KC considers extending African-centered schools: Task force wants program through high school.

Byline: Joe Robertson

Feb. 6--Supporters of African-centered education in Kansas City think the time is finally right to extend the program all the way through high school. A task force of parents and educators is pushing to open a district-sponsored African-centered charter school or campus for grades six through 12 by the 2007-08 school year, if not sooner. The school would extend the district's African-centered education (ACE) program, which now consists of two elementary schools and a middle school. The effort is drawing national interest. "People want to see a test," said Wade Nobles, a San Francisco State University social psychologist. "Kansas City is the test." For most of the past decade, the concept has struggled against significant opposition and skepticism. Various combinations of administrators, board members and officials in the now-ended federal desegregation case stood against expansion. But faces have changed, program advocate Ajamu Webster said, and the proponents appear to be gaining wider acceptance of…