Rewriting the Story in CPS

Columbia Public Schools addresses the city’s economic issues.

A map of the Columbia public school system writes its own tale of two cities when each elementary, middle, and high school has a certain statistic stamped next to it — the proportion of the student body enrolled in a free and reduced-price lunch program, one of the only metrics available to a school to estimate the dispersion of poverty and economic stress throughout its population. The schools with the highest levels of free and reduced lunch students are generally on the north side of town, while schools in south Columbia have lower levels.

Growing up in an environment with little to no disposable income and a family history of being poor can physically, mentally, and academically alter a child. The fact that the amount of free and reduced lunch students has doubled, to around one out of every two students in Columbia, over the past 15 years is a key indicator of disparity across the district.

“We, as a district, feel that we are underreporting a lot in all three high schools for lunch numbers,” says Jennifer Rukstad, principal of Rock Bridge High School, which had around 21.7 percent of students receiving lunch benefits this past year. “You make a shift, and where communication between those things was directly between the parents and the elementary or middle school, in high school, we can’t necessarily ensure that the forms get into the hands of the parents who fill them out.”

In terms of lunch metrics, Rock Bridge is the lowest of all three comprehensive public high schools in town, followed by Hickman, at 32.1 percent, and Battle, at around 50 percent. At the lower grade levels, the gap widens further. The two elementary schools with the highest number of students receiving free and reduced lunch — Blue Ridge Elementary (79.3 percent) and Alpha Hart Lewis Elementary (75.93 percent) — are located in the northeast part of town; the elementary with the lowest percentage — Mill Creek, with 12.62 percent — is located in the growing and high-priced southwest region of the city. According to Rukstad, the economic disparity across schools is an inherent representation of the greater community.

“Our district has tried very, very hard every time to draw the boundaries and have had the impossible, thankless job of trying to create somewhat of a microcosm of our community as a whole.” Rukstad says. “It’s very difficult just because of the way neighborhoods work, so you end up with silly-looking attendance boundaries that strive to mix it up as equitably as possible.”

However, the main goals of redrawing attendance lines are to level larger numbers like attendance and transportation needs, and social or economic issues can get shuffled down the priority list. According to the CPS Superintendent Peter Stiepleman, those problems need to be addressed at the individual and community-wide levels.

Your Brain on Poverty

When Stiepleman was running for superintendent two years ago, he decided to form his platform on the ideals of achievement, enrichment, and opportunity, or AEO, as it became known, for all students. Growing up as a privileged white kid in Long Island, New York, Stiepleman has always been aware of the opportunities his economic status allowed him. He was also aware of those around him who did not have the same opportunities, and he decided to make it his mission to help students less fortunate than himself. Working his way from teacher to administrator in Oakland, California before moving to Missouri, Stiepleman has seen and overseen all types of students.

“I have seen, over my entire career, the dramatic effect of poverty on achievement, and it was something that distinguished my candidacy from others because of my experiences in high-poverty districts,” Stiepleman says.

Over the past two years, Stiepleman has been hard at work integrating his predecessors’ vision and his AEO ideals into the school system’s administrative, classroom, and extracurricular activities. He cites studies from Harvard researchers that point to a physiological difference in the brain chemistry of children from low and high economic upbringings as one of reasons to push for a more involved faculty and a more open system of sports, clubs, and out-of-school programs for his students.

“Children of chronic stress situations and poverty will be more likely to come from generationally poor families,” Stiepleman says. “And they have high cortisol levels, which means their brains are in constant fight-or-flight mode. These kids can be quick to anger, have poor verbal skills, are more impulsive, and have fewer positive peer relationships.”

Increasing access — to teachers who understand these issues, to school sports programs, and to equal opportunities — is how Stiepleman hopes to improve the lives of his at-risk students. Initiatives like the homegrown teacher program, which makes local teachers out of local students, and using levy funds to train faculty members on restorative practices and diversity are currently in their first years of implementation.

As the third largest employer in town, the school district plays a major role in influencing the local economy and the public it represents. And that public seems to be generally supportive of the work CPS is doing for Columbia students and their families.

A Comprehensive Examination

In April, Columbia voters agreed to a 65-cent operating levy increase to their property taxes at a time when most of the state, and the country, is weary and wary of paying more taxes. The levy allows the district to collect around 63 cents per every $100 in assessed value of an owner’s home. James Whitt, president of the board of education and member of the mayor’s diversity task force, says the district had plans to parcel out their asking for funding slowly. But rather than opting for the piecemeal approach, the community preferred that the district “just ask for what [they] need, and don’t come back anytime soon,” according to Whitt.

Through his position on the school board and his work helping women- and minority-owned businesses through the mayor’s diversity task force, Whitt comes into contact with the economic disparities facing Columbia every day.

“I have the unique viewpoint of seeing disparity from the time prior to kids entering school, all the way through school, and to graduation.” Whitt says. “If you look at these disparities, they start early, and they impact everything we do as a community.”

According to a 2011 study from the U.S. Department of Education, students from families with incomes in the bottom 20 percent are five times more likely to drop out of high school than their higher-income classmates. A similar study, from Northeastern University, found that around one in 10 male high school dropouts will serve juvenile or adult jail sentences — a number that’s four times as high when only black youths are concerned.

Looking at the local level, Columbia is a growing, successful Midwestern city with an unemployment rate lower than the U.S. average (3.2 percent in March 2016; the national rate was 5.1 percent). Break that number down, however, and the disparity is clear. The unemployment rate for black Columbians was nearing 15 percent during the last census, in 2010, over four times higher than the city average. Ninety percent of black students in CPS are on free and reduced lunch. This was one of the key points addressed when the city council approved the 2016-2019 strategic plan for Columbia, which featured the improvement of social equity at its core by focusing on three distinct neighborhoods in the north side of town.

“It’s impacting everybody in our community,” Whitt says. “Poverty is not even race related. If you’re poor, you’re poor. There are higher probabilities if you’re a minority of being poor . . . but once it hits you, it has a devastating impact on you and your ability to succeed.”

Children growing up in poor Columbia families have it particularly rough. Boone County is in the bottom 18 percent of all counties in the nation for social mobility, according to data compiled by The New York Times, meaning if you’re born impoverished in Boone County, you have a good chance of staying poor. According to the database, being raised poor in this part of the state means you will statistically earn 6 percent less by the time you’re 26 when compared to the average American.

Columbia’s stressed and impoverished families are facing their fair share of uncertainty about the future. The question will be whether Columbia can make changes now to ensure they have better chances.

The CPS district is made up of 300 square miles of urban, suburban, and rural neighborhoods, and it serves every type of student in between. While there is no silver bullet solution to addressing the issues that financial stress presents schoolchildren, Stiepleman is committed to working piece-by-piece toward a larger goal and a brighter future.

CPS is working to eliminate pay-for-play sports to ensure that every student can afford to join a team and bond with their teammates. The school has started offering a “work near where you live” initiative for its employees, especially custodians. In May, the school board approved hikes for all CPS employee wages — a total of around $8.7 million — for the coming school year, and the district’s minimum wage for its lowest paid employees was raised to $10 per hour.

And the district is continuing to grow. With the public approval of a $30 million bond, the district plans to purchase land and design a new middle school in two years. These initiatives were made possible by the public’s support and will work toward improving working, learning, and living conditions for students, employees, and families alike, according to Stiepleman.

“I hope that someone will pick up this story ten years from now and say, ‘Let’s rewrite it and see if we accomplished this,’” Stiepleman says. “Because I think we will.”