This week, that includes a look at how far we have — or haven’t — come since racially segregated schools were declared unconstitutional 70 years ago, and the impact and possible solutions to compounding pharmacy closures.
Our mission is to help you understand what’s really going on in the Dayton region. This includes comprehensive coverage of local governments and agencies, hard-hitting investigations, and in-depth analyses of important issues.
Do you have a news tip or an issue you think our reporters should look into? Contact me at Josh.Sweigart@coxinc.com, or you can use our anonymous tipline.
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Local schools still deeply segregated 70 years after Brown v. Board
This year marks 70 years since the U.S. Supreme Court ruled racial segregation in schools in unconstitutional in Brown v. Board of Education. Education reporter Eileen McClory investigated how far we have come.
• What she found: Area schoolchildren are still segregated, just differently. Read her full story about how local schools compare, how we got here, and what that means.
• Busing: Dayton Public Schools spent nearly 30 years under a desegregation order ending in 2002 that led to a controversial busing program. The noble goal was to integrate schools, but there were unintended consequences.
• Impact: Some argue that desegregation helped shape what our region looks like today. It accelerated white flight to the suburbs, causing the population of Dayton and its schools to plummet and leaving DPS with a higher percentage of lower-income Black students.
• The stats today: According to Eileen’s analysis of 26 school districts and Ohio Department of Education and Workforce data for the 2022-2023 school year across Montgomery, Clark, Warren and Greene counties, most white students are attending mostly white schools, while most Black students are attending mostly Black schools.
• Another analysis: “Today, 78% of Dayton public school students identify as minority, and total enrollment is less than a quarter of what it was at the district’s pre-desegregation peak,” according to the Kettering Foundation. “The eight largest suburbs in the region have majority-white enrollment. According to Ohio School Report Cards, each of them has higher average teacher salaries, higher test scores, and a higher graduation rate. Prior to Brown, Dayton’s schools were segregated and unequal; they remain so today.”
• Solutions: Education experts say there are benefits for both majority and minority students to having diverse classrooms. And Eileen’s story includes discussion on how we can get there.
Pharmacy closures raising concerns about health care access in rural, urban areas
Credit: Jim Noelker
Credit: Jim Noelker
The recent announcement that Rite Aid is closing all its stores in Ohio continues an alarming trend of pharmacy closures in recent years, raising concerns about where people will get their needed medication. Healthcare reporter Samantha Wildow investigated.
• What she found: Sam tallied pharmacy closure announcements in recent years, and found it is creating “pharmacy deserts” particularly in low-income urban and rural areas. Read her full story here.
• The impact: This is making it harder for people in particularly low-income areas to get their meds, and putting a strain on the remaining pharmacies.
• PBMs partly to blame?: In this companion piece, Sam looked at what role pharmacy benefit managers, or PBMs, are playing in the pharmacy economy. Some worry they are contributing to closures, though they claim they are not.
• Solutions: Independent pharmacies are filling the void left by corporate closures in some areas. Sam talked to an independent pharmacy in Dayton and wrote about a program to encourage them to open in underserved areas.