St. Louis CofCC Blog

Those words were spoken by Ingrid Clark-Jackson, the black woman principal of Hazelwood West High School.  The Post-Dispatch profiles the Hazelwood district, which has gone from 70% white in 1990 to 65% black today.

The problem is that whites are leaving the district in droves as blacks are moving into it. They are leaving despite schools that are meeting most state performance standards, despite that the blacks moving in are mostly middle- and upper-middle-class, and despite attempts by Clark-Jackson and other administrators to talk them into staying.

And historically in this region, when white flight has occurred, school districts have failed.

I think Arthur Jensen explained this awhile back.

“My husband and I bought 20 acres a few years ago out in Jonesburg (Mo.) and were planning to build on that when we retired,” said Sullivan, 44, a white parent of two children in the district. “But after the recent (rumored) gang threats and bomb threats, my husband said, ‘Let’s move now. Let’s not wait. Let’s put a trailer on the property and enroll our kids in Jonesburg schools.’”

Sullivan said she talked her husband into staying — at least until their daughter, a freshman, graduates.

“All this flight is ridiculous,” she said. “There are going to be problems wherever you move.”

Yes, the “problem” will eventually follow you like it followed you from north St. Louis, to near North County, and now to far North County.  Eventually, the “problem” will have to be met head-on and solved, but as it stands right now, the “solution” violates Federal Civil Rights laws.

Since 2002, black enrollment has risen 32 percent, while white enrollment has dropped 32 percent.

(snip)

School district Superintendent Chris Wright worries that the negative reports will hasten white flight.

“I know that some people are leaving because they are threatened by an increase in the African-American population,” said Wright, 56. “But what they don’t understand is that, while an increase in the African-American population is a fact, the socioeconomic level of that population is in some cases higher than some of the folks that are leaving. And the houses they’re buying here are some of the most expensive being built in St. Louis County.”

That’s a lot different than past demographic shifts in this region.

Decades ago, blue-collar white families vacated north St. Louis and municipalities in North County, such as Wellston, Berkeley and Moline Acres. They left behind mostly old-stock block houses, with small yards and no garages.

The blacks who replaced them were primarily poor or lower-middle class.

But Hazelwood is experiencing a boom in housing construction — about 2,000 new homes since 2000 and more on the drawing boards. And these houses are on spacious lots with two- or three-car garages.

Homes in the Portland Grove subdivision, off Old Halls Ferry Road in unincorporated St. Louis County, fetch from $300,000 to $500,000 and up.

Thallis Malone, a retired engineer with McDonnell Douglas Corp., lives in a Portland Grove house on a half-acre lot. His backyard is as smooth and green as a golf fairway.

Malone estimated that about 70 percent of the subdivision’s residents are, like him, African-American. They include the physician next door. Nearby live airline pilots, office managers, utility company employees and insurance agents, aerospace workers and retired St. Louis Police Department brass.

Malone said many of them, himself included, were raised in north St. Louis and came to North County in search of security and better schools.

“I’ve heard people call this the ‘Black Chesterfield,’” he said.

So, even in a “black Chesterfield,” black crime in schools is bad enough to spur flight among whites who are less well-off.  So much for “poverty causes crime.”

Even the district’s participation level in the free and reduced-price lunch program, which increased by 70 percent in the past five years, may not be the harbinger of poverty that it generally is considered to be.

Diane Livingston, a Hazelwood Central algebra teacher and longtime district resident, said multigenerational housing arrangements in the district soften the blow of unemployment.

She said she knows of some children who qualify for free and reduced-price lunches who, with their parents, “happen to be living in a very nice home with grandma and grandpa that they (the grandparents) own.”

And there’s how it happens.  It’s the “grandmas and grandpas” that can afford “black Chesterfield,” but they allow their ghetto kin move in, and the ghetto kids get to go to that school district.  By the way, isn’t this scamming the school lunch program?

Ryan Blankenship, 18, is a white senior at Hazelwood West.

He said having black friends will give him a leg up in life.

“I might be a manager at a company, and when I interview a black job candidate, I won’t be worried about anything but their qualifications,” he said.

I hate to break it to you man, but the truth of the situation will be just the opposite.  The black will be the affirmative action human resources manager, and you’ll be the one being interviewed.  And the manager will be interested in anything but your “qualifications,” as she tosses your application into the trash once the interview is through and you walk out the door.

As for kids raised in racially isolated areas, Blankenship said: “I feel sorry for them. They’re in for a big shock when they go out in the real world.”

They’re getting a big shock now.