Ayanna Pressley

Officials want to know why BPS teaching staff so much whiter, more female than student population

adamg — Tue, 15 May 2012 11:58:19 +0000

WBUR reports BPS could face a federal probe into the racial makeup of its teaching staff because it's failing to meet diversity standards set in the court order that desegregated schools in the 1970s.

The City Council takes up the issue tomorrow, when Councilor Ayanna Pressley (at large) makes a formal request for a hearing into diversity in a system where 85% of students are black, Hispanic and Asian, but 62% of teachers are white - and the vast majority are women.

Pressley says the percentage of black teachers has not increased from 23% since 2007, even with a black superintendent and black School Committee chairman. BPS is still under a federal court order to increase that number to at least 35%; Pressley says she also wants to see the percentages of Latino and male teachers get closer to their numbers in the student population.

The council's weekly meeting begins at noon in its fifth-floor chambers at City Hall.

Ayanna Pressley on why Dorchester rocks

adamg — Wed, 29 Feb 2012 00:46:36 +0000

Boston Daily talks to Pressley, an at-large councilor, on her home turf of Dorchester:

But there is one trait that all residents share: pride. And it isn't limited to the borders on a city map. Just as every animal is part of a kingdom, phylum, class, and order, every Dorchester resident has a parish, school, park, and neighborhood that they identify with. If I meet someone who is OFD, I expect them to ask me which parish and neighborhood I live in. They're not trying to expose me as an outsider. It's just a local's way of breaking the ice, the answer an opportunity for newcomers and longtime residents to find common ground.

A word of advice to Boston's next mayor

adamg — Thu, 10 Nov 2011 12:32:02 +0000

Yes, Ms. Pressley, we're talking to you, now that the Herald has named you a force to be reckoned with (well, or they would have if they hadn't spelled it "rekoned"): Remember what happened to the last at-large councilor who did surprisingly well and started having his name bandied about as the next mayor and don't fall in love.

Meanwhile, David Bernstein crunches Tuesday's numbers in the at-large race.

Pressley tops ballot

adamg — Wed, 09 Nov 2011 02:27:54 +0000

Pressley victory speech by Mike Deehan/Dorchester Reporter.

Ayanna Pressley, the first-term incumbent whom many thought was most vulnerable to defeat this year, topped the field of candidates for one of four at-large City Council seats.

City councilors propose ban on tinted windows in school, day-care vans

adamg — Wed, 19 Oct 2011 16:52:11 +0000

At-large councilors Ayanna Pressley and John Connolly say a ban might have prevented the death of Gabriel Josh-Cazir Pierre, who died locked in an unattended van for several hours last month.

"It's very possible that someone might have seen Gabriel in that van and intervened," Pressley said at a council meeting today at which she held up a T-shirt emblazoned with Gabriel's photo. The ban is part of "Gabriel's Law," a series of proposals by his mother, Virginie Cazir, who lives in the same building as Pressley.

All other councilors signed up as co-sponsors of the proposal, which now goes before the council's committee on government operations for a formal hearing.

City Councilor Charles Yancey (Dorchester) said he hopes the hearing will expand to cover more general issues of day-care van safety.

Motion for a hearing

Connolly, Pressley pull a Floon

adamg — Sun, 16 Oct 2011 13:50:06 +0000

The Globe reports ticket topper John Connolly and cash-poor Ayanna Pressley have merged their campaign finances and begun campaigning together as they run for re-election for at-large City Council seats. For Pressley, the move means immediate resources; for Connolly, it means access to new constituencies should he ever run for another office.

Fine from club that shut doors on black Harvard alumni to help black students get into college

adamg — Wed, 11 May 2011 11:23:30 +0000

City Councilor Ayanna Pressley and state Attorney General Martha Coakley say a $28,500 fine imposed on the Cure Lounge will be split among four groups that provide scholarships and help to black high school students who want to go to college.

The state began investigating the downtown club after Pressley complained about the way it shut its doors during an event for black Harvard alumni following the annual football game against Yale.

