So now that our country has reversed desegregation in our public schools, my attention has been drawn to a recent decision made by my local school district to end the volunteer transfer program. This program used to bring students from failing inner city schools to our rich suburban oasis of education while making a small gesture towards mixing the diverse cultures of this Greater St. Louis Area.
What the fuck is Lindbergh thinking? The said they don’t have enough space and that there is enough diversity within their district. This has to be some kind of joke. My neighbor’s house was for sale a few years back, and a black couple came to look at it. Immediately afterwards, a bunch of my other neighbors threatened to move out if they moved in. Yeah, our area would not possibly use more exposure to diverse people.
The Lindbergh school board should be fired.
13 Comments
11 July, 2007 at 11:12 pm
I just wanted to tell you that you’re cute and I MISS you
30 June, 2008 at 9:50 am
Lindbergh school district IS overcrowded. They are having to close Truman Elementary School to turn it back into a Middle School because Sperring is overcrowded to the max. Then, because they have lost an Elementary School they are going to have to either build another one at an estimated cost of $23 million or add on to all of their existing elementary schools at a cost of approximately $20 million to accomodate the displaced elementary school students.
On a separate note, why should we use our tax payer dollars to provide schooling for people who are not paying taxes for our area. This has nothing to do with the inner city. The same would be true if we were busing in people from any other county. Financially, it just doesn’t make sense. By the way, if the school district weren’t overcrowded and I didn’t already have to pay $345 a month for my child to go to full day kindergarten and all money for the school district were obtained through sales tax dollars, I would think that helping others out if we could afford it would be a great thing. However, currently, I believe that the tax dollars, if we had an excess which we don’t, would be better utilized by providing free full day kindergarten.
17 August, 2008 at 11:15 am
It’s about time someone said it. While we reside in the district, my biracial, black and white, daughter has felt racism first hand. I know other parents like myself would agree. I spoke to then superintendent, who passed the buck to another super, anyway, he says we’re phasing it out grade level by grade level. This means that the last vic students to come into the district can be fourth graders. It’s a real shame when a current vic parent has a child in fifth grade, first grade, but can’t get her kindergartner in.
17 August, 2008 at 2:51 pm
Amy, you’re right. I have read so little about this outrageous step back in desegregation in our metro area. The fact that a family’s first and fifth graders could be part of VICC, but the kindergartner cannot is a very real effect of continued segregation and inequality in St Louis metro area public schools. Where is the outcry about this?
18 September, 2008 at 2:26 pm
Jodi, you should know that even though the parents of the students that are bused into the district do not pay taxes in your area, Lindbergh school district still gets paid for them by the government. The district does benefit from the transfer program. They are paid for the number students they have attending. Why do you think they are so concerned about keeping the attendance at a certain percentage?
19 September, 2008 at 12:30 pm
Im sorry, I just have to say, that being and alumni and hearing all this just hurts. I graduated from this school a few yrs back and it was nothing like that at all. I can remember being bussed from the city and it being a good thing. There was never a time when we had to question it with the school board at all. The schools were starting to get over crowed then which is why they add the alternative school to the high school, but even with that said, aloukie is right. Being apart to the government program has nothing to do with your taxes. Your taxes are matched and some by the government for each child they bus from the city. Even the the government cut the funding, it was up to the school to continue to participate in the progam and thats still the same way. Its the idea like Jodi’s that things are misunderstood the way they are. Thats just my take on it. I think the school lost a lot of good people when they changed. Now if things were to ever go back, its gonna be like started all over again the same way it was 80+ yrs ago.
15 October, 2008 at 7:58 am
I graduated from Lindbergh in ‘84 and moved back here for my kids to attend in this district. I’ve recently gotten involved with the PTO and I’m on the Prop R committee and I can tell you that all other issues aside the main push for ending the voluntary deseg is over crowding. Now I can’t speak for everyone on the board, and I’m sure that there are still some bigots around it seems that there always are, but I know for a fact that the impetus for this decision is not based on racial issues. Sperring has 1200+ students in a school only designed for 800-900. They have trailers in the school yard right now to accomodate all the kids and some are being taught in spaces that were once janitors closets. If you look at the elementary kids already in the pipeline (already in 2′nd-5′th grades) there will be 1450 kids going into 6′th grade in 4 years. Sperring just can’t take it. Ending the deseg bought the district some time to get the other middle school opened back up. And once that happens and our population is back under control I, for one, will be fighting to get the voluntary program reestablished.
Now, that being said, if you’re so outraged about this why aren’t you on the board or on a committee or working to make a change instead of just blogging about it? If you want to get involved, get involved, I can introduce you around.
