden. of 1017 An er Drive -
gi Dayton schools agree with Smith. -

?What you learn in a public school. 

two years during the last decade that
catholic school enrollment rose. And
enrollment at Northmont peaked the

same year desegregation in Dayton,

hogan. 

Dayton School Superintendent Dr.
Franklin Smith said the school district
does not keep statistics on numbers of
students transferring. to or from private
schools. But. he admitted. public and
private schools in Dayton are ?Compet-
ing for the same students in the same
community."

A "quality probiern?

School Board President Robert
French said that many middle- and up-
per-middleE-class whites. along with a
lesser number of blacks. have moyed
out of the district because of court-or-
dered busing for desegregation.

And board member Shirley Fenster-
maker said the district gives'some par-
ents good reason to leave:. There are
children who have" been assigned to six
different school's in six years. she said.

"it?s not racially based that's not i

the problem," she said. "It?s a quality

problem. (and) it?s the long-distanceI

transportation. People are saying. ?I?m
not going to do this to my kids.? 

Dayton Christian High school four

said. But the public schools are required 
to accept all students. whereas private 
schools generally teach .a more'ellte
group. he said. i
contend public schools can do as
good as or better 10b than private i
schools when it comes to the individual
student.? - 
At least some of the students in the

q,

with everybody together. is far more

 

 

years ago because his parents wanted

.. .

;Meadowdaie. but they don't have to

him to attend a Christian school. But. valuable than?book learning." said Col~
isaid the honor roll student. ?it was my onel White High School student Mary
decision to stay." Taylor. . . 
think (Dayton Christian) offers a= don?t feel private schools are any
better quality education. Dayton Chris- more educational."' said Sapanailah
tian offered more courses. espeCialiy in' Johnson, last year?s eighth-grade class
the sciences." said Brian. now'a senior. president at EJ. Brown Intermediate
?The classes are smaller, 15 (students) school. wouldn't put my own kids in
compared to 30. . . And i think they. aprivate school."

have more control over drugs." 

.?What hurts public schools is that 

Brian said he noticed an immediate long before court-ordered busing, as -.
increase in his academic workload economic setbacks the pullout of 1

when he entered Dayton Christian. .21 Frigidaire. the Closing of the Dayton
got homework starting on the second- Tire and Rubber Co. and Dayton Press.-

day of school. and it lasted thewhole' the reduction in the workforce at NCR
year." he said. 5 - helped shrink the city's population.

- Two trends emer ed: The Da ton
Student supports schopl . c, 

Katie Meixner. a junihr at Chamln-
'ade-Juiienne. has attended Catholic 5 Of
schools her entire school career. She. .
lives in the Dayton City School district, court battle over school desegregation
and has close friends who attend Mea- . began. the number or whites in the
-.dowdale High School. school district by 40.7.5.3:
The Catholic ayatem. Katie said.
stresses academic achievement more
than the public schools. 

?My friends. they'll get a grade at

- 

the ones it had were black.

- The JaumaiHez-ald. 
The shift accelerated between 1970

But fellow school board memberLeo iwork as hard for that grade as i do at c-
Lucas said he has not seen adequate That's just the'way it is . . . that's
proof of white flight. though he said he lwhat 1 think. and that?s what (my.
knows people who. have abandoned 'frlends at Meadowdale) tell me,?

Dayton?s public schools forprivate and Meixner said.
suburban systems.

Superintendent Smith? said .he__has

Between 1960 and 1970, before the 

5 while the black population rose by 
15.215. according to census figures ex- ..
i- amined by the Dayton Daib' News and 

Dayton's enrollment problems began -.

ty Schools had fewer students to 
choose from and a greater percentage 

and 1980. when the school district's .

'whlte population dropped by 60.995. 5

The black population in the district rose .

- by 3,189 in the '709. according to cen-
sus figures. 



l-lietween' 1970'and 1986.._the numberj

      

.5.

