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BPS looks to shut Excel High, Dever School
By adamg on Mon, 01/06/2025 - 11:10pm
Stanley Staco posts the message BPS sent to Excel students, teachers and parents today, in advance of a more detailed explanation tomorrow about their options after the South Boston school is shut.
Also slated for closing: The Dever School in Dorchester.
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Meanwhile BPS is spending $35 million on elec buses
Boston Public Schools Boston Public Schools
BPS Office of the Superintendent posted in All BPS Schools
Welcome Back and Happy New Year!
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Office of the Superintendent
Mary Skipper
Superintendent
2300 Washington Street, Boston MA 02119
617-635-9000
[email protected]
www.bostonpublicschools.org
Monday, January 6, 2025
Dear Boston Public Schools Community,
I hope you had a restful break and I am excited to welcome everyone back to Boston Public Schools! The new year is an exciting time to both reflect on the successes of the past year and look ahead to the exciting and impactful work we must do to continue building high quality educational experiences for every student in Boston. I invite you to check out Mayor Michelle Wu’s special welcome back video message from the kickoff of our Boston Family Sundays program yesterday.
We are excited to kick off 2025 with renewed energy and commitment to this work that is focused on doing what is right for our students–advancing the Long-Term Facilities Plan, continuing to implement Inclusive Education and making investments that directly benefit our students. Together, we are creating more equitable access to the High Quality Student Experience that our students and families have been clear they want.
We are thrilled that for the first time in a decade, more students and families are choosing BPS, which is reflected in a leveling off of student enrollment over the past three years and a slight uptick in enrollment this year. This real-time data, as well as our enrollment projections for the next five years, is essential as we take on the hard work of matching the number of BPS facilities with the actual needs of our students. As we continue this work to rightsize the district footprint, we are committed to reinvesting those resources back into our schools to better serve our students.
As we look ahead, I’m also extremely proud of the work and accomplishments of our hardworking students, educators and staff across BPS, who were given many local, state and national recognitions for academics, sports, performing arts and more throughout 2024:
Curley K-8 School and the Mattahunt Elementary School named “National Banner Schools” by Special Olympics USA for their work supporting our students with disabilities
Bradley Elementary School named a “National Distinguished School” for excellence in serving special populations of students
Luisa Sparrow from the Perry School named 2025 Massachusetts Teacher of the Year
Maya Smith, Associate Head of School at Fenway High School, named 2025 Assistant Principal of the Year
Sugeily Santos from the Curley K-8 School named 2024 BPS School Counselor of the Year Award
O’Donnell Elementary School recognized by Gov. Maura Healey, Mayor Michelle Wu, Massachusetts Secretary of Education Patrick Tutwiler, Acting DESE Commissioner Russell Johnston Boston Celtics and others for reducing chronic absenteeism
Mattapan’s Mattahunt Elementary School received the $100,000 School on the Move prize from EdVestors in October.
Boston Arts Academy’s Spiritual Ensemble debut album Genesis hit number one on multiple Billboard charts
Five MIAA State Championships (New Mission and Charlestown Boys Basketball, BLS Boys Ice Hockey, English Baseball and Josiah Quincy Upper Girls Wrestling)
TechBoston Academy Football Coach Raul Brown named New England Patriots Coach of the Week
BPS secured a $35,000,000 grant to replace 125 diesel school buses with new electric buses, advancing our fleet electrification and clean energy goals
BPS students in K0, K1, K2, Grades 7 and 9 now have the opportunity to learn in inclusive classrooms, and we are expanding programming for our multilingual learners with nine new programs coming online for the 2025-2026 school year.
We also advanced our vision for a High Quality Student Experience by completing large construction projects that benefit our students:
The Horace Mann School for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing moved into their new building, and the Warren-Prescott School expanded their Kindergarten programming.
We opened the brand new state-of-the-art Josiah Quincy Upper School building.
