district has been added that includes schools with enriched educational
offerings, facilitated in part by pairing arrangements between individual
schools and local colleges and universities. The recently announced Boston
Compact, an alliance between the public education system and major area
businesses, guarantees high school graduates jobs in exchange for continued
improved performance on the part of the public schools. These added
attractions including programs for bilingual and special needs students and
an occupational resource center coexist with a program for the conservation
of resources ordered by the court that has resulted in the closing of at least
twenty-seven schools as enrollments have declined.

The public school system in Boston has been significantly altered,
according to the Boston Globe newspaper reporter, because of "a series of
orders" issued by U.S. District Court Judge W. Arthur Garrity, Jr. Despite
the trauma and agony, some Bostonians have described court-ordered
school desegregation in their city as contributing to "positive changes."

It is possible that people in Boston and in other communities of the
United States do not know about the positive changes associated with
school desegregation and cannot appreciate them because the media have
been slow to inform and deficient in their interpretation.

Florence Levinsohn said that "television news," for example, "has gone
for the violent." Notwithstanding that there has been "much more peaceful
school desegregation than violent," reports of this have been missing in
favor of a theme of "social discord," according to Levinsohn.

Assessing blame is of limited value if efforts are not undertaken to reverse
the situation by linking information about the positive outcomes of school
desegregation to the plentiful supply of negative events reported. With the
assistance of a grant from the Danforth Foundation, this study has accepted
the challenge. It shares with the public detailed information about school
desegregation plans that work--what their significant components are, how
they work, and why.

This report of workable desegregation plans and their analysis should be
of particular benefit to educational administrators, planners, and analysts.
School board members, city councilors, and state legislators will find these
model plans of value as will members of community groups who wish to
propose alternatives to official school desegregation policies. Attorneys will
also find a review of the various desegregation strategies helpful in
suggesting ways by which schools may comply with the constitutional
requirement for a unitary system, with or without litigation. Several plans
are described so that the reader may select one that is more suitable to the
circumstances of his or her local community.

The author is particularly grateful to Dr. John B. Ervin of the Danforth
Foundation who recognized the need for a policy study like this one on
model school desegregation plans. The author is also grateful to his
consultants in Atlanta, Boston, Milwaukee, and Seattle who enhanced his

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