I am disappointed that Lawrence Harmon has traded equity for fantasy in his commentary on the student assignment reform process (“For Boston’s pupils, a lost opportunity,” Op-ed, Feb. 23). Harmon writes of parents rallying around their neighborhood schools as if this alone can transform the quality of poor schools. This may work in limited instances, but an examination of existing Boston public schools with high percentages of students living nearby shows that they do not perform better overall than those whose students travel longer distances. In fact, many are among the lowest-performing schools in the city.
What I find most galling is that Harmon puts the word equity in quotes, as if it is not a valid goal for a student assignment system. The plan in place now is inequitable to low-income children and children of color. A neighborhood plan would be much more inequitable and would only get worse over time as families of means move to zones with good schools while those without are pushed out.
Comments
Go the the school closest to where you live. If the school sucks, fix it. If where you live sucks, either fix that too, or move.
As a BPS teacher, I completely approve of this letter to theb editor. Obviously, we put our worst teachers in places where children live in poverty, are abused, have no educationl support. That is our agenda. Idiot.