Many Boston city councilors call for elected school committee members

Many City Councilors are responding to the apparent mocking comments and resignation by the city’s school committee chair with a renewed call to elect committee members.

“With the shenanigans that we saw last night — it is clear to me that Boston is hungry and has an appetite for real representation,” City Councilor Julia Mejia said.

And City Councilor Michael Flaherty, a longtime proponent of an elected school committee, said comments like School Committee Chair Michael Loconto’s “erode trust” in the district, saying it was “unacceptable.”

The debate reignited Thursday after Loconto was caught on a hot Zoom mic appearing to mock the names of Asian-American people waiting to comment to the board. After the incident the night before, Loconto on Thursday apologized and resigned. All seven members of the school committee are directly appointed by Mayor Martin Walsh, whose office didn’t respond to a request for comment about electing board members.

Councilor Annissa Essaibi-George, a former BPS teacher who’s the council’s education chair, argued for the appointed board, saying it takes the politics out of the process. But she said the city should change the way it nominates members, moving to include the council, and holding certain seats for certain stakeholders, like a seat for parents.

“The nominating process leaves a lot of room for improvement,” Essaibi-George said.

Matt O’Malley said he supports a hybrid model with four elected and three appointed, saying, “It’s a way to both ensure that we have educational expects and professionals while also having a majority of seats accountable to the public.”

City Councilor Lydia Edwards said she favored either hybrid or all elected, saying, “Right now, the only person they’re accountable to is the mayor … They don’t have the ability to push back on the mayor.”

City Councilor Ed Flynn said he also supports either hybrid or all-elected, saying, “Having a few elected people on the board especially parents have the unique perspective.”

Councilor and mayoral candidate Michelle Wu also supported a hybrid model, but she said the mayor could take immediate actions to hold seats for certain groups.

“Last night was far from the first time that families and community members have felt excluded marginalized and belittled in front of the school committee,” Wu said.

City Councilor Frank Baker said having some elected members makes it more certain there are people “with more freedom” on the board.

from Boston Herald https://ift.tt/2HqBp6T