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Menino agrees with minority elected officials; calls for delay in vote on school-assignment changes
By adamg on Tue, 02/05/2013 - 7:57pm
The Dorchester Reporter gets a copy of his letter to the advisory committee looking at changes in how to assign students in lower grades to public schools.
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Comments
Mariama White-Hammond, a
Slow reader? Or did she eat too much? This is exactly why so many people are happy they moved out of Boston. Endless community meetings, and nothing gets done. Except call for another meeting.
Fortunately for us,
You're not at the meetings.
Sadly, I'm not surprised. An
Sadly, I'm not surprised. An endless rationalization for inaction.
We're living in 2013, the 21st century
not 1965 or 1974. When is this shit going to end? This business of physically moving vast numbers of students neighborhood to neighborhood, across town [at huge expense BTW] in 2013 is ridiculous.
When all schools are good
Which they're not.
The beatings will stop when morale improves
And "good" is defined as what, again?
Can the teachers and school
Can the teachers and school committee adequately explain why some school performance consistently suck? And why they aren't just shut down if nothing done to improve them works, rather than continuing to throw $ down the toilet?
If the desire is to create racial 'diversity', well that's impossible due to the fact the school system today, especially at H.S level [minus exam schools] are overwhelmingly 'minority'. You can get diversity if talking about exclusively black and Hispanic [and Hispanic can be white, mixed or black], but the white and Asian student population overall is quite small. So what is the point of moving students clear across town from one minority majority school to another minority majority school?
Like I said above, deal once and for all with the shitty schools, draconian measures if necessary. And deal with 'problem' students, draconian measures if necessary. The vast majority of students just want to be left alone and get a decent education and move on with their life. They shouldn't have to deal with a daily minefield due to the fact the adults who run the school system from the school committee and mayor to the teachers, can't get their shit together.
I hear you
Adam, but honestly...after two generations of Boston Public Schools, I just don't know anymore. What we're doing now isn't working for most students but least of all for kids who need it most. IMHO, busing kids half an hour from their neighborhood to some school that is marginally "better" is a waste of time and money. I guess I'd just like to hear a case that it's making a positive difference. From what I've seen, it's the involved parents who live in the neighborhood who had the most influence on the school culture--for many other, just getting across town to a teacher meeting or a school event seemed to be a huge impediment.
Agree with the Mayor
I agree with the Mayor and others who are calling for the process to slow down. I also agree with Adam that a fundamental change in school assignment should only happen when all the schools in every n'hood are quality schools.
I am disappointed with the Globe (which UHub also uses) title that says "Minority Elected Officials..." Why use the racial identity of the electeds? I've never seen a headline that says "White Elected Officials...." I hope folks consider changing this so we can focus on the real issue which is quality education for all students.
Why I wrote the headline that way
It was pretty striking that among those whose names were not the letter were white politicians who have also expressed concerns about the whole process or related issues, most notably John Connolly and, to a lesser degree, Mike Ross.
I agree that it was striking
I agree that it was striking and I would like to learn more about the decision and thought process behind who signed the letters.
When all schools are good.
I can't even begin to understand the perversity of that logic. Talk about the perfect being the enemy of the good. Right now, today, there are 'underperforming' schools in Boston. This fact has nothing to do with the school assignment system. No one is arguing that schools would be made underperforming by a neighborhood system. But somehow, out of those facts, you see a change to neighborhood schools as somehow worse than the current system? I can't fathom it.
When All Schools are Good is
When All Schools are Good is when Hell freezes over!
Honestly, I'm sorry, this is just a ridiculous proposition. Quality is not a static condition. It changes with the quality of leadership, staff, student population, parental involvement and a whole host of other socioeconomic conditions.
I've seen and experienced quality change, up & down, school by school, over and over again for decades.
Recruit and satisfy educationally-oriented, working and middle-class families, of all races, in every neighborhood, to the BPS and you will see most schools change overnight.