May Board of Ed: on Boston

Riley: "my assessment very briefly"
then Curtin, then back to Riley

then Board discussion
Riley: "the report is incredibly disheartening"
many of them emanating from a bloated central office which is not said anywhere in the report
six big issues:
safety this was not in the report
transportation 
special education: system is broken and parents are starting to vote with their feet
English learners: not getting service
data reporting: lacking
basic facility issues
makes it clear action is required; in discussion with the mayor
"give her a little time and space; see if she is willing provide us"
"agreed upon before the superintendent is hired"
mayor had a draft copy before the Board had it
"we need the mayor to step up at this time"

Curtin: process 
report was released just before schools were closed
MOU signed between BPS and DESE
May 2021 set targets
2022 have had monthly monitoring meetings
he's talking here about the list of people that were in the review
three days of site visits; 97 interviews with 100 stakeholders; 25 focus groups
Report is only as of April 1 (for those of us who have been noting that there have been announcements since then)
six sections: leadership and governance; curriculum and instruction; student support; human resources and PD; assessment; financial and asset management

Leadership and Governance:

• strategic plan being underway; accessibility through interpretation; supporting documents 
• special education and transportation "not prioritized"; notes how often items were brought in front of the Boston School Committee
• "has not yet implemented a robust, district-wide system for tracking implementation progress"
  
• leadership instability "is impeding efforts for district improvement"

Curriculum and Instruction:

• "district should be commended" for efforts it has made on strengthening core instruction; particular impact on K-8
• district has adopted MassCore as graduation requirement for incoming 9th graders
• variation in school-level implementation
• instructional quality and equitable access uneven across district in secondary; not using ELA and math curriculum that would meet DESE definition of high quality
  Moriarty interrupts to say that he hopes this is being asked about in the superintendent interviews
• classroom practices rated middle; higher in management, engagement, and organizational; instructional practices not low but not consistent or all students

Student support:

• EL has laid groundwork for enhanced support through effective stakeholder engagement, school-level communication, and investments in PD, personnel, and infrastructure
• "lack of urgency" special education, "systemic disarray," lack of consistent policies and procedures, not consistently provided appropriate learning opportunities
  Stewart notes the creation of policy being under the purview of the School Committee; under which the procedures are created by administrators
• not ensuring all English learners to receive appropriate ESL instructions
  West asks if state has measures on meeting students 
  Curtin notes DOJ is monitoring activities
  Lombos: DESE's responsibility?
  Curtin: was a division of responsibility; $2M grant; meeting monthly "lesson learned is that more written accountability might be necessary"
  Lombos: does the report give what we did and followed through with? Anything from BPS on what we could have followed through with?
  Curtin: report is not on MOU activity
• school choice and assignment system does not provide equal access; does not address longstanding challenges with open enrollment
• managing, responding to, resolving complaints
  Moriarty asks if there were 12 reports in central admin? Curtin, think that was state
  he's right; it was reports to DESE
  Moriarty claiming there is "no system in place to deal with bullying" which is completely not something that is in the report at all

HR and PD

• develop and implement pipeline and retention, successful mentoring, and has set expectations for hiring goals
• district taking steps to increase consistency in educator evaluation process
• robust menu of PD for educators
• equitable access to PD is a challenge

Assessment

• office of data and accountability "should be commended for the system that they have developed" and work with educators to understand how data can be used to improve student outcomes
• more consistent use of MAP assessment; consistent information for all students and all schools 
• district lacks necessary systems and internal controls at central office and schools to ensure accurate data reporting
  Matt Hills: from time to time, do you check on other districts?
  Curtin: this is my staff and my department; this is something we are going to implement to better improve process at the Department
  Lombos (I think): what was the explanation for this?
  Curtin: standard that I mention is the standard the district put in place; district did not have the documentation that they cited

Financial and Asset management:

• process in engagement of stakeholders; Quality Guarantee framework for equitable staffing at school level; several urgent facility priorities
• transportation system
  "there's no more core function of a transportation system that picks up students on time, delivers them to schools, and reverses the process"
  have whole routes that aren't covered
  when students are picked up, there is an issue with on time arrival
  "school loses core organizational time when students are arriving at different periods in the day"
  Craven going back and forth on this asks how many students are students with disabilities "who therefore don't have other resources to get to school"?
  (confused on why those students are the ones who "lack other resources")
  Carris Livingston: safety issue of students being left when parents have to go to work
• need for a comprehensive long-term facilities master plan

the Board took a break here to hear the student rep report

and now back to Boston...

