In War on Error's diary, many have asked what would happen to white parents who tried to get their kids in a better school district. Well, my wife and I are white and we did just that and were praised for our innovative thinking and personal sacrifice.
The city in which we used to reside is a great city in the northeast. A very diverse but fairly well integrated city. We loved living there and elementary school had been great for my eldest daughter. Middle School was a different matter. There were lots of issues that contributed to our decision to move to a better school district, but the deciding factor was that my daughter did not feel safe, nor did we feel she was safe. There had been incidences with knives, a 'gang fight' on the school property, and a gun brought in by a disgruntled parent.
We are fortunate and had the money and flexibility to move. We did our research and decided where we wanted to move to. Our only task now was to sell our house and find one in our chosen town. Unfortunately for us, it was the spring of 2007. We put our house on the market where only months ago the average time on the market was 3 weeks. Now, they told us, it might be 3 months.
Well, 3 months came and went and our house had not sold. We were determined that our daughter was not going back to that school. Fortunately, the school in the new town had a program for out-of-district kids. No other town we had considered had such a program. We applied and got one of eight spaces that were available. All we had to do was pay the tuition of $15,000. Around here, that was a bargain with private schools starting at $28,000. Everything was all set.
Or not. 3 days before school was to start, my daughter had taken the orientation and the assessment tests for transferring students, we'd worked out all the details for getting her back and forth to school, she even made a friend at orientation. But then 5 new students registered for her grade, 2 days before school started. She was in the 7th space and we were informed that she could not attend through the program.
So now we're freaking out. We call the schools and find out what the residency requirements are and decide to rent an apartment. We figured since we were willing to pay for the tuition, all we had to do was find a rental that would cost us no more than tuition. We were already talking with a real estate agent about finding a house there once we sold our current home, so they scrambled and we found something that would work. Few!!
One catch. My daughter had to "live" in the rental. What did that mean? What defines "live"? No one could find us any policy that defined what "live" was. So we decided that I would live with my daughter in the rental during the week and we'd all stay at our current home on the weekend. Of course, we never verified that, but our landlord, who was a teacher in a neighboring town totally had our back and told us that if she was asked, she confirm that we lived there full-time.
Were we breaking the law? We don't know. When my daughter told some classmates at her new school about our living arrangements, a few kids thought we were. I thought for sure they'd tell their parents who would then call the school and we'd have a problem. But that never happened.
We did our best to keep to our obligation. But it was hard living in two places at once and slowly the days we spent at the rental went from 5 to 4, then to 3, then whenever it was convenient. But we had every intention of moving there and were paying the rent!
Finally, just before xmas, the offer came and we sold our house. By the end of February we had moved to another rental that was bigger (did I mention the first rental was a 1 bedroom?) to accommodate a family of four. Oh and did I mention that in both cases we were able to negotiate a month to month lease?
By the summer we had found, purchased, and moved into our new house. We registered our younger daughter for the new school year (she was just entering kindergarten). No questions, no worries, even got a private tour because our new neighbor happened to work at the school.
All very nice and wonderful wasn't it? It sure seemed to be to us. Along the way, as we met more and more people in the town, neighbors, real estate people, new friends, we were asked the usual questions. Where you from? When did you move to town? Of course, our story wasn't your typical story and the subject of the rental came up.
I was always a little worried what some might say when I told them about it. But you know what? Not a single bit of concern. We were called innovative! We were praised for the financial sacrifice. We were told we were amazing for suffering through the two living location situation. For having to suffer through that horrible wait to sell our house! That we were exceptional parents for doing anything for our kids.
Not one person reacted negatively or questioned whether our living situation qualified our daughter to attend school in the town. Not one. I wonder if it would have been so easy, so wonderful if we were not white. Most likely not.
When I think of what Ms. Williams-Bolar had to do to try and do what we did so easily, I am saddened beyond belief. I am outraged at the inequality. I am outraged at the court trying "send a message" instead of serving justice. But most of all I am humbled at a mother's true sacrifice for her children and determination to strive for a better life.