Out of the frying pan and into another frying pan at the old Irving School in Roslindale?

BPS acknowledged this month that putting students and teachers in a school building undergoing massive reconstruction and enlargement isn't working - for either the kids or the construction workers. But part of its solution for construction delays at the former Washington Irving Middle School in Roslindale - moving the classes out, some to the basement of the Roslindale Square community center - has some parents outraged.

BPS notified parents of upper-grade kids at what will eventually become the Philbrick-Sumner school on Cummins Highway yesterday that when school restarts in January, they'll be moving to either the community-center basement or another school. This will at least mean an end to the construction-related screeching and grinding and banging students and staff have had to put up with this fall, and hopefully allow for faster construction to meet BPS's goal of re-opening the new school by next fall.

But one parent, Jennifer Dines, writes to UHUb:

Number one, this is an enormous safety concern, a huge one, because anyone from the community, not only people with a CORI, can access the children. And number two a complete lack of respect for teachers as the timing is right before the holidays, so everyone has to worry about this, but without collegial support.

I am not exactly in disbelief, but this is a horrible decision, and they very easily could put off opening the merged school for another year to have a reasonable construction timeline.

Another parent called 311 to complain about, among other things, the difficulty this will cause sixth graders in preparing for that all important exam-school test:

Constituent is very concerned about the disruption this is having on not only her child but also the student population in general. Constituent states the construction has had an effect on test scores for exams schools and wellbeing. The parents were discussed with at a school meeting that unfortunately he constituent could not attend they believe took place on 12/11, but it was not the meetings main agenda item and was added to the end of the meeting, and those meeting are held at 5:30PM on Wednesdays so it is difficult for parents to attend. ... 6th Graders will be moved to the lower campus and lose all their electives. Constituent states this is very concerning, as it is the 4th time students have been uprooted due to this construction.

At a meeting on Dec. 12, BPS officials told parents that:

Our attempts to advance both active teaching & learning and renovation at the Irving Building is resulting in project delays. The contractor has raised the potential of a significant delay due to numerous unforeseen conditions and material lead times.

Without significant adjustments, including the relocation of classrooms, we are unlikely to meet our project completion date.

In addition to moving kids in the middle of the school year, BPS and city officials are also looking at hiring on more workers and expanding construction to weekends and holidays as a way to get the new school ready by August of next year, in time for the next school year.