“We need to hit the pause button and focus on the schools we have,” said Jackson, who has seen public academies in his Roxbury neighborhood neglected while the charter apparatus gains momentum. (In the prickly case of the Dearborn School, charter operators gained control of a new state-of-the-art $70+ million facility which families, faculty, and members of the local community had rallied to secure.) Reminding onlookers at City Hall and those watching from home that Massachusetts schools are among the best in the country, Jackson added, “Sometimes we forget what we have,’ and so ‘it’s critical and timely that we have this conversation.”