How is it that Hyannis East Elementary School went on the chopping block shortly after the announcement of a new semi-pro hockey team is coming to Hyannis.
The same school committee that couldn't find money for free bus rides or Kindergarten in the past, is now going to provide both to several hundred children, many of whom are grade schoolers who will travel from their urban neighborhood in Hyannis, to the nearly all white suburban charter schools in Marstons Mills.
25 years after forced busing, communities around the country have concluded that while it was a noble social experiment, it did not work. Neighborhood schools best serve the children of their neighborhoods.
Part of Grenier's powerpoint presentation is rumored to be offering 40 acres and a mule to any HyEast parent who will go down without a fight in our All America City.
Voluntary Busing Running Out of Gas, by Brian Weber, 01/21/99 (dead link)
"The end of busing [has] allowed Denver kids to attend their neighborhood school or choose another one that had enough room. Most teachers and parents were relieved when the court gave up control of the district. They wanted to create good schools near home, not far away," Bennie Milliner, a board member, said.
"For the past three years minority students in northwest and northeast Denver could ride a bus to predominantly white schools in southern parts of the city. However, the number of riders has dropped from 402 in 1996 to 196 this year at a cost per student of $1,600 -- three times the district average for busing. 'I don't know how we can justify that,' Milliner said." (InsideDenver.Com, 01/21/99)
End busing, seek quality education (08/12/99 - dead link)
"Charlotte became ground zero for a noble but failed social experiment forced upon the country by the Supreme Court.
"In 1971, Charlotte became ground zero for a noble but failed social experiment forced upon the country by the U.S. Supreme Court. In its historic Swann vs. Charlotte-Mecklenburg school decision, the court permitted racially segregated school districts to begin busing in order to achieve integration.
"What began as an effort to remedy the grave wrongs of state-sanctioned racial segregation has turned American society -- black and white -- on its head. The neighborhood school concept, with the pride and solidarity it engenders in a community, has been badly damaged for the last three decades.
"Most observers of the recently concluded trial over busing and admissions to magnet schools believe Charlotte-Mecklenburg stands on the verge of a ruling that will declare its school system ``unitary'' and free it from court ordered desegregation plans.
"While some are predicting dire consequences if Federal District Judge Robert Potter abolishes busing, the evidence throughout the country suggests that busing has not accomplished its goals and, in fact, has had many negative consequences.
"Years after a Kansas City court implemented busing, black students in integrated magnet schools performed no better than blacks in neighborhood schools. San Francisco spent more than $200 million [on busing] following a 1982 court order to end school segregation, but a 1992 study led by Harvard Professor Gary Orfield, who supports busing, found black and Hispanic students lacked ``even modest overall improvement'' [as a result of intrusive court-ordered busing.] A National Institute of Education report could not even find a single study showing black kids fared appreciably better following a switch to integrated schools...........
(Charlotte Observer 08/12/99 by Marc Levin and Ed Blum)
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