Discriminatory Distribution of Qualified GATE Program Placements Within LBUSD LBUSD Long Beach Unified School District GATE discrimination

Discriminatory GATE Program Placement Within LBUSD

Heartwell Park Heartwell Golf Course Long Beach City College Pacific Coast Campus Skylinks Golf Course Long Beach City College Liberal Arts Campus El Dorado Park 'West' El Dorado Nature Center Park El Dorado Regional Park Bixby Village Golf Course Long Beach City & Park 9-Hole Golf Courses El Dorado Golf Course Lakewood Country Club Virginia Country Club Burroughs [2004 Base API = 776] Chavez [API data not published] California State University at Long Beach Avalon (K-12) [2004 Base API = 692] Avalon (K-12) [2004 Base API = 692] Two Harbors [No Base API (Flag 4)] Avalon (K-12) [2004 Base API = 692] Edison [2004 Base API = 677] Washington [2004 Base API = 600] New City Charter [2004 Base API = 580] Roosevelt [2004 Base API = 736] Polytechnic Academy for Accelerated Learning [2004 Base API: See Poly] Polytechnic [2004 Base API = 696] Renaissance [2004 Base API = 475] International [2004 Base API = 725] Pacific Learning Center [2004 Base API = 377] Stevenson [2004 Base API = 713] Constellation [2004 Base API = 578] Franklin [2004 Base API = 585] Lincoln [2004 Base API = 681] Burbank [2004 Base API = 724] Lee [2004 Base API = 674] Willard [2004 Base API = 699] Naples [2004 Base API = 892] Mann [2004 Base API = 760] Fremont [2004 Base API = 877] Rogers [2004 Base API = 798] Lowell [2004 Base API = 914] Jefferson [2004 Base API = 604] Wilson [2004 Base API = 710] Bryant [2004 Base API = 742] Kettering [2004 Base API = 804] Hill[2004 Base API = 746] Stanford [2004 Base API = 801] Gant [2004 Base API = 911] Tincher (K-8) [2004 Base API = 765] Prisk [2004 Base API = 808] Emerson [2004 Base API = 772] Millikan [2004 Base API = 693] Bixby [2004 Base API = 732] Tucker [2004 Base API = 731] Buffum [2004 Base API = 742] Alvarado [2004 Base API = 800] Whittier [2004 Base API = 691] Butler (K-8) [2004 Base API = 642] Signal Hill [2004 Base API = 780] Burnett[2004 Base API = 694] Lafayette [2004 Base API = 705] Robinson (K-8) [2004 Base API = 760] Birney [2004 Base API = 743] Savannah (T-9) [2004 Base API = 599] Cabrillo High [2004 Base API = 539] Reid Continuation [2004 Base API = 351] Hudson (K-8) [2004 Base API = 752] Garfield [2004 Base API = 693] Stephens [2004 Base API = 629] Muir [2004 Base API = 695] Webster [2004 Base API = 664] Carver [2004 Base API = 765] Burcham [2004 Base API = 681] Marshall [2004 Base API = 693] Newcomb (K-8) [2004 Base API = 821] Cubberley (K-8) [2004 Base API = 794] DeMille [2004 Base API = 656] Keller [2004 Base API = 732] Henry [2004 Base API = 711] Monroe [2004 Base API = 716] Cleveland [2004 Base API = 746] MacArthur [2004 Base API = 730] Lakewood [2004 Base API = 708] Bancroft [2004 Base API = 766] Twain [2004 Base API = 832] Hoover [2004 Base API = 738] Madison [2004 Base API = 794] Longfellow [2004 Base API = 842] Hughes [2004 Base API = 792] Educational Partnership [2004 Base API = 453] Los Cerritos [2004 Base API = 818] Gompers [2004 Base API = 749] Sutter [2004 Base API = 702] Addams [2004 Base API = 710] Lindbergh [2004 Base API = 681] Barton [2004 Base API = 685] Riley [2004 Base API = 700] Holmes [2004 Base API = 710] Harte [2004 Base API = 742] Grant [2004 Base API = 718] McKinley [2004 Base API = 657] Hamilton [2004 Base API = 611] Powell [2004 Base API = 683] Jordan High [2004 Base API = 562] Jordan (T-9) [2004 Base API: See Jordan] King [2004 Base API = 734] California Academy of Mathematics and Science [2004 Base API = 941] Hi-Hill [API data not puiblished] District 1 - Mary Stanton, President District 2 - Felton Williams, Ph.D.,Board Member District 3 - Suja Lowenthal, DPD,Vice President District 4 - Jon Meyer, Board Member District 5 - Jim Choura, Board Member MAP IMAGE ~ 295646 bytes


Purpose of This Document:

Why does this document exist?

To put it simply, this particular page is a result of my attempt to find a Long Beach Unified School District (LBUSD) GATE program school close to our residence; because we had been told that our child's school would not provide her an education appropriate to her needs. It was further stated by the school principal that, because our daughter was the only GATE-identified child in her school of attendance, we had a choice between two schools; one is twice the distance from our home; and the other is almost seven-and-a-half times as far from our home as her present school. We would have to apply to the schools and hope for our child's acceptance. We would also have to walk or drive our child to the school that accepted her.

We have since discovered that we, as well as the other parents of GATE-identified children, were lied to...OFTEN.

The easiest way to find out where all the GATE schools in the district happen to be is to take the district map and add the information I needed--information the district never provided on their version of the school locator map--which I did. It was during this process of making my own life easier that I discovered that there is a profound difference in the educational services provided to people who live in certain areas of the district versus people who live in other district regions. The areas that I identified as being deprived of equal access to educational services happen to be the same areas of highest poverty within LBUSD.

This document exists to inform others of the pattern of racial discrimination that I have observed in the delivery of educational services by LBUSD.

This web site, and its resources, are intended to inform and empower the parents of children who have suffered the deprivation of a Free, Appropriate, Public Education.

It is also intended to provide a point of unification and communication between the diverse racial/ethnic groups of this district; the end purpose being to confront LBUSD with their discriminatory conduct, bar LBUSD from continued and future discriminatory conduct and, to bring this issue before a state or federal judge--should LBUSD make this necessary.


To Whom This Document is Directed (Intended Audience):

Who am I talking to?

I originally sat down to write this page with the intent of 'speaking' to the parents of GATE-identified children who live in the North Long Beach or West Long Beach areas. That has changed.

As a result of researching numerous stores of information, to develop the reasoning presented in this document, I now believe that my original focus should shift to addressing the parents of children attending any Long Beach school which provides instruction to any combination of grade-levels in the Kindergarten through 8th grade-span.

I'm not talking to the School Board or to the Superintendent of Schools. They've already been here and will probably be back.

I'm also not talking to lawyers, although they will, eventually, be dealing with the contents of this web site.

I'm talking to you.

I don't know how familiar you are with the various terms and phrases associated with any number of professions, so I'll do my best to abandon the use of the majority of those typing savers. The professionals know enough to be forgiving of this; because it's more important that the issues be understood by all.
As a result, the discussion that you find here will be of a more casual nature than you would find in court documents or in a college or university course, so relax. It's just us.


Discussion:

You can tell that the district is proud of the educational services they provide our youth when you read the following on the LBUSD web site: Hold it! All students?

Pardon-me-very-much for being so bold as to observe that the map, up there, doesn't agree with the implication of parity, or equality, in LBUSD's mission statement. Outside of a small group of people--out of the many I've been forced to deal with over the years--who in LBUSD actually believes this?

Just give me a second...I'm wracking my brain to figure-out exactly what this sense of pride is central to. Could it be providing GATE program placements which function--even partially--as a 'value-added' return on a homeowner's property taxes? If so, which homeowners? (As if we can't form a reasonable suspicion.)

OKAY. Maybe I'm just rushing to judgment here--as I'm sure more than a couple of you are murmuring to yourselves--so let's look at the facts.

Looking at the above map, it's pretty clear that Long Beach Unified School District does provide GATE program services to the students attending grades Kindergarten through 8th within the school district; but let's consider this a bit further: Blue rectangles, my friend, represent Gifted and Talented Education programs; provided to the children attending a particular school. Gifted and Talented Education programs, you see, represent educational services provided by the school district. Educational services which have every appearance of being allocated within some sort of discriminatory context.

Let's examine how many of these GATE campuses we have in each zip code by simple tally. We'll toss-in the GATE/EXCEL and district-defined 'Gifted' schools as well; but I'll focus primarily upon the blue rectangles which represent GATE-only programs--at least for the time being--because that's where the bucks are being spent.

Zip Code # of GATE Programs # of GATE/EXCEL Programs # of 'Gifted' Programs
90712 1 1 0
90713 0 0 0
90802 0 0 0
90803 1 0 1
90804 0 0 0
90805 0 0 0
90806 0 1 1
90807 1 0 1
90808 4 1 0
90810 0 1 2
90813 0 0 0
90814 1 0 0
90815 5 1 1


Hmmmm...Given what I have in mind, I should probably flip that table on its side for you. In terms of visual continuity, it'll ease the transitions to the other tables of information that I have for you.

