Dozens of parents, students and education advocates urged the Boston School Committee on Oct. 29 to pause consideration of proposed changes to exam school admissions, saying the district's outreach was insufficient and the draft rules would reduce access for underrepresented students.

The public-comment hour opened with Krista Magnuson, a Jamaica Plain parent and organizer with the Massachusetts Education Justice Alliance, who called the district's engagement effort “embarrassing,” saying BPS received fewer than 350 substantive responses to webinar feedback in a district of nearly 48,000 students. “We are proceeding with a change when BPS has managed to solicit feedback from less than 1% of its community,” Magnuson said.

Advocates from the Coalition for Equity in Exam Schools, who provided the committee with simulations of the proposed scoring models, said the data show invitations for multilingual learners, economically disadvantaged students, Black and Latine students and students from Grove Hall and Roxbury would fall under either simulation. Rosanne Tong, a former task force member, said the 50% and 30% test-weight simulations both shift seats toward already overrepresented groups and away from historically underrepresented neighborhoods.

Other speakers urged the committee to retain the existing 5-year implementation timeline and pursue broader, in-person engagement across neighborhoods. Julie Santos, testifying for the coalition, said the proposals would do the opposite and reverse the racial, economic and geographic diversity achieved by the current policy.

Several parents and community leaders said the current point system creates unpredictable outcomes for families and penalizes students for circumstances outside their control. Deirdre Manning of Dorchester recommended a tiered allocation tied to the share of applicants in each tier so the acceptance rate would automatically reflect changes in applicant pools.

Supporters of the proposed revisions also spoke. Natasha Telesford Williams, a lifelong Dorchester resident and parent who said her family has made educational choices outside the district, asked the committee to adopt the superintendent's recommendation so residents who remain connected to the city's schools are welcomed back.

The public-comment period included legal and policy statements. Alexis Rickmers of the Center for Law and Education warned that the proposed policy drops clear goals to a plan with no cohesive mission and urged the committee to adopt explicit equity goals; speakers also referenced the 2023 Supreme Court decision in Students for Fair Admissions and guidance from the Massachusetts attorney general's office.

School committee members did not take a final vote on the exam-school recommendations during the Oct. 29 meeting. Several members asked staff to provide additional data and said they wanted a fuller community engagement process before final action.

Provenance: First related public comment began at 32:36 with Krista Magnuson and continued through the hour of public comment and later public testimony; committee discussion and requests for additional data occurred after the public-comment period and during subsequent agenda items.