Pressley says she was raped in college

adamg — Thu, 31 Mar 2011 00:44:04 +0000

At-large Councilor Ayanna Pressley, who attended Boston University in the early 1990s, released a statement today, in advance of a hearing on sexual violence she is holding with follow first-term Councilor Felix Arroyo:

Murphy to Flaherty: Fuhgeddaboudit

adamg — Tue, 22 Mar 2011 11:17:34 +0000

The Phoenix reports City Council President Steve Murphy will back Ayanna Pressley for re-election to her at-large seat even if Michael Flaherty tries to get back on the council this fall.

Pressley: Not giving teens tools to deal with sex would be cowardly

adamg — Tue, 15 Feb 2011 20:53:44 +0000

At-large City Councilor Ayanna Pressley today called for a comprehensive sex-education program and for easier availability of condoms in Boston schools.

"Not taking action, now that would be controversial. It would also be cowardly and counter to what I believe the role of government is - to solve problems and make people's lives better," she said at a hearing.

Pressley said she was not advocating teaching young people how to have sex. "Our young people already know how to have sex," she said. She said she would want any program to include discussions of abstinence. "I wish our young people would wait as long as possible to become sexually active, wait until they're older, more emotionally mature, better prepared to deal with the consequences and in a healthy, safe and exclusive relationship with a loving partner. But a solution based on wishing our young people would wait to have sex and doing nothing else is no solution at all." [Pressley's complete opening statement]

How about turning those snow farms into snow parks?

adamg — Wed, 09 Feb 2011 13:06:16 +0000

Councilor Ayanna Pressley thinks the city should be getting creative with the vacant lots on which it now dumps tons of snow after each storm: Why not turn them into neighborhood sledding and play areas?

Pressley's real intent is to identify additional locations onto which the DPW can dump even more snow than it is now - all the piles residents have had to build in recent weeks. But she will ask fellow councilors today to schedule a hearing on both better ways to clear city streets and put the snow to good use:

There are a number of open spaces in each of our neighborhoods that should be considered for snow dumping; and such sites could also be potentially used by children and families as 'snow playgrounds' for sledding and other snow activities.

Check out the racial, geographic and gender makeup of workforces at large Boston construction sites

adamg — Thu, 13 Jan 2011 21:13:31 +0000

As promised by city councilors Mike Ross and Ayanna Pressley, a city Web site now lets you see how construction projects in the city match up with the city's construction job policy, which asks developers to ensure at least half their workers are Boston residents, 25% are people of color and 10% are women.

A pimp walks up to a city councilor ...

adamg — Sat, 25 Sep 2010 13:56:58 +0000

City Councilor Ayanna Pressley tells Adrian Walker about the guy who offered her some work at Back Bay station a few weeks ago - and that she worries about the women who don't turn him down:

"You look good and I like your walk," he told her. "You should consider working for me."

Library supporter, city councilor in dust-up over fate of branch libraries, employees

adamg — Fri, 10 Sep 2010 03:28:31 +0000

Last night, Brandon Abbs, head of People of Boston, sent supporters an e-mail update on efforts to keep four Boston Public Library branchesopen and forestall other cuts in the BPL system and accused at-large City Councilor Ayanna Pressley of "all but abandoning" her support. Today, Pressley responded to the "insulting" message.

I'm posting both as replies to this post (Pressley posted her reply on her Facebook page, which requires a Facebook login).

Men: Give up your ties

adamg — Wed, 09 Jun 2010 19:32:34 +0000

What man doesn't have a bunch of ties in his closet he will never wear again?

Put them to good use: Boston City Councilor Ayanna Pressley is collecting ties for students in the Boston Public Schools' Young Men's Middle School Conference on Saturday:

Many of the young men participating in the conference are, like I was, being raised by a single mother. As a result, sometimes these boys miss out on an important milestone in a young man's life - learning how to tie a tie. Every boy who attends the conference will be taught how to tie a tie. It’s important they do- a polished and professional presentation can go a long way to landing summer jobs, internships and scholarships. I'm collecting ties to ensure every boy leaves the conference with a quality tie in good condition.

Ties can be dropped off through Friday in Pressley's office on the fifth floor of City Hall. No tomato- or chocolate-stained ties, please.