Late last night Tim Rogers and I were working on a profile I have slated for an upcoming D Magazine issue focusing on the Dallas ISD. He brought up a question first raised by my friend Shawn Williams of DallasSouthBlog over lunch a few weeks ago at Flying Fish. We were talking about Dallas Achieves, and some of the questions that have arisen about the motives of the people behind it.
Shawn said (and I paraphrase) that a lot of people in the Southern sector were asking: “Why are all these white people so interested?”
Legit question. DISD enrollment is 60 percent Hispanic, 35 percent black, and the rest “other.” Fully 85 percent are qualified for free or reduced lunches, so read that as “poor.”
It was late, so maybe it’s quasi in vino veritas, but I responded to Tim:
Nice answer: Dallas is becoming a city of rich north Dallasites, [dirt] poor southern Dallasites, and a small, shrinking enclave of die-hard (but dying, nonetheless) middle class whites in the select parts of east Dallas. And the center will not hold, meaning Dallas goes the way of Detroit. Seriously – 85% of DISD students are [in poverty]? With good suburban schools just minutes away? Not hard to see where that trend line heads. They don’t want that for Dallas. Fix the schools, and middle classers reverse the exodus, and the city lives.
Cynical answer: “White man’s burden?”
It’s probably more complicated than that. Way over my pay grade. I tend to think it’s the former. And come on, Dallas businesses need workforce ready grads, so yes, they have a self interest. But at the same time, skepticism from the Southern sector is justified, considering how white Dallas has so long neglected black and brown Dallas.
I wonder what others think. I’ll turn comments on.
EDIT: Just talked to Shawn. He mentioned that question in relation to talking about developers and eminent domain in South Dallas proper. Tim and I last night brought it up but in context of what we were discussing, which was Dallas Achieves and the effort in DISD. Quote out of context, but I think the question can be raised legitimately, nonetheless. My apologies to Shawn for the mix up.
“considering how white Dallas has so long neglected black and brown Dallas”
Huh. Does that imply a responsibility of “white Dallas” to provide for “black and brown Dallas”? Why?
By and large, the whites have already left DISD. Either they’ve moved out of the district, like you, or they’re sending their kids to private school, like me. The big difference being that I’m having to support a school district I won’t put my kids in. I bristle at the idea that I’m “neglecting” anyone by failing to spend enough of my money on them.
As for motives, I was struck a comment that Edwin Flores made at a community meeting last night — that Texas plans its future prison capacity needs by surveying second-grade literacy rates. If that is based on a real correlation, I can see why “all these white people” are interested in getting someone else’s kids educated — because we’re going to pay for their education, or pay for their incarceration.
Trey, thanks for clearing up my quote.
The question that you raise is legit. There are a lot of white middle to upper class families in Dallas but many of them don’t even consider DISD. The same is true for many Black families in the same financial situation.
It’s funny though that many of those same families will fight like Hell (black and white) to get there kids into Townview. It’s befuddling to me how the same district can have 2 or the top 5 high schools IN THE NATION, and cannot figure out how to share that success with the rest of their schools.
DISD needs a do over.
A friend pointed out that I was overly broad in my generalization. There are many people in South Dallas who are middle and upper class; there are plenty of poor people in North Dallas. But that’s more the exception than the rule.
I exaggerated and generalized to underscore the two extremes and the widening of the gap.
And I wanted to preserve that late-night, brutally honest tone in my chat with Tim, so I didn’t feel right rewriting it.
DISD needing a do over is an understatement. The do over needs to start at the top of the DISD chain from Hinojosa on down. The district has tons of money it has squandered at the expense of Dallas children, including my child who as of this year will NEVER and I mean NEVER attend another DISD school. I currently drive him all the way to the suburbs to go to school daily, a sacrifice I am more than willing to make for his education. I wish he could go to the school just 5 minutes away but due to ineptness, teacher morale (as in teacher’s who are just collecting paychecks, sitting in halls talking on cell phones, handling personal business in class (ATWELL MS), you name it…), a lack of textbooks new or used, etc…he will not be going to DISD ever. This from a parent who received a class A education from Atwell & Carter High Schools. I am now a Librarian, which means I have my HS diploma, Bachelor’s Degree and my Masters of Science degree. My son will be successful in spite of urban school districts such as DISD because I am committed as a parent, but what about other parents who don’t have the wherewithal to followup because of job committments etc…all I can say is heaven help us all.
“and a small, shrinking enclave of die-hard (but dying, nonetheless) middle class whites in the select parts of east Dallas”
Actually we prefer East Dallas with a capital “E”. Could you explain The above statement? It would seem to indicate a lack of knowledge about our part of town.
Why do so many on Dallas Achieves! live and pay taxes outside of the DISD? Why do so many seem to be bond contract holders, vendors, or related and no one seems to notice?
How were the appointments made? And the big one, why are they not subject tp TExas Open meetings Act when they are policy makers?