March 4, 1999
Discrimination charge hits Metco
By ERIN WALSH
STAFF WRITER
SUDBURY - While the suburb of Lynnfield is making waves by
closing in on a decision to eliminate its Metco program because its
students aren't succeeding academically, Lincoln-Sudbury Regional
High School is making some waves of its own.
Outraged students and teachers at Lincoln-Sudbury say an
after-school tutoring program for Metco students instituted by
Superintendent John Ritchie and the high school's Metco director,
Nicole Stewart, is discriminatory and illegal.
In a letter to Superintendent John Ritchie and forwarded to the state
Department of Education, math teacher Jim Williams called for an
immediate end to the program.
"I believe the program as presently constituted is illegal," Williams
wrote last month.
"It discriminates against Boston students as a class. It holds them to
a
higher academic standard than resident students. I believe there is
ample anti-discrimination and civil rights legislation to protect them
from differential treatment."
Ritchie defended the program and said he intends to continue it.
Lincoln-Sudbury Metco students with a grade-point average of 2.0 or
less or two or more grades of C- or lower must attend after-school
tutoring on Tuesdays and Thursdays.
Yet while Lincoln-Sudbury is under fire for exclusively tutoring its
Metco students, Metco supporters claim Lynnfield School District
hasn't offered enough remedial help to its students. And now Lynnfield
is considering dropping out of the program altogether.
The Lynnfield School Committee is scheduled to vote on the issue
March 9. Resident students outperform Metco students, who they also
claim have bad attitudes.
But the beef at Lincoln-Sudbury is that while 47 Metco students attend
the after school program, 228 underachieving students who live in
Lincoln and Sudbury do not, although they can sign themselves up
voluntarily.
Metco's Executive Director Jean McGuire said she fully supports any
district's efforts to provide Metco students with extra help, regardless
of its exclusiveness.
"I'm just glad to see these districts are not doing what Lynnfield has
done," she said. "They have just taken the money for Metco students,
put it in their own pockets and now want those kids gone."
At year's end, Ritchie said, he and Metco Director Nicole Stewart will
review the program to see if changes need to be made.
Ritchie insisted the program is designed to provide an equal
education to all students.
"At the heart of the matter, it seems to me, is the fundamental paradox
between the conviction that equal treatment of all students is a core
value, and the reality that, in many ways, equal treatment has helped
perpetuate an historically and unacceptably poor level of academic
performance by our Boston students," Ritchie said.
"This is a paradox that has to be addressed and accepted."
Wayland has a similar program for Metco students.
Although Wayland public schools hold their Metco students to an even
higher academic standard than Lincoln-Sudbury, Wayland never
heard complaints, according to its Metco director, Susan Allen.
In Wayland, any Metco student who receives a C in any major subject
must attend after-school tutorial sessions twice weekly in that subject.
"No one has ever called us to oppose the after-school program we set
up, because they understand the reason for it is to ensure academic
success for Metco students," Allen said.
She said there are some resident students who take advantage of the
extra help, and the program is not meant to be exclusive.
"We want to make sure the Metco students receive the best grades
possible and we want to make sure they have the same chances
[resident students have] of going to a good college," she added.
The money for the after-school programs in both districts comes from
state funds issued for the Metco program.
Boston parents are allowed to withdraw their children from the
program at their discretion in both Wayland and Sudbury, but Allen
said no Boston parents have done that.
Sudbury and Lincoln residents could get help through this program as
well on a voluntary basis.
Ritchie said Stewart would have numbers of how many resident
students volunteered for the program and if any Boston parents pulled
their children out of the program. But Stewart did not respond to
numerous calls made by the Town Crier and TAB.
In a written statement to the Lincoln-Sudbury faculty and staff, Stewart
said Boston students face an unavoidable dilemma.
"They are part of a school, yet they are also part of a program within
a
school with its own standards.
"This is a paradox, I realize, but it is one that needs to be addressed
rather than ignored," Stewart said.
"Treating them 'differently' may seem inequitable, but in my
experience and training, it is finally the purest form of equity. (Metco)
students who come to us lagging behind cannot be treated the same
if they are ever to succeed here and to compete beyond high school,"
she said.
McGuire said the aid for the after-school programs is for Metco
students anyway.
"The Metco funds have to go to the Metco students," McGuire said.
"Nicole is fighting to make sure the money she has from the Metco
grant is targeted to achieve academic success for her students, so
they can succeed later on.
"I have no problem with anyone who wants to use Metco funds to
provide these kids with extra help," she said.
According to Williams, he and many faculty members, as well as half
the students at Lincoln-Sudbury, disagree with the after-school
program.
"In public discussions at the high school, we have agreed we would
be both morally unwilling and legally unable to compel any other
sub-class of these students to participate in such a program," wrote
Williams.
"We would be shocked if such a compulsory program singled out any
other group. So I ask why we as a community should be willing to treat
this particular class of students differently simply because we might
be allowed to."
According to Russell Fleming, state coordinator of Metco, the League
of Council decided that because it is a grant program and Metco
students have the right to return to the Boston public schools if they
are dissatisfied, then it gives latitude for districts to install such
services.
However, Fleming's personal opinion is different than that of his
colleagues.
"Metco by law is a desegregational program designed to reduce
racial isolation in the suburbs," Fleming said.
"Given that is what the statute is, one would think a lawyer or civil
rights agency would question such a program."
Ritchie said the motive behind the program is to provide support and
tutoring to Metco students and should not be looked at as a
punishment.
"The after-school program is just one effort to redress that imbalance
and create more of an equal playing field," wrote Ritchie in a
response to a petition against the program by the student senate.
"In this regard I fully support the program, though I know it is
controversial, and know also that it's only one small step," he added.
As far as McGuire is concerned, districts such as Lincoln-Sudbury
and Wayland should be commended for their efforts to raise the bar
for their Metco students.