Report from the Boston Foundation would seem to indicate these schools do better than the competing "pilot" schools in Boston. So Michael Jonas wonders:

Exactly what will it take for state leaders to raise the cap on Massachusetts charter schools, which have thousands of students on waiting lists clamoring for a chance to escape the mediocre classrooms that define too many of the state's urban district systems? ...

The Globe reports Boston Police are looking at laying off up to 200 officers.

And the city's looking at cutting several hundred teaching jobs. Principals have already been told to expect 5-15% budget cuts.

Just in case you miss the robo-calls from the superintendent's office and your kid's principal, BPS also provides a cancellation RSS feed.

Via My Charlestown.

FYI

In anticipation of dangerous icy conditions after an over night freeze, city officials have canceled all Boston public schools for Monday. Because of the upcoming holiday school will be closed on Tuesday as well – opening schools for one day would be a waste of city resources. Students will return to classes after the winter break on January 5th.

Geeky Mamma reports on bad news and good news out of a School Committee meeting earlier this week.

The bad news is that principals across the city are being told to expect budget cuts between 5 and 10% for the coming school year (principals were supposed to be getting those budgets today).

The good news is that the School Committee this week increased the number of schools you can put on your school-lottery wait list from two to three. If you're not faced with this issue, Geeky Mama's description will only make you shake your head, but it gives parents a bit more leeway in their strategic lottery planning.

Carol Johnson just robo-called us.

Kidlet is very upset because her class was supposed to have its Christmas party.

If you're the parent of a pre-schooler who lives in Boston's West Zone (Roslindale, JP and West Roxbury, more or less), there's a new school to check out: the Boston Teachers Union School, a K-8 pilot school just approved by the School Committee. It's due to open next year, will be sorta, kinda charter-schoolish (think Lyndon School in West Roxbury), only still overseen by BPS, but run by the teachers' union. Click on the link for info on open houses in December and January at the site of what will be the school next fall.

Via Braving the BPS Lottery.

If you have a baby in Boston and want to send him or her to a public school, you eventually come up against The Lottery - the game that decides which school your kid goes to. And veterans will tell you that finding the right numbers, um, schools, to play in The Lottery is no easy task.

Geeky Mama lives in Roslindale and has a toddler. On Braving the BPS Lottery, she's posting her reports on her visits to schools in the West Zone (basically, Jamaica Plain, Roslindale and West Roxbury), along with news related to public schools in Boston.

Total of five non-students arrested for brawling on school grounds, around 9 a.m.

While officers were attempting to disperse the group, they noticed one teen focused on and reaching for a school bag. Inside that bag officers located a loaded firearm.

Walter West, 17, of Dorchester, will be arraigned tomorrow in West Roxbury District Court on a gun-possession charge, according to the Suffolk County DA's office.

Damien Oliver, 17, of Dorchester, Tyrone Rutledge, 17, of Dorchester, and two juveniles, 16 and 13, were also arrested, Boston Police report.

Channel 5 has video.

Innocent, etc.

Read the report on how few Boston public-school students are graduating college and then read what Mayor Menino and School Superintendent Carol Johnson want to do about it. Among their proposals: At least one AP or honors class for every BPS student by 2012, double the number of students taking college classes while still in high school and letting students out of school to take SAT prep classes.