Last Night at School Committee: July 26th, 2023 Meeting Recap

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.

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Last night’s School Committee meeting was a special meeting with only one agenda item: Superintendent Skipper’s self-evaluation of her performance over the past school year. Superintendent Skipper framed her evaluation in four standards: instructional leadership, management and operations, family and community engagement, and professional culture. For each standard, the Superintendent provided a list of areas in which she felt BPS made progress over the past year but did not provide baseline data or measurable goals. This led to numerous questions from School Committee members seeking to understand how these areas relate to one another and the district’s goals within each of these areas for the year ahead. The report did not touch on student achievement data or goals to improve student outcomes, leading Chair Jeri Robinson to ask how these achievements will be tangible to the many students who still go to failing schools each day.