Schools

Charter schools are typically non-union. Teachers' unions whom hate losing the students, whose enrollment justify the existence of their jobs, or being made to look bad by non union teachers. Additionally, handing piles of cash to public schools will never improve the quality of education until pay is linked to performance, and the fundamentals are stressed more than the claptrap of social justice/studies/victim culture garbage.

I honestly think, given the entrenched culture of self service rather than serving students, all public schools should be closed. All parents should receive vouchers, on a sliding income scale, for charter or private schools, such that they could choose where to send their children.
 
Lurker, would you see that as a long-term option? Or only in places where the public schools are failing, and only until they could be reorganized to be effective teaching institutions? In my mind, a temporary assistance to those who need it would be sufficient for the public school systems to reorganize (like a bailout/bankruptcy for the schools).
 
Re: Gov't Center Garage Redevelopment

Jane Jetson said:
By the way, even with the lottery system, isn't some weight given to proximity?
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To expand what atlrvr stated. Boston Public Schools officially reserve 50% of seats for children within the walk zone (defined as within 1 mile of an elementary school). However, siblings of existing students are given higher priority than walk zone students, so the the walk zone ratio for schools with relatively desirable reputations is usually less than 50%. For example, I think a few of the sought after elementary schools in West Roxbury have about a 1/3 of their students as local walk zone students. Many of the local walk zone students have an older sibling already at the school. If your trying to land a spot for your first kid in one of these schools the odds are greatly stacked against you. This of course leads to a lot of aggravation in these neighborhoods when most locals can't get their children into their neighborhood school which has a relatively good reputation.

Parent(s) get select up to three school choices when their child enters kindergaten. Many families select the three schools in their neighborhood with the best reputation and quite often those families will not get any of their choices. Then its off to parochial, private schools or to the suburbs for many. Also when I lived in my old neigborhood of Roslindale, many families put substantial deposits down at private or parochial schools given the fact they had no idea until the very last minute whether they would get their selected Boston Public School. Boston Public schools informs families at the eleventh hour of where their children are going to be placed for kindergarten. By the time you find out you did not get into any of your school choices it is far too late to gain admission to nearby parochial or private schools. If you get in to your school choice, consider yourself among the lucky and forfeit your deposit at the private or parochial school. Its a tough racket for families in Boston. You have to mentally prepare yourself for a stressful and overly complicated process when sending your kids to Boston Public Schools.
 
kennedy said:
And so METCO was born.
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^ Yes you are correct. It should also be noted that Metco is only available to Black or Hispanic students from Boston. White and Asian students do not have the Metco option.
 
"make every public school a charter school" has a certain appeal to me, too, and I'm way off on the left side of the political spectrum.
 
METCO started in 1966, before busing.

I think one of the reasons Menino built 3 new schools in Roxbury and Mattapan and not the Back Bay/Beacon Hill neighborhood is that he did not want the bad press. Anyone remember when the ICA parcel was put up for development and they had a contest to see which art group would win the rights to develop it? The Opera and Ballet companies wanted this site but the Herald turned this into a big elitist thing. I went to the public hearing which was filled with Herald reporters who keep saying that if the Opera/Ballet companies stole this site it be for the elite only and the average Boston would be denied access. Every other person who asked a question was a Herald reporter. Just think field day the Herald would have if the city built a school in the Back bay and not Mattapan. Remember how the residents of the Back Bay were against handicap people by denying them an elevator at Copley Sq and Arlington St when the truth is the Back Bay gropu just wanted the elevators moved to a diferredn location. Even on this forum people fell for the Heralds propaganda.

The other reason is that before Boston can return to neighborhood schools Roxbury and Mattapan needed new schools because of the increase in the school age population.
 
kennedy, I'd like to see every public school operate as a charter school and have a voucher system which makes individual schools competitive for students. Teacher's unions have eroded the quality of public schools for decades because of the focus on creating good jobs for teachers, while not necessarily having the best interest of the students in mind. That is typically the problem with unions in any enterprise, in that the customer and quality of service no longer matters as much as creating a good job for the union members. A system of charter schools, and choice through vouchers, would create competition between ALL schools. Irregardless of unionization or lack thereof, teachers would have to focus on the fundamentals and the overall quality of education to keep their jobs. Having different schools would still allow for some experimental education, in that the parents whom wanted it, would have specific schools to send their children too.

I'm flat out against METCO and busing because they are racists and only waste millions in moving problems around, rather than directly solving them. They are a politicians wet dream, a never ending problem with a huge stream of revenue, and a social/racial taboo which prevents argument against such programs. The perfect golden goose for career hacks.

As far as Back Bay having a local public school, the Prince School on Newbury Street was just that. But the city wanted to sell that off to become ugly condos and GAP stores. If the city wants to plop a school in Back Bay, the parking lot adjacent to Newbury @ Dartmouth, steps to the Copley station, should be large enough.
 
A school at the Congress St. site would have the advantage of its location at a transit hub. It could pull kids in from far and wide, as well as the West End and possibly Beacon Hill.

If there is any hope of reforming Boston's schools, it won't happen under the current administration.
 
I want to amend my comment about the schools. Jane, you make valid points, of course (not that you need me to tell you that). There seems to be a need for a public school in Beacon Hill / West End.

My only complaint is using leverage against a developer who already has to make significant contributions to the city in order to build. Read the Russia Wharf thread to see what they've had to agree to.

The city (its taxpayers) should be responsible for paying. The city's leadership on the schools' issue is shameful. Mayor "judge me harshly", unfortunately, seems entrenched and a stubborn fuck.
 
Yet another reason to end bussing and focus funding on creating walkable well performing neighborhood schools.
 
A regional school system would cut down on costs without encouraging segregation.

It would be win-win if people weren't so afraid of diluting their precious suburban enclaves for the public good.
 
A regional school system would just push school problems further out into the suburbs and drive the affluent further away from city limits. Observe school systems around Chicago if you don't believe the same pattern which happened in Boston, wouldn't repeat itself in the suburbs with a regional system.

In DENSE areas it makes absolutely no sense for children not to go to a neighborhood school.
 
Isn't there a limit to how far away people can move to avoid a "problem" like facing up to jurisdictional inequality in the school?
 
czsz said:
A regional school system would cut down on costs without encouraging segregation.

It would be win-win if people weren't so afraid of diluting their precious suburban enclaves for the public good.
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How would this cut down cost and mitigate segregation? Unless your prepared to have a much larger busing program across the whole metropolitan area, the schools demographics will reflect their surrounding neigborhood. For example, if Needham were consolidated into Boston public schools, the local schools in Needham would change very little unless you were prepared to institute Boston's lottery type system which would be accompanied with greater transportation requirements. The choice comes down to whether you want neighborhood schools or no neigborhood schools rather than municipal or regional schools systems.
 
commuter guy said:
How would this cut down cost and mitigate segregation?
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Boston's schools were not segregated. There was 'mischief' in laying out school disticts however. The law suit that resulted in busing was over school supplies. The best source for information on this subject is the book "Common Ground" by Anthony Lucas. I owned the book for about 20 years before I read it because i thought it would be just typical Boston Irish bashing. The Charlestown woman was word for word what a friend of mine's mother would say. That family was Polish from Dorchester.

They bussed black students from Roxbury to Allston and Brighton and white students from Allston and Brighton to Roxbury. To do this you have to go thought Brookline. Shouldn't Bookline have been part of the plan.
 
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