THE market

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“I’m absolutely looking at it for the greater good of the neighborhood, but I’m also selfishly looking at it for me,” she says. “Then we can get that experience to tell other parents this is great, other than just sounds great in theory.”

One of the main reasons integrated schools are effective is the middle- and upper-class parents who have more time to volunteer and pull in community resources, and the know-how to advocate for their cam-

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NMLS 1403412 puses, while low-income parents often are “working the third job to pay for gas to the second job,” Koprowski says.

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There’s also the “peer effect,” as he calls it. For example, low-income children come to school with about half of the vocabulary of their of peers, and much of that vocabulary is shared in informal settings, such as cafeterias and playgrounds. Data also shows that the most experienced, effective teachers are drawn to more socioeconomically diverse schools, he says.

All of this adds up to low-income students in mixed-income schools being able to perform two grades ahead of those in impoverished schools, Koprowski says.

And for parents worried about the reverse effect, Koprowski insists it’s an urban myth.

“Look at the research — that’s not what happens,” Koprowski says. “Middle-class kids do just fine academically. They have the ultimate wraparound service, which is affluent parents.”

And on the flip side, he says, “If you’re going to prepare your kid to succeed in a diverse society, think of all the social and moral things you gain by opting into the public enterprise.”

If integration happens, it will happen school by school. The outlook is bleaker on the district level — even if all of Dallas’ middle- and upper-class families re-enter public schools, the district’s socioeconomic stats wouldn’t be 50/50.

And that’s “perfectly fine,” Koprowski says, because diversity is not the “be-all endall” of choice schools or even academic success.

“This city has a painful history with race and class relations,” Koprowski says. “These problems didn’t happen overnight; they’re not going to get solved overnight with my choice initiative.”

He sees signs of hope, however. More than 60 years after Brown v. Board of Education and 45 years after Dallas’ own courtordered desegregation, Dallasites may be starting to naturally integrate.

“It’s all voluntary. This isn’t the days of desegregation where it was forced busing,” Koprowski says. “Parents are opting in.”

READ MORE about Dallas ISD’s efforts toward diversity at lakewood.advocatemag.com.

Education.

Lakehill Preparatory School has looked about the same since it was constructed in 1949. But that’s about to change. Dallas City Council recently approved the school’s zoning request for a planned development district and new facility enhancements. The building is currently L-shaped, but the new construction will add 16,000-square-feet to make it square-shaped. A courtyard will fill the center. The expansion will add classrooms, meeting rooms and some much-needed office space. With these new additions, the school will be equipped to educate an additional 100 students — it currently serves 400.

Nonprofits

A handful of neighborhood preservationists, including Lisa Marie Gala, Virginia McAlester, Jim Rogers and Neil Emmons, are forming a nonprofit called Dallas Endowment for Endangered Properties (DEEP.) The Dallas Morning News reports that once the organization “has funding in place, it will buy [historic] properties that may be at risk of being changed or demolished. It will place restrictive easements on them and resell them.”

Ferguson Road Initiative (FRI) was honored at the Dallas Historical Society’s annual Awards for Excellence in Community Service Luncheon. The organization was founded in 1998 to combat the continuing degradation of the East Dallas area by partnering with local law enforcement agencies and training community members on safety. Thanks to the FRI’s efforts, there have been significantly reduced crime rates in the area. Additionally, programs initiated by the group in conjunction with local schools have increased involvement among parents and volunteers and attracted more funding to the neighborhood education system.

In an effort to help recent tornado victims, Friends of Lakewood (FOL) recently hosted a night of music, food, drinks and fun. The event took place at the Barley House in East Dallas and featured performances by WhiteCollar, George Dunham and the Bird Dogs and Ronnie Fauss. FOL raised more than $1,500 for relief efforts.

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