Redakter

The Invisible Students in Boston

2011-02-04T19:43:00.001-08:00

Tonight, reading Karina's posts on the parent listserv about how the Boston Public Schools refuses to support kids who are living in poverty if they happen to do well on a standardized test in 6th grade and attend the Boston Latin School, a public exam school. Thank you Karina for being an organizer and role-model parent, inspiring others to speak up, you are missed at school!!!!!

Reposted with Karina's permission:

Date: Fri, 4 Feb 2011 18:40:06 -0500
From: Karina Meiri
Subject: Re: [BLSVillage] poverty among PBS students

But this isn't a race to the top or the bottom, this wasn't about
O'Bryant, and its not a zero sum game. In fact everybody loses. I'd just
like people to acknowledge that there's a considerable portion of the BL
community who are losing right now (26.9%) in fact. My point is only
that no-one is looking after the poor kids at BLS whether there are 10
of them or a 1000 (which there may well be by the same argument).

And the cherry tables are a total red herring - all the cherry tables in
the world won't buy one teacher. And all the cherry tables in the world
never got anyone into college (especially when the library shuts at 2:30
because there's no staff).

For parents who aren't following this, this is what I wrote to someone
off line today, by way of explanation:

"Now about your other issue. Its true BLS has a huge endowment that
other schools don't have (although other schools certainly have alumni
too. It just seems that BLS made enough difference in people's lives to
make them want to give back). But they are very restricted in how they
can spend it, which is a source of great frustration. They can't spend
it on operating costs or any service that the BPS should provide for the
school - such as teachers or the basic curriculum. For example a few
years ago the library was closing at midday due to lack of staff, but
BLSA wasn't allowed to pay for a part time librarian to keep it open.

So what they have traditionally spent it on has been capital
improvements (like the arts wing) or scholarships. (They gave out about
$600,000 in scholarships last year when my daughter graduated). Some of
those are endowed scholarships, as you'll find out when your daughter
graduates "A scholarship from Mr J. Henry Brown class of 1924 for the
student ranked in the middle of the class who has shown exceptional
promise with the trombone" I kid you not. So there's nothing to be done
with those, they have to obey the restrictions that were put on them
when they were donated in the first place.

It is possible to donate and endow a 'specialty' program, although it
costs a huge amount of money. The one you're probably thinking of is
"Facing History and Ourselves" which was endowed by a BLS alum. It is
arguably the single class that makes most impact on students' lives.
Both my kids took it and I strongly urge your daughter to take it too
(its for juniors and seniors). The Roche family also donated several
million dollars to the athletic program. But that doesn't put math
teachers in the classrooms either. So they're caught between a rock and
a hard place. A library with better furniture in it than I have at home,
but no-one to work there because of rules about what the endowment can
be spent on. And that's what people don't see beyond I'm afraid when
they think of BLS as an elitist place."

You won't get any argument from me about BPS and its multitudinous
defects, nor about the correlation between affluence and performance on
standardized tests.

But what this discussion was about was the fact that the affluent
parents of BLS don't seem to feel any special relationship to those poor
kids who have managed to battle their way into the school. They'd rather
spend their time at the barricades for unknown students at other schools
rather than for their kids classmates' in their own backyard.

KM '06 '10.

Date: Fri, 4 Feb 2011 13:00:18 -0500
From: Karina Meiri
Subject: Re: [BLSVillage] poverty among PBS students

Well you need to read what I said more carefully. If you take total
numbers of students it is true, if you take it as a percentage of total
it isn't.

So 28.6% of 2400 = 696 whereas 50% of 1234 = 617.

The difference is that O'Bryant gets federal resources for its kids and

BLS doesn't.

Karina Meiri

"Date: Fri, 4 Feb 2011 09:02:39 -0500
From: Karina Meiri
Subject: Re: [BLSVillage] School budget proposal would cut 250 positions - The Boston Globe

I feel fortunate that I no longer have a dog in this fight. But I would
like to raise one final point that bothered me the entire time I was at
BLS. For the large part it motivated everything that I did there, budget
advocacy and otherwise.

There are more students living below the poverty line at BLS than there
are at any other school in the BPS system. They are your kids' invisible
classmates who can't afford coats and calculators, don't hang out at the
Gallerias, and who may not even have a home to go to at night. There
are many, many more than you think.

They have no advocates.

Certainly not in BPS, which denies them any of the federal support to
which they are entitled and which other BPS kids living in poverty
receive, merely because their numbers do not reach some aribitrary
percentage of the total number of students (and I say aribitrary
purposely because this is a rule BPS made up, and which disadvantages
only two schools in the system - BLS and the Manning school in JP.

