| Author |
Message |
    
nan
Citizen
Username: Nan
Post Number: 1612
Registered: 2-2001
| | Posted on Sunday, December 19, 2004 - 6:43 am: | 
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More so called research from Tucker's buds on the Environment subcommittee.
Seth Boyden parents take note that two members of that subcommittee are rumored to be running for BOE in the spring. Now would not be the time to sit back and let others influence the common sense of our community. |
Joan Auer
Citizen
Username: Joan
Post Number: 112
Registered: 6-2003
| | Posted on Sunday, December 19, 2004 - 9:23 am: |
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What was the lawsuit about? |
marie
Citizen
Username: Marie
Post Number: 1229
Registered: 6-2001
| | Posted on Sunday, December 19, 2004 - 10:28 am: |
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Why doesn't nan run for the BOE? |
Dave
Moderator
Username: Dave
Post Number: 4755
Registered: 4-1998
| | Posted on Sunday, December 19, 2004 - 11:34 am: |
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quote:Finally, how would you feel if you were an African American citizen of this community and read this thread? I'd feel angry and crummy. The implications of this kind of discussion are, to me, shameful!
Spry, the current MOL reader survey may have evidence that supports this statement. Very few African Americans are represented in the sample (less than 5 percent). However, of the African Americans who did participate, none "agree" or "somewhat agree" with the statement "The moderators don't spend enough time policing negativity".
I have no idea how to interpret this, but I think it's worth discussing. |
Spry
Citizen
Username: Spry
Post Number: 155
Registered: 7-2003
| | Posted on Sunday, December 19, 2004 - 3:13 pm: |
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Dave, this thread wouldn't be one to police or censor, I wouldn't suggest that for one moment! However, it's mind blowing to me that we are still, in 2004, bringing up the issue of the % of black students in our schools. What if, 50 years ago in Maplewood/South Orange, there was an open discussion of the % of Jews (or other ethnic groups) in the senior class of 1954, with the implication that their presence was somehow (adversely) affecting the quality of our schools?
If anything, this is leading me to explore what the Community Coalition on Race is up to, as I think there is much left to be done in the area of "inter-group relations" in our communities. |
Tom Reingold
Supporter
Username: Noglider
Post Number: 4807
Registered: 1-2003
| | Posted on Monday, December 20, 2004 - 10:40 am: |
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I don't know where fringe wants to go with this, but I'm not convinced, either, that the racial makeup is irrelevant. I'm undecided in many ways. If, for example, we are failing black students, we have to measure things in order to improve them, no? |
bobk
Supporter
Username: Bobk
Post Number: 7048
Registered: 5-2001
| | Posted on Monday, December 20, 2004 - 10:49 am: |
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Spry, sorry if I upset you. However, changes in demographics are a part of our schools and I thought it best to post the census information as a counter to whatever point Fringe was trying to make.
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fringe
Citizen
Username: Fringe
Post Number: 680
Registered: 5-2001
| | Posted on Wednesday, December 22, 2004 - 7:48 am: |
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In our discussion on "Illegal Students?" (see http://hometown.aol.com/njfabian we deleted a section because the Census Bureau declined to provide data regarding the margin of error. Both Messrs. Latz and Frazer focused on the undercount issue with census data when they spoke before the Maplewood TC - see threads on their comments about illegals elsewhere on this board.
How does this factor into subsequent census estimates? |
harmonysociety
Citizen
Username: Harmonysociety
Post Number: 6
Registered: 12-2004
| | Posted on Saturday, January 29, 2005 - 4:14 pm: |
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Are the changes in the student body so important? Why is race such a huge topic of discussion in America? |
anon
Citizen
Username: Anon
Post Number: 1628
Registered: 6-2002
| | Posted on Saturday, January 29, 2005 - 5:05 pm: |
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Why? Study American History and you will find the answer. |
harmonysociety
Citizen
Username: Harmonysociety
Post Number: 7
Registered: 12-2004
| | Posted on Sunday, January 30, 2005 - 2:29 pm: |
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lol, good answer anon |
talk-it-up
Citizen
Username: Talkitup
Post Number: 108
Registered: 3-2004
| | Posted on Thursday, February 24, 2005 - 10:29 pm: |
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If one is counting how does one resolve the following-
Maplewood South Orange has many mixed racial couples, if a "form" is filled out, which is checked off- white, black or other and how does that factor in to all the final statistics that are being referred to?
Couldn't this create a great misconception? |
bklyntonj
Citizen
Username: Bklyntonj
Post Number: 319
Registered: 7-2003
| | Posted on Friday, February 25, 2005 - 12:01 pm: |
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See, if I started this thread, I would've been accused of trying to bait people into a race debate. "Bklyntonj always does that".
