City Councilor Gabriela Coletta joined a chorus of parents concerned about new exam school admissions policy, calling on BPS to release data and revisit the tier-based structure.

“While I commend the intention of the updated Exam School Policy to increase access and diversify our exam school student population, as with any new policy, there can be unintended consequences that leave out the very students we hope to serve,” Coletta wrote in a letter last week to BPS Superintendent Mary Skipper and shared on Twitter.

The admission’s policy, approved by the Boston School Committee in July 2021, scores applicants based on GPA, an admissions test score and additional points — 10 points awarded to students at schools with over 40% economically disadvantaged students and 15 to students in DCF care, experiencing homelessness or living in publicly-subsidized housing.

Students are divided into socioeconomic tiers based on their home address, and each tier receives the same number of seats to the city’s exam schools: Boston Latin School, Boston Latin Academy and John D. O’Bryant School.

Coletta cited admissions data presented to the School Committee in June — showing 75% of exam school invitations went to students of color, 49% went to economically disadvantaged students, and disabled, English learner, and other historically disadvantaged students received between 6% and 8% — as a success.

But, she argued, some students are being disadvantaged by the geographic nature of the tiering, regardless of their family income.

At the June 7 meeting, many parents with students rejected from exam schools testified against the admissions policy, with some calling the tier-system unfair to students in upper tiers and pushing for a system that allows tiers with more applicants to receive more seats — a suggestion Coletta echoed.

Though the policy is not due to be reassessed until 2026, Coletta called on BPS to look explore options to “embed an individualized student needs assessment across tiers to ensure all students from lower income families are included.”.

Coletta also formally requested the district release data — previously requested by a group of parents — on relationships between admissions rates, tiers, bonus points and economic disadvantage.

The letter also addressed the controversial proposal to move the John D. O’Bryant School to an education complex in West Roxbury, as well as overall high school investment.

The O’Bryant move, a plan to relocate the exam school off the Roxbury campus it now shares with Madison Park Technical Vocational High School, has received a range of criticism from the school community since the mayor and superintendent announced the proposal in June.

Coletta focused on the potential extra commute time, calculating that an East Boston student in the Eagle Hill neighborhood would travel 94 minutes by public transportation or over 60 minutes by the proposed BPS shuttles.

“Policy decisions like this one have significant impacts on student physical and mental health,” she wrote, noting the need to “examine these impacts for students across the city.”