May Board of Ed: Boston Public Schools

 Johnston: district reviews in 2020 and 2022
city and schools and DESE agreed to systemic improvement
now closing out second year of implementation of plan
$10M including in-kind support from the Department, spread over three years
technical assistance, consultation, programmatic reviews, facilities improvements, data audit, initial support for new positions 
Craven: over three mayors, two governors..."it's gone on"
focused on non-academic operational portions

Superintendent Skipper
first formal presentation on the plan to this Board
"has made steady progress"
address decades of opportunity gaps
"laying a solid foundation"
will not happen overnight, progress must be the measure of our success
will focus on inclusive education, facilities management, and transportation in this presentation
inclusive education organized around four major shifts:

1. increase access to grade-level learning
2. inclusive deliver of interventions, supports, and services
3. team-based planning and collaboration
4. reset district systems of support and accountability

ensure inclusive classrooms have structural supports
adopting instructional materials that are high quality and culturally affirming

facilities: new department to manage capital planning
evaluation of current facilities, resulting in comprehensive datasets that are publicly available
shortening planning phases and move buildings more quickly into design and construction
bathroom renovations in 15 schools
11 capital planning projects underway in the district
work in past few years is more than in the past 40 years combined
18 month capital planning cycle

Transportation: structural changes to improve on time arrival and cover uncovered routes
new vendor contract; new bus driver contract (with vendor)
Paid training opportunities
started fully staffed this year with drivers; monitors fully staffed midway through year
moving towards three tier bus schedule (7:15; 8:15; 9:15)
transportation advisory council 
have strengthened cost controls; projected $5M in FY25 savings
improved on time performance; while not met plan, have made month over month improvements
implementing new transportation technology; new scheduling software, GPS navigation, parent app
reducing empty bus seats through tracking
additional electric buses coming this summer

Boston School Committee Chair Jeri Robinson
lifelong Bostonian, was one of only 10 Black students in her 1966 graduating class at Girls' Latin School
"has seen and experienced both as a student and a parent the racism and challenges"
At a crossroad
"fixing more than 100 years of neglect, deeply rooted in racism"
progress must be built on a solid foundation, so it can keep moving forward no matter who is in charge
"I am here for only one reason: for our children"
praises both mayor and superintendent

Stewart: outcomes to date, look very good
agree with progress for the long term

Craven: one of the only BPS graduates on the Board
even then there were issues
"it's like a Fortune 500 company"
culture eats strategy for breakfast; asks about approach on corporation?
Skipper: remind that we are one district, "we are not 119 schools"
both self-accountability and district accountability
Central office "drastically understaffed in key areas"
multilingual and special education; so many learners are served there
"as we make decisions, we make them" centered students served
regional support network: transformational as a principal; understood schools individually
Boston has suffered a lot of turnover of leadership, "but it was missing real systems"
building systems and structures back which are independent of a particular leader

Moriarty: while appreciate a positive tone "having a little difficulty gleaning where we stand overall"
school safety operations?
Skipper: "we see progress not just in checkoffs of the benchmarks"
"just deeper work that needs to be done... sometimes the checkoff box has three boxes under it"
common experiences with other districts
safety office with dedicated staff
parents say "we don't hear things unless we hear them in the news"; make sure they hear from schools
limitations to the things that bring safety, rather than people
expanded social emotional positions, partnerships with clinical
well trained safety specialists
community connectors: experiences spilling into T and elsewhere, work after school
defuses a lot of situations, or awareness
working on lots of fronts
Moriarty: third grade MCAS shining stars, want to know how

West: chronic absenteeism; what is that looking like now
Skipper: improvement in all data; continuing to see numbers go down as we want to see
"secondary level is a crisis in our country"
"have ability to vote with their feet" different than other grades
high school students had some of the same awakening of choices that some adults did
young people are telling us, college attendance and completion
kids are telling us that they have to work; their families need the money
developing skills and what is needed
education need to be relevant to be able to live as wish and have career as wished
"if we don't show up for work and no one comments on it": needs to be noticed
"I think it's different from the younger students"

Mohamed: asks about $10M
Johnston: "really been an iterative process"