Dive Brief:

• Ogden International Elementary School is one of the best public schools in Chicago and serves some of the city’s wealthiest students just a few blocks away from the Jenner Academy of the Arts, which primarily serves children in public housing.
• NPR reports a group of parents has been trying to integrate the two schools, but there are parents who do not support the merger, and Chicago Public Schools Chief Education Officer Janice Jackson last year said supporters needed to do more due diligence to figure out how a merger would actually work.
• A steering committee of about 20 people got a grant last year, hired consultants to do a feasibility study, and surveyed parents about the proposed merger, and while both principals have supported the idea along with former Secretary of Education Arne Duncan, the district says it is still deliberating.

Dive Insight:

At the 62-year anniversary of Brown v. Board of Education, a report from the Government Accountability Office revealed the percentage of U.S. high schools with a high proportion of low-income black or Latino students increased from 9% to 16% over the last 14 years. While it is easy to assume the nation is making steady progress on civil rights issues, segregation has been getting worse.

In addition to mergers of schools within districts, some regions have merged city and suburban districts entirely to create greater opportunities for integration. Boston is celebrating the 50th anniversary of its METCO program, which buses students in low-income communities to wealthier suburban districts, though the schools themselves remain separate. When urban districts especially are consistently poor across nearly all of their schools, internal busing is not helpful. Turning outside of districts like this for integration opportunities can be key, though distance can present a serious obstacle.