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Candidates of color fade at mayoral polls Yawu Miller
Bassist Charnett Mofitt performs with the Will Calhoun Trio during the Beantown Jazz Festival last week. The three-day festival brought top jazz musicians to multiple stages on Columbus Ave. in Lower Roxbury, Scullers Jazz Club and the Berklee Performance Center. (Photo courtesy of Berklee College of Music)
BPS hits record levels for student MCAS improvement Martin Desmarais The most recent numbers for the Massachusetts Comprehensive Assessment System test show record levels for African American and Latino Boston Public Schools students — and improvement all throughout the school system. The 2013 figures showed that Boston students outperformed most schools in the state in the English Language Arts portion of the MCAS. Specifically, students in grades 3, 4, 5, 6, 7 and 10 topped similar grades in most other school systems. BPS 10th-grade students continued their recent rise. Over the last six years, 10th-grade students have seen a 21-point jump in ELA
proficiency rates, meaning the percent of BPS 10th-graders to score proficient or advanced on the ELA MCAS has risen from 58 percent in 2008 to an all-time high of 79 percent today. According to school department officials, ELA proficiency rates for African American and Latino 10th-grade students are at their highest levels since the MCAS test was implemented in 1998. The newest data shows that BPS has decreased the more-than-30-point achievement gap that existed in 2007 by about two-thirds, to just over 10 points. On the mathematics portion of the testing Boston third-graders jumped eight points in the number reaching proficient or advanced levels on the MCAS.
The high school improvement was led by English High School in Jamaica Plain and the Burke High School in Dorchester. At English, student proficiency rates for the ELA test jumped to 60 percent from 39 percent in 2012. For African American students, the rate jumped to 81 percent this year, up from 38 percent one year ago. At the Burke, the ELA proficiency rate rose 20 points, to 71 percent from 51 percent last year. Growth for Latino students was very strong at the school, up from 63 percent in 2012 to 89 percent in 2013. Burke Principle Lindsa McIntyre said that while all at the school have been working very hard to improve the Burke’s performance, MCAS, continued to page 8
For political activists who were hoping to see a candidate of color make it to the final election, last week’s mayoral preliminary was a worst-case scenario. While the six candidates of color together garnered three-quarters of the vote in the black community, the top black vote getter — Charlotte Golar Richie — finished with 15,536 votes, more than 4,000 shy of what she needed to make it past the preliminary. That left two Irish American men the sole contenders for mayor’s office. State Rep. Marty Walsh topped the mayoral ticket with 20,838 votes, followed by City Councilor John Connolly, with 19,420. In the black c o m m u n i t y, t h e r e ’s b e e n little debate about what went wrong. The multitude of candidates split the vote among black, Latino and Asian voters, who in most elections constitute a formidable bloc. Progressive votes were split between former Dudley St. Neighborhood Initiative head John Barros and City Councilor Felix G. Arroyo. With City Councilor Charles Yancey and radio station owner Charles Clemmons in the mix, Richie garnered little more than a third of the vote in the city’s predominantly black and Latino precincts. In all, the six candidates of color netted a third of the votes cast in the preliminary election, accord-
ing to an analysis conducted by Neighborhood Network News Director Chris Lovett. Turnout in black and Latino precincts was low. While the citywide average turnout was 31 percent of registered voters, in the predominantly black Ward 14, which includes Dorchester and Mattapan, just 26 percent of those eligible to vote cast ballots. In contrast, 50 percent of eligible voters came out in the predominantly white Ward 20, which is in West Roxbury. Despite Boston’s status as a majority-minority city, the voting patterns reveal what political activist Ty DePass describes as a “powdered donut,” where predominantly white precincts in South Boston, D o r c h e s t e r, Hyde Park and West Roxb u r y e n c i rcle the city’s lower-voting urban core. “There’s a difference between being majority-minority city and having a majority of the voting population,” DePass said. In the days following the preliminary election, many in the black community expressed frustration. “I’m angry,” said political activist Sarah Ann Shaw. “This was an opportunity for the community to set some terms, to really look at the city’s structure and voice our concerns about jobs, schools and the structure of city government. It would have given us more say if a person of color had come in first or second.”
“There’s a difference between being majorityminority city and having a majority of the voting population.” — Ty DePass Political Activist
Votes, continued to page 12
BRA tax breaks face increased opposition Yawu Miller On the ninth floor of City Hall, Boston Redevelopment Authority board members were preparing to vote on a controversial plan to sell the air rights on Yawkey Way to the Boston Red Sox for $7.3 million, over the objections of the state’s inspector general. Outside, on City Hall Plaza, a coalition of activist groups erected a cardboard rendering of the Millennium Partners skyscraper planned for the Filene’s department store
site in protest of the BRA’s approval of $7.8 million in tax breaks for the planned retail, hotel and luxury condo development. The city’s planning and development agency has come under increased scrutiny in recent weeks with the immanent departure of Boston Mayor Thomas Menino, sparking calls for more openness and transparency. The protesters on City Hall Plaza, organized by the Right to the City Coalition, said the BRA’s tax
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BRA, continued to page 8
to Steppin’ Out for the Dimock Center
Protestors gathered on City Hall Plaza last week to object to BRA’s approval of tax breaks to developers. (Yawu Miller photo)
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