THE DEMAND for spots in public schools outside of the traditional district system is far greater than the opportunities mentioned in “School change plans tweak status quo, when bold change is needed” (Editorial, Jan. 29).
The stated argument for greater change is correct and thoughtful. But the problem is understated: For every METCO student taking a bus to the suburbs, several M ETCO lottery entrants are denied. For every student entering a public charter school, at least one public charter lottery entrant is denied.
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Part 1 of 2
The author of this letter, Liam Kerr of Brookline, does not have all the information or a historical context. The METCO Program is not income based, so the Boston Public Schools (BPS) lose many of our middle and upper class parents of color, who would really make a difference in our traditional schools, to the suburbs. METCO families enjoy the benefits of living in the city, and providing their children with a suburban Unified School District experience. When the tonier suburbs realized that METCO students were going to bring down their schools Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP), which would reflect a down turn in real estate values, look how fast they tried to “uninvited” METCO! Originally, the METCO Program was supposed to be a two-way program, the BPS was supposed to receive white students from the suburbs. Maybe the white students, who lived in Newton and went to Boston Latin a few years ago, were from the METCO Program? Boston sends our students of color to diversify white suburban schools but nobody seems to be concerned that the BPS has few white students. Perhaps it is time to revisit bringing in white suburban students to BPS traditional schools, not Boston Latin which is already diversified, and make it a criterion for communities participating in METCO?
Mr. Kerr does not mention that charter schools do not “BACKFILL” empty seats! These seats just sit an empty when a student leaves the school. Backfilling “would change their community” and their MCAS scores! By state law, charter schools do not have to backfill the last three years of their grade level (MCAS year). “Backfilling vacancies will be required of charter schools as these occur, prior to February 15th, and in the grade in which they occur. Vacancies will not be filled in grades 10, 11, 12 or in the last half of the grades served by the school.” (*p3) That’s why middle school charters start at grade 5, that means no backfilling of seats in grades 6, 7, and 8, MCAS years! So charter schools do not have the revolving door found in BPS traditional schools!
Part 2 of 2
Now segregation is when you impose the separation of a race or class of people from others or from a main body or group. This time the segregation is happening to SPED students, ELL students, and students found “not to be the right fit” (read behavior problems). These commonwealth charter schools are nothing but segregation academies paid for with public taxpayer funds. If you took all the students from Boston commonwealth charter schools, BPS exam, in-district charter, pilot, Horace Mann, and innovation schools and salted their students throughout Boston’s traditional schools, all traditional schools would be making AYP! To bring back “high quality schools” for all families, it’s time to change the law and evaluate “school districts” for making AYP, not individual schools! It is time for Boston Public Schools to bring their students home and return to a Unified School District! Now that would be a bold change for the better that Mayor Menino could make!
www.doe.mass.edu/charter/governance/enrollmentguidance.doc
The real question is, why is your local school substandard? If the school in your neighborhood is sub-standard, then why not try to fix it. If your neighborhood is substandard, move.
The Boston Public Schools is the Number 1 urban school system in the United States. According to Michael Casserly, Executive Director of the Council of the Great City Schools, "the district's many excellent teachers to guide classroom instruction have resulted in academic progress that is the envy of other cities." Mr. Casserly goes on to say, "Boston is the only big-city school district to have actually caught up with the nation in any grade or subject after having started significantly below it. Eighth graders in Boston have gone from proficiency levels in math, that were 10 percentage points below national averages in 2003, to levels that match the country in 2011!"
What Boston’s Mayor Menino is not telling the public is how the traditional Boston Public Schools do not compete on a level playing field! BPS Traditional Public Schools have been purposely set-up to fail by the District! Historically, BPS has systematically moved programs and populations of students, with a history of failure, into traditional schools around the city. Court Street did this to supplement the school system coffers. When these schools failed, they qualified for more Federal, State, and private grants. When the grant ran out at a school, the failing program and its students were moved to another school, the District would reapply for the grant, and it would begin again. Mayor Menino allowed this to go on! Now with "Race to the Top" (RTT) money available for urban failing schools, the BPS District has un-resourced traditional schools so they would fail and qualify for this RTT money and then be taken over by In-district charter schools. It is really quite ugly when you see the impact on the cities children and the families who might not have the money or resources to move out of their neighborhood.
Poor Boston, only 50 or so school choices...never move to the suburbs...we have one choice and have to fight to make sure that the quality is maintained...
Can you see putting your child on a bus or public transportation for 1-2+ hours a day? That is the case with many Boston K-12 Students. Suburban communities that that do not use a "portfolio of schools" model, like the Boston Public Schools, always seem to make AYP? Why? Have you ever heard of schools in Weston, Wellesley or Lexington not making AYP? No! There is a reason for this, and it not that kids in those communities are smarter, or that their teachers are "newer, better, innovative, creative, younger," and cheaper, "Teach for America" or "Boston Teacher Residency" teachers!
Unlike the Boston Public Schools (BPS), in the communities making AYP, all students attend traditional "heterogeneous" schools. Advanced students are offered Advance Placement (AP) courses, or have International Baccalaureate (IB) programs within their regular schools. These communities don’t separate and send students to separate exam or charter schools!
If you took all the students from the Boston Public Schools exam and charter schools and salted them throughout Boston's traditional schools, all traditional schools would be making AYP! A "Unified School District" model, adopted by many suburban schools, would strengthen our Boston School District and allow students to return to equal "quality" neighborhood schools!