Lansing State Journal from Lansing, Michigan • Page 6

I 6A Sunday, April 5, 1998 Lansing Stata Journal flMIGATIONft JLANSINCTSCHOOLS Area charter schools focus on heritage, accomplishments (Pi 0 A' ROD SANFOBDLansing State Journal Looking back: Rosemary Embry-Robinson, here being hugged by 8-year-old son Xavier, recalls being bused to Lansing's ML Hope Elementary School in 1966. "We were called names," she said. vr Desegregation worth the pain, ex-student says 0:. Ik-- JdM. By Mak rUt Rahman Shawl grew up in East Lansing schools not realizing all the important things African Americans have done.

He had few black teachers or other role models who looked like him. Students who attend Sankofa Shule, where Shareef works as a teaching assistant in the kindergarten and preschool class, have a different experience. "We have so many bright, young students here," said Shareef, 22. "Since they're African-American children, this is a great place for them to be. They get to know their history and their heritage.

"That's definitely something I didn't get enough of when I went to school." Sankofa Shule is a cultural experience from the moment one steps in the door. African masks and artifacts hang on the walls and the children wear multicolored clothes in the traditional African style. Sankofa is one of two Lansing charter schools geared toward African-American students. The environments they offer, parents and teachers say, help build the confidence of African-American students by reminding them of their heritage and the accomplishments of their ancestors. Sankofa's name states its purpose: To help children learn by understanding where they came from.

Sankofa is an Akan word that means return to the past to go forward. Shule is Swahili for school. The school teaches math, English, science and history. Its textbooks come from McMillan McGrawHill just like those at traditional schools. But it does so in a framework that reminds the children of their culture.

Discipline is based on African ethics such as truth, justice and harmony. "It's teaching them who they are," said Freya Rivers, Sankofa's administrator. "It gives them a grounding in who they are. All other cultures are being taught as well." The students are offered four foreign languages: Japanese, French, Spanish and Swahili. A Japanese student teaches the Japanese language as well as origami (Japanese paper folding) and other aspects of the culture.

The school has extensive units on Native Americans and Mexico. Nearly all the faces featured on the walls Louis Farrakhan, Martin Luther King Jr. and George Washington Carver are black. Students address their teachers as Baba and Mama, the Swahili words for mother and father. Students are expected to do research papers at early ages.

Rodney Singleton, 8, decided to do his on Barry Gordy, the Motown Records founder. "I'm learning more at this school," said Rodney, a fourth-grader doing seventh- and eighth-grade work. "This school is more ROD SANFORDLansing State Journal Charter alternative: Sankofa Shule preschoolers (from left) Autumn Harris, 4, Daniel Richardson, 4, Nasim Speed, 4, and Imani Taylor, 3, sing along with teacher Angela Rivers at the school. Sankofa is one of two Lansing charter schools geared toward African-American students and, supporters say, helps build the confidence of African-American students by reminding them of their heritage and the accomplishments of their ancestors. Pi "I think it's important for schools to be able to understand their cultures and what some of the cultural nuances are," Underwood said.

Teachers are encouraged to have students experience as much as they can about cultures instead of just watching movies, said Yvonne Caamal Canul, who leads the district's multicultural committee. "That is kind of the goal of the new multicultural education, that it's not just the tourist approach," she said. "The old way was to bring in someone from another culture and have them talk about it. That doesn't get to the relationships here in this country." The district also has the challenge of bringing lessons home to parents from many different cultures. Students in Lansing probably speak 12 to 15 different languages, from Croatian to Somalian to Laotian.

Mikey Province, 10, a fifth-grader at Lansing's Gunnisonville elementary, said he wouldn't like it if students weren't bused in and the students were nearly all white like him. "It would be boring," he said. "I'd see people of only one race. I like to see people of many different races." American. "I feel it doesn't matter to me," she said.

"Like Martin Luther King said: It doesn't matter the color of your skin but the person you are." Sixth-grader Christina Jackson, 12, the only white student in De-Shell's class, said she never feels out of place. "(Race) doesn't matter as long as you're getting your education," said Christina, who used to attend Lansing's Elmhurst Elementary School. Lansing schools have a multicultural steering committee and goals to reflect many cultures in the classroom, said Betty Underwood, principal at Mt. Hope Elementary School. Each school is required to put together an annual plan of how they will meet that goal.

