Josh’s plan puts students and families first, prioritizes parent and community engagement, accelerates partnerships, and returns strong competent management to the school district.

BOSTON, MA – Today, Josh Kraft released “A Plan to Provide Current and Future Generations of Boston Families the BPS Education They Deserve.” The BPS-focused plan is Josh’s third policy plan of the campaign, in addition to multiple Substack pieces on housing, Mass & Cass and White Stadium, among other topics, as well as numerous press releases and statements to articulate fact-based critiques of Mayor Wu and Josh’s ideas to move the city forward.

“Under Mayor Wu and her administration, BPS continues to fail our students and families. A broad lack of competent management, lack of clear communication with parents and families, lack of transparency and accountability on key measures as part of the State Improvement Plan, lack of any meaningful academic progress, and lack of true engagement with families and the community has left thousands of students without a pathway to academic success, despite state intervention in 2022,” said Josh. 

A recent study, published by the Boston Policy Institute, reports that underperforming schools in the district have remained substandard, even after state intervention in 2022.

“BPS lacks both academic excellence and the basic support families need to ensure their children will learn and thrive, let alone arrive at school on time. Without an achievable plan and the ability to execute it, BPS will continue to fail,” added Josh.

Josh’s plan puts students and families first, prioritizes parent and community engagement, accelerates partnerships, and returns strong competent management to the school district.

Student-Centered Actions

• Improve Literacy Rates: The research is clear: if students cannot read with proficiency by grade 3, everything else slips. We must create clear academic benchmarks, ensuring the success of students aligns with what our teachers need to succeed. For instance, to address persistently low literacy rates for our youngest students, Josh will conduct a districtwide push to increase literacy rates by at least 10% through a combination of high-dosage tutoring and community- driven partnerships.
• Revitalize Vocational Education: Setting our students up for success in life can mean a traditional college path, and yet there are other pathways to career and economic success.

o   Create Citywide Hub of Opportunities: Josh will leverage relationships with our city’s labor unions and businesses to revitalize how vocational education is offered to our students, envisioning the creation of citywide “hubs” to offer students more vocational opportunities throughout Boston. These hubs would match willing students with professional opportunities while also identifying opportunities in emerging fields, such as “Green Tech.”

o   Prioritize Ongoing Community Engagement: Josh will communicate with students and families to hear their opinions and concerns about vocational education in Boston. The voices of our families, who have the most intimate knowledge of their students, should form the backbone of the district’s diverse offerings. 

o   Renovate Madison Park – The Right Way: Support the renovation of Madison Park through a community-oriented, efficient process. While the current administration has changed timelines and failed to articulate a cohesive vision for Madison Park, Josh will continue to push for a transparent renovation process that prioritizes making this school a regional leader for vocational education. 

• Reevaluate Exam Schools: Josh will reevaluate the current exam school admissions policy, as well as the number of seats available in our top-notch exam schools. If a BPS student has met the necessary requirements, they should be able to attend one of these flagship schools. And yet too many students face rejection from the exam schools. Josh will ensure that there are more seats available to our students across the city, and will consider options such as satellite campuses for our current exam schools. Moreover, Josh will work with all stakeholders to review the best practices for admission to our exam schools.
• Increase Access to Mental Health Resources: Outside of the classroom, Josh will push to increase access to mental health resources through the district. Josh will mandate that our schools are equipped with the necessary resources to support our children’s mental health. Through a comprehensive review of the current services offered as well as an audit of current gaps, Josh will ensure that counselors and social workers are ever-present in our school communities, working with students and families to overcome mental health challenges.
• Invest in Athletics/Enrichment: Josh will push for greater investments in athletics and activities outside the classroom to support the whole child, from our district’s youngest K1 students to high school seniors. For many students, a soccer game, music lesson, or non-school enrichment activity represents the highlight of their day. Josh will ensure the extracurricular events that shape the lives of our students remain fully-funded, and will not tolerate athletes missing games and practices because of “no-show” buses.

Parent and Community Engagement

Parent involvement is critical to the success of our children’s education. As Mayor, Josh will work to bring them into the process and ensure their voices are heard. 

