Latest news with #MichelleWu
Boston Globe
3 days ago
- Politics
- Boston Globe
‘Equitable and fair': BPS leaders weigh significant changes to exam school admissions policy
Related : Any change would require a vote by the board and would come about five years after the district completely overhauled admissions to the three schools: Boston Latin School, Boston Latin Academy, and the John D. O'Bryant School of Math and Science. Tuesday's presentation will lay out a timeline of community engagement throughout the summer followed by a potential superintendent recommendation and committee vote in the fall. The current policy was intended to make the exam schools more demographically similar to the city's schools as a whole. The three schools had long enrolled larger proportions of white, Asian, and non-low income students than the rest of the district. Advertisement 'The exam school admissions policies have been largely successful at making the student body at the exam schools more representative of our communities geographically, [in] racial and ethnic diversity and [in] socioeconomic background,' Mayor Michelle Wu said in an interview Tuesday, prior to the meeting. Advertisement But the policy has also resulted in large disparities in admission rate based on where students live in the city, she said. Some years, there were 100 percent admission rates in certain neighborhoods and less than 50 percent admission rates in others. The simulations outline potential policies that would preserve the socioeconomic tiers but ensure all students have a chance at an exam school seat, regardless of where they live or go to elementary school, Wu said. 'Every policy within BPS, we have to look at to make sure it's equitable and it's fair,' Superintendent Mary Skipper said. 'We want all students to see themselves in the exam schools.' The review of the exam school admissions policy comes a month after the Trump administration Related : 'We're aware of many lawsuits at this point that are happening around selective schools and in process,' Skipper said. 'This was in the courts [and] it came out that the process we've used at the time was considered valid.' The Supreme Court last year Under the district's current policy, Advertisement Applicants receive a composite score out of 100 based on their grades and entrance exam scores. Students can get 15 bonus points if they live in public housing, are homeless, or are in foster care, or a varying number of points if they attend schools where at least 40 percent of students are low-income. The school-based bonus points vary by tier from two points to 10. As part of the review, the district found bonus points have not had a significant impact on invitations, Skipper said, as most applicants attend BPS schools that get bonus points. All the simulations prepared for Tuesday's meeting eliminated the bonus points. Skipper said district staff would analyze versions with the bonus points in the future if the School Committee requests it, but they found the points make the policy more confusing, create a sense of competition between schools. They also have even created unattainable admissions cutoffs in some cases for students without bonus points. The idea of scaling the tiers by number of applicants, rather than the number of eligible students, is a frequent demand from some parents. The most affluent tiers have historically had the most applicants, but since all tiers get the same number of seats, admission is particularly competitive in those areas. New data released Tuesday show that distinction has faded somewhat, with application rates falling in Tier 4 (the wealthiest area), and rising in Tier 1 (the least affluent area). Still, the admission rate ranged from 59 percent in Tier 4 to 77 percent in Tier 1, and the minimum scores for Grade 7 admission remained significantly higher in Tier 4. Advertisement The latest year's data also showed fewer Black students earning admission than in the prior years. Skipper said district staff are still exploring the data for explanations. Related : Under the simulated policy that equalizes tiers based on applicant numbers, the admission rate would have been about two-thirds in each tier. Two simulations with different versions of a citywide pool of seats each result in the wealthier areas having the highest admission rate, around 70 percent. On the other hand, district leaders again rejected a different frequent request in Tuesday's presentation. School Committee member Brandon Cardet-Hernandez has repeatedly called on the district to abandon school-based bonus points and instead award bonus points based on individual students' socioeconomic status. In a memo for the committee, Skipper said individual bonus points are not feasible due to operational challenges and because some low-income students do not participate in programs used to determine eligibility for immigration status reasons. Wu and Skipper underscored in the interview that while the exam schools are highly-sought after and serve a large and growing proportion of the district's teenagers, they cannot be the only focus. 'The driving goal is for BPS to be the first choice for every family in the city of Boston, and that means making sure we have high quality student experience at seats in every high school,' Wu said. Christopher Huffaker can be reached at
Boston Globe
3 days ago
- Politics
- Boston Globe
‘My advice to Tom Homan and ICE is to take a timeout': Boston Mayor Wu seeks more information on ICE tactics and arrests
