Well said!  I to worry, Boston is a city of "haves and have nots," when we "step forward," we must be resolute in bringing ALL with us!

This reads like the Garrity ruling of 1974. The result of that experiment was the segregated system we have today: Low parent participation rates at schools far from home. Middle class flight. METCO flight for the fortunate ones. Blocks where neighboring families are strangers and children don't play together, because they are bused in 17 different directions at a cost of $80 million a year. And, unlike, 1974, Boston's communities today are diverse. But they lack the social capital that springs from community involvement in a shared school.

The solution of a generation ago is not the solution for 21st century Boston.

Community is the very building block of any healthy city.

Certainly a resident of Jamaica Plain can understand that.

Well said, indeed!  Thank you for stating the argument for equity so well.  Home-Based A gives kids a shot at getting into the good schools closest to their homes, and it neither penalizes nor gives anyone advantage based on their address.

To commenter CCW: The plan doesn't automatically bus kids anywhere.  Every child, no matter what, has a chance of attending some of the higher quality schools closest to their homes.  The person who designed Home-Based A was trying to balance this value, close-to-home schools, with fairness. Home-Based A does this better than any of the other plans.  Exactly what the School Committee does next is crucial: if they leave the walk zone priority in place, then we lose the equity of access that made us all excited about this plan in the first place.  If they take the walk zone out, then the plan gets to work as intended.  

H. Mann was trumpeting the glory of educating all children when he raised it as the great equalizer. He wasn't talking about busing. Getting rid of the local walk preference sends the wrong message. Modern societies need walkable neighborhoods and we need to erase the idea that the automobile (or the bus) are the answer to all our problems. People naturally segregate. I don't buy the notion that people are stuck in their neighborhoods anymore. If you want a better school, then move. If you are in public housing, then let's move the public housing, or break it up into Section 8 vouchers. This busing of children all over God's creation has got to stop. 

One more thing, above I stated that people naturally segregate. Let me add this: People will segregate when they don't have control over outcomes. That's what has been happening for the past twenty years. If the desire is to get more whites to move back into the city, get rid of the busing. Then folks can pick a neighborhood and move to it. The city becomes less segregated over time, eventually integrated. 

The Boston School System is not equipped to handle the influx of students should neighborhood school become a reality. They rely on a huge percentage attending private schools. There simply are not enough seats. 

Well said, neighbor, but I think you're confusing "quality" (as does BPS) with MCAS scores. Let's begin to address the gross inequities in our schools by addressing the gross inequities of our society; perhaps every "low performing" school should include health and welfare services, among other things. There are no simple answers.

I see and agree with Mary's point to an extent, but the gap has been there for decades in the same schools and no or little achievements have been accomplished. This is bigger problem than simply busing and sending these kids to a quality school will do little if the problems at home remain. This is a short-term answer. Education starts at home and I realize poverty plays a big piece. I agree with Amika's comments that the idea of more social services should be explored in the underperforming schools. Please stop wasting all this money on busing or at least cut that expense and direct the money into the schools themselves so the children can experience some beneftis. I also agree with RichStan in that BPS doesn't have the facilities even if they wanted to have all children walk to school. I live in Roslindale (father of three young children) and with all the young kids in Roslindale and West Roxbury, they simply don't have the space. I'll give credit to John Connolly in that the school system has always been the forefront of his campaign. The heart of the community or any organization is children.

"Student assignment alone cannot fix the crushing disparities in our city’s schools." That should just read, "Student assignment cannot fix the crushing disparities in our city’s schools." Enough already with this endless, pointless discussion. Move on to the real problems and address those. You're just playing into the hands of the Mayor, who thinks a $30 million drop in the bucket (over how many years?) deserves praise when it won't even begin to address the problems in our city's schools.

There are two options here. Either the author is 1. hopelessly naive and a victim of the mystification of race and class in the U.S. or 2. a shill for the right. Either is unbecoming for an educator. Maybe this pap passes for critical social analysis and policy-making at Lesley, but it shouldn't.

Forgive me; I wrote Lesley when I meant Wheelock.

Finally a the Globe airs an editorial that is written by someone who cares about all children and understands that for our City to move forward there must be opportunity for all kids regardless of the neighborhood they live in! Well said.

Go the the school closest to where you live.  If the school sucks, fix it. If where you live sucks, either fix that too, or move.