By Kim Siebert MacPhail
At the School Committee meeting on October 8, Superintendent Jon Sills reported that, in the week since the Town Forum on the Plaza Hotel homeless population, the number of homeless students currently educated in Bedford has declined from 46 to 40, indicating their families have moved elsewhere.
“As a consequence of the meeting Representative Ken Gordon, Town Manager Rick Reed and I had with the Department of Housing and Community Development (DHCD), the State pledged not to ‘backfill’ any more families at the hotel. There’s a natural attrition rate that’s significant over time; they will not send any new families to Bedford and they would actually take deliberate steps to transfer some families out of Bedford. . . .This is a sign that attrition is happening— and will happen—and I think we’ll see significant change. The concern over equity and Bedford doing more than its fair share is being addressed.”
Referring to last week’s Town Forum, Sills said the feedback he has received following his fact-based presentation that night indicates residents were glad to receive concrete information to rely upon, rather than rumor and speculation.
“Some people believed [before the presentation] that Bedford’s Boston Magazine ratings dropped from 18th to 36th because of these families. I was very pleased that people’s reactions to the presentation suggest that they understood that our quality has not fallen—in fact, I’d say we’re better than ever [as a school system] because we’re learning how to meet the need of all kids and whatever the impact from the homeless population, it’s negligible [in terms of MCAS and Boston Magazine’s rating.]
“That’s not to say there haven’t been impacts we’ve had to respond to,” Sills emphasized. “If those numbers [of homeless students] were sustained over time, it would severely tax our resources and we would need respite from the State,” Sills said.
To watch the Bedford TV recording of the Plaza Hotel forum that includes Superintendent Sills’ presentation, visit: https://thebedfordcitizen.org/2013/10/05/videotape-of-selectmans-forum-available-via-bedford-tv/
To read The Citizen’s article about the forum, see: https://thebedfordcitizen.org/2013/10/05/videotape-of-selectmans-forum-available-via-bedford-tv/
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