Correspondence from Wolfe to Central Board of Education Re: Metropolitan Desegregation Plan

    SUBJECT: M etropolitan  D esegregation  Plan

FROM  : Charles J. Wolfe

TO : M em b ers , Central B oard  o f  Education

DATE : D ecem b er  3, 1971

The P resident o f  the B oard  and the Regional B oard  m e m b e rs  have 
asked staff to produce a m etropolitan  plan fo r  desegregation . Staff 
has indicated that although time constraints are great, an attempt 
to produce an outline o f  such a plan shall be m ade. The Superin ­
tendent pointed out to m em b ers  o f  the Regional and Central B oards 
that such an outline produ ced  in one o r  two days would o f  n ecess ity  

be severely lim ited  in detail. (The State o f  M ichigan has been given 
four months to develop  a m etropolitan  plan. )

The attached paper is probab ly  c lo s e r  to a posit ion  statement than 
it is to a plan. It ra ises  som e o f  the issu es  that need to be c o n ­
fronted, but it a lso lays the groundwork fo r  a m etropolitan  plan.



The Need fo r  a M etropolitan  D esegregation  Flan fo r  the D etroit  A rea  

Purpose

In the developm ent o f  desegregation  plans, it is easy  but dangerous to 
ignore  the rea l p rob lem . That p rob lem  is to prov ide  equal opportunity 
fo r  quality education for  all ch ildren  and youth. Many ch ildren  in 
segregated  sch oo ls  everyw here , and in urban cen ters  in p articu la r , have 
su ffered  from  ra c ia l  iso lation  and fro m  soc ia l  and econ om ic  deprivation.

In 1954 the Supreme Court d ec is ion  held that separate education is 
inherently unequal. In an e ffort  to rem ed y  this situation, Court o rd e re d  
desegregation  is in crea s in g ly  com m on. H ow ever, it has been found that 
desegregation  alone is not suffic ient to produce  equal opportunity fo r  
quality education. T h e re fo re ,  plans which produce  only d esegregation  
m ay  fall short o f  solving the basic  p rob lem . It is n e ce s sa ry  also  to 
break  the pattern o f  concentration  of low s o c io e co n o m ic  status pupils 
whether b lack  or  white in the inner city  and high econ om ic  status in the 
suburbs.

Our soc ie ty  has su ffered  fro m  the continuing separation  o f  its c it izens 
into groups which are unable to com m unicate  with and understand each 
other. The hope fo r  a coh es ive , unified A m e r ic a  lie s  in e fforts  - -  b lack  
and white, r ich  and p oor ,  urban and suburban — to w ork  together fo r  
mutually benefic ia l goals .

Constraints and other C onsiderations

The Detroit  sch oo l system  is se v e re ly  lim ited  in its ability to d e s e g r e ­
gate under any plan because  the present m unicipal boundaries serve  to 
separate a predom inantly  black  child  population inside the c ity  fro m  a 
predom inantly  white child population outside the city .

The ability to define sharply the desegregation  p o ss ib i l i t ie s  o f  D etro it 's  
involvement in a M etro  plan is lim ited  because  time does not p erm it  the 
research needed to develop detailed plans. "M etro  A r e a "  has not been 
defined nor fo r  our purposes  are ra c ia l  sta tist ics  im m edia te ly  available . 
School num bers, loca tion s , cap ac ities , enro llm en ts  and p ro g ra m s  are 
not at hand. The State Department o f  Education is assem bling  such data 
and their plan, when ready, w ill make use o f  this vital r e se a rch .

Regardless of the lack  o f  detail - - i t  rem ains c le a r  that d esegregation  
plans that would further desegregation  o f  D etroit  sch oo ls  would do a 
better job  if  they en com p a ssed  the full ra c ia l  and e co n o m ic  c r o s s  section 
of the m etropolitan  com m unity.

The loca tion  o f  the boundary o f  the m etropolitan  a rea  is left open at this 
point. It should be noted, how ever , that as the boundary m ov es  farther



out from  the Detroit city  l im its ,  sev era l things o ccu r :

(a) The proportion  o f  white students in c re a se s .

(b) The residential areas into which white fa m ilies  can m ove
to escape the desegregated  reg ion  b e co m e  few er in number.

(c )  The travel distance in c rea ses .

(d) The p resen ce  o f  a higher percentage  o f  m iddle incom e 
fam ilies  in crea es .

(e) The number o f  students who can benefit f r o m  a desegregated  
experience  in c re a se s .

The m ovem ent o f  students under various Detroit  desegregation  plans 
involves varying degrees  o f  voluntary o r  assigned  transportation . The 
sam e would apply if la rg er  geographica l areas w ere  concerned .

O bviously, a plan which brings students o f  varying soc ia l  and econ om ic  
status together for  com m on  school ex p er ien ces  m ust involve transportation  
when in fact the ra c ia l  and econ om ic  groups o f  our  so c ie ty  live in ra c ia l  
iso lation .

