Racial disparity: Top county schools need to reflect county's racial makeup

The system for choosing students for Wayne School of Engineering and Wayne Early/Middle College High has been questioned regarding its fairness.

There are too few minority students attending the schools if the goal is to have a student body that is representative of the county's population as a whole, some people say.

Their concerns are backed up by statistics.

County school officials have responded to the criticism by saying they will examine the lottery system that is currently being used to choose students for the two schools. It is possible that an outside agency will be employed to run the lottery that selects students for inclusion. Some school board members have said that might dispel the perception that the existing system is somehow rigged.

The ultimate goal should be to give every outstanding student who wants to attend the two schools a fair shot at getting in. We don't believe the current system is rigged, but for the sake of perception it might be a good idea to turn the selection process over to an outside source. Parents deserve to know that their child has an equal chance to attend the schools.

Published in Editorials on December 2, 2016 10:13 AM