Louisville busing plan may come under political attack

From Chris Kenning in the C-J...

It was a familiar situation: Suburban parents who wanted to keep their children from long bus rides objecting to a system set up to keep the county's public schools racially and economically diverse.

So when four newly elected, conservative school board members in Wake County, N.C., forged a new board majority and then last week announced their plan to toss out the district's nationally recognized integration plan — the shakeup rippled all the way to Louisville....

And with four of Jefferson County's seven school board seats up for election this year — and parental discontent with its new student-assignment plan still simmering — integration advocates say what happened in Wake should serve as a “wake-up call” in Louisville....

Could be fun!

Superintendent Sheldon Berman has said he's worried about doubts some board members have expressed in the face of opposition from parents who he said are typically from affluent families, many new to the system, who want their children to attend better schools closer to home....

Oh yes, I'm sure it's the rich. Actually, I think they have their kids in private schools or home schooling. If it's connected to wealth, the much larger group of complainers would be upper-middle class.

Finally, a quote from Brent McKim, head of the teachers' union. (It's odd that they take any position on this at all, isn't it?)

Despite a “small but vocal group of people unhappy with any system,” he said, “for the most part the community has a strong commitment to diversity. Everyone agrees we need to try to keep travel time as short as possible."...

It'd be nice if Mr. McKim explained how those principles compete. At this point, diversity trumps convenience by a large margin.