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Teachers fleeing black schools: [Final Edition]
Roedemeier, Chad. Cincinnati Post [Cincinnati, Ohio] 25 Apr 2003: A4.0.
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[Jason Johnston], one of only a handful of white teachers at the school, decided to leave after less than a year, disillusioned by pupils who struggled, parents
who weren't involved and the constant pressure to meet state achievement standards.
"It wasn't what I expected," explains Johnston, who now teaches high-performing fourth-graders at a wealthy, mostly white Atlanta school.
English teacher [Elise Crisp], helps student Ian Baker, 16, with an assignment at Avondale High School near Atlanta, where the student body is nearly 100
percent black.
DECATUR, Ga. -- Jason Johnston took a job at mostly black Midway Elementary School in hopes he could make a difference with the children who needed him
most.
But Johnston, one of only a handful of white teachers at the school, decided to leave after less than a year, disillusioned by pupils who struggled, parents who
weren't involved and the constant pressure to meet state achievement standards.
"It wasn't what I expected," explains Johnston, who now teaches high-performing fourth-graders at a wealthy, mostly white Atlanta school.
"It's not because of race issues," he says. "It's about where you feel comfortable."
Johnston is part of an exodus of white teachers from black schools that some see as a troubling symptom of the resegregation of the South.
As decades-long court busing orders are loosened or lifted, the region's schools have become increasingly more segregated. And a new study suggests that the
trend is having a dramatic effect on where teachers choose to teach.
Three Georgia State University professors found that during the late '90s white elementary school teachers in Georgia were much more likely to quit at schools
with higher proportions of black students.
After the 1999-2000 school year, 31 percent of white teachers quit their jobs at schools where the student population was more than 70 percent black, and
those who changed jobs went to schools that served lower proportions of black and poor pupils.
"The race of the student body is the driving factor behind teacher turnover," the researchers wrote. Other studies have found white teacher flight increasing --
in California, New York, Texas and North Carolina -- but only the Georgia State study singled out how race factored in the phenomenon.
The study didn't seek to explain the reasons teachers had for leaving. But many Georgia teachers say they felt pressured to leave low-performing, mostly black
schools after the state passed an education reform law that tied teacher pay to test scores.
Still, the study found that white teachers were leaving predominantly black schools even in the Atlanta city and suburban DeKalb County districts that were
among the state's highest paying.
Elise Crisp teaches at DeKalb County's Avondale High School, where the student body is nearly 100 percent black. She has been there for six years and seen
other white teachers leave for more affluent schools, with more white students.
She says some are overwhelmed by the culture shock of an all- black school; others just want to work closer to home.
"I just don't have those problems," said Crisp, who teaches English. "I really see no difference in what my job is, whether the students are black or white.
They're children. It's my job to teach."
But John Evans, president of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People in DeKalb County, says no one should be surprised to see young
white teachers leave for the suburbs after a year or two.
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Indexing (details)
Title Teachers fleeing black schools: [Final Edition]
Author Roedemeier, Chad
Publication title Cincinnati Post
Pages A4.0
Number of pages 0
Publication year 2003
Publication date Apr 25, 2003
Year 2003
Dateline Ohio
Publisher Scripps Howard
Place of publication Cincinnati, Ohio
Country of publication United States
Journal subject General Interest Periodicals--United States
Source type Newspapers
Language of
publication
English
Document type News
ProQuest document ID 429871486
Document URL http://search.proquest.com/docview/429871486?
accountid=35812
Copyright Copyright Cincinnati Post Apr 25, 2003
Last updated 2010-06-29
Database 3 databases View list
Copyright 2013 ProQuest LLC. All rights reserved. Terms and Conditions
Many teachers, especially young women, are scared of black neighborhoods and don't want to be there after dark, he says. They take their first job in a black
school and then can't wait to get transferred.
Illustration
Caption: English teacher Elise Crisp, helps student Ian Baker, 16, with an assignment at Avondale High School near Atlanta, where the student body is nearly
100 percent black.; Credit: JOHN AMIS/Associated Press
Credit: Associated Press
Copyright Cincinnati Post Apr 25, 2003