Called Board Meeting of Tuscaloosa City Schools

There is a scheduled called meeting of the Tuscaloosa City Board of Education on today at the Tuscaloosa Career & Technology Academy at 5:30 p.m. The preliminary Agenda indicates that there will be discussion of Integrated Curriculum, Facility Analysis, and Demographic Study.

The discussion of the Demographic Study is perhaps the most important facet of this meeting, since there has been a desire to re-draw school zone lines and make closure a reality for some schools.

Despite rapidly changing demographics in gentrifying neighborhoods and the positive outcomes associated with diversity, schools remain largely segregated. Combined with decreased funding, lower enrollment rates and utilization, due to gentrification and parents choosing to avoid minority concentrated schools, often results in school closings.

Any closures disproportionately impact black and lower-income students, their families and their neighborhoods. Students from these schools are assigned to schools either far, far away from their home, less diverse or lower performing.

I certainly hope that if you are interested in the children who attend Tuscaloosa City Schools, you will find yourself in attendance at this meeting.