Dept. of Education expresses concern
By Alvin A. Reid Of the St. Louis American
In 1987, University City resident Walter A. Daniels Jr. filed a complaint against the University City School District alleging discrimination in honors, gifted and advanced-placement classes.
He filed a similar complaint last year.
“The response I received in June is a lot better than the one I received in 1987,” Daniels said.
Ronald Reagan’s Department of Education, run by conservative zealot William Bennett, would have no part of Daniels’ concerns 20 years ago.
But in a letter to Daniels dated June 22, Jane McQueeny, Department of Education Office of Civil Rights (OCR) Region VII supervisory attorney, acknowledged that her department “identified possible compliance concerns relating to the number of African-American elementary students in the gifted and talented program and the number of African-American high school students enrolled in advanced-placement courses.”
McQueeny also wrote, “The district is in the process of researching and/or implementing measures to address under-represented students in honors, advanced-placement and gifted and talented education programs.”
Before her office’s investigation was complete, she said, the district “acknowledged OCR’s compliance concerns and advised OCR of its desire to address the allegations of (Daniels’ complaint letter) and enter into an agreement to resolve the complaint allegations.”
Daphne Dorsey, U. City Schools public relations coordinator, said the district voluntarily signed a resolution agreement to address the OCR’s concerns, but adds “it is what we were doing before a complaint was filed.”
She said the agreement includes “steps and measures we were already doing.”
According to the agreement, the district must complete a comprehensive review of its policies and procedures relating to the identification, referral, evaluation and placement of students into honors, advanced-placement and gifted and talented education programs.
It must “develop a written system for the annual review of its policies and procedures to ensure African-American students are not excluded from its honors, advanced-placement and gifted and talented programs.”
Of particular interest to Daniels is a call to “review, revise and implement its measures to address the educational needs of African-American students that may not be eligible for the district’s (gifted) program, but could best be served by an academic environment beyond that offered through a standard grade-level curriculum.”
Daniels, a retired Lipton Tea sales and marketing executive, was also a longtime social studies teacher.
He says he’s “glad the district decided to do things on their own,” adding that he is “very happy” with the OCR’s letter.
“That’s not my main concern, though,” Daniels said. “My main concern is that the district is graduating students who cannot read at grade level. They are graduating students that are still functionally illiterate.”
He called the resolution agreement “a step in the right direction.”
Daniels said, “It will help black students get into programs, but for more students to excel academically there have to be high expectations at all grade levels and in all classrooms.”