Honest question. What deems the METCO program a success or not?

This is an easy one - because we still have one!

Guessing here but by the outcomes of the students who attend compared to similarly situated students in their sending districts and whether a community such a Melrose can still benefit from increased diversity.

"whether a community such a Melrose can still benefit from increased diversity"

WT bloody F?

Oh, so is this how the discussion has devolved in the community????

This community desperately and very obviously needs METCO, and whether it is too bigoted and stupid to "benefit" remains to be seen. Whether this community has the maturity to understand how deficient it is when it comes to issues around "diversity" also remains to be seen. Clearly it is anything but "culturally proficient"!

Calm down. [:)s]
That part of my answer was rhetorical. Of course Melrose still benefits from the diversity brought through Metco for the past 38 years. It is sad that not too much has changed for African Americans or Black people from other countries in Melrose in all that time. It might be a little more welcoming here but not much.
Dirty secret is that neighbors used to make pacts not to sell their homes to Black families. Happened elsewhere too of course but when people want to say the METCO kids are "taking" the Melrose education, they forget that people were given trouble trying to purchase homes here. Some of those smug realtors need to STFU because they've known and condoned.

When I responded to you I hadn't seen the joint letter from principals about the social media. I don't know what that's about but sounds like more of the same nonsense here in Melrose.

What "it's" about is that when CT and administration (attorneys, SC) totally gave the finger to the law in dealing with the "plantation" teacher and then firing a beloved art teacher for racial "reasons," and then further violated the intent of the OCR agreement (and state ethics laws) by shifting the blame to students and bringing in that "improv" group (linked to now SC member/then candidate JMG), they incited the violence that is now burgeoning into a mess they really can't control. They continue to blame the kids with every administrative "communication" and gesture, while taking absolutely zero responsibility themselves. The racial tensions that existed before have now become dangerous and people are getting hurt, along with property being vandalized. What happened here is so much worse than what is happening at Boston Latin because it is the adults in charge who are the perpetrators, not the kids (though the kids are quickly learning the lessons of how to be more effective racists here). Then add the contemptuous dumba$$ 18 MEF Letter Signers from that Sitting In letter in the papers (with the fake budget "deficit" as pretext for attacking the newly resigned SC member who exposed them) to further incite an already bad situation with their rabid support of administration/SC.

Some angry and immature black MHS students who had been brutalized online (and fought back nastily) by local white students claiming their "privilege" overtly (since those out of control, unmoderated Improv assemblies encouraged them to do so) went and did something really stupid and egged some houses here. Police were called (by necessity), and the schools of course mishandled it. The White Privilege folks (adults and students) just keep sending further verbal incendiary devices into the online maelstrom, starting with those messed up letters from administration and moving to the parents who are writing and showing up at SC to support the wrong-headed and illegal BS (MEF crowd) with their damaging messages (read TomS, CherylR, SteveM, RebeccaA, ChrisC on the Community FB page for a clear view of the ugly underbelly of Melrose), and there you have it. Mix it up with more dumba$$ parents who might be well-intentioned but are totally going along to get along and really don't want to see anything beyond their noses anyway. To add sprinkles of further discontent, then CT & SC and MEF cabal manage last week to shove through a later start time for students at middle and high schools, further giving finger to METCO students (w CT tossing the insulting crumb that METCO students can "maybe" get more before-school tutoring now, implying they need this and it somehow compensates for their longer days)... A First Class Mess that can only get worse, unfortunately. [:-|]

Cause: Teacher tells a student to go back to the plantation, and not only gets away with it, but is moved to the HS and then allowed to retire.

Effect: The Twitter and Instagram posts disclosed yesterday, houses egged, chaos at some stupid assembly, and on and on.

Is that what they mean by a "teachable moment"?

This whole disgraceful mess has just about reached the point where it can be called a tinderbox. We're right up against the point where something really, really bad could happen, and it's the administration's ineptitude and the attitudes of a few idiotic parents at the root of it all. And Dolan? Nero fiddles while Rome burns.

This is the bizzaro world of Melrose messages where reality has no place. This site is full of anonymous liberals who toss around terms like “white privilege” and “micro-aggressions to make themselves feel like they are a productive part of a progressive movement. First off, you are not. Like everyone else on this board, you are a pathetic, anonymous flamethrower that doesn’t feel strongly enough about the issues to go to the SC meetings and make themselves heard.
Secondly, while the OCR complaint is nothing to be proud of, things are not nearly as bad as suggested here. How many of the flamethrowers out here have had conversations with current METCO students? While you all are quick to take positions, I am sure that you really have no idea what is going on. Did you listen to the METCO student that spoke at graduation last year? Have you spoken with the METCO student that will be attending Tufts next year and playing on their football team. Have you gotten his perspective on what he thinks about Melrose and MHS? How about the Sophomore at Bridgewater State; have you spoken with him? Well I have and their reality bears absolutely no resemblance to anything that is being posted on this board. Keep posting all you like, you are only further damaging the nonsense that is the progressive movement.

