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fyi -EVEN IF PROGRAMS INVITE ALL STUDENTS TO PARTICIPATE BUT ONLY AFRICAN AMERICANS PARTICIPATE, QUESTIONS COULD BE RAISED. BE PREPARED TO RESPOND OR GO THE EXTRA DISTANCE TO GET "MORE" STUDENTS TO ATTEND. POSTED: MAY 6, 2010 Elementary is in hot water over field trip Questions raised on trip attended by only African Americans BY PEGGY WALSH-SARNECKI FREE PRESS EDUCATION WRITER o * An Ann Arbor elementary schoolhttp://images.intellitxt.com/ast/adTypes/mag-glass_10x10.gif <http://freep.com/article/20100506/NEWS05/5060414/> field trip has led to allegations that the school violated Proposal 2, the 2006 voter-approved initiative that bans racial preference in Michigan public schools. At issue is whether the 30 Dicken Elementary students, African-American members of an academic peer-support group, should have been allowed to take a trip to the University of Michiganhttp://images.intellitxt.com/ast/adTypes/mag-glass_10x10.gif <http://freep.com/article/20100506/NEWS05/5060414/> to hear from a black rocket scientist without an invitation going to other students in the Ann Arbor school. Leon Drolet, former chairman of the Michigan Civil Rights Initiative, which successfully amended the state constitution with Proposal 2, said that the trip "absolutely" violated Proposal 2. "If it was directed, guided, organized by the school district, they cannot say they are doing a field trip today for blacks only, or for whites only, or for Hispanics only or for Asians only," Drolet said. School officials said they hoped the trip would inspire the African-American students to consider science and engineering as a career. It was just one of many efforts the district has made to motivate the group, called the Lunch Bunch, a peer-support group to help students struggling academically. The club was created to help improve African-American students' MEAP performance but is open to any student. But currently, only African-American students are members. Still, when the field trip group returned, they were met with boos from some of the other students who had remained. Proposal 2 is most famous for banning race-based admissions at U-M, but it applies to racial preferences at other public institutions. Attorney George Washington, who is currently leading the appeal of Proposal 2 in the U.S. 6th Circuit Court of Appealshttp://images.intellitxt.com/ast/adTypes/mag-glass_10x10.gif <http://freep.com/article/20100506/NEWS05/5060414/> , called the field trip a "well-motivated operation to bridge the race gap." "What's wrong with that?" Washington asked. District spokesman Liz Margolis said the trip was not paid for with school funds. The only cost was the bus <http://freep.com/article/20100506/NEWS05/5060414/> , which was paid for by a private donation. Margolis said the district is hoping that activities of the group will help boost standardized test scores -- an issue that is of greater concern for the African-American students than their white peers. She said the district views the program as a way to attempt to bridge the achievement gap. "We don't feel that it at all violates (Proposal 2), but frankly, as with any group of students, if we identify a group of students that need support, we would be addressing that," Margolis said. "But we also have to have better education for our parents <http://freep.com/article/20100506/NEWS05/5060414/> so they know why it's being done." Ron Wilson, Director of Development EduGuide Learn more about us at EduGuide.org <http://www.eduguide.org/> or follow us on Twitter at @eduguide <http://www.twitter.com/eduguide> 321 North Pine Lansing, MI 48933 phone:517.374.4083 fax:517.374.4092 [log in to unmask] EduGuide is a national, award-winning nonprofit whose publications, programs and training annually equip more than one million families, educators and leaders to work together in new ways to lift student achievement.