Reform With Reinvestment: Values and Tensions in Gentrifying Urban Schools

Abstract

As cities across the country experience an influx of White and middle-to upper-class residents, new opportunities for the integration of urban schools emerge. Yet crucial challenges persist even when equity and inclusion are a focus for new stakeholders. This article explores the story of a largely White group of parents committed to investing in and reforming their gentrifying neighborhood's elementary school. Given the numerous tensions that ensued, fostering leadership, equity, and intercultural awareness remains vital to ensuring that the new urban diversity also produces just and inclusive schools.

Modes of Belonging: Debating School Demographics in Gentrifying New York

“…411 parent told a room full of parents, “When rich people come, they have the money to force people to do what they want.” At multiple diversifying schools, I heard stories about groups of privileged families conspiring with one another to predetermine the agenda for PTA meetings. The fears of the longtime community members are justified: A growing body of literature documents significant changes in the culture, decision making, and governance processes of diversifying urban schools (Cucchiara, 2013; Posey-Maddox, 2014; Posey-Maddox et al, 2014; Siegel-Hawley et al, 2016). They no longer belong there.…”

“…A half-century after Brown , increasing numbers of white, affluent families across the nation are enrolling their children in urban schools that have historically served low-income communities of color (Cucchiara, 2013; Freidus, 2016; Keels, Burdick-Will, & Keene, 2013; Kimelberg & Billingham, 2012; Mordechay & Ayscue, 2017; Posey-Maddox, 2014; Siegel-Hawley, Thachik, & Bridges, 2016). While some parents, educators, and policymakers see these demographic shifts as opportunities to promote integration, others see the same changes as threats to their access to quality education or community schools.…”

“…As they talked about integration, segregation, and gentrification, stakeholders’ comments reflected varying and often conflicted narratives about whether, why, and how student demographics matter (Abu El-Haj, 2006; Dumas, 2009; Pollock, 2005). These racialized narratives influence public perceptions of diversifying schools, perceptions that have profound implications for how district administrators develop and implement policies related to school choice and student assignment, how parents join and participate in diversifying school communities, and how school leaders negotiate families’ competing priorities (Cucchiara, 2013; Diem, Holme, Edwards, Haynes, & Epstein, 2018; Posey-Maddox, 2014; Quarles & Butler, 2018; Siegel-Hawley et al, 2016; Syeed, 2019; Turner, 2015).…”

“…Modes of Belonging district administrators develop and implement policies related to school choice and student assignment, how parents join and participate in diversifying school communities, and how school leaders negotiate families' competing priorities (Cucchiara, 2013;Diem, Holme, Edwards, Haynes, & Epstein, 2018;Posey-Maddox, 2014;Quarles & Butler, 2018;Siegel-Hawley et al, 2016;Syeed, 2019;Turner, 2015). Much of the research to date on school gentrification examines the role that ''advantaged families in disadvantaged contexts'' play in influencing school policies and practices (Posey-Maddox, Kimelberg, & Cucchiara, 2014, p. 447).…”

Policies needed to build inclusive cities and schools

“…Much of the research on gentrification and schools suggests that traditionally, families who moved into neighborhoods that were gentrifying often opted out of the neighborhood schools, relocating to suburban communities when they had children (Hankins, 2007;Keels, Burdick-Will, & Keene 2013;Kennedy & Leonard, 2001) and effectively ensuring that the local public schools remained segregated. However, there is evidence that more recent waves of gentrifiers-that is, young, largely white, millennial, middle-to upper-class families-are beginning to engage with urban school districts (Mordechay & Ayscue, 2017;Siegel-Hawley, Thachik, & Bridges, 2017;Stillman, 2012). Although many hurdles remain that prevent integration from being a widespread reality, these trends signal the possibility of future neighborhood and school desegregation.…”