The Wayland graduation rate for the Metropolitan Council for Education Opportunity (METCO) students is around 98%, according to Wayland METCO Director La Toya Rivers. Those numbers are slightly higher than the METCO program average of 96%, and significantly higher than the Boston graduation rate of 81.3%.
METCO’s success in Wayland can be attributed to hard work, family commitment, and residents’ support of the program. Rivers said she tells teachers that they cannot “lower the bar” for METCO students because they are tired from a long bus ride. She emphasized that this would be doing a disservice to the students. Black students face challenges, Rivers said. “These students need to work harder to be successful, and now more than ever.”
She said when families sign up for the METCO program, they need to consider their commitment on different levels: what they want for their children to get out of the program, how to build a community around attending a school in another town, and how it impacts the families’ lives due to long bus rides and out-of-town events.
METCO students ride the bus 90–120 minutes each way to attend schools in the suburbs, according to Rivers. The Wayland METCO students’ ride is 90 minutes because Rivers opted for central pickup locations rather than in each neighborhood. Although some students walk to the pickup location, others get rides from parents, and some older students take public transportation to the pickup place, she said.
Although the Boston desegregation protests and METCO evolved from the same issue and around the same time period, Rivers said. METCO grew from Operation Exodus, which was a grassroots movement that began in 1965 in response to the Boston School Committee’s decision not to desegregate
Boston schools. At the time, Rivers said, the schools in Black neighborhoods did not receive the same funds for facilities, materials, and resources as the schools in the white neighborhoods.
The METCO program was established in 1966, while the controversial desegregation suit Morgan v. Hennigan, presided over by Wellesley resident Judge W. Arthur Garrity Jr., was filed in March 1972 and heard in May. After 15 months of consideration, Garrity issued his landmark ruling in June 1974, finding the Boston School Committee intentionally segregated public schools.
The Exodus program aimed to bus
students from overcrowded, predominantly Black schools to less crowded, predominantly white schools in Bos-
ton. The program was self-funded and
involved community-led efforts to provide better educational opportunities for Black children. Despite its success in the first few years, the program faced challenges and ultimately ended in 1969 because of a lack of funds.
Exodus inspired the METCO program. Ruth Bathman, a Roxbury resident who was chair of the Massachusetts Commission Against Discrimination, co-founded the program in partnership with Dr. Leon Trilling, the chair of the Brookline School Committee. It was reported that they convinced suburban towns to join METCO by framing the program as a collaborative, voluntary solution to school segregation that benefited both urban and suburban students and leveraged the emerging legal and social pressure of the Racial Imbalance Act of 1965. They persuaded towns by utilizing a mixture of moral persuasion, community meetings, and the promise of state funding.
In 1966, the program’s first year, 220 Boston students attended schools in seven suburbs: Arlington, Braintree, Brookline, Lexington, Lincoln, and Wellesley. One of the efforts by residents in those towns to convince their communities to join included Lincoln’s minivan-to-minivan program. Drivers from Boston met drivers from Lincoln halfway to transport the children to school.
Members of the Weston School Committee resisted joining METCO because they believed Boston children would be academically behind. Rivers said some Weston families started a preschool with 10 children each from Weston and Roxbury. They approached their school board at the end of the academic year, saying the Boston children had attended the same preschool as the Weston children, so all the children were at the same level.
Wayland became a METCO Community in 1968. There are currently 133 Metco students from kindergarten to 12th grade attending school in Wayland. It is one of 10 METCO communities that participate in Empowering Multicultural Initiatives, a non-profit educational collaborative that provides teachers with training around issues of race and racism.
Rivers said the state funds the respective towns by paying a per-pupil grant for each METCO student. Although not certain, she said she did not feel that the Trump Administration’s education cuts would impact METCO since the state is currently funding the program.
According to Rivers, the number of seats allocated to the METCO program is determined by the number of Wayland students enrolled and the grade’s target limit, which is 20 students for kindergarten and first grade, 23 for second and third grades, and 25 for grades 4–12. Wayland would not create another class for METCO students, she said.
The program is an equal-access lottery, which Rivers said means everyone who applies has equal access to all the schools in the program. However, she added that once a student is assigned to a school, the sibling will receive priority when a space becomes available.
To qualify for the METCO lottery, students must be current residents of Boston entering grades K-10 and at least five years old by Aug. 31 of the school year. Eligible families must provide proof of residency, and the student must remain a Boston resident throughout their participation. Families must reapply every year if they are not accepted. According to METCO’s website, they place students from racially segregated Boston neighborhoods into racially isolated suburban schools as described in the Racial Imbalance Act of 1965 and the METCO bill of 1968.
Although there are opportunities for families to mix outside of school, the family and friends program fell by the wayside during Covid, according to Rivers. She said it was difficult to resurrect because more mothers are working and children are involved in many activities.
The program paired METCO and Wayland classmates for playdates on early-release days. Rivers said she encourages playdates on an informal basis. If there is an evening school event and she notices a METCO and a Wayland child playing together, she will approach a Wayland parent and suggest a playdate. She said she also works with schools to coordinate events at convenient times so that METCO children and their families can attend.
Rivers acknowledged that METCO students tend to sit with other METCO students in the cafeteria but said it’s no different than football or soccer teammates sitting at the same table. She pointed out that METCO students may be the only Latino or Black students in their classrooms, and sitting together at lunch provides them the opportunity to build friendships with other Boston students.
To prepare those who will not be attending college after Wayland High School, Rivers developed a hands-on mentorship initiative to provide career awareness, site tours, and professional networking in construction. This program helps students explore industry pathways through monthly events and partnerships with professionals. Industry partners, including Harvard Allston Land Company and Tishman Speyer, support it.
Learning to negotiate two worlds is METCO’s biggest benefit, according to Rivers, who has lived in an all-Black neighborhood, not unlike most METCO students. To get ahead, these students need to be prepared “to be educated, work, and find their place in white spaces,” she said.
Rivers was a student in the Needham METCO program and has worked in various positions in the METCO program. She said her father, a Boston police officer, was hesitant to enroll her in the METCO program. Her older brother participated in the Boston busing program, and he was concerned it would be the same, but she said her experience was very different.
Rivers joked that she is a “METCO Lifer,” serving as a METCO tutor, after-school program coordinator, second- and third-grade teacher in the METCO Inc. Summer Enrichment Program, METCO academic advisor for grades 5–8 in the Lincoln Public Schools from 2007–2013, and Weston METCO director and high school academic liaison. She became the director of the Wayland METCO program in 2022.