Fran

   

it . 
klin Smith

of white students in the Dayton City
Schools dropped 65 percent, from

33,600 to 11,769. The number of black
students in the district also decreased,

but by 23 percent. from 22,995 to~

17.767.

students in the Dayton schools are
black. Fifteen years ago, the figure was
40 percent. -

The figures suggest the movement of
students to private schools in_the last
decade comes almost entirely from
whites, despite an effort from paro-

'chial schools in particular to ?in?

crease black enrollment.

In the Dayton area, blacks are per-
mitted to attend any parochial school
they choose, while White students face
certain geographical restrictions. And

schools in low?income neighborhoods

.. 

 

DAYTON DAILY NEWS ?1 1



including two'prEdominantiy black

Catholic schools receive money
from the church to help make tuition

more affordable, according to Sister?

- Mary O'Brien, superintendent of the ar-

- ea?s Catholic schools. Scholarships also
are available for black students. . . -

The policies, which have been in ef-

?iect since 1976. appear to have worked
. ._o?nly to a point. At Alter High school,

which serves the nearly ali~white sub:

south of Dayton, 72 of the 1,062 I

students are black. But some Catholic

ally affect all school systems -- Day-

ton?s included that Operate under:

court-ordered busing. .

The Norfolk school board cited the
flight of white residents from its dis-
trict when it "voted in 1983 to end? bus-
ing for elementary school - students.
School board members said if busing
was not curtailed, the school system
eventually would become overwhelm-
ingly black and effectively

. resegregated.
Today. more than 60 percent of the 

A legal challenge followed. delaying
any change in the busing plan. But fed-
eral courts have sided with the school
board. and the US. Supreme Court-so
far has refused to block a neighbor-
hood-based elementary school program
scheduled for this fall. - 

Dr. Theo Majka, an associate profes-

ear of sociology .at the University of
- Dayton, said some cities are seeing a
reversal of the flight of.whlte residents



from city school districts. Washington,
D.C., for example. is drawing an in-

creasing number of whites back to the

city.

.. .. .

 

lint inhalant. Maj-its said. the gener-
i' al movement. that began after World

1War 11 of whites to the suburbs has
1 i been accelerated by the loss of manu-
facturing jobs that onde drew whites to

the-city. Whites are moving from the
region in search of employment as well

as from the city to the suburbs in .
search of larger yards and quieter 

. elementary sshools remain all-white. . ;neighborhoods, said Malina, who holds
Dayto'n?s not alone -
White flight is hardly confined to' 

Dayton. It is at the forefront of a Nor-

folk, Va., court case that could eventing-.3! if a school system is mostly black.

a in sociology from the Universi-

ty of California. I

And often, there are no white fam-
lilies willing to replace those residents
in theirurban homes.

?there 'will be a hesitation for some 

whites to move there if they intend to
enroll their children in public schools.?
Majlta said. ?Their fears may be much
5 worse than the actuality. but it makes

.1 it harder to attract new residents to
I: those neighborhoods." 

Smith said the district can?t keep los-

ing students. The problem is most adute
at the high schools, where enrollment

has drOpped _41_ percent in the last de- 

cede. he said. - .

The school district has launched or is 

studying several programs that are de-

signed in part to keep those students in .

the system. Smith. said.

The system also is planning a third 

change that could help reverse the
trend: moving ninth-grade students
from the intermediate schools to the
high schools. possibly in the 1981-88
school year. . -

?There?s a feeling," said Smith, ?that
Once we get them into'the high schools,

 

they?ll stay there."

i

 

 

?ed. Sept. .10. 1986

pb?at Edison.

conquers odds

. 

School has most-disadvantaged children,

earns national honors

By Nathaniel Madison

STAFF WRITER


.

Most children at Edison Elementary School in Day? 

ton come from single-parent families and live and play

on the toughest streets in the city.

_But they are winners anyway.

