The current Boston school assignment plan which buses students long distances in 3 zones is unsustainable. From this educator’s perspective, Boston city leaders need to craft a plan which remedies the following daily problems.

Too many students are spending over 90 minutes each day on buses. (Imagine this with young children and those with complex disabilities.) Too many students are starting instruction well after 9:25 a.m., squandering some of the best time in a child’s day and inconveniencing parents. Too many students are not able to stay and benefit from extended day enrichment programs.

A new proposal for Boston school assignments presented Saturday by a Massachusetts Institute of Technology doctoral student was essentially pushed to front-runner status by an advisory committee, as five other proposals began to fall off the table, just one month after they were unveiled.

The External Advisory Committee, appointed by the mayor, heard a presentation on the MIT proposal for the first time during a meeting Saturday morning at City Hall. Several members said it showed the greatest potential of providing equitable access to the city’s limited number of quality schools, as the panel seeks to create a student-assignment system that allows more students to attend schools closer to their homes.…