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BPS students might walk out of class Monday to protest budget cuts - but only if they're willing to face being marked absent

Students at Boston high schools could walk out of classes Monday for a protest to demand more funding for the schools, which are facing program cuts for the next school year.

Some parents support the protest, being organized on social media, for a Monday morning walkout and march to the State House to demand more aid for their schools.

BPS officials, however, were busy today asking both students and parents to think twice:

While we encourage our students to become leaders in their community and advocate for their schools, BPS does not sanction students leaving school without permission during the day. Students who choose to participate will be marked absent from any classes that they miss. If your child does leave school, we will notify you by phone.

Student safety is a top priority at the Boston Public Schools. That is why we are notifying you and asking you to please encourage your child to remain in school.

At one school, the headmaster said students cannot leave without parental consent:

If a student, 16 or over, is planning to be dismissed from school, he or she must bring a parent note requesting dismissal to the guidance office before school on the morning of the dismissal. No student under 16 years of age will be dismissed unless a parent/guardian comes to [the school] at the time of dismissal.

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Comments

These kids may get in trouble. Some teachers have heard about it. I was planning to do it but now because it's spreading so quickly, my mom knows and said I could get in very serious trouble. So I decided not to. But you never know what could happen. Why do this?? I really don't understand.

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is to do it

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Am true role model.

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But now grade school programs are getting cut

I hope the kids who organized BPS walkout speak up for the younger grades that are having programs cut: AFTER STUDENT WALKOUTS, WALSH MOVES TO BLOCK BUDGET CUTS | Boston Globe

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Because losing 50 million dollars will hurt. At that big a deficit every school in the district is going to hurt the only question is much for each school. Electives, AP classes, language classes and libraries(if there around) will likely get hit the worst. Also this is not a one time thing BPS has been consistently losing funding from the state, year after year facing budget cuts and stituation is already tough for a lot of schools in BPS. And since this isn't going to stop on it's own continue to lose classes, teachers, schools and oppertunity. That's why people are missing a couple classes of one day of school.

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good for the students to get involved. Many of life's lessons are learned outside the classroom.

However they should channel their protest towards the anti-poor student teachers' union. The teachers union allow apathetic teachers to stay employed with mandatory pay raises regardless of performance.

I mentioned a while back that the standards to become a teacher should be the same as becoming a doctor. I am not the only one who thinks that:

http://www.nytimes.com/2016/02/28/nyregion/new-york-teacher-gets-wise-at...

Teachers union would never let this happen though.

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Do other cities and towns pay for Charlie Cards for their students? Do the parents in the city of Boston who send their kids to private or charter schools have access to Charlie cards for free.

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yes, Boston charter school kids get free T passes. I'm not so sure what the schools pay but they are free to the kids.

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Middle school students used to take school buses like younger kids. Then the city thought they could save money on school transportation by having them take the T like older kids. The T passes are tree to the students so they can ride the T to school. BPS/City of Boston buys them.

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Wasnt there just a report BPS has all these teachers in limbo they're paying to do nothing. There's also high school online now. Think of all the infrastructure and transportation savings there. I'm sure there's alot of stay at home parents that can accomodate this.

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What all do BPS students know and really understand about budget cuts? Focus on your homework kids...

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The last couple of school-committee meetings had a number of kids testifying about what specific cuts would mean to them. They were pretty eloquent.

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Back in the day, I mean way back in the day, back far enough I'm seriously dating myself here....I was handing out flyers protested the then proposed Proposition 2 1/2 (see what I mean about dating? Today it would be known as Prop 2.5!).** One adult started yelling at me about how inappropriate it was for my teachers to send me out with such flyers, as if I was incapable of understanding the issues and deciding to hand them out of my own volition. Thing was, my teachers at the time were very hesitant to discuss the issue, even when asked directly by a student, because of the potential political blow-back. So yes, kids are capable of thinking these things through and making evaluations of the impact they may have on them. Isn't that type of critical thinking the whole point of education?

**Of course we know that Proposition 2 1/2 passed. Fortunately for me I grew up in Brookline where education is valued and the town voters have been willing to pass overrides...

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...in 1972, some of us played hooky from BLS to attend an anti Vietnam war rally on Government Center Plaza. And some of the teachers were there also.

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Not every city/town is as affluent as Brookline and can afford to be bled dry every tax season to appease inefficient bureaucracies holding basic public services hostage.

BPS is the MBTA of the City of Boston's departments. Vital and falling apart because of internal mismanagement and a toxic employee culture.