Organizing Concepts

T h ere  fo llow  only suggestions fo r  d ev ices  that could fo rm  the b a ses  fo r  
plans. Detroit  Public  School have no ju r isd ic t ion  beyond the lim its  o f  the 
Detroit  system . Detroit  would benefit from  cooperating  with other system s 
in sharing o f  sch oo l fa c il it ie s ,  p rog ra m , and students, and many o f  the 
D etroit  desegregation  plans are "open  ended", perm itting extension to 
other sch oo l system s to further desegregation .

The log is t ics  o f  expanding Detroit  desegregation  plans to a la rg e r  M etro  
a rea  should be only a little m ore  difficu lt  than in -d is t r ic t  lo g is t ic s .  The 
sam e should be true o f  cost  savings where a m a jo r  in crea se  in the num bers 
o f  involved students b e co m e s  p oss ib le .

P a ired  Schools

Schools can be com bined in p a irs ,  tr ip lets , o r  la rg e r  c lu ste rs  in such a 
way that two o r  m ore  grades for  all o f  the sch oo ls  could  be contained in one 
o f  the sch oo ls ,  two or  m ore  grades in another sch oo l,  and so on. This 
concept is som etim es ca lled  the P rin ceton  Plan. It has the advantage o f  
allowing all students to be in their nearby sch oo l fo r  som e y ea rs  and at 
another sch oo l for  som e y ea rs .  Refinem ents o f  the plan include a sharing 
o f  teachers  among the schools  in the clu ster  and the establishm ent o f  a 
s ch oo l-com m u n ity  coun cil which se rv es  all o f  the sch oo ls .

M odification  o f  F eed er  Patterns

A second  device  for  the mixing o f  students is to change the m iddle sch oo l,  
jun ior  high, o r  senior high to which a low er grade lev e l  sch oo l feed s . F o r  
exam ple , students now attending an e lem entary  sch oo l  in D etroit  might be



sent to a jun ior high in a suburban d istr ict ,  o r  students in a suburban 
jun ior high might be sent to som e high sch oo l in the city. It would be 
p oss ib le  by careful scheduling to im prove  substantially the ra c ia l  m ix  
at the middle sch oo l and secon dary  leve l using this d ev ice ,  s im ply  by 
having som e students from  predom inantly black  sch oo ls  feed the sam e 
higher level school as som e students from  predom inantly  white sch oo ls .  
This plan would not prov ide  desegregation  at the p r im a ry  leve l but 
could  be used at higher leve ls  where students now a lready  use public or  
school d is tr ict  transportation to get to school.

Special Subject Matter Schools

A third method o f providing desegregation  would be to have som e sch oo ls  
sp ec ia lize  in certa in  subject m atter. F o r  exam ple, an existing sch oo l (or  
perhaps a new building) could  be designated as a humanities sch oo l. Pupils 
fr o m  other sch oo ls  would attend that sch oo l 20 to 40 percent o f  their 
learning time and would attend the sch oo l near hom e fo r  the res t  o f  their 
educational program . The schedule o f the humanities sch oo l could  be 
designed so as to provide the d es ired  ra c ia l  ratio o f  students. In addition, 
learning exper ien ces  could  be designed to em phasize intergroup and in ter ­
p erson a l understanding through so c ia l  studies, l iterature , art, m u sic , 
dram a, and philosophy content. This p art-t im e  specia liza tion  in sp ec if ic  
subject m atter is som etim es  ca lled  the B ase School Plan and could be 
developed  in other subject areas as w ell. The area  vocational sch oo ls  are 
an example o f  how such a plan is a lready in operation .

Other m ethods o f  com bining students can be suggested  which a lso  could  
fo r m  the basis  o f  m etropolitan  area  desegregation . They, too, can be 
designed in a manner to prov ide  various ra c ia l  ratios o r  to include sp ec if ic  
geographic  areas . The se lection s  o f  (a) a s p e c if ic  device  as the basis  fo r  
a desegregation  plan, (b) the boundary fo r  the p roposed  m etropolitan  area, 
and (c )  the organizational sch em e for  com bining sch oo l d is tr ic ts  o r  high 
sch oo l  constellations are left open at this tim e.

C r ite r ia  for  a M etropolitan  Plan

fP e c i f l c  plans are developed  fo r  the m etropolitan  area , we believe  
that the following c r i te r ia  are  im portant ones in appraising the expected  
worth  o f  any plan: ^

The plan should recog n ize  the human dignity o f  all students and deal with 
the basic p rob lem s o f  p re ju d ice ,  m isunderstanding, separation , and 
p o larization  o f  the ra ce s .  It should m ove toward integration  and the 
p r iz in g  o f  d ivers ity  along with desegregation .

Pupil grouping patterns should facilitate high expectations o f  su c ce ss  fo r  
all students by students, educators , and com m unity  in each sch oo l.

The plan should assure  that all s e c to rs  o f  e v e ry  adm in istrative  unit shall 
have a vo ice  in school a ffa irs .

A ll  adm inistrative and instructional units have a ra c ia l  ratio  near the 
staff and student ratios of the total m etropolitan  target area . C are  should 
be taken to avoid the downgrading o f  m in ority  group staff m e m b e rs  when 
com bining sch oo ls  o r  sch oo l d is tr ic ts .

A tw o-w ay exper ien ce  should be prov ided  fo r  a ll students.