Jun 8 2022 · Last Night @ School Committee Recap · Ep. 63
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.
Here are some of the questions that we think are worth asking:
When is Superintendent Cassellius’ last day? Two different dates have been publicly provided.
Will there be an interim superintendent? And if so, what is the process for choosing and confirming that person?
When will the superintendent finalists be announced, and when will a confirmed public schedule be available?
What are the details of the mergers being proposed?
What are the details of the transportation contract?
Ways to Engage and Resources:
If you know of parents and community members who would like to serve on the superintendent interview panels, email their names to Chair Jeri Robinson.
Chair Jeri Robinson: grobinson@bostonpublicschools.org
Vice Chair Michael O’Neill: moneill2@bostonpublicschools.org
Quoc Tran: qtran2@bostonpublicschools.org
Lorena Lopera: llopera@bostonpublicschools.org
Rafaela Polanco Garcia: rpolancogarcia@bostonpublicschools.org
Dr. Stephen Alkins: salkins@bostonpublicschools.org
Brandon Cardet-Hernandez: bcardethernandez@bostonpublicschools.org
Listen to our special podcast series on the search for a superintendent. It’s seven episodes featuring exclusive interviews with Superintendent Cassellius, her five predecessors, and more than a dozen community leaders. The full series is available in your podcast feed and at BostonSuperintendent.com.