The children of Boston deserve more
On February 7, BPS Superintendent, Brenda Cassellius, resigned her post as of the end of this school year. Mayor Wu made the announcement, suggesting that it was a “mutual” decision for the super to move on, resulting from discussions among herself, the Superintendent and Jeri Robinson of the Boston School Committee. For a mayor who has impressed in her first months in office, this seems like a high-risk decision in a city that has faced such instability in school leadership.
Dr. Cassellius came into the system as an experienced educational administrator and a Black woman taking over a large organization in turmoil. There had been five BPS supers in less than eight years. Staff morale was low, and the District was hearing the drumbeat of possible state receivership in the face of repeated failures in a variety of areas. The departments of Special Education and service to English Learners came under particular scrutiny.
The Cassellius tenure was a decidedly mixed bag. She reached out quickly to establish connections with parents, school communities and the broader population of the city. She worked with stakeholders to put forward a comprehensive plan for the District. Not all advocates loved the plan, but it was a plan. She became a public figure in her new city and established herself as a prominent advocate for public education. She did not always provide strong, supportive leadership to her thousands of employees, or find solutions to the chronic problems of turnover and low morale among BPS staff. Key staff continued to leave the District and community members questioned a variety of structural changes in central BPS staffing. Cassellius did have a strong and generally positive relationship with the Walsh administration that hired her, and she was able to work out a modus operandi with Kim Janey during her short, interim presence at City Hall. Mayor Wu was the third mayor to whom Cassellius needed to adjust in less than three years.
And then, there was the small matter of the pandemic. I am personally sympathetic to leaders who struggled with leadership during these last two years. As the head of a large system shut down by the pandemic, Cassellius faced a particularly difficult task. She led the District in mounting a reasonably effective emergency response (distributing food and computers, setting up remote education), but had more difficulties as school closures dragged on much longer than anyone expected. During the period of remote education, BPS did not escape the overall tendency of the pandemic toward disparate impacts on students of color, low-income students, students with disabilities and immigrant English learners. These same “high needs” students unsurprisingly have faced huge challenges during the return to school this year. The Superintendent consistently called out these effects on her students, but her District often seemed unresponsive in the face of this particularly unfair aspect of the pandemic and the school closures it required.
At least on the surface, the new mayor and the superintendent seemed to be working together reasonably well as the omicron surge created new emergencies and new challenges for the District. They both seemed determined to keep Boston schools open, while advocating that the Department of Education (DESE) show flexibility regarding the potential need for a period of remote education for some schools. There certainly have been problems with the implementation of COVID safety measures in the face of this new and unprecedented surge, but it seemed that the City had a plan of sorts and that the mayor and the super were in harmony regarding the plan…at least in terms of their public postures.
Yesterday’s announcement was carefully crafted but suggests that the mayor-super relationship was not what it seemed in public. Sources inside BPS report that, in messaging the decision, Dr. Cassellius said that hers is a political appointment, and that Mayor Wu had a different vision of school leadership. She insisted publicly, however, that she was not “pushed out” of the office. The threat of DESE receivership received no mention in Mayor Wu’s announcement, but, while one hopes otherwise, it is hard to believe that this was not a factor in the decision.
Given Boston’s recent history, the announcement that Cassellius will leave cannot be a shock, but it was surprising, especially at this moment. A BPS insider and a member of the English Learners Task Force stated privately that this announcement came as a complete surprise to everyone. To serve the children and families of a great city, BPS needs strong, stable, inspirational leadership, a champion for equitable, well-funded public education working in concert with, but with autonomy from the political whirlwind of City Hall. The current decision means that the District will have a leader of diminished influence for the rest of this year and will soon name yet another super (probably an interim). Another lengthy and conflictive search process will take place, leading to yet another leader in the next 18 months. With the support of City Hall, perhaps a new leader will be able to move BPS forward. Hope springs eternal…That said, the children and the families of Boston deserve more than 7 school leaders in just over 10 years. When will they get what they deserve?
Kevin Murray is Executive Director of MAC