If the board could distribute children into different schools according to race, then what could stop them from creating different schools based on “mere discretion?” Could the School Committee establish separate public schools for people of Irish or German heritage? Could they separate Catholics from Protestants? Would not the School Committee have the power to create separate public schools for the rich, so “they may not be offended by the humble garments of the poor?” Or perhaps “exclude the children of mechanics and send them to separate schools?”
