20 years of demographic change in Cuyahoga County schools (Cleveland, Akron: 2014, crime)

[Clevelander17]

Originally Posted by Urban Peasant

Nice post Doc Shaker! However, did you mean Moreland instead of Mercer? I thought Moreland was the predominantly Black neighborhood directly next to Mt. Pleasant and Mercer was that more affluent predominantly White neighborhood to the far northeast corner of Shaker Heights. Unless of course Moreland doesn't have an elementary school and kids living in that neighborhood are bused to schools in other neighborhoods.

When I visited Shaker Heights, I popped into the Shaker Heights Historical Society and one of the ladies there told me she knew a student of Chinese descent attending the University School who had just participated in some writing competition or something. So students of Asian heritage are around but perhaps more are attending private schools at the moment. From what I can see here on the East Coast, good schools are a huge draw but transit access and walkability also mean very much to Asians and Asian Americans to the extent that they like to buy in neighborhoods near rapid transit stations only. Still, our real estate is much more expensive and our Asian populations in urban areas are much larger so maybe there are more varieties of Asians making different choices I suppose. Maybe the ones living in Greater Cleveland prefer to drive than ride public transit.

There are about a dozen blocks south of Chagrin and west of Lee in Shaker Heights where students are actually assigned to attend Mercer Elementary School.

[Urban Peasant]

Originally Posted by Clevelander17

There are about a dozen blocks south of Chagrin and west of Lee in Shaker Heights where students are actually assigned to attend Mercer Elementary School.

I see. Makes sense given that Moreland doesn't have an elementary school although there might have been an ulterior reason for doing this way back in the day.

[Clevelander17]

Originally Posted by Urban Peasant

I see. Makes sense given that Moreland doesn't have an elementary school although there might have been an ulterior reason for doing this way back in the day.

If you look at a map of elementary districting in SH, it's appears likely that this was done to achieve a certain level of racial balance amongst the schools.

[averysgore]

Just think of it from the opposite perspective. In the 1970's, virtually every black person you'd ever meet attended a poor inner city school, and lacked opportunities for a better education in a suburban district. Even in 1992, the numbers are way lower than they are now. That's progress, isn't it?

[SquareBetterThanAll]

Originally Posted by averysgore

Just think of it from the opposite perspective. In the 1970's, virtually every black person you'd ever meet attended a poor inner city school, and lacked opportunities for a better education in a suburban district. Even in 1992, the numbers are way lower than they are now. That's progress, isn't it?

If one equates suburban educations as being superior. Of course, one could point fingers at a good number of suburban schools that are less than stellar in 2015.

[davesantos23]

Why does everyone make a big deal about demographics and race here in America. In Japan which is a developed Industrialized nation homeowners discriminate against foreigners and post in classified adds "No foreigners allowed to rent". Even Ms Japan who is half black is discriminated against and she mentions that people on the street and media try to keep away from her. Common guys. The rest of the world has these problems. The majority worse than America. We have to keep a balanced perspective and call out different countries equally.

[kpl1228]

Originally Posted by ECBeastor

It's not a valid concern, but racism and stereotyping are alive and well.

I can't tell you how many times I've met a young professional couple where one of them was raised somewhere like Bay Village, Fairview, Strongsville etc. that won't even consider looking at a house in a city like Shaker or Lakewood because they heard the high school or city was "going down". They've probably only ever visited those cities in small amounts but they have very strong, unshakable opinions about them.

LOVE this post. SO true. And so Cleveland.

[RaisedRustbelt]

Originally Posted by ECBeastor

It's not a valid concern, but racism and stereotyping are alive and well.

I can't tell you how many times I've met a young professional couple where one of them was raised somewhere like Bay Village, Fairview, Strongsville etc. that won't even consider looking at a house in a city like Shaker or Lakewood because they heard the high school or city was "going down". They've probably only ever visited those cities in small amounts but they have very strong, unshakable opinions about them.

Strongsvillian here, I would love to live somewhere in Cleveland Heights or Shaker Heights. I just recently visited shaker and I thought it was so beautiful! Strongsville is too suburban for me, I need to GTFO!!

[Walrus12]

Originally Posted by Cleverfield

Parma is without a doubt the most racist suburb in Northeast Ohio. The city has long been known for being very unwelcoming to black people. Heck they have a street called Whitehaven, that should tell you something.

Yes, I agree that it has a negative conotation. However, I wanted to look further into the original meaning and found this. I hope it helps, it did for me.
The name Whitehaven comes from the Old Scandinavian 'hvitr' + 'hofuth' + 'hafn', meaning 'harbour near the white headland'. In 1135 it was recorded as Qwithofhavene

[kpl1228]

Lakewood's is a tiny increase in African American and mostly an increase in South Asian and Middle Eastern, especially the latter.
Amazing how crazy, and how sensitive to race, that schools and the students' parents are in Ohio. Interesting, yet sad. Mostly just sad.
What does this say about us as a community and as a region? It's not 1955 anymore.