Monday, Oct. 31, 1988

A Task Worthy Of Solomon

By Susan Tifft

"I don't think Solomon could solve the problems of Chelsea," says Carmella Oliver, a parent in the industrial Boston suburb. "Education is not a priority here." Luckily, it may not take a Solomon -- just nearby Boston University, which has offered to run the city's failing school system. The plan, now being debated by the seven-member Chelsea School Committee, could be ratified as soon as next month and go into effect this winter. When that happens, B.U. will become the first private institution in the U.S. to take over and manage a public school system.

It has been more than 60 years since a school went up in Chelsea, a crumbling city of 26,000 immigrants and blue-collar workers on Boston Harbor. Even now, with the state offering to pay 90% of the costs, the city board of aldermen refuses to spend local funds for a badly needed high school and elementary school. Language and cultural obstacles compound the system's problems: over half of the 3,300 students speak Spanish or Cambodian at home. Faced with sagging test scores and a 17% annual dropout rate, many parents and local leaders seem willing to try anything. "What do we have to lose?" asks school committee chairman Bruce Robinson.

Under the university's rosy rescue proposal, the Chelsea system will provide extensive social services for children as well as a rigorous education. While B.U. teaching interns would receive course credits for their stints at the blackboard, degree candidates in nursing and dentistry would oversee medical and nutrition programs for preschoolers. B.U. social workers would visit the homes of troubled students to help address problems affecting their school performance. Other plans include a top-to-bottom overhaul of the curriculum and increases in teacher salaries, now among the lowest in the state.

The prospective payoff: reading, writing and math test scores would rise 20% in five years, according to B.U. projections, bringing them in line with state averages. "Even if B.U. only accomplishes 50% of what it sets out to do," says Robinson, "we will be better off."

But the novel scheme has sparked bitterness among Chelsea teachers and the school committee, who say it gives B.U. too much power. B.U.'s blunt-spoken president, John Silber, admits that the program "is not going to be run like a Quaker meeting." B.U. originally proposed that a university-appointed board would make most school decisions. Outraged school committee members successfully lobbied for the right to to overrule verdicts on the budget or school policy with a two-thirds vote. However, B.U. would still hold most of the cards.

Financially, the going has already been rough. Though B.U. had optimistically hoped for $2.5 million in corporate and foundation support for the Chelsea plan, only two donors have come through so far. But the lack of funds does not seem to worry the university. Education dean Peter Greer, who will run the experiment when it goes into effect, believes the solution to Chelsea's problems ultimately depends as much on B.U.'s imagination as on money. Says he: "If we can't bring improvement to this system, then we're not very good."

With reporting by Sam Allis/Boston