The Boston School Committee met on June 10, 2026, starting at 5 p.m. to accommodate a packed agenda. Chaired by Jerry Robinson, the meeting included the superintendent's report, public testimony from 27 speakers, action on multiple grants, policies, and charter renewals, as well as presentations on special education, the superintendent's evaluation, and a new private school application. The meeting adjourned after 11 p.m.
Committee. I'm Chairperson Jerry Robinson. We'll begin with the Pledge of Allegiance. I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands for a nation under God, indivisible with liberty and justice for all. I want to welcome everyone who is joining us tonight in person on Boston City TV and on Zoom. Please note that we are starting at 5 p.m. this week in order to accommodate a very packed agenda.org. Any translations that are not ready prior to the start of the meeting will be posted as soon as they are finalized. Zoom participants should click the globe icon at the bottom of your screen to select your language preference. We'll begin the meeting with the approval of minutes. Is there any discussion or objection to the motion? Is there any objection to approving the motion by unanimous consent? Hearing none, the minutes are approved. We'll now move on to the superintendent's report. I present to you our superintendent, Mary Skipper. Our wonderful. Thank you, Chair, and welcome to everyone tonight, many of our BTU members in the audience. So as we close out the school year, I want to begin tonight by honoring the members of the Boston Public Schools family and the city's larger educational community that we lost this year. These are some of the individuals remembered for their dedication to BPS students, their families, and staff, and the lasting impact that they had on many young lives. Roscoe Baker, legendary athlete, community leader, trailblazer, educator, and mentor to countless Boston youth over his decades of service to the city of Boston. Mario Farina, a BPS bus monitor known for his patience and compassion that he showed to every child. Zachary Schwartz, a math teacher at the Holland High School of Technology, at the Al Holland High School of Technology, formerly the Burke, for his 10 years, all of the time he gave as the advisor for music and sports and the analytic club. Jeanette Sisko, retired media specialist at the former West Roxbury High School, who served BPS for 41 years. Gloria Smith, longtime director of Welcome Services, known for her dedication and passion for centering our students and families. Benjamin Julian Tan, a music teacher at the Ellis Elementary School, remembered for his talent, joy, and laughter. Tommy Glavin, a member of the district's facility staff, a hard worker who took pride in making sure our facilities were ready for our students and staff every day. And Yolanda Allison, a retired school counselor at the O'Brien High School, who had 33 years of service in the district and positively impacted generations of students in BPS. Please join me in a moment of silence in the memory of these individuals and any other members of the greater BPS community who we have lost this year. Thank you. Last week, the Boston City Council took the important and difficult step to approve the FY27 Boston Public Schools budget and the supplemental appropriation re-requested for FY26. I want to extend my deepest appreciation to Mayor Wu for her unwavering support of BPS. This is not easy work. Our students deserve the careful consideration and thoughtful deliberation that was given to these budget decisions. As we've said from the beginning of this year's process, this was a very difficult budget. The BPS finance team worked hard to balance the rising costs of health insurance, transportation, increased special education services, and all of our collective bargaining obligations with an enrollment decline of approximately 3,000 students since last school year. The approval of this budget means a few things for us that we will continue to build on our progress and invest in our long-standing academic priorities. To ground everyone, we experienced an enrollment decrease of 3,000 students over two years, which includes a large decrease in multilingual learners due to the current federal immigration landscape. The district has also been in the long-term process of closing schools and consolidating classrooms to match enrollment needs even before this recent decline. An important point to remember is that even with the elimination of positions for FY 2627, because we have 3,000 less students to educate, our teacher to student, para to student, and support staff to student ratios will remain at the same levels as last year. There are 368 permanent educators who are initially accessed. All permanent teachers and parents with seniority, to whom we have a contractual obligation to find a position, are guaranteed a position for the upcoming school year. The majority of the 368 permanent educators have already secured a position. 66 remain unassigned, but we will identify a position for them before the next school year. There were initially 205 paras accessed, 46 remain unassigned, and again we'll find positions before the end of the school school year. So to be clear, there will be no layoffs for this group of permanent teachers and paraprofessionals. As with every year, due to a number of reasons, such as positional changes at the local school and district level, could also be licensure issues, performance issues. Only provisional teachers and paraprofessionals without seniority may be affected. In the coming weeks and months, schools and the district will continue hiring for vacant positions with an intentional focus to help those provisional educators who have been with us to find open positions. I also want to shift over to an update on hiring for next year, which Dr. Alkins and others requested at last month's meeting.