Historic redlining in Syracuse continues to impact public schools
(The Daily Orange | March 18, 2025) When Christine Ashby, director of the Center on Disability and Inclusion at Syracuse University, moved to central New York, her family faced a decision; while city schools would offer their children a socially and culturally diverse experience, they face academic struggles.
In a more suburban district, like the Fayetteville-Manlius Central School District, her kids might get a better education on paper but would study in a less diverse classroom, she said.
Ashby said the Syracuse City School District remains highly segregated as a result of neighborhood borders drawn nearly a century ago. The borders’ effects still surface in the school’s demographics, she said.
When Christine Ashby, director of the Center on Disability and Inclusion at Syracuse University, moved to central New York, her family faced a decision; while city schools would offer their children a socially and culturally diverse experience, they face academic struggles.
In a more suburban district, like the Fayetteville-Manlius Central School District, her kids might get a better education on paper but would study in a less diverse classroom, she said …
… For Ashby, the diversity in SCSD was a deciding factor to ultimately enroll her children in the district, despite concerns surrounding filling teacher positions and a lack of funding.
“My husband and I made a conscious decision to live in the city because we wanted our kids to go to a more diverse school. That was really important to us,” Ashby said. “So, I would argue that it made our school better than perhaps the suburban school.”
SCSD continues to feel the effects of segregation despite the formal eradication of redlining in 1968 through the Fair Housing Act. While Ashby and others advocate for further integration, new federal orders limiting diversity, equity, inclusion and accessibility within the United States have local educators concerned for the future of these efforts …
By Arabella Klonowski