Truth, Learning, and Change

In his January 17th ‘State of the City’ address Mayor Menino vowed  “that one year from now Boston will have adopted a radically different student assignment plan – one that puts a priority on children attending schools closer to their homes.” This assertion has raised a lot of questions for us at the Boston Busing/Desegregation Project – questions that we’d really like to hear your thoughts on. From our perspective, any discussion around changing the school reassignment plan needs to be grounded in a deep understanding of the historical context. What do you think?

–          How does the context of the busing/desegregation crisis impact the way residents in Boston think and talk about school assignment?

–          Does the context of the busing/desegregation crisis impact the way you think about school assignment? Why or why not?

–          What lessons can we take from the busing/desegregation crisis as we rethink the way students are assigned to schools today?

Post your thoughts on any or all of these questions here or email them to meghandoran@umnunity.org and if we get enough responses we will get back to you with a summary.