JCPS less than half way to diversity goal

Berman says district's progress so far is better than expected

This from Toni at C-J:

Halfway into the first year of Jefferson County Public Schools' new student-assignment plan, less than half of the district's elementary schools are in compliance with new diversity guidelines aimed at keeping schools integrated.

According to statistics released by the district, 48 of the district's 90 elementary schools have failed to meet the diversity goal of having between 15 percent and 50 percent of students coming from neighborhoods where the average household income is below $41,000; the average education levels are less than a high school diploma with some college; and the minority population is more than 48 percent.

While officials have said they fully expected that it would take time to bring all schools into compliance, figures show that some schools are not close to reaching that goal...

“We knew that not all of our elementary schools would be in alignment with the diversity guideline the first year because we chose” to exempt more than 3,000 children who would have been moved under the plan to stay at their current schools, said Pat Todd, director of student assignment for the district. “In addition, for the irst year of implementation, it was only the first-grade class that we really monitored for the 15-50 goal.”

But even when looking at just first-graders, 47 elementary schools are either over or under the 15-50 goal....