The night of Dec. 11 was cold and biting, but didn’t keep Boston’s residents from making their way to City Hall to attend a nearly three hour hearing, where people spoke of accountability, racial and class discrimination, and freedom when debating the governance structure of the Boston School Committee.
Two panels spoke in stark opposition to one another, with one contending that the school committee should continue to be appointed by the Mayor, and the other side arguing that the current system is undemocratic, and the school committee ought to be elected.
Boston Public Schools educate 56,000 students spread among 125 schools.
The governance structure of the Boston School Committee has very much divided Boston’s residents for decades. In 1991, the House voted to transition Boston’s School Committee from a 13 member body elected by the residents to a seven member Mayor appointed body.