The Struggle for School Integration
What Next | Daily News and Analysis
Slate Podcasts
4.3 • 2.4K Ratings
🗓️ 26 September 2019
⏱️ 23 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Parents in Howard County, Maryland, are pushing back against a school redistricting plan that would address overcrowding and a lack of diversity. Opponents say the changes will disrupt communities and strap kids with longer commutes. They say it’s not fair for their families and their kids. How are educators supposed to make the case that something that upsets individuals is better for the public good?
Guest: Joshua Starr, CEO of PDK International
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Transcript
Click on a timestamp to play from that location
| 0:00.0 | Hey, everyone, it's Mary. Quick heads up here at the top. This impeachment story, it is moving super fast. By the time we record a show for you, a new document is being released or someone's about to testify on Capitol Hill. We want to give you the big picture on all this. But we also want to tell you about things that are not happening in Washington. |
| 0:23.3 | So for the next couple of days, that's what we're going to do. It doesn't mean we're going to be |
| 0:27.9 | ignoring what the House of Representatives is up to, though. So let us know what questions you have |
| 0:33.6 | as you watch all this play out. Is there someone you really want to hear from? Is there a story we're ignoring? |
| 0:40.4 | Shoot me a tweet. Let me know I'm at Mary's desk. |
| 0:48.6 | For the last month, the school board in Howard County, Maryland, just outside Washington, D.C., has been inundated |
| 0:55.8 | with these letters, hundreds of letters. Some of them are neatly typed and contained graphs and |
| 1:01.9 | charts. Some are handwritten, like the one from a fourth grader, from Triadulphia Ridge Elementary School. |
| 1:08.4 | Almost all of them say the same thing. In the words of the fourth grader, |
| 1:12.7 | please, please, please, please, please, please, please, please, don't change our high school. |
| 1:18.5 | There are four E's in the last please. Howard County Board of Education, they certainly got an earful |
| 1:24.1 | tonight from parents and students. These letter writers are pushing back on a plan to switch where local kids go to school |
| 1:30.4 | in a district that ProPublica has called highly segregated. |
| 1:35.2 | People in Howard County are protesting a proposed redistricting plan, which would reassign |
| 1:40.5 | just over 7,300 students in the county's elementary, middle, and high schools. |
| 1:45.5 | Ripping students out of their communities, putting them on long bus rides across the county, |
| 1:49.7 | that poses real risks to their health. |
| 1:52.6 | Looking at the people organizing against this plan, the main thing that's tough to square for me, |
| 1:59.4 | is that in 2019, I just didn't expect to see a protester |
| 2:03.6 | carrying around a sign that says no forced busing. Yeah, go on DCurbanmoms.com and you'll see |
| 2:12.2 | even worse stuff. Josh Starr lives one county away. He spent years as a superintendent, |
| 2:18.6 | first in Connecticut, |
... |
Please login to see the full transcript.
Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from Slate Podcasts, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.
Generated transcripts are the property of Slate Podcasts and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.
Copyright © Tapesearch 2026.