In a Zone: Past and Present Racial Controversies in the Boston Public Schools

1. In a Zone: Past and Present Racial Controversies in the Boston Public Schools Heather S. M. Mook Advanced Racial and Cultural Identities, EDU 506 Kathy McDonough, Instructor July 17, 2009

2. There is a proposal from the Superintendent of Boston Public Schools to increase the number of Boston school zones from three zones to five zones. Opponents of the proposal have voiced concerns that if passed, the proposal will exacerbate racial segregation in the K - 8 Schools across the city of Boston.Boston’s Current School Zones http://www.bostonppublicschools.org/zones

3. Relevant Timeline • 1857 Dred Scott v. Sanford, the U.S. Supreme Court held that people of African descent were not citizens and did not merit the protections of citizenship regardless of whether or not they were slaves. • 1865 Thirteenth Amendment passes. Slavery was abolished in United States of America. • 1868Fourteenth Amendment passes. It provided a broader definition of citizenship which served to over-rule the Dred Scott case. The Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment was also the basis of the Brown v. the Board of Education decision. • 1896 Plessy v. Ferguson, the U.S. Supreme Court held that it was not a violation of the Constitution to have racial segregation in public places. The Court ruled that “separate was equal.” • 1934 Federal Housing Act (FHA) went into effect. It was passed to help stimulate the economy by releasing private credit. It helped U.S. citizens secure loans to buy homes. The Federal Government guaranteed the loans and subsidized the interest rate. Although the Act did not officially exclude people of color from securing the loans, the vast majority of loan money went to white people buying homes in the suburbs. Most suburban developers would not sell homes to people of color. When data about the geography of where the FHA made loans, researchers noticed that there was a white suburban bias. For example, between 1935 and 1939, 220 out of 241 loans in St. Louis (91%) were in the suburbs. The FHA has been accused of engaging in practices that had a direct causal relationship to white flight. White flight refers to trend of white middle class families to move out of the cities and into the suburbs. One example of white flight could be found in the changing racial demographics of Boston. Between 1970 and 1980 approximately 12% of the white population of Boston moved to the suburbs. (Tooby 20)

4. Relevant Timeline • 1937 The Unites States Housing Act passed. This Act established public housing for low income families. • 1944 Servicemen’s Readjustment Act, or G.I. Bill of Rights was signed into law. This act enabled servicemen to finance higher education and obtain preferable home loans. The GI Bill was intended for all servicemen but racist practices of realtors and bankers, prevented most servicemen of color from accessing the preferred home loans. Thus, further contributing to residential segregation. (Rothenberg 69) • 1949 Federal Housing Act was passed. It expanded mortgage insurance and set out to increase public housing options. It founded urban renewal projects that were supposed to clear out low income urban areas and build new affordable housing. Approximately, 60% of the people who were displaced from their homes were people of color The low-income housing was often replaced by public works projects or more expensive homes. Urban renewal served to decrease housing options in the city by 20% which further depleted the tax base for urban schools. (Rothenberg 70) • 1954 Brown v. the Board of Education of Topeka, the Supreme Court unanimously ruled that racially segregated schools were a violation of the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment and were “inherently unequal.” • 1965 Massachusetts passed the Racial Imbalance Act which required school districts to create and utilize plans to racially balance school that were more than 50% “non-white”. All of the suburban state legislators voted for this Act while many of the legislators from Boston and Springfield votes against it. (Richer 2)

5. Relevant Timeline • 1966 Metropolitan Council for Educational Opportunity (Metco) was established in Massachusetts. Metco is a voluntary program that enables students of color from Boston and Springfield to attend predominantly white suburban schools that are part of a district that has volunteered to be a part of the program. Students who participate in the program are selected through a lottery system. • 1968 Housing and Urban Development Act went in effect. The Federal Government subsidized interest rates for private loans made to low income families. While the intentions of this Act were good, the implementation did not have the results anticipated. This policy led realtors to price fix or increase the value of homes in the city which led to redlining. Redlining refers to the practice of color-coding system that indicated he desirability of an area. Redlines drawn around an area indicated that it was less desirable and loans for homes in that area were riskier. Redlined areas were urban and had a higher percentage of residents of color. The effects of redlining can still be felt today. Based on analysis from the data collected in the National Archives and on the 2000 U.S. census, a San Diego economist and demographer named Millicent Cox, found that neighborhoods favored in the redlining are still predominantly white and more affluent than those residing in areas that had been redlined. He also found that “years after redlining ended, elementary school expectations and standardized test scores typically remain low in areas that had been redlined,.” (Tooby, 21) • 1968 Green v. Board of Education, ruled that schools must integrate immediately. Many judges across the nation started ordering busing to help integrate racially segregated schools.

