Wasn't Dorchester the center of the busing controversy back in the '70s?
Really the whole city was involved in de-segregation. I was in 5th grade and was living in West Roxbury about 3 blocks from my school. My number got drawn and they were sending me and half of the school (the school was 100% white at that time) to a school in Dorchester and half of the Dorchester School to my old school.
While parents weren't biased against blacks, they did not want me taking a bus for 30 minutes to go to school in Dorchester. If I had been lucky enough to stay at my old school my parents had no issue with me sharing a classroom with the Dorchester kids.
They enrolled me in Catholic School and a the next year we moved out the burbs so i was never subjected to any of it
At some schools it was very bad, rock and brick throwing, fights an brawls and even stabbing and shootings.