The parent group Quality Education for Every Student today released data and charts showing the differences between different BPS schools when it comes to private fundraising. One school obviously stands out.
Boston Public Schools
Rachel Skerrit, head of school at Boston Latin School, explains why she feels Tom Keane doesn't know what he's talking about in calling for the elimination of the city's three exam schools.
In a message to BLS parents yesterday, Skerritt, herself a BLS graduate, writes: Read more.
WCVB reports BPS has gotten until April 26 - after spring break - to start five-days-a-week in-classroom teaching.
A federal judge said today he hopes to rule by April 15 on a lawsuit against the Boston School Committee's system for examless selection of exam-school students either in time for students to get notified of their selection this spring - or to order officials to quickly come up with a new way of selecting students for the schools before the fall. Read more.
The Globe reports a consultant hired by BPS to work with the Boston Student Advisory Council used re-evaluation counseling, in which meetings would turn from dealing with strictly school-related issues to getting the teens to reveal personal information and cry.
Khymani James, a Boston Latin Academy senior, tonight resigned his post as the student member of the School Committee.
In a series of tweets, James explained why he was resigning, without getting into specifics about new issues that he said he "simply couldn't condone:" Read more.
A federal judge today held off any action on a bid by a group of White and Asian-American parents to block the way the Boston school system plans to enroll students in the three exam schools until at least March 16 to give the two sides - and lawyers for groups representing Black, Latino and other Asian-American parents - time to try to agree on the basic facts of the case. Read more.
A group of parents sued Boston Public Schools today over its decision to replace exam-school exams for one year with a system that uses pre-Covid GPAs and Zip codes to select students for Boston Latin School, Boston Latin Academy and the John D. O'Bryant School. Read more.
Boston Parents Schoolyard News posts a copy of the essay Khymani James wrote as part of his application to Columbia. James is a Boston Latin Academy senior and the student representative on the School Committee, which voted in October to eliminate the exam-school exam for one year due to Covid-19.
BPS announced it's going fully remote on Tuesday due to the impending snow, so students need to log in - but their sessions will end 2.5 hours early.
Boston Public Schools and the Boston Teachers Union today announced a deal by which all BPS schools would start re-opening for some students next month, with all kids returning to schools for part of their weeks by April 1. Read more.
Boston Magazine is out with a mixed-message profile of BPS Superintendent Brenda Cassellius.
The dean of students at the Timilty Middle School, 205 Roxbury St. in Roxbury, was arrested Friday and arraigned today on four counts of aggravated rape of a child under 16, the Suffolk County District Attorney's office reports. Read more.
The Boston Teachers Union reports its members voted overwhelmingly last night to express "no confidence" in School Superintendent Brenda Cassellius over the reopening of 28 more schools to high-needs students today.
WBZ reports BPS next week will re-open 28 schools to roughly 1,700 "high needs" students, under pressure from state education officials. The district is currently providing in-school education and services to roughly 150 high-needs students.
Edith Bazile explains why the recent resignation of Michael Loconto shows it's past time to give Boston voters a direct say in who oversees Boston schools.
If you have any doubt about whether Boston families and children need an elected school committee to achieve racial equity, just read the transcript of text messages between Loconto’s fellow school committee members.
Boston School Superintendent Brenda Cassellius told parents Friday evening that students "with complex needs that cannot be fully addressed through remote learning" could be returning to several BPS schools as early as next week. Read more.
At-large City Councilor Michelle Wu and 11 of her colleagues - joined by several state legislators and US Rep. Ayanna Pressley - tonight released a statement condemning what they called now former School Committee Chairman Michael Loconto's "deeply offensive" and "blatantly racist" words during the exam-school hearing last night. Read more.
The Herald reports Michael Loconto resigned as chairman of the School Committee this morning amid growing uproar over "hot mic" comments he made in the middle of last night's lengthy meeting on suspending the exam for exam schools for next year's class - and just a few hours after his vote on the exam question, which he called "the proudest moment I've had in my 18 years in public service." Read more.