Montgomery County spokesperson Brian J. Porteryesterday reiterated Vance's earlier criticism.

"This document has additional information, butthe overall commentary continues the same advocacyresearch," Porter said.

"There are some things we've found that wesimply do not agree with," he added, declining tobe more specific.

Porter said he would wait before giving a moredetailed response, noting that the district hadreceived the study only yesterday.

He objected to the charges that Vance's letterwas intended only to draw negative publicity forthe report.

"That's absurd," Porter said of theaccusations. "Our letter was not released to thenews media; it was requested by the newsmedia...and all our correspondence is publicrecord."

Porter also said Vance did not give the letterto the Post until a week after he sent it toOrfield and Eaton. He also said the letter wasonly written because Orfield and Eaton hadrequested it.

Eaton, an honorary visiting scholar at theSchlesinger Library, is the author of the study.Orfield, who is the director of the HarvardProject on School Desegregation, supervised thereport and wrote a foreword