Last Night At School Committee Shah Family Foundation

Last night’s meeting was the last school committee meeting of the school year, with a scheduled vote to close the Lilla Frederick Middle School and close and consolidate the West Zone Early Learning Center with the Hennigan School, and a report from the school committee’s student representative. The meeting began with the Superintendent’s Report, with Superintendent Skipper highlighting a number of ongoing initiatives in the district. However, there was a lack of detail on how these initiatives are being implemented or their impact on student outcomes and achievement. There were also questions from members about the status of the district’s negotiations with the Boston Teachers’ Union. At the last meeting, the Superintendent said they were ahead of schedule, hoping to have a new contract finalized by the end of June. Last night, the Superintendent told members that negotiations are still ongoing and would not be complete by the end of June.

There were around 40 speakers who came to testify at public comment, with the majority of speakers testifying against the merger of the West Zone Early Learning Center into the Hennigan. There were a few speakers who testified about a new report that was submitted to the record, which highlights discrimination and mistreatment of former administrators in the district. 

The main vote of the night was a proposal to close the Lilla Frederick Middle School and close and consolidate the West Zone Early Learning Center with the Hennigan. This vote came after months of discussion about the district’s Green New Deal and the need to make important decisions surrounding mergers and closures. There has recently been a lot of discussion by the public about facilities, discussing the slow down of the plan by the Mayor, a deep dive into the district’s declining enrollment and future city revenue projections, and continued questions about the $50 million commitment to White Stadium. Last night, none of these topics were discussed by the School Committee, and members unanimously voted to close both the Frederick and the West Zone.

The next School Committee meeting will be held in-person or on Zoom at 6 pm on Wednesday, July 17th.
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In today’s episode, Jill is joined by Dr. Jill Walsh. She is a sociologist and researcher at Boston University, and specializes in the impact of technology and social media on adolescent development. Dr. Walsh is also the founder of Digital Aged, through which she works with schools and families to give them the tools to help young people navigate the online world. 

Jill and Dr. Walsh discuss how schools are addressing student relationships with social media and technology and how parents can help students establish healthy relationships with the digital world and set healthy boundaries.

If you’d like to learn more about Dr. Walsh’s work, check out the resources below.

Dr. Jill Walsh’s Bio
Dr. Jill Walsh’s Research
Digital Aged
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Last night’s meeting lasted about four and a half hours, and touched on numerous subjects. The meeting began with the Superintendent’s Report, where Superintendent Skipper spent most of the time discussing the negotiations with the Boston Teachers Union. The Superintendent noted that she hopes to have a deal by the end of the month, and that negotiations were going smoothly. However, numerous BTU members, including president Jessica Tang and vice president Erik Berg, testified asking the School Committee members to join negotiation and support the co-teaching model in every classroom in the district and adjust the pay for over 8,000 members of the BTU to be in line with inflation.

The School Committee heard three reports last night. The first report was on Interim Salary and Non-Personnel Payments on External Funds, which was a short presentation. The second report was a proposal to rename the Jeremiah E. Burke High School to the Dr. Albert D. Holland High School of Technology. Dr. Holland has been a revered school administrator and community leader for nearly 40 years, and the majority of public commenters came to support the renaming.

The third report of the evening was an update on equitable literacy. Equitable literacy has been a priority for the district for the past few years, and the School Committee has heard numerous updates from the Superintendent and her team about it. Last night’s report covered updates around implementation and a centralized strategy, but there was little to no data on student outcomes nor accountability measures being taken to ensure every student in Boston is reading at grade level. 

The next School Committee meeting will be held in-person or on Zoom at 6 pm on Monday, June 17th.
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Standardized testing has long been a cornerstone in educational systems, serving as a tool for measuring student achievement and influencing decisions at every level of schooling. Supporters see standardized tests as essential for maintaining accountability and providing clear metrics for comparison across educational landscapes. However, many have called for moving away from standardized tests, with critics arguing that these tests can reinforce inequality, pressure teachers to "teach to the test," and fail to capture the full scope of student potential. 

In today’s episode, Jill and Ross are joined by two experts to explore this topic. Harry Feder is the Executive Director of Fair Test, a national organization that advocates for fair and equitable testing practices. Harry brings a wealth of experience in challenging the way tests are used and proposing alternatives. 

Dr. Martin West is a professor and academic dean at the Harvard Graduate School of Education and a board member of the National Assessment Governing Board. Dr. West offers a unique perspective with his extensive research on education policy and his involvement in shaping how assessments are created and implemented. 

To learn more about Dr West’s research and Harry’s work with Fair Test, check out the resources below.

Harry Feder Bio

Dr. Martin West Bio

Fair Test

Research on MCAS in Massachusetts
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Last night’s meeting was long anticipated as the meeting where BPS would begin to actualize the actions of their long term facilities plan by announcing a comprehensive list of school closures, mergers and consolidations, but this was not the case. 

The meeting began with the Superintendent’s Report, where she discussed a recent update she gave to the state Board of Elementary and Secondary Education on the district’s systemic improvement plan, where BESE did not raise any concern or alarm.

The School Committee took action on three items, with unanimous approval of grants and a renewed charter memorandum of understanding for UP Academy Boston and Dorchester. The third vote of the evening was on opting out of the state’s school choice program. Typically a routine decision to opt out of the state’s school choice program, the vote sparked a lively discussion. Committee members debated the benefits of participating in the program, suggesting it could potentially boost enrollment in under-enrolled schools and help retain students forced to move out of the city due to rising housing costs. Despite these arguments and pleas to have these conversations earlier in the year, the Committee voted to opt out of the program, with one member voting to opt in and another abstaining.

The only report of the evening was a report on the long-term facilities plan, where the Superintendent insisted that this is the most action taken in the last 40 years combined. Contrary to expectations of numerous school mergers and closures, the Superintendent announced only one school closure which had already been disclosed earlier this year, and a merger of two schools that share the same building. The report focused on programmatic and design changes, emphasizing the challenges of implementing a long-term plan due to secondary programming issues. Committee members pushed for a comprehensive master plan and raised concerns about budgetary implications without long-term projections.

The next School Committee meeting will be held in-person or on Zoom at 6 pm on June 5th.
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Last week, Jill and Ross hosted a live podcast recording at the University Club in Boston, MA, with College Uncovered co-hosts Jon Marcus and Kirk Carapezza. Jon is a higher education editor for The Hechinger Report, and Kirk is the managing editor and correspondent for higher education at GBH News. Their podcast, College Uncovered, helps families and students navigate higher education and understand the problems and risks in higher education. In this live recording, Jill and Ross talk to Jon and Kirk about the state of higher education and what families need to know in helping their kids get into college.

To listen to College Uncovered and read more of Jon and Kirk’s work, check out the resources below.

College Uncovered

Jon Marcus’s Bio

Kirk Carapezza’s Bio
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