FYI from BSF, 08.20.21
Summer School
With three weeks until Boston reopens its school buildings, Massachusetts pediatric COVID case rates continue to rise compared to this time last year as education leaders and government officials traded media statements about back-to-school season’s new defining issues: masks, vaccines, data, and testing (for the virus). Helpful summary from the Globe here on where things stand.
Governor Baker continued full-throated support for “localized decisionmaking” rather than a statewide school mask mandate, despite pressure from other elected officials, the MTA, and 81% of MA voters indicating support. BPS and several other MA districts will require masks regardless of vaccination status this school year, in alignment with the latest recommendations from the CDC and American Academy of Pediatrics.
In addition to mask mandates, vaccine mandates got significant attention this week. The MTA joined the AFT and the BTU to call for vaccine mandates. Baker took a first step toward a mandate Thursday requiring that all state employees be vaccinated. Prior to Baker, Acting Mayor Janey issued a similar mandate for City of Boston employees — including BPS educators and staff — but allowed for regular testing for those who opt out of the vaccine.
With 60% of Boston residents fully vaccinated and 39% of Boston’s 12-19 year olds, there is much more work to be done. And even with Federal Health officials’ 3rd booster recommendation in light of the highly transmissible Delta variant, we have to remember that Boston’s youngest children don’t yet have a vaccine available to them, but hopefully soon.
On testing, the state says it will make pooled testing available. However, parents raised concerns about the state education department’s decision to abandon collection of data on COVID cases in schools, which provided communities with key insights about in-school transmission last year.
With all this, you have to wonder, who is thinking about actual school? With just under a million Massachusetts students returning to classrooms in a few weeks after 18 months of upheaval, there are still many unanswered questions about how teaching and learning will take place with limited remote instruction available, lingering uncertainties around health and safety in the wake of Delta, and students’ increased academic and social emotional needs.
Is there room for this in all the discussion about masks, vaccines, and testing? When the Boston School Committee resumes, will they have a more detailed plan for how they are using their $430 million in ESSER funding to address learning recovery, support vast social emotional needs, and rebuild trust with families? Will we finally get some data about how children are doing?
We launched our Re-Centering Schools Initiative last June specifically to create a space where the focus would be on students, educators, and families. We are supporting schools across the city with pandemic recovery, and jumping in deeply with five BPS elementary school leaders over the next year. We kicked off our work with the cohort of leaders, and joined BPS at its August Leadership Institute where over 100 school leaders gathered to support one another in planning for yet another unprecedented year.
If you want to restore your faith in the resiliency of the human spirit, spend an hour with school principals.
With education as a top-three issue leading up to the mayoral election, a campaign launched to put the issue of the elected school committee on the ballot this November. Two city councilors joined in to file the accompanying home-rule petition that would be required to move to an elected board by 2026. While there are nuances, most mayoral candidates and the public are supportive of significant reforms to the recently embattled committee.
This raises the classic question: do we need more politics in public education? After what we’ve seen this past year, it would be hard to answer yes. But, then again, we’d be kidding ourselves to think that politics can be removed from a public system in a democracy. Even the leading authority on elected school governance reminds us that “democracy is messy” and does not guarantee accountability without “staying vigilant.”
To that end, our work with ACT Boston continues as we engage with every mayoral candidate about how they will ensure greater accountability for outcomes for Boston’s schools. If you haven’t yet, take ACT Boston’s short survey and share among your networks to help our coalition uncover the issues most salient among stakeholders and raise them for Boston’s next mayor.
Education 2021
With education as a top-three issue leading up to the mayoral election, a campaign launched to put the issue of the elected school committee on the ballot this November. Two city councilors joined in to file the accompanying home-rule petition that would be required to move to an elected board by 2026. While there are nuances, most mayoral candidates and the public are supportive of significant reforms to the recently embattled committee.
This raises the classic question: do we need more politics in public education? After what we’ve seen this past year, it would be hard to answer yes. But, then again, we’d be kidding ourselves to think that politics can be removed from a public system in a democracy. Even the leading authority on elected school governance reminds us that “democracy is messy” and does not guarantee accountability without “staying vigilant.”
To that end, our work with ACT Boston continues as we engage with every mayoral candidate about how they will ensure greater accountability for outcomes for Boston’s schools. If you haven’t yet, take ACT Boston’s short survey and share among your networks to help our coalition uncover the issues most salient among stakeholders and raise them for Boston’s next mayor.Other Matters
Former Boston School Committee student member Khymani James is profiled.
Yesterday, the Massachusetts Education Equity Project released extensive resources for pandemic recovery.
A complicated turn in school diversity: an Atlanta school is being sued by a Black family for creating classrooms with only Black students.
As school buses begin to roll out in the coming weeks, could insourcing transportation be cheaper and better (not just in service, but adding jobs and electrifying fleets)? Brockton is trying.
Have an opinion about Boston schools? Join several hundred respondents and take 6 or so minutes to complete this survey for the All Children Thrive (ACT) Boston.
Other Matters
Perhaps, nothing has shown us more clearly how hard the fight for democracy is and what the stakes are for children than the stories from Afghanistan. As Americans use public health measures as a political football, Afghan girls and women are worried schools could disappear entirely in the next several weeks. These women remind us that access to education is a cornerstone of democracy and its restriction is often the first step to restricting one’s freedom and humanity.