  90712 90713 90802 90803 90804 90805 90806 90807 90808 90810 90813 90814 90815
# of GATE Programs 1 0 0 1 0 0 0 1 4 0 0 1 5
# of GATE/EXCEL Programs 1 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 1 1 0 0 1
# of 'Gifted' Programs 0 0 0 1 0 0 1 1 0 2 0 0 1


Much better.

Now, just a glance tells me that 90808 and 90815 are the preferred zip code population areas for whatever selection criteria the district is using for GATE program placements; so, maybe we'd better look to see how desirable the property in those zip codes is...Ya think?

Yup....back to the map...
...and we can immediately see that 90815 has the CSULB neighborhoods; the most expensive of these being those homes North and East of the college campus, East of Bellflower Boulevard, and South of the 405 Freeway. Another rectangle of 'good neighborhood is East of Palo Verde, West of the San Gabriel River, South of Spring Street, and take it on down to the 90815 boundary.

Looking at 90808, we can see the bit of land to the East of Lakewood Country Club. It has Bellflower Boulevard as a traffic-flow barrier to the East. Del Amo Boulevard does the same to the North, and you have LBCC and Heartwell Park to the South. I've been there. Nice neighborhood, BTW.

We also have the chunk of land that sits North of Eldorado Golf Course, with the San Gabriel River covering its back, so to speak. This is another patch of prime hunting ground for realtors. Big-comish territory.

Finally, look how Newcomb is hiding over there in that oasis of land that sits between the 605 Freeway, Coyote Creek & Norwalk Boulevard. Wardlow Road is a natural barrier to hordes of undesirables from the North and West; because Claremore Avenue provides thoroughfare between this neighborhood island and Wardlow on the West, and El Dorado Drive yields ingress/egress to and from Wardlow on the East. Claremore Avenue, Marna Avenue and Lilly Park Avenue are the only other ways in or out on the East and South, and these are spread-out fairly well. It's a pretty good bet that, if somebody is "just passing through," they're lost, looking to buy in the area, or casing the area for robbery potential.

The district doesn't want you to do this; which is good enough reason for me to tell you to do it; click on Newcomb to open-up the SARC for that school. Look at the middle table on page 5. The CBEDS racial/ethnic category data for this school shows them as having a 47.4% White (not Hispanic) enrollment. Do the same for Cubberly, and you'll find a CBEDS of 54.1% White (not Hispanic) enrollment. Be-bop back down to 90815 and do the same thing for Gant (the school right on the North-side of CSULB)...CBEDS says 61.9% White (not Hispanic) enrollment. Prisk: 52.0% White (not Hispanic) enrollment. Stanford: 47.9% White (not Hispanic) enrollment. Do not forget that.

Tincher, Bancroft, Twain and Madison are obviously situated within prime real estate areas. Their positions relative to the university, college and country club make this a matter of self-evident fact.

Down in Belmont Shores, you'll find Lowell, and just to the North-West is Fremont. These are very nice, very expensive, neighborhoods in their own right.

This leaves Longfellow. Longfellow is is in Bixby Knolls, undeniably an area of high affluency situated in close logical proximity to the Virginia Country Club Estates.

So far, it looks like GATE schools like high-dollar neighborhoods, and GATE schools might be skewed toward the melanin-challenged among us. Maybe we should amuse ourselves with the Census data...after a brief word of caution.

ZCTAs
You'll find various levels of detail available for census data requests, with Zip Code Tabulation Areas (ZCTAs) being one of the smallest, geographic areas for which the general public can request statistics. This is, of course, for confidentiality reasons; after all, who really wants the whole world knowing your grandma is Purple, and where y'all live? To get information for smaller regions of the area of interest, you will have to apply for access to the Confidential Census Data Sets. Access fees also apply.

One of the problems in relying on ZCTA data is that many folks confuse them with the zip codes defined by the USPS. They don't strictly represent the same geographic areas. This will introduce some minor geographic shift into our data, but will still allow us to form a general picture of the state of diversity in the areas of concern. A second problem inherent in examining ZCTA data is that, by virtue of the relatively large geographic regions involved (several neighborhood units are represented by a given ZCTA), we'll probably see something that suggests that the ZCTA region itself is more diverse than those specific neighborhoods served by a particular school. This is easily resolved by accessing the confidential census data sets, and creating statistics on smaller geographic units.

Keeping this in mind, let's take a look anyway:

  90712 5-Digit ZCTA 90713 5-Digit ZCTA 90802 5-Digit ZCTA 90803 5-Digit ZCTA 90804 5-Digit ZCTA 90805 5-Digit ZCTA 90806 5-Digit ZCTA 90807 5-Digit ZCTA 90808 5-Digit ZCTA 90810 5-Digit ZCTA 90813 5-Digit ZCTA 90814 5-Digit ZCTA 90815 5-Digit ZCTA
Total: 30,182 27,656 38,731 31,174 43,264 91,456 49,516 31,819 37,062 35,627 62,941 19,198 39,087
     White alone 19,402 21,352 18,331 26,807 16,758 27,300 13,284 17,340 30,044 8,734 15,988 12,799 29,267
     Black or African American alone 2,382 895 6,844 557 7,257 22,208 9,909 4,898 1,132 5,560 8,480 1,654 1,643
     American Indian and Alaska Native alone 192 147 282 143 304 959 482 203 266 279 585 307 154
     Asian alone 3,413 2,030 2,034 1,544 6,521 9,635 8,603 4,317 2,173 8,059 9,702 1,362 3,769
     Native Hawaiian and Other Pacific Islander alone 174 120 212 90 107 2,052 878 85 46 1,057 624 77 110
     Some other race alone 2,557 1,782 8,909 942 9,385 24,670 13,148 2,823 1,570 9,604 24,206 2,084 1,888
     Two or more races 2,062 1,330 2,119 1,091 2,932 4,632 3,212 2,153 1,831 2,334 3,356 915 2,256


Here we have what is known as the SF-3/P.6 data component. This means that we used the 2000 Census Summary File #3, to give us a picture of P.6 data (which is Racial/Ethnic information); for each ZCTA area. Basically, we're looking at racial totals for each approximate zip code area on the map above.

Looking at the data, you'll probably find your eyes twitching a bit, and notice your grey cells doing the usual gymnastics as you try to crunch the numbers on the fly. I'll make things a bit easier on you by telling you that the focus will narrow-down somewhat; and I'll give you the above statistics in a form that most folks are more accustomed to dealing with--percentages--and I'll highlight any percentage that exceeds 50.000%.

  90712 5-Digit ZCTA 90713 5-Digit ZCTA 90802 5-Digit ZCTA 90803 5-Digit ZCTA 90804 5-Digit ZCTA 90805 5-Digit ZCTA 90806 5-Digit ZCTA 90807 5-Digit ZCTA 90808 5-Digit ZCTA 90810 5-Digit ZCTA 90813 5-Digit ZCTA 90814 5-Digit ZCTA 90815 5-Digit ZCTA
     White alone 64.283% 77.108% 47.329% 85.992% 38.734% 29.850% 26.828% 54.496% 81.060% 24.515% 25.402% 66.668% 74.877%
     Black or African American alone 7.892% 3.236% 17.671% 1.787% 16.774% 24.283% 20.012% 15.393% 3.054% 15.606% 13.473% 8.615% 4.203%
     American Indian and Alaska Native alone 0.636% 0.532% 0.728% 0.459% 0.703% 1.049% 0.973% 0.638% 0.718% 0.783% 0.929% 1.599% 0.394%
     Asian alone 11.308% 7.340% 5.252% 4.953% 15.073% 10.535% 17.374% 13.567% 5.863% 22.620% 15.414% 7.094% 9.643%
     Native Hawaiian and Other Pacific Islander alone 0.577% 0.434% 0.547% 0.289% 0.247 2.244% 1.773% 0.267% 0.124% 2.967% 0.991% 0.401% 0.281%
     Some other race alone 8.472% 6.443% 23.002% 3.022% 21.692% 26.975% 26.553% 8.872% 4.236% 26.957% 38.458% 10.855% 4.830%
     Two or more races 6.832% 4.809% 5.471% 3.500% 6.777% 5.065% 6.487% 6.766% 4.940% 6.551% 5.332% 4.766% 5.772%


Frankly, I'm completely blown-away by the percentage results. I simply did not expect that we would find 7 ZCTAs, which are clear-majority Caucasian population areas, to such a marked degree.

Now...what if we highlight those "non-white" population percentages that exceed 20.000%?

