JFYNetWorks Podcast JFYNetWorks

JULY 2024 PODCAST -- This September will mark the 50th anniversary of Judge Arthur Garrity’s decision to implement busing in the Boston Public Schools as a strategy to desegregate the school system. This past year, JFYNetWorks has featured three individuals who have had direct knowledge and experience in the long struggle for equity in education then and now. This podcast highlights our conversations with JFY’s Deputy Director and Director of Development Paula Paris, community activist Lew Finfer, and civic legend Hubie Jones.
PODCAST HIGHLIGHTS
[Timestamp 12:01 – 12:30] Paula Paris: "It was a live experience and something you just remember that human beings are capable of this behavior. People did not want the schools to be integrated and the purpose of the integration to me, and I think going back and reading the case was inequality and I think it was equality of resources."
[Timestamp 13:59 – 14:27] Lew Finfer: "Garrity set hiring goals for hiring teachers of color and principals of color and the exam schools, he ordered them to be 1/3 of students of color. So, there were a number of positive things that he ordered, and you know help change the system and some of that would have happened but not as dramatically without those court orders that were made you know between 1974 and 1980."
[Timestamp 26:52 – 27:15] Hubie Jones: "You have to have things like the arts, music, plays, dance, which are joyous things that are part of the learning process because if there's no joy in the school, then there's no joy in learning. Who's going to invest in [that type of school] in any major way?"
MORE ABOUT JFYNetWorks
Today, JFYNetWorks addresses the college readiness disconnect by providing focused blended, hybrid, and remote learning programs in high school to help students build the academic skills they need to enter college or technical training to earn academic credit. The JFYNetWorks blended program model — infusing specialized online content into the regular curriculum — also facilitates scalability, as the low cost of the online platform can easily be expanded to entire schools.
To learn more visit JFYNet.org
Proven Results
Connected Learning Solutions
JFY Guides Student Achievement. Learn More Through Stories of Success.
[Song Credit: “Epic Inspirational and Cinematic Motivational Background Music” - by AShamaluevMusic is under a creative commons license Music promoted by BreakingCopyright: https://breakingcopyright.com]

Dramatic Academic Progress at East Boston High School
MAY 2024 PODCAST -- This month’s podcast features a preview of a collaborative presentation to take place at the MassCue Convention on May 31st and June 1st at Polar Park in Worcester. Audrey Schindler, East Boston High School’s Director of ELA and Humanities and Dean of Students, will partner with JFYNetWorks for a presentation on East Boston High’s dramatic academic progress over the past decade. In this podcast she will provide a tantalizing sample of the upcoming presentation.
PODCAST HIGHLIGHTS
So when I was a teacher, I didn't see other teachers' data. At the time I was only seeing my own data. I could go in and I could look at individual students, obviously, and see how they were doing and make a plan with them on an individual, like on a one-to-one basis. And then as an administrator, I can see the individual students, but I can also see the teachers and I can say to the teachers, Hey, what's going on with these particular students? [Timestamp 00:05:25]
One of the other things that we did was we, as an admin team, developed slide decks that all teachers across the school had to use. We developed this whole school slide deck system. We had a common grading policy. And the reason behind it was that students would be able to focus on the content that they were learning and not on figuring out how to manipulate and get through unfamiliar technology. [Timestamp 00:14:30]
Our teachers can become buried with grading, especially English teachers, with the amount of writing that students are expected to produce. And it's not simply about grading, but it's about also providing feedback. That feedback needs to be relevant, it needs to be specific, and it really needs to be timely. It really doesn't do much good if a student receives a piece of writing that they've done from three weeks ago and they get some feedback on it, they're not invested in it anymore. They're not involved in it. And so the purpose behind getting AI programming involved, and this is where you guys have really stepped up and come in and said, you know, I think we can help you with this. [Timestamp 00:19:24]
Our teachers can become buried with grading, especially English teachers, with the amount of writing that students are expected to produce. And it's not simply about grading, but it's about also providing feedback. That feedback needs to be relevant, it needs to be specific, and it really needs to be timely. It really doesn't do much good if a student receives a piece of writing that they've done from three weeks ago and they get some feedback on it, they're not invested in it anymore. They're not involved in it. And so the purpose behind getting AI programming involved, and this is where you guys have really stepped up and come in and said, you know, I think we can help you with this. [Timestamp 00:20:39]
MORE ABOUT JFYNetWorks
Today, JFYNetWorks addresses the college readiness disconnect by providing focused blended, hybrid, and remote learning programs in high school to help students build the academic skills they need to enter college or technical training to earn academic credit. The JFYNetWorks blended program model — infusing specialized online content into the regular curriculum — also facilitates scalability, as the low cost of the online platform can easily be expanded to entire schools.
To learn more visit JFYNet.org
Proven Results
Connected Learning Solutions
JFY Guides Student Achievement. Learn More Through Stories of Success.
[Song Credit: “Epic Inspirational and Cinematic Motivational Background Music” - by AShamaluevMusic is under a creative commons license Music promoted by BreakingCopyright: https://breakingcopyright.com]

