Wu: Boston would fight state intervention in city's public schools

Updated Wednesday at 5:33 p.m.

In the wake of yet another Boston Public Schools superintendent resignation and amid a difficult two years during the pandemic for the school district, Boston Mayor Michelle Wu said Wednesday she would fight any attempts from the state to intervene in the city's public schools through receivership.

"Receivership is not an option for Boston" schools, she told Boston Public Radio, saying it is "not a recipe to getting us where we need to go."

The question of whether the city is able to support its education system comes up again as Boston schools continue to struggle to meet state education criteria and face leadership turmoil. Superintendent Brenda Cassellius announced last week she will resign from the district at the end of the school year after fewer than three years in the role.

Wu has said previously she will not appoint an interim superintendent, but immediately launch a search for Cassellius' permanent replacement. Co-host Jim Braude asked Wu if she would support a local candidate for the position.

"I think having someone local would be great, because there's just no time to waste," she said.

Speaking about Boston schools generally, Wu said there is "no reason" why the Boston Public Schools isn't "the best place where young people and families can feel like they will have the whole world open to them."

Receivership has bolstered at least one other under-performing district in the state. The state took over Lawrence’s public schools in 2011; math test and English-language arts scores both rose, as did graduation rates. But last year, the city’s school committee petitioned the state to end the receivership, seeking a return to local autonomy.

Critics of receivership say state intervention wrests control from invested school committees and local leaders. Wu said that Boston is a large district with complex needs, and receivership would only further destabilize the district.

Three underperforming Boston schools are undergoing a four-month state review, in a move that could avert a full state takeover.

On vaccines mandates

Wu also discussed the city's proof-of-vaccination mandate for indoor recreational spaces, saying the requirement could be lifted as soon as in a few days, depending on a number of key metrics in Boston.

The decision comes as Wu herself said the city's proof of vaccination requirement for indoor spaces could soon end if Boston hits certain metrics:

• Less than 5 percent community positivity rate;
• Less than 200 daily COVID-19 hospitalizations; and
• Less than 95 percent ICU capacity.

Wu said Wednesday the city currently stands at: 5.4 percent positive, 253 daily hospitalizations and is already below the threshold for ICU capacity.

"It's such a complicated time to be setting policy becasue the virus is ever-evolving," she said. "The intention is that we will begin transitioning to living with COVID and hopefully not having to experience it as an emergency every single time there's a surge."

The move comes even as the city works its way through a legal challenge to the requirement that city workers be vaccinated.

An appeals court judge sided with public safety unions in their opposition of the city's COVID-19 vaccine mandate for workers this week, meaning they will not face termination for not getting vaccinated.

The unions argued Wu violated a previous agreement when, on Dec. 20, she tightened the mandate for city workers that removed the testing opt-out.

Wu said Wednesday the appeals court decision "goes against so much of what we've seen in court precedent and in other examples even right at the state," and says she expects to file an appeal.

On the Boston Harbor

Wu also said her office was looking to “hit a little bit of a reset” on development along the Boston waterfront near the New England Aquarium, to instead “really center resiliency, equity, access to the waterfront and make sure that in the limited time that we have — we can’t get this wrong at the waterfront.”

She announced a new public planning process to focus on the East Boston harbor in particular. The new plans will impact a long-discussed 600-foot Harbor Garage skyscraper in the downtown waterfront area, developed by Don Chiofaro.

“I know it’s frustrating for everyone that we’re at this point today after so many years of conversation, but each year we see the impacts of climate change intensify,” she said.

This story was updated with Wu’s comments on the Boston Harbor.