Hub schools dodge ‘underperforming’ label
Mayor Michelle Wu told the state Board of Elementary and Secondary Education Tuesday that Boston Public Schools is “ready and eager for the work ahead,” a day after state Education Commissioner Jeffrey Riley walked back his recommendation that his board declare the district “underperforming.”
“I want to be clear: Our standards are higher than the collection of commitments outlined in this agreement,” Wu told the Board of Elementary and Secondary Education. “… And we will look to you all to join us in celebrating what’s working and quickly addressing what’s not.”
The agreement, reached late Monday, prevented the board from declaring Boston Public Schools “underperforming,” which would have allowed the state to appoint an independent auditor to oversee the district, effective Friday.
“We look forward to helping them (BPS) as they work on the system improvement plan,” Riley said Tuesday.
In a tweet Tuesday, Boston Teachers Union President Jessica Tang said: “We have always known that local community solutions and authentic partnerships are more … effective than top-down, bureaucratic ones with no record of success.”
The last minute deal was not welcomed by all.
“I implore you, Commissioner Riley, to drop the other shoe and recommend receivership,” DESE board member Michael Moriarity of Holyoke said at Tuesday’s meeting. “What are the benchmarks?”
Late Monday, Riley agreed to not recommend that the board declare the district underperforming. Instead, the district will work on issues including performance of students with disabilities, English learners, and boosting the city’s lowest performing schools with the help of $10 million from the state over the next three years.
“This is long overdue,” Boston school committee
Chair Jeri Robinson told the board. “This isn’t a finger-pointing exercise … We’ve done well by some, but we’ve not done well by all. This is a hundred years of inequities and problems.”
At 5 p.m. Wednesday, the school committee will meet to choose one of two candidates as the district’s next superintendent: Tommy Welch, a regional BPS superintendent, who said he could begin on Friday, or Mary Skipper, Somerville Public Schools superintendent, who said she could begin in the fall.
In February, Wu and Brenda Cassellius “mutually agreed” that she would step down on Jan. 30 after three years as superintendent.