Tucker High dissed for bad reasons
Since the Supreme Court long ago settled the constitutionality of race-based school segregation, perhaps it should turn its attention to economic apartheid in education.
The starkest examples of this economic divide can be found between the city and suburban schools. But even within the suburban jurisdictions, in school systems that are deemed sound, the chasms exist, pitting the old suburbs against the new.
Take the case of J.R. Tucker High School.
Situated in a bend of Parham Road between Broad Street and Interstate 64, Tucker is the sort of campus-style complex apparently popular among school designers in the early 1960s. The school was named for a law professor who was the architect of Henrico's county-manager form of government.
Its wooded campus is well maintained and dotted with benches. You don't have to look far to see numerous displays of school pride, including "We Love JRT!" on the school's roadside sign. "Unity in Diversity" is the theme that greets visitors to its Web site.
Its diversity aside, Tucker has changed little since those days in the mid-1970s when I spent many a summer evening playing basketball in its sweltering gym.
Surrounded by aging cottages and sprawling apartment complexes, Tucker does not lie in the heart of affluence -- we're not talking a backdrop of Raintree or Twin Hickory. No one would mistake Tucker's environs for the heart of darkness, either.
But some parents in western Henrico are recoiling at a redistricting plan that would send their children to Tucker instead of Mills Godwin, Deep Run or Douglas Freeman.
Note to Tucker: You have been officially kicked out of the West Trend.
Henrico schools spokesman Mychael Dickerson suggested that the negative perceptions of Tucker are baseless.
"This is probably folks who haven't visited Tucker High School," he said, adding that Tucker is home to the county's Welcome Center for English as a Second Language students countywide as well as the system's Center for World Language. The school is also slated to get an International Baccalaureate program in fall 2010.
"I think folks make judgments in part, but not wholly, . . . based on ages of schools," he said. "When you have a new facility, you think: 'That must be where my child can get the best education.' And we know that's not true."
Yes, parents whose children would have to travel five times the distance to school have a legitimate beef. But talk about property values has no place in a discussion of where a kid attends school.
Some parents maintain that attending Tucker will hurt their child's life chances, or at least their opportunity to attend a top-notch college. This is ludicrous. Since I'm not hearing that Tucker's teachers and administrators are inept, I'm assuming this is about the prestige factor.
More than a half-century after the Brown ruling, economic class segregation fuels inequities real or imagined.
As long as the moving of boundaries within a jurisdiction produces such drama, regional education remains a pipe dream.
Contact Michael Paul Williams at (804) 649-6815 or
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Reader Reactions
The statements about the violence and weapon possesions at Tucker are quite skewed. Someone can use numbers any way they want. But the truth is that Freeman and Godwin and even Deep Run have fights and weapons BUT the school doesn’t report them because they don’t want to go to court and therefore wind up in the newspapers. If someone has a plastic knife! OMG! at Tucker we are all over the news but things elsewhere are kept very hush hush. I’m not saying Tucker is perfect, I ‘m saying no school is and don’t knock it ‘til you’ve tried it. GO JRT! Class of 2011
I love the convenient amnesia that Richmonders get about things.
Twenty years ago, Tucker was the misfit west end high school. It was measured third in results and prestige, with Godwin and Freeman arguing constantly about which of them was on top.
Then Wyndham and various neighboring neighborhoods arrived on the scene and were put into Tucker’s district. Tucker’s population swelled with Upper middle-class, college-bound students. Test scores soared. Facilities were upgraded. County teachers began to seek assignment at Tucker, whispering that Tucker was the clear west end #2, having knocked Freeman down to third.
But as quickly as the good times came, they vanished when Deep Run opened. The Wyndham corridor was relocated there.
So the clock has rolled back for Tucker. It’s once again the stepchild of the west-end, though arguably battling for 3rd place with Freeman behind the Godwin/Deep Run lead.
I seems odd to me that in column dated 3-30-09 by Lisa Chutchfiled the following facts were printed:
“...according to the state Department of Education. During the 2007-08 school year, 11 weapons offenses were cited, compared with one each at Godwin and Freeman. Tucker had 23 offenses of students against other students. Godwin had six, Freeman seven. Incidents of alcohol, tobacco and other drugs totaled 32 at Tucker, 13 at Godwin and eight at Freeman”
But you are talking about spirit and the age or style of the school. The facts show that there is a difference at Tucker and I don’t think that it’s economic. Freeman has a diverse population but, the problems noted above are far less. The best thing to come out of this would be that we admit somthing is wrong here and find a way to fix it.
My daughter graduated from Tucker High School. She was 20th in her class with a GPA of 4.56. She is now finishing her Masters in Teaching at JMU. She received a top rate education at Tucker High School. One of the things she loved the best was the diversity. Who wants to attend a high school of clones? Tuckers staff is top rate and their school spirit is the best! Any parent should be proud to send their child to Tucker. GO TIGERS!
Comment…Jeez…this is interesting. I didn’t know Henrico residents considered J.R. Tucker to be a lower-scale school.
It is not a lower scale school… it’s the fact that it is not the newest or the prettiest…
I know the Principle….due to another issue… the point is the Talent we have in Echo Lake, Tucker, Godwin, Pemberton Elementary all of which I have had contact is just amazing!!
These professional’s are just that… we are lucky to have these people in our system. No matter what the building looks like…. It’s the people inside that makes the difference.
Just like people….. you should never judge a person on how they look….. if you are a open minded person you look deeper… it’s the person inside and their education that’s makes the difference.
To often today… we make judgments on how a person looks and in this case HOW A HIGH SCHOOL LOOKS.
Jeez…this is interesting. I didn’t know Henrico residents considered J.R. Tucker to be a lower-scale school. Where I went to high school (in Chesterfield) Tucker was considered top tier—or at least it had that image right across the river! But that was 27 yrs ago. Maybe something has changed?
You want to know the truth?? WE can’t handle the truth!!! If the citizens of Henrico got more involved in our government and shown the same involvement as they have with this redistricting then we would not be having this many problems today.
Parents have worn t-shirts… some were green,, yellow,, some said things like “Save our Neighborhood” I have news for you… If we no longer exist as a country and our government keeps spending, spending and spending then no matter where your child goes to… it will not matter.
Real estate agents are just as much to blame because they push the School issue when they sell a house. Parents lie to the board because they say things like if you move the school zone… our kids can’t walk to school.
You know what??? Nobody walks their kids along a dangerous road called springfield road because if you did…. you would get hit.
We even have parents who feel that their child needs to be first everyday when they drop off their children at school and holds up every body else in line who have already let their children go.
We should be blessed to have the quality of teachers in our school system. The newness of the building does nothing to teach the children…. its the QUALITY OF THE TEACHERS, STAFF AND INVOLVEMENT OF THE PARENTS that will make the difference. I wounder what Bill Cosby would have to say about all the lies, promoting and downright activism over this School Boundaries issue.
It took me almost an hour to get to school in New York City…. and I used public transit….. High School…
and we can’t drive 2.5 to 5.0 miles to take our children to a different school?
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