The lessons are provided in a variety of ways: Books, speakers, assemblies and games. One teacher at Mt. Hope, as part of reading month in March, had students study versions of Little Red Riding Hood for different countries, Underwood said. The school also has a potluck dinner where students are asked to bring in foods native to their cultures. Black and white Here are estimates of the percentage of whites and minorities at Lansing elementary schools in 1972-73 prior to a court desegregation order that led to busing.

The first number lists the percentage of white students. The second lists the percentage of minorities. Allen: 54, 46; Attwood: 86, 14; Averill: 82, 18; Barnes: 90, 10; Bingham: 70, 30; Cavanaugh: 92, Cedar: 37, 63; Cumberland: 80, 20; Elmhurst 94, Everett 97, Fairview: 94, Forest View: 88, 12; Foster: 76, 24; Franks: 66, 34; Genessee: 62, 38; Gier Park: 74, 26; Grand River: 59, 41; Gunnisonville: 99, High: 65, 35; Holmes: 53, 47; Horse-brook: 93, Kendon: 97, Lew-ton: 99, Lyons: 94, Main: 4, 96; Maple Grove: 90, 10; Maple Hill: 94, Maplewood: 82, 14; Michigan: 8, 92; Moores Park: 67, 33; Mt Hope: 93, North: 90, 10; Northwestern: 79, 21; Oak Park: 60, 40; Pleasant Grove: 84, 16; Pleasant View: 68, 32; Post Oak: 93, Reo: 82, 18; Riddle: 8, 92; Sheridan Road: 91, Valley Farms: 96, Verlinden: 66, 34; Wainwright 78, 22; Walnut 73, 27; Wexford: 69, 31; Willow: 56, 44; Woodcreek: 79, 21. 'Since closed steam. "That's all we knew," said Sam Davis, a former student at Main Street and Lincoln elementaries and now principal at Dwight Rich Middle School.

"You lived in the neighborhood and played with the kids "You were right in your neighborhood so there was a real sense of family." But, looking back, inequities existed. "The predominantly minority schools were being systematically cheated of resources," Candoli said. "First of all they were older schools. Secondly, they got all the rookie teachers. As soon as a person built up seniority they could go to the school of their choice.

"There was a marked difference in the kinds of instruction the kids were getting." Barbara Roberts Mason, a former Lansing teacher and now a Michi Lansing Public School By Mark Mayes Lansing State Journal A flurry of eggs welcomed Rosemary Embry-Robinson to Lansing's Mt. Hope Elementary School in 1966. The African-American 10-year-old ducked most of the volleys, but one shattered on her head. "We were called names, naturally the 'N' word," said Embry-Robinson, now 41 and a mother of six. "I remember telling my mother I didn't want to go back there because they wanted to fight us." Embry-Robinson and about 100 classmates from closed-down Lincoln Elementary helped set in motion a prolonged battle that would take a decade of strife and court battles to resolve.

Six years before the Lansing School District introduced its formal elementary busing program in 1972, Embry-Robinson was part of an experiment a pre-emptive strike of sorts. The district had closed Lincoln school because of declining enrollment. And then-Superintendent William Manning decided it was time to take the first step toward integration. Instead of sending the remaining Lincoln students to schools close to their predominantly black neighborhood, the district split them up. Thirty went to Kendon Elementary, and another 30 to Reo Elementary.

Embry-Robinson and 44 others were sent to Mt. Hope. "I did more crying than learning that first week," she said. The memories of desegregation are painful, especially since Embry-Robinson recalled her early years at segregated Lincoln as a carefree time when she laughed and traded barrettes with friends. Integration created tense times in Lansing, recalls Carl Candoli, the former superintendent hired to desegregate the schools.

A bus was damaged by gunshots in the bus garage, and an arson fire destroyed the house next to Candoli's. Police told him the arsonist probably had meant to burn down his home. Luckily, little of the rage was directed at students, Candoli said. Violence didn't escalate beyond a few minpr incidents, he said. Police and administrators watched carefully but kept a low profile.

"We just took the attitude that there wasn't going to be trouble, and there wasn't," he said. Embry-Robinson insists the early hostility was worth it. Attitudes changed quickly, and she made white friends at Mt. Hope. Her children haven't had to suffer through the same type of racism.

