Here's the follow up: http://jcromartie.tumblr.com/post/8576247461/launching-the-pre-alpha-of-smarterseating-com
I'm launching this limited version of SmarterSeating.com and hoping to maybe grow it into a useful tool for teachers and event planners. The idea is validated against at least one teacher who initially provided the inspiration. The UI is obviously very rudimentary and the functionality is fairly limited, but it delivers on its promise of finding good solutions for seating people with complicated relationships.