The Nation - News from Sept. 29, 1987

A federal appeals court declared Boston’s once-turbulent public school system officially desegregated and said that U.S. District Judge W. Arthur Garrity Jr., who approved student school assignments for 13 years, could remove himself from the landmark busing case. “I think it’s probably the most important decision that’s come down in the past 10 years,” Boston School Committee Chairman John Nucci said of the ruling by the U.S. 1st Circuit Court of Appeals. The three-judge panel ruled the city had “performed in good faith in recent years” to end racial imbalance in 123 public schools. Busing to achieve desegregation continues in all but four schools, officials said.