Report raises question - Why?

As I read the Southeast Missourian article last Sunday ("Jefferson's Challenge"), I continued to ask myself the same question I repeatedly asked the reporter and managing editor as they were collecting information: Why?

Why characterize a productive multicultural learning community as racially imbalanced and teetering on the edge of a federal violation?

Why grossly misapply a Civil Rights Project research study to our district?

Why suggest that a substandard educational environment exists instead of celebrating that the opposite is true?

The paper stated that the Cape Girardeau School District was "teetering on the brink of a federal violation." The author quotes Dr. Charles I. Rankin, director of the Midwest Equity Assistance Center, as stating that federal guidelines exist that prohibit schools from exceeding 51 percent minority enrollment, calling it a "violation." We have confirmed with Rankin's office that being racially identifiable is not a violation of any federal law or guideline, and schools are no longer automatically "flagged" for exceeding 51 percent minority enrollment.

Many schools around the nation could be considered racially identifiable, but no violation is considered in the absence of a complaint. If a complaint is made, additional factors such as inferior facilities, inequitable funding and unavailability of educational materials and supplies would be examined.

I can confidently state that there would be no finding of violation at Jefferson Elementary School.

Let me share with you the information that was shared with the reporter during our interviews.

The quality of Jefferson's teaching staff is exceptional, with 100 percent of the staff fully certified for their teaching assignments and almost 50 percent with advanced degrees.

Jefferson receives the same base amount of money per student as every other elementary school in the district. On top of this, because of the high number of at-risk students there (measured by their free- and reduced-lunch count), Jefferson is eligible to receive federal Title I money. The result of this is that Jefferson actually receives more money per student than any attendance center in the district.

Also, in response to the at-risk population at Jefferson, Title I money has been used to hire a teacher assistant for each grade level, further enabling our staff there to provide individualized attention to meet the unique needs of each child. We have also hired an additional "classroom reduction" teacher for Jefferson through state grant funds, the purpose of which is to allow districts at no local cost to hire additional teachers to reduce teacher-pupil ratios. A second classroom reduction teacher is being considered at Jefferson for next year.

Further, Jefferson participates fully in all districtwide elementary programming (for example, Accelerated Reader, Balanced Literacy, after-school tutoring).

The article focuses on conclusions from a Civil Rights Project study from Harvard University. The article accurately acknowledges that schools in the study are districts with more than 25,000 students but somehow ignores the fact that there is absolutely no research to show any correlations between these large, urban, inner-city districts and our rural-metropolitan district of approximately 4,000 students, regardless of what the author, Chungmei Lee, may claim.

Lee's conclusion is that "schools with higher [populations of] minority students do worse" because there are fewer resources available. The information about Jefferson above clearly demonstrates that applying her results to the Cape Girardeau School District is the worst possible misuse of research.

We continue to monitor a multitude of issues related to our districtwide restructuring, including our first year with K-4 buildings. We will, as always, continue to monitor the demographics and achievement scores of all of our buildings and consider all alternatives, from instructional strategies to changing school boundaries, to address concerns.

And, on behalf of the parents of children attending Jefferson Elementary School and the staff that works there who are confused about how the paper could get this so wrong, I will continue to wonder: Why?

Mark Bowles the superintendent of the Cape Girardeau School District.