FYI from BSF, 06.25.21
Thank You
As we close out another school-year, we never cease to be excited and humbled by your willingness to open, read, forward, or tell us what you think about this weekly email. Boston is a city of great educators and great ideas, and it is honestly just fun for us to have the opportunity to engage in that.
Longtime readers know our analysis and volume can turn down a bit in the summer months, but you can still expect your weekly summary most Friday mornings.
Summer Reading List
No school-year ends without loose ends or a summer packet to complete. Before next fall, and as early as next week, there are several important topics to track.
Budget
The Boston Public Schools (BPS) budget is not yet approved. The broader city budget, increasingly politicized in an election year, has one more shot to be approved by City Council next Wednesday, on the last day of the fiscal year. Either the city budget or the BPS budget itself could be voted down (in fact, that is being described as likely). That would put a temporary hold on additional BPS revenue, and any planned new hires or initiatives, such as giving kids library cards.
The penultimate commission meeting for federal relief funding was held last night. It is now clear that the charge of the commission is only $123M of the approximately $430M federal dollars. The funding formula is not clear, and there is no timeline for allocations for schools or a School Committee vote (which was promised as a process step at the April 28th School Committee meeting). The commission did not complete its agenda, and moved back its final meeting to July 8th. Unclear what that means for the 30-day public comment period with a plan required by the end of July.
The commission meeting kicked off with concerns about Commissioner Riley’s suggestion at Tuesday’s Board meeting that the state may freeze Boston’s federal relief dollars.
Boston School Committee
Why? Instability at Boston School Committee, which has seen the majority of its members (and two chairpersons) turn over in the past year. Further concerns arose late yesterday when it was revealed that principals’ and central office’s negative survey results (“Everyone is in fear of their jobs and no one is happy”) did not align with the School Committee evaluation of the superintendent. The final evaluation, and a potential contract extension, will be on the School Committee agenda next week.
Applications to fill the two open Boston School Committee seats are due by July 8th, with interviews quickly to follow. It is conceivable that two candidates could be available for the August 4th meeting; however, these appointments are technically temporary until Boston has an elected mayor.
Expect this issue to hang around. More text messages related to that October meeting have been released, including a message to then Mayor Walsh. Boston School Committee has been a frequent topic and component of platforms in the mayor’s race.
Exam Schools
There were listening sessions this week and the last meeting of the exam school task force was held last night. There is still no consensus for a proposal; there are a lot of options still on the table. This all but guarantees that there will not be a new exam school admission policy going into the summer. Legal challenges have been revived.
All this means continued debate and uncertainty. What are the costs? Another group of potential applicants will continue to not receive attention and support. 122 other schools will continue to not receive attention and support. The incoming exam school class, with new admission criteria and having experienced interrupted learning, will continue to not receive attention and support. That is the price of this controversy.
Re-Centering
Schools and school systems will have significantly more certainty this summer than last to plan for the fall. The task is large, given the needs of children, families, and educators. We are supporting this work and will be tracking and reporting its progress. One of the principals from that initiative, Carline Pignato, was interviewed for NBC’s Hear our Truth series (start at minute fourteen).
Reopening in Boston, MA and Beyond
Given the national crisis of students missing from enrollment rolls, after the school-year closed BPS and partners went door-to-door to reenage students. The next day of school for BPS is in 76 days.
A lengthy profile of a classroom in Salem, one of few diverse communities in Massachusetts that was able to maintain open elementary school buildings for the majority of the year.
Managing caseloads for Massachusetts children’s mental health is becoming untenable. Food insecurity continues.
The state clarified its guidance for summer school and programs, and maintains the majority of COVID-related guidance may be lifted in the fall. There were only 48 cases of COVID-19 reported in the city of Boston last week.
School districts across the country are vexed: how do we grade students during the pandemic without harming their future prospects? This and many other stressors have led to significant turnover amongst superintendents
Other Matters
The state leveled the playing field by adopting new admission rules for vocational schools. At the same Board meeting, Commissioner Riley’s evaluation was also reviewed (item 10).
Will the Biden Administration revive Obama’s initiatives around school integration?
School really is out for the summer. Official news from the Supreme Court: students had free speech rights to protest war - now they can flip off a teacher on their smartphones outside the Cocoa Hut.