Minority admissions jump 31% at Boston Latin

Boston Latin, the city's most prestigious public exam school, has admitted its most diverse class since a federal court ruling prohibited the use of race as a factor in admissions eight years ago.

The number of black and Hispanic students admitted rose 31 percent, from 84 students last year to 110 this year, and accounts for roughly a quarter of the 460 students receiving admission offers for seventh grade, according to a school report released this week. Last year, black and Hispanic students made up 18 percent of the admitted class.

School officials do not know how many will decide to enroll. But even if all the black and Hispanic students who have been admitted choose to attend, they would still remain vastly in the minority at the school, which is one of only three in the system with white majorities.

The school system credits the rise in admissions of black and Hispanic students to five years of outreach to underrepresented students.

Parents, community activists, and others have criticized the school system for allowing the black and Hispanic enrollment at Latin to plunge over the last seven years.

Before the 1999-2000 school year, the school system reserved 35 percent of exam school seats for black and Hispanic students. But after a federal court ruling, students at those schools were admitted solely on entrance exam scores and grades, each weighed equally.

Black and Hispanic students make up 77 percent of the Boston public schools enrollment, but only 16 percent at Boston Latin. They made up nearly 27 percent of the school's students before the admissions policy changed.

''Any increase is promising, but we have a public school system that's more than 75 percent black and Hispanic," said Lew Finfer, whose daughter is a senior at Boston Latin. ''Going to Boston Latin historically is a real ticket to opportunity for working-class students in the city."

This year, the proportion of black and Hispanic students admitted rose in the city's two other exam schools, which have not struggled with drops in minority enrollment as Latin has. Overall, the number of black and Hispanic students admitted to Boston's three exam schools jumped 22 percent this year compared with last, while white and Asian students dropped 12 percent.

Cornelia Kelley, Boston Latin's headmaster, called the change ''a step in the right direction."

Kelley and school system officials cited several changes they have made in recent years to recruit high-performing black and Hispanic students to Latin. While the school recruited from only eight elementary schools five years ago, representatives visited 56 schools this year.

For the last five years, Boston Latin has hosted an event to acquaint parents of black and Hispanic fifth-graders with admissions requirements at all three exam schools. The parents invited have children who scored high on a standardized test in fourth grade. At the event, to be held again Saturday, school officials give the families priority in signing up for a free summer program to prepare students for the fall entrance exam for Boston Latin, Boston Latin Academy, and the John D. O'Bryant School of Mathematics and Science. Boston Latin will provide interpreters in Spanish, Portuguese, Haitian-Creole, and other languages.

The school system could not provide details yesterday on whether the black and Hispanic students admitted to Boston Latin came largely from Boston public schools or from charter, parochial, and private schools.

Besides the entrance-exam preparations, Boston Latin also has intensified efforts to get admitted students to accept the offer to enroll.

At an open house Sunday, members of the school's black and Hispanic parent associations will field questions and concerns from parents who have a limited knowledge of English. The parent volunteers have also called families, encouraging them to enroll their children.

While Finfer praised renewed efforts to recruit black and Hispanic students, he said he doubts that will make enough of a difference in the long run. He said a group of parents has approached the school system and the mayor about changing the admissions criteria.

They have suggested that the exam schools take family income into account and set aside seats for the top students from each of Boston's public elementary schools, Finfer said. Student essays and teacher recommendations should also be considered, he said.

''That could lead to more black and Hispanic students being admitted, as well as more working-class white kids being admitted," Finfer said.

Councilor Felix Arroyo called the increased admission of black and Hispanic students exciting, but said more needs to be done.

''If we are not able to do that, that means we have not been able to prepare students to the extent they should be prepared," Arroyo said.

Founded in 1635, Boston Latin School has prepared generations of leaders. The 2,400-student school emphasizes the classics and requires students to take four years of Latin.

Tracy Jan can be reached at tjan@globe.com.