Ep. 44, Last Night @ School Committee: 12/1 Meeting Recap

Last Night At School Committee

Last night’s meeting began with the Superintendent’s report, in which she discussed Acceleration Academies, ELL services, ESSER funding, and a reversal on which elementary schools will be getting a sixth grade. There was a lot of new information during this report but few follow-up questions from members of the School Committee seeking clarity. These topics were also brought up during public comment, in addition to comments on COVID-19 testing, the Mission HIll School, the exam school policy, and a proposed plan for a new innovation high school in Charlestown.

The School Committee heard two reports last night, one on a hiring update and another on amendments to the Boston Day and Evening Academy’s charter. Before the meeting ended, there was a discussion about the exam school policy, focused on the 10 bonus points for students going to schools with poverty levels of 40% or higher. Following the last meeting that featured a presentation of school-by-school data with key information missing, the Superintendent presented new data to the School Committee, as well as introducing a new feature to the policy: a waitlist to each of the exam schools beginning this application cycle. Again, there were few questions on this entirely new element of the policy from members of the School Committee. While there were public comments both for and against the 10 bonus point policy, the Superintendent and School Committee agreed to keep the policy in-place and reassess it next June.

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