Certainly not in members of the BLS parent body who, knowing their own
circumstances to be privileged, find it not quite nice to advocate for
their childrens' own classmates who will have one shot, this one shot,
at a transformative education. Kids who have shown incredible will and
determination to seize that opportunity but who are going to lose out
because $4000 buys study halls but not AP classes. Teachers who have to
spend their time managing kids not teaching them.

There would be more credibility in going out to save the system if you
first took care of your own backyard. Donate, volunteer, send in your
cast off computers and coats, but don't hold these defenseless kids
hostage to the overwhelming tyranny of middle class guilt.

To the parents who provoked this diatribe. Apologies. I have no way to
know your own circumstances, so please don't perceive this as a personal
attack.

BLS manages to push one last button.

Karina Meiri

On Thu, Feb 3, 2011 at 10:37 PM, Karina Meiri <karina.meiri@tufts.edu

This maybe a case of us being divided by a common language John.
In English English, which is what I speak, whammy doesn't have the
pejorative overtones you appear to be ascribing to it.

In any case, of course special needs students require more
funding. ELL I'm not convinced. They need a special kind of
instruction, that's for sure, but I can't see why it needs to be
more expensive to teach a high school curriculum in two languages
rather than one language. People all over the world do it very
effectively.

With respect to school size, you've got it backwards. Its not that
large schools are cheaper, its that small schools turned out to be
much more expensive - duplicating top heavy expensive
administration to no apparent good end that was reflected in
better performance. But that's beside the point.

If you take a look at our budget analysis you'll see the main
question is why is your _non-special needs, non-ELL_ exam school
kid worth less to the City of Boston ($4000) than the average
_non-special needs, non-ELL_ non-exam school kid who gets on
average $10,000 a year for their education. Hopefully this new
funding formula will make things more equitable by giving them
both $7000. Or do you think exam school kids should just suck it up?

Karina Meiri

The anti-education Boston Public School Committee

2011-02-03T19:09:00.000-08:00

"This means the school system’s three highly coveted exam schools, Boston Latin School, Boston Latin Academy, and the John D. O’Bryant School of Math and Science, would receive the least money per student, according to district documents."

School budget proposal would cut 250 positions

In the Boston Globe, February 3, 2011. Happy New Year.

nf wrote:
stevil -- here's where I got the figure, and no classroom at BLS or BLA has two teachers, and for what it's worth they don't have a full time librarian, a book that isn't held together with tape and elastics, or lightbulbs for the classroom overhead projectors, they are lacking handsoap, the paint is peeling, heat is a luxury. As someone else mentioned, when the per-pupil spending is taken as as average it sounds nice, on par with the suburbs, when you peel back the top layer and realize that in actually one kid with special needs gets a much larger slice of that pie while another kid at an exam school gets just a bite of the pie you get a different perspective.

Here, read it for yourself and then see if you still think it's fair:https://docs.google.com/present/view?id=df6wh7bk_21gttv6khk

Invest in Public Schools

2011-01-31T19:23:00.000-08:00

This was shared by Maya Escobar, thanks Maya - check out her work/blog/art/talk

Teacher Test

2010-10-24T18:19:00.000-07:00

“Teacher evaluation in this country is fundamentally broken,” says Arne Duncan, President Barack Obama’s education secretary, in an interview in Boston. “We don’t live in Lake Wobegon [where everyone is “above average”], but we have a system that pretends that we do. It hurts adults and it hurts children. It means, by definition, that the great teachers don’t get recognized and don’t get rewarded, and we don’t learn from them. The teachers in the middle don’t get the support they need to improve, and the teachers at the bottom — who, frankly, need to find another profession — don’t get moved out. For us to continue to do what we’re doing, or to just tinker around the edges, is crazy.”

In Commonwealthmagazine,

http://www.commonwealthmagazine.org/News-and-Features/Features/2009/Fall/Teacher-test.aspx

Must SEE: Waiting for Superman

2010-10-24T11:09:00.000-07:00

This is an amazing movie. It should be required viewing for all BPS parents, the school board, the mayor, the city council. The union should be dissolved, they are destroying public education.

Testimony at Boston City Council

2010-09-29T06:25:00.000-07:00

Read the Boston Globe covers the testimony here >>>>>>>>

Read the Boston Phoenix Editorial

Reinventing Boston's schools

Throw the teachers' contract out the window

Excerpt from my testimony, submitted in writing to "The Record"

STUDENTS ARE NOT WIDGETS!

Why does the city/union run the schools based on some early 20th century factory system model? The union rules only make sense if you are working on an assembly line with widgets.

