Committee debates CTE lottery rules, reverts selection language and tables final decision
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Summary
The School Committee debated a revised CTE admissions policy for Durfee Discovery required by the state; the CTE director urged an unweighted lottery while the committee amended language to create 'parallel lotteries' for students with disabilities, a change some members questioned as potentially unlawful; the item was ultimately tabled pending state feedback and further review.
The School Committee spent significant time on Dec. 8 discussing a revised Career and Technical Education (CTE) admissions policy for Durfee Discovery and individual CTE programs. The policy must be submitted to the state; the CTE director told the committee she preferred an unweighted lottery but said the committee had amended the policy at the prior meeting to add parallel lotteries for students with disabilities and for all other applicants.
Director Cynthia Sylvia explained that the state allows either an unweighted lottery or a single weighted-lottery structure (weights tied to attendance, conduct and academics), but that creating separate parallel lotteries for special-education and general populations raised legal and fairness questions. "You can't have a special population… you can't discriminate against other populations," she said, urging the committee to consider the law's constraints.
Committee members were divided: some advocated for an approach to ensure a representative enrollment of students with disabilities and other demographic groups; others said the proposed parallel-lottery language was potentially unlawful and could be challenged by the state. One member moved to revert the selection criteria (section 7) to the original unweighted lottery language; another motion to table the policy until the new committee can revisit it also passed on a roll call after discussion about state deadlines and the department’s intent to submit a policy by Dec. 1.
Administration said it had submitted the revised policy to the state and expected review, and the CTE director said that, practically, the district has historically admitted all students into Durfee Discovery, and the lottery mechanism only triggers when applications exceed seats. The committee approved a motion to table further binding action to allow for review and potential revision in a policy subcommittee.
What’s next: The administration will work with the policy subcommittee and the CTE director to reconcile the language, obtain state feedback, and present an amended policy if necessary.
Sources: CTE director and committee debate during the Dec. 8 School Committee meeting.