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School boards fail ethnic-diversity test
Mel Melà ©ndez
The Arizona Republic
Mar. 18, 2004 12:00 AM
It was 1988, and Phoenix resident Andrew M. Sandoval had grown weary of sending his children to Mitchell Elementary School, which had few minority teachers.
So he ran for the Isaac Elementary School Board, where he has helped hire more minority teachers and administrators, including the predominantly Hispanic school district's first bilingual, Latino superintendent, to better serve minority students.
"Minority students often struggle academically because of language and cultural issues, so it's critical that we have leaders that understand those
struggles," said the 52-year-old father of four and president of the Isaac School Board. "That's difficult to do when it's an all-White board looking from the outside in. That's why mi
nori
ties need to seek these slots."
Yet few do.
Although U.S.
census figures show Valley schools becoming increasingly diverse, most district governing boards fail to reflect that diversity.
Some educators view the shortage as the proverbial kiss of death for many of the state's 487,000 minority students, especially Latinos, who in Arizona drop out at nearly twice the rate of all students nationwide. What's more, Latino, Black and Native American high-schoolers are twice as likely as Anglo students to fail the Arizona Instrument to Measure Standards test.
"History shows that many of the policies enacted by mostly White boards do not favor students of color," said Leonard A. Valverde, executive director of the Hispanic Border Leadership Institute, a s
even-university consortium based at Arizona State University that focuses on Latino education issues. "But if we'd had more minorities serving (on boards), this dropout epidemic would have beco
me a matter
of greater urgency. It would have become personal."
School officials say finding people of any
ethnicity willing to run for a school board seat is a challenge because of the workload, lack of pay and personal liability issues.
"It's a thankless job," said Charlotte Boyle, superintendent of Phoenix's Creighton District, where 90 percent of the students and one board member are minority.
A recent National School Boards Association survey indicates board members spend five to 20 hours a week on board affairs. Most serve without pay.
Some fear the politics of seeking these posts and for good reason, said Betty Ware, a loan-servicing agent who's completing her second term on the board of the Roosevelt Elementary District, where 96 percen
t of the students are minorities.
"It can get really ugly, which scares people off," said Ware, who is African-American. "But they need to run because having someone that look
s just like you bri
ngs a totally different dimension to that service . . . because now it's your people and not just an abstract issue." "
School districts steer clear o
f recruiting governing board candidates to avoid potential conflicts, said Panfilo Contreras, 57, executive director of the Arizona School Boards Association.
"If their candidate wins, they can be accused of having future votes in their pocket," he said.
Identifying the ethnicity of those serving on Arizona's 236 school boards is an even touchier subject, he added.
"We've tried to track board members' ethnicity. But they don't want to self-identify," Contreras said. "We'll get responses like 'None of your business.'"
Still, he estimates a
bout 10 percent of the state's 1,100 board members are Latino, 8 percent are Native Americans and less than 0.5 percent are Black or Asian-American.
"There are fewer than 10 Bla
ck board members in the who
le state and even fewer Asian-Americans," he said.
Board members can help identify those willing to serve because they're often in contact with those who are passionate about education, said Sandoval, an assistant principal at Jorgensen
Elementary in the Roosevelt District.
"Some folks are afraid to serve because they feel they need to be highly educated," he said. "But one of our most-effective (Isaac) board members only had a sixth-grade education."
Minority-leadership seminars, such as the ones offered by the Hispanic Border Leadership Institute, help prepare future board members, Sandoval said. But he'd like to see school districts hold informational seminars for those who can't afford out-of-town events.
"They coul
d do that without backing any one candidate," he said. "That would show that they're really serious about diversifying their boards."
Several inner-city Pho
enix school boards have a history o
f attracting minorities, including Roosevelt Elementary with three Latino and two Black members, and Isaac, which has four Latinos serving on its five-member board.
Others, including Alhambra and Osborn, where ethnic minorities are the majority at 80 percent or more, have no minority board members.
Phoe
nix Union was forced by a federal court in 1990 to switch from districtwide elections to a mostly ward system to increase minority representation. The seven-member board now has one African-American and three Latinos.
"That's good," said Phoenix parent Oscar Sotelo, who has four kids attending North High School. "As a Latino parent, I feel more comfortable speaking to a Latino board member. We speak the same language and can relate better becaus
e our kids experience the same stuff."
In the East Valley, Tempe Elementary and Tempe Union districts, where more than 70 languages are spoken, each has one minority board me
mber. Mesa Unified, the state's largest
school district, has never had a minority school board member despite its increasingly diverse student population. About 40 percent of its students are minorities.
The Paradise Valley and Peoria Unified districts, where minority students total 25 and 27 percent of district enrollment, respectively, have no Black, Latino, Asian-American o
r Native American board members. Even more-diverse school districts, such as Glendale Union, where nearly half of the students are ethnic minorities, have all-Anglo boards.
At the end of the day, it's not about minorities taking over school boards, just about adequate representation, Valverde said.
