"All Boston Public Schools Exist to Serve All Boston Students": Why I Support Dropping the Test at BLS, BLA, and the O'Bryant

 

Above: Boston Latin School, commonly referred to as BLS, which is considered by some the "top school" in Boston is also one of the Whitest schools in Boston. Below: The Kenny School in Dorchester (where my kids attend). It is home to the city's only elementary school marching band and is one of its most racially diverse schools.

Last night, around 1:40 am and after about 6 hours of public comment, the Boston School Committee voted 7-0 to support a one-year change to the admissions process at Boston Latin School, Boston Latin Academy, and the John D. O'Bryant School of Mathematics and Science (commonly referred to as the "exam schools"), which include suspending the entrance exam. 

Many Boston Public Schools students, parents (including myself), teachers, and community members (including Ibram X. Kendi, the Boston Branch of the NAACP, and the Boston Coalition for Education Equity) spoke out in support of the changes and encouraged the School Committee to make them permanent.

My testimony is below.

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Hello. My name is Chris Martell. I am a BPS parent with two daughters at the Kenny School in Dorchester, a BPS Citywide Parent Council rep., a former classroom teacher and current education professor at UMass Boston, and someone who deeply believes in racial justice. I ask that you support the Working Group’s recommendations related to exam school admission.

My daughters attend what may be the most racially balanced elementary school in the city. It represents the diversity of Dorchester almost perfectly. It even has its own marching band. It’s a special place. Yet, every year students leave the Kenny and end up at very different BPS middle and high schools. I can only imagine how confused Kenny students must be when they enter the doors of BLS. They must wonder, am I still in Boston? They interact with far fewer of their Dorchester neighbors, or peers from Mattapan or Roxbury. There are noticeably far fewer Black and Brown classmates. I wish BLS was more like the Kenny. I wish its student population was a better representation of this city’s neighborhoods. I wish all Boston students had equitable opportunity.

The racial imbalance is not surprising knowing our city’s past. However, the current admission process heavily based on standardized test scores exacerbates our city’s structural racism. Before the McLaughlin case, while not perfect, the diversity of the exam schools more closely resembled our city. After the McLaughlin case, instead of creating an equitable system that adhered to the court ruling, that School Committee took a pass. I ask that this School Committee do the right thing today. Especially in light of this pandemic, which has only widened racial and economic gaps. You have a chance to experiment with a new fairer system.

Finally, while the Working Group focused on this year, I strongly encourage this committee to eliminate an exam as an admission criteria beyond that. Our exam schools were not always exam schools. We do not need an exam to confirm their prestige. All Boston public schools exist to serve all Boston students. Let’s create a new process that centers on racial justice. Let’s make our school system a national beacon for equity. Let’s do what’s right. Thank you. 

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Above and Middle: Racial demographics for the Boston Public Schools and Boston Latin School (from the Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education). Below: A map showing the projected shift of the new admissions criteria system. Students from Dorchester, East Boston, Roxbury, and Mattapan (neighborhoods with the largest Black and Latinx populations) would see increases, and students from West Roxbury and Roslindale (predominately White neighborhoods) would see decreases (from the Boston School Committee Working Group).