Ep. 40, Last Night @ School Committee: 10/6 Meeting Recap

Last Night At School Committee

In this episode of Last Night at School Committee, Jill and Ross recap the highlights of last night’s Boston School Committee meeting. The meeting began with a discussion about the persistent issues with COVID-19 testing in schools and transportation, including an announcement from the Superintendent of a new task force to address chronic transportation issues. After a public comment session that featured comments on special education services, the Mission Hill School, and the new exam school policy, the Superintendent’s team presented the first report of the evening on the district’s MCAS results. The results showed alarming trends among all grade levels, with double digit drops in performance for many grades. The meeting then followed with the most anticipated report of the night on the revised exam school policy and simulations that have been promised since the policy was passed in July. The presentation left unanswered the biggest question that has been raised repeatedly since the policy was announced -- do students in certain schools have a 0% chance of admission to exam schools under this new system? As School Committee members attempted to press this point, they were provided with answers that were confusing and incomplete. The meeting concluded with a report on the Superintendent’s performance goals.

After a long and complicated meeting, we are still left with the following questions:

• Given the new policy, will all students in the city of Boston have a chance at attending an Exam School
• Will the School Committee change the policy they adopted if they determine that it does not give all students a chance at attending an Exam School?
• Will the school system create a plan for increasing the quality of the other high schools in BPS?
• How did we measure the impact of the ESSR funding to help inform round 3 of ESSR funding. Previously released plans from BPS said they would submit a preliminary plan for ESSR round 3 funds by October 4th. Is it October 7th. What happened?

The School Committee will meet again on October 27 tentatively at 5pm.

Ways to Engage and Resources:

• Vote for a new Mayor in November. Education should be a core issue for all elected officials and your vote matters. You can read their policy proposals regaridng education below:
• Michelle Wu
• Annissa Essaibi-George
• Advocate to the School Committee members to increase their accountability of the Superintendent and her team.
• Chair Jeri Robinson: [e-mail]
• Vice Chair Michael O’Neill: [e-mail]
• Dr. Hardin Coleman: [e-mail]
• Ernani DeAraujo: [e-mail]
• Quoc Tran: [e-mail]
• Meeting Presentations and Materials
• 2021 MCAS Results PowerPoint
• Exam Schools Admissions Policy Implementation Update
• Superintendent’s Performance Goals, School Year 2021-2022
• Library Services Strategic Plan, 2022-2026 PowerPoint
• Advanced Work Class (AWC) Policy Flexibility Request Memo

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