the limits of choice and freedom-- when racial diversity is more important than freedom, choice and quality

From Antoinette Kunz in the C-J...

More than 70 percent of the Jefferson County elementary students whose parents requested school transfers for this fall were denied permission to move from their assigned schools, according to new figures released by the district.

Officials said Friday that they received 1,853 transfer requests between May 3 and July 12, and granted 537 -- leaving nearly 1,200 families deciding now whether to remain in their assigned school, or look outside the public school system...

Most of the transfer requests were denied primarily because of lack of space in the desired schools, especially those in eastern Jefferson County, said Pat Todd, director of student assignment....

Perhaps the most brutal part of the JCPS plan involves a staggering amount of busing to accomplish its goals:

Instead, they were assigned to Indian Trail Elementary -- nearly 10 miles away in the Newburg area, which would require them to take two buses to and from school each day...Fell said his daughter's bus ride would be over an hour each way to Engelhard...

Then, there's the latest parental lawsuit-- trying to get JCPS to do what it should do, what it has been told to do by the courts, but what it will probably continue to avoid doing...

The parents' lawsuit argues that the school assignment plant violates a state law giving children the right to attend their nearest school. Their motion will be heard Monday in Jefferson Circuit Court.

And then, there's the NAACP going along for the ride with the JCPS...

That prompted the Louisville chapter of the NAACP to issue a position paper that chastised some district officials and board members for undermining the plan and its goal of integrated schools in order to appease disgruntled parents.