Georgia schools becoming resegregated
Immigration, living patterns, parental desire for
neighborhood schools are bringing change.

By Leon Stafford
Atlanta Journal-Constitution Staff Writer

Forty-five years after the Supreme Court paved the way for integration in education, metro Atlanta's schools are increasingly becoming black or white.

And, in many cases, Hispanic.

An Atlanta Journal-Constitution analysis of National Center for Education Statistics numbers on the racial makeup of Georgia schools from 1993-94 to 1997-98 found:

Fueled by immigration patterns and the suburban dispersal of a growing black middle class, overall diversity in Georgia's public schools has increased significantly in the past five years.

The number of schools that were at least 90 percent white declined by 23 percent. However, the number of schools that were at least 90 percent minority increased 21 percent.

The changes mirror a national trend away from integrated schools, noted Gary Orfield in a Harvard University study on segregation. The report found that the South, in particular, was becoming resegregated, stepping away from school integration that defined the civil rights era. Hispanic students have become the most segregated population.

Orfield contends a danger of resegregation is that schools whose populations are dominated by minorities have a greater chance of performing poorly academically because the students are more likely to be economically disadvantaged. The scenario is particularly disturbing at a time of rising academic standards.

Metro Atlanta school officials and minority rights activists aren't surprised by the trend lines. And many do not see the trend toward single-race schools as necessarily bad.

The demographics, they say, have changed steadily over the years, especially as Atlanta's suburbs grow out from the city core. Minority parents, seeing their children bused farther and farther to continue integration, are embracing neighborhood schools.

The emphasis, many say, should be on improving curriculum.

That's happening in DeKalb, which last year had a student population that was 76 percent black, 12 percent white and 11 percent other races, said Superintendent James Hallford.

Focusing on 25 low-performing schools, all of which were predominantly black or Hispanic, DeKalb officials found they needed to improve attendance, lower the student-teacher ratio, adjust their reading and math focus, change the pace of classroom instruction and get parents involved. Officials designed individual school plans for those where English is a second language.

"Our success is a bit more modest than I would like it to be," Hallford said. "The best thing about this is it is moving in the right direction."

And while the numbers show that integration is a moot point in DeKalb, Hallford is not ready to give up. He plans to appoint a task force soon to look at alternatives to the district's Majority-to-Minority transfer program, which allows students from majority black schools to transfer to majority white or Hispanic schools.

The school board voted to phase out M-to-M after a conservative group threatened to sue, claiming the program unfairly favored black students.

Longtime proponents of integration, such as the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, have had a change of heart concerning schools that are predominantly minority. John Evans, president of the NAACP's DeKalb County chapter, said the time has come for schools with predominantly black student bodies to become centers of academic excellence.

"We've got to stop complaining so much and get our act together in our community," he said.

Ted Hamann, an assistant professor of education at the University of Georgia who studied Hispanic students in Georgia public schools for his doctoral dissertation, said school diversity is still a worthy goal, especially for Latino students.

Because metro Atlanta's Hispanic community has not yet attained political influence, there is a risk that the resources needed for Latino students will be overlooked because they are not at school with the general population. "In the absence of a voice, segregated schools are highly troubling," Hamann said.

Changing housing patterns have been the motivator in the swing in school demographics, research shows. White families are moving farther out to the exurbs of metro Atlanta while black families are moving into suburban neighborhoods closer in. Hispanic families are clustering in pockets, specifically along the Buford Highway corridor.

But in places like Clayton County, the demographic shift has resulted from an influx of black families moving into the community. And the changes have been significant.

The 20 schools that had a shift from majority white to majority black populations experienced drops in white enrollment of 16 to 38 percentage points, while black enrollment increased by 11 to 35 percentage points.

Joe Hairston, Clayton County school superintendent, said the demographic change has meant training teachers to understand cultural differences and different learning patterns.

Many of the 1,100 new students who enroll in the system each year have reading deficiencies, which means the district has to work harder to bring them up to speed.

And while a large number of the minority families moving into Clayton are middle class, Hairston said, the district has had a significant increase in the proportion of students receiving free and reduced-price lunches.

"We are in the midst of this struggle as we speak," he said.

Joan Wynne, associate director of Georgia State University's Center for Urban Educational Excellence -- founded three years ago to help train teachers on minority issues -- said the challenge for school systems with predominantly minority populations is changing attitudes that their charges are inherently poor academically.

It also will require the school districts to more aggressively seek out minority educators, and push white teachers -- who make up 80 percent of Georgia's educators -- to adapt their teaching methods to a different culture.

Lyndon Wade, president of the Atlanta Urban League, said he still supports integration, but recognizes that housing patterns have dictated a different reality. Schools will be integrated when neighborhoods are integrated, he said.

"It's not going to come about by revolution, but by evolution," he said. "It's just going to take a long time."