A headline announced Superintendent John O. Simpson's proposal to end cross-town busing and allow students to attend schools close to home. He'd rather stay put at Ruffner, with its math and technology program. Norfolk's older residents also had mixed reactions to Simpson's proposal, which he released Wednesday. But in many households, there was no reaction at all to an issue that last year drew hundreds of people to public hearings. Shuler said families such as hers, in which both parents work, don't always have time to keep up with the issues.
Norfolk parents have one month to weigh in on new school zones.
Whether students could finish their middle years at their current schools hasn't been decided. Attendance zones would be redrawn so more students would move from elementary school to middle school together. The new zones would be contiguous, meaning no islands of students would be bused out of one zone and to another. The proposal would maintain a racially diverse enrollment at seven of the city's eight middle schools, but would leave Ruffner with a 94 percent black attendance zone. Simpson said a 300-seat technology magnet program open to students citywide would attempt to add diversity by drawing children like Justin, who is white.