The Observer’s coverage of Alpha School’s application left out the one thing that actually matters: the legal standard for approval.

Massachusetts law is specific. Under DESE guidance, “school committees shall approve a private school when satisfied that the instruction in all the studies required by law equals in thoroughness and efficiency, and in the progress made therein, that in the public schools in the same town.” And DESE is equally clear about what approval is not: “School committee approval is neither an evaluation of program quality nor an endorsement of any particular school. The decision to enroll a child in, or to withdraw a child from, a particular private school is one that parents must make.“

That’s the whole test. Not whether school committee members like the pedagogy. Not whether the tuition seems high. Not whether there’s a playground on day one. Those are questions for parents, as DESE explicitly states.

On the question the law does ask, there’s fresh precedent. One week before Lexington’s June meeting, Boston Public Schools approved Alpha’s application after weeks of due diligence in the state’s largest and most scrutinized district. Theirs is not a fly-by-night operation: 28 Alpha campuses open nationwide this fall, with announced research partnerships at MIT’s Blueprint Lab and Harvard’s Human Flourishing Program. 

The school committee’s questions about literacy and instruction are fair game under the statute, and Alpha should answer them fully. But the review should stay within its legal scope. When school committees stretch that scope, it gets expensive. Just ask Andover, which recently paid $2.5 million to settle with Fusion Academy after overreaching in a similar process.

My wife and I encouraged Alpha to specifically consider Lexington given its embrace of educational alternatives: Montessori, Waldorf, Lexington Christian, and specialized programs for different learners. We hope that Alpha Lexington earns its place among them.

Nobody is required to enroll at Alpha. But their 0.4% student attrition rate speaks volumes – parents and students are voting with their feet. Notwithstanding this, Alpha must simply be evaluated on the standard the law sets; by that standard, it deserves approval. 

For parents like us, that’s all we ask: apply the law, and let families decide.

Raghav Gupta

Founding parent of Alpha Boston/Lexington

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