  90712 5-Digit ZCTA 90713 5-Digit ZCTA 90802 5-Digit ZCTA 90803 5-Digit ZCTA 90804 5-Digit ZCTA 90805 5-Digit ZCTA 90806 5-Digit ZCTA 90807 5-Digit ZCTA 90808 5-Digit ZCTA 90810 5-Digit ZCTA 90813 5-Digit ZCTA 90814 5-Digit ZCTA 90815 5-Digit ZCTA
     White alone 64.283% 77.108% 47.329% 85.992% 38.734% 29.850% 26.828% 54.496% 81.060% 24.515% 25.402% 66.668% 74.877%
     Black or African American alone 7.892% 3.236% 17.671% 1.787% 16.774% 24.283% 20.012% 15.393% 3.054% 15.606% 13.473% 8.615% 4.203%
     American Indian and Alaska Native alone 0.636% 0.532% 0.728% 0.459% 0.703% 1.049% 0.973% 0.638% 0.718% 0.783% 0.929% 1.599% 0.394%
     Asian alone 11.308% 7.340% 5.252% 4.953% 15.073% 10.535% 17.374% 13.567% 5.863% 22.620% 15.414% 7.094% 9.643%
     Native Hawaiian and Other Pacific Islander alone 0.577% 0.434% 0.547% 0.289% 0.247 2.244% 1.773% 0.267% 0.124% 2.967% 0.991% 0.401% 0.281%
     Some other race alone 8.472% 6.443% 23.002% 3.022% 21.692% 26.975% 26.553% 8.872% 4.236% 26.957% 38.458% 10.855% 4.830%
     Two or more races 6.832% 4.809% 5.471% 3.500% 6.777% 5.065% 6.487% 6.766% 4.940% 6.551% 5.332% 4.766% 5.772%


Now, for some of you, this is like watching a train wreck in slow-motion; and you're consoling yourself with fantasies of the many different ways in which I might meet my demise. (By all means, continue.) For others of you...the ones I'm really presenting this information to...I think I'm beginning to get your attention in a positive way.

Of course, when any "non-white" ethnic group breaks the 1/5 barrier, we see the Caucasian population dipping below 50.000%.

I wonder how this will compare to the distribution of GATE program placements?

  90712 5-Digit ZCTA 90713 5-Digit ZCTA 90802 5-Digit ZCTA 90803 5-Digit ZCTA 90804 5-Digit ZCTA 90805 5-Digit ZCTA 90806 5-Digit ZCTA 90807 5-Digit ZCTA 90808 5-Digit ZCTA 90810 5-Digit ZCTA 90813 5-Digit ZCTA 90814 5-Digit ZCTA 90815 5-Digit ZCTA
     White alone 64.283% 77.108% 47.329% 85.992% 38.734% 29.850% 26.828% 54.496% 81.060% 24.515% 25.402% 66.668% 74.877%
     Black or African American alone 7.892% 3.236% 17.671% 1.787% 16.774% 24.283% 20.012% 15.393% 3.054% 15.606% 13.473% 8.615% 4.203%
     American Indian and Alaska Native alone 0.636% 0.532% 0.728% 0.459% 0.703% 1.049% 0.973% 0.638% 0.718% 0.783% 0.929% 1.599% 0.394%
     Asian alone 11.308% 7.340% 5.252% 4.953% 15.073% 10.535% 17.374% 13.567% 5.863% 22.620% 15.414% 7.094% 9.643%
     Native Hawaiian and Other Pacific Islander alone 0.577% 0.434% 0.547% 0.289% 0.247 2.244% 1.773% 0.267% 0.124% 2.967% 0.991% 0.401% 0.281%
     Some other race alone 8.472% 6.443% 23.002% 3.022% 21.692% 26.975% 26.553% 8.872% 4.236% 26.957% 38.458% 10.855% 4.830%
     Two or more races 6.832% 4.809% 5.471% 3.500% 6.777% 5.065% 6.487% 6.766% 4.940% 6.551% 5.332% 4.766% 5.772%
     # of GATE Programs 1 0 0 1 0 0 0 1 4 0 0 1 5
     # of GATE/EXCEL Programs 1 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 1 1 0 0 1
     # of 'Gifted' Programs 0 0 0 1 0 0 1 1 0 2 0 0 1


Now, let's compress that vertically, a little bit.
We're removing the district-defined 'Gifted' programs because the district admits that these are not equal to GATE (You'll see that later on).
We're also removing those GATE/EXCEL programs because at least 3 of those are not considered to be GATE programs by the district. If the majority of GATE/EXCEL programs cannot be considered to be GATE, then the other 2 can't be considered to be GATE--if we're going to be consistent--can they? (We'll touch-back on this later.)
We'll shade those no-GATE program cells; and have ourselves a little chat about what we're looking at, shall we?

  90712 5-Digit ZCTA 90713 5-Digit ZCTA 90802 5-Digit ZCTA 90803 5-Digit ZCTA 90804 5-Digit ZCTA 90805 5-Digit ZCTA 90806 5-Digit ZCTA 90807 5-Digit ZCTA 90808 5-Digit ZCTA 90810 5-Digit ZCTA 90813 5-Digit ZCTA 90814 5-Digit ZCTA 90815 5-Digit ZCTA
     White alone 64.283% 77.108% 47.329% 85.992% 38.734% 29.850% 26.828% 54.496% 81.060% 24.515% 25.402% 66.668% 74.877%
     Black or African American alone 7.892% 3.236% 17.671% 1.787% 16.774% 24.283% 20.012% 15.393% 3.054% 15.606% 13.473% 8.615% 4.203%
     Asian alone 11.308% 7.340% 5.252% 4.953% 15.073% 10.535% 17.374% 13.567% 5.863% 22.620% 15.414% 7.094% 9.643%
     Some other race alone 8.472% 6.443% 23.002% 3.022% 21.692% 26.975% 26.553% 8.872% 4.236% 26.957% 38.458% 10.855% 4.830%
     # of GATE Programs 1 0 0 1 0 0 0 1 4 0 0 1 5


Of course, the correlation between lower socio-economic status and ethnicity has not been disproved since the 1970's; and we can see that very correlation in the following table, which now includes poverty level data (Census Bureau SF-3/P.87 data, 1999 income) which is expressed as percentage of total population.

Here, we've highlighted the below poverty level populations which equal or exceed 20% of the total population for that ZCTA:

  90712 5-Digit ZCTA 90713 5-Digit ZCTA 90802 5-Digit ZCTA 90803 5-Digit ZCTA 90804 5-Digit ZCTA 90805 5-Digit ZCTA 90806 5-Digit ZCTA 90807 5-Digit ZCTA 90808 5-Digit ZCTA 90810 5-Digit ZCTA 90813 5-Digit ZCTA 90814 5-Digit ZCTA 90815 5-Digit ZCTA
     White alone 64.283% 77.108% 47.329% 85.992% 38.734% 29.850% 26.828% 54.496% 81.060% 24.515% 25.402% 66.668% 74.877%
     Black or African American alone 7.892% 3.236% 17.671% 1.787% 16.774% 24.283% 20.012% 15.393% 3.054% 15.606% 13.473% 8.615% 4.203%
     Asian alone 11.308% 7.340% 5.252% 4.953% 15.073% 10.535% 17.374% 13.567% 5.863% 22.620% 15.414% 7.094% 9.643%
     Some other race alone 8.472% 6.443% 23.002% 3.022% 21.692% 26.975% 26.553% 8.872% 4.236% 26.957% 38.458% 10.855% 4.830%
     Pop. at or above poverty level 93.354% 95.896% 72.245% 94.681% 69.935% 75.767% 71.417% 91.315% 94.791% 78.886% 54.375% 86.196% 93.736%
     Population below poverty level 6.646% 4.104% 27.755% 5.319% 30.065% 24.233% 28.583% 8.685% 5.209% 21.114% 45.625% 13.804% 6.264%
     # of GATE Programs 1 0 0 1 0 0 0 1 4 0 0 1 5


More red and green highlighting, and they all seem to want to line-up nicely for us. Yes, yes. I see 90713 too, but I plan on digging-into the confidential census data to see what's up with that one. It certainly doesn't destroy the ongoing argument or eventual conclusions by any means. If you consider the matter for a moment or two, it may be that Bancroft is the natural GATE school for that zone; or Bellflower Unified's GATE-like performing school (Lindstrom) is handling the load--or both.

At any rate, the above happens to tell you that every GATE-only implementation is in a ZCTA that has a Caucasian population that exceeds 50.000% of the total population within that ZCTA. Who among you, when looking at that, can honestly say that this is not a firm indicator of blatant, unrepentant, racial discrimination--against the segment of the population which can least afford it--on the part of LBUSD?

Hold-on, Buster!
What if they are just putting educational programs; which just so happen to cost a few bucks; in the areas where the people make more money and pay their taxes; and they're entitled to something for their money--ya ever consider that?

You see, the problem with that argument is this: Disparate Impact.

Have you ever heard the line that goes: "Ignorance of the law is no defense."? Yeah, we all have. It means that the judge doesn't have time to waste trying to figure out if you're lying or not; when, in all likelihood, you are; and if he accepts that you didn't know that x, y, or z was against the law, and lets you off; everyone is going to be using that as the newest defense.

Disparate Impact works more or less the same way. The concept holds that you may do something with no intention of causing harm or loss to a specific person or group (usually easily identified along racial or ethnic definitions), but that person or group suffers the majority of loss or harm as a direct result of what you did. The impact, or results, of what you did is suffered more by them than by some other group of people, or by the population as a whole.

Whenever a person or organization adopts policy, creates regulations or laws, delivers services or takes some sort of widespread action; it is the responsibility of the actors (the person or organization) to honestly predict how what they are doing can harm others.

Disparate Impact does not have to be intentional, to be discrimination. In fact, Disparate Impact is discrimination.

