More white parents choose public schools

So said the headline in the local paper of an article meant to make people feel good that a few white families are choosing to send their children to public schools. But not just any public schools, but public schools in predominately African-American neighborhoods no less.
Wow, that must make our African-American, Hispanic, Asian, Arabic and African families feel really good about the schools they send their kids to if white parents are sending their kids.

Ignoring the obvious racial overtones of the headline, the article tells the warm and fuzzy story of one set of white parents who are sending their daughter to a magnet school elementary school. The school they send their daughter to is; Lockeland Elementary School. It became a Design Center in 2004 with an emphasis on literature and daily Spanish instruction. The school which was built in 1939, is a lottery school, which draws students from all over Davidson County. It does give priority to its neighborhood residents but is not considered a zoned school. It's 60% white, 35% African-American and 5% Asian and Hispanic, the removal of two pre-K classes, which were 90% African-American, helped drastically change the racial makeup of the school.

Translation, it gets kids whose parents want them to go to the school because they have to apply to attend, the school chooses which kids can attend, it doesn't take whichever kid is supposed to attend. The parents must also provide transportation for their child to attend the school unless they live within walking distance.
Are those the traits of a typical public school or does it sound almost exactly like a private school?

http://www.tennessean.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20081219/NEWS04/812190378&s=d&page=1