1 . Edison. a school at 228 N. Broadway St. with 570-
students in grades one through three. was nominated

to be among 270 outstanding public and private ele-

mentary schools in the national elementary school-11

recognition program ior 1985-86. -

1 Black schools like Edison. which historically had

offered unequal educational opportunities ior biacks' 1

helped lead to Dayton' court tight in May 1972 to:
integrate its classrooms.

i Dayton was forced to desegregate Its school system 
in' September 1976. For the first time. students such as 
those at Edison were given the opportunity for a wid- 
er educational choice. better facilities and a cross- '3

section of educational leaders.
Four years ago. when Principal Brenda Lee took

over the school, Edison didn?t have much to brag

about.

there was a problem. she said. .

Just getting students to school and keeping them

students didn?t feel good abOut themselves"?
they weren?t encouraged to learn, and there Was no

unity among the teaching stair." Lee said.
Discipline was serious problem

-.. any- --.

want to learn and had no respect for authority. ac,-

cording 'to Lee.

- . person likes to feel successful. People don?t real-

lze that children are human beings. They have feel-

ings. desires and aspirations just as adults do.? she '2

said.
Edison has turned some of Dayton? most disadvan-'
t'aged children into some of the district's best students.
The gains are coming at a school in which 70 per-
cent oi the enrollment is black. and many of the stu-

. 



Discipline was another problem. Students didn't"

dents have problems at home. Some students lack 

adequate clothing. nutrition and medical care, accord.
ing to Lee. Others come from homes where either one
'or both parents have been in jail. or the children are
victims of child abuse, she said.?

?They are the children that society gave up on."
Lee said.



 

Numbers tell story
.of schdol of winners

 

The numbers tell the story: 

RECORD GAINS In reading and

math have been posted by Edison students
- In each of the last three years. In math,

53. 6 percent of the students were at or

above grade level last year compared to

40 percent In 1983. Reading improvement

was even more Impressive. About 83. 6 

percent were reading at or above grade Ievei.

last year compared to 65 percent In

1983.

I ATTENDANCE was a problem Just a

few years ago at Edison. Last year. the

school set a district attendance record of

93.3 percent.

 

 

The key to Edison success begins with the staff

and parent involvement in school programs. said Mi.
Williamson. chairman oi Edison? a community edu-
:cation council.

?The staii is really trying to make the best children

gout of them." Mrs. Williamson said.

i. First-grade teacher Marilyn Czech agrees.

Lee. she said. doesn?t always agree with the theory
that economic circumstances, income and neighbor-
hood prevent a child from learning.

Ten years after court-ordered desegregation, Lee.
who is 45. teaches pride as the cornerstone of ecli-
developmentlPolishing adiamonds in the rough; .. .. .,

i "What we have here are a lot of dianionds in the
rough." she said. ?We spend more time at Edison

trying to polish them.?

Edison? 5 staff uses alternative teaching methods to I
improve each child academically. Lee said. i
For example. depending on the child's learning

style. teachers Will use a variety oi instructional ma-_



 .

Dayton Ohio, Wednesday Evening, Sept. 10, 1986

.

. .

 

terials, peer tutoring, small group sessions, one-on-

one tutorial assistance and community .resources. she

said.

"We may not be doing anything different than oth-?
er schools in the district? she said. "We' re trying to
provide the best quality education for youngsters.?

But Edison is the only school in the district with the-
federally funded Follow-Through Program, which -
puts a paraprofessional in the classroomrto provide
additional assistance to students in reading and math.
And it is one of only 15 schools that uses the Write-to- 
Read Program. which uses computers to teach stu-
dents how to write. 1 

try to match the teaching style with the learning 
style," said Lee. ?Then.we find the material that fits
the individual needs of the students. 

Other programs at Edison include a banking pro-
gram, which teaches students how to manage money,
and New Vision, a collection of items from around
that wurid that exposes students to other cultures. 

One reason for Edison? 3 success is the involvement
of the school administration at every level of a child's

educational deVeloprnent. according to Lee.

That means going to the playground, being visible
at school, and monitoring the academic. emotional and

social growth of each child. she said. -

Lee began her career in 1969 as a teacher at F. G.
Carlson Elementary School on South Ave--_
one. She was assistant principal at Jefferson Elemen--
tary and coordinator of the district's human relations
department before becoming principal at Edison.