The correlation between lower socio-economic conditions and racial/ethnic minorities is so long-proven and well-known that there really is no defense that can be raised when such discrimination is discovered and taken to trial. This is a fact that, I'm certain, does not sit well with the Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority--given the ridiculous number of bids for appeal they've had rejected over this very issue.

ENTRY DATED 2005.04.28 - 19:13:22
My wife just this moment discovered, printed out and handed to me the following document, of which I was previously unaware. You can down load it, in '.pdf' format for your convenience, below:

Still Separate - Still Unequal (PDF)

Consider this document a must-read publication, the following portion of which you should not overlook.



This failing grade was given to LBUSD by Californians for Justice in May of 2001. If you're like me, you look around you and realize that nothing has changed for us at all.



GATE:

After treating GATE like an educational widget, and showing that this widget goes largely to the Caucasian population in LBUSD territory, maybe we should deal with what GATE is. As much as I wish we were, we aren't talking about the Graduate Aptitude Test in Engineering.

I'd first like to caution you that, while this whole discussion currently relates to GATE, I do plan to tie the pattern of GATE program distribution into the distribution of other forms of educational services; and how GATE can be used to misrepresent the quality of education delivered to all children in the K-8 grade-span. A final step is planned to establish a relationship to GATE and non-GATE high school students as well.

The natural outcome of all these components of delivering educational services negatively affects all students in LBUSD.

Gifted and Talented Education (GATE) is an educational program which was originally developed to serve students with special needs in the areas of abstract reasoning, quantitative and linguistic aptitude; although other areas of exceptional ability may be factored into admission. GATE provides educational opportunities outside the classroom which are not readily available in the community.

Gifted and Talented Education (GATE) is not an indicator of giftedness and talent in all areas, nor an indicator of all types of intelligence. GATE is not a reward or a privilege.

At present, in LBUSD, identification and screening for GATE is a haphazard and poorly executed process; leaving many children unidentified, thus unassisted.

What's different about a GATE child, anyway?
That's a fair question, asked by many people; some of whom tend to assume that we're speaking in terms of intellectual elitism. We're not.

Before I go further, I need to draw two lines for you...
This line is the first one we're going to step-over to discuss the issue of GATE versus 'Gifted' (as defined by LBUSD). We'll just remember where we were before we made this side-step.

Being familiar with Gifted Education in this state, it has always been my conclusion that GATE and 'Gifted' are not equal--not even close--but I had to sit through a few meetings and make a few phone calls to get somebody credibly affiliated with LBUSD to actually make that statement to me. I was finally able to satisfy that goal this past week; which I'll relate to you in the form of the final moments of a phone conversation below: I've now established to my satisfaction that GATE and 'Gifted' are not the same thing.

There's our other line, now. Let's step-over it.
From this point-on, the red rectangles on that map are meaningless; and, when I refer to the gifted child or student or education, I'm talking about GATE-identified students or qualified-GATE programs. The state refers to GATE and gifted interchangeably in addressing the needs of GATE-identified children; and this equivalence is understood and accepted by those participating in such dialogues. It has been my experience that LBUSD does not consider the terms 'GATE' and 'gifted' as meaning the same thing at all. LBUSD gives every appearance of using 'Gifted' to refer to their un-qualified GATE substitute programs, and uses the terms interchangeably only to confuse the unwary into believing that the LBUSD 'Gifted' program is the same thing as the federally qualified and funded GATE program. It is not.

This is simply a matter of clarifying terms to make our lives just a bit easier. Back to where we were earlier...

So, what's different about a gifted child?

To answer that, let's look at a basic definition:
"Gifted and talented children" refers to those persons between the ages of five and twenty-one whose abilities, talents, and potential for accomplishment are so exceptional or developmentally advanced that they require special provisions to meet their educational needs. Children under five who fit this definition may also be in need of educational support. Gifted and talented students are capable of high performance, exceptional production, or exceptional learning behavior by virtue of any or a combination of these areas: Below, you'll find a table of 12 probable traits which can assist in the identification of a potential GATE student; followed by 10 characteristics of the gifted adult. Both sets of information apply to the gifted child.

Trait, Aptitude, or Behavior General Description How It May Look
Motivation

Evidence of desire to learn.		 Internal drive or encouragement that initiates, directs, or sustains individual or group behavior in order to satisfy a need or attain a goal. Demonstrates persistence in pursuing or completing self-selected tasks (may be culturally influenced); evident in school or non-school activities. Enthusiastic learner; has aspirations to be somebody, to do something.
Interests

Intense, sometimes unusual, interests.		 Activities, avocations, objects, etc. that have special worth or significance and are given special attention. Unusual or advanced interests, topic, or activity; self-starter; pursues and activity unceasingly beyond the group.
Communication Skills

Highly expressive with words, numbers, or symbols.		 Transmission and reception of signals or meanings through a system of symbols (codes, gestures, language, and numbers). Unusual ability to communicate (verbally, nonverbally, physically, artistically, symbolically); uses particularly apt examples, illustrations, or elaborations.
Problem-Solving Ability

Effective, often inventive, strategies for recognizing and solving problems.		 Process of determining a correct sequence of alternatives leading to a desired goal or to successful completion of a performance task. Unusual ability to devise or adopt a systematic strategy to solve problems and to change the strategy if it is not working; creates new designs; inventor.
Memory

Large storehouse of information on school or non-school topics.		 Exceptional ability to retain and retrieve information. Already knows; needs only 1-2 repetitions for mastery; has a wealth of information about school and non-school topics; pays attention to details; manipulates information.
Inquiry/Curiosity

Questions, experiments, explores.		 Method or process of seeking knowledge, understanding or information. Asks unusual questions for age; plays around with ideas; extensive exploratory behaviors directed toward eliciting information about materials, devices, or situations.
Insight

Quickly grasps new concepts; sees connections; senses deeper meanings.		 Sudden discovery of correct solution following attempts based primarily on trial and error; putting disparate elements together in unexpected ways. Exceptional ability to draw inferences; appears to be a good guesser; is keenly observant; heightened capacity for seeing unusual and diverse relationships, integration of ideas and disciplines.
Reasoning

Logical approaches to figuring out solutions.		 Highly conscious, directed, controlled, active, intentional forward-looking, and goal-oriented thought. Ability to make generalizations and use metaphors and analogies; can think things through in a logical manner; critical thinker; ability to think things through and come up with a plausible answer.
Imagination/Creativity

Produces many ideas; highly original.		 Process of forming mental images of objects; qualities, situations, or relationships which aren't immediately apparent to the senses; problem solving through nontraditional patterns of thinking. Shows exceptional ingenuity in using everyday materials; is keenly observant; has wild, seemingly silly ideas; fluent, flexible producer of ideas; highly curious.
Humor

Conveys and picks up on humor well.		 Ability to synthesize key ideas or problems in complex situations in a humorous way; exceptional sense of timing in words or gestures. Keen sense of humor that may be gentle or hostile; large accumulation of information about emotions; capacity for seeing unusual; uncommon emotional depth; openness to experiences; sensory awareness.
Intensity
('Overexcitabilities' *)

Strength of reactions, responses, behaviors. (* Dabrowski)		 Very Strong, even extreme, responses to stimuli in five areas: emotional, intellectual, sensory, psychomotor, and imagination. Intense desire for experiences in the area(s) of overexcitability; powerful emotions; seeks intellectual stimulation; sensory experiences evoke strong responses; constant or repetitive movement or gesturing; intense fantasy life; may need creative outlets for intensity.
Sensitivity

Strong reactions to emotional stimuli.		 Events and situations in the affective and social domains elicit a stronger response than usual. Strong sense of compassion; keen sense of justice; empathy; moral and ethical sensibilities; sense of being 'different' socially; existential worrying; often overly self-critical.
Signs of Giftedness in Adulthood
by Elyse Killoran

The vast majority of adults who were labeled "gifted" in childhood are unaware that their advanced development would continue to have an impact throughout their lives. Contrary to popular belief, giftedness is not characterized by high intelligence alone. Rather, gifted individuals experience early & exceptional psychological, spiritual, and intellectual development. As a result, gifted adults exhibit common personality traits and face similar challenges on the road to self-actualization.

Gifted adults demonstrate:

  1. Qualitative differences in information processing -- characterized by: unique perception and awareness; a sense of humor and creativity outside the norm; questioning, searching for truth, intuitiveness; insightfulness; comfort with both divergent thinking (breaking things into components) and synergistic thinking (putting things together to form something new and different); relentless curiosity and heightened creative drive; more process-oriented than product-oriented; hold divergent values compared to mainstream culture.

  2. High sensitivity -- characterized by: sensitivity to others often combined with a sense of personal alienation and loneliness; acute awareness of complexities and consequences; heightened responsivity to expectations of others.

  3. Intensity -- characterized by: high excitability; high energy level; emotional reactivity; high arousal of central nervous system.

  4. Multipotentiality -- characterized by: having capabilities in many areas and domains of talent; can move fluidly from one pursuit or interest to the next; have the ability to juggle many things at once.

