Letters to the Editor

To the editor:

On the Voluntary Interdistrict Choice Corporation (VICC) website, it states that in 1999 racial integration was no longer mandated in public schools around St. Louis. With this revision in place, schools could opt to keep the transfer program running, but it is not mandatory. It ended due to the notion that race-based policy cannot exist forever.

Ending the policy of actively integrating county public schools was a mistake, because the truth is that St. Louis is an extremely racially segregated city and needs to be held accountable for making sure all children have access to an equal education.

Statistically, at my alma mater Lindbergh Schools — which stopped accepting new transfer students in the 2008-2009 school year — the number of black students attending is on an overall decline. Just before the revision, Lindbergh High School’s black enrollment peaked at 396 students. In 2016 the number had lowered to 83. This is not acceptable.

Integration has been proven to increase black students’ test scores significantly, among many other benefits, as well as provide white students with an environment that allows them to be a well rounded individual.

Separation, whether through the law or not, will never be equal.

Michaela Jackson
Crestwood