Ep. 74, Last Night @ School Committee: 11/16 Meeting Recap

Last Night At School Committee

Last night’s meeting began with the Superintendent’s Report, the majority of which focused on transportation. The Superintendent reported that on-time arrivals for morning buses increased to 89% in November, up from 88% the previous month. School Committee members asked questions about how many students are actually impacted by these delays and how students are being tracked, and district leaders were unable to provide this information.

There were two reports presented to the School Committee. The first was a report on special education in the district, which was given by the Council of Great City Schools in response to a requirement in the State-mandated improvement plan. The report echoed prior reports on this issue and underlined significant gaps in the success of special education students in BPS. School Committee members highlighted the need to address these issues immediately and discussed moving toward fully-inclusive schools, but the report did not include goals, targets, or timelines for addressing these much-needed reforms. The last report of the evening was an update on the collective bargaining agreements with the cafeteria workers and bus monitors unions, which featured increased pay and other clauses aimed at driving interest in these key positions that still face hundreds of vacancies.

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