In the article "Defining Diversity" (October 2002) author Rebecca Jones observes that, within K-12 public school settings today, 'diversity' is increasingly being defined in one of two ways: (1) ethnic or racial diversity (i.e., the traditional public school ethnic mix brought about through busing; vouchers, re-redistricting, and various other measures, some of them better, and more successful, than others) and socioeconomic status (SES) diversity (a way of defining, and perhaps reaching, public school diversity based on social class, and without "playing the race card" (Jones). There is no easy solution to the problem, although in my view, the measures taken by the Wake County School System in North Carolina, as described in "Defining Diversity", could perhaps be efficacious in maintaining public school diversity in other areas of the United States as well.

             Potential relevance and importance of the article's subject matter, to a school administrator, is that as this article describes, there is currently increased pressure on schools and districts (and school administrators) nationwide to somehow bring about equality, within educational settings they supervise, in ways that do not also potentially lead to lawsuits like the one described, Samantha Comfort v. Lynn School Committee. In my own opinion, methods like forced busing, or anything requiring protracted trips far away from home in order to go to school, can be a hardship on students, and arguably even interfere with learning, after school activities, and homework, social, and family time students need. .

             Moreover, many of the methods typically used by school districts throughout America to achieve ethnic diversity in public schools have ranged (and range now) from mildly inconvenient to impractical to downright painful, especially for the students themselves. Still, massive efforts at public school integration, mostly in the form of busing, remain ongoing, and widespread.