boston public schools

Students who testified at the Jan. 13 School Committee meeting expressed doubts about their schools capacity to safely accommodate students, citing CDC guidelines.

A poll conducted in December found 60 percent of registered voters would support a return to an elected school committee in Boston.

The Boston Teachers Union Sunday took a vote of no confidence in Boston Public Schools Superintendent Brenda Cassellius after they say she refused to sign an agreement extending safety precautions to 28 schools that reopened for high-needs students Monday.

As we continue to live in BPS limbo of hybrids, opening schools for only the “highest” of high needs, we have had nine months without a comprehensive plan for Boston Public School students to have a quality education during the pandemic and afterwards.

Alexandra Oliver-Dávila was voted chair of the Boston School Committee last week, taking over from former member Michael Loconto, who left the body after he was heard on a live mic mocking Chinese-sounding names during the Oct. 21 School Committee meeting.

Boston Public Schools is failing our high-needs students. In creating its reopening plans, BPS created plans for all schools and all students, rather than prioritizing students who had not received in-person services since March.

With high-needs students scheduled to return to class Oct. 5, the Boston Teachers Union released a report detailing deficiencies in Boston Public Schools buildings they say will endanger the health and safety of students and staff.

We are still facing uncertainty from coronavirus, but the values that guide us are unchanged. Our plans for the upcoming school year put health, safety and the needs of our most vulnerable students at the center of our plans.

Boston Public Schools students will begin the year remotely, Mayor Martin Walsh announced last Friday, with a phased-in return to in-school instruction that will be contingent on the city’s rate of COVID infections remaining below 4% of those tested.

Tensions between Boston Public Schools Superintendent Brenda Cassellius and the Boston Teachers Union continue to simmer as the district pushes forward with plans to reopen schools over the objections of schoolteachers and staff who say they want to see more safety measures put in place.

There is no need for a fight about whether or not students should go back to poorly ventilated, windowless classrooms in the fall.

In one of its most divided votes in recent years, the Boston School Committee narrowly approved a controversial plan to transfer a sports field, playground and basketball courts at the McCormack Middle School to the Boys & Girls Clubs of Dorchester (BGCD) for the construction of a new sports facility.