SchoolFacts Boston

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"Following months of sustained opposition from city councilors, parents, teachers and students, Mayor Michelle Wu is pulling the plug on a controversial plan to move the John D. O’Bryant School of Mathematics and Science to West Roxbury, according to three city and district officials with direct knowledge of the decision.

The proposal will be canceled officially Wednesday, according to the officials. Families of O’Bryant students also will be informed Wednesday, the officials said.

Wu’s plan had drawn intense criticism from community members who did not want to see the city’s most diverse exam school moved from its current location in Roxbury, long considered the cultural heart of Black Boston, into mostly-white West Roxbury."

Mayor Wu expected to call off plans to move the O’Bryant exam school to West Roxbury - The Boston Globe The proposed move was announced in June, as part of an ambitious proposal to overhaul Boston’s high school system. The proposal would have moved the O’Bryant to a completely rebuilt facility at the now-vacant West Roxbury Education Complex on the VFW Parkway.

What’s the condition of your child’s school? BPS has now scored them. - The Boston Globe “The data confirms what we already know,” Superintendent Mary Skipper said. “Our buildings are safe, but many are in terrible condition.”

Please note that the Green New Deal for BPS Open House on 9/16 has been canceled. Follow the link here to the 9/13 BPS school committee meeting if you would like to hear the updates that were shared. The presentation begins around the 2:25 mark of the meeting with an introduction from Supt. Skipper followed by a presentation from the City and BPS capital planning team.

Boston School Committee Meeting 9/13/2023 Boston School Committee Meeting 9/13/2023

Announcing the 2023 Parent-Powered Solutions Fund! Ascend at the Aspen Institute's 2023 Parent-Powered Solutions Fund is the first parent-led fund model of its kind – designed, led, and evaluated by Ascend Parent Advisors to the Ascend at the Aspen Institute's Postsecondary Success for Parents (PSP) initiative and funded by Imaginable Futures. Thi...

Green New Deal for BPS Open House on Saturday, September 16. Please join us anytime between 10:00 AM and 2:00 PM and stay however long you would like.

You can register at bit.ly/gnd-bps-open-house.

Over the summer, the team has been working to complete an assessment of the condition of all facilities and develop educational and design standards for new construction projects. These are important parts of building a long-term facilities plan for BPS, which is due at the end of 2023.

They will share progress and hear your feedback. At the Open House, they will share how they are building a decision-making tool to guide how they invest in BPS buildings in service of actualizing the BPS high-quality student experience – including new construction projects, renovations, expansions, reconfigurations, closures, mergers, and new resources and partnerships. Your input is essential to building this decision-making tool.
Green New Deal for BPS Open House

Saturday, September 16

10:00 AM - 2:00 PM – drop by anytime

Bolling Building

2300 Washington Street, Roxbury MA 02119

Please register here so they know how many people to expect. Interpretation services, childcare, and refreshments will be provided.

Massachusetts Colleges and Universities: Affordability Dashboard

Massachusetts Colleges and Universities: Affordability Dashboard

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“We spend so much time discussing as the Boston community the exam schools and I don’t think we’ve given the rest of the high schools the full length of discussion,” said Roxann Harvey, of the Boston Special Education Parent Advisory Council. “I don’t know that all these [impacts] have been fully considered because they haven’t been discussed with families.”

How Mayor Wu’s high school plan could lead to closures - The Boston Globe Among the questions left unanswered: Which schools will close to accommodate the staggering growth of both of those schools?

During our June FAB meeting we spoke about this painting and this recent update from BPS

"Green New Deal for BPS: A Year in Review - We recently passed the one-year mark since Mayor Wu launched the Green New Deal for BPS. In many ways, this year has been about laying the foundation – setting ourselves up to move much more quickly and launch more construction and renovation projects each year. The Facilities Conditions Assessment (due at the end of the summer) and School Design Study (due at the end of 2023) will help us get there, but in the meantime, much of our progress isn’t yet visible."

Behind the Myth of Benevolence
By Titus Kaphar
2014

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"Roxi Harvey, chair of the Boston Special Education Parent Advisory Council, said families also have deep concerns about BPS not moving fast enough to stop segregating students with disabilities from their peers. We are not asking for overnight progress, but how long do they think we will fall for the line that the progress is not visible yet?” said Harvey." - Globe quote from 7/5

“We have another to-be-continued after another to-be-continued. You never have a sense the story is moving forward and accountability is within sight,” said Vernée Wilkinson, director of the family advisory board at SchoolFacts Boston, a nonprofit that works with Boston families.

Hope for meaningful BPS change gives way to frustration after first year of state improvement plan - The Boston Globe Many say BPS continues to limp along, aside from producing a growing collection of audits in transportation, student safety, special education, and other areas, as well as an avalanche of recommendations.