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Speaker urges district to fix income segregation after public comment on school boundaries
Summary
An alumna and former district teacher told the board that Georgetown, Longwood and McCarty elementary schools have much higher low-income enrollments than the district average and urged boundary or policy changes to address segregation and academic gaps.
During the public-comment portion of the meeting, Alicia Smith, an alumna who taught in the district and lives in Indian Prairie School District 204, urged the board to address income segregation in school boundaries and to pursue policies that will reduce racial and economic achievement gaps.
Smith told the board she attended Gregory and Waubonsee schools, taught in the district and that her nephews and niece currently attend Gombert Elementary. She cited publicly available Illinois School Report Card data and told the board that Georgetown Elementary’s low-income percentage is 63% and Longwood’s is 58%, compared with a district average of about 21%.
“Researchers have found that the single most powerful predictor of racial gaps in educational achievement is the extent to which students attend school surrounded by other low-income students,” Smith said in public comment. She said those concentrations have contributed to gaps at Fisher Middle School because three schools with high low-income percentages feed into Fisher. Smith urged the board to use boundary or policy changes to address the segregation and recommended residents consult the Illinois School Report Card to review the data.
The board did not take action on the comment during the meeting. The speaker framed her request as an appeal for equity and asked the board and community to address systemic inequities affecting Georgetown, Longwood and McCarty schools.
