Recently The New York Times featured a story about Minneapolis’s new plan for integration, but it seems few are buying in. Simply put, the plan was to rezone homes in an attempt to force families in majority white neighborhoods to attend North High, a majority black high school. The title of the article was, “White Families Asked to Help do the Integrating.” But in reality, was anyone asked? Not really. There is so much more to this story than race, and there is another policy solution available that communities could implement and actually ask or encourage families to help with integration.  

More Complex than Meets the Eye

Eric Moore, the senior officer for accountability, research and equity for Minneapolis Public Schools was quoted saying, “Everyone wants equity as long as it doesn’t inconvenience them.” But this comment is quite the slap-in-the-face for hard working parents, particularly in a year of job upheaval, open and shut school districts, and cultural turmoil. Even before pandemic life though, sending a child to school completely changes the culture of family life. Sleep routines, food routines, work schedules, transportation can all be controlled by a school system’s policies. To call moving schools an “inconvenience” is either unknowledgeable or insensitive to the complexity of a home. Forcing families to change schools is much more than an inconvenience as school decisions are heavily weighed, invested in, and pursued. But we agree that equity is worth pursuing, so are school reassignments the answer?

Prior to the reassignments, many, many families found North High a distasteful school, both white families and families of color. The New York Times article makes this pretty clear. But, of course, journalists also found a woman who graduated from the neighborhood school 54 years ago, who is still dedicated to her alma mater. But the reported enrollment numbers told a different story. Many of the families who were still at North High were likely stuck there because they could not afford to move, could not pay for private school, or could not handle the “inconveniences” that would have been necessary to make another option a reality. So, reassigning children to a school where few want to attend, black or white, seems like a problematic idea.

And then there were the families who The NYT argued were wrestling with their “progressive values.” But were they? When any family chooses a school, there are often many values they are weighing before they ever get to values around racism. For some families, the choices are necessity-based - “Which schools get free breakfast? Which schools open the earliest?” 

But for other families, the choices might be based more on what families believe to be best for children.  Parents may be concerned about an overuse of screens or how much time a child gets to be outside or how much homework a school requires. Ultimately, these values may take precedence over values on diversity. No school is perfect and has EVERY option. So families are always weighing what matters most, and that looks different for every family. 

Take, for example, the story of the woman whose daughter was being moved from the school they lived close to and was reassigned to North High. Her daughter’s commute became nearly an hour from their home. When the mother was interviewed, she was furious that the reasons she thought North High wasn’t a fit for her family were disregarded and that she was labeled as a racist. 

But there were a few families who were okay with the change. Take, for example, this family from a follow-up article on the integration plan. For them, commuting to the new school was easier than other choices, and their kids did not care where they attended school. And once school started, the reassignment was a good fit. The parent interviewed never took the attitude of “we’re staying here because we value diversity the most and want to be a part of integration.” In fact, he argued, “If, today, he was miserable in school and he was failing out and he wasn’t learning anything and he was in danger, I would be moving his school.”  In other words, this school checked the most important boxes for his children, so they were willing to stay. It was a very fortunate situation for them, but maybe not the right situation for everyone else.

A Better Solution:

Instead of forcing families into schools without their consent, what if there were incentives for living in a diverse, equitable community? Schools are not the only place Americans have struggled with integration. Neighborhoods have often been places that are divided both by race and income level. But research suggests that neighborhood integration is as valuable for life outcomes as school integration. Still, because low-income neighborhoods are often in failing school districts, those with higher incomes often move away from low-income communities. 

But would families choose diverse neighborhoods with more reasonably priced real estate if they did not have to attend the failing school zoned for the neighborhood? Research suggests, YES. If middle class families can live in a lower-income community with good school options, many will.  Families who own property in poorer neighborhoods and who have children are more likely to stay in the neighborhood if they have school options.

Solving gentrification concerns is certainly important, which we address here and here. But don’t start worrying about too much success before you consider the difference. The key variable between reassigning and allowing for education options is the “asking.” In the first scenario, families were forced to be a part of integration, to put diversity over all other family concerns. But by offering an opportunity to families to choose diversity and integration without asking them to also sacrifice other essential family values, you are allowing them to say YES to integration. 

There is a policy that allows special school scholarships for families who choose to move to or stay in low-income communities. But the North High project only seems to be causing more and more frustration. Families and teachers dedicated to North High dread being asked to cater to families who don’t want to be there. But wouldn’t everyone in this situation feel different if families were actually choosing their school, their community for themselves? Check out what that might look like here

PS - This is our last post from the holidays. Look for a message from us in the new year!