Pinellas choosing Resegregation?

On January 25, HOWARD TROXLER of the St. Petersburg Times wrote a response article (to blaming the Pinellas County school Board for recent rise in re-segregation of schools. As previously stated, choice may work well in a racially mixed area. But in suburbia, where income separates the housing and the races, middle-class America wants their children to go to local schools (stop busing) in addition to being with their friends and neighbors which make for a community. The problem is those schools are everyone’s choice and it doesn’t matter what ground rules are laid for making “choices” many schools will suffer greatly – are should that be many children will suffer? I agree with Mr. Troxler, they should have seen this coming.

It will be interesting to see how the schools are going to solve the equal education vs. resegration issues – and I pray they do. As an adult I still have friends from the third grade, with whom I speak often. I grew up in a suburban area which was racially mixed and I believe I gained the best of both worlds. I also have a son, who has been farmed from one “good” school to another. In middle school, he had to get up early to take public transportation, to a school two cities away (about the distance from Tarpon Springs to Clearwater), a much “desired” catholic school, which cost me dearly. In any event, I feel this school-neighborhood shopping has cost him dearly in terms of bonding and longevity with people. Educationally, I don’t think it has been that beneficial, however, socially I am sure it was. Hey…… didn’t Hochschild and Scovronick speak about that in “On Democracy and Schooling?