You can't just stick a teacher in front of any class because they have been "in the system" a certain number of years. You can't switch teachers around into different subjects just to fill spaces during budget cuts. The concept that all teachers are interchangeable based on number of years worked and can teach any group of students might work on an assembly line. It fails miserably in a school.

The early 20th century factory model of education in the Boston Public Schools must be stopped immediately and if the union can't understand this then it must be dissolved.

This is a recession and there are a lot of good teachers out there looking for work.

Goodbye, stimulus. Hello, state budget cuts

2010-05-09T19:00:00.000-07:00

"School districts, meanwhile, are also feeling the pain. Some 275,000 education jobs could be eliminated in the coming school year due to budget cuts, according to a new survey by the American Association of School Administrators. This would nearly wipe out the estimated 300,000 jobs saved by stimulus funds."

From, "Goodbye, stimulus. Hello, state budget cuts" By Tami Luhby, senior writerMay 9, 2010: 8:10 AM ET, CNN.COM

Letter to the School Committee and Superintendent

2010-03-24T18:12:00.001-07:00

March 21, 2010, emailed, read out loud in public testimony, March 24, 2010 at the BPS public comments portion of the School Committee meeting

Dear Superintendent Johnson and the Boston School Committee,

I am writing to express my concern about the impact of budget cuts, specifically on high schools. A quote in the Boston Globe about the BPS budget cuts, March 11^th 2010, states:

“McDonough said his staff tried hard to avoid cuts that would directly affect students in the classroom … "

Are you aware of the impact the cuts have already had on students in the classroom?

Students witnessed some of their most energetic and committed teachers lose their jobs.
Every day, students encounter stressed out staff who don't have the support to handle the thousands of kids in their buildings and mustnavigate unsafe staffing levels.
Students watched their most inspiring programs eliminated or reduced (ie. Connections at BLS – should be a model for the system - one of the best middle school curriculums I've seen - should be expanded system-wide rather than slashed….)
They go to restrooms that lack soap and toilet paper.
Students no longer get the writing practice necessary for AP and college preparation – the teachers (at BLS) can't grade 155 papers each and resort to multiple choice tests and vocabulary drills.
At my son's school, BLS, students still have to answer to a media & city (& a school official who will remain unnamed in this letter) that doesn't acknowledge the economic diversity of the students and relies on outdated, inaccurate stereotypes, ignoring the 700+ Title I eligible students in the school. They rationalize diverting these students' funds to other schools. These students need books and other support that Title I could provide.
Students see a system that values seniority over quality.While they are expected to adhere to high standards, the BPS doesn't expect the same of all their teachers.

Imagine if the BPS awarded grades based on age and birth date – all the January students got higher grades no matter how poorly they did – that is the current state of affairs with how the BPS is hiring/firing teachers in a state of budgetary crisis.

Have you discussed these ideas for improving the system?

Revise the union contract and build teacher accountability into it to speed up the hiring/firing process so principals can control the quality of teaching.
Eliminate the money you spend on busing private school students and put that funding back into the classrooms.
Set a teacher/student ratio limit. 155 students:1 teacher is a joke – only students who can afford private tutoring or have parents who are educators get any attention.
Set class size limits comparable to the large suburban schools – 25 rather than 33 for a science class with a lab so that the classes are SAFE and students can learn.
Build on (rather than de-fund) your successes – look at the programs (ie. Music at Boston Latin School) that work. Don't follow the Massachusetts trend of wasting money on every education consultant that walks in with "The Answer" and de-fund successful programs. You have plenty of professional teachers in your system who already have great solutions – give them a chance (and get the bad teachers out of the system quickly).

Sincerely yours,

Lisa Link,

parent of a 9^th grade boy at Boston Latin School

Pictures Below from the teacher's union organized rally at the Boston Public School Committee Budget hearing. I am upset that they are refusing to negotiate and allowing their younger teachers to be laid off.

Teacher comment on Boston.com

2010-03-17T19:42:00.000-07:00

I saw this comment on Boston.com, the writer says they are a teacher and even if it's completely made up, a lot of it reflects what I've heard; the negative impact of overcrowded classrooms on student learning. The school committee doesn't seem to acknowledge the damage that they have already done. Had to turn it into a poster, if you click it, you see a larger view. Thanks for feedback - this is a sketch of an idea.

More Budget Cuts to Schools

2010-03-10T06:11:00.000-08:00

Schools chief warns of closings

Boston Globe article by James Vaznis

The fallout from teacher firings

Boston Globe article by Joan Vennochi
"In a recent interview in the New York Times, Ravitch said she now believes that math and reading testing required under No Child Left Behind pushes history and art out of classrooms. She argues that accountability, as written into federal law, doesn’t raise standards; it dumbs down schools."

