How can You make schools equitable without changing boundaries?

How can you make schools equitable without changing boundaries?
Most families say they want their kids to go to a diverse school.  What most donot realize, though, is how most families really don’t, according to a recent US News and World article.  Parents verbally support integration, but actually make choices to instead pool their children to higher achieving schools where there is often less diversity. 

School boundaries and redistricting are sensitive and emotionally-charged decisions.  For the people who sit on these committees and make these decisions you’re always going to upset someone. 

• But what if some families intentionally chose diverse schools for their children?
• What if some upper-economic families chose to live in certain neighborhoods for the sake of sending their kids to diverse schools? 
• What if communities didn’t need redistricting to make schools more equitable?
• What if families took advantage of open enrolling to send their kids to less advantageous schools? 

I know this is Pollyanna type thinking.  I know these decisions require incredible courage.  In my community we’re beginning redistricting discussions with the opening of a new middle school and new high school next year.  There’s a committee presenting plans and making recommendations.  There’s articles and facebook groups and chatter both online and offline.  One option has one of my kids potentially attending a different school in the future, and I commented to Tarina our child could likely stay at the current school because few families open enroll to it.

​We often say the right things about emotional issues such as redistricting (“Of course I want my kid to go to school with diverse students”).  What if our behavior matched our words?