Ep. 91, Last Night @ School Committee: 9/13 Meeting Recap

Last Night At School Committee

Last night was the first School Committee meeting held in-person since the start of the pandemic, and it was conducted in a hybrid format with both in-person and remote public testimony. The meeting began with the Superintendent’s Report, which featured a number of positive back-to-school updates, including a low number of teacher vacancies, a high number of schools with fully operational kitchens, and improvements in on-time bus performance. There are still 10 percent of educators without certification and further improvements needed to bus performance, but it was clear that the district has made progress since last year and demonstrated signs of rebound from many issues brought on by the pandemic.

However, this positive update was not reflected in public comment, in which we heard from families frustrated with insufficient services and support structures in the district, nor was it reflected in the remarks made by Committee members later in the meeting. After votes approving a new admissions policy for Madison Park and approving a rating of “proficient” for Superintendent Skipper’s annual performance evaluation, School Committee Chair Jeri Robinson offered shocking testimony about the many ways in which she believes the Boston community is failing its students, calling city councilors, neighborhoods, school employees and parents to task for not leaning into or demanding a better educational experience for the district’s students. She continued by describing her perception of what she deemed to be a “failing school system” and buildings that “should be condemned.” The Chair did not outline a path toward improvement or acknowledge her ability as School Committee Chair to partner with city leadership and right the ship.

The only report of the evening was an update on capital planning in the district. Billed as a discussion of the rubric with which facilities across the district will be evaluated, the report included neither clear metrics nor timelines for facility assessment and improvement, leading Vice Chair Michael O’Neill to seek clarity about the process. The discussion last night was reminiscent of the early days of BuildBPS – the district’s last capital planning process launched nearly a decade ago – which did not achieve its stated objective of facility improvement and consolidation.

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