Battenfeld: New chapter for Boston’s troubled schools and Michelle Wu

With a brand new faculty superintendent and freshly-inked settlement with the state in her pocket, Boston Mayor Michelle Wu shall be totally accountable for town’s troubled faculties system.

Now could be the time for Wu to show a brand new chapter within the historical past of Boston’s crises-riddled faculties and its 49,000 college students.

Will Wu grow to be an actual activist and engaged mayor or will she simply settle for a similar outdated drained photograph ops of studying books to children that different mayors earlier than her have tried?

The rookie Boston mayor really got here up with two certified superintendent candidates with roots within the district – not Chicago or Los Angeles. Wu’s most popular selection was a not-so-tightly held secret — Somerville Superintendent Mary Skipper — and that’s who the Faculty Committee ended up selecting.

Simply days in the past, Wu fended off the state Division of Elementary and Secondary Schooling’s threats to take over town’s faculties and even prevented getting the dreaded “underperforming” ranking that might have saddled town with further sanctions.

She additionally withstood a last-minute maneuver by the Boston NAACP to place the superintendent search on maintain as a result of neither of the 2 finalists have been Black.

Now can she maintain it?

Wu really owns the college system disaster now, for higher or worse. And with the pending choice of a brand new police commissioner, she shall be taking up a variety of new duties and issues. The brand new superintendent and commissioner will outline Wu’s first time period and decide whether or not she’s successful or not.

Can she proceed to assist academics, navigate check scores, keep on prime of attendance charges and take care of the issues of violence and COVID at school school rooms?

The settlement with the state DESE consists of many benchmarks and necessities to enhance the faculties’ efficiency, like busing and English language studying.

It received’t be simple. If Wu can get the buses to run on time, that’s an achievement all by itself.

And no extra publicity stunts please, like outgoing Superintendent Brenda Cassellius taking up as substitute trainer, or the mayor studying to high school youngsters. We noticed sufficient of that underneath Mayors Marty Walsh and Tom Menino.

Walsh ended up feuding together with his personal superintendent and by no means bought the faculties again on monitor. Menino promised yearly to make the faculties his primary precedence.

It really is a brand new starting for Boston faculties underneath Wu, the feisty first-term mayor who stays fashionable with voters regardless of her aggressive fashion.