boston public schools

The Council of the Great City Schools last Wednesday released a report on school safety recommending among other things that Boston Public Schools convene a focus group of stakeholders and administrators to consider whether the district should form an internal police department.yawu

During an Oct. 27 City Council hearing on violence in the Boston Public Schools, Councilors Michael Flaherty, Erin Murphy and Ed Flynn questioned BPS officials on increased reports of violence in the schools.

A letter signed by four Boston City Council members calling for more police officers and “non-invasive” measures like metal detectors in Boston Public Schools is drawing criticism from advocates who are striving to reduce police and law enforcement presence in schools.

Public health experts, teachers and families of Boston area students are calling for increased public health measures — namely, heightened masking practices, especially in schools — as the region sees increased rates of COVID-19, influenza and other respiratory illnesses.

Within months of the Boston Public Schools instituting a new teacher evaluation system in 2013, the Boston Teachers Union pushed back with claims the system produced discriminatory results, with Black teachers more likely to receive unsatisfactory evaluations than their white counterparts.

Founded in 1821, English High School was created by the Boston School Committee, who had the novel idea that education should be free and accessible in the Commonwealth capitol, and who wanted an alternative to existing Latin schools offering a religious and classical curriculum to students.

Among the concerns voiced by parents active with Families for COVID Safety are lingering questions on what measures the district will undertake to protect students, teachers and school staff against COVID outbreaks

Mayor Michelle Wu announced Rebecca Grainger as her Senior Advisor for Youth and Schools. In this role, Grainger will work in close partnership with the Mayor, Boston Public Schools, and senior City officials to advance the Mayor’s commitment to making Boston the most family-friendly city in the country.

In Boston, a city dogged by some of the highest rents and housing costs in the nation, the last 20 years have seen a precipitous drop in the number of families with children, exacerbated in the last few years by pandemic disruptions that led to an increase in remote learning and more stringent immigration controls.

Boston Teachers Union President Jessica Tang and Mayor Michelle Wu announced that they have reached an agreement on the union’s contract that will increase the number of so-called inclusion classrooms — regular education classrooms in which special needs students are taught.

The Boston School Committee has narrowly voted to name as its next superintendent Mary Skipper, a veteran educator who rose through the ranks in the school system.