The Highly Capable Cohort (or HCC) program in Seattle Public Schools was created decades ago in an attempt to limit white flight from the district. It has been a driver of inequity in our school system ever since. This year, for instance, in 2019, Seattle’s HCC program is roughly 65 percent white. Less than 2 percent of HCC students are Black. This has been relatively common knowledge for a long time now, but the subtle segregation, systemic bias and overt discrimination have been allowed to persist. Mostly, as far as I can tell, the basis for this has been that the program is considered beneficial to the HCC kids. Suddenly HCC in Seattle’s schools is a topic of much conversation and much debate, because Superintendent Denise Juneau has proposed to do away with the highly capable cohort model entirely, shifting so-called “highly capable” students out of their segregated cohorts and back to neighborhood schools.

Former Seattle school board member Stephan Blanford chats with Brandon Hersey, newly appointed school board member representing Southeast Seattle.