Related : Advertisement The public records request, filed under the The information and records the city is asking for include all arrest and deportation warrants; immigration detainer and apprehension documents; the date, time, location, description of, and basis for all immigration enforcement actions; the name of all people who are arrested or detained by ICE officials, regardless of whether they are the intended target; and the detention location and any transfers of all people ICE takes into custody. Advertisement The city also asked for ICE to share any immigration violations, criminal convictions, or pending criminal charges against any person they detain and whether ICE was aware of those violations when they take a person into custody. Officials also want access to all documents related to any administrative, court, or removal proceedings for any person arrested by ICE. The City of Boston has issued its first FOIA request of ICE. Under the Freedom of Information Act, we are requesting records related to enforcement actions within our city and information on certain ICE policies. — Office of Mayor Michelle Wu 吳弭 ( The public records request also asks for all of ICE's written policies, training and field manuals, and documents showing standard operating procedure, reflecting the city's concerns about ICE agents' use of masks, reports of federal officials damaging personal property as they take people into custody, and failing to identify themselves and possibly racially profiling people during immigration enforcement actions. Wu firmly reiterated her commitment to stand up for Boston residents at the press conference last week in which she explained how the city's plan to regularly file public records requests fits into her broader strategy to push back against the Trump administration. 'We see the actions that are taking place directly undermining trust across all interactions with city government and therefore are resulting in making our communities less safe,' Wu said. 'We do not need the federal government to tell us what safety looks like when we see it with our own eyes. And in Boston, we will stand strong for our community members and our residents.' Related : She also had a few choice words for Advertisement 'My advice to Tom Homan and ICE is to take a timeout; reassess what you are doing and how you are doing it,' Wu said. 'A little friendly advice from the safest major city in the country. We know how to keep people safe.' Niki Griswold can be reached at
Yahoo
13-06-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Boston mayor Wu draws federal backlash for comparing masked ICE agents to neo-Nazis
[Source] Boston Mayor Michelle Wu is taking heat from federal officials after comparing masked ICE agents to 'secret police' and suggesting similarities to a neo-Nazi group during immigration enforcement operations. Catch up The latest rebuke against Wu — who is running for re-election — erupted in late May after she told WBUR that people are 'getting snatched off the street by secret police who are wearing masks and can offer no justification for why certain people are being taken and then detained.' Her comments came amid heightened immigration enforcement operations, including the March arrest of Turkish student Rumeysa Ozturk by masked, plain-clothed ICE agents in a Boston suburb. Federal officials defended the mask-wearing practice by highlighting safety concerns. ICE Acting Director Todd Lyons told reporters, 'People are out there taking photos of the names, their faces and posting them online with death threats to their family and themselves.' Trending on NextShark: Escalation of comments Last week, Wu drew parallels between ICE agents and NSC-131, a New England-based neo-Nazi group. 'I don't know of any police department that routinely wears masks,' she told reporters. 'We know that there are other groups that routinely wear masks. NSC-131 routinely wears masks.' But when pressed on whether she was equating ICE with the organization, Wu declined to directly answer and instead reiterated that local police departments do not routinely wear masks. In response, the Department of Homeland Security called the comparison 'sickening,' while White House spokesperson Abigail Jackson slammed her broader comments as 'disgusting, dangerous attacks on law enforcement.' Trending on NextShark: The big picture Wu's confrontation with federal authorities builds on her March 5 congressional testimony before a Republican-led House Oversight Committee, where she defended Boston's sanctuary policies by asserting that it is 'the safest major city in the country.' The mayor shows no signs of retreating. Yesterday, she signed an executive order mandating regular Freedom of Information Act requests for ICE arrest details, saying 'it is our responsibility to make sure that communication between our residents and the city of Boston in every manner is designed to boost trust and boost collaboration.' She also advised border czar Tom Homan to 'take a time out' on ICE operations nationwide. Trending on NextShark: This story is part of The Rebel Yellow Newsletter — a bold weekly newsletter from the creators of NextShark, reclaiming our stories and celebrating Asian American voices. Subscribe free to join the movement. If you love what we're building, consider becoming a paid member — your support helps us grow our team, investigate impactful stories, and uplift our community. Trending on NextShark: Subscribe here now! Trending on NextShark: Download the NextShark App: Want to keep up to date on Asian American News? Download the NextShark App today!
