School Committee puts final nails in coffins of three schools

By adamg on Thu, 12/16/2021 - 12:07pm

WBUR reports the School Committee voted last night to shut the Irving in Roslindale and the Timilty in Roxbury as part of the BPS effort to eliminate middle schools. The committee also voted to shut the Jackson-Mann in Allston, partly for that, partly because the building is physically falling apart.

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Comments

Then what happens?

By dmk on Thu, 12/16/2021 - 12:42pm.

There is some grumbling in social media, true or false, that the Washington Irving could be gutted and rebuilt into a high school or similar and be ready by 2024. It might also be turned into senior housing like the former Roslindale High School just a short jaunt up the road. Lots of stories.... nothing on paper from BPS... yet. Rumors being what they are of course.

As to the Jackson-Mann in Brighton, that has been on the books for a while. This will also displace the BCYF Jackson-Mann Community Center that used some of the same space in the building.

In a city budget hearing earlier this year, then Commissioner Will Morales (*) explained the pending closure of the J-M to the City Council and that they were actively seeking other space to temporarily house their programs but also looking at both building and land options for a permanent solution. This writer has not heard anything else on that.

*(As the city administration changed to Kim Janey and with an election pending between Michelle Wu and Enissa Essabi-George, Will Morales stepped down as commissioner and moved on. As a Walsh-era appointee that was somewhat expected, so that a new Mayor can appoint their own people. At present Therese Martinez, Chief of Staff at the HR division that oversees the BCYF Dept. and Health And Human Services, has been appointed acting Commissioner until a new person is appointed.)

Do we need another school in Roslindale?

By Parkwayne on Thu, 12/16/2021 - 1:58pm.

BPS enrollment has dropped by 4% each of the last two years. Without getting into the budget insanity that schools feel underfunded with 8% fewer students than 2 years ago, do we need the space? In theory, we should build another K-8 into the Irving and then plan to close some other school in the neighborhood in 2-4 years when the Irving is ready.

Edit: source added - https://www.wbur.org/news/2021/11/19/bps-massachusetts-public-school-enr...

I see a less than slight problem

By Waquiot on Thu, 12/16/2021 - 6:52pm.

Do the Roslindale grade schools have the capacity to add the grades to their facilities?

If not, and if this goes through, I’d say that they’ll be problems.

I can just see it now...

By Lecil on Thu, 12/16/2021 - 2:53pm.

Another luxury condo building coming soon to that corner, just what the neighborhood needs! (Though admittedly, adding even more traffic on the Washington/Brighton/Cambridge corridor might slow things down enough to give pedestrians a chance to get where they're going in one piece...)

Not the Irving!

By Theonlyjavy on Thu, 12/16/2021 - 2:27pm.

Class of ‘02!

Jackson-Mann is such a

By Plen-T-Pak on Thu, 12/16/2021 - 8:34pm.

Jackson-Mann is such a terribly designed building. Good riddance.