Groups Mobilize to Protect Schools’ Voluntary Desegregation Policies
APA groups file amicus briefs in support of two school districts’ policies for achieving racial balance. At risk is the future of diversity in schools, the schools’ proponents say.
Asian Pacific American groups have filed amicus briefs in the United States Supreme Court to support two school districts’ voluntary racial integration policies.
The briefs filed Oct. 10 by the Asian American Legal Defense and Education Fund (AALDEF), Asian American Justice Center (AAJC) and over a dozen APA youth advocacy groups contend that two districts in Kentucky and Seattle proactively combat residential segregation by using race and other factors to determine where students should go to school.
The cases — Meredith v. Jefferson County Board of Education, et al., and Parents Involved in Community Schools v. Seattle School District No. 1 — are scheduled to go before the Supreme Court Dec. 4. A ruling could determine what schools can and cannot do to promote diversity in K-12 education.
Since 1997, students in the Seattle Public School District could apply to attend their school of choice. Ballard High School is one of several schools in the district that uses race as one of the factors to determine school assignment and to achieve racial balance. Ballard, which is located in the more affluent northern part of the city, is the first choice for many parents and students, so the district relies on a series of tiebreakers — first giving preference to students with siblings already attending the requested school, then second, looking at race.
The state’s highest court ruled the district’s student assignment policy does not violate equal protection rights, but parents of mostly Caucasian students appealed claiming reverse discrimination.
Rae Hanashiro, a Seattle-based middle school teacher, said race may have been a factor in determining where her then elementary school age daughters were going to get their education. The Hanashiros are one of the few ethnic families in their predominantly white neighborhood.
“So often, students are segregated by socio-economic status rather than rac
e, as are public schools. If a student of color is excluded from a higher achieving school because of where she lives, then perhaps race should be used so that she has the same opportunities that wealthier students have,” said Hanashiro, 49.
“I’m sure that the parents who filed this lawsuit have their own student’s best interests at heart, as do all parents. It does sadden me, though, that our public schools are not equal, that we have a number of schools that are perceived as being better than others,” she added.
Similarly the Jefferson County Public School District in Kentucky came under fire for their enrollment plan. To ensure schools didn’t have an overwhelming African American or Caucasian population, the voluntary integration plan directs the African American population at any school to be between 15-50 percent.
These cases have already ignited debate within the APA community over race and public education.
“These schools have chosen to take a proactive step in creating an integrated educational environment. Asian American students, just as all students, reap the benefit of an integrated education and become better prepared to enter an increasingly diverse world,” said Aimee Baldillo, AAJC’s director of programs in a statement.
Proponents of the schools’ integration plans say this isn’t just a black and white issue.
“We’re still contending with the model minority myth,” said Kohei Ishihara, director of the Providence Youth Student Movement in Rhode Island (PrYSM), a youth organizing and community support group for young Southeast Asians. The nonprofit organization continually fights for funding that they usually see go to aid other underserved ethnic groups, but every year, PrYSM struggles to guide young APAs living below the poverty line.
“Over half of our youths drop out of high school,” said Ishihara. If the Supreme Court ruling changes policies governing diversity, APAs would be directly affected.
“It’s not going to affect those who are doing well. The main threat is the underserved Asian Americans,” said Ishihara.
“To be frank, we felt like we needed to shut down this idea that Asians, as a category, are hurt by policies that address racial inequity,” said Helen Gym of Philadelphia’s Asian Americans United (AAU), another amici group. “Claims that Asians benefit from the elimination of desegregation laws are in direct conflict with our experience in working with Asian children and families.”
In 2005, AAU founded the Folk Arts-Cultural Treasures Charter School, which serves a large and diverse population including many immigrant children and families who call Philadelphia their home.
“Philadelphia which is composed of neighborhoods long segregated by class and race, has a school system which reflects its neighborhoods. In our experience, we’ve found that segregated environments are often not welcoming or, in some cases, safe environments for our youth. On the other hand, in systems where cultural and racial diversity is not just ‘tolerated’ but enforced, Asian American students benefit, just as all students do,” said Gym.
Many organizations are planning a march on Washington, D.C. Dec. 4, when oral arguments are scheduled to be heard.
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