Considering the fact that public schools in North Carolina are more segregated now than after the Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka ruling in 1954, it’s no wonder that Durham Public Schools (DPS) is taking such bold, purposeful measures with the Growing Together initiative. The Brown v. Board of Education unanimous decision compassionately determined that segregated schools were “inherently unequal.” Now, 70 years later and still struggling with segregation and inequality, DPS has called out school resegregation directly and has devised a plan that splits Durham into five regions, creating a student assignment plan where students can attend a neighborhood or magnet school. 

In their unwavering commitment to diversity and in support for the collective community, the efforts of DPS administrators have been to reimagine student assignment and improve the quality of learning environments within DPS. To bring this vision to life, DPS leaders implemented three key changes: introducing the new DPS Regional Access Model, improving program placement across all elementary schools, and refining DPS school boundaries. DPS leaders listened to educators, parents, students, and community members and crafted Growing Together to improve and ensure diversity and equity, efficient transportation services, academic offerings, and issues related to over- and undercrowding. 

Overall, these revisions were developed to achieve diversity and equity goals district-wide and combat the many issues and barriers families in our community have faced for years. At the place of execution, the loudest voices of opposition are coming from the most “intensely segregated” schools. As I hear dissension about the purpose of Growing Together, the policy being made more simple, and getting buy-in from stakeholders, I have to stay grounded in what I know to be true across Durham and the resegregation of our school. 

Segregation across the district 

In 2016, it came to light that enrollment in George Watts Montessori School was discriminatory. The priority zone magnet lottery had no mechanism to avoid recreating segregated schools like in 1955. Several parents, myself being one of them, began to demand answers from DPS regarding the purpose of magnet schools, the purpose of priority zones, and the disaggregated data to assert their assumptions. The answers varied depending on who you asked. Was it to prevent white flight? Was it to attract more white students to create diversity in George Watts? Was it to attract students across the district to have the benefit of a Montessori curriculum? Unfortunately, the entire district did not have the same level of access as those in the priority zone.

Inter-school segregation 

In 2018, inter-school segregation corrupting local learning environments was unearthed. At E. K. Powe, Black students were not receiving equitable access to a rigorous curriculum. In 2018, 78.5 percent of the school’s 39.2 percent white population was being pulled out of class for the Advanced and Intellectually Gifted (AIG) program, while 90 percent of its 32.7 percent Black students did not receive the same rigor. At Jordan High School, the in-school suspension rate (resegregation) of Black students was over six times higher than the suspension rate for white students (20.81 percent Black, 3.23 percent white, and 6.72 percent Hispanic). The suspension rate for white female students was almost nonexistent (0.83 percent). 

Another example of upholding resegregation came in 2019, when the DPS administration brought before the Board of Education recommendations to rezone due to overcrowding in Githens Middle School, whose demographics are 24.3 percent white, 37 percent Black, and 31.7 percent Hispanic, and move students to Brogden Middle School, whose demographics are 14.4 percent white, 33.4 percent Black, and 45.8 percent Hispanic. The administration presented to the board the natural boundary of Cornwallis Road. If you were south of Cornwallis, then you would be zoned for Githens, and if you were north of Cornwallis then you would be zoned for Brogden. 

On November 7, 2019, a handful of families from one community (Duke Forest) appealed to the board to allow their neighborhood north of the boundary line to attend Githens, an already-determined overcrowded school with a higher white population than Brogden Middle School. Their reasons varied: they wanted to keep their kids together; some families would not choose DPS; it was more convenient. The DPS Board of Education directed the staff to further investigate, and within two weeks granted the requested change, putting students in an already overcrowded school despite publicly stating that they were trying to avoid this. These are examples of “exceptions to the rules” that continue to perpetuate inequities in a school district. 

Learning together 

Growing Together does not have to be painful if communities are willing to learn together. At the height of racial and economic diversity at George Watts in 2018, school and district leadership began to reckon with these disparities and authentically engage Black parents. As a result of this engagement, George Watts had the greatest academic growth for Black students across the district that academic year. In 2019, the school had its most inclusive fundraising carnival (inclusive of minority-owned vendors, cultural inclusion and participation from families, and authentic outreach for participation) that raised upward of $50,000 for their school community, which led to partnering with a majority-minority Title I school to offer a donation and one-to-one support to build their parent engagement community. When we can have open discussions about race, implicit bias, and building authentic relationships with students and families, everyone in our community thrives. 

Growing Together has the ability to ensure that diversity, equitable access to rigorous curriculum, global language, arts, and STEM programming is extended to every student in our community, regardless of their zip code. Growing Together has the ability to bring economically diverse backgrounds together and potentially result in more equitable distribution of resources. 

Parents have complained about fragmented information, confusing applications, and a lack of information-sharing between central administrators and schools with the Growing Together plan. While I can acknowledge that there are several moving pieces to start the 2024–25 school year, the courage to do what this administration has done is commendable. Communication throughout the process is paramount, and this will help resolve questions that families have; however, I can also speak truth to power and expose that some of the public comments being made are out of personal desire and not personal hardship or communal, inclusive “raising the tide.”

Jovonia Lewis is a former Durham Public Schools Board of Education member.