October Board of Ed: opening comments

 The agenda is online here; the livestream can be found from here.

Among the public comments today is expected to be some from an equity coalition on vocational school admission

updating as we go; sound is very very weak today

Vocational Educational Justice Coalition
students choosing a set of classes was a form of tracking: white students in college tracks
admittance into regional vocational schools is "a more sophisticated form of tracking"
"accomplishes the same thing"
Students of color and those whose primary language is not English prevented from getting into vocational schools
primarily white student body speaking English with low enrollment
students that graduate from middle school should be equally eligible
"are public schools and all students should have equal access to them"
Barbara Fields: current guidelines
lists of contributing factors
admission is "more stringent, more selective than other public schools"
"subject of public discourse and newspaper articles"
"fair just" process
"equitable, inclusive" and promotes equitable access
Gladys Vega of Chelsea Collaborative: 
"I am here today to urge you to change the policy in vocational schools"
"once again think about those counselors" who didn't think that she would amount to much
pathway to economic justice for students that most need it
"a basic question of equal rights"
"allow them participate and be equal students in this journey of higher education"
Nina Hackle (?): Owns a kitchen and bath company owner; large amount of labor required to keep my business running
"majority of my people are over 55 years old"
"my labor is causing me problems"
lead times "of four months to six months just to get labor"
"my sales have gone down" 10% less than last year, 20% this year; "this is not COVID related"
"we don't just have kids coming out of vo-tech"
"selecting out my labor force" when you screen out by grades and such"
"school doesn't attract their attention as much"
"better at hands-on thinking...everybody's a genius, we just have to find where"
"they end up in high school on a college track, and that's how we end up by unemployment rates of 30%" for younger adults
"70-80% of vo-techs are going to college; they would have done that anyway"
denying a chance to students who would follow that
Training coordinator with carpenters (carpenters training fund): "obvious disconnect between those in vocational programs" and those ending up in the trades
"we need to open the door to vocational education for all...much earlier in their careers" particularly those of color
open the door to those who have traditional felt excluded 
"one of the few remaining gateways into the middle class"
and I missed who this was: center for something education
I believe the argument here is that your admission requirements should reflect what you want to end up with
should use limited interviews and recommendations if anything is needed
Mass Community Action Network: among those who found and publicized the waiting list for voke ed along with other work
"vocational schools superintendents have made it very clear that they do not want to change this policy"
six schools were asked to consider changing their policies...they...haven't
"it's really clear that if you graduate from a voke school" even without further training, you'll go on to a $50-60,000 a year job
if you graduate from a district high school and don't go further, you're looking at $25,000 a year
parents are pushing to get their students into vocational programs for shots at engineering and STEM programs "but they're taking the seat of another student", as they would have gone on in any case
reflective of policies decades old
"issue of racial justice in our country"
asking departments to look at their policies; institutions are feeling an obligation to look at their policies through a racial justice lens 
this is that work
Moriarty asking about numbers over time and I couldn't hear that answer
then if it is a problem in the non-regionals
A: "It is a problem in Worcester"
and Putnam
for the regionals, waiting lists are predominately in the Gateways
"have to work on these supply-side solutions" as well as working with MSBA on building
Stewart: remember hearing a bit more than a year ago that we were going to be looking at some of the admission policies
asking for % of those being excluded by breakdown, as well as surrounding high schools by breakdown
Riley: anticipate this being before the Board at the December Board meeting
Craven asks about persistence in field of trade


Craven: second months of school, variety things going on with level of COVID and ability of districts to keep going
learning pods being taken up by community groups
"I think this is going to become a bigger and bigger issue"
Morton: 250 learning and enrichment hubs across Boston
"partner with the public schools to provide educational supports and enrichment services for our students"
parents who need some place for their students to go and learn during the day
Fernández: major piece is to have adults that reflect backgrounds of students
students "need so much right now"
opportunities for kids that they value, that are culturally affirming
thinking about how progress is evaluated
Moriarty: knew that there were thousands of kids that had limited education experiences between March and June
Holyoke "equity pods" not going into the childcare field, but partnering with those who do
"have space, made use of space very quickly"
a single individual interacting with all those set up; technical assistance through the district
Craven: frequent breaks on screen time for young children
ensuring there has not been greater loss and gaps
"measuring the efficacy of the curriculum that's delivered this year is going to be important"

Peyser: STEM week
virtual kick off yesterday
Theme of this year's week is "See yourself in STEM"
make sure that's it's a welcoming environment field for students, which it has not always been
"new opportunities for pathways"
urge people to celebrate STEM this week