Last Night at School Committee: February 3rd, 2021 Meeting Recap
In this episode of Last Night at School Committee, Jill and Ross recap the highlights of last night’s Boston Public Schools’ School Committee meeting. During this 3-hour meeting, the Superintendent and her team unveiled a preliminary budget to the School Committee for FY2022, in addition to a report on attendance and a supportive vote on allowing the district flexibilities for graduation requirements, advanced work class admission, promotion and grading. As a group of high in-person priority students were welcomed back today, there was little discussion on re-opening efforts across the district.
The meeting began with the Superintendent providing an update on attendance figures as well as discussing supports for families. Following this report and a report from student representative Khymani James, we heard from numerous families, students and community members during public comment voicing their concerns about the allocation of funds towards school police officers and other frustrations. As many students and community members called for their voices to actually be heard, the Superintendent followed this with a vote to support the district flexibilities for graduation requirements, advanced work class admission, promotion and grading.
The meeting concluded with an initial presentation of the FY22 budget, grounded in three main points: return, recover, and reimagine. The presentation included a breakdown of the $1.3 billion of funding, the allocation of the funds and what they’re going towards, and discussion on the impact of the budget on schools, even with the fact of declining enrollments. The presentation was followed with an initial discussion by School Committee members on the facts and realities of this proposed budget.
The approval of the FY2022 budget will take place in late March, and there are multiple opportunities to express your thoughts and opinions to the district and the School Committee.
Ways to Engage and Resources:
First hearing: February 11th, 5 p.m.
Reach out to your City Councilor and tell them what you think about the budget
Attend a School Committee Community Meeting and push for “X’s” to be defined as well as clarification on alignment with existing stated goals, the superintendent's strategic plan and the superintendent's performance evaluation goals.
February 6th, 10 - 11:30 a.m.
February 8th, 5:30 - 7 p.m.
Email the School Committee and the Superintendent and encourage them to take advantage of the state’s Covid-19 pooled surveillance testing program.
Review last night’s meeting presentation and materials:
