State BOE Approves Manchester Schools’ Racial Balance Plan

The second time proved to be the charm for the Manchester Board of Education and Superintendent Kathleen Ouellette as they appeared before the State Board of Education for the second time in as many months Wednesday seeking to gain approval of a plan that racially balances the town’s public schools.

Last time, on Sept. 7, the town’s board of education received strong words and threats of a lawsuit from their state counterparts because they were again unable to deliver any type of a plan that addressed the state’s requirements for racial balance in public schools. This time, on Wednesday morning, Manchester school officials received praise, enthusiasm and even an apology from members of the state board of education.

So what changed?

Well, for starters, this time the school board was able to actually present a plan to the state board of education, after unanimously rejecting a plan on the eve of the last meeting due to concerns about its cost and sustainability.

The Manchester school officials presented to the state board of education on Wednesday at the Legislative Office Building in Hartford would essentially establish a magnet program for the town’s pre-schools through three existing elementary schools. Students, if their parents opted to enroll them in these new magnet pre-schools, would be entered into a lottery in one of three newly created racially balanced districts for the chance to enter the magnet pre-school programs.

Ouellette noted that Manchester public schools have struggled with racial balance issues since the mid 1990s, which is why the district opted to retain the services of the Capitol Region Education Council, which oversees a number of magnet schools in the Hartford area, to finally help it solve the problem once and for all.

“We needed the experts at the table with us. Manchester has attempted on its own to solve the racial balance problem with four different programs that the community has not embraced,” Ouellette told the state board of education. “…I know we’re all anxious to move this forward. I felt as the superintendent that enough’s enough. Obviously we can’t solve it.”

Currently, only Verplanck Elementary School in town is racially “unbalanced,” and only by two students, but future projections by the school district predict that many more elementary schools will also reach levels of imbalance in the coming years. The new plan, which will be implemented for the coming school year, aims to attract more white students to some of the schools that are nearing levels of imbalance by giving them a greater degree of options to choose from starting at the pre-school level.

After much debate, the Manchester school board voted 5-3 in favor of the plan at its last meeting, Sept. 13, while the state board of education took much less time or debate to approve the plan Wednesday.

Patricia Luke, a member of the state board of education, even went as far as to apologize to Manchester school officials for the gruff treatment they received during the last meeting.

“I’m sorry we were a little hard on you the last time,” Luke said. “…Maybe we helped you to get the job done. I certainly hope that was the case.”

Manchester Board of Education Chairman Chris Pattacini said although the plan may have taken longer to assemble than both town and state school board members would have liked, the Manchester school board wasn’t about to rush through a plan merely to satisfy a state requirement. Instead, he said, the racial balance plan the school board finally wound up adopting is one that stands to actually improve the district’s ability to educate its students.

“This isn’t just a plan to move six kids from one school to another,” he said. “This is actually a blueprint to improve educational opportunities throughout the district.”