Local clergy members meet to support Boston Public Schools superintendent
Local clergy members gathered Monday night to support Boston Schools Superintendent Brenda Cassellius and her leadership in response to the coronavirus pandemic and reopening schools.
“The public schools need strong continuity in leadership in the face of the current crisis caused by the pandemic,” said Rev. Gregory Groover, pastor of Charles Street AME Church and former chair of the Boston School Committee.
“We maintain that the superintendent needs more time to deliver for the schools given the extreme disruption this spring,” Groover said in a statement.
Groover, along with Cassellius and other pastors and religious leaders from historically Black denominations, met on Monday night at Jubilee Christian Church in Mattapan.
Host pastor at Jubilee Christian Church, Matthew Thompson, said Cassellius’ role is “critical to the success of the children of our community.”
“Today’s meeting was just an opportunity for the Black church to make sure we are articulating what our hope and desire is for the education of our children,” Thompson said.
Cassellius and other school officials recently presented a draft “hopscotch” plan for school reopening that drew criticism from teachers and parents.
The plan would have some students in school buildings two days a week and remote for the remaining three days.
Teachers would be required to give lessons to the in-person students and the remote learners simultaneously, just one part of the proposal that advocates and teachers ripped to shreds, as previously reported in the Herald.
“I think it’s time to find a place of agreement because agreement is a place of power and I don’t believe Brenda has gotten a fair chance with all that is happening with the coronavirus,” said Thompson.
He added, “We are facing a virus of education inequities that I think she is very capable to lead.”
The Boston School Committee is set to meet virtually on Wednesday. The agenda includes updates regarding the school reopening plan on which the public can comment at the end of the meeting.
from Boston Herald https://ift.tt/2Xp3W21
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