Last Night at School Committee: April 28th, 2021 Meeting Recap
In this episode of Last Night at School Committee, Jill and Ross recap the highlights of last night’s BPS School Committee meeting. The meeting began with the Superintendent's report on the status of the return to in-person learning for K-8 students. Following this report, the School Committee unveiled their goals and values for student achievement over the next five years. These goals set the bar notably low for student proficiency, with an aspiration of one in two students graduating unprepared for college or the workforce, and that bar was set even lower for students of color and students with disabilities. Despite hesitation from the members, and unanswered questions about how these goals will be monitored and enforced, they were approved unanimously.
Last night’s meeting also included a vote on the revised attendance policy and on an agreement between the Boston Teachers’ Union and the Boston School Committee regarding Family Liaison Classification. The meeting ended with a report on equitable policy.
Missing from last night’s conversation were a number of topics on the minds of students and parents across the city, including the exam school invitations that were just sent out and any plans for the fast-approaching summer.
We are left with the following questions:
Where are the students? How are they doing? Mentally, emotionally, academically?
What do we need to do to plan for next year given that we don’t have measures in place to discern where kids are?
No plans for the summer-- why didn’t this make it on the agenda? When will this be communicated to parents? And how?
How many graduates are going to college? What is going to happen to the rest of the senior class?
Families received a notification about the results of the exam school admissions process. What are the results of this?
Ways to Engage and Resources:
Attend an exam school task force committee meeting, which will be meeting weekly in May on Tuesdays, starting at 5pm
The commission to advise the superintendent on how to spend the incoming $400m will have 5 public meetings, which you can attend. They will meet on:
Thursday, May 13, 5:00pm
Thursday, May 27, 5:00pm
Thursday, June 10, 5:00pm
Sunday, June 27, 5:00pm
Thursday, July 1, 5:00pm
Members of the commission include:
Sam Acevedo, GBLN, HERN, OAG CO-Chair
Celina Barrios-Millner, Equity and Inclusion, City of Boston
Rahn Dorsey, Stakeholder
Pam Eddinger, Bunker Hill Community College
Ivan Espinoza-Madrigal, Lawyers for Civil Rights
Theresa Garcia de Quevedo, Mildred Ave School
Roxanne Harvey, Boston Special Education Parent Advisory Council
John Jackson, Schott Foundation
Karla Jenkins, Principal of Higginson Inclusion School (K0-2)
Suzanne Lee, ELL Task Force
Margaret McKenna, Human Rights Commission
Xyra Mercer, Boston Student Advisory Council (BSAC)
Keith Motley, Urban League
Alex Oliver-Davila, BPS School Committee
Lee Pelton, The Boston Foundation
Paul Reville, Harvard Graduate School of Education
Ruby Reyes, Boston Education Justice Alliance (BEJA)
Nicol Riley, Citywide Parent Council
Valerie Roberson, Roxbury Community College
Jeri Robinson, BPS School Committee
Jim Rooney, Boston Chamber of Commerce
Ayele Shakur, OAG Task Force
Chris Smith, Boston After School and Beyond
Marcelo Suarez-Orozco, UMASS Boston Chancellor
Tanisha Sullivan, NAACP
Neil Sullivan, PIC
Jessica Tang, Boston Teachers Union
Pastor Matt K Thompson, Jubilee Church
Dania Vazquez, Head of School - Margarita Muniz
Grace Wai, School Superintendent & Executive Team Member
TBD, Boston Student Advisory Council (BSAC)
TBD, District English Learner Advisory Committee (DELAC)
