FYI from BSF, 9.25.20

Some things we have read through recently…

Present?

“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”)

As atypical as the first day of school was this past Monday, it was also typical.  Parent jitters concerning operations.  Welcome back messages.  Beaming kids and families.

The real shift was a loss of communality - this year, the first day of school meant different things for different people.  Some teachers in buildings, others at home.  Some kids learning at home, some kids in a remote learning center.  New systems and work for many BPS employees.  No orientations, stickers, and folders - families are relying on schools for technology help (like this outstanding resource from our partners at the Bradley and PJ Kennedy in Eastie).

But the excitement of the first day - and the high attendance we are hearing reported from schools - is belied by uncertainty.  High-needs students are supposed to begin in-person attendance in six days, with some big questions still unresolved.  There are continued questions around building ventilation.  Not to be outdone by the Pats jet, the Red Sox (currently 22-35) are being called in for relief for testing and masks for schools.

And, most critically, the Mayor declared that Boston was in danger of heading to “red” due to increasing COVID transmission.

With only 4 days logged and no students yet required to be in a school building (perhaps for longer now), Boston is in the dark on a very important data point: how many kids are enrolled? 

Relative to the rest of the country, Boston is going back to school late.  There is a pattern already taking hold:

 As our past analysis projected, this trend appears to be cutting across geographies and family background.  One example from Florida:

School Reopening MA, and Beyond

This week, there was continued examination and debate around remote vs. in-person instruction in Massachusetts.  The theme here still is variation.

Race is a strong predictor of whether or not in-person learning is available, with the risk of accelerating learning gaps.  The Commissioner leaned in on Massachusetts communities with low transmission rates that are not offering in-person learning, a position that was backed by the Governor.  An audit has been proposed, but unclear what the upshot of it would be.

High school seniors’ experiences will be documented this year.

An inconvenient truth around vaccines for school-aged children.

Other Matters

If you missed the announcement, Latoya Gayle is building a new organization to amplify parent voice and equity in education in Boston.  Read more here.  Sign up to follow along here.

You can check out Boston School Finder for some earlier than usual updates.  We have reopening information up by school, for example.

Congrats to the Sumner, EMK (one of our partners), and the Winship on being named Edvestors’ School on the Move Prize finalists.

In lessons for social justice and police presence in schools, race matters.