Plano ISD School Zone Realignment (Dallas, Murphy: transfer to, neighborhoods, school districts)

[pepper131]

Originally Posted by Grainraiser

From a outsider it seems to me Plano is facing the same problems DISD had during the 70's. Demographics are changing and seems Plano is starting to feel the effects. I'm sure many of those folks will move to Allen or Frisco and the cycle will start all over again.

It would be funny if they moved back to Dallas.

[Lakewooder]

Perhaps we should invite them to this: DALLAS | NOV 19: Free Parents’ Night Out, Wine Tasting & Silent Auction at Times Ten Cellars to benefit Lipscomb Elementary! | In The Loop Kids

[pepper131]

Totally seriously, LWer.
Just let them see how we ALL get along from various socio-economic backgrounds, ethnic backgrounds and thrive in it.

[FarNorthDallas]

This idea they are talking about of making a 4 year magnet high school sounds like it might be a good solution.

[Big G]

Originally Posted by FarNorthDallas

This idea they are talking about of making a 4 year magnet high school sounds like it might be a good solution.

I sure hope so, since it was quite clear from the meeting that this is the route they will be taking.

I think it's asking all the parents, especially the eastsiders, to buy a pig in a poke.

[tyanger]

I think most people would agree that diversity in educational systems is generally a good thing. However, disagreements may arise from questions about the effectiveness of an artificially diverse environment, that is forced from the top down, in obtaining the desired positive outcomes.

Here's an interesting link highlighting all the great things that come along with a naturally diverse public school and surrounding community:
The Impact of Racial and Ethnic Diversity on Education Outcomes: Cambridge, MA School District (http://www.civilrightsproject.ucla.edu/research/diversity/cambridge_diversity.php - broken link)
It's all well and good - I can't find much wrong with the report, but I'm not sure how much of this would transfer to what's planned for PISD. The community as described in the link has almost no meaningful similarities with Plano that I can see. Also, many of the best (and worst) things cited towards the end of the full report illustrate that it often comes down to having the right teachers and counselors - or maybe it's having teachers and counselors with the right attitudes.

With respect to the posts on the older parts of Dallas maybe being somewhat similar to the school in the report - maybe getting to a good equilibrium is just part of the maturation process of a city/school district. I dunno - I don't really have a strong opinion either way it's just my 2 cents.

[Callo]

Honestly, I never thought this would happen to Plano. I was under the impression that it was super-expensive and therefore would be naturally impenetrable to low-income blacks and Hispanics. But it seems even Plano isn't immune to this country's race to the bottom. Honestly, that article just depresses the hell out of me.

It only confirms my fears that this country is on a collision course...

[TXNGL]

Re: the Cambridge, MA Study-

I haven't read the study yet, but can contribute some thoughts on it as I lived in Cambridge and worked with public school students there for many years. I can't think of one similarity between Cambridge and Plano. There was nothing "artificial" about the mix of people there. On my street alone you would have apt families on section 8, single family homes probably worth around $700,000, crappy apts like mine (LOL), nice apartments, etc...and all the people who lived in these various dwellings would be from every background you can imagine. I don't know what the zoning laws would be regarding how this was all worked out, it wasn't the type of thing that interested me back then. Cambridge is very old and very urban. People look at a map and think "suburb", but I could walk for 10-20 minutes (and we did a lot of walking up there!) and be in Boston. The urbaness and density being another huge difference between Plano and Cambridge.
Another difference, and I may get railed on here, we had families from all over the world in the program where I worked, but they were all in the US legally. Things may have changed since I left (1997), but as far as I know we weren't dealing with that issue up there. In my group of kids alone, I had at least 6 kids from various countries in Africa, for instance. Most of our Hispanic kids were from Puerto Rico. All of these kids (African, etc...) spoke English, even if it was their second language. The parents, many of them English learners, spoke enough to be able to communicate pretty well. We had a mix of incomes in our program, but most of our families were working class poor, including our English learners.
It was just a whole different scene up there than it is in Plano. The kids who were in school together also lived in each others neighborhoods, no matter what their socio-economic background. They were mixed all the time, not just for school.
Just some thoughts...

[Lakewooder]

Callo, with that attitude perhaps you had better move to the Park Cities.

[hsw]

Diversity takes many forms

Suspect any ambitious kid wants to learn to compete against the types of kids he'll see at leading colleges and will face in job interviews and as co-workers and bosses at places like Goldman or Google or Exxon or Apple

Senior executive suites of major global cos. have a Darwinian diversity (whichever guys can produce more profits for co. and can outcompete younger guys who want their job/pay/bonuses) that is different from random diversity of any major city or diversity of NBA/NFL....