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By adamg - 12/9/14 - 2:32 pm

UPDATE: Around 3:35 p.m., Boston Police broke up what appeared to be a brewing altercation related to the earlier incident at Comm. Ave. and Warren - where they also stopped a Green Line trolley in search of somebody on the train. Police arrested several teens.

School Police today detained a student at the Boston Green Academy, 20 Warren St., after they found him with a gun around 2:20 p.m. The school was put in safe mode until Boston Police arrived to take custody of both him and the gun.

Police requested two ambulances, one for somebody with a dislocated knee, one for an officer who was bitten.

By adamg - 12/3/14 - 10:29 am

Parent Imperfect reports on yesterday's meeting over the supposedly temporary educational managers BPS feels compelled to hand the Dearborn off to so it can stave off a state takeover due to poor test scores.

One, he reports, was one of the charter groups that sparked an uproar earlier this year when it seemed like BPS was about to spend $72 million to build a new school that it would then permanently hand over to a charter group. And the other, he says, "is a charter guy from Philly who needs a GPS to get back to South Station." Neither, he says, showed any evidence of experience in running a STEM program.

By adamg - 11/29/14 - 10:58 am

Parent Imperfect notes that that recent report on unequal treatment of black and Latino boys in BPS proposes limiting admission to the three exam schools to kids who were in BPS in grades 5 and 6 - which would mean no more students from private or parochial schools or among kids whose parents moved to Boston in the year before the ISEE exams.

The goal would be to make the student composition of the exam schools more closely reflect the composition of the BPS, as a whole. I’ve seen proposals like this before (even made some), but at least in my memory, I’ve not seen a proposal like either of these in a document endorsed by the BPS.

By adamg - 11/25/14 - 2:53 pm

Around 2:10 p.m. as students were being dismissed. Not considered life threatening.

Suspect: Black male, 5'8" or 5'9" wearing all black, including a fitted black cap. May have run towards the Dudley T stop.

BPS provided a transcript of the robocall that went out to parents:

By adamg - 11/24/14 - 10:07 pm

The Dig provides comments from students.

A couple weeks ago, the Bay State Banner painted a rosier picture of where the school is today, although it didn't provide any comments from students.

By adamg - 11/21/14 - 10:58 pm

Boston Police report arresting Charles Ramsey, 85, on a charge of indecent assault and battery on a child under 14 for an incident at the Higginson/Lewis School earlier this month.

Police say Ramsey has resigned from his position at the school. He's scheduled for arraignment on Monday in Roxbury Municipal Court.

By adamg - 11/19/14 - 3:15 pm

For the second straight meeting, the City Council agreed to delay a vote on Councilor Charles Yancey's proposal for a $120 million high school in Mattapan.

The council approved borrowing for the high school last month, but the measure needs two positive votes before it can go to the mayor for his consideration.

By adamg - 11/18/14 - 7:28 am

The Herald reports Hizzona has fired eight city managers whose ties to Menino were just a bit too obvious.

The Globe reports BPS used to funnel money into a fund from which administrators could dip into without any oversight by city accountants; a practice BPS says it's since ended.

By adamg - 11/17/14 - 12:57 pm

The Boston Latin School Association reports it's raised more than half of a $50 million goal to beef up STEM and international learning, athletics and after-school fellowships and internships at the nation's oldest public school.

The "Prima Perpetua" ("Forever First") campaign is supposed to run through 2017; the association has already gotten $27 million worth of pledge commitments, co-chairs Michael Leven, class of 1955, and Charles Clough Jr., class of 1960, announced at a fundraising dinner at the Seaport Boston Hotel on Saturday.

By adamg - 11/17/14 - 10:55 am
Jeri Robinson

Mayor Walsh has appointed Jeri Robinson, vice president of early learning initiatives at the Boston Children’s Museum, to the School Committee.

Jeri Robinson is a longstanding member of Boston’s education community who knows the learning landscape, and will be an important voice at the table.