Ruth Batson Academy became our first University-assisted Community Hub School with UMASS Boston and was selected to move into the next phase of their application to the Massachusetts School Building Authority (MSBA), a significant step in updating the school’s facilities
The Shaw-Taylor School community came together this year as one unified school community, and is deep in the MSBA process for a new school building.
We launched ParentSquare, our new district-wide communications system. The platform is more dynamic and allows for better communications with our students, families and staff. We are also launching a new BPS website, which was redesigned with our families in mind. The new website will highlight engaging stories about the work happening across BPS every day and features a redesigned navigation to make finding information easier. We are always here to support our students and families every day. The BPS Helpline fielded 25,000 calls in seven of the major BPS languages last year and stands ready to assist all of our families.
I am very excited about the future of BPS and I look forward to the accomplishments we will make in the coming year together. I appreciate your continued partnership and support.
With much gratitude,
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Happy New Years!
See below , BPS got a grant for $35 million to replace diesel buses, meanwhile most bps schools don't have music, art and theatre;(
Show quoted text
Different pockets
I can’t find a source for the $35M and 125 buses, but if it’s like this story, it’s federal money earmarked to upgrade from diesel to electric buses that can’t just be diverted to school programming.
https://baystatebanner.com/2024/10/31/bps-looks-to-electrify-bus-fleet-w...
Speaking of school programming, music, art and theater: the long term facilities plan that closes and consolidates schools also focuses resources on schools that can offer and sustain that programming.
What is your position on
What is your position on school closures? I can’t tell from your comment, and I’m curious about your views.
You seem to be implying that BPS is not spending its money responsibly by investing Grant money in the buses.
If you are concerned about using resources more effectively, do you favor closing schools if city-wide enrollment Indicates we have too much school capacity now and will have even more overcapacity in the future?
Or perhaps, are you suggesting that the capital investment for the bus would be better used if spread into the operating budget for a few years?
My position on school closures is more and sooner please
Let's get BPS back on track.....Boston is a world class city. Show the local residents and bussinesses that change is happening by closing 10% of BPS schools in 2026.
It's insulting to us BPS parents begging for change that their is a commitment in the form of a long term large investment in more yellow buses to transport students all over the city,which is not going to improve local schools, it's positive that they are electric I guess.
Please reduce bussing and focus on improving every BPS school!
Invest as much money as the local and federal government will give BPS into better classes- Art, Music, World Language, STEM programs for all BPS schools! .
How are school closures
How are school closures supposed to improve performance? I thought high student:teacher ratios were bad for performance? And how does closing schools lower bussing needs?
Reduced school choice is likely to get families further engaged
Smaller classes are good until it limits the specials schools can offer.
The city budget can't afford the current number of schools. Some need to close.
Many are close to other BPS schools and don't have gyms, libraries or cafeterias. Closing 10% would send a message of BPS is making changes. One of the current issues in BPS is if you don't like your kids school, great BPS has seats at 3 other choices Nearby....parents have too many choices and therefore aren't motivated to advocate for changes at BPS schools. Bps is currently planning to close 90 classrooms next year....and will have to adjust which classes to close every year...doing a longer term plan would be better.
Closing schools
Closing a school creates an opportunity to build a new one.
It's well-known that the physical buildings of BPS are often inadequate, due to age, maintenance, curriculum changes, and technology changes.
There aren't a ton of places in the city with large enough area to build a new school, that wouldn't cost the city a massive amount to buy.
But if the city closes a few schools, then rebuilds new, bigger, and better on the sites of the closed schools, students can be moved to the new buildings, and that seems good for everyone? I guess a lot of people don't want to pay for new school buildings, but using land the city already owns makes it less expensive than buying more land, and more effective than renovations.
Embarrasing
Excel $24,819 per student Massachusetts $17,148
Dever $ 26,704 Massachusetts $17,148
Keep raising our taxes, maybe one day they will figure out how to run a school system.