  5. Idealism -- characterized by: striving for moral integrity; interest in social reform & service; extraordinarily high standards; low tolerance for mediocrity and frustration.

  6. Perfectionism -- characterized by: self-criticism; labeling themselves as "scattered"; having a lowered sense of entitlement to make mistakes; identifying easily with failure; thinking they are more likely to blame than others; difficulty taking credit for achievement and abilities ("imposter" phenomena).

  7. Internal locus of control -- characterized by feelings of: being out of step and on a separate path; being "Other"; not fitting in; striving for Inner Authenticity may experience deep conflicts between needs for self-actualization and maintaining traditional relationships.

  8. Strong entelechy (from Greek for "having a goal") -- characterized by: the need for self-determination, for self-actualization; leadership qualities; achievement-oriented; interested in non-traditional careers and professions.

  9. Intense moral commitment -- characterized by: seeing injustice and doing something about it; willingness to stand up for one's beliefs; outrage at moral breaches that the rest of the world seems to take for granted.

  10. Global view -- characterized by respect for all human beings; a greater capacity for empathy; concern for others--especially children; sensitivity and warmth.

As a gifted individual, it is important that you recognize your precious creativity and acknowledge that the full expression of your gifts would be a tremendous contribution to the society at large. It is essential that you develop a plan to channel and focus your abundance of physical, sensual, intellectual and emotional energy.

The above listing has been derived from the work of Douglas Eby, Mary Rocamora, Kathleen Noble and studies conducted by Linda Kreger Silverman of the Institute for the Study of Advanced Development.


I'm going to ask you to thoughtfully consider the above (particularly 'Sensitivity' and #2); which should lead you to the conclusion that the gifted child is capable of learning at an unexpectedly rapid pace, using acquired knowledge to expand his or her store of information without the necessity of a teacher, per se. The speed with which a gifted child learns often makes traditional teaching methods irrelevant simply because the normal expectations of how much repetition a child will require to master a concept largely do not apply to the gifted child.

Within the realm of mathematics, it has been observed that many gifted children also exhibit learning disabilities in this area. This is what we are referring to when we speak of "twice-exceptional" children. It has also been observed that some children are also ahead in their comprehension of mathematical concepts; while grade-level appropriate methods of teaching simply miss the mark, and the fact of their advanced capabilities pass unseen.

Many gifted children struggle with rote learning. For example: Long division is simply an interim goal in teaching children how to deal with fractions. It's also an obviously clumsy and relatively useless method of accomplishing division, until one begins to deal with synthetic division; yet, this becomes one of the roadblocks to children in learning mathematics--children who may already be able to competently deal with fractional numbers and their in-situ factoring and final division. The gifted child is normally the first child to advance the challenge: "Why am I learning this?" The reality for them is that, it is a waste of their time to go through the motions of learning a method that they will only have to unlearn or discard later. Moreover, it is an insult to their potential.

In the traditional classroom experience, the gifted child is often isolated from age-peers by the fact that they are viewed as being "different;" because they have learned more than their classmates; because they learn quicker than their classmates; because they relate to others in a way that makes this obvious in some subject areas, and less obvious in other subject areas. To the gifted child, their perception of "the way they are" is simply that they are normal, yet other children do not relate to them at an understandable level. In many ways, the gifted child doesn't understand the nature of the separation between themselves and their age-peers. In a myriad of ways, over the years, this will be one of the most painful aspects of their giftedness.

Most teachers cannot proactively and directly identify giftedness; much-less relate to the gifted child or their perspectives, simply because they lack the first-hand experiences of being gifted. Sorry if that strikes some of you as being petty, but it is an important factor in the dismal history of gifted identification--one which spans more than 50 years in the California educational system.

Through inappropriately applied teaching methods, lack of identification of the child's giftedness, and various negative assessments on the part of a child's teacher, who may have developed resentments toward the child for the mere difficulty of teaching him or her; the isolation of the gifted child is thereby exacerbated, and negative self-identification is the norm. The child stops trying almost immediately upon hearing their teacher speak these signature words of ignorance and callousness: "(S)he can do the work. (S)he's just lazy." Once a teacher has gone on record with such utterances, they have irreparably damaged their credibility with the child, in addition to causing great emotional pain to that child. I doubt the teacher will ever be able to reestablish any meaningful rapport with the student who realizes that their instructor is not qualified to teach him or her.

Given that, gifted children, under proper identification protocol, are grouped within the 97th, or higher, intellectual percentile of the general population; I wonder if somebody out there hasn't already said, "They walk among us, but are not of us;" and, in a sense that's a valid observation; but, as I mentioned earlier, I'm not talking intellectual elitism here. Even if your child isn't potentially-identifiable, or already identified, as GATE-qualified; this issue relates to your child's academic life as well.

After I answer an email question, we'll switch gears and look at a couple of LBUSD publications regarding GATE implementation within the district.
"Long Beach district just changed the gate schools list. What's up with that?"

Quite correct, Sir.
As we anticipated, LBUSD did in fact replace LBUSD GATE: Elementary School Programs ~ 2004-05 (PDF) with LBUSD GATE: Elementary School Programs ~ 2005-06 (PDF) this past Saturday (2005.04.30). We posted replacements to this site on that Saturday evening, and added to the documents (back to 2001) during the day on Sunday (2005.05.01).

I find it interesting that, as of today (2005.05.06), they have not modified the middle and high school listing--even to change the year-span--and that, the modifications they made to the elementary school listing only serve to confuse the issue of GATE program locations, as compared to EXCEL program locations. You can compare the changes in LBUSD's published GATE and EXCEL program locations, over the years, by referencing the table at the end of this document, under "Publications."

If it will help to make things clearer for you, take a look at this GATE Application Form (PDF) that the district was kind enough to mail to me. You will see that the GATE office has absolutely no confusion about GATE program locations; yet, the district would obviously like you to be confused about the matter. Now, compare the application with this document LBUSD GATE: Elementary School Programs ~ 2004-05 (PDF) and you will see that there is no meaningful difference at all. LBUSD GATE: Elementary School Programs ~ 2005-06 (PDF) can be considered to be an improvement by the district, because it will leave you confused as to the facts.

I could respect a response that says, "Hey! We just lost sight of our real priorities there. We'll put a plan in place to establish parity between East and West Long Beach, and get right on it."--and actually do something tangible about it. Instead, we've been treated to the typical fear-response of the "educated" but not too bright contingent: "Cover it up and confuse 'em so we don't look bad." Do they not know that they look all the worse for the attempt?

Oh well. I wish that, just once, these Bozos would do the right thing; but they keep reinforcing the necessity of my long-held philosophy of "Plan for the worst and hope for the best." For that, they deserve nothing more than my utter disdain.

Ok. Looking at a couple of documents regarding GATE implementations; the first from the state of California, and the second from LBUSD:

