Wednesday, January 21, 2004

Race, numbers, perceptions in Fayette schools

By J. FRANK LYNCH
jflynch@theCitizenNews.com

I received an unsigned e-mail last week accusing me of being racist. The sender told me that a letter-writing campaign was about to begin in an attempt to have me fired, and an apology was ordered. People are canceling their subscriptions, it declared.

The e-mailer took issue with a story last week on Sandy Creek High being named a 2004 Georgia “School of Excellence.” Students at the Tyrone school have improved their scores on the state’s graduation exam so dramatically in just three years, a panel of judges from out of state decided to recognize Sandy Creek above every other high school in Georgia, even though no administrators at the school or within the county applied to be considered for the “Excellence” title.

I suspect the reader wants my head because of something I wrote in the last graph, in reference to the English/Language Arts portion of the GHSGT:

“... no African-American students have failed in two years, even though Sandy Creek’s black enrollment has grown from 28 percent to 34 percent during the same period.”

I confess you could read that a number of ways, but this is what I meant:

As the number of African-American students at Sandy Creek has increased, so has their scores on standardized tests. Specifically, the passing rate for blacks on the English/language arts portion of the test has improved from 93 percent in 2001 to 100 percent in both 2002 and 2003.

In other words, perfect.

Last year, only one African-American student failed to pass the math portion and just four had to retake the social studies portion.

Sandy Creek’s white 11th graders, while not far behind, can’t match that success rate.

And yet, “It is racist comments like yours that continue to divide Fayette County schools,” continued the e-mail, which was sent from somebody in ...

North Carolina.

Ponder that for a moment as I catch you up on “the rest of the story.”

The rate of enrollment of African-American students in Fayette County schools is more than five times that of white student growth, according to an analysis of data recently compiled by an Atlanta education lobby group.

Half of all new students enrolled in Fayette schools since 2000 have been black, going from 14 percent of the total in 2001 to 16 percent in 2003.

In real numbers, that represents 546 more black students since 2000, compared to about 92 added white students.

Most of them have moved into the Sandy Creek and Fayette County High zones. FCHS is now about 20 percent black, up from 15 percent just three years ago.

As ridiculous as it sounds, that’s enough to cause some parents I know in the FCHS district to put their homes on the market and move down to Whitewater.

Never mind that white enrollment at Fayette High mirrors the county average, at about 75 percent last spring. Hispanic enrollment is also slowly rising, but Asian-Pacific enrollment has remained even.

I’m not sure exactly what it is about this growing mix that concerns parents. After all, as Sandy Creek’s students have shown standardized test scores posted by the county’s black students continue to steadily rise — in some cases by double digits over three years ago — and outpace the average scores for black students statewide by 5-to-1.

Knowing that, is it any wonder black families are moving to Fayette County in droves? Sources tell me wealthy black families in north Fayette are pulling their kids out of Woodward Academy and happily transferring them to Sandy Creek, dissatisfied with the social competition and class-consciousness they found prevalent on the College Park campus.

But let’s abandon race. If test results can be trusted as an indicator of the quality of instruction, then Fayette County isn’t just meeting the challenge, but raising the bar, as state schools chief and former McIntosh High teacher Kathy Cox is trying to do statewide.

• Fayette’s average 2003 SAT score of 1061 was bested only by Decatur’s 1084. Of course, 1,263 seniors from Fayette took the SAT; 110 were tested in Decatur.
• In 2002, Fayette County was first or tied for first in all but one subject area when ranked by percentage of students passing the Georgia High School Graduation Test on the first try.
• In a ranking of all 339 of the state’s public high schools, the Georgia Public Policy Foundation places McIntosh at 13th, Starr’s Mill at 16th, Fayette at 19th and Sandy Creek at 39th, all four in the top 10 percent.
• Fayette County High’s poverty rate, based on percent of students qualified for free and reduced lunch, is the lowest of any traditional high school in Georgia.

Joan Williams is the attendance clerk at Fayette County High. She probably knows more dirt on the school’s 2,200 students than anyone else. Williams is a diehard Tiger even though she lives in Peachtree City and her own kids went to McIntosh. You’ll find her selling tickets at practically every home athletic contest.

So I asked Joan one Friday last fall, during a break from the horde of fans wanting to get into Tiger Stadium, what was up with all these rumors around town that the county’s mother high school was having “problems”: gang violence, fighting in the halls.

“No, I wouldn’t say that,” said Williams. “There’s just more of everybody, from everywhere. It’s like a melting pot, and it takes getting to know new people and cultures.”

That’s pretty healthy advice for a community that’s always been willing to do things just a little different.

Fear needs to stop here.