Boston City Council discussed Boston youth sports and two proposed audits on Boston Public Schools operations with special education and its restorative justice practices for children suffering from trauma at its March 20 meeting.
Councilor Benjamin Weber of District 6 proposed a hearing on resources and organization of youth sports across Boston. Weber hopes to speak to organizations regarding what they are offering the youth of Boston and wanting to look at Boston’s resources to encourage youth sports.
“A lack of adequate facilities has limited access to BPS students and young people at large, as we know from councilor Murphy’s recent hearing on the overwhelming demand for track time in the Reggie Lewis Center,” said Weber.
Councilor Fitzgerald of District 3 believes that athletics are a vital aspect of children’s health and a topic that needs to be discussed.
“I do believe in the three pillars of any good functioning society is [that] there is academics, arts, and athletics,” said Fitzgerald.
Several of the councilors spoke in support of having these hearings, adding on their own stories with sports and how important it was to their youth and how much it helped with their life experiences.
“We need more than just one single facility, we need resources across our city, we need more equipment, we need more staff and we need more youth sports fairs,” said City Councilor-at-large Henry Santana, a co-sponsor of this proposed hearing.
City Councilor-at-large Julia Mejia proposed two audits on Boston Public Schools.
The first proposed audit on BPS is for its restorative justice practices for children who suffer from problems of violence at home or experience violence on the streets and need help returning normally to their community. Mejia specifically mentioned that Gov.Maura Healey had given grants to several organizations for similar purposes and would like to see it similarly given to BPS as well in order to foster a welcoming environment.
“We have our kids walking into schools with trauma, and that’s why we are all fighting for more support services in the form of social services and guidance counselors there to help our kids,” said City Council President Ruthzee Louijeune.
The second of Mejia’s proposed audits was also on BPS regarding its special education services and returns on investments.
“Having worked in the education space before I walked into this chamber, one of the biggest concerns that I heard constantly was all about special education and returns on investments. We spend a lot of money on supporting students that have special needs but we are not seeing a return on those investments,” said Mejia.
Both of these audits that Mejia proposed had support from several council members.
