Boston Latin School

Parents who encourage unprepared or unmotivated students to attend Boston Latin School have not advised wisely.

The Boston School Committee voted last Wednesday in favor of a new policy for entrance to the city’s three exam schools in which students will be selected from eight tiers, divided by socio economic factors including income of families in a student’s census tract, the number of households in which a language other than English is spoken and the educational attainment of individuals in the tract.

A recent poll showing public support for the return of elected school committees in Boston causes great concern among those who remember the 1970s.

A brew of conflict fueled by Boston’s racial politics came to a boil last week, when the School Committee took up a proposal to suspend for one year the test governing entrance to the city’s three exam schools. A flashpoint came when now-former Boston School Committee President Michael Loconto was heard on hot mic making fun of people’s names after secretary Elizabeth Sullivan read off the names of several Asian Americans who were scheduled to testify.

Boston Public Schools officials announced on July 2 the selection of a new standardized test for admission to its three exam schools, just two days after the BPS-appointed Opportunity and Achievement Gap Task Force voted unanimously for a moratorium on exam school testing during the COVID pandemic.