Blacks Are Majority In Charles Schools

Demographic Tip Reflects General Migration Trend

African American students are now the majority in Charles County public schools, according to figures released this week showing that enrollment by black students rose this year to 51.6 percent of total enrollment.

Black enrollment in Charles grew by about 700 students this year, and white enrollment decreased by about the same number, official figures released Monday show.

Hispanic and Asian students make up about 3 percent each. Whites now make up 40.9 percent of the county's 26,699 students.

As predicted by school officials, the demographic swing makes Charles the region's third majority-black school system, joining those in the District and Prince George's County. The changes also further establish the fast-growing Southern Maryland suburb as a destination for black families, many of whom have migrated from neighboring Prince George's.

Charles Schools Superintendent James E. Richmond said the change is not surprising.

"It isn't any news to me," Richmond said. "We've known all along that that's the way it was going based on the trends and the patterns of change."

Charles's emergence as a majority-black school system reflects the fact that Charles has the fastest-growing black population of any large jurisdiction in the nation except the Atlanta suburbs, according to a recent Washington Post analysis of U.S. Census data.

African Americans, many of them affluent, are moving to Charles from Prince George's to find more affordable housing and better schools.

As it develops, Charles is becoming more like Prince George's, said Robert E. Lang, director of the Metropolitan Institute at Virginia Tech.

"Prince George's County was for many years the most affluent majority-black county," Lang said. "Then Charles became its exurban twin."

Ronald Walters, director of the African American Leadership Institute at the University of Maryland, said: "I think we can say this is reflective of a very strong demographic shift of the African American population in Charles County that will have an effect on other aspects of the quality of life, and I think a lot of it is going to be positive."

As the Charles County student body has diversified, academic performance has remained steady and, by some measures, improved.

School officials have addressed factors that have pulled down black achievement in some other middle-class communities, such as less involvement from parents and lower expectations from teachers.

The system has expanded diversity training for teachers, reached out to parents and started using a data analysis system to boost the performance of students at risk of failing.

"Kids are kids," Richmond said. "Every kid's got to be able to read and write. Every kid's got to be able to think."

Board of Education Chairman Donald M. Wade said the board has been anticipating the demographic changes.

"Just because it's gone majority-minority doesn't mean that the quality of the education has dropped," Wade said. "The curriculum is there, the principals are pushing the students, and they're still making progress."