Open Book – School Choice Cuts Both Ways By Noelle Simone Blake Special to Today Magazine
THE CONNECTICUT OPEN CHOICE Program has been pivotal to my development as a student and an individual. After the Connecticut Supreme Court Sheff v. O’Neill ruling in 1996, the state of Connecticut took measures to ensure equal opportunity for all of its citizens, one of which was an updated Open Choice Program. This program allows Hartford residents like myself to attend public schools with better funding and resources in suburban districts. Through Open Choice, I attended Avon Public Schools from kindergarten through 12th grade. Over the course of 13 years, Avon became somewhat of a second home to me. Though my double-life was not nearly as exciting as the phrase implies, living and having stake in two different environments greatly impacted me intellectually and emotionally. Undoubtedly, Avon provided me with educational opportunities that I wouldn’t have been afforded in Hartford. Because of Avon Public Schools, I had the resources I needed to succeed and the mentors to challenge me. Had it not been for Avon, I probably wouldn’t have ended up at Dartmouth College, my undergraduate institution. As thankful as I am for the life that the Avon school system has afforded me, it also exposed me to many adversities. Although a welcoming community, Avon’s environment dramatically shaped my identity as a person of color. As a Black student in Avon, I experienced racial profiling from authority figures, outright racist remarks from young peers and many microaggressions. I don’t say these things with resentment; the fact that these behaviors are products of Avon’s environment further proves the need for the diversification of the community in order to combat bias and ignorance. Nevertheless, those incidents — most of which occurred before I was 13 — have stuck with me, enough so that
equity and justice work became one of my primary intellectual pursuits and a major life focus. There’s also a dissonance that comes with being an Open Choice student, a disconnect that GRANBY TODAY no one was fully able to prepare me for or warn me about. The success of the program, the students, is dependent on their ability to assimilate; as much as I was educated in school, I was socialized. I specifically remember a moment in the third grade after school, where my best friend (also an Open Choice student) and I were speaking to a teacher we both liked and trusted. As my friend recounted a story, the teacher corrected her speech: “Not ‘ax’ — ask,” she said. Though grammar is important, speech is a subjective part of culture. The way that my friend pronounced the word “ask” was the same way her family and friends pronounced it. The
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Editor’s Note • The Regional School Choice Office (RSCO) serves over 20,000 students in Connecticut — giving all students in the state the option of applying to attend a public school outside their hometown or regional district, with three primary options: an Open Choice school, a theme-focused magnet school or a technical high school • • Open Choice allows students to attend a public school outside their municipality of residence — this program was established in 1966 as Project Concern, one of the nation’s first voluntary school desegregation initiatives — after the Connecticut Supreme Court’s landmark Sheff v. O’Neill school desegregation ruling in 1996, Project Concern rebranded as Project Choice, and later as Open Choice • • Noelle Blake is uniquely qualified to write about Open Choice — she is a Hartford resident who attended Avon schools from kindergarten on, graduating from Avon High in 2022 — she attends Dartmouth College, an Ivy League school in New Hampshire •
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TODAY MAGAZINE – www.TodayPublishing.net – JANUARY 2024
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