How Dallas ISD Is Working to Attract Middle-Class Families to Another East Dallas School

By Eric Nicholson Wed., Nov. 12 2014 at 6:31 AM

Dallas ISD Trustee Mike Morath is thrilled that Lee Elementary is becoming an IB school. He's also thrilled it now has a rock climbing wall, which he summited minutes later.

The neighborhoods surrounding Dallas ISD's Robert E. Lee Elementary are much like the neighborhoods surrounding nearby Stonewall Jackson and Lakewood Elementary. That is, they are predominately white and upper middle class, with just a touch of East Dallas crunchiness. But while Stonewall and Lakewood bulge with kids from the neighborhood, Lee has largely failed to attract kids from the single-family homes along Lower Greenville that feed into it.

For proof, look at the numbers: Lakewood has 853 students. Seventy-six percent are white, 17 percent economically disadvantaged. Stonewall has 602 kids. Fifty-eight percent are white, 23 percent economically disadvantaged. Lee, by contrast, is basically the reverse. It has just 362 kids, 17 percent of whom are white, 71 percent of whom are economically disadvantaged.

This disparity is important, and not just because having more well-off white kids in DISD will boost test scores and therefore burnish the district's reputation. Right now, young middle-class families who can't afford either private school or the fast-rising home prices in Lakewood, Stonewall, and a couple other attendance zones tend to flee to the suburbs because they're convinced that DISD schools suck. More Lakewoods and Stonewalls means more middle-class families staying in Dallas, paying Dallas taxes, supporting Dallas schools.

This in turn benefits kids, because kids who attend schools with high concentrations of poverty, which is currently the case in the overwhelming majority of DISD schools, have poorer educational outcomes than kids who attend schools with greater economic diversity. Maybe it's being around kids who have gone to expensive preschools and grown up in a world of college graduates. Maybe it's that rich parents have more time and resources to spend pressuring administrators and teachers to stay on the top of their game and raising money and volunteering in ways that benefits the campus. (Case in point: Lakewood parents' ambitious $15 million fundraising campaign).

So, how to transform Robert E. Lee into Stonewall?

On Tuesday, parents, DISD officials and neighborhood leaders unveiled plans they hope will convince parents in neighborhoods like Vickery Place, the Belmont Avenue Conservation District and Lakewood Heights to forego private school and send their kids to Robert E. Lee. Their tools of persuasion: an English/Spanish dual-language program and DISD's second International Baccalaureate elementary school. There's also a new rock-climbing wall in the gym.

"This school is ready for prime time," City Council member Philip Kingston declared from a dais in front of the school to several dozen current and prospective Lee parents who braved the sub-50 temperatures for the announcement. "This school is ready for you to send your kid to."

The dual-language program, in which kids are taught to speak and read in both English and Spanish, is in its second year. One neighborhood mom cradled a 3-year-old while she explained that her older daughter was part of the inaugural English/Spanish kindergarten class last year. She's in first grade now, and her mom says her grasp of both languages is impressive.

IB is an rigorous educational curriculum/philosophy, certification for which is administered by a Swiss nonprofit. Trustee Mike Morath, who graduated from Garland High School's IB program, says he would like to turn all DISD schools into IB campuses. For now, he's content to build an IB feeder pattern. Students at Lee, which expects to apply for official certification in 2015, and Lipscomb Elementary, which will also be seeking IB certification, will matriculate to J.L. Long Middle School and then to Woodrow Wilson High School, both of which area already IB certified.

The Hillcrest High School feeder pattern is next. Preston Hollow Elementary -- another campus that does a poor job of attracting students from the neighborhood -- launched an IB program this year, with certification expected next year. Nearby Kramer Elementary is also looking at going IB. Then it would be Franklin and Hillcrest's turn, Morath says.

Lee parents hope the IB label will help their neighbors realize that the school is, in the words of its first-year principal Bridget Ransom, a "hidden jewel." PTA president Sophia Hurley knows how they feel. She was heartsick when DISD shuttered Bonham Elementary, where her child attended kindergarten, especially when she learned the kids were being shipped to Lee. Now, she's one of Lee's biggest cheerleaders.

So is Staci Howie. Growing up, she bounced from public school to public school. The good ones -- the ones she credits with propelling her into a successful adult life -- were the ones where the parents were deeply involved. She lives in Vickery Place and has the means to afford private school but prefers to invest in DISD, much in the way that the parents of her peers growing up invested in her schools. She's currently spearheading the Lee Elementary Campaign for Excellence, a $150,000 capital campaign that will cover a landscaping and playground makeover and help fund various educational initiatives, from IB teacher training to a new computer lab.

Send your story tips to the author, Eric Nicholson.

We Recommend

becoolerifyoudid

"Right now, young middle-class families who can't afford either private school or the fast-rising home prices in Lakewood, Stonewall, and a couple other attendance zones tend to flee to the suburbs because they're convinced that DISD schools suck."

