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BY PEGGY WALSH-SARNECKI
FREE PRESS EDUCATION WRITER
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An [log in to unmask]"
alt="http://images.intellitxt.com/ast/adTypes/mag-glass_10x10.gif"> field trip has led to allegations that
the school violated Proposal 2, the 2006 voter-approved initiative that bans
racial preference in
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 Michigan[log in to unmask]"
alt="http://images.intellitxt.com/ast/adTypes/mag-glass_10x10.gif"> to hear from a black rocket scientist
without an invitation going to other students in the
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 [log in to unmask]"
alt="http://images.intellitxt.com/ast/adTypes/mag-glass_10x10.gif">,
called the field trip a "well-motivated operation to bridge the race
gap."
"What's wrong with that?"
District spokesman Liz Margolis said the trip was not paid for
with school funds. The only cost was the bus, 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 so they know why it's being
done."
Ron Wilson, Director of Development
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