Our story has to do with middle school choice as opposed to high school choice.  It is a bit dated but the outcome was the same and we dealt with the same issues.

The school year of 1998-1999 was supposedly the last year of 'forced
bussing' and although we knew there was a possibility of being sent to the south end school in our cluster, we were told that the chance of that
happening was so slim that we had nothing to worry about.  When I applied for middle school for my son,  I was told that if we chose a school not in our cluster and got in, we would have to do the transporting. Since my
husband and I work full-time and would not have been available to do such transporting, we chose our home school first (Whitman), another local choice second and the south end school third. My son was placed in the south end school, Asa Mercer.

The day after he received his assignment in the mail, all the fifth graders were talking at school about going to Whitman except him and 3 other
students he knew whose parents said they would absolutely not be going to Asa Mercer. That evening, my son was so distraught by the assignment (because he would be separated from every student he had known since kindergarten) that he had an anxiety attack. His state of mind caused us to seek psychological and psychiatric help, leading to daily anxiety
medicine and on-going counseling sessions.

Shortly after receiving the assignment, I went to the Parent Information Center to make sure that there was no mistake in the assignment and to find out how to go through the appeal process. We discussed an appeal based on medical/psychological diagnosis and the representative told me that my reasons for appeal were probably not going to be honored because it would be difficult to prove that he was unlike any other student that would be separated from friends. I took the appeal paperwork and went directly to my son's pediatrician and then a psychiatrist.  We all did our part and my son was finally labeled; Anxiety Disorder and Depression. The paperwork was sent off and we awaited an answer. At the end of August we received an answer; we had won Appeal process based on the medical/psychological reason, however, there was still no room at Whitman. My son was moved up from number 14 on the wait list to number 2 - Seattle School District accepted that my son had a psychological problem severe enough to accept the appeal, yet, he was to attend Asa Mercer anyway, the very school that caused his diagnosis to come to light.

The first day of school came and my son attended Asa Mercer. As it turns out, he was in Honors classes and was lucky to get 2 of the very best award winning teachers in the district. If not for the program and these teachers, the year would have been a total disaster. As it was ,he was one of only a handful of Caucasian students and although I do not oppose integration (and in fact, welcome it), I believe that my son's anxiety disorder was aggravated the whole year at Asa Mercer because of the hostile environment he was forced to live with.  He was constantly taunted, teased, and beaten up. He was cornered in the bathroom once (the doors did not have latches because of security reasons) and pelted with wet toilet paper balls by a large group of ninth grade boys) and then taunted again when he reported the abuse. My son was waiting for the bus to go home one day and
witnessed a physical fight and arrest in the street in front of him. The district response to the parents about the incident (at a PTA meeting two weeks later) was that this fight and atmosphere was mild compared to things they typically dealt with and we had nothing to worry about because the incident was taken care of. My son had nightmares for weeks!

At the end of the year, I went back to the Parent Information Center and applied to another school - he was accepted to and attended McClure for the 1999 - 2000 school year and will do so again in ninth.
     
I do believe that my son was sent to Asa Mercer to positively integrate that school. While I believe wholeheartedly that diversity is so very important, especially in my children's' lives, I can't help but be selfish when it comes down to protecting my son from abuse and physical threat.

My husband and I had planned to make an appointment with John Stanford and describe the kinds of things our child was living through, as we felt he would have been sympathetic to our dilemma of sending an anxiety disorder student to his demise in an anxiety-provoking environment. Timing was not on our side, as John got sick at the same time as our assignment.
   
It is two years later and once again, we will be faced with the same issues when applying for high school. I have to believe that if we do not get our first choice, that someone will listen to our story and grant us an exception. Doing this twice is not in our future, whatever it takes!