School desegregation has promise to fill, panel says

School district lines are a barrier to racial balance, a panelist says.
By PETER H. MILLIKEN
VINDICATOR STAFF WRITER
YOUNGSTOWN -- The U.S. Supreme Court's decision that outlawed public-school segregation was a landmark event, but this country still has a long way to go to fulfill its promise, panelists said at a Youngstown State University forum marking the decision's 50th anniversary.
"It set the standard. Did it get us where we need to be? I don't think so," said Wayne McClain, Trumbull County Career and Technical Center superintendent.
"Are we on that path? I think we are. When are we going to get there? I'm not sure,'' he added.
Tuesday's panel discussion, conducted in the McKay Auditorium at the university's Beeghly College of Education, commemorated the Supreme Court's unanimous May 17, 1954, decision in a case known as Brown vs. Board of Education that declared racial segregation in public schools unconstitutional.
"Even though we have integrated schools today, we still need rigor, relevance and relationships,'' said Benjamin McGee, Youngstown city schools superintendent. Because of today's rapid rate of technological growth, today's youth "question more the relevance of what they're being asked to do in terms of learning," he explained.
People from impoverished neighborhoods need to be empowered through a high-quality education that makes them economically competitive and enables them "to confront the ingrained racism in our society," said Victor Wan-Tatah, professor of philosophy and religious studies and director of the university's Africana Studies Program.
What's required
To make the court decision effective, it's necessary "to restructure the content of that education and to give it the kind of diversity component that is necessary for preparing citizens in a society that is educated and where people's rights are guaranteed," he added.
The opening of new public schools now under construction in Youngstown will likely improve racial balance, said Emmanuel Catsoules, former superintendent of Youngstown city schools. However, he noted that people have been migrating from cities to suburbs for several decades, making cities "more segregated than before Brown vs. Board of Education."
Until school district boundaries are abolished, "You're not going to get the proper racial balance in the schools," Catsoules told the gathering of about 30 people.
"While things have improved for African Americans, the playing field is not yet level," said Leon Stennis, YSU coordinator of diversity initiatives.
What didn't emerge from the Brown decision "was the notion that once you have access, you also need equal opportunity for success. Having access to opportunity to attend a school is not sufficient," said Dr. Glorianne Leck, professor emeritus of education.
The people who brought the Brown case to the Supreme Court highly valued education, she said.
However, she said some young people haven't been persuaded "that education is an opportunity that promises upward mobility and success, and that's because we can't promise that anymore."
milliken@vindy.com