Diversity's cautionary tale

SEATTLE School District Superintendent Maria Goodloe-Johnson offers a profound and practical observation: a quality education trumps diversity.

In the face of increasing racial isolation in the city's schools, the superintendent's emphasis on a good education for every student strikes the right tone.Seattle's demographics do not offer the diverse tale we wish it did. Neighborhoods skew among racial and economic lines. A Seattle Times analysis found that nearly 30 percent of public schools have minority populations above the district average.

In 20 schools, the student population is 90 percent minority. Behind these percentages lurk substantial challenges. Poverty falls along racial lines and schools with mostly minority populations tend to have fewer resources. Minority students tend to do less well academically, a vexing disproportionality problem requiring substantial school resources.

Removing integration from the top of the educational priority list shouldn't signal a return to "separate but equal," notions touted by those who opposed integration. Students aren't forced to attend certain schools based on race. A neighborhood-school emphasis means a family chooses a school by its choice of neighborhood.

School Board Chairwoman Cheryl Chow lends a sharpener to the district's focus by pointing out that it isn't their job to desegregate the city, only to educate the children with in it.

The best way to accomplish this is an infusion of standards and quality education in all of the schools. Adding strong programs to low-income schools will attract more well-off families. Good examples can be found in the South End, where Garfield High School's emphasis on Advanced Placement programs makes the school one of the city's most desirable. Same story with programs at two respected elementary schools: language immersion at Beacon Hill and Montessori at Graham Hill.

Create it; families will come.