Most of her children went to Ver-linden Elementary School, where white kids used to go in her youth. Some white students even got their family doctors to give them "medical" permission to attend Verlinden instead of nearby Main Street, the "black" school. Among the first African-American students to reverse the flow and get a doctor's slip to attend Verlinden was 1 1-year-old Rossi Ray-Taylor, the district's deputy superintendent for instruction, in 1963. Stuart Dunnings former NAACP president, said he also got doctor's excuses to send three of his children from Main Street to Verlinden, although Main Street was three blocks from his house. The notes simply said, in the doctor's opinion, it was in the best interest of the child to attend Verlinden, Dunnings said.

Ray-Taylor remembers 10 years later, as a Lansing school staff member, heading to Post Oak Elementary School when that school was finally integrated. She helped greet and protect the minority students as they got off the buses. "Those weren't real comfortable times for kids and for parents and for teachers," said Ray-Taylor, now 45. "Whereas now, busing is almost invisible." In the 1960s, segregation was nearly invisible to many black children. Ray-Taylor and Embry-Robinson said they remember little talk of "black" and "white" schools until the push toward integration built challenging than the other school." He used to attend Willow Ridge Elementary School in Grand Ledge.

El-Hajj Malik El-Shabazz Academy, Lansing's other nearly all-black charter school, is more like a traditional school. The classroom focus is directly on the basics reading, writing and math. And students wear simple black and white uniforms instead of more colorful garb. But, while learning lessons in algebra, health and English, they get a heavy dose of African history as well. "It's very important they feel that someone who looks like them did such things," said Ruby Helton, Shabazz's administrator.

The school goes by the name civil rights leader Malcolm used shortly before he died. Students share a creed inspired by Shabazz each morning that talks about respect for oneself, others, authority and education. Teacher Anthony Dixon also has his class read aloud a quote every day from an African American. DeShell Stewart, 11, a Shabazz fifth-grader, said she doesn't really think about the fact that almost all her classmates are African District (1996-97) 97) Native I I I Total School name American Asian Black Hispanic White enrollment minority Allen 6 1.81 7 2.11 126 38.07 57 17.22 135 40.79 331 59.21 Attwood 2 0.65 10 3.23 74 23.87 23 7.42 201 64.84 310 35.16 Bingham 2 0.83 3 1.24 78 32.23 42 17.36 117 48.35 242 51.65 C. W.

Otto Middle School 10 1.09 84 9.18 239 26.12 149 16.28 433 47.32. 915 52 68 Cavanaugh 2 0.54 2 0.54 109 29.38 47 12.67 211 56.87 371 43 13 Cumberland 4 1.17 45 13.16 83 24.27 33 9.65 177 51.75 342 48 25 Eastern High School 40 2.38 115 6.85 386 22.99 300 17.87 838 49.91 1,679 50 09 6 1.52 3 0.76 102 25.76 31 7.83 254 64.14 396 35.86 Everett High School 17 0.99 80 4.66 650 37.83 189 11.00 782 45.52 1,718 54 48 Fairview 5 1.72 .4 1.38 52 17.93 37 12.76 192 66.21 290 3379 Forest View 0 0.00 15 4.55 86 26.06 25 7.58 204 61.82 330 38 18 Forrest G. Averill 2 0.72 7 2.54 156 56.52 30 10.87 81 29.35 276 70 65 GierPark 1 0.26 51 13.46 60 15.83 80 21.11 187 49.34 379 50 66 GrandRiver 7 2.57 J7 6.25 82 30.15 93 34.19 73" 26.84 272 73.16 Gunnisonville 1 0.37 13 4.85 54 20.15 12 4.48 188 70.15 268 29 85 Harley Franks 0 0.00 '10 5.05 .91 45.96 30 15.15 67 33 84 198 6616 Henry R. Pattengill Middle School 15 1.40 64 5.96 321 29.92 177 16.50 496 46 23 1 073 53 77 J.W. Sexton High School 6 0.40 84 5.64 735 49.36 104 6.98 560 37.61 1,489 62 39 Kendon 0 0.00 1 0.34 85 28.91 29 9.86 179 60.88 294 39 12 Lewton 3 0.95 2 .0.63 118 37.46 33 10.48 159 50.48 315, 49.52 Lyons 5 1.87 4 1.49 61 22.76 44 16.42 154 57.46 268 42.54 MapleGrove 3 1.22 6 2.44 58 23.58 23 9.35 156 63.41 246 36.59 Maplewood 8 3.31 1 0.41 51 21.07 34 14.05 148 61.16 242 38.84 MooresPark ,9 4.52 1 0.50 74 37.19 25 12.56 90 45.23 199 54.77 Mt.