The all-important triangle

Lee said the parent, the child and the school are the
three most important components of a child?s personal
growth.

All students need to know who they are and what 

they can become if they are to be successful, she said.

"At Edison, we find a child?s and build do
them. Then We work an a child?s deficient skill areas
and build on them to develop the whole person."

child'that is avvare of him or herself can he.

taught reading, writing and mathematics."



7

 

 

 

.. .

 

BILL PHOTOGRAPHER :7

Edison Assistant principal Nick Nicholas withsome young winnegs:

 

 

..

Thursday, September 11,1986



 

Desegreoatlon law

 

reaches crossroads

End to mandatory busmg favor



. in federal courts,- White House

By Tom Price
WASHINGTON BUREAU

ordered busing began in Dayton.- desegre-
. gation law is approaching another cross-
roads nearly as significant as the Supreme
Court's 1954 ruling that school segregation
is unconstitutional.
The attack on the status quo is coming
from the Norfolk, Va., school board, which
has won federal district and cirduit court

tion busing in elementary schools. The
court rulings would place 40 percent of
black elementary students in schools with
enrollments more than 96 percent black.

. A Norfolk Victory in the upcoming Su-
preme Court germ could open the door for
numerous other districts. including Dayton,
to dismantle busing programs imposed in.

.. accordance with earlier Supreme Court rul-z
ings in favor of busing, eXperts on _ho_th

sides of the desegregation debate agree.

According to Henry Marsh attorney

 

for Norfolk black students and parents 5

since 1963. that is a frightening prospect

that "could lead to a whole new generation: -.

of litigation, reopening wounds many com-

WASHINGTON A decade after. court-'

approval for ending mandatory desegrega-y

?qt 

munities have gone through and resolved. 
Justice Department civil rights chiefi
William Bradford Reynolds. however. be-
:lieves Norfolk's victories in lower federal:
ciourts have injected ?a breath. of freshair":
into desegregation litigation.

The case is being watched closeiy from
Dayton, where school board President Rob-
ert French has said ?it's about time" to stop
districtwide busing of primary grade stu--
dents. A majority of board members. how-
ever. do not support French.

in some ways Dayton' experiences with
desegregation have been similar to those
that led Norfolk?s school hoardi?to seek
?court approval for curtailing its busing pro-
gram. Both districts, for instance, have seen
school enrollments shift from white major-
ities to black majorities. 

A key difference, however, is that a
court has never formally declared that the
Dayton district hat ?satisfied its affirma-
tive duty to desegregate? a_s coar'ts have in;
the Norfolk case. 

Reynolds. who represents the views of
the Reagan administration. is among those
who argue that it is time to eradiCate bus-
ing as a prime remedy in school desegrega-
tion ca'ses. -

""It is time in Norfolk as in many other
school districts" around the country that
have sustained for years good-faith compli-
ance with court-ordered desegregation
plans to restore to the local authorities
full responsibility for running their public
schools." Reynolds said. .

-Reynolds and other busing critics argue
. that white families flee center cities for



1 predominantly. white suburbs with neigh-

borhood schools. Other whites place their
children in predominantly white private
schools, the critics add. .-

 

.i SEE 

 

CONTINUED 

 

 

 

 

 

Busing 

 

tricts around the country . . . to restore to the local au-

6 It is time in Norfolk as in many other school dis-

thorities full

schools. 

