Tuesday, January 29, 2013
The public can comment on the latest school choice options at the the External Advisory Committee meeting on Mon., Feb. 4 at 6 p.m. at Orchard Gardens K-8 School.
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Tuesday, January 29
The following was submitted by Boston Mayor Thomas Menino. With your support, in the coming weeks we will achieve meaningful education reforms that will benefit an entire generation of students and the broader community. Today I am asking for your help so we can move forward together. For nearly 25 years we have split the city into three sprawling student assignment zones - North, East and West. Families today are faced with a bewildering set of options with no assurance they'll get what they asked for. Our schools are better than ever and we do our best to match families with their choices, but too often, children are sent to schools far from home because we couldn't give them what they wanted. Many families avoid the process altogether. …
Wednesday, January 23, 2013
After months of wrangling, there are three proposals left on the table. Which do you think is best for Boston's families?
After months of deliberations, trial balloons and many neighborhood meetings, Boston school officials on Tuesday released three alternatives to the current school selection process. The three plans are designed to provide families with flexibility to select quality schools close to home, according to the Boston School Choice website. The three plans are as follows: 10-zone plan: In this plan, parents would rank the schools in their zone. The child would then be placed based on availability in each school. This plan is structurally similar to the current zone-based system for placing students in schools. Home-based proposal A: This plan would give parents the choice of at least six schools of different quality near their home address. "…
Tuesday, January 22, 2013
Boston Public Schools continues to overhaul its system to provide more schools close to home.
Boston Public School administrators will unveil three new proposals to reform its student assignment process today. Last year school officials released five plans, but according to the Globe, none of the original five plans will be included in the latest rollout of plans. School officials are releasing the proposals on the School Department's website Tuesday afternoon, and will formally present it at public meeting on Wednesday for the External Advisory Committee. The committee was appointed by Boston Mayor Thomas Menino last year. One of the new proposals would create smaller assignment zones, offering anywhere from three to 14 choices of schools, said Matthew Wilder, spokesperson for Boston Public Schools, according to the Globe. The two…
Tuesday, November 13, 2012
Boston Public Schools' Superintendent outlines the reasons for the change to the school choice system in Boston.
- SCHOOLS
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Tuesday, November 13, 2012
The following was written by Boston Public Schools Superintendent Dr. Carol R. Johnson: November kicks off School Choice season in the Boston Public Schools. Over the next month we will be welcoming parents to a series of school showcases to help them explore their options for next year. Additionally, between now and early January every Boston Public School will host at least three open houses to help parents and students can find a school that offers the right fit. You can see the full list at here. We created these opportunities because we are proud of what every school has to offer. More than eight times as many 8th grade students are enrolled in Algebra today than just four years ago, and thanks to our partners, 14,000 more students …
Thursday, October 11, 2012
A Jamaica Plain parent came away unimpressed with a recent public comment night. The Boston Public Schools have presented five ways to overhaul the district's student assignment system.
- OPINION
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Thursday, October 11, 2012
[Editor's note: The author of this column, John Radosta, is a Forest Hills resident with a child at West Roxbury's Ohrenberger School. The schools have presented plans ranging from "no zone" neighborhood schools to a 23-zone plan.] Last Thursday, I was one of over two hundred people who came to the Ohrenberger School for a presentation by the Boston Public Schools on the School Assignment proposals. The crowd was the largest of the BPS meetings that are being held over the course of two weeks, perhaps because it is the only meeting near to Roslindale and Jamaica Plain as well. In addition to a number of School Committee, External Advisory Committee members, and about half a dozen BPS principals, Representative Ed Coppinger attended, as …
Wednesday, October 10, 2012
The Boston Public Schools said that a "grandfathering" clause is included in all school choice plans, so students will be able to remain in their current schools once a new system begins.
Boston Public School officials said that students will be able to remain in their present school even after a new student assignment plan begins. School officials sent out a statement specifically about the issue. 'Can my child stay in his or her school if we adopt a new assignment plan?' We are doing our best to answer your great questions about our Improving School Choice proposals. One of the most common questions we have received so far comes from parents of current students, who are asking whether their child can stay in his or her current school under whatever plan we create.
The answer is yes. At Wednesday's Boston School Committee meeting, Superintendent Carol Johnson recommended to the Boston School Committee to create a '…
Wednesday, September 26, 2012
"BPS has just offered its best thinking on how a new system might look in the future and is asking for your feedback." - Boston Mayor Thomas Menino
- OPINION
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Wednesday, September 26, 2012
Editor's note: The following is a letter to the editor by Mayor Thomas Menino. Read more about the five plans proposed by the Boston School Department here. In January I made a promise to our city’s parents and children. Our families would like a school choice system that passes the common-sense test. Today’s system does not. In the Bowdoin/Geneva area of Dorchester, where families speak 15 different languages and one in four falls below the poverty line, 2,000 students attend 100 different schools. Something similar could be said in East Boston, in Jamaica Plain, in Allston and in Dorchester. We cannot build a stronger community when we split ourselves apart every morning. This spring we asked you to tell us how we can improve the school …
Tuesday, September 25, 2012
Officials from the Boston Public School Department presented five different plans to address the issue of school choice in the city. All the proposals would mark a significant change for South End residents.
The choices are on the table for future generations of Boston Public School students. The Boston Public Schools Department presented a series of five options that would address school choice among students in Boston, with proposals ranging from doing away with the zone system completely to a system involving 23 different zones that span the city. The schools currently run in a three zone system, meaning some students attend schools across large swaths of the city. In thinking about the different plans, BPS said the frameworks considered equitable access, proximity to home for students, element of choice, diversity, safety, predictability, simpler for families, transportation savings, ease of execution. Each of the proposed options would …
Monday, September 24, 2012
Boston Public Schools will release five alternative plans for school choice. What would you like to see the school system do to improve school assignments for kids?
Boston Public Schools will host a meeting 6 p.m. Monday night to announce five alternative school choice plans. The five alternatives were designed to improve local school access while preserving a parent's ability to choose the best school for their child, according to Superintendent Carol Johnson. Johnson made her remarks to WBUR. The schools have been mum on the details of the plan, preferring to present them Monday night at the Lilla Frederick Pilot Middle School in Dorchester. From there, the department plans more public meetings to present and vet the alternatives, which will also be examined by an advisory committee appointed by Mayor Thomas Menino, according to boston.com. What do you think? What kind of changes should the school …
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Wednesday, June 13, 2012
City Council's Education Committee held three days of hearings on student assignment, transportation, and school quality. The next round of public meetings start June 24.
The Boston City Council's Education Committee recently held three days of intense hearings allowing parents and students to testify about their public school experiences. The hearings, held May 22-24, were chaired by At-Large City Councilor John Connolly, and no Boston Public Schools department officials testified during the three days, but many were in attendance, working in conjunction with the Council. "BPS came to listen and that’s what I wanted and I asked from them. Come and listen to the parent experiences," said Connolly. Superintendent Carol Johnson was present on the first day of hearings, while assistant superintendents and other administration staff attended all three days. Parents testimony ranged the gamut from frustration …
frankly mr.shankly
4:31 pm on Monday, January 28, 2013
right now I prefer the home-based plan. All of the zone plans essentially red-lines certain neighborhoods - even this current incarnation. What bugged me about the last round of zone plans was that on all but one or two, the line cut roslindale right in half - essentially lumping the more affluent section with west roxbury and JP, and the up-and-coming section with mattapan. This zone plan seems … more ›