School board seat sparks debate
Applications for a new appointed Boston School Committee member are now open, the city announced in a release yesterday, again stoking the elected vs. appointed school committee debate.
The mayoral appointee would serve out the remainder of former member Lorena Lopera, ending on Jan. 1, 2024, with the option to then reapply for a fouryear term.
Lopera announced she would be leaving the committee and taking a vice president position with the local nonprofit EdVestors at the June 21 School Committee meeting. She was appointed to the position by Mayor Kim Janey in 2021 after two members stepped down amid a text message scandal and reappointed by Mayor Michelle Wu for a full term later that year.
The new appointment process comes in the midst of a long-running push to return to an elected school committee, which the city overturned in 1991. Boston’s remains the only school district in the state with a non-elected governing board and one of the few left among major U.S. cities.
Asked whether they favored an elected school committee in a nonbinding ballot question in 2021, voters supported the measure by nearly 80%. Efforts hit a wall more recently after a bill to overhaul and move to an elected school committee was passed by the City Council in February but vetoed by the mayor.
Applicants for the position will be reviewed by the Boston School Committee Nominating Panel, which is made up of families, educators, school leaders, and business and higher ed representatives, the city release stated. The panel will then share recommendations with Wu.
Members meet “approximately twice per month during the school year to adopt, review and modify policies and practices that support teaching, learning and improved student achievement,” the release noted. Duties, the city listed, may include defining BPS goals and vision, establishing and monitoring the budget, hiring and managing the superintendent and setting and reviewing district policies and practices.
Applications for the position are linked on the city website and due on July 31, according to the city, and interviews will be held in early August.