EDUCATION: Face of private schools changing

They are the country club campuses where privileged students in crisp khakis dart down stone paths to class and stately brick buildings cast an intimidating shadow on those of limited means.

The prestigious profile of metro Atlanta’s private schools has long shut out parents who figured they could never afford the cost of tuition. Or compete with the Joneses.

To many outsiders, the face of private school appears elitist —- white and wealthy. Its students, spoiled spendaholics who get to drive Daddy’s BMW to campus instead of piling three-deep on a public school bus seat.

But the homogenous bubble hovering over metro Atlanta’s private institutions is bursting —- from the inside. These days, the children of celebrities and CEOs may attend classes with the sons and daughters of hair stylists and baseball ticket-takers.

Independent schools across Georgia are increasing their minority and low- income populations to fill what they see as a cultural void in their campuses.

Yet that is not what Cecil Sharp, a corporate events producer from Snellville, saw upon first glance at Greater Atlanta Christian School. His white colleagues talked about the school like it was the Promised Land. But Sharp was focused on the here and now: Could he swallow the tuition? Could the school deliver a quality education? Would his African-American sons fit in? So Sharp did some drive-bys to test the waters.

“I had been scouting Greater Atlanta Christian School for about three years before I decided to pull the trigger,” said Sharp, who now coaches the robotics team. “I was concerned about the finances. You want to give the local school system a chance. But when your child gets to a certain age, you have to make a move or you may come to regret later.”

Now that his sons are GACS students, Sharp’s only regret is not getting out of the car sooner. His sons have been at the school since 2006.

Value in diversity

Private school parents and administrators, like those at public schools, find value in having diversity in the classroom and curriculum. It is a business and social imperative for them. As the nation becomes more multicultural, so does the pool of potential students.

Nearly 42,000 Georgia students attended private schools affiliated with the Georgia Independent School Association last year. Approximately 15 percent of them were minority students.

By growing more diverse campuses, independent school administrators hope their majority white students can exchange ideas and learn life lessons from students with similar goals, but different races, religions, cultures and family incomes. And in turn, newcomers can learn from them, too.

“The body of Christ is made up of many parts,” said Andy Cook, admissions director at Wesleyan School in Norcross, who sees diversity as part of the school’s mission. “To the degree that we can look like the neighborhood that we are in or the world that we are in … the more successful we are in sending our children back out into the world to be ambassadors.”

Wesleyan, like many other leading metro area private schools, courts minorities with marketing campaigns. The school runs ads on ethnic radio stations and in Spanish language newspapers. A multicultural ad in Atlanta Parent magazine recently featured Asian, Indian and white Wesleyan students learning and playing side by side. Wesleyan is 9 percent minority. But the population is growing at a rate of about 1 percent a year, Cook said. With so few minorities around, the transition to a white affluent private school can be jarring at first, even for kids of the middle class.

‘A different world’

“It really is a different world. The lifestyle, the clothes that people wore [were] so different from what I had,” said junior Nicole LeClair of her early days at Pace Academy in Atlanta. “I sat next to a girl in eighth grade —- she had Jimmy Choo heels.”

Nicole Tay, a junior at Pace, had some rough patches, too. She said when she first enrolled, people couldn’t seem to distinguish her from the Japanese kids she befriended at the school. “Slanty eyes, black hair, they would confuse me all of the time with the other Asian students,” said Tay, who is Chinese. “It was so hard for me —- I’m honestly so different from all of them.”

As campaigns focus on bringing more diversity on campus, some parents are growing concerned that the competition will make it tougher for their non-minority kids to get into private school.”There has been a slight backlash,” said Gene Batiste, vice president for leadership education and diversity for the National Association of Independent Schools, which represents 1,400 schools nationwide. “Heads of schools and diversity practitioners have dealt with it in a strategic way by saying it is part of the mission of our school to build and sustain an inclusive community.”

Aggressive recruiting

Some metro schools aggressively seeking diversity hire multicultural specialists to find new recruits. The headhunters frequent the pews of black churches and make appearances at Latin American community events. Many of the schools boast a 100 percent college acceptance rate and millions of dollars in scholarship offers for its graduates. Parents they meet are shocked the schools offer financial aid. Money is awarded based on need.

