Had it not been for a phone call from my nephew, I probably would not have written this post. My nephew wanted to interview me about how it was for an African-American growing up during the depression, the impact of busing and if I had experienced any acts of racial behavior. But it was the last question that lead me to writing this post. How did the closing of Central impact me.
Central closed after I graduated from high school. But, what did happen was that FWCS had changed the boundary and that meant living on the wrong side of E. Creighton prevented me from attending Central. I would have to attend SouthSide and I was devastated. The impact was long term for me and am sure harmful for many other students.
It has been forty years (40) since I graduated from school. Now, it is my nephew asking about the racial climate of Fort Wayne schools. From my answers, I left it was up to him to gauge just how far school administrators had improved the school climate for students. But, I suggested he take a closer look at what was going on at East Allen County School, Paul Harding. Harding was a predominately African-American school, not unlike Central, James H. Smart, and other schools sitting in the heart of an African-American community.
It was not to long ago that a flare up occurred at one of EACS Heritage with a lessor population of African-American students under the direction of Superintendent Dr. M. Kay Notovny. The sparks from the racial intolerance were quickly smothered as a false alarm.
Or was it?
Talk is ongoing about closing Harding and sending these students to Heritage.
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