6. A closer look at Busing in Boston • 1972 Boston Public Schools were neighborhood schools. Neighborhoods in Boston were racially segregated. Students went to school at the school closest to their homes. Thus, schools were racially segregated. Black parents found that the schools where their children attended, lacked permanent teachers and basic school furniture and supplies. After unsuccessfully trying to catalyze change through the Boston School Committee, the Boston Chapter of the National Association for the Advancement ofColored People (NAACP) filed suit in a Federal Court because of the racial segregation in Boston Public Schools. • 1974 A Federal Judge, Judge Garrity, ruled that the Boston School Committee was guilty of keeping two separate school system, one white and one black. He ruled that students would be bused between specific white neighborhoods and specific black neighborhoods in an effort to desegregate the Boston Schools. The racially homogeneous communities of Roxbury and South Boston were slated to integrate schools. The ruling affected the school assignments for approximately 18,000 Boston Public School students. Judge Garrity gave Boston eleven weeks to implement the busing plan. • Busing began in Boston on September 12, 1974. Black students coming from Roxbury were met by hundreds of white protesters in South Boston. The protesters yelled at the students, used racial slurs, held bananas, and threw rocks at the leaving buses. Students bused to Roxbury were greeted by parents who welcome them to their new school. (Eyes on the Prize II) • White parents boycotted bussing by keeping their children home. At the height of the boycott, 50% of the white students were absent from school. White parents in South Boston who did send their children to school in Roxbury were harassed. Most white parents kept their children home. The buses going to Roxbury were nearly empty.

7. Busing continued • While busing was a race-related issue, there were also some feeling that class played a role. The neighborhoods picked to participate in force busing were working to low-income neighborhoods. One South Boston resident who sent her child to Roxbury for school asked “where were all the rich liberals.” She lamented the hardship of being harassed just for sending her children to school every day. (Richer 3) • The Mayor of Boston banned any gathering of people on the sidewalks of South Boston. Metal detectors were installed in South Boston High school and there was a police presence at South Boston High School for three years. • Judge Garrity placed South Boston High school in federal receivership. He made the hiring and firing decisions for the Boston Public Schools. • 1974 -1976 Approximately 33% of the white Boston Public School students left. Some families moved outside of Boston while others sent their children to private schools. • 1974 - 1985 Enrollment of Boston Public School students dropped from 93,000 to 57,000. • 1985 Judge Garrity turned authority over the Boston Public Schools to the Massachusetts Board of Education. Boston Public schools moved to a controlled choice or zone system. Controlled choice was a combination of parent choice, priority assignment, and lottery. In 2000, Boston Public Schools dropped race as a factor in school assignment. (Richer 4)

8. Boston Public Schools at a Glance • Boston Public Schools is the oldest Public School system in the nation. It was founded in 1647 • It is the home of the oldest public school, Boston Latin (1635), and the oldest elementary school, the Mather School (1639) • In 2009 there were approximately 56,000 students • FY2009 Budget of $832 million • FY 2009 Transportation Budget of $78 million, approximately 9% of the school budget • 143 Pre-K - 12 Schools • Superintendent, Carol Johnson leads the Boston School District • Ruled by elected seven-member Boston School Committee • School Committee sets policy for schools and approves the annual budget • Boston’s Mayor, Thomas Menino, and the Boston City Council control the appropriations to the Boston Public Schools • Racial Demographics of BPS students: 15% of the students are White; 49% of the students are Black; 26% of the students are Latino; 9% of the students are Asian (Delaney 2) • 2006 Boston Public Schools named best city school system in the United States • Boston Public Schools system has been one of five finalists for this award for the past three years

9. Current Boston Public School’s current system of School Assignment • Boston has three exam High Schools. Students are admitted to the exam schools based on their scores on entrance exams. • Boston has Pilot and Charter High Schools that may have specific entrance requirements but are open to BPS students regardless of the neighborhood in which they reside. • All other Boston High Schools are “all city” schools which means that students may request placement at any of the high schools throughout the city. • The city of Boston is divided into three school zones for K- 8 schools. The zones are the West Zone, East Zone, and the North Zone. • According to the BPS website the racial breakdown of the three zones is as follows: • West Zone- 43% Latino, 39% Black, 14% White, 4% other • East Zone- 56% Black, 24% Latino, 10 White, 10% other • North Zone- 49 Latino, 24% Black, 14% White, 12% Asian

10. Current Boston Public School’s Current system of School Assignment Continued • Parents are asked to choose their top five school choices. • Parents go to one of three Family Resource Centers; pass in their school preferences and complete a plethora of paperwork that includes proving Boston residency. • Students are then randomly assigned a computer generated number. • Parents may opt for a charter school or pilot school. School assignment is based on the randomly assigned number. • Priority is given to students who have a sibling in the school, live within the walk zone, and have a preferred lottery number. Students are not guaranteed that they will get into one of their top choices, especially if they opt for popular schools. • Parents may request a school transfer if their child/ren are assigned to a failing school. • Students who do not live within the walk zone are able to take a bus to their school.

