Critics struggle to see details in BPS plan
The mayor’s full 10-year master plan for city schools — dubbed BuildBPS — has finally been posted, but some say they’re still grasping for complete answers.
The online release comes after complaints that the details were too hard to come by. The plan has been posted at buildbps.org.
“It has been a struggle to ask a question,” said the Rev. Willie Bodrick II, co-chair of the Boston Network for Black Student Achievement. “I don’t want to have to push to get information that should be readily available.”
School officials said the BuildBPS project — launched by Mayor Martin J. Walsh — was released two years ago, and information has been shared during recent community meetings. But the 250-page plan wasn’t accessible online until yesterday in response to multiple requests for copies, a spokesman said, including several attempts made by the Herald to obtain the full report.
“Along the way, BPS is providing the public updated information about longrange planning for schools in each neighborhood of the city and is making good on its promise to incorporate that feedback,” school officials said in a statement.
Eleven community organizations requested a moratorium on school closures until a comprehensive plan could be issued and many communities were outraged over the difficulty in obtaining records.
“The hardest part is that the information isn’t clear,” Bodrick said. “There’s always paperwork but it doesn’t clearly explain how neighborhoods and communities will be affected. There are so many more questions to be asked.”
BPS is also looking to reconsider dispersing McCormack Middle School students. They are working with the Dorchester school to look at alternative ways to keep kids together.
Originally the school was going to close and the children sent to Excel Academy. While that option is still possible, school officials are looking at finding a space to put all 350 kids so they stay with their classmates, as well as looking at possible partnerships with high schools to merge with so they can phase out of the middle school.
“In the case of the McCormack, BPS is having productive discussions with teachers about the future of the school’s programming during its transition,” a spokesman said.
But others say they still feel unsure about the future.
“They told us they acknowledge that we have been engaged in the process,” said Neema Avashia, a McCormack teacher. “And the message we got on Tuesday in our meeting with the superintendent is that McCormack is engaged in the planning process to remain intact.”
But Avashia said the school community still has doubts about its success.
“Given how little trust there has been in this process, I wouldn’t be shocked if they backpedaled,” Avashia said. “I feel like it is a step in the right direction but it doesn’t feel definitive, there’s no certainty or guarantee.”