White Flight From Louisville/Jefferson County Public Schools (sale, credit)

[Elaine S.]

The quality of the education a kid receives at any particular school in JCPS is only part of the issue. Say you live near a great school on the east side. Your job is 15 min. north of your house. Your kid doesn't get into the local school but, instead, is shipped across to the south side of town. Makes it a little harder to run that forgotten belt, lunch, permission slip to the school on your lunch hour, doesn't it? Using the same directions/distance, your son is dying to play on the school basketball team but can't because he absolutely has to take the bus home every afternoon so that means he can't make practice. Your daughter dreams of being part of a big college marching band some day and you dream of her qualifying for a band/music scholarship to help offset expenses but both of you lose because she can't stay after school or even go to the games on weekends because it's 40 min. each way and that's way, way too far to simply drop your kid off for practice. Or, you move onto what seems to be a great street full of kids your daughter's age only to discover that because of the screwed up school system none of the kids go to the same school. Some got into the local school, some get bussed across town, some have parents who got fed up and put them in parochial or private and some are going to magnet schools. These kids will never be able to talk about homework assignments, teachers, school events, or even peers or parties. Worse, the kids don't even get home at the same time so they can't even hang out easily or go to a neighborhood friend's house if something comes up & you're not there. And as for you, loving parent, how often are you going to be able to volunteer at a school that's across town? How much of a neighborhood cohesiveness are you going to feel when the local parents are just as scattered as the local kids? And school friendships are a huge deal to adults, too, especially if you're a transplant from another state and know no one in this town. I speak from personal experience. So while the quality of education is a huge deal and worthy of discussion, it's not the only mess created by JCPS.

[mrspink]

So, my husband and I have considered applying to JCPS because like somone else here, I attended a job fair and they seemed to be on top of things...but no mention of the bussing etc.

So, my issue is...we have a daughter and while she is only a few months old, we are both teachers and education is important to us. We were both active in athletics, music and school leadership so we want our daughter to be involved as well and to have friends she can be with that don't live 40 minutes away.

I guess I'm saying...I can teach anywhere. But I want my daughter to have the best education. There is no way to send her to one of the better schools in the county? It's just a "take what your given" kind of deal?

[Vex]

Wow I cannot believe that any school district is foolish enough to institute a busing program.

I'm from Buffalo, NY. Back in the late '60s, liberal judge Curtain (in his infinite wisdom) decided to mandate forced busing. While Buffalo was already experiencing a decline in population, this greatly exacerbated the problem.

There are numerous problem with forced busing:
1) It damages the social fabric and sense of community within neighborhoods
2) Schools teach to the lowest common denominator
3) It's costly: money could be much better spent elsewhere
4) The "one bad apple spoils the bunch" maxim seems to ring true
5) Parents of the adversely affected school children will move their families into better school districts that do not have this policy (white flight will increase)

Additional economic considerations:
1) Home values will immediately experience some decline due to this policy
2) As the schools deteriorate families will hasten their exodus from the city. This in turn will create an abundance of supply on the city's housing market and further drive down home values
3) As home values decline you will see an increase of 'undesirables' move into previously good neighborhoods. This will drive home prices even lower and lead to increased crime, forcing even more people (including those without children) out of the city.
4) The decline in home values will lead to lower tax revenues and the city will struggle with growing deficits

Today Buffalo has some of the worst schools in the country. We spend $25,000 per student (2.5 times the national average) and achieve a 54% graduation rate - although as recently as 2007 it was 45%. All BPS are now minority majority, and Buffalo as a city is highly segregated with significant racial tensions - the program failed miserably. Busing (along with unions and political corruption) was a major factor in the decline of Buffalo. DO NOT LET IT HAPPEN TO YOUR CITY. You can not legislate social or economic justice.

I was looking into a move to Louisville, but after reading about this busing policy I can't. It will have an adverse economic impact on the city and region. Perhaps Louisville will be able to weather this better than Buffalo, but after living in a depressed region my entire life, I'll be looking for a city that has best enacted intelligent policies that are conducive for growth and a better tomorrow.

[UKUKUK]

Oh, how the world would be a better place if we would ignore buzzwords that make us judge a person's worth like "liberal" and "conservative" didn't exist.

AKA it doesn't matter if the person is liberal or conservative. Don't be an idiot, a bad idea is a bad idea, both sides have them. Make up your own mind and go past "liberals are evil so I must adhere to every conservative idea" and vice versa.

On that note, the simple logistics of bussing for integration, and the effects it has on the quality of education have proven to be more trouble than they're worth in many cases.

[johnsonkk]

Originally Posted by UKUKUK

Oh, how the world would be a better place if we would ignore buzzwords that make us judge a person's worth like "liberal" and "conservative" didn't exist.

