Last Night at School Committee: November 2nd, 2022 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 meeting began with the Superintendent’s Report, in which Superintendent Skipper covered student safety, transportation, absenteeism, and teacher diversity. The Superintendent highlighted the impact of social media on student behavior, noting that tense online conversations often spill into in-person interactions and calling on everyone to come together to help students re-engage with one another productively. She discussed continued disruptions to transportation, an issue brought up again last night during public comment, but did not provide updated numbers regarding on-time performance. Superintendent Skipper also noted that student absentee levels are as high as 28% so far this year, consistent with previous years but concerning nonetheless.

Following public comment, there were two presentations made to the School Committee. The first was a presentation from the Superintendent’s team on Transformation Schools, which are some of the lowest performing schools in the district and are labeled by the state as needing intervention. The Superintendent’s team discussed the current status of the 28 transformation schools and highlighted two schools that have improved test scores. However, the presentation lacked clarity on what action steps will be taken to improve outcomes across the district, especially given critical disparities in student performance at different schools, as shown in this tool from the Boston Schools Fund. 

These issues were echoed in the last report of the evening: the annual BPS hiring and workforce diversity report. The report provided updates on the nearly 800 vacancies in the district and a breakdown of the district staff’s racial diversity as it relates to the requirements of the 1974 order by Judge Garrity. Still, the report left key questions unanswered about how the district plans to fill these vacancies and whether the district staff is truly representative of the students they serve.