1'

I William Bradford Reynolds

responsibility for running their public 3 

 

 

 

I



its a result, they argue, black chil-
dren are being resegregated in center-

city districts that are becoming pre- -

dominantly black. 
Most researchers agree that signifi-
cant white flight has tended to occur at
the beginning of busing programs and
then to level off. Most cities have been
lusing 'wbite' residents for decades.
however, and many researchers con-
tend that busing tends only to acceler?
ate that process over: the long

. run I . -

. Although proponents contend that
busing is required by the Constitution

and helps-to improve the quality of edu-

cation received by black students, law-
yers and social, scientists continue to
debate both points. And, since Ronald
Reagan became President in 1981. his
administration has challenged busing
on practical and philosophical grounds.-

Early in Reagan's first term, then-

. devices such as school closings, bound:
5 ary adjustments. magnet school plans

. and incentives for voluntary transfer." 

i In addition, he said, the administra-

tion is working to ?return operating,

authority to locally I least-f leadersf? in
school districts the
control of longstanding busing orders.
"Where a plan has been in' place for a
number of years and the vestiges of
past segregation have been successfully

removed, we heileve, and the law re- 

quires, that the cases be closed and the
decisional pouter restored to where it
1 belongs,?. Reynolds said. .
Busing usually is self-defeating,
Reynolds ?said during a speech. and
"those who suffer the most are the very

ones that proponents of mandatory
busing intended to be the greatest bene- 

ficlaries --?that is. the blacks and other
minorities left within the inner city
nubile school-svst?emdi; 

That argument is at the heart of the 

Norfolk case, which so far has pro-

duced a string of victories for the Nor- .

folk school board, the Reagan adminis-

.- tration and busing opponents in -

general. . 7 - 
At issue are how long a school dis-

. 1y segregated school systems.

Attorney General William French . trict can be required to maintain a bus:

Smith said busing ing program and whether. a school --
pnnciple of color-blindness by boar can consider White flight in re- 

ins students to schools 9? a racial b.3515" vising a desegregation plan. -
Justice Department attorneys have The Norfolk school board argues
supported school districts that oppose that busing caused a substantial pro-

new busing orders or seek to dismantle portion of white flight which shifted

93$th programs. And the Justice and the district?s enrollment from 57 per-
Education departments rights cent white in 1969 to 59 percent black
fices have sought non-busing remedies in 1981' when development of the
in negotiations with school districts al- neighborhood pian' began. Continued
leged to be operating unconstitutional- busing eventually would produce a dis-
trict so overwhelmingly black that sig-
?This administration has taken the .nificant integration wouldvbecome im-
position in' a number of cases that man- "possible, the school board contends.
datory busing to achieve? or maintain Eliminating mandatory desegrega-
_r_aclai balance in schools is neither an ,tion busing in elementary schools could
equitable nor efficacious remedy," fend white flight and possibly increase
Reynolds told a House Judiciary sub- district?s white enrollment, til:
committee earlier this year. "We have says. A healthy racial balance
fashioned a blueprint for constitutional . Conld be maintained in middle and high

compliance through combinations of

.. . 
a I.

schools, the board argues: And black 
. students could voluntarily choose to be
bused to integrated elementary schools.

A key element in the case is a 1975-
federal district court ruling that the.
Norfolk school board had ?satisfied its
- affirmative duty to desegregate? and-

that the school system had become
5 ?unitary" no longer a ?dual" segre-

gated system. 'Ei

Lower federal courts cited the dis-E
"unitary? status in approving
the board's neighborhood schools plan-'_
for elementary students. - .. .i

The Constitution does not require
that all schools in a unitary districtbe
racially balanced, those courts Said.
.That placed the burden on the plan's
opponents to prove that the new plan.
':represented an intentional act of racial 
. discrimination something the lower
courts said the opponents failed to do.

Those courts also accepted the school
5: board?s argument that busing had ac- -.
'1 celerated white flight and bad eroded .
- parental involvement in the schools.
And the courts said it was legitimate
for the school board to attempt to stabi-.
has white enrollment" and' to increase
parental involvement through a neighs .
borhood schools plan. 

 

The Supreme Court refused to block, . .. 

the plan's implementation this fall anti.
is considering whether to hear an ap-
peal from black parents and students
who want to maintain busing. 
More than 100 other districts have
been declared unitary and would be
well-positioned to revise their busing-
programs if the high court'allows the
.lower courts'rulingstostand. 



