The End Is Near: Boston School Committee to Vote on Assignment Plan Tonight

Tonight the Boston School Committee (BSC) will hold a final Improving School Choice public hearing regarding the External Advisory Committee on School Assignment's (EAC) recommendation of the Home-Based A model for BPS. The hearing will be held at 26 Court Street and begin at 5:00 p.m. followed by the regular school committee meeting at 6:00 p.m. People who would like to speak during the hearing will be asked to sign up when they arrive for the hearing. If there are still speakers who sign up to comment during the public hearing when the school committee meeting is scheduled to start at 6:00 p.m., it is believed that Chairman Michael O'Neill would delay the start of the BSC meeting to accommodate everyone.

Of course, you may also decide to just wait to testify during the "General Public Comment" portion of the regular school committee meeting which is when all BSC members should be present. If you would like to sign up to speak during the school committee meeting, be sure to call 617-635-9014 prior to 4:00 p.m. though you can also sign up when you arrive.

According to the draft agenda for tonight's back-to-back meetings, the school choice recommedation is listed as an "action item", which means that a vote is likely to happen. There is a chance, if BSC members feel it is necessary for whatever reason (data inquiries, etc), that the vote could be postponed until a future BSC meeting, but given the pressure being put on the BSC to pass something now, that is highly unlikely. 

So, this is it, the end IS near, at least in the selection of a new school assignment for Boston! And like the cartoon above, I believe a lot of us are still not sure: is this a good thing or a bad thing for our students?

I hope to see and hear many of you at tonight's meetings as I will be attending and testifying too. Please introduce yourself if you see me!

Follow me on twitter for coverage of BPS meetings and issues: @bpsnightmare.