GATE: State Recommended Standards (PDF)
  1. Page 1, Section 1: Program Design, Subsection 1.1, Commendable Standards, Paragraph a:
    "The district plan is disseminated and easily accessible to parents and the community in pamphlet, website, or other forms."
  2. Page 1, Section 1: Program Design, Subsection 1.1, Commendable Standards, Paragraph b:
    "Participation in the program is not limited by other problems of logistics."
  3. Page 1, Section 1: Program Design, Subsection 1.2, Minimum Standards, Paragraphs a through e:
    "Administrative groupings and structures appropriate for gifted education may include cluster grouping, part-time grouping, special day classes, and special schools.
    The program provides services that are an integral part of the school day.
    The program provides for continuous progress and intellectual peer interaction.
    The program provides for flexible grouping in the classroom to meet student needs and abilities.
    Children in grades K-2 are served even if not formally identified."
  4. Page 2, Section 2: Identification:
    "The district's identification procedures are equitable, comprehensive, and ongoing. They reflect the district's definition of giftedness and its relationship to current state criteria. (EC 52202: Title 5 Regulations, Section 3822)"
  5. Page 2, Section 2: Identification, Subsection 2.1, Minimum Standards, Paragraph a, c, d:
    "All children are eligible for the nomination process regardless of socioeconomic, linguistic or cultural background, and/or disabilities.
    Referrals are sought from classroom teachers and parents. District actively searches for referrals among underrepresented populations.
    All staff receive training and information about the nomination process, including the characteristics of gifted learners and have access to nomination forms."
  6. Page 2, Section 2: Identification, Subsection 2.2, Minimum Standards, Paragraph b:
    "Evidence from multiple sources is used to determine eligibility and a data record or file is established for each nominee."
  7. Page 2, Section 2: Identification, Subsection 2.3, Minimum Standards, Paragraph c:
    "Participation in the program is based on the criteria of identification and is not dependent on the perception of a single individual. Once identified, a student remains identified as a gifted student in the district, though services to individuals may vary from year to year."
  8. Page 6, Section 6: Parent and Community Involvement, Subsection 6.1, Minimum Standards, Paragraph a:
    "Parents are informed of the district's criteria and procedures for identifying gifted and talented students as well as the program options and learning opportunities available. Translations are provided."
  9. Page 6, Section 6: Parent and Community Involvement, Subsection 6.1, Minimum Standards, Paragraph b:
    "The district's state application is available to parents and the community."
GATE: Program Plan (PDF)
  1. Page 1, Section 1: Program Design, Subsection 1.1, Commendable Standards, Paragraph a:
    "Information about the GATE program is made accessible through the district website, GATEways (a parent-teacher newsletter) the GATE brochure, (translated into Spanish and Khmer) and the Guiding the Gifted Child Speakers Series. The GATE brochure and plan are posted on the district website and a copy of each is mailed to every elementary and middle school principal with a list of Commonly Asked Questions. The plan is also available in the GATE office Information notebook and at the Office of Curriculum and Instruction in the Board of Education building."
  2. Page 1, Section 1: Program Design, Subsection 1.1, Commendable Standards, Paragraph b:
    "GATE and EXCEL school sites are located geographically to ensure participation of eligible students throughout the community. In the fall of 2002 two additional GATE programs will be added to the west side of Long Beach."
  3. Page 2, Section 1: Program Design, Subsection 1.2, Minimum Standards, Paragraphs a through e:
    "...GATE identified students may choose to attend special day classes at one of 14 elementary or middle school GATE sites. High achievers and potentially gifted students are selected to participate in EXCEL special day classes at 21 schools. Four middle schools offer an additional application process for high achievers to participate in GATE and EXCEL programs.
    All G/E schools may select additional high achievers who meet established multiple criteria to be clustered into the G/E classrooms beginning in the first grade. Many schools use flexible grouping and rotations based upon interests, ability and needs to service potentially G/T primary students."
  4. Page 4, Section 2: Identification:
    "The district's identification procedures, are equitable, comprehensive, and ongoing. They reflect the district's definition of giftedness and its relationship to current state criteria. (EC 52202: Title 5 Regulation, Section 3822)
    LBUSD offers two programs to address the needs of gifted students: the GATE Program and the EXCEL Program. The GATE Program identifies and serves students performing in the exceptional range intellectually or academically. The EXCEL Program serves potentially gifted students in schools with under represented populations. Models of differentiated instruction and academic rigor are provided in both programs."
  5. Pages 5 & 6, Section 2: Identification, Subsection 2.1, Minimum Standards, Paragraph a, c, d:
    "Elementary: Counselors annually review characteristics of giftedness at a staff meeting. Teachers and Parents submit nominations to the school counselor using the Teacher Nomination for GATE/EXCEL Screening or the Parent Survey and Alternative Referral forms. A data list, provided by the research department, of test scores from the state norm-referenced teas and district criterion-referenced test is sent to each counselor to refer students not already nominated by a teacher or parent.
    Annually all elementary counselors introduce the characteristics of giftedness to staff and teachers. Characteristics of under-represented groups are highlighted. Nominations are requested from each teacher. Parents may request a screening through the counselor or by calling the GATE Office. Each year, the GATE Office participates in a school choice fair for K-8 (Education Celebration)...
    Students may be nominated each year. Each year a print out of non-identified but high achieving students is given to the counselor in each school."
  6. Pages 5 & 6, Section 2: Identification, Subsection 2.2, Minimum Standards, Paragraph b:
    "...The EXCEL program was established to serve [page transition] students in schools with under-representation in the GATE program. As in GATE identification, multiple criteria are used, with the comparison group for selection based on the local, school population."
  7. Page 7, Section 2: Identification, Subsection 2.3, Minimum Standards, Paragraph c:
    "Multiple criteria is used in the identification process, including teacher ratings of gifted characteristics, standardized test scores, criterion-referenced mastery levels as well as evidence of creativity, leadership and talents. Medical, economic and language acquisition factors are considered too."
  8. Page 16, Section 6: Parent and Community Involvement, Subsection 6.1, Minimum Standards, Paragraph a:
    "Parents are informed of the district's criteria for identification by the elementary school counselor, through the GATE brochure made available at each school site, and through information posted on the district website."
  9. Page 16, Section 6: Parent and Community Involvement, Subsection 6.1, Minimum Standards, Paragraph b:
    "The district's application is available to parents and the community in a notebook at the front of the GATE office and in the Curriculum Office at the school board building. In the summer of 2002, the full application will also be updated and posted on the district website. In the fall of 2002, a GATE/EXCEL General Information Notebook, which includes the new application, will be sent to all elementary schools."

Comparison & Where "The Plan" Falls Apart (referring to the matching numbers above).
  1. The key phrase in the state guideline is "easily accessible to parents and the community." This is where the district falls apart.
    The district website covers those who are Internet-connected, but we have a huge number of families in WLB who simply can't afford a computer for the home, as well as ISP services. The hardcopy distribution of the mentioned materials has yet to be proactively distributed to students and/or their families at our school; and nobody knows to go to the GATE office if they don't know the GATE program even exists.
  2. Let's compare the following passages:
    State: "Participation in the program is not limited by other problems of logistics."
    District: "GATE and EXCEL school sites are located geographically to ensure participation of eligible students throughout the community."
    Let's get rid of the word "EXCEL" in the district statement and consider what could possibly be meant by the use of the word "community."
    You live in the "in-community" if you live in the ELB geography, where the 50% or greater Caucasian population groupings happen to be.
    You live in the "out-community" if you don't live near a GATE school. And, if the district happens to "accidentally" identify one of our children as GATE-qualified, we are forced to drive the child over to one of "their" schools for an adequate education. Of course, lacking a car, according to Steinhauser, is a choice, not a matter of financial necessity. Who, with a brain, doesn't call this a logistical problem?
  3. Now, this is where it gets interesting. Take another look at the GATE Application Form (PDF) and notice something. There are 14 school sites listed, but Hill, Hoover and Marshall aren't among those school sites. It appears that even LBUSD doesn't consider an East-Side GATE/EXCEL campus to be a GATE program location; but only on the West-Side are these combination implementations considered to be GATE program locations. Why?
    Burnett has only 20 seats available, most of those are filled with EXCEL-identified students. Garfield has, according to their own admission, a high ratio of EXCEL to GATE students in their site program, and a "huge problem with attrition." Evidently, GATE students transfer off-campus as soon as they can.
    Can we really say that WLB has anything approximating a fully-implemented GATE program? If we're honest about it, and we wish to remain consistent with LBUSD's own treatment of ELB 'GATE/EXCEL' school sites, we can only conclude that this is not the case--a situation that begs the use of pejoratives to give the fullest range of expression, once a person has been given the truth of the matter.
    West Long Beach has been sold an educational bill-of-goods. What else are we being deprived of?
  4. In the area of identification, one is given to wonder what the district's definition of giftedness really encompasses. Does it have an affluence or ethnicity component to it? Does the district's definition define giftedness has being geographically linked?
    Yes. We know that such unthinkable criteria would be blatantly illegal; yet, would explain the disparities in the program map at the top of this page.
    At our school site, it took us over 6 months to finally get our child tested and GATE qualified--after listening to her first-grade teacher complain that she didn't believe in gifted programs of any type, because "It makes the other kids feel bad." She had been dragging her heels the whole time--until I threatened her with legal consequences. It was done two weeks later.
    As much as I've been stone-walled and lied to, I certainly do wonder about unwritten definitions and teachers who are secretly antagonistic toward the gifted child. I also have no doubt that our child's third-grade teacher isn't "on board" this ship. I watch her very closely.
  5. This one's easy. It's our observation that most K-3 teachers are relatively clueless as to GATE identification and giftedness in the student of this age range. There exists a nearly universal opinion, at our child's school, that the gifted child can coast-along without negative repercussions, to allow the other children to catch up. How many years must my child learn almost nothing in school to give the others a "fair" chance? Wasn't 3 enough? When will teachers start asking her to "throw a test" to make the other kids feel better?
  6. The district begs the question on this one, but pounds the drum on the EXCEL definition. I'd wager that there are underrepresented populations in the GATE program for the simple fact that the district is not actively identifying children in their neighborhood schools. Let's just state the EXCEL issue the way they refuse to: EXCEL is for the brown-er, or poor, kids. GATE is for the white, or affluent, kids. What lines did the high school drop out data fall along again? The same ones? Yup. Anyone have a guess where it starts, and who is at fault?
    High school drop outs start in Kindergarten, and the school district is the main culprit.
  7. "Teacher ratings of gifted characteristics" is a good line, until you realize that many of these teachers wouldn't recognize giftedness if you wrote the word on a board and hit them with it. This also doesn't address the issue of teachers who are resistant to the idea of meeting the needs of gifted children. Some are openly antagonistic to the concept--particularly in our neck of the woods.
  8. This is definitely the "fend for yourself" turf. I had never seen any of the materials mentioned by the district, until I ferreted-them out on the district website, or begged to have a copy. (Excepting the application that I have posted for your perusal. They had received a definite wake-up call from me by then.) They may have a copy of some kind of notebook at our school site, but I'll bet it's buried in a drawer. It's certainly not on the front counter in the school office.
  9. Are we talking about the GATE application (the form you fill-out: file name = GATEapp.pdf) or the GATE Program Plan (file name = GATEApplication2002.pdf)?
    The program plan is posted on the website, but there certainly is no copy of the GATE application posted on the district website...and I'll bet you guess why.
    HINT: The school site listing on the GATE application contradicts/clarifies their 2005-2006 school site listing posted to the GATE program page.
    Go ahead and use my copy. You have my permission.

