Washington Post reporter Laura Meckler met with the Cleveland Club on September 19 to discuss education and racial issues, notably ones highlighted in her recent book Dream Town: Shaker Heights and the Quest for Racial Equity.
Meckler grew up in Shaker Heights, graduated from Shaker Heights High School and spent considerable time in Cleveland researching her book, which scrutinizes Shaker’s history and then efforts to the present day at integrating housing and education.
Meckler said that Shaker’s integration efforts have notable similarities and differences from ones in other communities. Unlike many cities in the period 1950-1970, Shaker – or at least some neighborhoods in Shaker – made a concerted effort to develop a racially integrated community that halted white flight, which was a response of many communities to Black families moving into established white areas. Shaker whites held the line, and beginning in 1970, the school district used busing to achieve racial diversity throughout the various elementary schools.
“What I love about this story,” Meckler said, “is that there are no heroes and villains, that there was progress as well as mistakes. There is lots about this story that is in the messy middle.”
Meckler noted that the Ludlow neighborhood in particular organized itself against white flight. In doing so, its citizens had to battle the local mortgage-lending companies plus established real estate industry practices. She pointed out that the Shaker school system began a program of voluntary busing long before many communities followed but under court orders.
However, by the 1980s, a new problem was out in the open, Meckler explained: segregation within the schools on account of tracking, that is, the advanced classes were composed mainly of white students while the remainder were filled disproportionately with Black students.
She said that the Shaker schools again attempted remedies, most recently during the covid pandemic by attempting to eliminate tracking while still keeping Advanced Placement and Baccalaureate Classes. There are some indications of success, but Meckler said it’s too soon to say if the effort will achieve its goals. “The city and the schools are integrated,” she said. “Blacks and whites live and work together, and this is notable, but the achievement gap racially – or socio-economically – remains. Reducing this gap is difficult, and there remains a lot of work to do. Nevertheless, what I see is success.”
Answering a question, Meckler surmised that zoning had much to do with the present socio-economic makeup of Shaker. After the housing crisis of 2008, absentee landlords bought up properties, which resulted in lower income families taking up Shaker residency. This widened the gap between rich and poor, with attendant strain on city cohesion and the school system. (In 1989, median Black income was roughly 65% of median white income; in 2020, it was roughly 35% of white income.)
Meckler added that “the setback nationally for students on account of the covid pandemic cannot be overstated.”
She also noted that Shaker has an important schools plan on the ballot for this November. In keeping with some conclusions of her book, Meckler said that with respect to issues put before voters, “a school system’s administration has to be ‘up on its game,’ presenting its case clearly so that voters are not confused, and communicating both accurately and effectively.”
Excepts and condensations of Dream Town have appeared in the Washington Post. The website for the book can be found here.