- (Page B-1 )
- BACK TO SCHOOL
-
- They're back! (In school, that is) 137,000
return to the classrooms
-
- Sharon L. Jones
- STAFF WRITER
-
- Tina Bernal stood, clipboard in hand, at the eastern gate
of Grant
- Elementary.
-
- Each day, 10 buses arrive at the Mission Hills campus,
carrying almost 200
- children of various races from all over the city. Her job
is to log the
- arrivals and make sure everything goes smoothly.
-
- Usually it does. Then a large blue van pulled over at
midblock in an area
- set aside for school buses. Bernal jumped into action.
-
- "You can't park there, lady," she yelled,
motioning to the driver. "She
- must be new," she said, laughing.
-
- Yesterday was the first day of the 1997-98 academic year at
Grant and 164
- other schools in the San Diego Unified School District.
About 137,000 San
- Diego students are back at their desks.
-
- Countywide, most campuses in 43 public school districts are
back in
- session, and some 460,000 students.
-
- Grant Elementary is one of San Diego's magnet schools. This
means it offers
- a specialized academic program designed to attract students
from other
- neighborhoods.
-
- With a strong academic program and a safe, clean
neighborhood, Grant is a
- highly successful magnet. Although the neighborhood is
largely white, the
- 600-student enrollment is 57 percent nonwhite. More than
200 students ride
- buses from poorer neighborhoods.
-
- The school's waiting list has 700 names.
-
- With Proposition 209 becoming state law, the future of
magnet programs such
- as this one is in limbo.
-
- A judge has said he will end oversight of San Diego
Unified's court-ordered
- desegregation program at the end of this school year if
Proposition 209's
- ban on affirmative-action racial and sexual preference
programs withstands
- legal challenges.
-
- Once the district no longer is under court mandate to
integrate its
- schools, state lawmakers could choose to stop paying $50
million a year for
- busing and other related costs.
-
- Courts also could rule that the program's system of racial
preference --
- which gives black and Latino students who live outside
Mission Hills and
- want to attend Grant an edge over non-neighborhood whites
-- is unfair.
-
- Grant's principal, Bethney Deview, worked in other magnet
schools,
- including Kennedy Elementary in Lincoln Park, before
joining the Grant
- community two years ago.
-
- Magnet schools such as Kennedy, which offer enhanced
educational programs
- but are located in low-income neighborhoods, have largely
failed to attract
- significant numbers of white students from the suburbs.
-
- There are white parents who fear violence or do not want
their children in
- classes with children who are not native English speakers
because they are
- afraid this would slow down instruction. This is a source
of frustration
- for administrators seeking racially balanced schools.
-
- "We had marvelous teachers at Kennedy," Deview
said. "Unfortunately, there
- is a perception that schools in certain areas aren't as
desirable because
- of the location."
-
- She said children who attend racially diverse campuses
learn valuable
- social lessons on the playground, during recess, as well as
in the
- classroom.
-
- "I think the integration program is beneficial,"
Deview said. "You'll see
- children working together, playing together. I would hope
they would carry
- their respect for diversity into later years."
-
- The bulk of Grant's racial-integration money -- $360,000 --
covers salaries
- of employees who work in four mathematics and science
laboratories.
- Students spend 45 minutes four days a week in a science or
math lab.
-
- Lab teachers set up experiments and projects in which
students discover
- mathematic and scientific principles.
-
- This instruction is on top of math and science lessons
delivered by the
- regular classroom teachers.
-
- "I'm hoping and praying that Proposition 209 doesn't
affect this school,"
- parent Brenda Lesane said.
-
- Lesane, a clerical worker for the city of San Diego, lives
in City Heights,
- where public schools are bulging with students. Two new
schools -- Rosa
- Parks Elementary and Monroe Clark Middle -- just opened
yesterday. But it
- won't be enough. Schools remain overcrowded; more schools
are needed.
-
- Lesane is grateful that she had an opportunity to bring her
son to Grant.
-
- "When I came here, I was made to feel welcome,"
said Lesane, who is black
- and whose son is in the fifth grade. "That really
convinced me. A person of
- color doesn't always feel that way in a white
neighborhood."
-
- Grant staff members go out of their way to involve parents
in
- decision-making, and the school benefits as a result. A
campus foundation
- raises about $12,000 a year.
-
- Yesterday, parents drank coffee and enjoyed cookies
provided by the
- parent-teacher organization. Parent activists recruited
newcomers to
- participate in various functions, such as an annual ice
cream social.
-
- "It's a very good atmosphere, lots of parents help
out," said parent
- Antoinette Goodbody, who lives in North Park.
-
- Steve Ewalt, a Mission Hills resident with two children at
Grant, is active
- on the campus governance team and technology committee.
-
- "Our goal is to provide a computer in every
classroom," said Ewalt, who
- operates a tour company.
-
- As parents chatted, teachers explained classroom rules and
regulations and
- led students on campus tours.
-
- In a movable classroom, Sally Movido led her fifth-graders
in a series of
- first-day tasks. She assigned books, introduced classroom
rules and
- answered questions.
-
- "What kind of homework do we get?" one pupil
asked.
-
- "You get lots," Movido replied.
-
- Copyright Union-Tribune Publishing Co.
|