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Today BPS has one of the highest per pupil expenditure rates in the state and as one of the wealthiest states that likely makes BPS one of the wealthiest in the country.

The reason is 100% thanks to the value of compound interest,time and good Ole prop 2.5. It has been a godsend for our schools.

Boston has greater needs than Brookline for sure, and I'll have to check, but i have a feeling that Boston's per capita budget is higher than Brookline's perhaps by a lot. There's a reason we don't have overrides in Boston. It would draw too much scrutiny of how much city workers are getting paid especially after factoring in benefits. It's not the T, but I can assure you they don't want the press an override war would generate. So they fight these little turf battles that only wonks like me follow and stay below the radar.

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Today BPS has one of the highest per pupil expenditure rates in the state

False.

But Boston is a high needs high wealth school district. High needs means a high percentage of the school population lives at or near the poverty level, a high percentage are ELL and a high population of special education students. High welth means the state does not send us as much aid as nigh need low wealth districts.

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At well over $18k per pupil Boston has one of the highest per pupil expenditures in the state particularly if you exclude all the little towns on the cape that have like 8 students but get lots of income from part time residents that don't use the schools.

That doesn't include all the outside money we get for any number of programs. Also doesn't include teacher pensions or capital expenses. BPS gets the real estate for free. Add it all up and we spend well north of $22k a year per kid or $550K per class of 25 kids. It costs about $150K to put a teacher in the classroom w benefits. Where is the other $400k going? And how many districts anywhere in the world can spend so much for so little in retyrn, especially if you take out the exam schools which surprisingly get some of the least resources?

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Every time this topic comes up, you repeat the same overinflated numbers. Then, when someone (occasionally me) show cites to disprove, you just repeat repeat repeat. It's getting tedious.

Why do you do this? Is BPS troubled with inefficiency? Undoubtably. Are there reforms that could improve academic outcomes for students across the system. Certainly. But your perculiarly specific onus against the BPS, and your willingness to continually exagerate the numbers really damages your credibility.

The real BPS per student expenditure from all sources is about $18.5K - high to be sure, but unfortunately for your thesis, only about the 80th percentile or so - there are dozens of MA districts higher.

But - although much lower than the state average for private/charter schools, that number is high - so why the insistence on always mis-stating it? Make your points with real numbers and maybe you'll actually move the conversation forward and change some minds.

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If you believe what you wrote you don't know how to read the numbers. That 18k is NOT all sources. It excludes at least 5 cost centers totalling hundreds of millions of dollars.

This is why i repeat it. Because you say you read my comments repeatedly and yet somehow you STILL don't get that as bad as you think it might be it's about 25% worse than that. Given the scale of the numbers this is an enormous amount of money BPS ships straight to Deer Island every year.

As for dozens higher than boston - yes about 3 dozen districts higher than boston on this measure only. I should qualify that boston is higher than just about any reasonably sized district. I never think to consider places luke Truro and Provincetown and all those other cape and island towns that top that list in comparison to boston or cambridge or waltham or brookline newton wellesley winchester hingham. Those little towns ( and Cambridge in fact) have highly unusual demographics that make them very poor comparisons to the other 90% of municipalities in Mass and most other communities in the country for that matter.

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While yes, the average pp expenditure is around $18,000, the schools only see a smaller portion of that. For example, in this new budget, high schools get around $5000 per student (which may go up if the student is ELL or Special Needs). That $5000 times number of students is what the school has to work with to pay their administration, teachers, supplies, etc.

The rest is tied up in the central administration, transportation, etc. I'm not saying that it isn't a huge amount of money - it is, but the problem is the administration always cuts the money going to the schools, instead of cutting their portion.

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I was young but remembered how much it impacted my life and I was not happy about it. If I had had an avenue to protest it, I would have.

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Most kids could care less about budget cuts. Walk outs and protests shake up the normal school week.

If you think otherwise then obviously you've never been a kid before.

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There were a lot of students protesting school budget cuts outside Mayor Walsh's State Of The City address in January, in additions to parents and teachers.

There were also a lot of students who rallied outside city hall and at the statehouse a week or two later. Neither Marty Walsh, who was in his office, nor Governor Baker, who was also in his office, would meet with the students.

Students at BCLA wrote a letter to Mayor Walsh outlining what their school stood to lose from the budget cuts and invited him to visit their school. Marty hasn't taken them up yet. He's been too busy campagning for Hillary.

The way I understand it. Walsh spent $13m of new revenue in schools, which will require about about $40m in cuts. Rookie Tommy Chang proposed where to cut. It is ugly.

