Officials admit that desegregation efforts contradict freedom of choice for parents.
Nishina Morrison's children cannot attend King Academy of Math and Science next year, even though they live a block away from the school. Her children for the past three years have boarded buses that have taken them from their neighborhood in the middle of the city to Des Moines' far east side, and now to its western fringes. Busing of the African-American students is part of an effort to improve racial balance in schools. Officials say they have little choice but to continue adhering to that plan. They also acknowledge that efforts to integrate classrooms contradict the goal of letting people choose where their children will go to school.