3 January, 2009 at 11:20 am
Come on now…Lindbergh Schools aren’t overcrowded. The middle school is but that is only because they sold off 3 schools in the past and used one elementary school as an early childhood program. They now are taking that one school back and have got the taxpayers to fund so they can supposedly rent a building(most likely they will build one) for the ECE program. They are reopening Truman as a middle school and will split the mid school population. However, the district is not having a wave of new students coming into it…they have been stable over time and like most are losing students to the Fenton area along with the western areas of St Peters, etc. They should take students from other areas and make some revenue from other sources instead of coming back year after year to the taxpayers of the district and telling us about their needs. I don’t believe them and the folks on this blog need to be looking at what is really happening. Should be watching who they are placing on the school board and not picking up retired employees of the district and stacking the board with old cronies!!
16 January, 2009 at 6:42 pm
well first of all, we currently attend lindbergh high school and to be straight forward…lindbergh is in fact over crowded.. not to mention the middle and elementary schools. it’s not fun to have about 34 people in just one of your classes, when this often distupts our ability to learn and get things done. it’s pretty ridiculous to say that the school district is racist when no offense to them, but most of the black kids at our school are so disrespectful to the faculty, staff, and students. we have witnessed several fights or arguments at lindbergh with 9 out of 10 being caused by black students. they walk down the halls and go off on people if you accidently step on their “kicks” and threaten you if you get in their way. this does not go for every black person and lindbergh..but for the general population of them.. this is found to be true. we’re not saying that there shouldnt be diversity at school, but the line has to be drawn somewhere.
28 January, 2009 at 5:09 pm
I am currently attending Lindbergh…and yes it is a little overcrowded..but black students aren’t just the main problems…white students also cause as much problems as blacks…I am in the office during one of my hours. And I have seen so many more white students then blacks in the office getting in trouble. And its not like Lindbergh can really do anything about the over crowededness…They can’t just turn away students who have moved into the district or who are transferring from the inner city schools..If we did that then we would be going against the “No Child Left Behind” act..Lindbergh still does good academically, and they have been for a long time…So I dont see why everyone is really complaining, either we can have kids going to school and getting an education or we can have kids that were turned away from school and end up in jail…I would rather see my classmates in school getting an education…And like i said its not all the blacks who cause problems…so just think about that…they have just as much right to an education as whites do..
28 January, 2009 at 7:29 pm
I currently attend Lindbergh, and I personally find this article extremely offensive. I have experienced this overcrowding first hand, and it makes it very difficult for me to get to my classes within the 5 minute passing time, and it is a huge problem and a lot of students are tardy to class because of this overcrowding.
Lindbergh is a very diverse school, I have never met a more diverse group of people in my life. There are so many different people attending Lindbergh some are immensely gifted, some are lazy, some are driven students, some are from the city, some are from South County, and some are from Fenton. All of the students I have met during my time in the Lindbergh School District (I started pre school in this district, so its been a fairly long amount of time) I have met so many great people, not a single one of them are the same.
It really is a shame that they are not going to bring inner city kids in on buses, but I’m sure the cost of that program is too monumental for any of us to imagine. Just giving Lindbergh a little time to expand and fix the over crowding, then maybe they will bring back the program, but for now, just wait and see.
Lindbergh really is a great place to go to school, and I know that every student that goes there is getting a GREAT education, isn’t that what school is supposed to be about anyway?
19 February, 2009 at 5:12 pm
Some of you may not have experienced the racism at lindbergh, but there is defianatly a large amount of it. Those of you that have not experienced this I can see where you are offended, and believe that the school’s problem is overcrowding. However, I am white and my boyfriend is black so I get to see what others don’t all the time. Behind the scenes students go against other students for being of a different race, racial slurs are used constantly, at the very least every day I get verbally lashed for dating a black guy, (he gets lashed also for dating a white girl)and blacks are watched more too prevent the starting of trouble. Constantly we both see/hear large amounts of racist people every day. I’m not going into too much detail on the teachers, but i can tell you first hand i have experienced racial issues with them too. On the day of Obama’s swearing into oath i heard so many un-necissary comments. An example of one of many comments I heard was “He isn’t even protected by glass or anything someone should shoot him, I know I would if I was there.” Lindbergh is racist and needs to change. I would at least encourage those of you who believe you can not change to stay closet racist, so those of us who are more sensitive to the topic, do not hear your racist comments.
7 March, 2009 at 4:25 pm
Im a sophomore at Lindbergh and I am multi racial(African American, Hispanic, Native American Indian) and I can say Lindbergh does not in fact hate black people. They’re not ending VICC because of diversity. Lindbergh cannot afford to keep transporting more students. It cost $10,000 for one bus. Most of the students probably 99.5% of the students transfered are African American but they aren’t doing this to discriminate and be racist. And even if the program does end i can honestly say there will still be a fair share of African American students still attending. And as far as the racisism from individual students well they are just ignorant and need to grow up. When people realize that no matter what color is on the outside and beyond the steretypical expectations WE ARE ALL HUMAN BEINGS!! So this controversy over Lindbergh School District has nothing to do with an individuals racial background or ethnicity. Its simply because the cost is too great and the schools, as much as people wantto turn this around to something racist, are overcrowded. Its just that simple.