Fringe, you, Bobk and Nan know, if you compare or mention anything on MOL re: race statistical comparisons, you're labeled a racist or "someone yelling fire in a crowded building".
Interesting stats Fringe. No need to worry people. MSO is too attractive an area for it to not to remain diverse. I guarantee by the time my daughter (7 yrs old) gets to Columbia, it will be 50/50 or more whites than blacks. |
ladyrunner
Citizen
Username: Ladyrunner
Post Number: 36
Registered: 9-2003
| | Posted on Friday, February 25, 2005 - 3:48 pm: |
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Am I the only one reading this who finds "black classes" and "white classes" at Seth Boyden to be repugnant?
It is difficult to control the demographics of the district, but controlling class balances is easy. The assistant superindent, Mrs. Davenport, works in that building, and she allows this!
Seth Boyden is integrated but the classrooms are not? Only lunch and recess are integrated? Shameful.
Is this Mrs. Davenport's vision? |
campbell29
Citizen
Username: Campbell29
Post Number: 135
Registered: 4-2002
| | Posted on Friday, February 25, 2005 - 4:09 pm: |
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SB IS racially integrated in the classrooms. Of course, there are some classes which are closer to 50/50 than others (but I have never seen an all white class). As far as I know the fact that some classes are "whiter" than others might just be a function of trying to create the best balance intellectually, socially or by whatever criteria is used to create a class. I would agree that perhaps the multi-age classes are "whiter" because of parental lobbying.
In any event, a vast majority of the white students are not zoned for SB, so obviously if there were a desire among the white parents to segregate their children, they would not have chosen SB in the first place. I also don't know how much control Marilyn Davenport exercises over class placement. My impression was not that this was one of her functions.
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C Bataille
Citizen
Username: Nakaille
Post Number: 1867
Registered: 5-2001
| | Posted on Friday, February 25, 2005 - 6:25 pm: |
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Cambell, it is rumoured that she does exercise some power over the composition of the two multi-age classes which are one of the draws for parents from other neighborhoods. I, too, have been concerned that those classes are "whiter" than others and I believe they also have a more carefully controlled gender distribution also (i.e. equal numbers of boys and girls) which skews the distributions in the other (first and second grade) classes. As far as I can tell these are non-issues in third through fifth or kindergarten classes.
Cathy |
sac
Supporter
Username: Sac
Post Number: 1847
Registered: 5-2001
| | Posted on Friday, February 25, 2005 - 10:20 pm: |
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I have two children who have attended SB, one of whom is still there and was previously in one of the multiage classes. None of their classes and no class I have ever observed during my fairly high level of volunteering in the school is or was majority white. In the classes I have seen, including multiage classes, white children appear to be well under 50% of the class (more like 20-30% I think.)
Does anyone have first-hand knowledge to contradict this? (Most of what I've seen asserted here about this does not seem to be based on personal observation or actual "data", but I'm willing to be corrected if there is such data available ... I just have not seen any evidence of it to date.) |
C Bataille
Citizen
Username: Nakaille
Post Number: 1870
Registered: 5-2001
| | Posted on Saturday, February 26, 2005 - 12:04 pm: |
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sac, I think your overall percentages are probably in the right ballpark.
I for one am not speaking of "majority white" classes. Rather a skewing of the racial and geneder composition of first and second grade classes that is not consistent with the general demographics of the school. I believe this year's fifth grade is the first graduating class to have been in existence since the inception of the demonstration/magnet program. As most posters know, I fully support this program. I am concerned that it is somewhat jeopardized by injudicious bowing to the wishes of parents (mostly white) to have their children enrolled in the multi-age classes. I would have loved for my kid to get in one and we spoke to her K teacher and one other staff member (not MD) about our wishes. Apparently had I spoken to MD and identified our family as "out of neighborhood" we might have gotten our wish. I'm glad I did not know about this option as it seems to me, in retrospect, to be a somewhat unsavory one.
In my daughter's second grade class there was one white girl (not my kid.) Had the gender and racial numbers been better balanced among all the second grade classes this probably would not have been true. Her 3rd grade class (which includes graduates of the multi-age classes) is much better balanced both for gender and race. Generally speaking, white parents are squeakier wheels than African-American parents when it comes to school issues. Giving in to this trend may make some parents happier but it may not be in the best interests of all the children in the school. These things have a way of coming back to haunt those who indulge them.
Cathy |
ffof
Citizen
Username: Ffof
Post Number: 3371
Registered: 5-2001
| | Posted on Saturday, February 26, 2005 - 12:20 pm: |
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maybe the African-American parents should get squeakier. |
C Bataille
Citizen
Username: Nakaille
Post Number: 1871
Registered: 5-2001
| | Posted on Saturday, February 26, 2005 - 2:19 pm: |
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I totally agree, ffof.
Cathy |
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