N.C. school diversity plan: a policy, not a panacea

Ms. Brennan said that the diversity policy in Wake County, N.C., was responsible for the reassignment of 60,000 students over 10 years. This is scapegoating. Ms. Brennan has to know that historic population growth in Wake County prompted the construction of 48 schools in that 10-year period. These new schools needed to be filled with students, which triggered the reassignment of 46,000 children.

Furthermore, the diversity policy was never meant to be a panacea for the achievement gap between white students and students of color. It was meant to lay a foundation of academic success for all students and to avoid the creation of high-poverty, racially identifiable schools. The work of closing the achievement gap can take place only if everyone in the community turns his or her attention to addressing institutionalized racism and seeking equity for all students.

For Ms. Brennan to characterize the diversity policy as a failure provides a convenient straw man for her attack. She and those she represents have used the academic struggles of poor children as the excuse to execute a reprehensible agenda: the purging of poor children from suburban schools.

Calla Wright, Raleigh, N.C.

The writer is president of the Coalition of Concerned Citizens for African American Children.

Printed Sunday, January 30, 2011, Washington Post