Ep. 80, Last Night @ School Committee: 2/15 Meeting Recap

Last Night At School Committee

Last night’s meeting began with the Superintendent’s Report, the majority of which focused on transportation and transformation schools. Superintendent Skipper discussed the recent controversy over a pending RFP for management of the bus system that received only one bidder – current management company Transdev. She also celebrated the addition of new electric buses to the BPS fleet, the beginning of a $259 million effort to replace all 739 yellow school buses with electric alternatives. School Committee members raised concerns about discussing transportation without addressing significant underlying issues like student assignment and declining enrollment.

After a brief public comment period, the remainder of the meeting was spent on a preliminary discussion of the equitable grading policy. During the discussion, Chair Jeri Robinson raised a larger issue of BPS’ failure to prepare many of its top students for life after high school, and members raised concerns that important structural issues facing BPS are not being addressed in these meetings. These comments and the discussion that followed highlighted key shortcomings in the School Committee process and governance, an issue tied up in the larger citywide conversation about moving to an elected School Committee.

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