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The Boston School Committee will be voting on whether to relocate the highly rated O’Bryant School to the vacant West Roxbury Education Complex, one way or the other, despite opposition from parents and the community at large.
District officials continued to hear concerns from parents during an open house Saturday at the proposed site they have set for the college preparatory exam school. Concerns ranged from issues with transportation to the transparency and accountability behind the planning process.
When exactly the School Committee will be voting on the proposal remains an open question, but Delavern Stanislaus, the district’s chief of capital planning, told the Herald she believes it could happen sometime by the end of this year or in early 2024.
“I think we have to go back as a team and evaluate — based on conversations we’ve had, based on the feedback from the community — the work we have to put in to actually continue the community engagement pieces before we put a final proposal to the School Committee,” she said, moments after interacting with parents.
Mayor Michelle Wu and Superintendent Mary Skipper set off fireworks in June when they announced they’re looking to relocate the John D. O’Bryant School of Mathematics and Science from the Roxbury campus it shares with Madison Park Technical Vocational High School to the West Roxbury Education Complex.
Relocating the O’Bryant to West Roxbury would lead to a “state-of-the-art” science, technology, engineering and mathematics facility for students in grades 7-12. It would expand vocational offerings at Madison Park and allow seventh- and eighth-grade students to study there as well, Wu’s office has said.
But the proposal caught the community by surprise, including Education Commissioner Jeff Riley who blasted the proposal, saying the announcement “blindsided” state officials. A pair of O’Bryant teachers wrote an open letter outlining broad concerns, and parents have been searching for answers.
“Saying it is a majority of parents (who oppose the proposal) is a skewed perspective,” said Anshi Moreno, a city senior policy advisor. “There are students, parents and teachers who understand the challenges that the O’Bryant currently has and the possibilities here.”
Dorchester resident Rahul Dhanda said he and other parents have rallied together to inform the community about the proposal, adding he believes officials have not done enough to advertise the idea which will be discussed in a City Council hearing on Oct. 11.
“The fact that parents have to rally to do the jobs of the administration is a real problem,” Dhanda said. “It’s not something that should be going on.
Wu and Skipper did not attend Saturday’s open house, nor did any member of the City Council or School Committee.
“Unfortunately, I don’t manage their schedule,” Stanislaus replied when asked why Wu and Skipper didn’t show up, adding the district and mayor’s office will have representatives present at the hearing and in future engagements. “However, the mayor and superintendent (share) a deep commitment to ensuring the students in the city of Boston get access to quality education.”
Acknowledging transportation is a top concern from parents, Stanislaus said new infrastructure will need to be created within the district and in collaboration with the MBTA. The average time it would take for students to get to West Roxbury would be 44 minutes based on a time analysis, she said.
Wu has been in conversation with the MBTA about whether the Commuter Rail could include a stop at the campus, Stanislaus said. The mayor sparked that idea while on a tour in July, saying it would make the site directly accessible to Forest Hills, Back Bay and South Station.
The current Commuter Rail stop closest to the school is the West Roxbury station, about 1.3 miles away.
Officials would also look to create stations across the city where students could board shuttles to get to school, Stanislaus said.
Roslindale resident Liza Cagua-McAllister said relocating the O’Bryant to West Roxbury would not be a “tragic move” for her family since they don’t live too far away, adding she is fighting the proposal for all city children.
“I think we are going to see a major shift in the demographics of this school if the school were to move to this location,” she said. “Right now, the O’Bryant is an incredibly diverse, powerfully community-oriented school where kids are making friends from all over the city.”
Stanislaus countered that there would be no impact in terms of the school’s demographics if it relocated to West Roxbury, which has a majority of white residents, due to the district’s exam school policy. O’Bryant has an enrollment of roughly 1,500 students
Officials updated the admissions policy for the district’s three exam schools prior to the 2022-23 school year, to increase the diversity of students invited to attend them. Invitations primarily target students of color, English learners, those with disabilities and facing housing insecurity.
If the School Committee approves the idea, construction would be slated to commence sometime in 2025, Stanislaus said, but before that, the project would need to go through a programming study and design process.
Officials won’t know what the budget may be until the design phase is done. State education officials anticipate the cost running north of $1 billion. The complex has been closed since 2019 due to safety concerns.
“We are in a perfect position right now where we have a mayor and superintendent that’s committed to the students of the city of Boston,” Stanislaus said, “that’s not only committed to the proposal but also committed funding to move this work forward and accelerate the work.”
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