EDUC361 A:

Oppression Through Policy

April 30, 2014

Agenda
Upcoming Assignments

Debrief on Guest Speakers

Clip from Oprah

History of Busing and Seattle Neighborhood Schools
Parents involved in community schools v. Seattle
School District No. 1
White flight
Midquarter Feedback

By the end of this class you

should have a clearer idea of.

the consequences housing laws had on the education

system

what White Flight means

Seattles history in school assignment

Upcoming Assignments
Special Collections Trip (May 7): Due NEXT week
Breakout Presentations: Update (May 14), Due (May
19)

HSL, are you it? Do you have a co-lead?

Return completed rubric to DPC (May 23rd)

Neighboring School/Bussing Model Debate (May

21)

Why debate?
Prep time in class on May 14

Upcoming Weeks
Week 6: Guest Speaker (Kent Superintendent Dr.
Vargas)

Special Collections due

Week 7: Debate Prep

Update on Breakout Presentation

Week 8: Neighboring School/ Bussing Model Debate

Breakout Presentations (Monday)

Turn in Rubric (Friday)

Debrief on Guest Speakers

What was your biggest take away from their
experience and presentations?
How can we apply their activism to our work in the
Dream Project?
Any questions left?

What was your reaction to the

two schools?
Do you see these inequalities in
Seattle Schools?
What are ways you believe
these inequalities can be fixed?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kpfMD9gWNf8

Brief history on Seattle Public

Schools: Busing

1962: National Association for the Advancement of

Colored People (NAACP) against the Seattle School Board

1963: As a solution, the School Board adopted a

program allowing students to voluntarily transfer from
one school to another to ease racial imbalances

1972: the Seattle School District launched the first phase

of mandatory busing to integrate its schools.
1981: Seattle Plan- nearly 40 percent of all the district's
students were being bused for racial reasons.

Busing
Positives

Weaknesses

No violence
associated
In 1977, 65 percent of
the district's students
were white; by 1995,
the proportion had
dropped to 40 percent
(where it remains)

disproportionately
burdened children of
color
undercut academic
achievement
inhibited parental
involvement
contributed to "white
flight"

historylink.org/index.cfm?DisplayPage=output.cfm&file_id=3939

White Flight
Some white parents were taking their children out of public
schools in Seattle simply because they did not want them bused
out of their neighborhoods

White enrollment dropped by 28 percent in the first three years of

busing, with many students moving to the suburbs or private schools.
(Minority enrollment over the same period went up about 10 percent.)

District response: added more and more "options" intended to appeal

to middle-class parents, from "alternative" classrooms to programs for
gifted students Segregated classrooms in integrated schools

Pair& Share:
How did this impact the schools you attended? The school you
visit? What were peoples motivations to leave the cities?

PARENTS INVOLVED IN COMMUNITY SCHOOLS v. SEATTLE

SCHOOL DISTRICT NO. 1: 2006

Argument:
the District used a system of tiebreakers to decide which
students would be admitted to the popular schools.
approximately 40% white and 60% non- white
At a particular school either whites or non-whites could
be favored for admission depending on which race would
bring the racial balance closer to the goal.

PARENTS INVOLVED IN COMMUNITY SCHOOLS v. SEATTLE

SCHOOL DISTRICT NO. 1
Result:
By a 5-4 vote, the Court applied a "strict scrutiny"
framework and found the District's racial tiebreaker
plan unconstitutional under the Equal Protection
Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment. Chief Justice
John Roberts wrote in the plurality opinion that "The way
to stop discrimination on the basis of race is to
stop discriminating on the basis of race.

END OF BUSING!
http://www.oyez.org/cases/20002009/2006/2006_05_908#opinion

Students still can apply to attend

any school but won't get in if
those who live within the school's
boundaries fill it up first. The
district also won't provide as
much bus transportation even In returning to a neighborhoodbased assignment system, many
to alternative schools, which
won't have boundaries, and have School Board members have said
segregation in Seattle
been all-city draws
neighborhoods is a societal
problem too big for the district to
solve alone, and they'd rather
spend money improving
instruction than busing students
across the city whether for
integration purposes or to
provide parents with choices
Some think the board is moving
about where their children go to
too fast drawing boundaries
school.
before it can assure that
students will get a high-quality
education at all its schools.
http://seattletimes.com/html/localnews/2010303704_webboundary

Mid-quarter Feedback
DONT PUT YOUR NAME
What do you find most beneficial to your learning in this
seminar so far?
What would you have changed or would like improved
for the remainder of the quarter?

Next week
Special Collections is due
Guest Speaker: Kent Superintendent Dr. Vargas
For participation bring in a question for him, will collect
at end of class
PLEASE BE ON TIME!