Boston Gets "F" in Teacher Appraisals (Globe)

2010-02-23T05:47:00.000-08:00

A new state law that bolsters a superintendent’s ability to fire teachers at underperforming schools could be undermined in Boston because administrators routinely neglect a basic task: evaluating teachers.

	Discuss
	COMMENTS (38)

About half the city’s approximately 5,000 teachers have not received an evaluation in the past two years, and a quarter of the city’s 135 schools have not conducted evaluations during that period, according to a report commissioned by the Massachusetts Business Alliance for Education that was provided to the Globe yesterday.http://www.boston.com/news/education/k_12/articles/2010/02/23/boston_gets_an_f_in_teacher_appraisals/?page=2

pictures from rally at State House

2009-03-26T19:08:00.000-07:00

Screenshot of Channel 7 Coverage - thanks to the organizers for printing out and hanging the posters! How is it that they started this article with "Dozens" when they were about 700 people - a little off-base in their estimates!!!! Images of the "save the arts" trash can design that I made on t-shirts and DVDs. Ginny still has some t-shirts left - size large if people want to purchase - all proceeds to BLS Arts and BLS Home & School.

Jill and I attempt a media intervention with Fox News who arrived at our school to cover vampire rumors and were not going to cover the budget- they let us speak! Thanks! Picture further down, nothing lining up right. Also further down BPS parent Kenneth holding the poster I made with his moving quote from an earlier BPS school committee hearing.

New Posters for 3/26 Rally (drafts)

2009-03-22T20:53:00.000-07:00

These are rough drafts of two new posters for the 3/26 rally at the MA state house.

Deval Patrick betrays Public School Students

2009-03-21T14:43:00.001-07:00

Letter from Karina below - I made posters that are now t-shirts for wearing to this 3/26 - see prior entries - please contact me if you know anyone who can come Thursday!

Dear Boston Schools parent,

It seems like a long time ago that I wrote asking for your help at our rally at the first School Committee meeting in February. Since then the School budget seems to have dominated all our lives. Now, so many people are involved that I can't write you a personal email like I did last time; I hope you'll forgive me.

Yesterday we got a particularly nasty shock: as you know, Boston got no money from the first round of funding from the stimulus package. So, we called the State House to ask when we would get our share. They told us we wouldn't. That's right - you read it correctly!

The governor wants to give the money that President Obama intended for needy school districts to Belmont and Wellesley - while telling Boston to deal with its own problems.

While this tells us a lot about how the Governor views Boston, it's not the end of the process - the House of Representatives and the Senate do have a chance to weigh in. I'm writing to you because I need your help. This bad news makes our lobby day at the State House on Thursday even more critical. Please show up at noon, even for just an hour. We need to be there in force
to show the Governor that Boston will not accept his decision, and that we parents need to be heard.

If you remember, the last time I wrote, I told you someone at City Hall had asked me, "Where's the moral outrage?" I'm sure the Governor's attitude toward Boston, and the consequences it will have on all our children makes you as angry as it makes me.

Please join your fellow parents at the State House, Thursday March 26th at noon to show that anger and to tell Boston's senators and Representatives that we won't be left out in the cold!

We need everyone to be there.

Thank you for your help,

Karina Meiri
BPSparents

For more information and to register for lobby day go to
http://www.bpsparents.org

At English High School Committee Hearing

2009-03-10T18:54:00.001-07:00

Thank you to the parents who helped hold up posters at the Budget hearing.

CD cover for the arts

2009-03-07T18:47:00.000-08:00

DVD sleeve design for the parent group that is putting together a DVD of all students in the arts to send to politicians to try to stop this madness. This week learned how some foundation just released a report about the arts in Boston Public Schools and at the foundation meeting THEY WERE IGNORING THE FACT THAT THE SCHOOL DEPARTMENT IS GUTTING THE BIGGEST IN-SCHOOL ARTS PROGRAM IN THE CITY. One parent was there luckily and spoke up. BLS arts and music serves 1200 students annually. The city's arts high school only has about 400 students total enrollment. So here we have a successful in-school arts program that could be used as a model for other high schools and it is being trashed. Meanwhile, the BLS student jazz band won a gold medal and the theater group advanced in an international competition....

More & Revised Poster Designs

2009-03-01T11:37:00.001-08:00

More designs. For PDF versions, please email me and you can have some to print. Revised "trash can" design. "Number Sense and Operations" is actual wording from the Mass. MCAS exams for those of you reading this from out-of-state. Copycop has a %44 off sale -posters only $15 there with web coupon sale. Also, I can modify this top design to cross out subjects/names specific to your school.

