Hereald News April 8, 2008

HEADLINE: Poll: Blacks most critical of schools in Paterson

By Danielle Shapiro, Herald News

PATERSON -- A poll of hundreds of city residents found they have mixed opinions about local schools, with blacks most critical.

The public opinion poll, sponsored by the Paterson Education Fund, found that education is a top priority among residents, along with crime, health care and the economy. However, there were significant differences among racial and ethnic groups.

Latinos tended to be more positive, with 37 percent saying city schools had improved, though as a group they said they were less involved with school activities. Blacks, who said they talked about schools more often than other adults and felt they were more involved than most, were also the harshest critics, with 41 percent saying the schools have deteriorated. Whites fell in the middle.

"The poll gives us a snapshot of where this community is in 2008," Irene Sterling, president of the fund, said by telephone Monday before a press conference announcing the results. She said the survey will help the fund -- a local advocacy organization -- gauge attitudes about public education in the community and strategize to improve city schools. But the findings are limited. "The poll doesn't try to say why somebody said that," Sterling said. "That's the work we have to do now."

The poll of 400 Paterson adults was conducted Feb. 27-March 3 by Washington, D.C.-based Lake Research Partners, a national public opinion and political strategy firm. It was developed by the Public Education Network, a membership organization for nonprofit education groups, and first administered nationally in 2006. Sterling said the fund paid $25,000 for the poll and intends to support two more, in 2010 and 2012.

Amanda Broun, senior vice president at the network, said the opinion survey was designed to reveal public perceptions of how well a community supports it schools. Importantly, she said, it does so with data that is free of politics, accusations and blame.

"This is a measure of the entire public, not just parents," Broun said. "It's critically important to get not just parents, but the entire community to support public education."

Joshua Ulibarri, vice president at Lake Research Partners, said Paterson is the most diverse community that has participated in the poll and the first where most of the residents were minorities. He said the difference in opinions among groups was striking, and the fund can use this new information to better reach the Latino community and get them more involved in local schools while also trying to quell some of the frustration blacks feel by making their involvement more productive. That Latinos were generally more positive about local schools echoed national trends, he said.

Residents were asked about community groups' and businesses' involvement in education, their sources of education information, and other measures of quality such as how active the parents are and how well schools include students in making decisions.

Among those polled, 74 percent said community organizations were only somewhat involved with local public schools. Local television news was cited as the most popular source of information, especially among Latinos, though many also read Spanish-language newspapers. Blacks got most of their news from newspapers, friends and family, and church bulletins.

More than half of respondents felt the schools provided equal education opportunities for boys and girls. And while one-third considered young people a community asset, just 12 percent felt the schools included students in making decisions about how schools should be run. Thirty-one percent said the schools encourage parents to get involved, but just 17 percent felt that parents actually participate in school-related groups.

School board President Andre Sayegh said the results were both encouraging because the poll was completed in the first place, and discouraging because racial and ethnic groups view schools so differently.

"We don't want to see that kind of disconnect," he said. "All children should be served, and their parents should feel their children are getting a quality education."

Reach Danielle Shapiro at 973-569-7153 or shapiro@northjersey.com.