11. Proposed Zones http://www.bostonpublicschools.org/zones

12. Five Zone Proposal • Earlier this year Superintendent Carol R. Johnson proposed that Boston Public Schools go to five Zones instead of the current system of three zones. Students attending school that is currently a part of their zone now but is not under the new plan, may continue to go to that school but the city will not provide transportation. (Toness, Bianca Vazquez) • The Superintendent made several presentations regarding the proposed zone changes in each of the three current zones during the months of April, May, and June 2009. • In those meetings she outlines the reasoning for the proposed change. Those reasons are available on the Boston Public Schools website and are as follows: • Offer Families a range of quality school choices • Provide educational continuity • Promote family engagement in schools • Create walk able communities • Reduce transportation costs • Mayor Thomas M. Menino reports that his office has projected transportation costs for 2010 at close to $100 million. The increase in school zones would likely garner a savings of $10 million to the city of Boston. Superintendent Johnson reports that the plan would help parents access schools in their neighborhood which she hopes might catalyze some parents to take their child/ren our of private school and put them back in Boston public Schools. (Vaznis, 1)

13. Review of the Five Zone Proposal • The Boston Globe assessed school performance in each of the proposed zones by reviewing MCAS scores. The Globe reports that close to 60% of the schools in two of the zones are in need of “major overhaul.” Those two zones include the city’s poorest neighborhoods, Roxbury and Dorchester. Both neighborhoods are home to predominantly people of color. While only 17% of the schools in the new Allston/Brighton zone are in need of major interventions. • The comparison of school performance in Roxbury and Dorchester compared to that of Brighton and Allston led reporter James Vaznis to lament that “the dichotomy reveals a city haunted by the inequity that led to desegregation efforts more than three decades ago. “The predominantly white neighborhoods of the 1970s, now more diverse, still largely have better schools…while many of the schools in the poorest neighborhoods have languished.”(2009) This is not the first time that the city is considering expanding the number of school zones. When Boston originally went to the three zone system in the 1980s, the plan was that it would eventually have nine school zones. In 2003, the Boston School Committee reviewed plans to expand the number of school zones but did not vote on the plan. The project shortfall for next year’s school budget is $100 million. Adding zones is one way to cut costs without increasing classroom sizes. (Vaznis “Neighborhoods” 1 ) • Criticisms of the proposal included the observation that the number of students and the number of schools with seats for those students did not correlate well. Some zones have too many seats and not enough students while other zones have too few seats and too many students. • There is currently no vote planned on the five zone proposal. The Superintendent is currently revising the proposal. The reworked proposal is expected to come out for review in the autumn of 2009.

14. Reactions to the Five Zone Proposal • The Interim Director of the Boston Parent Organizing Network, an advocacy program for urban schools said “Parents are not necessarily against analyzing and changing the current system, as long as , choice and access to quality schools is protected in the process (Vaznis “Neighborhoods” 2). • The five zone proposal has met some resistance by members of the community who are concerned that students living in more neighborhoods will not have the same level of choice for quality schools as they do now. “A contingent of parents,educators, school bus drivers, and elected city officials allege that the plan will resegregate the district because racial and ethnic makeup vary greatly from one neighborhood to the next. (Vaznis “Delay” 2) • On June 3, 2009, several hundred parents and children protested the five zone proposal in front of the Boston School Department’s main office. They held signs that read “No to Racism in Education” (Vaznis “Delay 2)) • Several legal and policy organizations oppose the proposal. They include the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), an Institute for Race and Justice at Harvard Law School, and the Lawyers Committee for Civil Rights Under Law of the Boston Bar Association. They put forward a report that concluded that the proposed changes would make existing racial inequalities in the schools worse. (Vaznis “Delay” 2 ) • A sentiment echoed by parents, educators, and advocates alike was that quality neighborhood schools are the best option. Parents and advocates say that until Boston provides that quality neighborhood school in every neighborhood, busing and a variety of school options is a requirement