Please, everyone knows that DISD schools don't matter when it comes to people fleeing to the suburbs. As with everything else, it is all about tearing down I-345 and not building more highways in city limits. If the area was more walkable people would stay. I know this to be true because I see it in DO and D Magazine blog posts and the comments thereto.

LakeWWWooder

IB and redesign into college prep academies (STEM, Business, Arts, etc) has increased enrollment at Woodrow and Long by 200-300 per school. Some of are returning from private school and some are coming from other parts of the district or outside the district (HP, Allen, Duncanville, etc). There are some from private schools who can't hack IB and instead take the nearly two-dozen AP classes offered. But they tend to stay and not go back to private.

I like the fact that Morath, feeder pattern directory Fraley and the district are being innovative (Mata Montessori, expansion of IB to Lee and Lipscomb, STEAM at Mount Auburn, etc) and tailoring programs to serve this neighborhood. This can be replicated in other sections of Dallas. I would think North Oak Cliff would be another.

joanna.singleton

A few thoughts as a parent who recently moved out of this neighborhood b/c our children were nearing elementary school age:

-In 2012, Robert E. Lee absorbed students from Bonham Elementary, which was an exemplary and special school lauded for its performance. But, that consolidation means Robert E. Lee pulls students from an area that is noted as one of the top 16 crime hot spots in Dallas, not just the surrounding M streets neighborhood.

-I'm thrilled to hear they are devoting $ to landscaping and property maintenance. The PTA sign in front of the school sadly declared parent support in the early 2000s, making it obvious that there was no current parent involvement and no one at the school cared enough to even take the sign down. That sent a signal to me as a parent walking my infants by the school in a stroller.

blevy6

A former principal at Robert E. Lee (who did a great job there) later moved onto Lipscomb Elementary in East Dallas (where she also did an amazing job), told me that the success of those schools were directly linked to the mixture of immigrant working class and new upper middle class families in the neighborhood. The new families brought to the school some aspirational skill sets that helped the immigrant working class parents to get a better idea on how to help their children succeed. This is one reason why it is vitally important to maintain in our city mixed income neighborhoods. When you have schools filled with very poor kids, it makes academic success harder to achieve.

pdjack

If we really work hard on education in Dallas, perhaps one day the reporters in our town will understand the distinction between "forego" and "forgo."

Voot

Frankly, I'm surprised to see schools named "Stonewall Jackson" and "Robert E. Lee" still around in Dallas. Many elsewhere have long ago been renamed to "Happy Owl Elementary" or simply bulldozed and never rebuilt. Good for DISC for resisting such revisionism.

TexMarine

Let me know how that works out...otherwise...my treasure goes elsewhere.

doctorjj

@joanna.singleton

"...making it obvious that there was no current parent involvement..."

There is actually quite a bit of parent involvement. For example, the new climbing wall that Eric mentions in his article arrived as a direct result of parent involvement. Read about it and other parent activities at http://roberteleeelementarypta.weebly.com.

velouette1

@joanna.singleton

With all due respect you have no idea what you are talking about. I have been a parent at Lee for the last 3 years and there are several incredibly dedicated and involved families here. We have a PTA yardsign out front because we think it is cute and it tells people our school is exemplary. If you would like to see a little of what has been going on at the school (ane a picture of the sign joanna is comenting on) check out our PTA website at roberteleeelementarypta.weebly.com

Freddy

@joanna.singleton

Most of the M-Streets are zoned to Stonewall Jackson.

The former Bonham zone is majority Vickery Place and Cochran Heights, two well-known yuppie enclaves. A new house in Cochran Heights just sold for $800,000. There were some rundown areas adjacent but those are rapidly gentrifiying and literally millions of dollars in new construction is going up.

It's sad (and rather telling) that you only judged Lee by something you deemed unacceptable outside. Seems a bit foolish to move rather than going inside the building to do your homework.

TheRuddSki topcommenter

@pdjack

That was a terrific movie. The Coen brothers rock!

dingo

@Voot

Deferred Action Academy

TexMarine

@Voot As a resident of this blue neighborhood, I've asked the same question. You should also note Woodrow Wilson's issues with race as well. Sort of tells the real story IMO.

missbrownbird

@Freddy Dude, she was simply observing and was with an infant...homegirl has pleeeeeeeenty of time to reevaluate her opinion.

Moving on. As a former resident in ALL these areas, I can say that it doesn't matter that an $800K house resides on one side of the street b/c it's nearest neighbor could very well be on welfare (to which mine were). And you reference yuppies, what yuppies have kids??!! Those SMU fucktards are only caring about drink specials NOT the education of their future minions.

As for Lee, yeah that place looks like a senior citizens home from Matilda St. and needs a makeover stat.

LakeWWWooder

@missbrownbird @Freddy As someone who graduated from Woodrow, I can tell you going to school with someone who is on welfare is quite educational for the rich and the poor. Whom do I wish to see at reunions, the "kid" who grew up on White Rock Lake or the "kid" who grew up on the north side of Fair Park? Both, but especially the kid from Fair Park.