You should have seen the last school committee hearing. Lots of people testified-- students and parents. Feedback from the school committee told me they too are concerned about the proposed budget. Folks are pissed at the Mayor's hunger games.

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I work in an elementary school. Students even at this level are able to understand the budget cuts. Their parents have been relentlessly advocating for a few positions that have been cut. These students know that because the school doesn't have enough money, their parents will no longer have 3 absolutely essential staff members...a teacher that helps all of the classroom teachers with things that take away from daily teaching & learning such as mandated individual benchmark testing, one on one interventions with students who may be falling behind, reading groups, etc.The other 2 staff members help with everything else that goes on behind the scenes. One who gives parents a voice that they otherwise wouldn't have because they do not speak English. One who writes grants, brings opportunities such as the arts, field trips, etc. It would take a whole day to list everything that they do. They are the blood, sweat & tears of the school and are the least paid. To most it would seem simple to keep them part of the school since their salaries are amongst the lowest in the school, but the budget basically only allows for the absolute bare minimum as required by law. Yes, the students don't know the depth of it all but when they can relate that budget cuts equal the cutting of actual people, they know!

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As a student myself I'm confused when you say "most students could care less." My fellow classmates and I are enraged by the budget shortfalls and the fact that the quality of our education is being compromised. As one of the previous replies stated there were plenty of students protesting the budget shortfalls outside the state of the city. I was one of them. There will be plenty of students walking out tomorrow. I will be one of them. Why? Because everyone student deserves to have an education of the best quality possible. These shortfalls affect students of all ages, and it's not just high school students who are angered. Don't assume that because when you were a kid you didn't care about your education that kids now don't care either. If we were like you then we'd all be in trouble.

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This list was collected by Boston Latin School parents in collaboration with the Citywide Parent Council Budget Subcommittee.

Boston Arts Academy
• Losing $367,000 plus $187,000 that the BAA foundation is working to raise (Total being raised by Foundation is over $2 million dollars - almost the entirety of the arts education budget)
• Losing 1 teaching position
• Losing Health and wellness staff and support
• Losing administration staffing

Boston Community Leadership Academy
• Losing over $800,000
• Losing 5-7 teaching positions, including librarian, theater teacher
• Losing free SAT prep course
• Advanced Placement classes
• Losing teacher of the leadership program
• Cuts to autism program

Boston Latin Academy
• Losing $492,000 despite an increase in enrollment
• One 7th/8th grade math teacher retiring, will not be replaced
• Arabic program eliminated
• History Dept. Director eliminated
• Arts Dept. Director eliminated
• no supply budget.
• If any cuts happen next year, then electives will be cut.

Boston Latin School
• Losing $705,000
• A teacher in each department (7 teachers)
• Larger class sizes (up to 31)
• Eighth Grade Science (an MCAS Requirement)
• Reduction of Support Services
• Reduction of AP Courses, including a proposed an AP African American History Class

Boston Teachers Union (BTU) K-8 School
• Losing $339,000
• Losing two teachers: one middle school and one learning specialist
• Field trips cut, Spanish cut.

Charlestown High
• Losing $600,000
• Losing Diploma Plus program, an alternative ed program serving 70 teens who are behind grade level, many of them living in extreme hardship and crisis. Program helps them rapidly catch up to grade level and graduate high school. Described as a “family” by current students and graduates.

Chittick Elementary
• Losing the specialist that Chittick got to make ELT work last year; going down to 4 specialists

Dearborn Academy
• No information about the budget. Principal also doesn't have access to the budget as they're run by an outside operator, the Boston Plan for Excellence

East Boston High
• Losing $680,000

Edison K-8
• Losing one K0 teacher and one K1 teacher

Excel High
• Losing $500,000
• Losing technology class and art class, JV sports cut

Fenway High School
• Losing $134,000
• Losing Career and College Readiness coordinator
• Languages cut so students can't fulfill language requirements for college/graduation requirement
• Losing SAT prep program

Guild Elementary
• Losing $151,238
• Cut 1.3 esl teacher , cut .6 specialist , cut. 8 resource too and very low supply line

Jeremiah E. Burke High School
• Losing $300,000
• Librarian, technology teacher, social worker, Spanish teacher cut (only language
offered)

JFK Elementary
• Losing $150,000
• Losing 1 teacher, 1 para, 2 lunch monitors, limited field trip budget and $0 for supplies

John D. O’Bryant School of Math and Science
• Losing $339,782
• Losing 6 positions
• No foreign language instruction ( a requirement for most colleges)
• Loss of computer technology department
• Reduction of library hours
• Reduction in health and wellness services

Lee K-8
• Losing $253,000

Lyndon K-8
• Losing $253,000

Manning Elementary
• Losing 5.1%, or over $91,000
• Losing two part-time resource specialists, which is the equivalent of one full-time position.
• Losing library services, dropping the librarian from 1.0 FTE to 0.8 FTE.
• Losing Playworks and music program

Mather Elementary
• 2 positions cut, 2 positions hours reduced
• Loss of funding for playworks and ANET materials.

