Concerns raised about York prep school's diversity
York Prep says it tried to court minorities
Local black leaders are concerned that York Preparatory Academy, the first charter school in York County open to any student, will be nearly all white.
The academy's organizers are still compiling information about the student body's demographics. But the several hundred people who attended the school's recent enrollment lottery were mostly white, as was the crowd of several hundred who attended a recent board meeting.
The school's governing board of seven members is all white.
Melvin Poole, president of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People's Rock Hill chapter, sees the makings of a segregated school.
"I don't think they made a real effort to get blacks in," Poole said. "I think this is just a cover-up way to get back to segregated schools ... creating a school of elites on the taxpayer's dime."
That's not true, said York Prep founder Craig Craze. He said organizers targeted black neighborhoods and churches with public information sessions about the school. Craze, who declined to speculate about the school's demographics until that data is available, said 1,588 people applied to send students to the school.
"Nowhere did we ask about gender or race before the lottery," he said.
The debate reflects a growing concern nationally over charter schools, which, with President Barack Obama's blessing, are opening in larger numbers every year.
"The charter school movement has been a major political success, but it has been a civil rights failure," reads the foreword to a recent
Read more: http://www.heraldonline.com/2010/04/04/2064805/diversity-challenged-in-charter.html#ixzz0k9jSTRgP