Hope 7 2.05 4 1.17 65 19.06 44 12.90 221 64.81 341 35.19 Northwestern 6 3.26 9 4.89 64 34.78 11 5.98 94 51.09 184 48 91 Pleasant View 0 0.00 29 8.79 150 45.45 38 11.52 113 34.24 330 65.76 Post Oak 6 1.44 30 7.19 84 20.14 98 23.50 199 47.72 417 52.28 Reo 0 0-00o 1 0.46 86 39.81 27 12.50 102 47.22 216 52.78 Sheridan 7 1.91 7 1.91 43 11.72 64 17.44 246 67.03 367 32.97 Verlmden 3 1.24 3 1.24 116 48.13 25 10.37 94 39.00 241 61.00 Wainwnght ,3 0.90 15 4.50 174 52.25 .35 10.51 106 31.83 333 68.17 Walnut 4 1.39 11 .3.82 127 44.10 49 17.01 97 33.68 288 66.32 Wlllow 8 2.61 5 1.63 "128 41.69 37 12.05 129 42.02 307 57.98 Wexford 3 1.84 14 8.59 94 57.67 5 3.07 47 28.83 163 71.17 Dwight Rich Middle School 11 1.03 52 4.85 537 50.09 81 7.56 391 36.47 1,072 63.53 Woodcreek 7 2.04 17 4.96 215 62.68 24 7.00 80 23 32 343 76.68 Harry Gardner Middle Scool 9 0.75 56 4.69 357 29.92 108 9.05 663 55.57 1,193 44.43 Vivian Riddle 2 0.95 2 0.95 123 58.29 15 7.11 69 32 70 211 67.30 Henry H. North .1 0.20 8 .1.58 189 37.28 51 10.06 258 50.89 507 49.11 Holmes (CLCCA) 0 0.00 114 40.00 40 14.04 84 29 47 47 16 49 285 83 51 District totals 231 1.20 1,006 5.23 6,523 33.90 2,443 12.70 9,038 46.97 19,241 53.03 gan Board ot Lducation memoer, was one of the parents who cried for the district to give the crumbling schools more attention. "I don't think anyone would have pushed so much for desegregation had it not been for other inequities in the district," said Roberts Mason, who helped write the district's desegregation plan. "The technology and equipment and textbooks were not up to date." Michigan Avenue School finally got a $50,000 makeover in 1972 just before white students were bused in. "They let the staff pick the colors for the classrooms," remembers Dennis Semrau, the Michigan Ave nue principal at the time.

Semrau contends segregation made little difference in the classroom. Michigan Avenue always had a top-notch staff, he said. The white students bused downtown from Cavanaugh Elementary School were the ones who had to catch up, I not the other way around, he said: Embry-Robinson believes her experience in desegregated schools helped make her more tolerant. She met white students who took the time to help her when she struggled with math. She now has three white sisters-in-law and had no difficulty accepting them into the family.

"It made me appreciate people for who they are," she said. "1 think if we wouldn't have been bused like that I could have had the same malice in my heart students showed me at Mt. Hope." Charter schools (1996 Native I I Total School name American Asian Black Hispanic White enrollment minority Michigan Early Elementary 0 0.00 0 0.00 15 34.88 5 11.63 23 53 49 43 46 51 H-Hajl Malik B-Shabazz 0 0.00 0 0.00 M09 0 0.00 2 1.80 111 98.20 Sankofa Shule Academy 0 0.00 0 0.00 148 100.00 0 0 00 0 0 00 148 100 00 Walter French Academy 34 5.35 11 1.73 298 46.93' 33 5.20 259 40.79 635 59.21 Mid-Michigan Public School Academy 4 0.57 6 0.86 442 63.32 42 6.02 204 29 23 698 70.77 Charter school totals 38 2.32 17 1 1.04 1,012 61.90 80 1 4.89 488 29.85 1,635 I. 70.15.