15. Boston Today • Boston remains a city made up of segregated neighborhoods. The average child lives in a a neighborhood primarily composed of people who are the same race or ethnicity as the child. This is true in Boston for 55.9% of white children and 60.7% of black children. (Logan, Oakley,& Stowell 10) • The racist practices in housing and education have repercussions today. The median income for whites in Boston, is higher than it is for people of all other races. The median income for whites is approximately $10,000 more than the next closest racial group, Asians. Blacks and Latinos had similar median incomes, both were approximately $13,000 less than the median income for whites. (Lee 4) • Approximately 20% of black and Latino students go to a school that is more than 90% students of color and more than 50% of the students receive free or reduce lunch. (Lee 3) • Less than 10% of children under 18 live in the Boston region live in Boston. Close to half of the black children in the region live in Boston while less than 2% of the white children live in Boston. (Logan, Oakley, & Stowell 7)

16. Conclusions • Boston should look for ways to cut its transportation costs. 9% of the school budget goes to busing. Many of those buses are not full. Some students spend an hour getting to or from school and the bus schedules often interfere with the school schedule. I have heard story after story of students who are habitually late to class because their bus does not get to the school on time. Transportation should not be a barrier to education. • Boston needs to examine the current zone system before making any changes. There needs to be a thoughtful analysis of how those changes will effect the learning of its current and future students. Boston must be mindful of its past into order to move towards a better future. The current proposed zone changes would provide further racial segregation and therefore are not a viable option for a city that is still healing from the busing resistance of the 1970s. • Boston took a step in the correct direction by engaging the public in forums to discuss the proposed zone changes. They are also right to avoid scrapping the idea entirely. The current fiscal climate is dismal and budget cuts will need to be made. They must be thoughtful and mindful of the city’s history as well as the impact any changes will have on the current population. • Ideally every neighborhood in Boston needs quality public school options. Those options should have a racial and ethnic diversity that is representative of the city. The schools should have inclusive multicultural curriculums. There should be partnerships with families and the community. The more invested the collective “we” is in education, the more likely it is that we will produce better schools that are providing better educations for all of our children.

17. Works Cited Delaney, Bill “On Boston, busing and walking to School” CNN 18 March 1999. 20 June 2009<http://www.cnn.com/SPECIALS/views/y/1999/03/delaney.busing.mar 18/ Lee, Chungmei. “Racial Segregation and Educational Outcomes in Metropolitan Boston.” The Civil Rights Project at Harvard University April 2004. 1 July 2009<http://www.civilrightsproject.ucla.edu/research/metro/ Segregation_Education_Outcomes.pdf Lipitz, G. (2008) The Possessive Investment in Whiteness. InRothenberg, P. (Ed.) White Privilege: The Other Side of Racism. (3rd ed.) New York: Worth Publisher. Logan, John R., Oakley, Deidre, and Stowell, Jacob. “Segregation in Neighborhoods and Schools: Impacts on Minority Children in the Boston Region.” Lewis Mumford Center for Comparative Urban and Regional Research at the University of Albany 1 September 2003. 10 July 2009 <http:mumford.dyndns.org/cen2000/colorlines/Logan%20color%20linesformat.pdf. Jonhson, A. (2005) Privilege, Power and Difference. (2nd ed.) Boston: McGraw-Hill. Richer, Mathew “Busing Boston Massacre” Hoover Institute at Stanford University 1998. 27 June 2009 <http://www.hoover.org/Publications/policyreview/3563642.html

18. Works Cited Toness, Bianca Vazquez. “Boston Schools Chief to Address Criticism Of Busing Plan.”90.9 wbur 3 June 2009. 20 June 2009 <http://www.wbur.org/2009/06/03/School-choice Tooby, Paul. “SDSC data grid technologies help bring California’s redlining history to life and preserve it for future generations.” Preserving History on Humanities Grid for the University ofCalifornia. 2007. 13 July 2009 <www.Uchri.org/images/Redlining_article.pdf. Vasnis, James. “New school zone plan could hurt poorest neighborhoods.” Boston Globe 25 February 2009. 15 June 2009 <http:///www.boston.com/news/local/massachusetts/articles/2009/2/26/school_zone_plan_to_be_reworked. --- “Vote on school assigning delayed” Boston Globe 4 June 2009. 15 June 2009 http:///www.boston.com/news/local/massachusetts/articles/2009/6/4/boston_delays_school_district_assginment_changes Boston Public Schools 20 June 2009 <http://www.bostonpublicschools.org Eyes on the Prize II: America at the Racial Crossroads 1965-1985 PBS Video. Black Side Inc (1989) “School Desegregation in Boston” WGBH 12 September 1974. 20 June 2009 <http://www.pbs/wgbh/amrx/eyesontheprize/story21_boston.htm