On the morning of Saturday, Nov. 9th, I attended the opening plenary of the Integration Meets Innovation conference, which was titled “Building the Beloved Community: Policy, Practice and Renewed Purpose in a Diverse Nation”. The panel consisted of Dennis Parker, Susan Eaton, Ofelia Wade, and Maria Pacheco and was moderated by John Brittain. Brittain, a key player in the Sheff v. O’Neill suit and a Professor of Law at University of the District of Columbia, prefaced the discussion with a brief story about the original Sheff case. He stated that the most exciting part of the case is that it has kept the dream of school diversity alive and well in Connecticut. In the same vein, Susan Eaton, Research Director at the C.H.H. Insitute for Race and Justice at Harvard Law and author of the notable “Children in Room E4”, added that her publisher was initially upset that her book lacked a triumphant ending, however for her, the Integration Conference itself represented that “happy ending”. Maria Pacheco, Director of the New England Equity Assistance Center, had a similar sentiment, congratulating Connecticut on the many steps it’s taken to decrease racial isolation, but warning that there was still much work to be done in order toachieve the overarching goal of complete educational equity.
After these introductory remarks, the discussion focused on Ofelia Wade – The Program Director of a Spanish Dual Language Immersion Program in Utah. The Dual Language Program outlined by Wade sounded very intriguing, perhaps something that could be implemented in the Hartford metro region in the future. The program puts together classes that consist of half White and half Latino students. The class is then taught half in English and half in Spanish, thus creating an interdependence among the two groups of students. This interdependence reaches outside the classroom as well, as students are grouped with a buddy of the opposite race who they can work together with on homework assignments. White and Latino parents are also grouped into a buddy system, bringing them together to volunteer at the school concurrently. By attempting to make this program very accessible, bilingual, biliterate and bicultural themes are promoted. This helps to redefine the Latino student as an asset rather than a burden. Pacheco would later note that in such a scheme, its often Black children who are excluded from the opportunity. If such a program was to be introduced in Hartford, Black students would need to be incorporated.
Next, Eaton briefly discussed research that has proven that a racially, socially and economically diverse learning environment has achievement benefits for all students. In an increasingly diverse country like the U.S., children who learn to embrace this diversity early on are often more successful later in life, as diversity is now commonplace in the workplace. Specifically, there is proof that even White children benefit from diversity, as it increases high order thinking skills, critical thinking skills, and helps to break down stereotypes.
Finally, Dennis Parker, Director of the Racial Justice Program for the ACLU, discussed how traditional school desegregation cases in the south are being dismissed and persistent residential segregation in the North is overall remaining unchanged. Parker was more reserved than the rest of the panel in terms of his praise for how far CT has come in school desegregation. Parker noted that it’s going to take voluntary desegregation efforts from superintendents and school boards in order to continue to make progress. Especially due to the 2007 Supreme Court ruling which barred race from being considered in building school districts. Overall, the panel did a great job of discussing many of the pertinent contemporary school desegregation themes in a short period of time.