So Menino appointed the 15-member committee, a diverse group of public school parents, education activists and service providers. The committee is charged with the task of conducting the community input meetings, then taking two weeks to come up with a proposed reassignment plan with the help of school department experts.

The committee will then report back to the public in another series of open meetings to hear people’s reactions to the proposed plan. The committee may then modify its plan.

The School Committee is expected to vote on any proposed changes to the assignment process this summer. The changes would take effect in the 2005-2006 school year.

Many education activists are skeptical that the school department will seriously listen to the concerns of all community members.

“It’s politically-driven, not community-driven,” said Kim Janey of Massachusetts Advocates for Children, who attended the Madison Park meeting. “I was disappointed with the turnout, especially from parents of public school children. But I really feel the need to still participate, if only to raise concerns I have.”

Landsmark sought to reassure meeting participants that his committee is not in the pocket of the mayor.

“The BPS acknowledges they have not always involved the community up front in making decisions,” he said. “We were chosen by the mayor, but we are not in anyone’s pocket, so you have to trust we will hear your voices.”

The school department has advertised the meetings well. Information was sent home with each public school student, according to a school department spokesman. The meetings were advertised in most local weeklies, on Boston Neighborhood Network and on WUNI 27, a Spanish-language channel. Flyers were sent to community resource centers, public libraries, YMCAs, churches and day care centers.

Despite the advertising, just a trickle of parents showed up at Madison Park out of a district of over 60,000 students.

“They’ll come,” said school department spokesman Jonathan Palumbo. “It’s freezing today, and this is just the first meeting. We want to hear from all city residents — people who have kids in the system, people with kids in private schools who could perhaps tell us why their kids are in other schools as opposed to public schools.”

White parents yanked their children from the public school system in droves following court-mandated desegregation in the 1970s. The number of children in public schools dropped by a third in the ensuing years and the district became overwhelmingly black and Latino. Almost 90 school buildings were closed, many of them in Dorchester, Roxbury and Mattapan.

Those neighborhoods are where half of Boston’s under-18 population resides, and they now have fewer school seats than they do school children, say observers. Meanwhile, some neighborhoods have too many seats.

No state money appears on the horizon for building new schools to offset the disparity.

“Regardless of what the situation is, we are going to find a significant portion of our kids on buses going to other neighborhoods,” said black City Councilor Chuck Turner, who heads the Education Committee. “So the question of quality in all schools becomes paramount.”

The second community meeting, held in predominantly white West Roxbury Monday night, attracted over 100 people, including Flaherty and Payzant. At that meeting, parents had a very different opinion on school busing.

“Parents clearly want neighborhood schools, that came across loud and clear,” said Janey, who attended the meeting. “What was similar between the two meetings was parents wanted a higher quality of education. I think the quality piece should drive this agenda. It doesn’t matter if we have neighborhood schools, as long as each school provides a high quality of education.”

Input meetings will be held in (all hoods) before the task force proposes changes. For a complete listing, see our News Notes section.