Lisa

Poster Design ideas in Response to Budget cuts, drafts

2009-02-22T19:36:00.000-08:00

Click Image for larger view

Poster above my response to BLS plan to "shovel" a successful arts program into the trash. Ignores decades of research on the importance of the arts/creative learning strategies in education. BLS is taking a step backwards and also leaving arts only to those who can afford it or have the time/luck to get their child into a free program.

Poster below from quote I recorded at a school committee budget meeting, February 45h. Parent testimony on the horrible impact of budget cuts on the schools.

Poster below highlighting research findings on the critical role that the arts play in education. They aren't just "extras" - they can make a HUGE difference in long term academic success. I chose school bus colors because busing is a heavy financial and political issue that defines the system. Giant political/economic/social/historic issues with buses and schools and Boston. Ted Landsmark had this to say on the issue in an op ed in the Boston Globe, January 13, 2009.

Boston Phoenix Article on Education and School Committee #

2009-02-13T09:50:00.000-08:00

The Boston School Committee is a huge part of the crisis in education in Boston. Stubborn. Doesn't act/advocate in the best interest of students.

26 Court Street, 4th Floor
Boston, MA 02108
Hours: Monday - Friday, 8:00 a.m. - 6:00 p.m.
Telephone: 617-635-9014
Fax: 617-635-9689
feedback@bostonpublicschools.org
Elizabeth A. Sullivan, Executive Secretary

Boston Phoenix article on Boston Schools >>>>>>>>

Letter to the Headmaster

2009-02-12T09:55:00.001-08:00

February 12, 2009

Dear Headmaster Mooney-Teta,

I am the parent of an 8th grader at the Boston Latin School and am devastated to learn that the budget proposal for 2009-10 eliminates one of the best public school art programs and most dedicated faculty that I have encountered both as a parent and a former teacher. These cuts destroy a program that has been painstakingly built over the past decade to become an award-winning model for arts education in US public high schools.

I am stunned by your decision to target the arts program. Why destroy something that serves such a large percentage of the student body, fosters academic achievements in school, is instrumental in college admissions, and leads to their success in the workplace? I understand that there is economic panic, but this decision I respectfully must argue will result in long-term damage to the future of too many young people.

The arts curriculum has been the key to engaging my son in school. It is why he has maintained A's and B's in his classes. The arts teachers foster a sense of community in their classrooms and then outside the classroom in the performing groups. They treat the students as unique individuals with unlimited creative potential. Attending music classes is how our son made friends and why he wants to get up so early and get to school. The arts teachers/curriculum gave my son confidence in a new, giant, often overwhelming institution. Playing trumpet in the football and junior jazz bands gave him a sense of pride in and connection to the school that frankly, would be impossible to achieve in any of the academic classes or clubs. He would have dropped out last year if not for the music program and the music teachers. Mr. Snyder is particularly outstanding – I am appalled that he was given notice.

There is extensive research to support the fact that my son's experience is not unique and that the arts are a critical component of students’ learning and achievement in other academic areas. For example, see the Harvard-based study on the impact of music in non-musical areas, Forgeard M, Winner E, Norton A, Schlaug G. Practicing a Musical Instrument in Childhood is Associated with Enhanced Verbal Ability and Nonverbal Reasoning. PLoS ONE, 2008; 3 (10): e3566 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0003566. Research has refuted past notions of the creative arts as “extras” and placed them in the center of k-12 education. Take a moment and listen to the voices of the students in case the scientific research isn't enough:
http://blsarts.org/voices.html

The Massachusetts Arts Curriculum Framework reflects these findings and states that:
“All students in the Commonwealth’s public schools will become proficient in understanding the arts and communicating in at least one arts discipline by the time they graduate from high school. In order to achieve these goals, it is recommended in this framework that students begin their study of the arts in the elementary grades, and continue to study one or more of the arts disciplines throughout middle and high school.”

Ending the arts curriculum at the high school level will severely impact many students’ abilities to get into college and receive scholarships, thereby cancelling out the reason they attend the Boston Latin School. Colleges are looking for students whose achievements go beyond the traditional academic subjects. A substantial record of involvement in the arts in many cases may tip the balance in favor of a student's admission.

Finally, the students will be at a disadvantage in their future careers without arts in their curriculum. The Partnership for 21st Century Skills, an organization whose board includes executives from Intel, Adobe, Cisco, Ford, HP, Apple, Microsoft and Verizon, lists the arts as one of the core subjects in its "Framework for 21st Century Learning." The Framework also specifies cognitive/behavioral skills that will be crucial for 21st-century workers, including:

o Creativity and innovation
o Communication and collaboration
o Flexibility and adaptability
o Initiative and self-direction
o Leadership and responsibility

Please commit to using any funds which may be returned to the BLS budget for the restoration of the arts faculty, and if the worst-case scenario prevails, we further ask that you reallocate the cuts in a more equitable way that reflects the integral role of the arts in the Massachusetts core curriculum and the BLS educational experience.