In 2007-08, 12.6 percent of students enrolled in Georgia independent schools received financial aid. The average grant was $7,352. The average cost of tuition was $11,333. Many schools are much higher. Tuition at the Lovett School, which grants more than $1 million in financial aid each year, ranges from $16,365 for k-5 students to $19,515 for seniors.

Ken Robinson, director of diversity at Greater Atlanta Christian School, said he often encounters people with a perception that GACS “is for rich kids.” The teacher and football coach took on the job of diversity director, determined to end the stereotype.

Removing obstacles

“The biggest thing I have to do when I visit with families is explain about financial aid. We want to remove that obstacle,” said Robinson, a former NFL football player.

GACS’ tuition is $13,000 for kids in grades 6-12. On Robinson’s watch, the school has grown from about 12 percent minority in 2002 to 28 percent minority in 2008.

GACS is one of the few independent schools that also offers selling points like ESOL —- English to Speakers of Other Languages classes —- to attract diversity.

Private schools courting minority students to enrich their campuses know that diversity won’t happen overnight.

That’s why most independent schools look for other ways to expose students to new cultures. They take their classes to diverse neighborhoods. They sponsor Christian mission trips to poverty-stricken countries. They host multicultural events.

During Hispanic Heritage Month, the Lovett School hosted a delegation of Latin American consular representatives who talked about their homelands.

Community outreach

At Westminster High School, Spanish V students go to Plaza Fiesta near Doraville weekly to teach free English classes and interact with immigrants. The outreach teaches students about immigration issues and challenges them to use the conversational Spanish they have been learning for years. It also opens their eyes to neighbors they didn’t notice before.

“I don’t live too far from here,” said Matt Payne, 17, a Westminster student. “Before this class, I didn’t know this place existed. It is such a big deal to this community. It’s part of their culture.”

Pace Academy’s new diversity coordinator is launching an educational and cultural exchange with the Ron Clark Academy. “We are going to build relationships with kids our kids normally wouldn’t interact with,” said Philip McAdoo. “We’re going to invite them to our school and go to theirs.”

Westminster School has a director of Hispanic Student Development devoted full-time to the effort. The director, Daniel Searl, who grew up in Spain, spends time networking with groups like the Mexican American Business Chamber. Westminster will host a business meeting of the Georgia Hispanic Chamber of Commerce this week.

“A lot of the Latino community don’t know there is an opportunity for them in the independent schools of Atlanta —- there is,” Searl said. “It’s my job to get that word out.”

‘We want him’

Nearby, a summer program that whisks low income students away from a People’s Town community center to learn in robotics labs at Pace Academy has yielded its first recruit —- Glendrevious Harris, 14, a student who earns A’s in math and plays on the football team. “He took the test and they called him back in three days saying, ‘We want him in our school,’ ” said his father, Alexander Harris, an usher who works the Atlanta Braves games. Pace gave his son financial aid and free football gear. “Man, I was a big baby. I started crying. It was something I wouldn’t have been able to do for him. He loves the school and the way it challenges him.”

Glendrevious is working to get straight A’s on his first report card. He said he is accepted by his classmates and teammates at the school. His new friends don’t seem to care that he attends classes for free or lives in a modest apartment with his dad and younger brother instead of a Buckhead estate like some of the other students.

“I have a chance to try something new,” said Glendrevious, who turned down magnet school for Pace. “They are pushing me out of my comfort zone to be a better athlete and student.”

THE JOB OF DIVERSITY DIRECTORS

The effort to court minorities has gone on for decades. In recent years, however, some schools have hired diversity directors to aggressively search for candidates. About half of the private schools affiliated with the Georgia Independent School Association have multicultural officials working to attract minority and low income students to enrich their campuses. Lovett School in Atlanta and Greater Atlanta Christian School in Norcross are among the leaders in the movement. Lovett, which has a minority population of 17 percent, has had a staff position dedicated to recruiting diversity for nine years. GACS, which is 28 percent minority, has had a diversity director for six years.