Boston’s School Panel Approves 3-District Plan

The Boston School Committee on Monday night approved its first new school assignment plan since the turbulent days of court-ordered busing in the 1970s.

Already approved in preliminary voting, the proposal passed 9 to 4, with the four unfavorable votes coming from the committee’s black members. Before the plan can be enacted, however, the school committee must hear any suggestions for changes during a 90-day waiting period.

The vote completed a process of returning control of student assignments to the school committee that began when a federal appeals court ruled in September, 1987, that the city had done all it could to desegregate its schools.

Under the new arrangement, the city will be divided into three zones. Parents of elementary and middle-school pupils will be able to send their children to any school within their zone as long as racial balances in enrollments are maintained.

The four black school committee members argued that too many minority families live in districts where school facilities are inferior. Also, some of the parents who won the initial desegregation order in 1974 have threatened to file a lawsuit to block the change.

The new assignment plan does not apply to high schools. Its impact on secondary schools was considered to be less controversial and was to be taken up by the committee later.

School committee member Thomas O’Reilly, who co-chaired the panel that developed the assignment plan, said he believes racial attitudes have changed dramatically in a city that became known for violent protests over busing in the 1970s.

Others attributed the changes to the fact that many whites have left the city. White enrollment in Boston’s schools fell to 24% last year, from 60% at the time the black families sued for desegregation in 1972.