Sincerely yours,

Lisa Link

Why teach creative arts in public schools?

2009-02-11T20:39:00.001-08:00

The students say it best. >>

the impact of budget cuts. >>

The arts at Boston Latin School. >>

Action >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

Today I had talks with office aides/interns for:

Senator Kennedy, Senator Kerry, Congressman Lynch, Congressman Cappuano, State Rep. Rush, State Rep. Forry, State Senator Walsh, the liason on education fro Mayor Menino. I also wrote state reps Balser and Kaufman since I'd done interviews with them on education 8 years ago for the Boston Cyberarts Festival.

If an unfriendly foreign power had attempted to impose on America the mediocre educational performance that exists today, we might well have viewed it as an act of war. As it stands, we have allowed this to happen to ourselves.... We have, in effect, been committing an act of unthinking, unilateral educational disarmament.

The above quote dates back to 1983 and can be found in Ronald Reagan’s A Nation at Risk.

Parent Meeting with City Councilor

2009-02-09T19:08:00.000-08:00

"They are going to have the debt for

this for the rest of their lives

and we're not going to educate them to handle it."

"Where is the outrage on the part of the superintendent,

why aren't they advocating for the kids, for education?"

"The time is now for bold decisions"

Quotes from tonight's meeting at a parent's house with City Councilor John Tobin - not sure who said which one.... The parent was incredibly generous to open up her home to others and even had sandwiches in case people were coming from work. I learned that there are really great parents at all these schools who I wished I was meeting under different circumstances and that:

The school committee is appointed by the mayor.
The school committee was offered the chance to hold their Feb 4th meeting in city council chambers so more parents could attend. They turned it down, met at Court street, and turned kids away and parents away -they treated people they are supposed to represent horribly.
There are no school committee members representing West Roxbury, East Boston, or Allston/Brighton.
Some school committee members don't attend any of the budget hearings, one woman, ?Helen?, from JP does a lot of work and takes it seriously.
The school committee came up with a budget that involved no-thought and is anti-education - no targeted, thoughtful budgeting or elimination of waste - just firing a lot of teachers impacting some schools (my child's) more than others. They are running a system with almost a billion dollars when you add in grants for 57,000 students and they cannot figure out how to disperse it. There are huge amounts of administrative waste - duplication of services and millions spent on transporting students around the city on almost empty buses.
The councilor worked on a plan to create more equitable neighborhood zones several years ago and it didn't pass.
Non-profits own 53% of the land in Boston - don't pay taxes - why not make them each adopt a school???
Wednesday, 10-12 there is a meeting for the school committee to present their budget to the city council and we are invited.
March 28th school committee sends budget to Boston City Council, John Connelly acting chair of education on the Council.
Teachers were given notice, pulled out of classes in tears in front of the students. The Councilor said the process is still early, the budget isn't set in stone until June 30th but I think so much damage has already been done.
We should push hard on the state to pass the increase meals tax and lobby the school committee and demand responses.
So, yes the economy is bad and local aid has dropped but really, in the end, the school committee has hundreds of millions of dollars to work with.

Boston Latin School Gets Least Per Student

2009-02-06T17:53:00.000-08:00

A page out of the BPS Budget reveals that the Boston Latin School, a public high school serving 20% of the city's high school students gets the LEAST amount of money, $4,430 per student, as compared to say, $17K at Day & Evening Academy.

At 26 Court Street Budget Meeting

2009-02-04T20:48:00.000-08:00

We actually found free legal parking for this event!!! Thank you Jill for driving!. Hundreds of parents and students protested tonight at 26 Court Street.

One of the politicians, Kevin MCrea, has a good summary of the outrageous budget proposal on his blog, see excerpt below and follow the linked text to his blog for the rest.

In one of the most disingenuous and dishonest and non transparent moves I've ever seen in person the Mayor's spokesperson came to the school committee tonight and proposed a school budget of $786 million dollars for fiscal year 2010, which is 47 million dollars below what we are spending this year, even though the Mayor's own projected revenues are the same as this year!

In other words the Mayor is saying that he wants to cut teachers and school funding in order to increase spending on other areas of the budget!

Councilor Yoon's good response, wish he was governor

2009-02-02T18:18:00.000-08:00

Dear Lisa,

Thanks so much for writing about your concern for the school budget.

I am a BPS parent myself. My two kids go to Lee Academy Pilot School in Dorchester. I am feeling the anxiety as well.