AKA it doesn't matter if the person is liberal or conservative. Don't be an idiot, a bad idea is a bad idea, both sides have them. Make up your own mind and go past "liberals are evil so I must adhere to every conservative idea" and vice versa.

On that note, the simple logistics of bussing for integration, and the effects it has on the quality of education have proven to be more trouble than they're worth in many cases.

Vex's detailed post, highlighted with lots of facts, proves that the 'busing for integration' has proven to be more trouble in EVERY case that it has EVER been tried for many demonstrated reasons.

[UKUKUK]

Ok?

I simply tried to say it without being too harsh or aggressive against the idea, in the case that any supporter of busing who read it would not flip out and be aggressive.

[Peter1948]

Originally Posted by Vex

Wow I cannot believe that any school district is foolish enough to institute a busing program.

I'm from Buffalo, NY. Back in the late '60s, liberal judge Curtain (in his infinite wisdom) decided to mandate forced busing. While Buffalo was already experiencing a decline in population, this greatly exacerbated the problem.

There are numerous problem with forced busing:
1) It damages the social fabric and sense of community within neighborhoods
2) Schools teach to the lowest common denominator
3) It's costly: money could be much better spent elsewhere
4) The "one bad apple spoils the bunch" maxim seems to ring true
5) Parents of the adversely affected school children will move their families into better school districts that do not have this policy (white flight will increase)

Additional economic considerations:
1) Home values will immediately experience some decline due to this policy
2) As the schools deteriorate families will hasten their exodus from the city. This in turn will create an abundance of supply on the city's housing market and further drive down home values
3) As home values decline you will see an increase of 'undesirables' move into previously good neighborhoods. This will drive home prices even lower and lead to increased crime, forcing even more people (including those without children) out of the city.
4) The decline in home values will lead to lower tax revenues and the city will struggle with growing deficits

Today Buffalo has some of the worst schools in the country. We spend $25,000 per student (2.5 times the national average) and achieve a 54% graduation rate - although as recently as 2007 it was 45%. All BPS are now minority majority, and Buffalo as a city is highly segregated with significant racial tensions - the program failed miserably. Busing (along with unions and political corruption) was a major factor in the decline of Buffalo. DO NOT LET IT HAPPEN TO YOUR CITY. You can not legislate social or economic justice.

I was looking into a move to Louisville, but after reading about this busing policy I can't. It will have an adverse economic impact on the city and region. Perhaps Louisville will be able to weather this better than Buffalo, but after living in a depressed region my entire life, I'll be looking for a city that has best enacted intelligent policies that are conducive for growth and a better tomorrow.

Louisville has been bussing since the 70's, so about as long as Buffalo. The city is doing quite fine, thank you, growing substantially faster and with a much brighter future than Buffalo. The two cities are not really comprable. If I weere you, I would come to Louisville and judge it for yourself.

[Kamsack]

Interesting discussion. I was born and raised in western Kentucky and my older brother had a young family that had moved to Louisville (actually Okolona) back in the mid 70s. I think busing was started around that time (at least the first time around) and my nephew would have started first grade in 1976-77. To avoid busing, they ended up moving to Oldham county back then (Crestwood-Ballardsville area) and have lived there ever since and his daughter's family lives in that same area.

[LeCherie]

For the record, my kids were bussed in the first years it started. Since we lived in 'lily-white' Highview, I was elated that my kids would be going to more reasonably balanced schools. There were problems, including my son's first grade teacher who was 'bussed in'. Even though he tested at the top of the scale in math and math comprehension, she never gave him even one 'A' on any paper. Her excuse? I've never had a student who deserved and A. I don't know whatever happened to that teacher, but if she had NOT been bussed it would never have been discovered why her students believed they were failures. But my kids are not bigots and I believe bussing really helped them avoid getting that idea.

BTW, my son was the kid in the article about the bus being hit by a car.

[ChrisKLAS]

I spent the first 23 years of my life in Louisville (moved to Vegas in 2003) and anticipate moving back some day. There's no way I would subject my kids to the JCPS, mainly due to the bussing issue. I graduated from St. X in 1998, but lived in the Woods of St. Thomas, so many of my local friends attended Ballard.

It was clear way back then that, mostly due to bussing, students at Ballard as a whole were being educated to the lowest common denominator. My friends at Ballard were finishing classes right before graduation that were offered to freshmen at St. X. That's not even to mention the lovely 'busees' who would loiter out in front of Holiday Manor every afternoon after school throwing trash on the ground, harassing little old ladies in the parking lot, openly smoking pot at the TARC stop, and just generally infesting OUR host neighborhood in a very negative way.

I'm sure it's even worse now, given the overall degeneration of seemingly everything in general over the past 12 years.

If and when we move back, we'll definitely look for something in the Oldham County part of Prospect, and make the necessary arrangements for transportation when the time comes if our kids want to go to any of the Catholic private high schools in Louisville proper.