Illustration by Doug Fuchs
I have advocated for equity in public education and housing choice for more than a decade. I have been blessed with colleagues on the Chesterfield County School Board who have worked diligently to provide equitable educational opportunities throughout the county.
About 10 years ago, the operating budget for Chesterfield County Public Schools was slashed by about $70 million during a two-year span. Just as the face of public education and of our community was changing, our schools lost teachers, programs and benefits. As we started to regain our footing several years ago, we purposely avoided the one-size-fits-all model and became intentional about reinvesting in public education. When possible, the Chesterfield School Board has made an effort to provide a level playing field for all students, realizing not every child learns in the same manner or comes to us with the same skill sets.
During the last four years, we’ve added 200-plus teachers and student support positions. These efforts have reduced class sizes for students identified as being at risk of failing academically because of poverty or other factors, provided additional opportunities for electives at the middle-school level and increased the number of staff working with English-language learners and students with special needs. We also introduced new programs to support a variety of student needs. Teaching skills associated with student health and well-being is a necessity in the trauma-filled world in which we live. We’re teaching students how to peacefully solve conflicts, collaborate and develop workable solutions, and we’re training staff members to support students in crisis.
The results of reallocating resources and positions have been positive in addressing student achievement and student discipline and the accreditation of all of our schools. Achievement gaps in reading for economically disadvantaged students have been cut in half (from 24 to 12 percent) during the last four years, and math gaps for Hispanic students have declined from 11 to 5 percent. The number of students involved in behavior-related disciplinary incidents has decreased by more than 50 percent during the last four years.
Our students are performing better in healthier, more secure learning environments. Our efforts are limited, however, by housing policies and, ultimately, by parents’ choices.
Study after study tells us that students learn best in economically diverse schools, but our housing policies work against this dynamic. For example, if only one small area of our county contains affordable housing, all of our families with the highest needs will be forced to live in that area. It will take more resources to educate their children. They will have fewer job opportunities where they live, because businesses locate where people can afford to buy their products and services. These families will have the longest commutes for medical care, grocery shopping and child care.
Some would argue that educational policies — busing, charter schools, etc. — can address these challenges; but why should we settle for temporary, unsustainable and expensive fixes, when we know permanent solutions reside in other policies? Those include housing policies that don’t re-concentrate poverty, but rather support economically integrated communities. Housing policies that don’t mandate large lots and expensive architectural guidelines on every property in single-family neighborhoods. Policies that allow everyone to find affordable housing in high-performing school zones.
But policies can only open the door for change. Policy shifts will not improve our schools until parents choose to live in community with one another. I see our country becoming more and more divided over our differences. Where we choose to live exacerbates these divisions.
There’s something to be learned from raising your children in communities with other families who don’t look like you or necessarily think like you; who don’t always speak your language, and whose wallet might not be as thick as yours. When we live together, we begin to know one another; and then “love thy neighbor” can supplant “fear thy neighbor.”
Our family lives in an integrated school zone in eastern Chesterfield where our three children attend a Title I elementary school with an even mix of white, black and Latino families and a 50/50 split of economically advantaged and disadvantaged students as measured by free and reduced lunch qualifications.
At our house, awareness of these differences has led to a lot of conversations about how what we consider “normal” is not someone else’s normal, and that’s OK. I often question whether a more homogeneous school setting would make parenting a bit easier for us — fewer teachable moments, fewer difficult conversations.
But these challenges also engender empathy, understanding and social awareness; my husband and I are better parents because of it.
As long as affluent families continue to choose to live in neighborhoods that are de facto segregated, all the policies in the world won’t change our communities or our schools. Our choices drive policy, not the other way around. Where you choose to live matters for all children.
A lawyer who practices in real estate, construction, land use, estate use and corporate entity structuring, Carrie Coyner has represented the Bermuda District on the Chesterfield County School Board since 2012.
