Feb 15 2023 · Last Night @ School Committee Recap · Ep. 80
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.
Last night’s meeting began with the Superintendent’s Report, the majority of which focused on transportation and transformation schools. Superintendent Skipper discussed the recent controversy over a pending RFP for management of the bus system that received only one bidder – current management company Transdev. She also celebrated the addition of new electric buses to the BPS fleet, the beginning of a $259 million effort to replace all 739 yellow school buses with electric alternatives. School Committee members raised concerns about discussing transportation without addressing significant underlying issues like student assignment and declining enrollment.
After a brief public comment period, the remainder of the meeting was spent on a preliminary discussion of the equitable grading policy. During the discussion, Chair Jeri Robinson raised a larger issue of BPS’ failure to prepare many of its top students for life after high school, and members raised concerns that important structural issues facing BPS are not being addressed in these meetings. These comments and the discussion that followed highlighted key shortcomings in the School Committee process and governance, an issue tied up in the larger citywide conversation about moving to an elected School Committee.
The School Committee will hold several public budget hearings over the next few weeks, the first of which is this evening, and will vote on the final budget on March 22. The next committee meeting will take place on Wednesday, March 15 at 5pm on Zoom.
We want to hear from you! If you have concerns about how BPS is serving your child or your family, please send us an email at podcast@shahfoundation.org.
Ways to Engage and Resources:
Attend a budget hearing to voice your thoughts about the upcoming budget. The first hearing will be held on February 16th at 5pm
Continue to demand accountability from our school system by emailing the Mayor and School Committee members:
Mayor Michelle Wu: mayor@boston.gov
Chair Jeri Robinson: grobinson@bostonpublicschools.org
Vice Chair Michael O’Neill: moneill2@bostonpublicschools.org
Quoc Tran: qtran2@bostonpublicschools.org
Lorena Lopera: llopera@bostonpublicschools.org
Rafaela Polanco Garcia: rpolancogarcia@bostonpublicschools.org
Dr. Stephen Alkins: salkins@bostonpublicschools.org
Brandon Cardet-Hernandez: bcardethernandez@bostonpublicschools.org
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