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Appointed or elected, Boston School Committee needs more accountability

While the debate over an elected vs. appointed school committee is important, the larger issue is accountability. Boston's families deserve a committee that represents them. Mayors in many cities across Massachusetts and the country serve as chairs of their communities' school committees, and perhaps it is time for Boston's mayor to do the same. That would be a meaningful first step toward real transparency and accountability. Get The Gavel A weekly SCOTUS explainer newsletter by columnist Kimberly Atkins Stohr. Enter Email Sign Up Jill Shah Advertisement Ross Wilson Boston Jill Shah and Ross Wilson, of the Shah Family Foundation, host 'Last Night At School Committee,' a podcast that provides an analysis of every Boston School Committee meeting. Illusion of democracy is not enough Why even have an appointed Boston School Committee, since the votes go the way the superintendent and mayor want? On the rare occasion when a committee member asks 'tough questions,' they are not answered in any meaningful way. So what's the point? Is it to give the illusion of democracy? Parents and students are allowed to speak — ever so briefly — but they are not really heard. Speakers are tolerated, then business continues. As both a teacher and parent in the Boston Public Schools, I live day and night with the not-so-benign neglect of this appointed committee. An elected school committee at least offers the chance of accountability. Maybe then the buses will run on time. Michael J. Maguire West Roxbury Divisive rhetoric whitewashes history Arguing for an undemocratic system in which, as Dever Elementary School parent Edna Vazquez put it, ' Advertisement The editorial begins with two metaphors. In the first, the idea of an elected school committee is a bad penny. In the next, it's a vampire who needs a stake put through its heart. The editorial board goes on to label City Councilor Julia Mejia's proposal to abolish the current appointed committee and replace it with an elected one 'radical.' Such language jettisons respectful, deliberative dialogue. Instead, the editorial implicitly disparages voters across the city, who, in Then there is the statement that 'those who pine for a return to an elected School Committee have little sense of history.' This claim only becomes true if one buries the actual Democracy isn't a bad penny or a vampire. What's objectionable and dangerous are divisive rhetoric, whitewashed history, and systems that privilege executive power. Mary Battenfeld Jamaica Plain