Last Night at School Committee: January 11th, 2023 Meeting Recap
Shah Family Foundation Shah Family Foundation

Last Night at School Committee: January 11th, 2023 Meeting Recap

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.

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Last Night at School Committee: December 14th, 2022 Meeting Recap
Shah Family Foundation Shah Family Foundation

Last Night at School Committee: December 14th, 2022 Meeting Recap

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.

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Last Night at School Committee: December 7th, 2022 Meeting Recap
Shah Family Foundation Shah Family Foundation

Last Night at School Committee: December 7th, 2022 Meeting Recap

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.

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Last Night at School Committee: November 16th, 2022 Meeting Recap
Shah Family Foundation Shah Family Foundation

Last Night at School Committee: November 16th, 2022 Meeting Recap

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.

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Last Night at School Committee: November 2nd, 2022 Meeting Recap
Shah Family Foundation Shah Family Foundation

Last Night at School Committee: November 2nd, 2022 Meeting Recap

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.

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Last Night at School Committee: October 26th, 2022 Meeting Recap
Shah Family Foundation Shah Family Foundation

Last Night at School Committee: October 26th, 2022 Meeting Recap

Last night’s meeting was four hours long, with the School Committee hearing only one presentation after deciding to delay their report on hiring and diversity to next week’s meeting. The Superintendent began with her report with updates on enrollment, transportation, and test scores.

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Last Night at School Committee: October 12th, 2022 Meeting Recap
Shah Family Foundation Shah Family Foundation

Last Night at School Committee: October 12th, 2022 Meeting Recap

Last night’s meeting was Mary Skipper’s second as superintendent, and it began with a solemn acknowledgement of recent incidents of violence in the BPS community. Superintendent Skipper continued her report with an update on transportation, in which she discussed continued disruptions for families due to uncovered routes and insufficient bus monitors. The Superintendent next presented data on student absenteeism, which has increased over the last three years, and School Committee members pressed for further detail on this data.

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Last Night at School Committee: September 28th, 2022 Meeting Recap
Shah Family Foundation Shah Family Foundation

Last Night at School Committee: September 28th, 2022 Meeting Recap

Last night’s meeting was Mary Skipper’s first as BPS Superintendent. The School Committee welcomed Superintendent Skipper back to the district and also introduced and welcomed new student representative Diego Mehta. The meeting began with the Superintendent’s Report, in which Superintendent Skipper discussed her vision for “getting back to basics” on transportation, attendance, school food, and student safety. She acknowledged the continued frustrations felt by families facing bus delays and uncovered routes – a topic raised multiple times during public comment – and committed to addressing these issues.

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Last Night at School Committee: September 14th, 2022 Meeting Recap
Shah Family Foundation Shah Family Foundation

Last Night at School Committee: September 14th, 2022 Meeting Recap

Last night’s meeting was the first meeting since the start of school and the last for Dr. Drew Echelson as Acting Superintendent before Mary Skipper starts on September 26. The meeting began with Chair Jeri Robinson announcing that a report on the Mission Hill School would be postponed to the next meeting. Although there was no presentation during the meeting, the Boston Globe reported yesterday that the district is preparing for two federal lawsuits in response to the findings from this investigation.

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Last Night at School Committee: August 31st, 2022 Meeting Recap (Copy)
Shah Family Foundation Shah Family Foundation

Last Night at School Committee: August 31st, 2022 Meeting Recap (Copy)

Last night’s meeting was the last School Committee meeting of the summer – the last meeting before students go back to school next week. However, for the second time in a row, there was no quorum. For much of the meeting, there was only one other member besides the Chair. The official meeting lasted just fifteen minutes, with a quorum of members voting on a few action items before continuing to other agenda items that did not require a quorum.

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Last Night at School Committee: April 27th, 2022 Meeting Recap (Español)
Shah Family Foundation Shah Family Foundation

Last Night at School Committee: April 27th, 2022 Meeting Recap (Español)

La reunión de anoche comenzó con una actualización de la investigación que ha estado en curso en la Escuela Mission Hill. Después de una investigación de un año por parte del bufete de abogados Hinckley Allen, la firma descubrió que, como detalló el Boston Globe, que "la escuela puso en peligro y falló a los niños durante años al pasar por alto las denuncias de abuso sexual e intimidación y negligencia de los estudiantes con discapacidades".

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Last Night at School Committee: April 27th, 2022 Meeting Recap
Shah Family Foundation Shah Family Foundation

Last Night at School Committee: April 27th, 2022 Meeting Recap

Last night’s meeting began with an update on the investigation that has been ongoing at the Mission Hill School. After a year long investigation by the law firm Hinckley Allen, the firm found that– as detailed by the Boston Globe– that “the school endangered and failed children for years by overlooking allegations of sexual abuse and bullying and neglecting students with disabilities”.

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Last Night at School Committee: April 6th, 2022 Meeting Recap
Shah Family Foundation Shah Family Foundation

Last Night at School Committee: April 6th, 2022 Meeting Recap

At last night’s meeting, the School Committee heard reports on the Superintendent search, new school buildings and transportation contracts.The meeting began with the Superintendent’s report, in which the Superintendent covered school safety, masking in schools, enrollment and school choice updates that included new data on family choice, and the ongoing State review of Boston Public Schools. The Superintendent mentioned that the State will be providing the district with the results of their review by early-to-mid May.

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Last Night at School Committee: February 15th, 2022 Meeting Recap
Shah Family Foundation Shah Family Foundation

Last Night at School Committee: February 15th, 2022 Meeting Recap

Last night’s meeting was the first School Committee meeting since the announcement that Superintendent Brenda Cassellius will be resigning from her position. Cassellius, who began in July 2019, announced in a press conference with Mayor Michelle Wu that she will step down at the end of the school year, and Mayor Wu expressed her commitment to hiring a new superintendent by June.

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Last Night at School Committee: January 26th, 2022 Meeting Recap
Shah Family Foundation Shah Family Foundation

Last Night at School Committee: January 26th, 2022 Meeting Recap

Last night’s meeting began with the introduction of the newest School Committee member, Brandon Cardet-Hernandez, to round out the seven-member committee. A former advisor to New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio, Cardet-Hernandez is currently the Executive Director of the Ivy Street School, a private program serving students with autism, ADHD, anxiety, and other learning disabilities. Cardet-Hernandez joins Dr. Stephen Alkins as the two newest members appointed by Mayor Wu this month.

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Last Night at School Committee: December 15th, 2021 Meeting Recap
Shah Family Foundation Shah Family Foundation

Last Night at School Committee: December 15th, 2021 Meeting Recap

Last night’s meeting began with the announcement that two current Committee members, Hardin Coleman and Ernani DeAraujo, would not be seeking reappointment to the School Committee after their term ends. After this announcement, the Superintendent provided a brief Superintendent’s Report that touched on a few subjects, including COVID-19 testing updates and an experiential learning competition, where a BINCA student designed artwork for a new sneaker that is available for purchase.

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