June 2026 Board of Ed; Pioneer Valley Chinese Immersion Charter School

 the report is here

completed the tasks described in the three conditions, around governance of their board
different than demonstrating sustained improvement
will have additional governance requirement; expected that they will apply for renewal next year
now having some conversation around the transportation item
condition was for them to develop a plan; they haven't fully implemented a plan

June 2026 Board of Ed: translation and interpretation regulation

backup is here; public comment summary is here; redline is here 

Martinez notes there's no money attached to this
strategic about what is in regs; "want to be nimble"
"not intended to create a significant financial burden to any of our districts"
balancing making sure that our children's needs are being met

June 2025 Board of Ed: special education regulations

 You can find the backup here, summary of public comment here, and the redline version here. 

Martinez, in introducing the topic, notes the intended move of special education from DoE to HHS at the federal level, stressing that it makes it that much more important that Massachusetts have strong laws and regulations to protect students.

1. amend definition of individualized education program to reference state law, which aligns with federal law
2. add new section on discipline procedures for eligible students; incorporating provisions in federal law

changes made in response to public comment:

• ESL staff specifically listed as required to be trained (already required for all staff, anyway)
• consideration of English learners' needs in IEP dvelopment
• "change in placement" definition streamlined
• definitions for "controlled substance," "illegal drug," "serious bodily injury," and "weapon" all directly from IDEA
• notices comply with state discipline law requirements
• language on appeal of a placement as a result of a disciplinary decision
• reference to state law regarding transmission of student records to law enforcement 

June 2026 Board of Ed: Civics

 Super weird to me that the update includes this "look this curriculum is everywhere"

civics law passed in 2018

student-led civics projects

Oddly, this presentation is from iCivics, not from DESE staff or school district people, or...this is kind of weird; 

"goal of schooling is produced informed engaged citizens"
"health of our constitutional democracy requires sustained commitment"
now speaking about the We Declare! challenge

Here's the Boston Green Academy winning video

June 2026 Board of Ed: State Student Advisory Council

 State Student Advisory Council 
for some reason, they never link to the presentation from the SSAC on these...I wish they would

used extensive amounts of data in their work
host successful regional and statewide stakeholder engagement events

June 2026 Board of Ed: opening comments

 As I noted earlier this week, this agenda has the end-of-year group of reports today: one on civics, because 250th anniversary of the Declaration; the end of year Student Advisory Report; probably some talk about the statewide graduation report, which had its own meeting last night; the Mitchell Chester award; plus they have regulations to update.

There's a pre-meeting rally happening in the courtyard outside about immigration, 'though there has not been a lot directed to the Board on that (and the Governor issued guidance on this topic last month)

The livestreaming video is here.

from my walk to the meeting

News of interest

 Some things I have been reading: 

• The Wall Street Journal covers the parent rebellion on about screentime at schools, particularly looking at Lower Merion School District in Pennsylvania, where the school board recently removed an opt-out provision on tech that they'd previously passed. (Cue "that's a bold strategy, Cotton" gif here). 
  It isn't going away, and the level of resistance in some local administrations to even having the discussion is really...odd? I guarantee every district that has an administrator dismissing parent concerns has, somewhere, something about family engagement somewhere in goals (and in Massachusetts, "two-way" communication is part of the state standards for evaluation!).
  
  
• The good news on education policy and such from New Hampshire is sometimes few and far between, so we'll take that Governor Ayotte (a Republican) has vetoed a trans bathroom bill for the fourth time, each of those times by a Republican governor. 
  Republicans in N.H. are also joining with their Democratic colleagues in considering a tightening oversight of the so-called "education freedom" accounts, the thing where families can just take the money allocated for public schools.
  
  
• Continuing our looking north, Vermont signed into law language restricting ICE access to schools, modeled on the policy of Winooski, which has of course received national attention for standing up for its immigrant students.
  
  
• In case you wondered if the Pioneer Institute has changed, the answer from today's Boston Globe editorial page is a resounding 'no.' "Boston charter schools went DEI" is not going to fly, folks.
  
  
• Special education oversight moving to HHS got lots of press, but it appears that Senator Cassidy, who chairs the Senate education committee, is not on board, considering a vote next month to bar it. You might remember that the Senate is what saved the federal education budget last year (implementing this year) from draconian cuts; this actually doing oversight appears to be continuing.