Education, Civil Rights Groups Support COVID-19 Selective School Admission Proposal

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Education, Civil Rights Groups Support COVID-19 Selective School Admission Proposal
Advocates call the plan "a sensible and equitable way to recognize our highest performing students"

Boston -- A coalition of thirteen prominent education advocates and civil rights groups announced today they support the Exam School Admission Criteria Working Group's proposal for the 2021-2022 school year, saying the plan would ensure that the highest performing students from all neighborhoods and backgrounds have at least two opportunities to secure a seat in Boston's most competitive schools.

The coalition has outlined their support for the proposal in a letter addressed to Mayor Martin J. Walsh, School Committee Chair Michael Loconto, Superintendent Brenda Cassellius, City Council President Kim Janey, and members of the Boston School Committee and City Council.

Image description: A black male teenager, with back to camera and backpack on, walks through glass doors. He’s wearing a black t-shirt. A large plant is in the foreground.

The letter notes that the COVID-19 pandemic has deeply and disproportionately affected Boston's Black and Latinx residents, and that "our students and families of color have been hardest hit." According to the groups, the proposal is a "sensible and equitable way" to recognize students amidst these trying times.

"By allocating 80% of exam school invitations by grades and zip codes, the exam school admissions proposal ensures that the highest performing students of all backgrounds and in all Boston neighborhoods will be attending our exam schools. And by allocating the first 20% of seats to the highest performing students citywide, the proposal ensures all students, particularly those in neighborhoods with fewer school-age children, have two shots to get in."

The attached letter has been signed by:

ACLU of Massachusetts
ADL New England
Black Educators Alliance of Massachusetts
Boston Education Justice Alliance
Boston Network for Black Student Achievement
Center for Law and Education Citizens for Public Schools
Lawyers for Civil Rights
Massachusetts Advocates for Children
Massachusetts Appleseed Center for Law and Justice
Massachusetts Communities Action Network (MCAN)
NAACP Boston Branch
Urban League of Eastern Massachusetts

Media Contacts:
Deshundra Jefferson
8 I Eighty Strategies
hello@8-eighty.com

Kate Lagreca
ACLU of Massachusetts
klagreca@aclum.org

Charles Stewart
Urban League of Eastern Massachusetts
cstewart@ulem.org

Kevin Murray
Massachusetts Advocates for Children
KMurray@massadvocates.org

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