Mendell Elementary
• Losing $85,000
• Losing Playworks coach
• Potential loss of interns who support inclusive practice in grades 1-5
• Lost lunch monitor
• Supply budget cut to $0

Roger Clap
• Losing $53,000
• 4 Inclusion classes only .5 resource teacher

Roosevelt K-8
• Losing $319,000

Snowden School
• Losing $370,000
• Elimination of Japanese program
• Losing part time librarian, calculus teacher, registrar, guidance counselor, Reduction of 2 English teachers to part time

Tech Boston
• Due to weighted student funding cuts, they have no music or art. Other cuts unclear

West Roxbury Academy
• Losing $500,000

West Zone Early Learning Center
• Losing $108,000

Young Achievers K-8
• Losing $470,000

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That you are one of those people who complain endlessly that young people just don't pay attention to what is going on in their communities, amirite?

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As a high school freshman I find your comment offensive. What do you know about budget cuts? For the record bps is facing shortfalls not cuts. What have you demonstrated on your knowledge of them that makes you any different from a high school student? Are these budget shortfalls directly affecting your life? These shortfalls will result in the loss of classes at my school. Classes that I or some of my peers might have been interested in taking. These shortfalls result in the loss of resources at my school and schools across the city. They result in the loss of technology available to students. I might be only a high school student, but I understand the implications of a $50,000,000 budget shortfall. It means that teachers who have not been teaching as long could lose their jobs. It affects the students, parents, and teachers. I am a student and I believe that everyone should have an opportunity to have a quality education. And it's not just high school students affected. Middle and elementary schoolers will be affected too. We might not be able to make a difference, but we can at least try. For the sake of our own education and for the sake of the education of those too young to advocate for themselves.

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I hope our busy US Attorney takes the time from trying to scrub the blood of Aaron Swartz off of her hands, keeping Sal DiMasi in jail when he is dying, and making a federal case out of a already punished teenager being an idiot, to investigate this proposed action by these unruly utes.

There has to be a federal case in here, somewhere, maybe? Maybe? Trounce on Truants? Yup, that's the ticket.

By the way, here is the video of the Mom pushing for the BLS investigation praising the diversity of the school back in October. I guess things change. See 6 minutes in.

http://newbostonpost.com/2016/03/02/mother-of-victimized-boston-latin-gi...

There are also some great points about the school having the lowest per student expenditure and is the most diverse in the city. Sorry about relating this back to Latin but the planned protest on Monday shows how massively dysfunctional the school system is still. People are trying to go after the best school and the model that it is while the remainder burns (again). Good luck Monday folks, the cameras will be elsewhere.

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Is this the mom who is screaming that Boston Latin is an unsafe place for he daughter? Watch the video.

Britton is praising the school as a perfect match for her daughter during a New England Association of Schools and Colleges panel discussion.
“We are fortunate to have BLS in our city and our city is fortunate to have BLS in this community.”

Britton also praised the school’s commitment to diversity.

“We take great pride in the diversity of our student body, which is approximately 47 percent white, 30 percent Asian, 10 percent black and 12 percent Latino. Every neighborhood in this city is represented on our roster and 32 percent of students live below the poverty line.”

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I'm sure she's telling the truth. But she puts folks in the uncomfortable position of figuring out when that is.

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Worst thing about me waking up before my coffee.... THIS. The mother ought to be ashamed: she and her daughter are looking for either a settlement or some media coverage. It's unfortunately becoming a "cry wolf" scenario with race because of morons like this....

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make for a great leadership opportunity, because nobody can ever objectively measure your accomplishment.

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T service and additional services for the BPS...

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by cutting school doesn't make a very good case for your argument.

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protest over more of my tax monies going to a $1.03 BILLION BPS budget.

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Many Mass. cities and towns spend 50% of their municipal budget on schools. BMRB says Boston spends 35%.

What's important is that BPS students get a good education and have good options when they graduate.

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to reach 50% School funding?

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