Boston School Committee Meeting - October 14, 2026

The Boston School Committee convened on October 14, 2026, for its regular meeting. The committee addressed a proposed district-wide cell phone ban, procurement failures detailed in an Inspector General report, a tentative collective bargaining agreement for custodians, over $82 million in grants, and the 2025-2026 state assessment results. Public testimony heavily focused on transportation failures for students with disabilities, academic achievement gaps, and calls for greater transparency on multilingual learner spending.

Consent Calendar

• Meeting minutes from September 16, 2026 were approved by unanimous consent.
• A package of 13 federal and state grants totaling $82,289,934 and in-kind donations valued at $21,328.99 were approved without objection.

Public Comments & Testimony

• Councillor Ben Weber: Announced the first FY28 BPS budget hearing on November 19, 2026. He connected student homelessness (affecting ~5,000 BPS students) to academic outcomes and pushed for a referral pipeline to the city's eviction legal services pilot.
• Gada Al-Khatib (Parent): Alleged the Josiah Quincy Upper School administration engaged in a "documented pattern of negligence" regarding her son's testing accommodations and "active retaliation" by freezing his credentials after she filed a compliance grievance. She demanded immediate release of his transcripts.
• John Mudd (Education Advocate): Stated that MCAS 2026 data shows current educational strategies are failing, specifically citing that only 18% of Black and Latino students and 4% of English learners in grades 3-8 met state reading standards. He later criticized the Equitable Literacy initiative for showing no measurable cohort progress.
• Deirdre Manning (Parent): Detailed transportation failures affecting BPS athletics, including no-show buses for soccer and swim meets. She described a family leaving the district for Marshfield due to mismanagement, linking it to declining enrollment.
• Muhammad Burhan (Financial Literacy Advocate): Urged the committee to schedule a proposal for a financial literacy graduation requirement, following a unanimous city council resolution.
• Councillor Julia Mejia: Criticized outcomes for English learners, noting that only 1% of 10th-grade multilingual learners met MCAS expectations. She called for a comprehensive district-wide plan developed collaboratively.
• Alexandra Oliver Davila (Exec. Dir., Sociedad Latina): Expressed full support for the proposed device ban, insisting devices must be "off and away from the body." She proposed a Technology Advisory Committee (TAC) with formal authority and requested a one-year moratorium on student-facing generative AI.
• Rebecca Ostapsuk (Parent): Described repeated transportation breakdowns for her two sons on IEPs, including no-show buses, a lost driver, and a complete failure by BPS Transportation supervisors to return her calls.

Discussion Items

• Superintendent's Report & District Updates: Superintendent Mary Skipper presented a memo on a proposed "bell to bell" ban on personal electronic devices for the 2027-2028 school year (formal vote scheduled for January 2027). On the Office of the Inspector General (OIG) report, she acknowledged internal control failures on over $857,000 in non-compliant spending but stated reforms are ongoing, including centralizing procurement under the CFO and a 10-day audit pause during which 905 invoices were reviewed. On transportation, she reported October on-time performance at 90% in the AM and 85% in the PM, with 0.05 uncovered trips, representing an improvement from 84%/82% and 0.14 uncovered trips in the prior year. Member Polanco Garcia and others pressed for more detailed reporting on specific problematic routes.
• Collective Bargaining Agreement (Custodians): Legal Advisor Mike Ryan presented a one-year wage-only tentative agreement with Local 1952 covering ~475 custodial staff. The contract includes a 2% base wage increase plus an $800 stipend. The FY27 cost of $787,501 requires a supplemental appropriation from the City Council.
• 2026 Assessment & Accountability Results: Deputy Superintendent Dr. Simone Wright and Chief Monica Hogan presented data showing stable grades 3-8 MCAS achievement in ELA and a 1 point increase in math. Chronic absenteeism decreased but remains high relative to peers. Advanced coursework completion increased to 74.9%. The district was classified as making moderate progress toward targets. Executive Director Andrew Rollins reported that 12 transformation schools reached the 11th percentile or above, with four (Kenny, Mason, TechBoston, Trotter) meeting criteria to exit the lowest-performing category. Principal Courtney Shepek (Blackstone Elementary) detailed the school's rise from the 3rd to the 8th percentile, crediting focused 90-day plans, high-quality instructional materials (HQIM), and distributed leadership. Dr. Christine Landry highlighted the Hernandez School's 29-point percentile gain through its dual-language mission, the Primaris Maestras educator pipeline, and robust tiered support systems.
• Committee Critique on Performance: Multiple members expressed deep frustration with persistent achievement gaps despite the $1.7 billion budget. Member Peralta stated that proficiency rates of 8% and 7% for multilingual learners are "not acceptable" and demanded a concrete acceleration plan. Chair Robinson asked directly, "At what point do we say enough is enough?" for schools that have remained in the lowest 10% for over a decade. Superintendent Skipper and Dr. Wright defended the recent focus on building a district-wide foundation (HQIM, clear expectations, coaching) and committed to accelerating progress through the new strategic plan and success measures.

Key Outcomes

• Votes: All action items passed unanimously. Roll call votes for the custodians' contract, the related $787,501 supplemental appropriation, and the Horace Mann Charter MOUA (Dudley Street Neighborhood Charter School) were all 7-0. Grants and donations were approved by unanimous consent.
• Directives: The district committed to providing granular reports on grant spending outcomes (SMART goals), deeper analysis of MWBE vendor registration, and program-level evaluations for multilingual learner programs. Member Torres requested a proactive system for identifying and supporting schools before they decline in state accountability percentiles.
• Next Steps: A formal cell phone policy vote is scheduled for January 2027. A Quarter 1 transportation update is expected at the next meeting. The district will provide an update on centralizing procurement under the CFO by January 2027. The FY28 budget process will begin with a City Council hearing on November 19, 2026.