As a sociologist who has completed research on racial integration, I have been most puzzled by District 65 Supt. Eugene Mulcahy`s plan to remedy racial imbalance in Evanston schools (as reported in the Dec. 17 Tribune). The ”Alternative 3” proposal, favored by Dr. Mulcahy and his committee would turn Dewey School into a magnet school and eliminate it as a school serving a racially heterogenous neighborhood.
It is curious that Dr. Mulcahy`s proposal to solve racial imbalance in Evanston schools would eliminate a neighborhood elementary school which has one of the best racially balanced sutdent populations in the entire district. It also is located in an integrated community. Almost 80 precent of Dewey`s students–black and white–live within walking distance of the school.
Dewey is situated in a community that has over the years worked to further fair housing policies and develop a high level of community participation. Dewey School is a focal point of the community.
Rather than eliminating the neighborhood school, the superintendent and the school board will gain more by keeping Dewey as a neighborhood school
–which can serve as both a model and a laboratory for successful racial integration.
