Education leaders sought common ground on issues of equity and investment at a forum last Saturday.

More than 100 Boston education leaders gathered at TechBoston Academy for an “Issues Assembly” organized by the Boston Education Action Network (BEAN), a group of teachers, parents, students, and community members.

Many who attended Saturday’s meeting were affiliated in some way with either the Boston Public Schools or a local charter school. The event was billed in part as an attempt to identify three points for the group to focus on moving ahead. For the first hour of the meeting, attendees were separated into smaller groups of roughly 10 people who were asked to shared what brought them to education policy.

After the smaller group meetings, everyone convened in the school’s cafeteria to discuss which issues they thought that BEAN should organize around pushing. The 20 policy points were posted on large pieces of paper around the large room and people were asked to go to whichever policy they most firmly wanted to advocate for.

The group narrowed down their choices, caucus style, from 20 policy issues to 10, then down to five and finally three.

After discussion, the group ended up narrowing their choices down to six policy points broken up into three pairs. “Teacher leadership pipelines and retention of teachers of color,” and “Culturally relevant/ affirming education” were paired together.  “School enrollments policies and integration” ended up being paired with “affordable housing.” “School discipline/ school-to-prison pipeline” and “social and emotional learning and resources” also became one larger policy point.

City Councillor Andrea Campbell attended one of the smaller meetings where she said that she learned a lot from the former teachers and educators in her group. She shared her story about her twin brother, who passed away four years ago while he was a pre-trial detainee in the custody of the Department of Correction.

“I had great schools, good mentors, effective teachers, quality after-school and summer jobs, a strong church community, and opportunities that far too few of my peers, including my twin, are afforded,” Campbell wrote on her website.

Campbell said that she has the opportunity to tackle many of the issues discussed at the BEAN meeting throughout the budgeting and policy conversations.

But community meetings like Saturday’s give a sense of urgency to the issue, she said.
Out of the 20 issues, Campbell said that she was particularly interested in the combined “School discipline/ school-to-prison pipeline” and “social and emotional learning and resources” point.

“Public charter and traditional public school funding” was one of the policy issues discussed. Initially, there were roughly a dozen people in the corner of the school cafeteria pondering education funding.

Carlos Rojas Alvarez, an East Boston resident and community youth organizer who helped support the students who organized last year’s Boston Public School student walk-out protesting proposed budget cuts, was vocal about the need for BEAN to prioritize securing education funding.

Working his way around the room Alvarez tried to convince supporters of the various other policies that programs such as social and emotional health and wellness needed basic funding.

Many in the room agreed with Alvarez on the importance of school funding but felt that BEAN should not prioritize what has become a divisive issue between charter and public schools. The other policies up for discussion allowed for recognition of common ground between the two parties.

According to BEAN leaders, the 20 policy issues were previously decided upon as part of a series of smaller meetings. BEAN will host another meeting and training session on Sunday, January 29 at the Islamic Society of Boston in Roxbury.