Carpinteria Family School representatives at the Feb. 28 Carpinteria Unified School District Board of Education meeting rebutted points in a report released last fall that affirmed the school has become an enclave of relative whiteness and wealthiness within the school district. Fashioned in the schools trademark tone of compassionate communication, CFS defended its position in the district as a progressive alternative to mainstream public education while detailing many steps it has taken to overcome its inclusivity problem.

The Family School is just one of many important solutions to education in Carpinteria. We (educate) through compassionate communication, creativity, local and global service projects, high level parental involvement, environmental awareness, student leadership and a prosperous, loving community thats open to all, said CFS second- and third-grade teacher Jan Silk.

Following complaints levied against the school district last spring, a third party investigation was conducted, and a report concluded that the district needed to correct the social and ethnic divide between CFS and Canalino School, which share the same campus. Some of the friction between the two schools is rooted in shared resources like the library and cafeteria and who pays for them.

The discussion on race in schools created ill will on the campus. Silk cited an instance of CFS being referred to as Caucasian Family School as being particularly hurtful, and more so to the many ethnically diverse families at CFS. Silk said representatives of the school all wished to put the report behind them and move forward in a way that addresses concerns but also continues to respect the schools important place within CUSD, much in the same way the new Dual Language Immersion program is an attractive alternative for many families.

Acting Superintendent Jamie Persoon, who is also Canalino School principal and acting CFS principal, described the many steps that have been taken since the report to attempt to make the CFS population reflect the CUSD population. The report did not find any intentional effort to create a less diverse school population at CFS, but the responsibility fell to the school and school district to correct the issue through outreach and greater collaboration between Canalino and CFS in regard to shared resources and a more united campus culture. It is illegal for school districts to simply shuffle students between schools to engineer equally diverse populations.

Persoon gave the example of shared student assemblies to encourage integration between the schools and a cost-sharing system of billing CFS 12 percent for shared resources, since CFS comprises 12 percent of the campus population.

Efforts to increase diversity starting next school year include prioritizing entry to CFS for students who qualify for free or reduced lunch. Each year CFS enrolls 12 new kindergartners through a lottery, and in the past, siblings of CFS students were given priority entrance before the lottery, which left significantly fewer spots available in the lottery. The school district eliminated the sibling policy and will give spaces to students qualifying for free or reduced lunch priority placement in the school before a lottery would be used to fill any remaining spaces.

In 2015-2016, the lottery for CFS included 20 white children, two Hispanics and one English learner.

Co-president of Parents for CFS Caroline Haines took issue with the way the investigation was conducted. She said nobody from CFS was interviewed as part of the investigation other than former principal Leslie Gravitz, who had been released by the school district before the investigation. She also contested the part of the report that said CFS has fewer students in its classrooms than other elementary schools in the district, stating that in fact much of the time there are more students in CFS classrooms than the average.

The differences in demographics between school populations should not be seen as intentional or desirable. As a community we wholeheartedly believe that diversity is a value to our community, Haines said.

CFS will join with other district elementary schools on March 2 at a bilingual transitional kindergarten and kindergarten information night in order to present all schools equally. All sides acknowledged through the process of the complaint and report that CFS could be more proactive in informing spanish speaking and lower income families about the school and the process of enrollment. The school was founded on principles high parent involvement and had suggested it had policies of $500 annual contributions per student and mandatory classroom time in previous materials, but that language has since been eliminated, a move that could persuade families of lower socioeconomic status to feel welcomed.

The CFS and Canalino communities are significantly divided, with the racial and socioeconomic disparity between the schools creating an unsustainable us versus them mentality that models segregation for the students, stated the report written by lawyer Felicita Torres released last fall.

Supe search on track for April 8, 9 interviews

About six candidates for the vacant superintendent position will be interviewed on April 8 and 9. Recruiters hired by the district to conduct the search said applications have been coming in and the window is open through mid March. At that point, they will take a week to scoop the creme de la creme from the top of the stack and invite those candidates for in person interviews. The recruiters held multiple community meetings to gather public feedback about the school district and what qualities will be most attractive in a superintendent to lead the local public schools.

Editors note: The author of this article has a child at Carpinteria Family School.

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Family School rebuts report on lack of diversity - Coastal View News