"It's not to say that White board members can't champion for minority students," he said. "But when you
have diverse boards, then everyone's voices get heard, and that's a very powerful thing."
http:/
/www.azcentral.com/arizonarepublic/n...tyboards18.html
School boards fail ethnic-diversity test
Mel Melà ©ndez
The Arizona Republic
Mar. 18, 2004 12:00 AM
It was 1988, and Phoenix resident Andrew M. Sandoval had grown weary of sending his children to Mitchell Elementary School, which had few minority teachers.
So he ran for the Isaac Elementary School Board, where he has helped hire more minority teachers and administrators, including the predominantly Hispanic school district's first bilingual, Latino superintendent, to better serve minority students.
"Minority students often struggle academically because of language and cultural issues, so it's critical that we have leaders that understand those
struggles," said the 52-year-old father of four and president of the Isaac School Board. "That's difficult to do when it's an all-White board looking from the outside in. That's why mi
nori
ties need to seek these slots."
Yet few do.
Although U.S.
census figures show Valley schools becoming increasingly diverse, most district governing boards fail to reflect that diversity.
Some educators view the shortage as the proverbial kiss of death for many of the state's 487,000 minority students, especially Latinos, who in Arizona drop out at nearly twice the rate of all students nationwide. What's more, Latino, Black and Native American high-schoolers are twice as likely as Anglo students to fail the Arizona Instrument to Measure Standards test.
"History shows that many of the policies enacted by mostly White boards do not favor students of color," said Leonard A. Valverde, executive director of the Hispanic Border Leadership Institute, a s
even-university consortium based at Arizona State University that focuses on Latino education issues. "But if we'd had more minorities serving (on boards), this dropout epidemic would have beco
me a matter
of greater urgency. It would have become personal."
School officials say finding people of any
ethnicity willing to run for a school board seat is a challenge because of the workload, lack of pay and personal liability issues.
"It's a thankless job," said Charlotte Boyle, superintendent of Phoenix's Creighton District, where 90 percent of the students and one board member are minority.
A recent National School Boards Association survey indicates board members spend five to 20 hours a week on board affairs. Most serve without pay.
Some fear the politics of seeking these posts and for good reason, said Betty Ware, a loan-servicing agent who's completing her second term on the board of the Roosevelt Elementary District, where 96 percen
t of the students are minorities.
"It can get really ugly, which scares people off," said Ware, who is African-American. "But they need to run because having someone that look
s just like you bri
ngs a totally different dimension to that service . . . because now it's your people and not just an abstract issue." "
School districts steer clear o
f recruiting governing board candidates to avoid potential conflicts, said Panfilo Contreras, 57, executive director of the Arizona School Boards Association.
"If their candidate wins, they can be accused of having future votes in their pocket," he said.
Identifying the ethnicity of those serving on Arizona's 236 school boards is an even touchier subject, he added.
"We've tried to track board members' ethnicity. But they don't want to self-identify," Contreras said. "We'll get responses like 'None of your business.'"
Still, he estimates a
bout 10 percent of the state's 1,100 board members are Latino, 8 percent are Native Americans and less than 0.5 percent are Black or Asian-American.
"There are fewer than 10 Bla
ck board members in the who
le state and even fewer Asian-Americans," he said.
Board members can help identify those willing to serve because they're often in contact with those who are passionate about education, said Sandoval, an assistant principal at Jorgensen
Elementary in the Roosevelt District.
"Some folks are afraid to serve because they feel they need to be highly educated," he said. "But one of our most-effective (Isaac) board members only had a sixth-grade education."
Minority-leadership seminars, such as the ones offered by the Hispanic Border Leadership Institute, help prepare future board members, Sandoval said. But he'd like to see school districts hold informational seminars for those who can't afford out-of-town events.
"They coul
d do that without backing any one candidate," he said. "That would show that they're really serious about diversifying their boards."
Several inner-city Pho
enix school boards have a history o
f attracting minorities, including Roosevelt Elementary with three Latino and two Black members, and Isaac, which has four Latinos serving on its five-member board.
Others, including Alhambra and Osborn, where ethnic minorities are the majority at 80 percent or more, have no minority board members.
Phoe
nix Union was forced by a federal court in 1990 to switch from districtwide elections to a mostly ward system to increase minority representation. The seven-member board now has one African-American and three Latinos.
"That's good," said Phoenix parent Oscar Sotelo, who has four kids attending North High School. "As a Latino parent, I feel more comfortable speaking to a Latino board member. We speak the same language and can relate better becaus
e our kids experience the same stuff."
In the East Valley, Tempe Elementary and Tempe Union districts, where more than 70 languages are spoken, each has one minority board me
mber. Mesa Unified, the state's largest
school district, has never had a minority school board member despite its increasingly diverse student population. About 40 percent of its students are minorities.
The Paradise Valley and Peoria Unified districts, where minority students total 25 and 27 percent of district enrollment, respectively, have no Black, Latino, Asian-American o
r Native American board members. Even more-diverse school districts, such as Glendale Union, where nearly half of the students are ethnic minorities, have all-Anglo boards.
At the end of the day, it's not about minorities taking over school boards, just about adequate representation, Valverde said.
"It's not to say that White board members can't champion for minority students," he said. "But when you
have diverse boards, then everyone's voices get heard, and that's a very powerful thing."
http:/
/www.azcentral.com/arizonarepublic/n...tyboards18.html