put to voters in November 2021 was simple: “Should the current appointed school committee structure be changed to a school committee elected by the residents of Boston?”draft home-rule petition
“We wanted to make sure we had a pulse on what residents across the city of Boston wanted to see,” Sullivan said. The result, she added, was a profound affirmation from nearly 100,000 voters.Boston is the only municipal school district in Massachusetts that does not have an elected school board. An elected school committee wasin 1992 following a push led by then-Mayor Ray Flynn, angering many members and influential leaders of color.
Currently, Boston’s appointed school committee is dominated by a diverse mix of seven appointees from education, business and nonprofit backgrounds.The school committee issue was just one of many discussed during the 2021 mayoral race. At the time, Wu said she supported a majority-elected school committee, with some appointed members focused on early childhood, school facilities or vocational education.
All told, it gives the sense that the real decision-making takes place “behind closed doors” and with profound mayoral influence, said Green.
It won’t change much. We have one in Melrose and the School Committee is mostly a scapegoat for a city that doesn’t value its educators.