"This whole disgraceful mess has just about reached the point where it can be called a tinderbox. We're right up against the point where something really, really bad could happen, and it's the administration's ineptitude and the attitudes of a few idiotic parents at the root of it all. And Dolan? Nero fiddles while Rome burns."

Not fiddling. Fully pulling the strings and aggressively pushing the Message, using taxpayer dollars to pay attorneys and PR firms. Lighting matches all over the place, rushing to a vote on later start times in order to placate the well-meaning Doc and his not-well-meaning band of MEFers. Now Fox News is in the fray, "reporting" from the front of MHS right now, stirring the pot. Maybe Tom is on his radio show actively inciting as he has been online (in a decent world he'd be fired quickly, just as CT and a bunch of others should be). It's shameful, and yes, it is a very, very dangerous tinderbox.

You're full of it, "bizzarro." And yes, have spoken many times with METCO students and know about all the good things happening with them. Also about all the very awful things that you would never acknowledge.

"while the OCR complaint is nothing to be proud of, things are not nearly as bad as suggested here" You are absolutely full of it. It is much worse, actually, than what has been posted.

Wow. If denial is a skill, you're very proficient. How much longer do you think you'll be able to gloss over this disgusting state of affairs? We have a serious problem here, and if you continue to stick your head in the sand and refuse to admit it, it can only get worse. Sad.

Bizzarro world? If that's what you're looking for, look no further than the SC chair.

Absolute nonsense and all of you race baiters should be completely ashamed of yourselves. If you do actually speak with Metco students (which I doubt), you should apologize to them for trying to make their lives more difficult.

I think everyone on this board can hold off on apologies till the Melrose Public School system apologizes to these students for making things more difficult. Put blame where it belongs.
I do feel for the families of students who are on the METCO waiting list from birth, and then they find out they got assigned to Melrose. You know they are thinking of sacrificing the time and the effort so their kid can go to school in Lincoln, Concord, Brookline, Weston, Wellesly, Lynfield, etc, and then they get Melrose. Must make them pause.

Repeating Myself because it seems that you didn't read the 1st time.
I'm sure the kid going to Tufts is pleased. Many of the kids who come here through METCO go on to good things. That doesn't change the problems with race in this city though.
I'm not sure attending SC meetings is going to help this particular issue.
Bizarro world, you do live in a Bizarre World.
For the record, I don't think everyone on here is a so-called liberal.

race baiter

Your so-called race baiting is my speaking candidly.
Which I do both publicly and online.

A liar and a race baiter.

If you lived in Melrose during the 70s then you know what I am saying is true. Of course no one speaks of it now nor did most talk about it publicly then but it was the firm unwritten policy. If feeling truthful, some of the older realtors can confirm.
Yes.It's ugly but that's what went on. Not only here of course. But it did happen here.

If you recall, many people weren't too excited about the METCO kids back then either. Parents and some teachers. Kids were taught some pretty ignorant things here. Some realized it was inaccurate, others secretly or not so secretly hold those beliefs today. You know that I'm right.
Acknowledging it allows us to move on.

More lies. Metco was welcome with open arms in Melrose. The problems of the 70's were in Southie and Charlestown, not Melrose. I was there and in the Melrose school system. There were absolutely no issues in Melrose. Saying otherwise is revisionist's history by a race-baiting liar

Bull$hit. Apparently you had your head just as far up your a$$ in the 70's as you do now. It WAS an issue when it was first proposed. Maybe not so much for the kids at the time, but most certainly for the adults. The concept of "lily-white Melrose" was very real at the time, and for a great many still is to this day.

Take a look at the school department, city hall and various departments. You'd be hard pressed to find any minorities on staff, could count them on one hand. School department talks a big show on civil rights but are the ones violating the laws, not necessarily the kids. Look at the civil rights violations against SPED kids and their parents (a protected class under civil rights laws). They have been taking the brunt of the harassment from the school administrators the last several years. Really disgusting stuff, but MEFers want us to work with the administration?? That's crazy talk from those who have absolutely no idea how deep the brutality runs in the super's office and city solicitor's office. These people deserve to lose their licenses to practice. This is not kidstuff we are talking about, these are real criminal acts under state and federal laws. Other SPED parents may not have had as much patience. And of course two victims went to OCR which was the right thing to do. Whose next?

