The Great Divide team investigates the deep inequalities in our public education system, examining both the challenges and possible solutions to creating equal opportunity for all students.
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The latest from The Great Divide Team
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Like most 14-year-olds, Samantha Frechon has wants: a Monstera plant for her bedroom, Japanese cheesecake, a reprieve from her mom’s judgment of her baggy, black clothes.
But, more than anything, the Braintree eighth-grader desires something other kids her age are typically eager to ditch: “I just want to go to school,” Samantha said one recent afternoon, sitting cross-legged on her neatly made twin bed.
It’s in this room, with a giant tawny teddy bear propped in the corner, that Samantha has spent the school year, sleeping the day away or numbly scrolling through her phone, waiting for her nightmare to be over. Caught in a web of adult grievances and bureaucratic dysfunction, the special education student hasn’t been to school a single day this academic year.
Samantha has been in a state of academic limbo since the Braintree Public Schools unilaterally decided in September not to reenroll the teen in her special education placement at a private school in Hingham; the town had been paying her tuition there under a federal law that requires districts to cover the cost of privately educating students whose needs they cannot meet.
But this school year, Braintree, in the midst of a budget crisis, is refusing to pay the roughly $90,000 annual tuition for the private school, saying the placement at the Hingham school, which does not employ special educators, was only temporary. Instead, Braintree offered daily tutoring at the town library, away from school, classmates, or any enrichment activities, or at the 1,700-student high school, an overwhelming environment for Samantha, who has multiple disabilities.
- Mandy McLaren, Globe Staff
Read the story: This Braintree teen hasn’t been to school a single day this year. Is a broken special education system to blame?
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Samantha Frechon, who spends much of her time in her bedroom, hasn't been to school a single day this year. She is in the eighth grade, and she is autistic. Last year, she attended a private school, and she did well there. But her district, Braintree Public Schools, refused to pay for her continued enrollment. Suzanne Kreiter/Globe Staff
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She was surprised Concord Academy removed her as commencement speaker. She thinks it had to do with her ‘politics.’
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On her visits to Concord Academy, Boston’s poet laureate, Porsha Olayiwola, bonded with the students, inspired by their intellect and engagement.
When the private school reached out in January to tell her the senior class had chosen her to speak at their graduation on May 24, she was thrilled.
But in early April, the school announced that a new speaker — Alexandra Berzon, a New York Times reporter and 1997 graduate — was taking her place.
Olayiwola said she didn’t know she was no longer the speaker until the Globe contacted her about it earlier this month and she checked the school’s website to confirm.
- Nick Stoico, Globe Staff
Read the story: She was surprised Concord Academy removed her as commencement speaker. She thinks it had to do with her ‘politics.’
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Let’s put a stop to student hunger.
School isn’t just a place to learn. For children who live in food-insecure households, it’s where both their bodies and minds can be nourished. That’s why we distribute more than 40,000 meals monthly through the Stop & Shop School Food Pantry Program. Let’s help ensure students have the food they need to succeed in school and beyond. Learn more.
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Other education news from the Globe
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Let’s put a stop to student hunger.
1 in 8 kids in America live in a food-insecure household, according to the USDA. Hunger has a huge impact on a student’s potential, which is why we establish in-school food pantries through the Stop & Shop School Food Pantry Program. It’s just another way we are continuing to feed it forward and help nourish tomorrow. Learn more.
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More about The Great Divide
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The Great Divide examines public education in the region, with humanity and empathy, and with a goal of provoking public discussion, and exploring what might be done to fix core issues of inequality, social mobility, and economic opportunity. Please send us your ideas and suggestions.
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