 

Dayton, Ohio, Friday itl86 

 

Wq?l??t,

Smith set for b1

r1.
.If

. 

 


"itl?p?l




leap forward

2.1.-.. 

?Magnets? core of school plan

By Nathaniel Madison
srarrwanea . .



?i

Dayton Schools Superintendent Dr. Frank-

y, lin Smith has a blueprint for the future -and,

,he hopes, a cure for some of the ills of the
past: dropping enrollments, rising absentee
rates, more discipline problems. 

The centerpiece of Smith's proposed plat-
form consists of specialized magnet high
schools for the 1987-88 school year. The
schooiswould serve primarily high school

students in Dayton but, because of the courses
. they offer, also would students from
neighboring districts, Smith said. .

"We need to move the district forward be-
lore people recognize we have a quality
school system, he said-

Magnet schools offer a more specialized

curriculum than is lound in other schools and!
enrollments are determined by the number of
students who apply, not the number who live
within a specified school boundary. Dayton
has had magnet elementary schools since he-
iorje court-ordered desegregation, but what
Smith proposes is new: magnet high schools,
each boasting a cun-lculum currently not
toundin -

The plan requires approval by the school
board,? which is not expected to take up the
matter until sometime this winter. But a task
force appointed by Smith has recommended
that each of the live high schools and the
Dayton Career Academy offer a specialty pros -

grain slang with its standard course fare. The
Specialty programs, one for each school,
would be business, math. science, internation-
'ai studies, performing arts and law and gov-
ernment, according to the task force
_recommendation. .. - 
Under the proposal, each high school would .
offer college preparatory and vocational edu--;
cation programs, but students throughout the; - 3?

 

SEE 

 

 

 

 

 

CONTINUED 3 7'

district would be allowed to enroll in
the magnet programof their choice.
For example. a student who now at-
tends Colonel White HighISchool could
enroll in the business magnet program
at Belmont. Or at Belmont student could
attend Colonel White for its courses in
creative and performing arts. -
Suburban students also would be al-
lowed to enroll, but those students
would have to pay tuition. . -
In addition to the specialized magnet
centers, sophomores in the district will
be able to take advanced placement
courses at the Dayton Career Academy
beginning this fall. The courses were
previously available only to juniors and
seniors, according to Smith. - 
Also, beginning this fall. the high
schools are offering .advanc'ed place.
ment courses. such as?high-level calcua'
lus and trigonometry, for juniors and
seniors. Previously. those courses were
offered only at the career academy.
Smith said the changes are long

overdue. He said the city schools ore 

losing students to suburban and paro-
chial schools because of a perception
that public schools do not offer ad-
vanced courses. And. in some cases. it

was more than a perception. Until this .

fail, sophomores could not .take the
high-level math and science courses
that were offered at the career acade-
my. no matter how gifted they were. 
think this district needs to offer
every course that suburban districts of-
fer. and go beyond that." Smith said.
All of Smith?s recommended changes
will cost the district money, but Smith

said he is not in a position to say how .,

much.

?It?s going to cost us a little more,
but We're going to have to reduce in
some areas where there are duplica-
tions," he said. . - .

Smith, who has been in the district
only about a year. inherited a school
system steeped in problems. most of
them caused by forces unrelated to the
now decade-old plan to desegregate
Dayton schools. But? a four-month ex?
amlnation by the Dayton Daffy News
and The JoumalHeraId found the com-
munity and some educators still
divided about the condoning merits of
busing for desegregation in Dayton.

A poll commissioned by the newspa-
pers found black parents far more sup-
portive of busing and of the schooh
system in general than white
parents. -

Desegregation seems to have.

brought'on some troubling trends. A

study of assaults on students and teach- 
'c'ouid have a' fight on its hands. The

are found the schools more violent now
than a decade ago, when the district
had about 15,000 more students. More
students -- a disproportionate number

Big leap . 

of them black were suspended and
expelled for lighting in 1985-86 than in-
1916-77. in- fact. more. students were -
suspended and expelled last year than
in- any single year since. court-ordered
desegregation began. 

