Parents protest boundaries for Boynton middle school

More than a dozen parents on Thursday night beseeched a Palm Beach County school district panel not to move their children from their middle school.

They said they wanted to stay at their A-rated school, they like the current gifted program or that their preteens would suffer after finally adjusting to the rigors of sixth grade.

The district’s boundary committee heard their pleas during a public hearing on proposed boundary changes for next year, when Odyssey Middle School in Boynton Beach closes and its students will have to move to other schools. The closing will also force some students at nearby schools to switch.

family invested our life savings in our neighborhood,” said parent Tonya Laker, whose kids would have to move from A-rated Christa McAuliffe Middle in Boynton Beach to C-rated Carver Middle in Delray Beach. “My children have the same right to an A-rated education as anyone else. I’m here today to protect my children’s education.”

Parent Sasha Connolly said any move could be detrimental to vulnerable preteens.

“I definitely feel to uproot the kids and move them to Woodlands (Middle), even though it is a good school, would be the wrong thing to do,” she said.

Even though almost 2,000 students live in Odyssey’s boundaries, fewer than 800 attend the school, which struggled for 16 years to win commu“My