NORFOLK
School officials will consider redrawing decades-old attendance zones for the city's five high schools, a move that could potentially end crosstown busing ordered in 1970 for racial integration.
Leaders expect to review boundaries for all schools, particularly at the middle and high school levels, to ensure buildings, buses and other resources are used efficiently.
Any changes would seek to correct uneven distribution of students across schools and a likely continued decline in enrollment, according to administrators and School Board members.
The racial mix of the schools' students will be a consideration, they say.
"It's not going to happen overnight," said Board Chairman Barry Bishop. "People won't wake up one day and just read in the paper, 'These are the attendance zones,' and they never had the opportunity to vet them or talk about it."
In 1970, after years of court battles and experimenting with boundaries, a federal judge accepted a plan that called for crosstown busing to help desegregate Norfolk schools. The division ended the practice - amid controversy - for elementary schools in 1986 and for middle schools in 2001.
In subsequent years, the School Board resisted pressure to redraw attendance lines so students would attend the high school closest to their homes.
The issue of attendance zones resurfaced last year in a consultant's long-term facilities plan. The report showed that some schools, such as Rosemont Middle, were only two-thirds full, according to a 2006 count. Others, such as Lake Taylor High School, had 22 percent more students than the building was meant to hold.
The study revealed the school division lost more than 2,100 students in kindergarten through 12th grade between 2001 and 2006, and projected that Norfolk's student population will shrink by another 2,100 by 2016.
The consultants, MGT of America, recommended the schools review attendance boundaries and plan for fluctuations in the student population.
A citizens advisory committee will support those recommendations in a report to the School Board this fall, said co-chairman George C. Crawley.
"They're overdue," Crawley, a former Norfolk assistant city manager, said of the changes. "We think it's very important it occur in order to get the balance and the diversity to the school system that the School Board and the city wants."
As of last fall, all of Norfolk's high schools had a majority of black students, ranging from 52 percent at Granby to 85 percent at Booker T. Washington.
Last year, about 64 percent of the school division's 35,000 students in pre-kindergarten through 12th grade were black.
Superintendent Stephen C. Jones said he wasn't sure what the targeted racial breakdown for a school would be under new zones, but he didn't expect any school to be too lopsided.
"If at all possible, we would not want to create a school that is predominantly African American or predominantly white, given the racial mix of the city," he said.
New attendance zones could take effect as soon as fall 2010, Jones said.
A majority of the City Council, which appoints School Board members, supports a review and possible change of attendance boundaries.
"We need to make our attendance zones convenient for kids and for their parents," Councilman Don Williams said.
Like Jones and other school leaders, Councilman Paul Riddick predicted emotions will run high.
"There's going to be some distrust," Riddick said. "I just don't want to see any efforts to manipulate the process" by politicians.
Rodney Jordan, a parent who served on a committee that studied middle school busing in 2000, worried that a discussion of attendance boundaries could be based on politics and could distract from efforts to bolster academics.
"I just don't want the facility report to be an excuse or a cover for some other decision," he said.
School Board members were unsure how far changes would go.
Billy Cook, who was bused when he attended Norfolk schools, said, "I know there's a concern in the community about resegregating schools. That really concerns me."
Stephen Tonelson, whose father was Maury High's principal during the early stages of school integration, said the schools should reflect the city's racial composition.
"It's too soon to say this will be the end of crosstown busing," Tonelson said. "It doesn't seem possible that you could completely match what the city looks like in every school without busing."
Pilot news researchers Jakon Hays and Maureen Watts and staff writer Harry Minium contributed to this report.
Amy Jeter, (757) 446-2730, amy.jeter@pilotonline.com
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More Tripe from the NPS
Lamarr you are right, there is racism, only its directed against whites now. What "areas or neighborhoods" are you talking about? I grew up here in Norfolk, attended public schools here(where, being white,I learned to fight against multiple attackers), and I can tell you that there are plenty of "no-go zones" and neighborhoods in Norfolk, where whites wouldnt dare drive through, much less live there. If you are crying about not having the money to live in a mansion in Ghent, you can stop shedding your tears, because I cant afford to live there either.
