The OP is right, if you look a little closer into this process it's obvious.

No, just about the ability for some to pull the cover to themselves. The Ben Ali's and Mubaraks.

What are you worried about? that you'll have to deal with "those kids" bordering parts of SS, for example?

It's a way to balance out numbers. That's the whole reason for magnets, too.

The effort to redraw boundaries in BCC: political? After all, it has supporters running for all sorts of offices and could draw a lot of votes from a successful redraw of the boundaries. Are there any political, or other motivations sneaking up behind the legitimate goal of attending a school nearby?