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Innovating America







For parents of both races this stability has a reassuring effect, Don DeMarco said, since families often consider the educational and social welfare of their children when contemplating a pro-integration move. For example, a black family considering living in a neighborhood in which blacks are underrepresented—there are three such neighborhoods—can be assured that the children will attend a school in which black children are not underrepresented. The same is true for whites in the three neighborhoods where they are underrepresented; three other neighborhoods are well balanced racially.

The Shaker schools have a record of excellence that continues to attract families who might otherwise send their children to private schools. When enrollment declined in the late 1970s and early 1980s, the school board transferred the money saved by closing some schools into enrichment programs for the others. Eighty-five percent of graduates go on to four-year colleges, and Shaker consistently ranks high in the number of its Merit Scholarship semi-finalists.

ONE SIZE DOES NOT FIT ALL

What lessons emerge from 30 years of experience in promoting integration in Cleveland's eastern suburbs? Don DeMarco offers one caveat: "Unlike the panty-hose claim, one size does not fit all. Shaker's operational programs cannot be replicated in toto by most other jurisdictions."

DeMarco also urges fair housing advocates to focus single-mindedly on their primary goal and not be distracted by related and important issues such as homelessness, hunger, or poor families' need for such services as weatherization assistance. Like DeMarco, Mayor Stephen Alfred prefaces a discussion of the export potential of the Heights experience with a qualifier: "It is not for everybody." But he quickly adds:

It is my belief that in every major urban area in this country, there are people in close-in suburbs of reasonable affluence and education who are disposed to follow this path. This does not mean the majority of suburbs will do it. But they can do it. They should do it. Most of all, we believe it is right. People should be able to live where they can afford to live. Race ought not to be the predominant factor in where blacks and whites feel free to live.