Do you recall the school busing battle of the early 90’s?

The 1991-92 academic year was one of the most chaotic in the La Crosse school system, with school leaders and citizens arguing for most of the year about busing plans and socio-economic balance, and leading to attempts to recall six of the nine school board members.

The proposal in La Crosse to equalize kids from rich and poor families within school buildings was introduced at a school board meeting in October of 1991. It was described as an attempt at “socio-economic balance,’ and a way to fill classrooms at two new elementary schools, North Woods and Southern Bluffs, scheduled to open in the fall of ’92. Many parents spoke out against the plan, concerned that their kids would have to ride buses to attend school far from their homes. Despite protests, the board finally passed the plan, and a school board recall drive was announced days later.

Four people actually were removed from the board during a special election in July of ’92. Two other members targeted for recall survived a run-off in August. At the start of the school year, Charles Miller was board president and John Parkyn was vice-president. Miller lost in the regular April election, and Parkyn was among those recalled. Dick Swantz was superintendent…a job he had held since 1977, the year of a previous La Crosse school board recall. David Johnston was assistant superintendent, and Woody Wiedenhoeft was district business manager. Future superintendent Jerry Kember was the supervisor of fine arts. The school board changes came too late in the summer to halt the busing plan, and it went ahead as scheduled.

The busing controversy got national media attention. The New York Times reported on it, and a year after the recall elections, in June of ’93, the CBS Evening News did a follow-up story on La Crosse. That story may have gotten an unusually large audience, because it aired on the night that Connie Chung joined Dan Rather as a co-anchor of Evening News, yesterday in La Crosse.