Rest assured that I will do everything in my power to oppose cuts to education that will short-change our children's future.

Maintaining excellence at our flagship of BLS and other Boston Public Schools are not just important for your children and our city, but for our country. These schools, and all BPS schools, prepare the next generation of leaders who will tackle the challenges we face now. Undercutting instruction and enrichment for them at a critical time in your kids' life makes no sense.

What makes more sense is to figure out what expenses and programs outside the classroom can bear the burden, and also to once and for all take seriously the problem that we do not maximize our city's revenue potential, making us vulnerable to the whims of state government and local aid.

I will push hard on this issue and make sure that our voices are heard, because as you have told me, our future literally depends on it.

Thanks for voicing your concern,

Sam

Gov. Deval Patrick vs. Public Education

2009-01-30T13:54:00.000-08:00

In response to my letter, I get this from the Governor's office:

Dear Lisa,

On behalf of Governor Deval L. Patrick, thank you for sharing your thoughts about funding in the FY 2010 budget.

As you know, our current economic situation demands difficult decisions. Governor Patrick realizes that behind every budget item is a family, a worker, an important service or a worthy idea. Although declining revenues made it impossible to fund every program, the administration crafted a responsible budget for the times while continuing to provide assistance to those who need it most.

Please know that the Governor is grateful to have your voice as part of this discussion, and he hopes you will stay involved in your government moving forward. Now, more than ever, your participation matters.

Sincerely,
Tom Reece
Constituent Services Aide

BLS Parents Web Site

2009-01-26T19:32:00.000-08:00

Some parents at my kid's school put together an action web site:

http://www.blsparents.org/

Reva's Letter

2009-01-23T19:33:00.000-08:00

Thank you to Reva for editing the letter and giving it a great ending!

January 23, 2009

Representative Stephen Lynch
221 Cannon House Office Building
Washington, DC 20515-2109

Dear Representative Lynch:

I am a Boston resident who is writing to express outrage at the proposed budget cuts to the Boston Public Schools. My oldest child is an eighth grader who attends the Boston Latin School, which is the city’s largest high school with 2,440 students. 20% of Boston public high school students attend this school! It already has the burden of the highest student-teacher ratio of all the high schools – 27 kids: 1 teacher.

The Boston Public School formula states that a school of Boston Latin's size needs 132 teachers; the proposed budget would cut it to only 99. It will become dysfunctional at that staffing level, eliminating the quality of core academics, and completely dismantling all the programs which distinguish it as an excellent public school. Class sizes would reach 30 or more students.

It is disturbing that the city and state are punishing the very students who are making the “right choices.” These are the students who wake up at 6:00 am to be at school promptly at 7:40 am after taking the MBTA buses through Boston traffic, and then returning home to do hours of homework each night.

As a city parent, I was confident that my child had as good a chance as any suburban child to receive a very high quality education, due to the challenging academic standards at this Boston public school. The budget for next year would eliminate this level playing field, once again underlining that good public education can only be found in rich suburbs. We should not stand by to allow this inequity in the United States, as ‘children are left behind’ in our cities.

Congressman, I applaud your efforts to ensure that due diligence is done on the stimulus package, but I need to see your support for the education component. We must send the message that excellence in public schools is our national goal, and will be vigorously supported by the federal government. I am anxious to watch your support on a national and local level to bring economic stimulus funds to our Boston public schools, and to stop these budget cuts.

Sincerely yours,

Reva

Letter to one of the Councilor's at Large

2009-01-18T19:32:00.000-08:00

Tonight, I wrote my Boston City councilors, the four "councilors at large" and the mayor. I tried to personalize each letter in the first paragraph. Here is a sample, thanks for any comments on improving:

----------------------------------------------

Dear Councilor Connolly:

I am a resident of Ward 20, Precinct 20, West Roxbury, MA. I am writing to express outrage at the proposed budget cuts to the Boston Public Schools. On your web site, it states that you are a former teacher who "has been a strong voice for improving Boston Public Schools" so I am very interested in your response to this budget.

My oldest child attends Boston Latin School. As you probably know, this is the city’s largest high school with 2,440 children. 20% of Boston public high school students attend this school! It already has the burden of the highest student teacher ratio of all the high schools – 27:1 and still hasn’t recovered from budget cuts of five years ago.

The BPS formula states that a school of Boston Latin's size needs 132 teachers; the proposed budget cuts it down to 99. It will become dysfunctional at that staffing level.

My sense is that the “system” expects parents to magically finance this budget gap (with private tutors, outside programs…) because of the school’s reputation even though almost a third of the students qualify for free/reduced lunch (latest statistics on greatschools.net) and many other families are just at the limit.

