Ep. 63, Last Night @ School Committee: 6/8 Meeting Recap

Last Night At School Committee

What happens at each Boston School Committee meeting has big implications for our students and our city. In “Last Night @ School Committee,” Jill Shah and Ross Wilson recap the highlights of each meeting, provide commentary and context, and shine a light on the decisions our leaders are making.

Last night’s meeting began with an update on the superintendent search timeline filled with uncertain dates and unclear processes. Chair Jeri Robinson announced that two or three finalists will be announced next week or the week after, there will be public interviews with the finalists likely the week of the June 20th with specific dates and times to come later, and there may or may not be an interim superintendent that may or may not need to be approved by the School Committee.

The meeting continued with the Superintendent’s Report, in which Superintendent Cassellius announced that she will be lifting the mask mandate for the final two weeks of school, celebrated the passage of the BPS budget by the Boston City Council, and lauded the “Green New Deal” for school facilities. While there was no discussion of what environmental initiatives would be a part of this effort, it was announced that another BPS building audit would take place over the next year – more than halfway through the current BuildBPS process – and that the plan includes mergers of at least six schools into three. Next, the School Committee approved a new bus drivers contract without any public discussion or disclosure of the contract, and the Committee approved renewals for five BPS innovation schools.

The next School Committee meeting is currently scheduled for Wednesday, June 22 at 5pm, although it was announced last night that this may be moved based on the superintendent interview timeline.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices