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March 10, 2005

Councilor re-opens debate over busing

Jeremy Schwab

If the majority of the Boston City Council had their way, the city would return to neighborhood schools. The council, however, has no authority over the matter.

That did not stop Council Education Committee Chairman John Tobin from calling last week for a public hearing on whether the Orchard Gardens K-8 outside Dudley Square should enjoy more walk-to seats than every other school.

While Tobin says he simply wants to find out why Orchard Gardens has 75 percent of its seats reserved for children living within a mile radius, compared to other schools’ 50 percent, he is also using the opportunity of a hearing to advocate that all schools switch to 75 percent walk preference.

“I think allowing children the ability to walk to school close to home is a great idea,” he said during last week’s council meeting. “I think it should be available across the city. It should be uniform and fairly applied across the city.”

Underscoring the deep racial divide on the busing issue, Tobin’s black colleagues, Chuck Turner and Charles Yancey, and his one Latino colleague, Felix Arroyo, spoke out against Tobin’s push for more walk-to seats, while most white councilors spoke in favor of it.

Arroyo emphasized that the city’s Student Assignment Review Task Force, after holding well-attended meetings for feedback in neighborhoods across the city last spring, decided not to make any major changes to the current student assignment policy.

“This resolution comes after a full debate across the city about the wisdom of changing these percentages,” said Arroyo. “The task force concluded the conditions are not there for this change to be made based on percentages.

“There are some things we need to do first,” he continued. “One hundred percent walk-to should be possible, but the quality and equity issues are not there. Some areas of the city would have better quality education and others not. We know that, and that is not what we should aspire to.”

The task force last spring presented city residents with different models which divided the city into between one and twelve zones; if enacted, the plans would have allowed students to choose from any schools in their zone. The task force received a range of feedback, from strong support for neighborhood schools from parents in West Roxbury and white neighborhoods in Dorchester to firm opposition from parents of color in Roxbury.

The task force decided to maintain the current three-zone plan, with few modifications.

Tobin charged that the task force members went into the student assignment process having already made up their mind.

“The task force knew before walking in to that set of meetings that there would never be a raising of that 50 percent walk zone,” he said during a phone interview with the Banner last week. “There was never a chance of raising the walk zones.”

Ironically, before the series of public meetings began, opponents of neighborhood schools expressed similar suspicion, but in another direction. They asserted then that the task force already planned to move toward neighborhood schools.

The heated debate in the council’s Ianella Chamber last week underscored the deep personal grudges that some members of that body have over the busing conflict, which began when federal court Judge Arthur Garrity in 1974 ordered integration by busing to correct racial disparities in educational resources.

“I went to a walk-to school and had a great experience,” said Yancey. “It was only years later that I learned the children in my neighborhood’s schools received hand-me-down books.”

Councilor Paul Scapicchio had a different perspective.

“When I was a kid, there was a system of community schools,” said Scapicchio, who rose to support Tobin’s call for a hearing. “The Eliot was a community school, and I thought a good one. That all changed in 1974. It was a frightening time for a third grader.”

Those who oppose increasing the number of walk-to seats note that there are more students in Mattapan, Dorchester and Roxbury than there are seats in schools in those neighborhoods. They point out that either more seats would have to be created in those neighborhoods, or some students from those neighborhoods would continue to be bussed to other parts of the city.

“Until there are schools that would enable there to be an equal opportunity for children living in Dorchester, Roxbury and Mattapan to have neighborhood schools, it is unjust,” said Turner during a Banner interview.

There is little money on the horizon for new school construction. Those who wish to abolish busing say the money saved — an estimated $10 million per year — should be used to improve schools, or build new ones. They also argue that the city could purchase property that the Archdiocese of Boston is looking to sell, using former Catholic school buildings to house public schools.

The archdiocese, however, refused to grant the city the right of first refusal to buy property the archdiocese plans to sell, according to Council President Michael Flaherty.

Further clouding the picture, the school department could not provide any data on how many seats there are per student in different neighborhoods. So the size of the disparity in available neighborhood seats between inner city neighborhoods and other neighborhoods, some of which have more seats than students, is unclear.

While Tobin admitted that there would be disparities in the number of seats available in each neighborhood, he said that busing should end, and then the city could begin to correct those disparities by building more schools.

“The estimated savings from [ending busing] are $10 to $14 million a year,” he told the Banner. “Over 10 years, it could be about $150 million. I’ll take that any day of the week. But when do you start doing this?”

Turner, who headed the Education Committee for three years before Flaherty replaced him with Tobin last year, said he thinks Flaherty’s choice of Tobin as chairman both last year and this year had everything to do with neighborhood schools.

“It was clear that when Flaherty appointed Tobin and [former vice chairwoman Maureen] Feeney what he was doing was trying to make sure the Education Committee would be led by people who were advocates of neighborhood schools,” said Turner.

After community activists who support Turner protested Flaherty’s appointments, Flaherty elevated Turner to vice chairman recently.

Flaherty, a supporter of neighborhood schools, said his re-appointment of Tobin had nothing to do with wanting someone who would push for neighborhood schools.

“I won’t use anybody to do my own bidding,” he said. “I have my own thoughts and opinions, so I wouldn’t put someone in the chairmanship for that. I chose Tobin because he made a strong case for re-appointment. He pushed for more K-8 schools, improving the nutrition program and putting GPS units on buses.”

 

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