So, since the district doesn't consider GATE/EXCEL (pronounced "GATEXCEL") schools to be GATE schools, we really are correct in viewing the situation in the light of this table. Forget GATE/EXCEL, because they're just shiny beads, thrown at the hordes of barbarians on this side of town. Nothing but a distraction.

  90712 5-Digit ZCTA 90713 5-Digit ZCTA 90802 5-Digit ZCTA 90803 5-Digit ZCTA 90804 5-Digit ZCTA 90805 5-Digit ZCTA 90806 5-Digit ZCTA 90807 5-Digit ZCTA 90808 5-Digit ZCTA 90810 5-Digit ZCTA 90813 5-Digit ZCTA 90814 5-Digit ZCTA 90815 5-Digit ZCTA
     White alone 64.283% 77.108% 47.329% 85.992% 38.734% 29.850% 26.828% 54.496% 81.060% 24.515% 25.402% 66.668% 74.877%
     Black or African American alone 7.892% 3.236% 17.671% 1.787% 16.774% 24.283% 20.012% 15.393% 3.054% 15.606% 13.473% 8.615% 4.203%
     Asian alone 11.308% 7.340% 5.252% 4.953% 15.073% 10.535% 17.374% 13.567% 5.863% 22.620% 15.414% 7.094% 9.643%
     Some other race alone 8.472% 6.443% 23.002% 3.022% 21.692% 26.975% 26.553% 8.872% 4.236% 26.957% 38.458% 10.855% 4.830%
     Pop. at or above poverty level 93.354% 95.896% 72.245% 94.681% 69.935% 75.767% 71.417% 91.315% 94.791% 78.886% 54.375% 86.196% 93.736%
     Population below poverty level 6.646% 4.104% 27.755% 5.319% 30.065% 24.233% 28.583% 8.685% 5.209% 21.114% 45.625% 13.804% 6.264%
     # of GATE Programs 1 0 0 1 0 0 0 1 4 0 0 1 5


So, that pretty-much reduces our current concerns to the contents of the table, above.


Why does the district refuse to publish disaggregate API data for each school site--along the lines of In-Area/Out-of-Area students, GATE students, and so on?
How many East-Side, school-wide APIs are being boosted by forcing parents to bus their own children to the other side of town?
How much massaging of ethnic diversity is going on because socio-economically disadvantaged families are footing the bill to bring their children to the "white settlements" for a "proper" education?
Does the district plan on reimbursing all these families the expenses of transportation that they never should have borne in the first place?
Indeed,why does the district refuse to publish disaggregate, per-student spending for each school site?
How many more parents will I hear say, "My son/daughter just passed the GATE test. You stay and fight. This is our ticket outta this hell-hole!"
Why has there been an unprecedented and sudden flurry of identification activity at my school site, since this page went up?
Will the district lose their federal funding because of discrimination; which has been deliberate since 2001--moreso since March of this year?
Can district politicains be taught? Can they even be considered to be true life-forms?
Yes, I know that one of them is a good guy; yet, he and I have never had the opportunity to have a discussion. Perhaps we'll have the chance to chat a bit when this is done with.

Stay-tuned.

In preparation for our next discussion, I'd like you to read through the following 3 documents.
(Yes, that does include the students and faculty at CAMS.) Please pay particular attention to patterns of discrimination, educational outcome and spending within California schools. Compare and contrast these factors with the observable situation in LBUSD; as well as the history of discrimination within LBUSD.

No quizzes. I promise.



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I had forgotten that this page existed on our web server, which is why it has lain fallow for so long.

Allow me to update the situation since the time this page sprang-forth.

Long Beach Unified School District reacted to the posting of this information; however, instead of acting to solve the problem, they acted to cover-up the existence of the problem.

EXCEL programs (those which are normed to the school population, instead of an absolute standard) were suddenly referred to as GATE or GATE/EXCEL programs. The so-called "solutions" were nothing more than bandages slapped over the problem in an attempt to obfuscate the facts, and avoid possible litigation. In short, LBUSD's Chris Steinhauser, along with the School Board, acted in a manner which is best described as criminal and cowardly.

Attempts to persuade our family that this was "good enough" for us were made. "Look what we've had to do because of you!" Seemed to be the phrase that should have inspired guilt in us, as we read about other families in the United States, who have found themselves more viciously target for retaliation--some families even losing their children because of false accusations of abuse and neglect, bolsered by contrived evidence and false testimony by school officials in their districts.

As we began to say, "No. That's not good enough", and spoke in terms of 504 hearings, we observed an escalation in the usual pattern of retaliation that we had become used to enduring. We saw our children being drawn-out into the open and strategically positioned as individual targets for their own retaliation, and heard decisive, but highly-implied, threats issued against ourselves and our children.

For my part [Allan], I purposed it within myself that we--having been treated to nothing but lies and a generous helping of carborundum powder rubbed into our skin--would treat LBUSD to a bit of their own medicine as we sought other educational opportunities for our children.

We created a fuss. We filed legitimate Williams Complaints against the school. We made them work their butts off keeping the lid on the slow-boiling pot which served as the home to all of the issues we raised. We pulled the principal's cards hard enough to dump his desk all over the floor--revealing that he had his own agenda, and a nasty habit of holding grudges and treating himself to the fulfillment of petty vendettas against his own staff and faculty. We forced him to reveal to us what he really was...to show his true face.

During this time, Annie, my wife, discovered the California Virtual Academies, and presented the information on their web site to me.

I was soundly against CAliVA as a solution to our problems. I wanted an extra-residential solution, better than our local school, which would treat our gifted children according to their individual needs, and allow them to attain their individual potentials.

We located a number of existing programs, only to discover such alternatives to be horrendously expensive--some impossible to afford for anyone earning less than $300,000.00 per annum. The California Virtual Academies idea percolated in the back of my brain, as my wife wisely chose not to mention it again.

LBUSD--specifically, the principal at Jackie Robinson Academy--ratcheted-up the retaliation and threats to even higher-levels, as he went through the motions which would lead outside observers to believe that he was doing the right thing for us. We jumped through those hoops we chose to be bothered with, and made the principal jump through a few hoops of our own construction. We were--as far as he was concerned--unpredictable enough to make thinking about us enough to be upsetting; and this was all part of the strategy: make them pay a high emotional price for being lying, discriminatory low-lifes. Remind them at every turn that you bon't buy their lip-service...make them prove it with their own actions...hold their collective nose to the grind stone, put your knee on the back of their collective head and push--HARD.

As much as I had been lied-to, this is the part I really enjoyed the most. As well, I do have to admit that there was a minor positive outcome for the children we left behind, when we did finally get around to un-enrolling our children from LBUSDs educational Hell; however, the situation is far from what it could and should be, and outside observers will have a far more difficult time in determining the degree of discrimination that is going on in LBUSD, because they deliberately "went underground" in response to the data presented on this very page.

I monitor site hits very closely. Not to determine who's looking at what, but to forestall any potential attempt at security compromises of this web server. I did, however, notice that this page seemed to be an obsession for LBUSD, as they worked very hard to do something in response to it. All of their efforts were devoted to misdirection and obfuscation, instead of at establishing parity of opportunity for all students. The blame for this rests squarely on the shoulders of Chris Steinhauser--the district superintendent.

In blunt honesty, our enrollment of our children into the California Virtual Academies amounted to nothing more than a hurried drive through a conveniently-located escape hatch. I did do a bit more investigation of their offerings, and really did need more answers to questions I had yet to frame; however, it was a move that granted me the minimal assurance that we would be no worse-off for making it--but, in my mind, that could fall-apart in an instant leaving us with nothing more than regrets over not having stayed-put and fighting it out.

Two weeks before the beginning of the LBUSD, 2005 - 2006 academic year, amidst all of the glowing rhetoric over how much LBUSD was doing for the "ungrateful, trouble-making Gabston-Howell Family", we yanked our two youngest girls out of Jackie Robinson Academy and enrolled them in the California Virtual Academies; which was, at that time, offering charter services from Maricopa Unified School District, in Kern County.

The reaction of astonishment was mildly amusing, and I'm sorry I couldn't witness first-hand the reaction of relief that must have been felt on the part of certain key instigators of our little road of trials and tribulations--THAT would have been somewhat gratifying--and, there are certain people whom we do miss dealing with.

What did we leave behind?
A system that looks at a child within their ethinc and socio-economic context, and assigns a value-proposition, based not on their intellectual capacity but, upon their presumed social undesireability. A system which, by design, erects barriers to a good education, as well as a higher education for children of low-income or of color.

We left a system which, under the guidance of site administrators like Frank Gutierrez and Miriam Garcia, establishes open preferences for the latino culture, and its value system, as well as deepening the practice of punishing those children who excell in learning. They unapologetically beat-down high achievers; because, the idea of allowing a high achiever to attain his or her potential is (no matter how insane it may sound to you) threatening to them as well as the culture for which they practice both open and tacit prejudice. I was amazed to discover how much they despise any child of multi-ethnic parentage, and how viciously such children are marginalized and implicitly punished by such teachers as Maria Mereghetti.

