Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the Equity And Access topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
Public commenter urges Indian Prairie to fix income segregation in school boundaries
Summary
Alicia Smith told the board that Georgetown, Longwood and McCarty elementary schools have high low‑income concentrations and urged the district to address what she described as systemic inequities in school boundaries and feeder patterns, citing Illinois School Report Card data.
A district resident, Alicia Smith, used the Jan. 13 public comment period to urge the Indian Prairie CUSD 204 Board of Education to address what she called systemic inequities in school boundaries and feeder patterns that she said concentrate low‑income students at several schools.
Smith told the board she is a graduate of local schools, lives in the Gombert attendance area and has family attending district elementary schools. She said Georgetown Elementary’s low‑income population is 63 percent and Longwood Elementary’s is 58 percent, compared with a district average she cited as about 21 percent. Smith said those schools feed into Fisher Middle School and argued that the concentration of low‑income students helps explain performance gaps.
“School districts do not have to create inequitable schools that cannot meet the state testing averages,” Smith said. She urged the board to use district authority to fix what she described as segregation by income and told listeners the Illinois School Report Card contains the data she referenced.
The board did not respond during public comment; the board president noted follow‑up would be provided by an administrator as appropriate.
Ending: Smith asked the board to consider boundary and feeder pattern changes to promote equitable outcomes and pointed members to public data sources for review.
