SCHOOLS: RACIAL DIVERSITY A MUST

Including cultural diversity as a factor in redrawing attendance area boundaries could protect Cape Girardeau School District from court-mandated bussing.

"What we've tried to do is try to make those boundaries so that we retain the neighborhood school concept but at the same time not end up with a school that's predominantly minority," said schools superintendent Dr. Dan Tallent of a recent redistricting proposal being considered by the Board of Education.

"We might end up in a situation like St. Louis and Kansas City," he said. "Their whole situation started with a case of someone bringing a lawsuit against the school district," he said of court-ordered desegregation.

Charles I. Rankin, director of the Midwest Desegregation Assistance Center in Manhattan, Kan., told Cape Girardeau school officials in 1993 that May Greene Elementary School was a racially identifiable school because of its large minority enrollment. Rankin said the school, which had a minority enrollment of about 64 percent at the time, was in violation of the 14th Amendment of the U.S. Constitution.

He recommended moving a number of students out of or into May Greene to alter the situation before a parent filed a lawsuit with the Office of Civil Rights. If successfully challenged on that basis, the district could lose federal funding, he said.

Rankin said in November 1993, "Basically, you have taken a group of citizens and gerrymandered them into a situation that makes them racially identifiable.

"They could say that children of color are not being treated fair," said Rankin. "If you were found guilty -- and in my opinion you probably would be -- you would lose control," he said.

The Midwest Desegregation Assistance Center is one of 10 regional centers in the country funded by the U.S. Department of Education. School districts are eligible to become client districts to receive assistance on desegregation issues.

Rankin said people mistakenly believe they determine where their children attend school by purchasing a home in a particular district. This practice is hazardous because it locks children into a lifestyle of poverty, he said.

"School breaks the cycle of poverty," Rankin said. "It allows children to see the other side of the fence."

Since Rankin's visit, several committees have been charged with redrawing elementary school attendance boundaries to improve the distribution of minorities throughout the school district. In 1997, the school board approved new boundaries that allowed almost all elementary buildings to have a minority population within 10 percent of the district's then-21 percent nonwhite population.

The minority population of the district has increased to about 25 percent. In January the Attendance Area Study Committee began reworking the numbers to improve minority and overall enrollment distribution.

If approved by the school board, minority enrollment at the schools under the new proposal would be: Jefferson, 38 percent; new elementary school Blanchard, 36 percent; Franklin, 23 percent; Clippard, 18 percent; and Alma Schrader, 10 percent. The board is seeking input on the proposal and could decide on boundaries in April.

"I think clearly we have a goal of not having a racially identifiable school, and we have put in place with this redistricting more than a good-faith effort to try and accomplish those goals," said school board president Dr. Ferrell Ervin.

Kathy Wolz, a committee member, said diversity was one of several issues being considered because of racial inequities throughout district buildings.

"Now it's better, but it's still not perfect," she said.

Most school board members agreed that diversity should have been a priority when considering redistricting. Racial and socio-economic diversity are life issues, and people who are not exposed to people of different cultures as children have a more difficult time adjusting as adults, they said.

"I think the whole object is that Cape Girardeau is becoming a colorblind community, and our schools need to reflect that," said school board member Mark Carver. "That is happening more with redistricting, and that's probably going to happen no matter where those lines are drawn."