Ep. 33, Last Night @ School Committee: 6/16 Meeting Recap

Last Night At School Committee

Last Night at School Committee Recap: June 16, 2021 Meeting Recap

In this episode of Last Night at School Committee, Jill and Ross recap the highlights of last night’s Boston School Committee meeting. The first meeting since the resignation of two committee members, Lorna Rivera and Alexandra Oliver-Dávila, the meeting began with the election of the new chair, Jerri Robinson, with Michael O’Neill remaining as vice chair. The Superintendent provided an update on the end of the school year and summer programming, which starts in a few weeks and currently has 73% of its seats filled and a need for staffing. The meeting then featured an emotionally-charged public comment period featuring 42 speakers, covering numerous topics of concern. Following public comment, the school committee heard a report from the co-chairs of the Exam School Admissions Task Force with an update on the task force’s considerations for a new admissions policy to the exam schools. Despite the fact that this recommendation is expected to be finalized by the next school committee meeting in two weeks, the report contained a wide spectrum of options without any consensus. The meeting concluded with a review of the Superintendent’s composite performance evaluation.

With the last day of school tomorrow, June 18th, we are left with the following questions:

• How will the momentum created last night by the school committee for the creation of another exam school influence decisions moving forward? What will the task force proposal ultimately include? And how will the conversation about high quality high schools continue once the policy is approved by the School Committee?
• 73% of seats for summer programming have been filled. The district promised months ago to know the plan for every student in BPS. Does every student have a plan for the summer, and how will the district address staffing needs for the summer?

Ways to Engage and Resources:

1. Attend an exam school task force committee meeting, which will be meeting weekly in May on Tuesdays, starting at 5pm

• Attend one of the listening sessions for the exam school task force. They will meet on June 22nd at 6pm, and June 23rd at 4pm. You can find previous information and data from previous meetings hereSunday, June 27, 5:00pm
• Thursday, July 1, 5:00pm

1. The commission to advise the superintendent on how to spend the incoming $400m will have 5 public meetings, which you can attend. They will meet on the following dates:

• Read each of the school committee member’s individual evaluation of the Superintendent’s performance:
• Superintentendent's SY20-21 Evaluation - Hardin Coleman
• Superintentendent's SY20-21 Evaluation - Ernani DeAraujo
• Superintentendent's SY20-21 Evaluation - Michael O'Neill
• Superintentendent's SY20-21 Evaluation - Jeri Robinson
• Superintentendent's SY20-21 Evaluation - Quoc Tran
• Meeting presentations and materials
• Exam Schools Admissions Task Force Update: Potential Areas for Consideration
• Superintendent’s Composite Performance Evaluation, School Year 2020-2021 PPT
• Renewal of Transdev Transportation Contract

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