POLS OPEN UP – ON BPS BOSS
Mayoral hopefuls give Cassellius low grades; busing blamed
Boston Public Schools and its myriad busing woes made for some testy discussion at the final mayoral debate — though the person who came out the worst from it might have been Superintendent Brenda Cassellius, who wasn’t even there.
The moderators from WBUR and The Boston Globe, who put the hourlong debate on with WCVB, asked the five candidates on stage how they’d grade Cassellius, and her report card would make any parent frown.
Only Acting Mayor Kim Janey, for whom Cassellius is a cabinet member, gave her anything above a C. Janey gave her a B+, saying that there are the unforeseen issues of “her tenure being marked by COVID-19 and unprecedented challenges.”
Janey defended the district’s busing effort on Thursday, which was the first day of school. Earlier in the day, she’d touted a stat that 57% of kids were brought to school on time, which is higher than the five-year average, the district said. But by the debate, she’d changed to a more pleasant-sounding stat: 85% of kids were brought within 15 minutes of the start of school on Day One, which is always the day with the worst problems.
Michelle Wu basically said the same thing, asserting that Cassellius’ two years atop the district haven’t been at all “free from a tumultuous set of circumstances” — yet she gave her a C.
City Councilor EssaibiGeorge gave her a C, saying,” Today’s on-time arrival with the school buses at 57% is not a passing grade.”
City Councilor Andrea Campbell gave her a D, saying, “That is because of the calls I had to take this morning. There’s so many parents who were waiting for a bus to come, and the common refrain was, ‘well, we’re used to this.’ Unacceptable.”
Former economic development director John Barros didn’t give a grade, but said Cassellius is in an “untenable” position based on the fact that the busing system is so troubled.
This is the second and final debate before Tuesday’s preliminary election. The first, hosted by NBC 10 Boston and partners, took place just 24 hours earlier.
This debate comes five days before Tuesday’s preliminary election, which will narrow the field down to the top two overall votegetters. Polls have suggested Wu is in a strong position to capture the first of the two slots — but there appears to be a tight three-way fight on for the second one between Janey, Essaibi-George and Campbell, who all have been within the margin of error of each other in the latest surveys. Barros continues to poll farther back.
The historic race, which will certainly elect the first full-term mayor of color in Boston and appears to be headed toward anointing the first female elected mayor, had moved along somewhat quietly and slowly. That’s changed a bit as the candidates headed toward crush time, and particularly over the past week, as both Campbell and EssaibiGeorge feuded with Janey.
But the previous debate the night before was largely free of fireworks, with candidates opting to stay on message and look to introduce themselves further rather than come out throwing bombs. Even so, a few of the participants mixed it up with Janey a few times, largely over crime and backto-school busing issues.