Should they stay to improve district or switch?

08:31 AM CDT on Monday, June 27, 2005

By HERB BOOTH / The Dallas Morning News

With a child set to enter seventh grade this fall, attorney Aaron Ford has decided to uproot his family from Cedar Hill for Coppell. He's searching for a better public school.

BARBARA DAVIDSON/DMN

Ellen Edwards, who has a doctorate in Christian psychology, volunteers at Cedar Hill High School's cafeteria, picking up trash. She believes that serving in schools and mentoring will help students and the district.

Meanwhile, Dr. D.G. Edwards overcame his initial skepticism about Cedar Hill schools and proudly watched his daughter graduate this year. She had been home-schooled before transferring to Cedar Hill. In bypassing big cities like Dallas to pursue the suburban American Dream, the Ford and Edwards families represent the dilemma some upwardly mobile black households feel as they try to find the best neighborhoods and schools for their children.

In some school districts where black affluence has increased so has poverty, raising new challenges for schools and questions for families. Do they stay and try to improve the public schools? Or do they use their financial resources to transfer their children into academically superior schools?

That quandary may be most evident in southern Dallas County, where cities and school districts have been transformed over two decades by a steady increase in the black population and, more recently, a rise in affluent black households.

According to a Dallas Morning News analysis, the number of black households earning at least $100,000 in the Dallas-Fort Worth area tripled during the 1990s, putting the region among the fastest-growing places for high-income blacks.

BARBARA DAVIDSON/DMN

Black professionals Ellen Edwards and husband Dr. D.G. Edwards volunteer during lunch at Cedar Hill High School to serve in the school district.

Much of that growth occurred in the suburbs, including southern Dallas County, where rows of spacious, upper-income new homes make the area look more like the Texas Hill Country than the North Texas plains.

More than 10,000 homes are in the construction or planning stages in Cedar Hill, DeSoto, Duncanville and Lancaster. A few high-end luxury developments also dot the towns. In Cedar Hill's Lakeridge and DeSoto's The Estates at Windmill Hill, some homes top the million-dollar mark.

When Dr. Ford moved his family back to the D-FW area, he chose Cedar Hill because it had been ranked high in academics in a local magazine.

"I did a lot of research on the effectiveness of schools in the suburbs," Dr. Ford said. He and his wife, Berna, are attorneys. "I looked at the demographics and where affluent African-Americans were. We decided on Cedar Hill because of the rankings and because of the demographics."

He's moving again for the same reason – only this time to Coppell, where results on state-mandated tests rank its schools high above Cedar Hill's.

The Edwards family, however, was more satisfied with Cedar Hill's classrooms. They started their daughter, Jessica, in private school and then home-schooled her before sending her to Cedar Hill High School to finish her secondary education.

"When she came to us wanting to transfer to Cedar Hill High, we were skeptical," said Dr. Edwards, who said his daughter sought the social aspects of a public high school.

The 1980 Cedar Hill graduating class had about 80 students, including fewer than 10 black students. This year, the graduating class was 447 strong, more than half black students.

Both of Jessica's parents have doctorates. Her mother has a doctorate in Christian psychology, and her father is a physician. And both have sacrificed income to volunteer time in the schools.

They've pushed around trash cans at lunchtime. They've also mentored students.

"It's all about service," Dr. Ellen Edwards said. "It's about them seeing you be a servant. They remember things like that."

Dr. D.G. Edwards said the purpose of education is preparing students for better opportunities.

"Everyone wants their kids to become excellent citizens," he said. "It's our expectations that are wrong, not the amount of money being spent on education."

Dr. Ford also was an active school district volunteer. He served on the Cedar Hill ISD Education Foundation Board and helped organize the district's activities celebrating the 50th anniversary of the Brown vs. Board of Education Supreme Court decision.

But Dr. Ford said he's moving to Coppell because the schools are recognized or exemplary; Cedar Hill's schools are rated academically acceptable.

"In my opinion, academically acceptable is unacceptable," said Dr. Ford, whose oldest child is entering seventh grade in the fall. "The fact is, I couldn't wait."

Other parents are assuming the same posture.

Mark Jones, a businessman who lives in DeSoto's affluent Frost Farms community, sends his children to St. Philip's School, a predominantly black private school in South Dallas.

He said many public schools are broken now.

"Some of them get it," Mr. Jones said of public school administrators. "But many just don't understand how to reach kids, how to relate. They have to start thinking outside the box because what they're doing isn't working."

Some educators acknowledge that suburban schools face problems similar to those found in larger urban school districts. But a rise in affluent households alone will not turn the tide in academic performance, they said.

Lancaster Superintendent Larry Lewis and DeSoto Superintendent Alton Frailey said that one problem with affluence in the schools is that students have access to so many material things that it can make an education seem less important to them.

"Johnny has his own room, his own computer, his own DVD player, his own XBox, his own everything, but he brings home C's and F's," Dr. Lewis said. "He'll eventually get his own car, and he thinks life is going to be that way the rest of his life. His priorities aren't what they should be."

Mr. Frailey said the mentality goes beyond that. Some black parents who struggled a generation or two ago to improve their economic status now have children who may expect everything to come easy. Or may not even believe that a good education is important to their futures.

"You're left with a population that may not buy into attainment," Mr. Frailey said, noting that some black students may deride others who excel academically. "It's strange. We're seeing a total decimation of what's important. Education is seen sometimes as a sellout."

Dr. Ford said he knows everyone's trying, including Cedar Hill school district Superintendent Jim Gibson, to provide the best education possible.

"It hurts me, because I taught in public education schools," Dr. Ford said. "I know they're trying hard."

Still, when scores for TAKS, the state-mandated Texas Assessment of Knowledge and Skills, were released in May, Cedar Hill, DeSoto, Duncanville and Lancaster – areas with some of the largest concentrations of affluent black households – lagged behind other North Texas school districts.

Just a few years ago, DeSoto and Duncanville were recognized school districts.

One problem, some educators said, is that in some of these districts where black affluence is on the rise, poverty also is growing.

The percentage of economically disadvantaged students in some districts doubled within the last decade. In Lancaster, about half of the district's students are listed as economically disadvantaged. Studies have shown a link between poverty and poor student achievement, which can lower a school's standardized test passing rates.

Having the opportunities that a high-income affords is important, the families said. But the real impact that affluent black parents can have on students and their educational experience comes from being engaged and setting an example, the Edwards family said.

"When they see that you've been successful, and you're treating them with respect and they're treating you with respect, that's what's really needed," Dr. Ellen Edwards said.

E-mail hbooth@dallasnews.com.