Yevgeniya (Jane) Rivers.
(Opinion.) The results of the New Haven school choice system are out. It’s a good time for our city’s most privileged families to think about how we talk about our “wins” and “losses” in this lottery.
It’s no secret that privileged families choose homes to a great degree by the quality of the neighborhood school. But how is the school’s quality assessed? And by whom? As families, what are we actually clamoring for when we look for a “good school”? Do families with kids of color expect the same? And when our concerns are raised, who gets heard?
A $499,000 home for sale on McKinley Avenue in the coveted Westville area of New Haven ensures a family neighborhood preference for the local public magnet school with a “good” reputation. Neighborhood preference is a near guarantee for a seat at Edgewood. A similar home on Orange Street in East Rock goes for $649,500 and would provide similar advantage for Worthington Hooker.
Families in New Haven who participated in the School Choice Placement Process received their placements on April 2.
I remember feeling disappointed when at an open house at Edgewood years ago. While we were applying for kindergarten, I asked about the availability of a second language curriculum for my child. I had bought into the idea that my kid’s future depended greatly on their ability to converse in elementary Spanish or Mandarin, for example. I was told that the funding simply wasn’t there.
To be honest, my disappointment didn’t immediately subside. It took some reflecting to understand that what I had deemed essential to my child’s development was not necessarily in the best interest of the school community.
But not all white parents respond the same way. Many put pressure on schools to adopt what they think is best for all kids, conceived through the lens of their white or privilege-centered parenting. That pressure is often disguised as harmless school involvement.
When the good neighborhood school still doesn’t fit our mold, we look for alternatives: private schools, charter schools, maybe even moving to a new town. Consider real estate websites which serve to perpetuate our (mis)understanding of “good schools” by rating schools primarily on test scores and student progress.
As of October 2020, GreatSchools is including an “equity” score in their overall rating for a school. This accounts for less than a third of the total score for Edgewood and is altogether missing from Hooker’s rating.
We should take a moment to pause and interrogate why we are seeking a “good school” and more importantly what does that term mean to us? There are resources explicitly for this purpose — for example, organizations such as Integrated Schools and podcasts like “The Promise” or “Nice White Parents.”
When faced with the conundrum of school choice, do we work on listening and creating change within our community school? When we advocate for a change that benefits our child, do we assume that other parents feel the same way? Do we only push for changes that benefit our children?
Our children’s experiences transcend the walls of school buildings (and remote classrooms). We send our kids to school thinking that everything that they will become as humans has to come from that building. But so much of it comes from what we do outside of school, how we model behaviors, how we spark curiosity, and how we interact. How do we talk about race at home? How do we talk about poverty and privilege?
As white parents, we can have proactive and productive discussions at home around race, privilege and equity. We shouldn’t expect “good schools” to do all this work for our children.
It is idealistic at best and naïve at worst. It leads us to blame teachers and schools for things that are more in our power. We disparage schools to others without considering the consequences. But as parents, how often do we hold ourselves accountable? Consider this as you make your decision on where to send your child next year.
Yevgeniya Rivers is a lecturer at the University of New Haven. She is a parent and member of the Anti-Racism Coalition of Edgewood (ARC). Opinions expressed are her own.