Janey: ‘We certainly hope to move fast’
Wants to fill 2 school board vacancies
Acting Mayor Kim Janey says she’s “very committed to filling” the two openings on the Boston School Committee following the recent resignations of two members who insulted West Roxbury during a text exchange.
“We certainly hope to move fast,” Janey on Saturday said about filling the school committee positions, as she attended the “Buy the Block Party: Unity Day Edition” in Roxbury’s Nubian Square.
The two school committee members — Alexandra Oliver-Davila and Lorna Rivera — resigned in the last week over a series of texts they exchanged during a meeting about exam schools. In the texts, they disparaged West Roxbury residents as “westie whites.”
Oliver-Davila during a meeting last fall texted Rivera, “I hate WR” — West Roxbury — to which Rivera is said to have replied that she is “sick of westie whites” — to which Oliver-Davila said, “Me too I really feel Like saying that !!!! ”
Janey on Saturday said it’s a “huge loss to lose two Latina leaders.”
“It creates a void on the school committee that I am very committed to filling,” the acting mayor said. “We need to ensure that the work that is underway in terms of racial equity work in our schools continues.”
A nominating panel will soon open up applications for the positions.
“I encourage everyone who is interested to apply,” Janey said.
The nominating committee will then review the applications, interview candidates and submit three to five names to Janey.
“Then I will pick from that bunch,” she said.
Applications become available 10 days after the resignations.
“We are going move very quickly in this process to fill those positions,” Janey said.
Janey, as acting mayor, has limited appointing powers. She’s forbidden by the city’s governing charter from making permanent appointments, but can name people to serve for the duration of her term, which runs through November.
When Thomas Menino in 1993 became acting mayor in a similar fashion, he filled a school committee position when there was a vacancy.
His appointment was challenged in court, but a judge allowed it. When Menino won a full term that fall, he appointed the member on a permanent basis.
Janey said of filling a position as acting mayor, “I’m completely confident that I will be able to move forward and do the same.”
The “Buy the Block Party” event that Janey was attending Saturday was put on by Black Market and Madison Park Development Corp.
Janey’s sister runs Black Market in Nubian Square.
“Black Market has played a critically important role in lifting up small businesses. Businesses owned by women, businesses owned by people of color, by immigrants, and this is an extension of that,” Janey said as she looked out at the Block Party filled with vendors.
“Here we can see just a vibrant community of artists, of business owners, of residents, of community leaders who have come together to celebrate,” she said, later adding, “It’s great to see people out. People out in the community right here in the middle of Nubian Square celebrating what it means to be a community.”
‘Here we can see just a vibrant community of artists, of business owners, of residents, of community leaders who have come together to celebrate.’
KIM JANEY acting mayor of Boston