Helping pilot schools to land

July 11, 2008

THE LAUNCH of the first pilot schools over a decade ago was a welcome sign that the Boston public schools meant to compete in the educational marketplace. But the supply of pilot schools, which have considerable freedom from central-office micromanagement and from union-dictated work rules, isn't keeping up with demand, as a valuable new study shows.

A new report by the Center for Collaborative Education, a group that promotes school reform, shows that pilots are giving families new options that they desperately want. While 11 percent of the city's public school students attend pilot schools, pilots are the first choice of more than a quarter of families in the system. The imperative now should be to expand the number of pilots.

To her credit, Superintendent Carol Johnson has shown considerable enthusiasm for the concept. If only the Boston Teachers Union weren't dragging its feet.

The union contract signed two years ago calls for at least seven new pilot schools by September 2009. Pilots can be started from scratch or by converting traditional public schools into pilots after a favorable vote of the faculty. Alas, finding space for new schools is no easy task, and the union has mostly resisted efforts to convert existing schools. Two years ago, teachers at the Kennedy School in Jamaica Plain voted overwhelmingly for pilot status. The union stepped in, and weeks later the Kennedy faculty narrowly reversed itself.

To accelerate the process, The Boston Foundation gave out a series of $20,000 planning grants earlier this year. (The Center for Collaborative Education receives some funding from the foundation as well.) Two proposals for new pilots are likely to be approved this summer. A few other schools, though, put off faculty votes until the fall. Maybe they just weren't ready. But when pilot school advocates see such delays, they fear that the union is plotting behind the scenes to head off any conversion.

In the past, these fears have proved to be well grounded. Too bad. Pilot status itself is a sign of a cohesive faculty whose members are eager to innovate - and it's a beacon to families who care more about their children's education than about old-style work rules. A strong network of pilot schools can only help the district's efforts to retain existing students and bring in families who might otherwise opt for private or charter schools.

As foundation president Paul Grogan points out, the school department made significant concessions, on pay and other issues, to gain the union's agreement on new pilot schools. Now the system needs to hold the union to its side of the bargain.