Bay Area School Comparison

What’s interested me most so far about “Savage Inequalities” is how East St. Louis and the schools in south side Chicago and New York are within such close proximity with other thriving neighborhoods and schools, yet they are neglected and left to figure out their problems on their own.

It sparked my interest because of my experiences during my own educational journey, as well as my experience in the working world. I’ve often wondered how we allow ourselves to stay between the imaginary boundaries our neighborhoods set for us. 

Looking through the list of Bay Area Tier I schools, I became curious about where exactly all of these schools were located and in relation, where the most affluent neighborhoods in the Bay Area were located.

The first school on the Tier I list: Longwood Elementary.

It hit extremely close to home.

Longwood Elementary: MY elementary school.

Longwood Block: MY block.

Longwood Park and Basketball Court: MY backyard and MY home court.

I didn’t have to do much research to know that Longwood isn’t located in one of Hayward’s nicer neighborhoods. It’s my backyard. Literally. I live close enough to the school that I can still access my home wireless network from the school. But drive 5 minutes away and you’ll hit Castro Valley and one of the 47 most affluent zip codes in California.

Longwood Elementary is located in the 94541 zip code and a North Hayward neighborhood where the highest real estate value stands at 430-thousand dollars. Meanwhile in Castro Valley’s 94552 zip code and surrounding area, houses are going for prices exceeding 5 million dollars.

The Longwood/Castro Valley situation isn’t an abnormal one either.

In my line of work, I’ve become highly familiar with many parts of the Bay Area. Working in every city from Los Gatos up to San Mateo over the last 5 years, I’ve seen the imaginary boundaries between rich and poor.

Also on the Tier I list are Costano Elementary, Edison-Ronald McNair Intermediate School and Stanford New School, which are all within a 10-minute drive of a few of the top 10 most affluent neighborhoods in California. East Palo Alto and East Menlo Park are all within a “stones throw” of the wealthy neighborhoods of Atherton, Downtown Palo Alto and Stanford.

The same problems exist in San Francisco when comparing districts like the Mission and Bayview district to Balboa Terrace and the Marina District. It exists in San Jose where the Eastside isn’t too far from the prominence of the Silver Creek and Almaden areas. It even exists in Concord and Danville.

So, yes, schools in the Bay Area are suffering from an unfair distribution of opportunities just like the schools in our reading and, no, it doesn’t seem like we’ve made any progress.