Sep 28 2022 · Last Night @ School Committee Recap · Ep. 70
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 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.
The meeting continued with unanimous votes to approve a new contract with the Boston Teachers Union as well as an additional one-year appropriation from the City to cover the added costs of the new contract. Questions were raised by School Committee members both about the strategy driving this new contract and about how these costs will be covered in future years. The meeting concluded with an update on the Mission Hill School investigation, involving publication of the long-awaited third report into the failures of school leaders and Central Office staff to protect student safety.
The next School Committee meeting will be held on October 12 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. And if you’d like to share a thought that we may use in a future episode, you can leave us a voicemail at 508-261-5904.
Ways to Engage and Resources:
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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Memo FY23 Supplemental Appropriation for the Boston Teachers Union FY22-24 Contract