Diversity, Dryden Style

The Tompkins County Democrats have been looking at how to increase diversity on the committee, and we Drydenites have been arguing to include/focus on economic diversity among the parameters. Here's some support for that, courtesy of the New York State School District Report Card. All reporting categories are for the school year 2004-2005.

Grade 4 Enrollment (ELA test): 139

• White: 129
• Black: 6
• Hispanic: 1
• Asian/Pacific Islander: 3
• American Indian/Alaskan Native: 0
• Economically Disadvantaged: 54

Grade 8 Enrollment (ELA test): 159

• White: 151
• Black: 4
• Hispanic: 2
• Asian/Pacific Islander: 1
• American Indian/Alaskan Native: 1
• Economically Disadvantaged: 45

Graduating Seniors: 125

• White: 123
• Black: 1
• Hispanic: 0
• Asian/Pacific/Islander: 1
• American Indian/Alaskan Native: 0
• Economically Disadvantaged: 1

Leaving aside the obvious question of what happened to all those economically disadvantaged kids (the Regents test numbers show 17 in 12th grade, compared to 1 graduate??), it's pretty clear that racial diversity is low in Dryden, whereas economic diversity is variable. (The way schools count this is iffy; it relies too much on free-and-reduced lunch numbers, which tend to diminish as kids get older and no longer care to be stigmatized this way.)

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