Boston city councilor pushes to delay Wednesday vote on exam school proposal

Members of the Boston School Committee on Wednesday are set to vote on a proposal that would eliminate the exam school entrance test for this year, but one city councilor says the vote should be postponed.

“I think affording families and community members alike the opportunity to digest, ask questions and have a deeper understanding of this proposal is important,” said Boston City Councilor and Chair of the Education Committee Annissa Essaibi-George.

Essaibi-George, a graduate of John D. O’Bryant School of Mathematics and Science, one of Boston’s three exam schools, is pushing to postpone the school committee vote by a few weeks.

She said a quick vote will erode trust within the school community.

But School Committee Chairman Michael Loconto said, “The vote will proceed as planned.” The school committee meeting is scheduled for Wednesday at 5 via Zoom.

The proposal, issued by the Exam School Admissions Working Group would issue invitations to Boston’s elite schools not based on an entrance test, but rather weighing student performance and GPA or MCAS results.

Lisa Green, of Boston Coalition for Education Equity said the vote should proceed on Wednesday.

“To further delay the vote would jeopardize the district’s ability to operationalize the current proposed admissions plan for next year which carries a heavy administrative burden and will take a good deal of time,” said Green.

Boston City Councilor and mayoral candidate Andrea Campbell said she supports the proposal for exam school admissions.

“It’s a failure of the mayor and the district not to have created a process around this decision where parents, students, and families feel included and could make their voices heard,” said Campbell, a Boston Latin School graduate.

The proposal has generated an emotional response in recent weeks with groups in favor of suspending the test, and those opposed speaking up and even rallying on Sunday.

One online petition to keep the test has gathered nearly, 3,000 votes as of Monday evening and another petition to suspend the test has racked up about 5,000.

from Boston Herald https://ift.tt/37o487u