Judge withdraws opinion after anti-white texts emerge in Boston public schools case

A Massachusetts federal judge retracted an opinion in a case involving Boston Public Schools after the emergence of anti-white texts between two school committee members.

Judge William Young, who had issued an opinion favoring the school system's plan to factor ZIP code into admissions, said that he could no longer stand behind that opinion after it appeared that the body's push was motivated by racial animus.

During a Friday hearing, Young said that he had been misled when the offensive texts were not originally included in the school's testimony. "I've been misled, and I don't see how the opinion can stand," Young said, noting that he has never once retracted an opinion in his 35 years on the bench.

The texts, a conversation between former member Alexandra Oliver-Davila and former member Lorna Rivera addressed their hatred of West Roxbury, a mostly white neighborhood in Boston. "I hate WR," OliverDavila texted Rivera, to which Rivera replied: "sick of westie whites." OliverDavila then followed up, "Me too I really feel Like saying that !!!! "

The texts were leaked last week to several news outlets after Young decided the case in favor of BPS. Both Oliver-Davila and Rivera resigned shortly afterward. At that point, the case had already been appealed to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 1st Circuit by the Boston Parent Coalition for Academic Excellence, where it has yet to be heard.

Young in the hearing said that it was "ludicrous" that the texts had not originally been included in the school system's testimony.

The controversy began after the school committee implemented a new provision into admissions for prestigious public schools that would lean more heavily on ZIP codes than academic performance. That provision was met with outrage by many parents, who accused the school of using it to discriminate against Asian American and white students.

A spokesman for the BPCAE responded to Young's retracted opinion, saying that parents are pleased with that development in the case. The text incident comes on the heels of another recent school committee incident involving racial animus. ThenBoston School Committee Chairman Michael Loconto was caught in a hot mic moment last year making anti-Asian comments during a meeting about the ZIP code-based plan.