TOQUAM IS THE MODEL SCHOOL FOR THE FUTURE

The Stamford Board of Education’s recent proposal to close Toquam Magnet Elementary School is very puzzling. It is understood and appreciated that the Board of Education is under intense pressure to improve test scores city wide at a time when the school budget is under severe scrutiny and shrinking.

It is incomprehensible how, in light of the recent US Supreme Court decision regarding school segregation, the Board of Education would not look more closely at how and why Toquam succeeds with an already existing diverse and integrated population.

The premise behind the magnet schools was to use these select schools as a way to create a racially balanced school system that matches the entire school population. The magnets have also been used (or have been proposed to be used) to provide an outlet to overcrowded neighborhood schools as the populations have ebbed and flowed. The Board of Education has decided to use factors such as students who receive assisted or free lunch, English Language Learners (ELL) and students from public housing as a basis for keeping our schools diversified. If this is the model school that the BoE wants to implement across Stamford, then they need to look no further than Toquam since it is already here.

According to GreatSchools.net, an independent not-for-profit company that compiles information and statistics regarding schools nationwide, Toquam is already diverse with a population of 40% white, 32% black (non-Hispanic), 21% Hispanic and 7% Asian. The percentage of students eligible for free or reduced priced lunch (a proposed measure of socio-economic factors) is 46%. For comparison, two district elementary schools have over 60% of their students receiving these benefits and three schools are under 35%. When you consider these statistics, coupled with the success this school has produced year after year, the board should look at how they can duplicate this model at other schools rather than simply closing it down. The district should consider looking at redistributing students from these schools which are out of line with the schools acceptable integration levels, rather than a succeeding school that is already within city standards.

Closing the school that already achieves the very model of diversity that the board is looking to build across the entire district makes no sense. Simply moving the teachers and administrations to another school is certainly no guarantee of success. In order to replicate something, you need the original model alive and well, available for reference.

Spending one day on the campus, seeing the students and meeting the parents would drive home the point that Toquam is a beautiful mosaic of cultures and communities that thrives and succeeds.

Please help us save Toquam. See other letters that have been written at http://savetoquam.blogspot.com/.