School Committee Chair issues statement on non-Boston residents attending Exam Schools

The Boston School Committee has recently received reports that a number of students enrolled in the Boston exam schools - Boston Latin School, Boston Latin Academy, and the John D. O'Bryant School of Mathematics and Science - are not legal residents of the City of Boston. This situation is unacceptable and the Boston Public Schools will take whatever measures are required to ensure that only students who are legal residents of the City of Boston will be allowed to attend our schools.

This issue has been of concern in the past and in the last year, the Boston School Committee approved a more stringent process for documenting residency, including having parents or legal guardians submit documentation and sign an affidavit affirming that they were residents of Boston. Apparently, these measures have not been sufficient to prevent the continued abuse of the system.

To resolve this issue, the School Committee and the Superintendent will take a number of steps immediately.

As Chair of the Boston School Committee, I have formally asked Superintendent Payzant to convene a work group to gather specific information around our current practices to identify nonresident students, our procedures for documenting residency, as well as policy and legal requirements that must be considered in moving forward. A report of the work group will be presented to the School Committee at its meeting on December 3.

Following receipt of the report, the Boston School Committee and the Superintendent will review and formalize policy and procedural changes necessary to ensure that only students who are residents of the City of Boston will be eligible to attend our schools. Some options for consideration include reviewing the School Committee policy instituted in 1978 which permits non-Boston residents to take the entrance test for the exam schools as well as reallocating resources for additional attendance officers to conduct home visits to verify student residency. Final decisions and changes in policies or procedures will be in effect by the end of the calendar year.

We all take great pride in the quality of education in the exam schools of the City of Boston. The School Committee and the Superintendent join the Mayor and others in expressing our commitment to ensuring that these resources remain fully available to the children of our City and will take the necessary action to make this happen.