Expelled students return;
Officials vow to defend residency rule
1/6/2004
Two seventh-graders expelled from prestigious Boston
Latin School over the city's residency requirements
returned to classes under a judge's order, while school
officials vowed to continue defending the residency
guidelines for exam schools.
"We absolutely do not plan on letting it go," said
School Committee chairwoman Elizabeth Reilinger. "We
feel very strongly that students who are residents of
the city of Boston need to be the students that have
primary access to our educational resources, including
(the city's three) exam schools, and we will do what we
need to do to protect that access for them."
Latin School administrators discharged Lydia Ding, 12,
of Arlington, and Andrew Tsai, 13, of Lincoln, after
learning that they lived during the week in apartments
in Boston, and returned to their suburban homes on weekends.
The families' lawyers sued nine days later, saying the
arrangement satisfied the district's residency
guidelines, which require that students actually live
in the city. The families also said school officials
had approved their request to rent Boston apartments
for residency purposes.
On Dec. 30, Suffolk Superior Court Judge Nonnie S.
Burnes ordered the seventh-graders back to 368-year-old
Latin School while the residency issue is challenged in
court. She set a May 12 hearing on the issues of the case.
Monday, Ding and Tsai resumed classes after a monthlong
break resulting from their dismissal and the winter
holidays. The school encompasses grades 7 through 12.
Lawyers for the city and the school system will decide
this week whether to appeal Burnes' temporary injunction.
"My plan would be to get (lawyers') advice on the next
steps and take the most vigorous action we can, based
on the legal advice of if, where and on what grounds it
is prudent to appeal," said School Superintendent
Thomas W. Payzant. "I hope we will be able to find the
grounds to do so."
Robert K. Crabtree, the families' lawyer, said Monday,
"If they (school officials) truly do appeal, we'll deal
with whatever arguments they think they have."
It was pressure from parents, city councilors and Mayor
Thomas M. Menino that prompted the School Committee
last month to tighten residency guidelines for exam schools.
At the time of Burnes' ruling, Tim Ding, Lydia's
father, said in a statement: "We made a real effort to
follow the rules and do what's best for our child, and
the judge recognized that. We are good citizens, and we
want most for our child to be a good citizen."
© 2004 The New York Times Company
Posted by Permission
--
As Orwell pointed out long ago, pacifism in the face of
armed evil is equivalent to a blind worship of force.
It would be disastrous to entrust our children's fate
to the hands of these sad and complicitous pacifists.
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