Series: The Ten O'Clock News
Date: 1989-01-16
Duration: 00:03:31

Subject: School boards; School choice; Busing for school integration - General
People: Anderson, Gerald; Dukakis, Michael; Flynn, Raymond; King, Martin Luther, Jr.; Law, Bernard; McGuire, Jean; O'Bryant, John; Stith, Charles; Vaillancourt, Meg; Wade, Juanita;

Clip Description
Meg Vaillancourt reports on controversy over a new student assignment plan for the Boston Public Schools. Vaillancourt notes that minority members of the Boston School Committee spoke out against the plan at a breakfast commemorating the birthday of Martin Luther King, Jr.. Vaillancourt's report includes footage of School Committee members John O'Bryant, Juanita Wade, Jean McGuire, and Gerald Anderson speaking to the media at the breakfast. The four Committee members speak out against the student assignment plan. They do not believe that the plan will provide equitable education for all. Vaillancourt reports that the plan was proposed by Ray Flynn (Mayor of Boston). Vaillancourt notes that the plan will allow parents to choose which schools their children will attend. Vaillancourt interviews Flynn. Flynn defends the proposal. He says the the proposal is supported by parents; he adds that School Committee members have been asked for input on the plan. Vaillancourt also reports that Flynn has proposed the decentralization of the Boston School Department. She adds that Flynn's decentralization proposal would sell off the headquarters of the Boston School Department. Vaillancourt reports that minority members of the School Committee may rescind their support for Dr. Laval Wilson (Superintendent, Boston Public Schools) if he supports Flynn's school choice proposal. Vaillancourt's report is accompanied by footage of city and state officials at the King breakfast, by footage of students and teachers in the Boston Public Schools and by footage of school desegregation in South Boston in 1974.

This edition of the Ten O'Clock News also included the following items:
Elma Lewis in Marsh Chapel at Boston University on Martin Luther King Day
Martin Luther King Day at BU

Carmen Fields interviews Robert Nemiroff about the playwrite Lorraine Hansberry
Lorraine Hansberry

Series Description
A local program aimed at the Boston audience, The Ten O'Clock News debuted on January 15, 1976. Its two immediate predecessors were The Reporters and Evening Compass. A news and public affairs show focusing on neighborhood, local and state issues, The Reporters was produced and broadcast on WGBH from 1970 to 1973. The Reporters was then replaced by Evening Compass, which expanded into a twice-nightly news broadcast during the tense moments of Boston's busing crisis. On the air from 1973 to 1975, Evening Compass found an audience through its in-depth coverage of school desegregation in Boston, which began in 1974. The Ten O'Clock News stood out as an in-depth news program. It strove for a balance between local and national stories, between politics and the Arts. The last The Ten O'Clock News program was broadcast on May 30, 1991.

See also: http://main.wgbh.org/ton/programs/6256_01