You all have your heads up you’re a$$e$. If you weren’t there, just shut up. The quote below is taken from the Metco Alumni Organizations website. (http://www.metcoalumni.org/shoutouts.htm). This MHS Alum participated in the METCO program and had older siblings that were bused to South Boston in the 70's.:

"By allowing me to meet a diverse group of people Growing up in the 70's watching my older brothers go through the hardship of attending South Boston High during the chaotic times of discrimination gave me a lot of preconceived notions about being in the Melrose Community. Those apprehentions were quickly overcome when I met my host family, the O'Briens, they treated me just like family and they are my family to this day."
Thomas Cater

I was there cement head. One of the objections was because of double sessions - remember those? One argument was that if we didn't have room for our own kids, why were we taking in kids from out-of-town? Unspoken in that rationale was "minority kids from out-of-town".

I was there too. I would like to say it was different but it wasn't. Some of the METCO kids left because their families were willing to take their chances in Boston over the "welcome" they experienced here. Remember that? I do because I'd become friends with some of the students including a couple that left.
There was one Civics teacher in Jr High who was downright demeaning to the METCO kids. I won't say his name but you probably know him. Other teachers too and some parents.

Some parents grumbled about lice and dirtiness too. I'm second hand embarrassed to even be writing this because it's so horrifying to remember.

I am making a point to say not the kids overall because kids often act better than adults.

Yes. A great number of the students have gone on to achieve maybe more than they would have in BPS but that doesn't make racial hostility in Melrose right.

I'd forgotten about that argument with the double sessions but you're right. It was an excuse.

The real estate situation kind of proves itself even today if you look at how many homeowners in Melrose aren't white. As I said, and you know, it was conscious collusion before.

I don't need to race bait. I just need to access my memory.

Your one valid point is that yes, I believe it would be better to be a METCO student in Melrose than an involuntarily bussed student from Roxbury to Charlestown.

Complete nonsense and a typical Melrosemessages twist. Yes there were space concerns at the high school. That is a fact and is why the high school used double sessions until the new high school was completed in 1975. Student enrollment in the city was at an all-time peak with the graduating classes in the mid-70’s. However, the vast majority of Metco students first enrolled in Melrose in the elementary schools. There was no push back for “out of towners.” High school space constraints were a real thing but Metco enrollment was very high across the district. Metco was and is a voluntary program for the students and district (unlike the busing issue in Southie and Charlestown). Our city and school leaders signed up for Metco. If things were as you described there would have been push back at the ballot box. Instead, Mayor Milano continued to be re-elected as Mayor (every 2 years); the SC went largely unchanged and Metco was (and is) an unmitigated success. For all of you race baiters that want to take an isolated incident and use it as a racial wedge, you ought to be ashamed of yourselves. Go to any high school reunion from the 80’s, 90’s or 2000’s and see for yourself. It is a great program for all involved.
If you don't believe me, look up Thomas Cater or one of the hundreds of MHS alumni that went through the Metco program and ask them for yourself.

I can tell you that I know for a fact that at the elementary schools the children, parents, and school staff welcome the Metco students. Whenever there was a school event held at night the Melrose parents hosted the students at their home overnight. Birthday parties, playdates etc! I have seen parents from Boston take the MBTA if their child did not make the morning bus for any reason just to make sure they made it to school. When there was an event held during the day they made sure to be there if they could. My child who graduated years ago still stays in close touch with a friend from Boston and they did not meet until Middle School. All children are our future and if we can give them a better education then we should. I applaud the parents who put their child on a bus at sometimes 6:00 AM and then a long ride home so they can have this.

How many former METCO students live in Melrose now?

Grownups who bought homes and are raising or have raised families in Melrose.

I hope your answer surprises me. Don't give names unless you have permission but let us know.

The simple truth is that METCO students continue to be treated quite terribly in Melrose overall, though the PR would definitely be effusively in the other direction. It's doubtful that any graduates homes here. Why would they when they'd be so much better treated just about anyplace else.

Who can afford it here?

Now in 2016 you're correct. I blame that article in Boston magazine where it said if you can't afford Arlington, move to Melrose. So they did. And housing prices rose.

Historically Melrose was an affordable community where you could live if you had a normal job. Middle of the Road. I'm sure many former METCO students could afford to live here,if they wanted to. Maybe not buying during the housing bubble before the mortgage crisis or now because those prices affect everyone.

I'm sure that most posters on here would agree that Melrose is a reasonably attractive place to live even if there are disagreements on many points. So why are so few former METCO students living here?

The answer should be obvious - they're not wanted here, and they know it. One community open to all - NOT!