Mayor Wu is Right

Mayor Wu is Right 23 February 2023

???????????Mayor Wu made the correct decision not to sign the Home Rule Petition passed by the Boston City Council to reverse the change in the structure of the School Committee voted upon over 30 years ago.??

I bear the battle scars of the 1970s.?Desegregating schools was a necessary and crucial step towards a more just and equitable society, but the punitive Desegregation Order damaged many neighborhoods and questionably improved the education being provided to the children of the city.??Many of the members of the School Committee elected during that decade were the proximate cause.

We now have a school system with less than half the pupils it did 50 years ago and which spends almost $30,000 per child.

We should not go back to the bad old days when political ambition and fundraising prowess were the primary qualifications to serve on the Boston School Committee.?Thankfully, no member of the appointed committee has been convicted of extortion of any work-related crimes.

The School Committee should have one assignment: help our children learn.?No fundraisers, no campaign rallies, no office shopping. Just focus on education.

I fear that many in positions in importance may not have a sense of history, which is so often lacking in the current era.?It is necessary to take into account the reality of the past before reversing course.