Riley: what could be a plan for improvement for BPS? What assurances do we need from the mayor? 
These are the kind of things we need to see, even before the new superintendent is hired

• need to be sure that a system is in place to respond to parent complaints
• need to conduct a safety audit
• improve on time arrival
• address uncovered bus routes
• "onboard high quality  leadership for special education"
• improve policies and procedures
• reduce disproportionality
• system to ensure all EL students receive services
• meet DoJ agreement
• independent data auditor
• DESE-appointed data advisory board
• finalize comprehensive facilities plan
• address bathroom plan

Morton: what kind of timeline?
"punting on academic achievement goals...we can put them off to the new superintendent"
but some of these basic functions, we need assurances now
Moriarty: concern of Boston rushing into building project
"I don't they should be allowed to go forward with any building project without the MSBA"
Hills: "I don't understand your plan. I don't understand why what you're hoping to get over the next week is a comfort."
Wu "is exceptionally bright...will be an exceptional mayor"
"the previous mayors were all committed. Why isn't it all getting done?"
"academic performance, leave aside the exam schools, is poor"
he also just said that he thinks the data misinformation is intentional
have said that "God would need receivership"
"when is enough enough and when are you prepared to act"
come back in a week, and maybe the votes are there for receivership and maybe are they not
Riley: I've made no decision, I've come forward to this Board with no recommendation
"common courtesy and good sense we have to talk to all stakeholders"
"I understand your position, Member Hills, but there is a process we have to follow"
Peyser: long thing here about shared responsibility of state and fed
"And importantly this is not about money"
face the facts without defensiveness
"keep moving deliberately through this process and see where it leads"
Lombos: support Commissioner in taking a week or two or however it takes to make good on this partnership the Secretary has talked about

Caris Livingstone: "just because we're talking about a failed education doesn't mean we're talking about failed students or teachers"
"it's a fight for the students"
"the other thing is we don't have time; it's very urgent"
"my biggest concern about receivership...the current feelings about receivership would make it a toxic conversation to be having"
Morton have to include parents in the conversation have to include teachers in the conversation
"goal should be a negotiated plan to address these six or seven things right now"
wishes he had trusted Commissioner when he talked about reopening schools
"trust you now"
collaborative spirit: "I support you 1000%"

should take the time necessary
"if we have this kind of distention around the strategy in the community, it is going to take decades to solve"
Stewart: revisions
Curtin: worked over weekend
Stewart: got feedback from district
Curtin: if there was evidence, we took it; if there was not, we didn't
Stewart: MOU amendments weren't seen by Board, Board should see evidence and changes
Stewart went right to the appendices looking for graphs
just last month at panel of superintendents who sat before us and addressed the challenges we've been facing

"literally four sentences were given to the impact of COVID-19"
"this is not to minimize the aspects of safety and access"
Transportation "has been a big issue" in many districts "it's not unique to Boston"

Rouhanifard: report is "huge lift"
notable that there is broad agreement on needs" called out
same time of spirit of discussion; when you discuss policy improvements, you can pathologize communities
"all roads lead back to institutional racism"
"would argue that politics and bureaucracies" have inhibited ability to "climb that mountain"
solutions rolling out; all about politics
"there is nothing more disenfranchising than a high school graduate that is not prepared for the real world"
"If we're going to hire a superintendent, will that superintendent have the cover to do this really hard work?"
Fernández: what we're seeing on this list on the list of stabilization
that seems to me a short term in having to address very quickly
"in the long way, there has to be a third way, or maybe a fourth way"

Craven argues that we can't know that Boston is a particular way compared to Lawrence, because we don't know that Boston's data is accurate

AND ADJOURNED