Tyrone N. Butts
APE Reporter
16
Diversity numbers declining at Sands
MOUNT WASHINGTON - Sands Montessori lost some of its black students after a move to a mostly white neighborhood two years ago, and parents worry the school is losing its diversity - a central philosophy of the magnet program.
So eight parents have formed a diversity committee, tracking diversity statistics and holding recruitment meetings throughout the city.
They want to preserve the history of the school, which is billed as the first public Montessori school in the nation.
"One of main reasons we chose to go to Sands was because of the diversity," said Marina Hopkins, an Evanston resident and diversity committee member whose two daughters attend Sands.
Her oldest daughter attende
d the school when it was in the West End.
Parents say cultural,
socioeconomic and racial diversity are necessary for the magnet program to be successful. The school was created as part of Cincinnati Public Schools' historic desegregation lawsuit.
Magnet schools such as Sands, which draw students from outside their neighborhoods, opened throughout Cincinnati in the 1970s as a way to create diverse schools.
One of the tenets of the Montessori method, a theory of education created by an Italian doctor, is that children should experience diversity.
Sands had been in the West End, a predominantly black neighborhood, for more than two decades. The students and faculty moved to Mount Washington in 2002 because the 92-year-old, crumbling West End building was scheduled to close.
While some parents were relieved to leave the deteriorating building, hundreds more fought the decision to move. Some parents believe the move across town caused the decline of black students.
Before the move, just over half the student body was black, 35 percent white and the
rest other minorities.
This year, according to a count by parents from the school's roster, the schools' students are 37 percent black, 51 percent white, and 12 percent other minorities.
While those numbers might seem to add up to good racial balance, the current enrollment trends tell a different story. Jennifer Strom, a Hyde Park resident and one of the parents on the diversity committee, said only 26 percent of today's kindergartners are black. That's a big contrast to the sixth grade, where 62 percent are black.
But Sands' parents, known to be some of the most involved of any district school, are working to recruit families of different backgrounds, and they hope their efforts will reverse the trend.
They have created a diversity belief statement and distributed material about Sands in day-care centers across the city.
They are trying to re
cruit families from predominantly African-American and low-income neighborhoods, and created a buddy system to pair parents
of different races. They have staffed information booths at carnivals, kindergarten fairs and district events.
On Jan. 24, the district's general enrollment sign-up date for magnet schools, the parents will see if their efforts pay off.
"Hopefully, with the recruitment efforts, we will get more minority families standing in line on Jan. 24 to sign up kids," Hopkins said. "It'll help maintain the values and the key ingredients that is important for the Montessori philosophy."
Principal Sharon McCreary said she's fortunate the parents are trying so hard to maintain the school's diversity.
"They are the ones recruiting and having the meetings and that is so awesome," she said. "I think our children will be the melting pot. They will be the ones to see people not for the color of t
heir skin or their ethnicity.
"It's important they experience being with different people so that in the future they will be accepting of folks no matter who they are."
**************
But you still do, don't you! :rotfl:
T.N.B.
Diversity numbers declining at Sands
MOUNT WASHINGTON - Sands Montessori lost some of its black students after a move to a mostly white neighborhood two years ago, and parents worry the school is losing its diversity - a central philosophy of the magnet program.
So eight parents have formed a diversity committee, tracking diversity statistics and holding recruitment meetings throughout the city.
They want to preserve the history of the school, which is billed as the first public Montessori school in the nation.
"One of main reasons we chose to go to Sands was because of the diversity," said Marina Hopkins, an Evanston resident and diversity committee member whose two daughters attend Sands.
Her oldest daughter attende
d the school when it was in the West End.
Parents say cultural,
socioeconomic and racial diversity are necessary for the magnet program to be successful. The school was created as part of Cincinnati Public Schools' historic desegregation lawsuit.
Magnet schools such as Sands, which draw students from outside their neighborhoods, opened throughout Cincinnati in the 1970s as a way to create diverse schools.
One of the tenets of the Montessori method, a theory of education created by an Italian doctor, is that children should experience diversity.
Sands had been in the West End, a predominantly black neighborhood, for more than two decades. The students and faculty moved to Mount Washington in 2002 because the 92-year-old, crumbling West End building was scheduled to close.
While some parents were relieved to leave the deteriorating building, hundreds more fought the decision to move. Some parents believe the move across town caused the decline of black students.
Before the move, just over half the student body was black, 35 percent white and the
rest other minorities.
This year, according to a count by parents from the school's roster, the schools' students are 37 percent black, 51 percent white, and 12 percent other minorities.
While those numbers might seem to add up to good racial balance, the current enrollment trends tell a different story. Jennifer Strom, a Hyde Park resident and one of the parents on the diversity committee, said only 26 percent of today's kindergartners are black. That's a big contrast to the sixth grade, where 62 percent are black.
But Sands' parents, known to be some of the most involved of any district school, are working to recruit families of different backgrounds, and they hope their efforts will reverse the trend.
They have created a diversity belief statement and distributed material about Sands in day-care centers across the city.
They are trying to re
cruit families from predominantly African-American and low-income neighborhoods, and created a buddy system to pair parents
of different races. They have staffed information booths at carnivals, kindergarten fairs and district events.
On Jan. 24, the district's general enrollment sign-up date for magnet schools, the parents will see if their efforts pay off.
"Hopefully, with the recruitment efforts, we will get more minority families standing in line on Jan. 24 to sign up kids," Hopkins said. "It'll help maintain the values and the key ingredients that is important for the Montessori philosophy."
Principal Sharon McCreary said she's fortunate the parents are trying so hard to maintain the school's diversity.
"They are the ones recruiting and having the meetings and that is so awesome," she said. "I think our children will be the melting pot. They will be the ones to see people not for the color of t
heir skin or their ethnicity.
"It's important they experience being with different people so that in the future they will be accepting of folks no matter who they are."
**************
But you still do, don't you! :rotfl:
T.N.B.