In 1976, U.S. District Court Judge John T. Curtin issued a court order stating that the Buffalo Board of Education, the superintendent of schools, the commissioner of education, and the New York State Board of Regents were guilty of de jure segregation. This decision led to a complete restructuring of the instructional program and a racial and ethnic redistribution of Buffalo public school students. This document recounts the events leading up to Judge Curtin's historic court order, and the creative restructuring process that followed within the Buffalo public schools. The architects of the desegregation scheme provided two vital ingredients in each phase of the process: (1) inclusion of parents in the processes of developing, explaining, and selling; and (2) quality control to ensure that if a bus ride became necessary, something good--such as early childhood centers, magnet schools, or academies--was waiting at the other end. The plan was so successful that many parents with children in private schools reenrolled them in the public school system. The appendix includes charts and graphs showing student improvement 1983-87. (TE)