The final draft of a proposed two-county school diversity plan drew mixed reviews Thursday night from the body that must approve such a plan by year's end.
The plan, which would take effect next school year, is scheduled for approval Dec. 17 by the coordinating council of the learning community of Douglas and Sarpy Counties.
Kathy Bradley, a council member, called the 10-page plan to mix affluent and low-income students in 11 metro Omaha school districts “an important milestone.”
Council member Ernie Chambers said he doubted that busing children and mixing them by socioeconomic status would lead to increased academic achievement.
An outspoken advocate for creating good neighborhood schools, Chambers said the plan's system of magnet and focus schools with enhanced academics not open to all students would “institutionalize inequality.”
The money spent on transportation would be better spent on improving schools where children live, he said.
He also said that basing the plan on a child's qualification for free or reduced-price lunch would not really create diversity.
“If it doesn't relate to race, it's not diverse,” he said.
The final draft won unanimous support from a council task force that developed it based on an outline created by the Nebraska Legislature.
At the plan's core is an open-enrollment system that would let students apply to any school, with free transportation for those who contribute to state targets for socioeconomic diversity.
The goal is to achieve a level of socioeconomic diversity in each building that reflects the socioeconomic diversity of the two-county metropolitan area — about 37 percent low-income.
Penny Sophir, a council member who also serves on the Omaha Public Schools board, repeated her objection to letting school districts transfer their own students between schools before accepting children from other districts.
“I think that's in violation of the state law,” Sophir said.
Rick Werkheiser, co-chairman of the council's diversity task force, said the law doesn't address intradistrict transfers.
Under open enrollment, siblings of students already at a desired school get first priority, then students who help achieve socioeconomic diversity targets, then everyone else — if there's enough room. Low-income students and those who improve a building's diversity get free transportation.
Applications for open enrollment would be available Jan. 15. School districts would be required to make public by Feb. 15 the grade levels open at each school and the special services and programs offered.
The plan calls on the learning community to monitor and report how increased socioeconomic diversity is affecting student achievement.
Under state law, the learning community must formalize the diversity plan by Dec. 31.
Contact the writer:
444-1077, joe.dejka@owh.com
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