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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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