Previous Comment
"There are still areas of the city of Norfolk that Blacks do not or cannot live in."
What a load of bull!! There are NO such neighborhoods. The only neighborhoods that exclude people are those that have income restrictions, ie...Section 8. You choose where you want to live or you live where you can afford, but it's comments like the one mentioned, that create racial tension.
LAMAR is funny!
Typical "it is everyone else's fault for our failures and ignorance".
I will tell you this story: My son returned from school one day very upset because he was scolded by a teacher in front of the class for saying "hey black girl give me my pencil back" He was told that the person in question had a name and that "black girl" was disrespectfull and wrong. The fact that my son stuck up for himself and stated hey was called "white boy" all day did not matter and that the girl had asked to borrow the pencil by saying "hey white boy gimme a pencil". The school knew who my sons father was due to more than one child graduating said school and knew I would be ready with legal action if they persued said incident any further.
You are correct Lamar the racist system is in effect just it is towards whites not blacks!
Busing
As a student at Booker T. Washington High School in the 1969-70 school year we marched to the school board to make sure that Washington High School syated in our community. The racist nature of the City of Norfolk has not changed. The so called committee that was organized in 2001 had no regards for racial eqaulity. When they bused the Black students from the Southside of Norfolk to Lake Taylor there were text books that were being used in 'white' schools such as Lake Taylor in the same school system that we never saw in Washington High. The segregationist plan that was put under way following Brown v The Board of Education is being achieved. If Norfolk schools have an allegedly Black enrollment, then what is the racial breakup in regrads to housing. There are still areas of the city of Norfolk that Blacks do not or cannot live in. If that ios the way that he 'white power' stucture in Norfolk has it, t
Population Figures
According to the most recent population figures, Norfolk is comprised of:
White Non-Hispanic (47.0%)
Black (44.1%)
Hispanic (3.8%)
Two or more races (2.5%)
Filipino (1.8%)
Other race (1.7%)
American Indian (1.1%)
However, according to this article, 64% of the city's pre-k through 12th grade students were black. I think a more important question may be, "What is happening to the large number of white students who don't go to Norfolk Public Schools?" It is typical for upper-income families to attend private schools, but why are our middle-class white students abandoning our public schools in favor of private schools? If you look closely at the data, you will find that many affluent black families have also moved to private schools. I think many, many more students would go to private schools if they could afford to -- but they are trapped in the public school system.
Norfolk Public Scho
Still doing it?
Thought bussing was a thing of the past.
I was bussed to Booker T from my home on Newtown Road during the late 70's, what an experience that was. Remember asking the neighborhood kids if I would be going to Lake Taylor HS down the road and they all laughed and said "No, your going to Booker T cuase your white".
It had to be the funniest sight in the morning watching the busses go up and down VB Blvd in the morning "exchanging" students.
Booker T also had to have been the worst educational experience in my life, but thats another story.
I Really Don't Know About This One!
Out of the (5) High Schools; the only two that I can see a semi-decent race mixture will be Granby and Lake Taylor due to the location in which they at. Booker T definitely and probably Norview will be predominately black and Maury will be predominately white. Just my Opinion. I understand that busing students across the city is costly, but I do believe that's one bill that needs to stay on the books. Rezoning....Yes, but keep the busing and balance off the demographics of the students.
elementary make-up
As a NPS employee, I can tell you for a fact that there is a school that I worked at where there were ZERO white children. There was one mixed student... But, you are correct when you assume that there is not a mix in every school in every level. That is what you get when you create "neighborhood schools". I have to tell you that the climate of that school was one of the best I've seen. The lack of diversity never seemed to be a negative at that school...
Redraw the Lines
Transporting students all over town is a waste of costly fuel. Doesn't Norfolk have some elementary schools that are over 90% black? If racial imbalances are acceptable at the primary levels, it should be just fine for the middle and high school levels.