Admissions test for BPS exam schools suspended for a year after marathon meeting

BOSTON — After nearly eight hours of public comment, the Boston School Committee voted unanimously early Thursday to drop the admissions test to the city’s three exam schools for a year due to the pandemic.

The meeting, which began at 5 p.m. and ended with the 7-0 vote shortly before 2 a.m. Thursday morning. Roughly 100 parents and former students spoke in favor and against the plan.

Boston has three exam schools: Boston Latin Academy, Boston Latin School, and the John D. O’Bryant School of Mathematics and Science.

Some parents were against the idea of canceling exams for the 6th-grade students, saying the tests are essential to ensure high academic standards.

But the plan had the support of Boston Public Schools Superintendent Brenda Cassellius and Mayor Marty Walsh.

Walsh, who spoke during the marathon virtual meeting, said it wouldn’t be fair to "ask a child to compete on an exam whose life has been turned upside down due to parents losing their homes, their jobs or close family members losing their life.”

Walsh said this was supposed to be the first year of a new, more equitable test. “This does not make educational sense to launch a new exam in the middle of a pandemic. It does not meet our public health guidelines to administer a citywide exam in the middle of a pandemic."

The school committee says entrance into the exam schools will now be based on a combination of student grades, MCAS scores, ZIP code and family income.

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