• Follow Through on Hybrid School Committee: Josh will follow through on a promise that Mayor Wu failed to realize: a Hybrid-Elected School Committee. The school committee should be a place where the voices of our diverse community are heard and appreciated. The status quo fails our students, and in a district starving for improvement, this is an important step in the right direction for representation and community input.
• Develop Clear Roadmap for Families: Josh will offer students and their families a roadmap through their time in BPS. Through a new model of clear communication and collaboration, including a student and family centric infrastructure plan, parents will no longer wonder where their child will attend school, who they can talk to when issues arise, and whether their children will learn to read. No matter which school a student attends, Josh will partner with every parent, ensuring they feel included at every step of their child’s journey.
• Reinstitute “Office of Parents” Within City Hall: Josh will ensure all voices are heard and trust is rebuilt between the City and BPS by reinstituting an office formerly known as the “Office of Parents.” This office in City Hall will prioritize clear communication channels between families, the BPS Administration, and the Mayor’s office.

Competent, Results-Oriented Management

Josh will bring a results-oriented management style back to City Hall, which will include taking a fresh look at how the district is staffed, direct BPS to adopt a comprehensive facilities plan, ensure clear accountability standards, and implement a transportation strategy that gets students to class on time.

• Split the Job: Given the importance of BPS and the current state of affairs, Josh would reassess the current management structure to provide a singular focus on academics and operations, with one individual responsible for each and reporting directly to the Mayor. In contrast to the current structure, a new “Superintendent of Operational Management” will focus exclusively on the nuts-and-bolts of our school system and the “Superintendent of Schools” will maintain and guide the academic success of the district.
• Bring Back a Vision and Plan for School Facilities: Develop and implement a long-term facilities plan within one year in office, inventorying all BPS school facilities and assets, their current value and condition, and renovation or replacement as guided by the needs and best interests of BPS students and families. Under the Wu Administration, too often BPS students and their families have been blindsided by abrupt announcements of school closings on short notice, such as Dever Elementary and Excel High School.

• Address Our Broken Transportation System: Under Mayor Wu, chronic delays in school bus arrivals persist, with buses consistently failing to meet even the minimum on-time arrival threshold that the district committed to achieving five years ago. And yet we spend more per student on bus transportation than any comparably-sized district in the country. Josh will commit to a more efficient school bus transportation system so that students arrive at school on time and parents can plan their days.
• Reassess Central Office: Between 2014 and 2024, enrollment in BPS decreased by 8,500 students; however, in the same period, 130 new employees were hired at the central office. Prioritizing students means ensuring that our resources are directed where they will have the most impact: in our classrooms. To that end, Josh will evaluate redundant positions within the administrative structure at BPS’ central office, with the intention of streamlining the bureaucratic layers within the district to better support students, teachers, and families. 

• Foster Deeper Relationships with State: As Mayor, Josh will foster deeper and more productive working relationships with the state government, leveraging their resources and guidance to improve BPS. In the Systemic Improvement Plan (SIP) crafted by the Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education (DESE), a harsh review noted the central office struggled to accurately collect student data – including benchmark statistics, such as graduation rates.
• Improve Transparency and Accountability:

o   In order to achieve a baseline of coordination and more seamless integration for district operations, including transportation and facilities management, Josh will create a working group comprised of City Hall staff and BPS leadership.

o   Ensure that all district wide-projects are tracked and information is publicly available. For each “goal” or “target” announced by the district, information such as the financial commitment, key personnel, relevant contact information, and other pertinent data will be readily and publicly available.

Community Partnerships

For more than three decades, Josh has seen the benefits that community organizations can provide our youth. His work has focused on building connections between different groups of people, and he wants to bring that same principle to our district’s schools. Josh wants to empower local community organizations, higher education institutions and small businesses to work with our schools to serve our students. To do this, Josh will: 

• Modern Digital Platforms: Create a new system that allows every YMCA, Boys and Girls Club, and other community youth organizations to be linked to local BPS schools for access to targeted programming, schedules and other information. Josh will work with BPS leadership to design a shared digital platform for schools, partner organizations, and families to communicate, monitor student involvement, and stay up-to-date on new programming.
• Opportunities for ALL Kids: Ensure that all Boston children, including non-BPS students, have access to opportunity. There are thousands of young people who live in Boston but do not attend BPS. Josh will coordinate with relevant stakeholders, including private, parochial and charter school leaders, to cultivate viable partnerships that will provide all school-age children with avenues to build skills and relationships.
• Partner with Higher Ed: Collaborate with our city’s great colleges and universities to enrich student learning and mentoring opportunities, such as placing college students majoring or concentrating in education in substitute teaching positions, thus helping to meet the district’s staffing needs while giving college students valuable classroom experience. 

For more information about Josh Kraft’s campaign, visit www.joshforboston.com

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