‘A New Chapter’ Brockton High School Principal Has Faith
Kevin McCaskill, ‘I know that we can achieve at high levels’
APRIL 2024 PODCAST -- This podcast features newly appointed Brockton High School principal Kevin McCaskill, who began his tenure in Brockton at the start of 2024. Described as “…a new chapter for our entire community” by Mayor Robert Sullivan, McCaskill discusses how Brockton High School was once a beacon of educational excellence in Massachusetts and will beam even brighter in the years ahead.
PODCAST HIGHLIGHTS
Case in point, in the morning I see the vast majority of our students getting off the buses every day. 39 buses. And we’re being very consistent with morning greetings And so they get that recognition that someone's [Timestamp 00:09:00]
I know that we can achieve at high levels. But it's going to take some time and again, it won't be something that happens overnight or by magic. But if we have some folks who are really interested in moving the needle forward-- which I know we have here at the high school, I know it will be done. [Timestamp 00:13:06]
You have to have faith in everything you can do, faith in the individuals that you’re working with and faith in the belief that all things are possible. [Timestamp 00:16:34]
MORE ABOUT JFYNetWorks
Today, JFYNetWorks addresses the college readiness disconnect by providing focused blended, hybrid, and remote learning programs in high school to help students build the academic skills they need to enter college or technical training to earn academic credit. The JFYNetWorks blended program model — infusing specialized online content into the regular curriculum — also facilitates scalability, as the low cost of the online platform can easily be expanded to entire schools.
To learn more visit JFYNet.org
Proven Results
Connected Learning Solutions
JFY Guides Student Achievement. Learn More Through Stories of Success.
[Song Credit: “Epic Inspirational and Cinematic Motivational Background Music” - by AShamaluevMusic is under a creative commons license Music promoted by BreakingCopyright: https://breakingcopyright.com]

JFY Deputy Director, ‘Education Equity, Still a Struggle’
FEBRUARY 2024 PODCAST -- This month’s podcast features JFY’s Deputy Director Paula Paris, who has been with JFY since 1995. She has contributed to the growth and diversification of the organization first as Director of Development and then as Deputy Director. Paula shares her personal history beginning as a bus safety monitor during the desegregation of the Boston Public Schools, and her informed insights on the continuing struggle to achieve equity in American education.
PODCAST HIGHLIGHTS
[Boston] Busing got so much national publicity. "...so, the buses took us to Day Boulevard. Yeah. And then they consolidated the buses and went the rest of the way with a police escort." [Timestamp 00:20:02]
Thinking about the learning loss question. "But it is about learning loss and how not being in school affected different populations differently. [Timestamp 00:36:08]
We’ve solved problems, but … "We've got a long way to go. And progress has been made for sure. But more progress needs to be made. Let's not lose sight of what we still need to do." [Timestamp 00:43:39]
MORE ABOUT JFYNetWorks
Today, JFYNetWorks addresses the college readiness disconnect by providing focused blended, hybrid, and remote learning programs in high school to help students build the academic skills they need to enter college or technical training to earn academic credit. The JFYNetWorks blended program model — infusing specialized online content into the regular curriculum — also facilitates scalability, as the low cost of the online platform can easily be expanded to entire schools.
To learn more visit JFYNet.org
Proven Results
Connected Learning Solutions
JFY Guides Student Achievement. Learn More Through Stories of Success.
Music Credit: Song: “Epic Inspirational and Cinematic Motivational Background Music” - by AShamaluevMusic is under a Creative Commons license Music promoted by Breaking. Copyright: https://breakingcopyright.com

Lew Finfer, Quiet Leader, Thundering Results
NOVEMBER 2023 PODCAST -- JFY’s podcast this month features Lew Finfer, a Boston community organizer since 1970. In an article published last year in the Boston Globe, Lew was described as “a quiet leader who spent the past four decades orchestrating some of Boston’s biggest campaigns for social and economic justice.”
PODCAST HIGHLIGHTS
'You have to do a lot of listening and outreach for any kind of issue you work on.' [Timestamp 00:13:57]
'Share something about yourself, about what you are.' [Timestamp 00:22:08]
'Starting back in 1973 and 74 when the whole shakeup of the Boston Public Schools started.' [Timestamp 00:30:04]
 
MORE ABOUT JFYNetWorks
Today, JFYNetWorks addresses the college readiness disconnect by providing focused blended, hybrid, and remote learning programs in high school to help students build the academic skills they need to enter college or technical training to earn academic credit. The JFYNetWorks blended program model — infusing specialized online content into the regular curriculum — also facilitates scalability, as the low cost of the online platform can easily be expanded to entire schools.
To learn more visit JFYNet.org
Proven Results
Connected Learning Solutions
JFY Guides Student Achievement. Learn More Through Stories of Success.

Boston’s Historical Civic and Social Landscape: A Personal Account
SEPTEMBER 2023 PODCAST -- This month, JFYNetWorks will take the opportunity to expand on some of the history that Hubie Jones shared with our listeners when he was a guest for three JFYNet podcasts last year. [Podcast 1, Podcast 2, Podcast 3] Recently, PBS, in conjunction with local affiliate GBH, debuted the documentary “The Busing Battleground: THE DECADES-LONG ROAD TO SCHOOL DESEGREGATION” as part of the American Experience television series. The program featured reflections by many prominent Boston-area activists, including Hubie Jones, who has not only witnessed Boston history for 67 years, but has also shaped and defined the civic and social landscape.
MORE ABOUT JFYNetWorks
Today, JFYNetWorks addresses the college readiness disconnect by providing focused blended, hybrid, and remote learning programs in high school to help students build the academic skills they need to enter college or technical training earning academic credit. The JFYNetWorks blended program model — infusing specialized online content into the regular curriculum — also facilitates scalability, as the low cost of the online platform can easily be expanded to entire schools.
To learn more visit JFYNet.org
Proven Results
Connected Learning Solutions
JFY Guides Student Achievement. Learn More Through Stories of Success.