To: Paul Grogan, President of the Boston Foundation, Michael Keating, Esq., Rosalin Acosta, Zamawa Arenas, Michael Eisenson, Paul La Camera, Grace Fey, Paul Gannon, Rev. Dr. Gregory G. Groover, Sr., Paul Lee, Linda Mason, Jane Mendillo, J. K...
Education reform should not cause pain and suffering
Our children's schools are chronically underfunded, and we believe education should be supported by the philanthropic community.
Why is this important?
We, the parents of BPS students, are deeply disturbed by the remarks made by Paul Grogan, the President of the Boston Foundation, in the Boston Globe on April the 3rd.
“..if there’s some pain and suffering to existing institutions because they haven’t been able to be effective, there’s going to have to be consequences to that, just as there is in the private sector,” Paul Grogan, Boston Globe, April 2, 2016.
The Boston Foundation has an oversized influence on policy in the Boston area due to its financial resources. We don’t believe the Boston Foundation should be creating policy by promising financial relief to our chronically underfunded schools. It is our wish that the Foundation have some understanding and empathy on the effect that the policies they promote have on our children. It is our children who have been entrusted to the Boston Public Schools, and therefore, they experience the pain and suffering Mr. Grogan so casually writes off.
Fifty-seven thousand children attend Boston Public Schools, and we do not believe that our children’s education should be dismissed so easily.
Boston Public Schools is the oldest public school system in the country. Academically, BPS is very strong. The 4th and 8th graders in BPS exceeded the national average for all public schools on the National Assessment and Educational Progress (NAEP). BPS is the only urban school to do so. Our graduation rates are the highest they have ever been and we are making strides to close the achievement gap in Boston.
But more than test scores or prizes, BPS is where our children have found a place to learn, grow, create and discover. It is where our children sounded out their first words when learning to read, observed caterpillars change into butterflies, plunked keys on the piano, learned to share, and think.
Boston Public Schools takes in all children regardless of income, ability, race, social, economic or immigration status and forms them into bright, curious scholars.
So it is highly discouraging that the philanthropic community would give so little regard to the school system where our children go to school every day. We believe that philanthropy that has no concern for the effects its actions have on its intended beneficiaries is a destructive philanthropy and worse than no help at all. We are asking Mr. Grogan to develop as a compassionate learner and grow in empathy and humility.
“..if there’s some pain and suffering to existing institutions because they haven’t been able to be effective, there’s going to have to be consequences to that, just as there is in the private sector,” Paul Grogan, Boston Globe, April 2, 2016.
The Boston Foundation has an oversized influence on policy in the Boston area due to its financial resources. We don’t believe the Boston Foundation should be creating policy by promising financial relief to our chronically underfunded schools. It is our wish that the Foundation have some understanding and empathy on the effect that the policies they promote have on our children. It is our children who have been entrusted to the Boston Public Schools, and therefore, they experience the pain and suffering Mr. Grogan so casually writes off.
Fifty-seven thousand children attend Boston Public Schools, and we do not believe that our children’s education should be dismissed so easily.
Boston Public Schools is the oldest public school system in the country. Academically, BPS is very strong. The 4th and 8th graders in BPS exceeded the national average for all public schools on the National Assessment and Educational Progress (NAEP). BPS is the only urban school to do so. Our graduation rates are the highest they have ever been and we are making strides to close the achievement gap in Boston.
But more than test scores or prizes, BPS is where our children have found a place to learn, grow, create and discover. It is where our children sounded out their first words when learning to read, observed caterpillars change into butterflies, plunked keys on the piano, learned to share, and think.
Boston Public Schools takes in all children regardless of income, ability, race, social, economic or immigration status and forms them into bright, curious scholars.
So it is highly discouraging that the philanthropic community would give so little regard to the school system where our children go to school every day. We believe that philanthropy that has no concern for the effects its actions have on its intended beneficiaries is a destructive philanthropy and worse than no help at all. We are asking Mr. Grogan to develop as a compassionate learner and grow in empathy and humility.