Diversity about more than color in Eastern Iowa schools

When it comes to education in Iowa, the issue of diversity is quite gray, especially as the state's public school student population continues to evolve.

North Liberty resident Jessi Williams has a first-grader at Penn Elementary School in the Iowa City Community School District who is eligible for reduced-price lunches.

That makes her family a member of what the school board calls a diverse population.

With 30.2 percent of the district's students and 20 percent of Penn learners qualifying for free or reduced-price meals, Williams and others like her are the new face of minorities in education.

Iowa Department of Education numbers for the 2012-13 school year show that 399,479 of the state's 500,601 prekindergarten through 12th grade public school students (79.8 percent) were classified as white, but the question of who's diverse comes down to more than skin color.

Districts struggle

As illustrated by the conversation surrounding the Iowa City district's diversity policy, which attempts to even out the populations of learners qualifying for free and reduced-price lunches among the school system's buildings, defining that concept is difficult.

Members of the Cedar Rapids Community School District Diversity Committee, which is in its first year, proposed a mission statement that focuses on “unbiased and equal support, opportunities and access for all learners” rather than identifying specific student populations.

“I jokingly say that we've come to the point where we have three kids and one of them is blonde and two of them are brunette, we say we have diversity,” said Ruth White, executive director of the Academy for Scholastic and Personal Success in Cedar Rapids. “It's become ridiculous.”

As Stephanie Logan, an assistant professor at the University of Northern Iowa's College of Education, puts it, diversity is “a loaded term.”

In adopting its plan, the Iowa City school board chose to rely on economic distinctions as indicators of diversity, a definition the Des Moines Public Schools' also utilized for its policy.

Iowa Department of Education data shows that in 2012-13, 40.3 percent of prekindergarten through 12th grade students were eligible for free and reduced-price meals, an indicator of poverty.

Preliminary numbers from the National School Lunch Program indicate that 68.2 percent of lunches served during the 2012 fiscal year were free or reduced price.

The issue already has been somewhat decided for Iowa districts - in accordance with federal law, the Iowa Administrative Code states that “race may not be either the sole or determinative characteristic” for school boards to use in designating minority students for the purposes of creating diversity plans.

However, the code does allow for socioeconomic status, ethnicity or national origin, race and English language learner status to be considered in those efforts.

Economics

But that doesn't mean using financial indicators to determine diversity is popular.

“It doesn't seem like a good way to measure diversity,” Williams said. “There's a large amount of diversity even within the free and reduced-lunch community.”

Williams was an outspoken opponent of the district's diversity policy, in part because of the implication that her child would have different learning needs than her peers who have parents with higher incomes or “make it harder for other kids to learn,” she said.

White, who founded the academy to reach black students and help them succeed, believes that socioeconomic status is part of diversity. The mistake educators have made, in her experience, is equating the two.

“I think if we presume that the economic barrier is the primary factor that we have to deal with, we're missing the mark,” said White, who is a former English teacher and an academic adviser to minority students at Washington High School in Cedar Rapids. “Economics does play a role, but I'm just concerned that we not paint everybody with the same brush and suggest that students who are impoverished then should be treated in a certain way or that this, that or the other strategy should be employed if a student is on free or reduced (price) lunch.”

Race

Even though the number of students in the state qualifying for free or reduced-price lunches is almost double the proportion of learners of color, some feel that people often conflate the populations.

Michael Shaw, a former Iowa City school board member, said free and reduced-price lunch designation is seen as “code for black and Latino,” despite white students who also fall into that category.

“That often doesn't get factored into the discussion,” he said.

Williams' family qualifies for reduced-price lunch because she has decided to pursue a master's degree.

When she completes her schooling this spring and begins work, her family will likely no longer be in that category.

“I'm white, and I have all the privileges that go along with being a white person in our culture,” Williams said. “It strikes me as quite odd that by virtue of me getting a job and a paycheck, my minority status in the district changes.”

Tuyet Dorau, the lone member of color on the Iowa City school board, called the policy's definition of diversity “a slap in the face.”

“As an ethnic minority, I was offended that under the current policy, my minority status was no longer going to be recognized in that context,” said Dorau, who voted against the policy.

Role of the majority

The problem might not be with definitions, but with the conversation and its goals entirely.

Logan, who counts multicultural education as a focus of her work at UNI, said ensuring diversity is more than just a numbers game. To her, true integration exists beyond the building level and includes cultural competency.

“Even a school that on the surface is very diverse, I would question. Look classroom to classroom. How diverse is it?” she asked. “Even if there are more people, then it becomes educators and educational leaders providing an environment for all folks to be successful, and part of that is ensuring that individuals see themselves reflected in what's going on.”

White and Dorau also suggested cultural competency as a companion of increased diversity.

Any discussion of a minority includes defining, either explicitly or implicitly, a majority. Whether passive or active, that majority has a role in the conversation as well.

“There is no one answer. I think that districts can prepare teachers for a variety of strategies to use, provide them with some background information they can plug in when it's necessary,” White said. “I think it's really incumbent on the larger population to support efforts to encourage positive programming or positive community movement, because that makes it better for everybody.”

Gazette reporter Gregg Hennigan contributed to this report.