MAYOR MARTY WALSH quickly sought to stabilize the Boston Public Schools in late June by tapping local education nonprofit leader Laura Perille as interim school superintendent to replace Tommy Chang, who exited abruptly with two years left on his contract in the face of mayoral displeasure with his tenure. But that move is now running […]
Education
Posted inThe Download
Superintendent showdown
Mayor Marty Walsh quickly sought to stabilize the Boston Public Schools in late June by tapping local education nonprofit leader Laura Perille as interim school superintendent to replace Tommy Chang, who exited abruptly with two years left on his contract in the face of mayoral displeasure with his tenure. But that move is now running […]
Posted inOpinion
Hey, college presidents, speak up!
COLLEGE PRESIDENTS HAVE long used the bully pulpit that comes with their office to shape public opinion. That is, until now. Today, college leaders remain silent, having turned their sights inward to their own campuses. Their desire to avoid any press has diminished their moral authority and role as important thought leaders. In the past, […]
Posted inOpinion
Union attacks on Meehan misleading, misguided
FOR THE BETTER PART of a decade, I had the privilege of working with then-UMass Lowell Chancellor Marty Meehan. It was exciting to be a part of a team that initiated a remarkable transformation of UMass Lowell that continues today. The campus has experienced dramatic increases in enrollment, retention, and graduation rates; faculty hiring; research […]
Posted inEducation
Report on Boston school assignment plan is troubling
THE FINDINGS OF the recent Boston Area Research Initiative report on equity in the Boston Public Schools assignment plan – the Home Based Assignment plan – were for the most part not too shocking for anyone who has followed school assignment politics in Boston for the past five years. The report finds, in short, “that […]
Posted inOpinion
Something’s new this year at UMass Boston
NEXT WEEK, as students return to University of Massachusetts Boston, a number of them will do something no one has done in the school’s history: Live on campus. For the first 53 years of its history, UMass Boston students commuted to campus by bus, T, or car. This year that will change. Approximately 1,000 students […]
Posted inOpinion
Meehan puts students, faculty last
MARTY MEEHAN’S FAILURES as president of the University of Massachusetts system have been big news lately. A controversial land grab to benefit Amherst at the expense of other campuses and a no-confidence vote by UMass Boston faculty were just the start. Now, he’s facing another controversy at UMass Lowell, where he was chancellor before taking over the entire system. […]
Posted inEducation
Charter battle heats up in New Bedford
THINK THE BATTLE over charter schools in Massachusetts is over? Think again. Voters may have soundly defeated a ballot question two years ago to raise the cap on charters, but there is plenty of room in some communities under the existing cap to add more charter school seats. One of them is New Bedford, where […]
Posted inThe Download
The Codcast: Charter battle heats up in New Bedford
Think the battle over charter schools in Massachusetts is over? Think again. Voters may have soundly defeated a ballot question two years ago to raise the cap on charters, but there is plenty of room in some communities under the existing cap to add more charter school seats. One of them is New Bedford, where […]
Posted inEducation
Maybe busing isn’t the (only) problem
SCHOOL BUSING IN BOSTON is a four-letter word, a phrase often spewed as a profanity whenever the subject of the city’s schools comes up in conversations, which is to say all the time. Going back to the 1970s, when the city exploded into a race and class war over the yellow beasts rumbling through the […]