We left a Hell--composed of mediocrity, intolerance, hatred and lies--behind. An environment which, we have since discovered, was actually damaging to our children. Emotional and intellectual trauma, on a daily basis.

We have heard rumors about the standard response to questions about what happened to "us" (meaning our two girls) as ranging from our moving from the service area of Jackie Robinson Academy, to our joining a cult and schooling our children at home in the skills of field-strippng an AK-47 and the kitchen table manufacture of plastic explosives. Supposedly, the final exam for the latter being the destruction of some key infrastructure facililty in the United States. Lights, camera, action!

Whatever.

Our daughters were un-enrolled from Jackie Robinson Academy, two weeks before the eldest was to begin 4th grade, and the youngest was to begin 2nd grade. They were enrolled in the California Virtual Academies, where the eldest began 5th grade and the youngest started-off in 3rd grade. Their placement was determined by their performance on pre-enrollment placement exams--nothing more. Stephanie Sosa was my first point of contact in initiating the discussion relative to the girls' grade placement in CAliVA, and her first words to me--after the introductions were dispensed with--were, "What do you think is best for your child?"

That query froze me in my verbal tracks; because, in all the years we have been dealing with public schools (and CAliVA *is* a California public school), nobody has ever been interested enough in the needs of our children, nor granted us the credibility as intelligent parents, to ever ask us that question. I can tell you, to within five inches, exactly where I was standing when she hit me with that one. (For the curious: I was standing outside the front door of our former residence, facing North, with my elbow on the 7th step of the stairway leading to our upstairs neighbor's residence. It was approximately 14:43.)

Fast-Forward a couple of years:
Suffice it to say that, during the 2006 -2007 academic year, our eldest daughter is taking High School English, is enrolled in 6th grade, and ahead of grade-level on many of what might be considered her 6th grade coursework. She will, likely, finish High School early and be taking college courses before her 14th birthday. Our youngest daughter is, during the 2006 -2007 academic year, enrolled in 4th grade, and quite ahead of grade level on many of her courses.

I neglected to mention that our son is enrolled in his Sophomore year of high school with CAliVA, having completed his first year of high school beside his sisters, using a computer supplied by CAliVA/K12.

I've jumped-over a lot of living in the interim. If you're looking to hear anything bad about our lives since leaving LBUSD, you're going to be waiting a very long time. It hasn't all been a cake walk, but it also has been so much better than we ever imagined that it could be that, to spend a lot of time telling you how good it really has been...well, it would be a waste of my time, because you would only count my words as exaggeration or outright lies. You will limit your ability to believe the truth, by your expectations. It's too unfamiliar to you to be believable when you're looking from the outside-in.

I believe that our choice was a good choice for our children. I, furthermore, believe that this is far and away superior to any brick-n-mortar public school environment; and our children reinforce this belief everyday, by their pulling further and further ahead of their age-peers in Jackie Robinson Academy.

Where we are now--where we have been since August of 2005--this is where real education happens in the K-12 venue. This is healthy and happy and productive. This does away with the need for a GATE program; either a real GATE program, or even that smoke and mirrors job LBUSD tries to pull over on you. My kids are far ahead of what those children are learning...right now!

If you're one of those who harps about socialization...don't even bother. That's an illusion, handed to you by school district officials who are terrified that you'll learn the truth: As early as 1912, public school was widely understood to be a dismal failure. Our children have suffered and fallen further and further behind ever since that time. New and credible research actually proves that the brick-and-mortar public school environment is harmful to your child...no matter his or her age.

If you want to believe a lie, feel free--I'm not going to stop you It's your child who will lose-out in life--not mine.

Avalon is somewhat equivalent to a modern-day paradise but, look what they have to put-up with from LBUSD: Avalon School Web Site, not to mention that fact that their parents are now paying the salaries of the school personnel. So much for FAPE in LBUSD.

They could have CAliVA, and all the benefits that go with it, for free, and send the LBUSD carpetbaggers packing.








Resources:


Location and Referring Pages:
The Fully-Qualified Universal Resource Locator (URL) for this page is 'http://www.gabston-howell.org/lbusd.html#begin'.

Author and Intent:
The author/compiler of this information is: Allan Gabston-Howell.
  • The first-instance intent of this information was to present a more lucid picture of the distribution of GATE-qualified school sites within Long Beach Unified School District. In short, to provide the kind of picture which would facilitate intelligent school site selection by parents within this school district.
  • The process of compiling the data, requisite to form such a convenient picture, created a second-instance intent for the use of the information before you. This is the venue in which somebody out there will attempt to hang the label of disgruntled parent on me.
    1. The blatant disparity in the allocation of services throughout the district is sufficient to define an injured class;
    2. negotiate with the LBUSD school board for adequate redress of discriminatory practices; or,
    3. absent adequate voluntary redress, petition the court for injunction, intervention and remedy via specific mandate and federal oversight.
  • This information will be kept current, and augmented with in-depth demographic data; including, but not necessarily limited to geographic distribution of: ethnic/racial groups, aggregate household income, property value, rent/mortgage rates, family size, transportation availability and other socio-economic indicators. Statistically significant correlations will be presented for your unrestricted use.
  • Pages and resources will be presented, in the future, that deal with this matter in a more "jargon-less" fashion. I'm certain that those who are more concerned with earning a living for their families will breathe a sigh of relief over that one.
  • Anyone more skilled with Spanish than I am is certainly welcome to assist me in presenting this information to our Hispanic community.
  • Speakers of Tagalog, Japanese, Khmer, Chinese, or any of the Pacific-Rim dialects can help our class in the same manner.

License:
The information presented herein is public property and, as such, has little restriction upon what you can do with it; but, if you feel more comfortable reading some sort of 'License Agreement' or 'Terms and Conditions of Use', this should help:
  1. It's yours. Do whatever you want to with it.
  2. Give credit where credit is due.
  3. All references to this page should be listed as: http://www.gabston-howell.org/.

Distribution:
You are encouraged to distribute this information to anyone and everyone you know. News aggregators and media providers are bonus-point territory.

Unless you are disruptive, nobody--no matter what their official position may be--can lawfully prohibit the distribution of this public information. It is the very information that LBUSD, itself, makes available to the public. Moreover, should LBUSD suddenly decide to refuse to publish all or part of this information; it is readily available from state and federal sources.
If an individual does attempt to prohibit your distribution of this information, politely comply with their request. You have just gained an additional cause of action for our class. You can then contact the ACLU regarding the violation of your Right to Free Speech.


Accuracy and Component Origins for This Derivative Work:
The original version (Map04.jpg) of the above map was published through the active server page (MapPage.asp), served via the URL http://www.lbusd.k12.ca.us/schools/school_finder/MapPage.asp. Neither the html page, nor the called image, bore copyright notice of any kind (as of 2005.04.10).[1]

The data incorporated into this html page, as well as the called image, is derived as accurately as possible from LBUSD published data.

For reasons of accuracy, 2004 Base API data, published by EdData, has supplanted the API data set-forth by LBUSD.

I would like to express my gratitude to Jim Choura, LBUSD School Board Member - Sub-District 5, for his assistance in assuring the accuracy of the map data at the top of this page.

If you discover any inaccuracy in the above map, or the data upon which the image or its presentation here relies, you may email source-referenced, qualified corrections to Allan.G-H@gmail.com, and they will be incorporated as soon as possible. As often as this page is being updated, the time-frame might as well be considered as approaching instantaneous.


Contact:
The author/compiler of this page may be emailed at: Allan.G-H@gmail.com.
Journalists and media contacts will be given our phone number upon request from a validated email address.
Media packets should be available for distribution in mid-May, 2005.

For those who already have our phone number, don't bother leaving a voice mail. We don't have the password to access our voice mail queue, and I'm not inclined to change that state of affairs because it serves to give those remaining, clueless, telemarketing agencies a false sense of hope for scoring on the next mark.



California Schools, California High Schools, California Middle Schools, California Elementary Schools, California School District, Schools in California, California Public Schools, California School Ranking


[1] Credit is hereby given to the Long Beach Unified School District (very possibly, the Graphic Arts Department) as the origin of the original image. The original '.jpeg' file was produced using Adobe Systems, Inc. Photoshop 3.0, and bore no binary or ASCII claim of copyright attributable to LBUSD; or any individual or organizational component therein.
In accordance with United States Copyright Law, both the html page, and the binary graphic file sourced from the LBUSD server were released to the public domain at the time of publication (annotated upon the map graphic as '08/04'). Adequate proof of this assertion is evidenced by the following screen capture archive, in '.bz2' format, which shows the lack of visible copyright claim at the time of publication: original.lbusd.map.publication.png.bz2. Further proof of lack of copyright claim, within the unmodified, commented, html source served as 'MapPage.asp', is contained within the following archive, in '.bz2' format: konquerorra0qSb.html.bz2.

The above identified image was re-worked using Open Source image manipulation tools, and re-rendered to '.png' formatting. The LBUSD logo and publication date have been removed to avoid confusion with onsite, LBUSD-generated images or publications.
A clue! A clue!