Although I currently earn well under six figures, until now, I was confident that my child had as good a chance as any suburban child to receive an excellent education due to high academic standards at this Boston Public School. The budget for next year would gut this level playing field.

The current proposal by the Boston Public Schools means that:

********* 100 or more of the youngest students will spend 30% of their school day warehoused in the cafeteria with 2  adults to supervise.

********* High school students will lose 20% of their academic opportunities, 5 rather than 6 academic subjects. This would instantly diminish college opportunities for hundreds of poor and working-class students in Boston who attend this school in order to gain entrance AND scholarships to college.
********* Advanced placement classes will be canceled. Again, students’ chances for college and scholarships would be greatly diminished.

********* The Arts programs will be eliminated. Research in education over the last 20 years has expanded our knowledge about how teens and young adults learn, communicate, and understand the world. For example, Howard Gardner’s theory of multiple intelligences has shown that the arts play a vital role in improving students’ ability to learn. At the BLS winter concert, students paused before their performances to state point blank that they would not be in school today if not for the arts. I wish you could have heard those statements.

********* PE and health and at least one guidance counselor will be eliminated. Again, given the recent incidents of violence in public schools -- think Columbine -- cutting a major stress outlet for young people who are already under tremendous pressure is short-sighted. It poses a public safety risk for the school and the city.

It is disturbing that the city and state are punishing the very students who are making the “right choices.” The ones who get up at 6:00 am to be at school promptly at 7:40 am after taking the MBTA through Boston traffic (!!!!) and then return home to do hours of homework a night.

Thank you for doing everything you can to stop these budget cuts.

Sincerely yours,

Lisa Link, (home phone number listed here)

Boston Globe Article and Comments

2009-01-14T17:50:00.000-08:00

The Boston Globe ran an article today. "even the city's most successful and politically connected school will not go unscathed" says today's Globe article. It implies that the Boston Latin School is super elite. Anyway, if they are so connected, why are they so incredibly understaffed?

Doesn't mention that almost 1/3 - maybe more - who knows this year - of the students qualify for the free/reduced lunch program - that's hundreds of students.

Balancing the bailout on the backs of school children

2009-01-08T19:47:00.000-08:00

So, on the parent listserv, one person made a comment something to the effect of balancing the financial bailout on the backs of public school kids.

Everyday when I pick up the paper it's like reading some fairy tale gone awry with the bad guys totally triumphing in the end. Give billions to financiers with no strings attached and at the same time send out funding restrictions that will destroy public education. At lot more than one child will be left behind.

I learned on the listserv that our school in particular is a target, because it is the biggest, 7-12th grade, the school central office decides the easiest way to save money is to ask our school to cut almost 20% of its teaching staff. It will cease to function as a viable educational institution.

Today, the state legislature of MA got a 5.5% pay raise. The governor, Deval Patrick, brushed off criticism saying that $61,440 isn't a lot of money.

Boston Schools to cut Art and Phys Ed

2009-01-07T20:37:00.000-08:00

Today learned that the Boston, Public Schools will be eliminating art and gym from my son's middle/high school as well as most of the new, dynamic academic teachers. This is a school where many of the students participate in the arts either through bands, choruses, drama. They have so many performing groups that they spread the holiday concerts over two nights, three hours long each.

If you know statistics on why creativity and physical movement in education is important, please email me or let me make you an editor so you can post the info for people to use in letters to the governor, city council, school superintendent.

Tonight at the holiday concert the conductor had to announce that all the music teachers were probably going to be laid off. If was so depressing. His daughter, a recent graduate, talked about how she just texted a friend who cried when she heard. The student performers talked about how they wouldn't have made it through school without music, that they wouldn't be standing there today. The music program is probably the best thing at that school, the most dedicated teachers. I am devastated.

Made a call

2009-01-05T17:08:00.001-08:00

Day 2:

Called my representative Mike Rush's office. Very nice, took my call even though it was 4:55. I asked who in "the state" approved the funding. The polite assistant said that he would look into it. I gave him my email.

You can find your representatives here on the Mass Gov website.

46 Million for Newton

2009-01-03T19:21:00.000-08:00

A day or two after mentioning that Boston might be firing 200 police officers and many school systems are laying off teachers because they don't have an extra $50K to keep them, I read in the Boston Globe that the "State" has awarded 46.6 Million dollars to Newton to fund their bloated, mismanaged high school building project.

They picked an expensive, designer "STARchitect" - Graham Gund who specializes in museums, not public schools. His design uses non-standard components that will inflate the cost of the building. So, instead of leaving another angry comment at the end of the article, I want to find out why the "State" approved the money and what the needs are of every other high school.