"Some results were more positive. An
analysis of California Achievement
Test results for ninth?graders found
blacks have begun to close an historical
gap between blacks and whites in
math, reading and language, and black
and white students have improved on
their scores from 1977 .(the first year
for the California test). But the gap in

-fourth-grade actually increased. the

study found. Moreover. school officials
predict that some of the gains made by
students in all grades will be short-
lived. The district plans to switch from 
a 1977 to a 1986 test this year. which
means some students may not do as 
well because the curve for the 1988 test
lshigher. - -

Most Dayton city 'school teachers

.. and administrators have some good to

say about desegregation: It brought -
black and white students together in
the classroom and they are apparently
learning more as a result, as suggested
by the California Achievement Test
scores. -
But desegregation, both locally and
nationally, is at a crossroads. The Nor-r 
folk, Va., school. board has won federal

district and circuit court approval for

ending mandatory busing for desegre-i
gation in elementary schools. and at
Norfolk victory in the upcoming U.S.
Supreme Court term could open the
door for numerous other districts, in-
cluding Dayton?s, to dismantle 
basing programs. - . 

Few on the Dayton school board can -
pect that to happen. However, school 
beard'President Robert French has said
he supports ending busing, at least for
primary-grade students, because he
said the district no longer is guilty of -
discrimination. -

"If you serve your sentence," he said.
?you ought to be able to get out of jail.?- :1

Dayton's court-ordered desegrega-
tion case is still alive, meaning the

board must meet the racial quotas set in . .

federal court a decade ago. in ?most
cases. it does. The district could ignore-
the quotas, though, if the court ruled-
that the district had fulfilled its obliges .
tions under court-Ordered desegrega? 
lion. That could come if the school
board petitions the court to discontinue
busing for desegregation. i 
But, said is no desire .
by themajority of the board to inter- -.

- fere with the court order.?

if it decides to ?interfere,?- the board 

local branch of the NAACP. the group
that originally filed the federal lawsuit
in May 1972. said it will challenge the



 

At Belmont High School and other city high schoOls the name oi'the

 



need to move the district fonvard before
people recognize we have a quality school sys-

tern. I think?this district needs to o?er every
course that suburban districts o?er, and go beyond that. 

Dr. Franklin Smith,

Dayton school superintendent

 

 

 

districtagain li' busing for desegrega-
tion is? eliminated.

definitely think it's not the most
prudent thingto do." said Jesse Good-
ing. president of the Dayton NAACP
chapter. ?Attitudes in terms of schools
and race relations are worsening. not
improving." 

Smith thinks the district is improve

ing, though he acknowledged some of
its problems. Its attendance rate, for
example, is worse than in Columbus,
"Cincinnati and several of the surround-

ing school districts, and test scores are

not where he would like them to be:
Still, he said, the schools are better than

they are given credit for. . . . .

?We can turn things around. but it?s

a gradual process," he said. "People
now believe wehave a comprehensive
offering. but our schools don't have the
reputation." 

They do have some new faces; begin-
ning with Smith. The 42-year-old su-
perintendent came to the district only a
year ago. became interim superinten-
dent in October 1935, and was official-

- iy named to the post in March. He came
well recommended. as did Dr. James

Williams. the district?s new assistant
snperi ntendent of intermediate and sec-
ondary instruction.

Some credit Williams, former princi-
pal of Cardozo High School in Wash-

ington. D.C.. with helping reverse Car-.

?nds high rates of truancy, drug use
and dropouts, while at "the. same time

 

improving test scores.

- Dr. Robert Kegerreis, who resigned
as president of Wright State University
in 1984 and now serves as a consultant
to local businesses, said the Dayton
school system ?is really emerging" and
cited Smith?s latest administrative ap-
pointments to round out the system's
top staff. . -

?After all these years, 10 years now.
we?re in a new era,? Kegerreis said.
?There?s more emphasis on excellence,

more quality control. i feel very upbeat

about the future of the Dayton school
system." .

