FYI from BSF, 10.2.20

Some things we have read through recently…

Present, Still?

“With ties to housing, economic mobility, and citizenship, schools are at the center of Boston’s civic life and planning. Full support and funding at district, local, state, and federal levels flow to all classrooms.” (from BSF’s “What We Believe”)

Despite continued concerns around rising transmission rates and building conditions, yesterday Boston Public Schools welcomed 3,500 children for an official, in-person school day for the first time in 199 days.  And this happened without a significant public showdown (like in NYC), public comments at the Boston School Committee meeting last night, notwithstanding.  And, 50 bucks!

An immense amount of effort and time was committed to make this picture possible.

School committee meetings are getting a lot more attention than they used to, whether it is advocates asking about masks or a mayor holding a meeting for an empty room.

In the reopening update on Wednesday in Boston, we were again watching enrollment closely, noting this in the top corner of slide 4.

In September, BPS enrollment declined by 1,563 students.  3,400 students have not reported to school at all.  That’s not a typo (see slide 5) - 3,400 students have not reported to school (i.e., logged in) at all yet.

It is worth noting that this decline is across all grade spans: K0-K2 (-306), 1-5 (-569), 6-8 (-296), and 9-12 (-392).  It is further worth noting that this enrollment figure is already significantly below what was budgeted, 54,004 students.

Other data suggest that this is not noise, but a signal.

There is additional reporting on enrollment declines in cities in every corner of the country.

In Boston, there are massive housing shifts to coming to light, regardless of the status of the statewide eviction moratorium.  Rents in Boston have already softened significantly, implying decreased demand (which implies vacancy, which means less people).  Credit: Boston Indicators.

A longer term shift has also been sewn - Black and Latino homeownership in Boston has declined sharply since 2007; Black and Latino students comprise almost 3 out of 4 of all BPS students.

So, we are asking the same question we asked last week: how many kids are in our schools, and what is the plan to address changes in enrollment?
 

School Reopening MA, and Beyond

After you read this email, read this.  A New Yorker profile (from a ProPublica reporter) that captures the struggles of remote learning with historical and political context.  Uncanny resemblance to conditions in Boston and around MA.

METCO students are at the center of COVID-19 and the national reckoning on race.

Tuesday’s Massachusetts Board of Elementary and Secondary meeting focused heavily on reopening, with some changes to remote learning policies, as well as urging for resuming common assessments this year.

More data that the stakes are very, very high for remote learning loss.
 

Other Matters

Check out two initiatives we are supporting: Boston Families Building Boston Schools and the Massachusetts Education Equity Partnership (MEEP).  The first #HearOurTruth Family Forum is on October 7th.  Come and hear from students, parents, and community advocates from across the state about how they navigated remote learning last spring, how this school year is going so far, and what state and local education leaders can do to make sure all students continue to learn this year – regardless of where they are learning from. Here is the flyer, and you can register here.

Here is a brief on engaging families in school reopening, co-authored by Latoya Gayle.  EdNavigator has a parent-facing guide on the topic, another in the Globe, and the Rennie Center also has one geared toward policymakers.

One of our very first partners, Excel Academy, is applying to serve over 2,000 children in Providence, RI.

Students are raising concerns about racism against Asian-Americans in schools.

Fascinating research out of MIT’s SEII: the cost and benefit of “free college” (with implications that it promotes equity).  Wealth (not income) seems to matter, too