exam schools

Parents who encourage unprepared or unmotivated students to attend Boston Latin School have not advised wisely.

The Boston School Committee voted last Wednesday in favor of a new policy for entrance to the city’s three exam schools in which students will be selected from eight tiers, divided by socio economic factors including income of families in a student’s census tract, the number of households in which a language other than English is spoken and the educational attainment of individuals in the tract.

With three city councilors and an acting mayor locked in a competition to lead the city, a group of white and Asian parents making a last-ditch effort to overturn a policy aimed at diversifying admissions to the city’s three exam schools and acting Mayor Kim Janey’s $3.6 billion city budget hanging in the balance at the bitter end of the fiscal year, what could possibly go wrong?

A new poll shows at-large City Councilor Annissa Essaibi George leading in the mayoral race with support from 22% of likely voters, inching ahead of at-large Councilor Michelle Wu, who had support from 18% and acting Mayor Kim Janey, who had support from 16%.

With white and Asian students over-represented in the city’s three selective-admissions schools, the one-year change was widely seen as a way to broaden the racial and socio-economic diversity in the schools.

In a Banner interview, Mayor Marty Walsh reflected on Boston’s pandemic response, the city’s current police reform and education issues, and his own future options.

A brew of conflict fueled by Boston’s racial politics came to a boil last week, when the School Committee took up a proposal to suspend for one year the test governing entrance to the city’s three exam schools. A flashpoint came when now-former Boston School Committee President Michael Loconto was heard on hot mic making fun of people’s names after secretary Elizabeth Sullivan read off the names of several Asian Americans who were scheduled to testify.

The Boston School Committee voted unanimously last night to drop the use of a standardized test score for entrance to the city’s three exam schools for one year and rely instead of students’ grade point averages.