Boston Globe
12-06-2025
- Business
- Boston Globe
Boston's office market goes from bad to worse. What's Wu's Plan B?
Boston Mayor Michelle Wu might do well to heed those words as the city faces a likely drop in commercial property tax revenue driven by the post-pandemic shift to hybrid work. Wu is skilled at projecting confidence about Boston's future. But is she also preparing for what experts increasingly see as a potentially painful cycle of falling office building values, shrinking property tax receipts, and mounting fiscal strain? Advertisement It's tough to tell. Last week, the Boston Policy Institute and the Center for State Policy Analysis at Tufts University Get Starting Point A guide through the most important stories of the morning, delivered Monday through Friday. Enter Email Sign Up Such a decline would leave a potential $1.7 billion hole in the city's budget, larger than the shortfall the two groups estimated in their When asked by reporters about the projections, Wu underscored the city's rock-solid bond rating, fledgling effort to convert office buildings into housing, and decisions by Lego and Eli Lilly to set up shop in Boston. 'We are going to continue to celebrate and highlight the progress that we have made, while continuing to double down on believing in Boston,' she said. Advertisement That's hoping for the best. But then she went on: 'Others can be part of a shadowy organization that is looking to tear down the city's progress.' That was a shot at BPI, a 501(c)(4) think tank that can engage in politics Its earlier report with Tufts' state policy center, which doesn't take political positions, was used by real estate and business groups to help kill Wu's bid to temporarily shift more of the tax burden onto commercial landlords. The diss might be good politics for the mayor, who faces a reelection challenge from Josh Kraft. But in disparaging BPI, she sidestepped what could be her biggest challenge in a second term: keeping residential taxes in check without the once-dependable growth in commercial real estate levies. Boston generates But, as the BPI report warned, 'In the current economic environment, Boston's unusual tax structure has ceased to be a source of resilience and has become a liability.' That's a harsh reality at a time when Against that backdrop, Wu's cheerleading can come across as tone deaf —or worse, denial. 'Although we're facing the same uncertainty that cities everywhere are dealing with right now, the reality is that Boston is in the best possible position to weather this moment,' Wu said last week after the City Council Advertisement Really? With everything the city is up against? To be fair, Wu said in April that the city needs to be ready 'for the worst in every case.' And her $4.8 billion budget included a below-average increase of 4 percent, a nod to the fact that the city couldn't continue the ramped up spending of previous years. 'The City is taking an all hands on deck approach to reinvigorating Downtown — both by promoting economic opportunity to attract more people at night and on the weekends and by adding housing to bring more people to the neighborhood during the day and after work hours,' a Wu spokesperson said in a statement. Wu is once again The change — which would limit any increase in tax bills for residential property owners at the expense of struggling commercial landlords — was rejected last year by the Senate. Its chances for passage this year are slim to none, which raises this question: What's Wu's Plan B? The mayor hasn't said. Hope for the best. It's not clear the city is prepared for the worst. Larry Edelman can be reached at
Boston Globe
11-06-2025
- Business
- Boston Globe
Super PAC aligned with Michelle Wu launches first television ad as spending ramps up in Boston mayor's race
'Michelle Wu — experience money can't buy," it concludes. Advertisement The ad echoes arguments Wu and her allies have made on the campaign trail — that Kraft is trying to buy his way into office and has ties to Republicans who are loathed in Boston. Kraft, for his part, has sought to present himself as his own person, and distance himself from the ties his father, Related : Advertisement The six-figure ad spend by the Wu-aligned PAC is orders of magnitude less than has been spent so far by the rival super PAC backing Kraft. That outside spending group, called Your City, Your Future, has reported spending Super PACs are allowed to raise and spend unlimited amounts of money, and, unlike candidates themselves, they can take donations directly from businesses. They are barred, however, from coordinating with any candidates or their campaigns. New Balance chair and billionaire Jim Davis has already The top donors to the Wu-aligned Bold Boston PAC include unions and environmental groups, according to campaign finance records and a news release from the PAC. Advertisement Emma Platoff can be reached at
