Boston School Committee: 11·15·23 Meeting Recap

Last Night At School Committee

Last night’s School Committee meeting was primarily focused on discussion of a new facility rubric released last week by BPS to guide decisions around school closures, mergers, and new construction. The meeting began with the Superintendent’s Report, after which the School Committee Chair and Vice Chair shared their experience from a recent visit to the BCLA/McCormack School, expressing concern that the renovations promised by BPS have not been implemented. The Superintendent also responded to questions about pursuing changes to the exam school process, saying that she is looking to bring in higher education partners to look at the policy and will raise it again at a future meeting.

This exam school issue was raised multiple times during last night’s public comment session, with parents sharing frustrations with BPS leaders’ unwillingness to amend the policy in spite of consensus on the current policy’s flaws. Additional commenters testified about a concerning lack of data in the BPS facility rubric, a topic which dominated the remainder of the meeting.

Following public comment, the Superintendent's team presented the facilities rubric. This rubric comes as the district is required to submit a master facilities plan to the State Department of Elementary and Secondary Education (DESE) by next month - a requirement included in the district’s Systemic Improvement Plan. However, the presentation last night did not include data on enrollment trends, family demand, budget, or timeline, leading School Committee members to press the Superintendent for further details and question whether this will satisfy the DESE requirement for a master plan.

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