Opinion ID: 201118
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: The New Plan

Text: 11 Based in no small part on Superintendent Payzant's frank assessment to the School Committee that, in light of Wessmann and other reverse discrimination lawsuits, plaintiffs in this case would almost certainly prevail in their challenge to the Old Plan, the School Committee voted on July 14, 1999, to discontinue the use of the racial classifications in the Old Plan. See BCF IV, 260 F.Supp.2d at 324 n. 10. At the time of this vote, the School Committee also charged the Superintendent with developing a new student assignment plan that did not consider race as a factor in making student assignments and would also reflect other changes necessary to maximize access to choice, to support diversity, and promote quality education for the children of the City of Boston. BCF IV, 260 F.Supp.2d at 325. 12 On October 20 and November 3, 1999, the Superintendent recommended that the Old Plan be further modified in two salient ways: by reducing the percentage of available seats allocated for students within a school's walk zone from 100% to 50%, and by treating students who did not actually live within the walk zone of any school as though they had a walk-zone preference for their first or second choice school. On November 10, the School Committee adopted the Superintendent's recommendations to the Controlled Choice Student Assignment Plan with the modification that students lacking a walk-zone school would be given a walk-zone preference for both their first and second choice schools. For convenience, we refer to the modified Controlled Choice Student Assignment Plan as the New Plan. 13 Under the New Plan, which went into effect for the 2000-01 school year, students still rank their choice of schools and receive random numbers. Students are sorted by their school choice and ordered by their random number, with the lowest numbers put at the top of the list. BPS then computes the number of available seats at each school and sets aside 50% of those seats for students who live within the school's walk zone. The seats at each school are then filled according to the following priorities: first priority to students within the school's walk zone and with a sibling already in attendance; second priority to students outside the school's walk zone but with a sibling already in attendance; and third priority to students within the school's walk zone but with no sibling already in attendance. If there are more students in a priority tier than seats available, the seats will go to the students with the better random numbers. As students are admitted, the system updates the number of walk zone seats that are available. Once those walk zone seats are filled, a student's walk-zone status drops out of consideration and students are assigned in accordance with the school preferences by the rank of their random number. 6 Finally, the applications and assignments are done in rounds; if a student fails to meet the first round application deadline, she can submit her preferences in the second round, and so on.