Ep. 43, Last Night @ School Committee: 11/17 Meeting Recap

Last Night At School Committee

The School Committee reconvened last night after a two week period in which Boston Public Schools has been featured prominently in the news. This includes issues regarding COVID-19 testing and outbreaks, calls for reforms to the new exam school policy, and inadequate staffing - particularly for our English Language Learners and to support the mental health of our students and staff. Reference was made to each of these topics in the Superintendent’s report, and these themes were the focus of public comment. 41 parents, teachers, students, and community members expressed frustration with the way many of these issues are being handled and called for action from the Superintendent and School Committee.

The School Committee only heard one presentation, which was an update regarding the implementation of MassCore standards for the district’s high schools. The Committee was supposed to vote on the closing of three of the district’s middle schools -- the Jackson Mann, the Irving, and the Timilty -- but this was delayed by the Superintendent to continue engagement with families and community members of impacted schools.

The Superintendent also presented simulations on the new Exam School admission policy, which had been requested by School Committee members and the public since the adoption of this new policy in July. However, many questions still remained, as parents pointed out missing information in the data and a School Committee member formally called for reconsideration of the 10 bonus points included in the new policy.

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