Robinson served on a committee to help then mayor-elect Walsh get up to speed after his election last fall. She is the co-founder of the city's annual "Countdown to Kindergarten" program for incoming kindergarten students and their parents.

By adamg - 11/13/14 - 9:48 am

A report commissioned by Boston Public Schools finds that even in a system where most students are now black or Hispanic, the deck is still stacked against those students - in particular, boys:

By adamg - 11/10/14 - 6:37 pm

A teacher at the Mission Hill K-8 school was arraigned today on a charge of indecent assault and battery on a minor for a Sunday incident at Boston Medical Center, the Suffolk County DA's office says.

Boston Police responded to the scene at about 6:00 yesterday evening after being notified by BUMC Police about an alleged sexual assault at the hospital earlier that afternoon. After speaking with witnesses at the scene, including BUMC Police officers who had reviewed footage from hospital surveillance cameras, Cortes was taken into custody.

By adamg - 11/7/14 - 1:05 pm

Around 12:30 p.m. at the Margarita Muñiz Academy on Child Street (the former Agassiz School).

The student was transported to a local hospital with a stab wound to the upper right torso. BPS says his injuries are not considered life threatening.

Police are looking for four or five male teens, all wearing hoodies, who fled toward Forest Hills. The possible stabber is 18 or 19 and has shoulder-length corn-row braids tinted yellow. One of his accomplices wore a yellow hoodie, another a gray and green hoodie.

BPS released a transcript of the robo-call being made to parents by school leader Dania Vazquez:

By adamg - 11/5/14 - 2:32 pm

Interim School Superintendent John McDonough plans to tell the School Committee tonight that he will not support a proposal to arm school police with a form of pepper spray.

In a statement released today, he said:

By adamg - 11/5/14 - 2:24 pm

The City Council today was about to vote for the second time on Councilor Charles Yancey's proposal to borrow $120 million to build a new high school in Mattapan - which would have sent the matter to Mayor Walsh - when Yancey asked for the vote to be delayed for two weeks.

By adamg - 11/4/14 - 10:39 am

Councilors Tito Jackson (Roxbury) and Ayanna Pressley (at large) want the school department to just say no to pepper spray.

School police, who do not carry guns, say pepper spray would help them better control violent situations. But in a request to the council for a hearing on the BPS idea, the two councilors say they don't understand the need when violence in Boston schools is declining and when pepper spray brings with it a variety of health risks and legal liabilities for the city:

By adamg - 11/3/14 - 7:55 am

Lawrence Harmon ponders Councilor Charles Yancey's pursuit of a new high school in Mattapan and says the idea could work - if the city converts the current West Roxbury Education Complex into a K-8 school.

Yancey and Mattapan would get a state-of-the-art high school (open to students from across the city), even as secondary enrollment across the city drops, while West Roxbury parents would get the extra K-8 seats they've been arguing for for years, he writes.

By adamg - 10/27/14 - 6:15 pm

BPS officials are holding a series of meetings to discuss the possibility with parents. School Police officers do not carry guns.

By adamg - 10/22/14 - 5:16 pm
Former City Councilor Chuck Turner attends meeting on Mattapan High School

Among those who attended to support Yancey: Former Councilor Chuck Turner

The City Council today approved a proposal to spend $120 million to build a new high school in Mattapan, for which Councilor Charles Yancey (Dorchester) has been fighting for close to two decades.

The proposed borrowing for the work will require a second council vote in two weeks and approval by Mayor Walsh.

By adamg - 10/8/14 - 2:57 pm
Boston city councilors Charles Yancey and Bill Linehan

Yancey, Linehan shake after Linehan tells Yancey he won't get a vote on proposal today.

Several city councilors said today they strongly back Councilor Charles Yancey's longstanding proposal to put a high school on a 20-acre parcel on the grounds of the former Boston State Hospital.

However, Council President Bill Linehan deferred any vote on the idea after several councilors also said that while they don't oppose the idea, they need more information on it. Among those: Mark Ciommo (Allston/Brighton), who chaired a hearing at the Mattapan public library just last night on the idea.

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