The future- will hold changes. The-

administration proposes a new curricu-
lum for virtually every grade includ-
ing tougher requirements for? passing
from one grade to the next and'a
task force has been appointed to_study

problems with dropouts.:absenteeism -. -. --

and assaults. 
Some of the changes are already in
place. 
The district promises to put more
emphasis on basic skills this year: such
as reading, language arts and math, and
hopes to strengthen music, art. sc'cial
studies and foreign language. according
to Dr. Jerrie B. executive direc-
tor oi educational services. A
?The issue is not whether there is
something wrong with the curriculum

 

game Will be academic programs .



barren DAILY newsw


in kindergarten through grade 12, the
issue is how we structure what we do
with youngsters so we increase their
success," McGill said. - 
Programs such as Writing-tb-Read,
which teaches students writing tech-
niques by using computers. and Read-
ing Recovery, a program that identifies
a student?s reading problems, will be
expanded this year, according to Depu-
ty- Superintendent Dr. Wanda
McDaniel. 7
Also. teachers in grades one through
six will be trained to assist students
. who have problems in basic skill areas.
McDaniel said. ?We?re attacking prob-
lems right from the start. We can?t de-
pend on one program being ourrsalva-
tion," she said. 
Other gianges include more 'pre?
school programs and expanded kinder:
garten classes to identify problems at
an'early age. Programs for?gitted stu-
dents also will be expanded. adminis-'
trators say. so the district can keep its

better students in the school system. .

While the district reviews its curric-
ulum, other more visible changes are in

. the works: Beginning with the 1987-88 
school year. the school board proposes 

to move ninth-graders from middle
schools to the high schools, reversing a
decision that was made years ago. . 
The philosophy behind the move is
that ninth-graders are on the same
grading system as high school students

- and would be exposed to better aca- 

demic programs in the high schools.
But some people. including some stu-
dents, disagree with the plan.
?1 think it's too early to move ninth-

graders to the high school.? said Katy 

Skipper, a ninth-grader who attended
MacFarlane Intermediate School. last
semester. 

Added fellow classmate Jackie
Mayle: ?Ninth-graders are given more
responsibility at the (middle) school."

Jeffrey Mims Jr.. president of, the"
Dayton Education Association, which
represents most of the district?s teach-
ers. said the school board is ?setting
false expectations for parents and stu-
dents, and "can't deliver the type of
quality education" it talks about be-
cause it lacks the money.

But-at least one school board mem-
ber. Shirley Fenstermaker, said money
is not. the reason the district is losing
students to private and suburban
schools -- and will continue to lose
them. Fenstennaker said the board has
spent too much time and money mak-
ing sure its buildings are integrated,_
and not enough on providing a quality

education.

?We have to get over this business of
looking at every issue in black-and-
white terms," she said. ?We have to
start looking at it as it it?s right or
Wrong . . 

 

Enrollment

22310" School Dls?lot population
enrollment: ?gures

 

 

Total population
200,041}
?0,000 
160.000
140,000
120.000
100.000
00.000
60,000
40,000
'20.000

.0-

 

1910 1980 1986
WHITE I BLACK 

Dayton school enrollment
30.000
20,090

I 0,000

 

mo 19so_ use 
L?me'rs I suck -

 

Non-attending students.

Percent?a?ol school- -age children' In
Dayton do not attend Dayton schools

18'

 

190 1930 .1933

 

SOURCE: .3. Census Bureau and Dayton
oily schools. Based on 1980 school district
boundaries.

 

STAFF 

 

Christian) o??rs a

better quality edit--
cation. Dayton Christian
ej?red more coarses, es- 7' 
pecially in the sciences. The 
.clasies are smaller, 15 .1
(students) compared think they 
haVe more control ov?r__ i
drugs.? 

6 think (Dayton



Brian Goaden
Dayton Christian student

 

 

 

 

 

 

- .BILI. 

Ride on schobl bus may be?om?l'??s' common;

.