Multiple parents, students and educators told the Boston School Committee on Oct. 29 that limited enrollment and home-based zoning for bilingual programs blocks access for families across the city and asked the district to expand citywide assignment for certain programs.

Quang Tran, a first-grade bilingual teacher at the Vietnamese dual-language program at the Mattahunt (Mather) Elementary, said the program currently restricts enrollment to residents within the school catchment and that families from other neighborhoods are repeatedly denied access despite demand.

Minh Nguyen, a paraprofessional at the Vietnamese dual-language program, said the program has added bilingual teachers, specialists and a bilingual speech pathologist, but that the district's current zone-based assignment prevents many Vietnamese families from enrolling their children.

Students and parents also testified for Chinese-language programs. Peiwen Yu, a fourth- and fifth-grade ESL teacher at Josiah Quincy School who speaks Mandarin, said bilingual classrooms support rapid progress and stronger family engagement and asked the committee to make Joseiah Quincy's Chinese program citywide. Student speakers emphasized cultural connection and maintaining heritage language fluency.

Several speakers noted the programs are small (one speaker described Mather as having 22 seats per grade) and recommended the committee evaluate capacity, bus costs and a plan for gradual expansion. Chair Robinson asked staff to prepare a memo showing current program enrollment and projected transportation costs for a citywide assignment option.

The committee did not make an immediate policy change; members asked staff for follow-up data that would allow them to weigh demand, capacity and budget implications in coming meetings.

Provenance: Testimony on bilingual and dual-language assignment began during the public-comment period and continued during Zoom testimony; speakers asked the committee to study citywide assignment and staff committed to producing capacity and transportation estimates for committee review.