Students Doe Exhibit 52Fro DD redistricting, what else? ; Subject: Hey Ted, have been thinking about the diversity or lack there of issues at Harriton if we go to the Moditied September Pian. 1 know you are not an educator and you are counting on Chris to give you guidance, bul you are a thoughtful enough guy to think some things through on your own, , “There is research that shows that one of the main reasons why African American and low income students perform poorly in school has a lotto do withthe stressors in their lives outside of schoo! (e. single parents, nol knowing when or what they will eat, worries about transportation, etc) Ifwe are serious about addressing the achievement gap, we should do ‘whatever isin our power to reduce the stress on those students. The less stress, the more likely they are to improve. performance, and the more likely we are to help them clase the achievement gap. | believe that moving any of the low income and African American students to Harriton when they can walk to LM simply Creates an additional stressor thal doesn't need to be there. We are basically asking the AA kids in Ardmore to “take one forthe team’ for the AA kids in other areas of the district. The AA families tnal moved into the district outside the Ardmore area knew they were moving into a fairly white community. Pertiaps they chose thal for their family. tf they wanted an. ‘African American community they would have chosen Ardmore. Furthermore, 1am still not convinced that there is a significant difference between 50 and 80 kids—or even between 50 ‘and 100 kids. There just aren'ta ot of AA families in LMSD to begin with, so I don't think increasing the diversity numbers ‘marginally al HH in return for a reduced watk zone is woah the effect it has on all the other families (including the non ‘minority families who are getting caughl up in the sweep to bring kids to HH.) ‘As for Narberth, thought the older gentleman who spoke last night was very helpful. He didn’t get to finish his remarks. 0 I went oul and asked him. He and his wife had 6 kids in 7 years, They walked to LM from McGlenghan Mill Road. He ‘doesn't think they would have been able to manage if they hadn't been able to walk. Many of the folks in Narberth (and the PV area of Ardmore) have bigger families. The walking éssue is bigger to them than a family ke mine with just 2 kids. ‘And I personally think that there is mesit in considering that many of those families bought their house so they could walk No LM. Iisn' a deal breaker, but itis certainly something to be considered, | really think that walking is more than a simple convenience. Itis a necessity for alot ofthe families close to LM and | think we need to consider that moving forward, Thanks, Diane LMsDTL000268