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BPS names five schools to be shut this year
By adamg on Sat, 02/28/2015 - 1:56pm
West Roxbury Academy, in the West Roxbury Education Complex, slated for closure.
Interim Boston School Superintendent John McDonough last night released the names of the five schools he says need to be shut this year to save money: Community Academy in Jamaica Plain, Middle School Academy in South Boston, Rogers Middle School in Hyde Park, Elihu Greenwood Leadership Academy in Hyde Park and West Roxbury Academy.
BPS says that with a $40 million to $50 million shortfall in the coming fiscal year's budget, these schools are too small to keep operating.
Closing a school is never easy, but we must acknowledge that our resources are spread too thin. If we do not take action now we will continue to put the education of all BPS students at risk.
BPS has set a series of meetings for parents to discuss where their children might go to school next year.
In a letter to parents at the affected schools, McDonough starts off like a corporate executive telling somebody they've just been laid off:
This is an exciting time in the history of the Boston Public Schools. In many ways our students lead their peers -
urban and otherwise - nationally. Our Mayor has made education the top priority of his administration, and soon a newly appointed Superintendent will take the helm of this incredible school district, and our students are as eager as ever to learn. There are many points of pride for the BPS community, and yet we all acknowledge there is more work to be done.
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Comments
And how much did
BPDs raised cost the city? Good thing we have our priorities straight.
Police, ah say, police and
Police, ah say, police and fire rule
Ain't but piddlin' scraps left fo' them thar schools
Now who calls the shots? There ain't no foolin'
Them good ol' police n fire unions
$55,000.00 Per Student??????????????
Start closing a few more of these schools now. At $55,000.00 per student these kids should be Rhodes Scholars but instead they can't get above 35% on their exams. I am glad Mayor Walsh is not brushing this under the rug like Menino did for the last 20 years. What a disgrace!!!!! The best schools in the suburbs don't spend more that $13,000 per student. BPS should be put in recievership, teachers fired and school year extended to 12 months!!!!!!
Where are you getting the 55K
Where are you getting the 55K figure?
This chart says $17.5K per pupil for Boston:
http://profiles.doe.mass.edu/state_report/ppx.aspx
Probably the Globe
I saw the same figure. However $17k isn't even close to the true cost, it's more like $40k.
But, but I thought changing
But, but I thought changing the name of the school and adding "Academy", it would solve all of the problems? No?
The real bomb in that blurb
The real bomb in that blurb is the closing of Community and Middle School Academy - which is where you get the $45K per kid figure. What most people don't seem to know is that those schools are where you place the most messed up / dangerous kids. I'm talking 14 year olds who punch teachers and sexually assault classmates, kids whose parents are nowhere to be found. These are the kind of kids who have proven year after year that not only will they not learn, they will do their damndest to make sure nobody else does either. I oughta know, I helped transfer a few students there. You throw those juvie monsters back into the mainstream and they have the power to turn a classroom into an understaffed county holding cell. The district, in all honesty, needs a lot more slots for kids like this - a hell of a lot more if they're serious about setting students and teachers up for success.
Well with the schools closing
Well with the schools closing, more of these little monsters will be mixed in with other schools.
These are the same kids that they want to stop from dropping out so that the statistics and drop out percentages look good. In reality, the schools would benefit from these kids leaving and never coming back.
There really needs to be more schools specifically for these type of students. They absolutely do not belong with the rest of the kids there trying to learn. My feeling is that for any inner-city school system to thrive, there has to be more focus on getting the worst kids out of the general system. It might sound politically incorrect, but nothing will get done until the worst of the worst are removed. Its just plain old not fair to the rest of the kids to have them around.