We reported last week that UP Academy, the charter operator which was given the no-bid contract to take over the Gavin Middle School next year, was cherry picking its incoming student body. Specifically, we mentioned that the UP recruiters had invited selected fifth grade students, specifically Advanced Work (AWC) students, to attend UP next year. The mother of one of those selected children, herself a Boston teacher, contacted us.
Yesterday we got another verified report from a different school. In this school, which has two classes of students, each with both AWC and non-AWC students ‘mixed-in’ together, the teacher reported that the AWC-coded children came to school with invitations from UP Academy that had been mailed to their houses. The non-AWC students did not receive the invitations. UP got the coded AWC lists from the school department.
Memo to the school department: Who gave UP permission to discriminate? Consider this as well: If this type of discriminatory practice happens right under our nose in a Boston Public School, imagine what happens outside.