Boston school officials on Tuesday halted plans to move the John D. O'Bryant School of Mathematics and Science to a new location in West Roxbury after outcry from parents and educators who opposed the move.
"With a lack of consensus around moving the O'Bryant School to the West Roxbury Educational Complex, we are halting those plans indefinitely," Superintendent Mary Skipper wrote in an email to parents.
The city had proposed moving the O'Bryant exam school, which is adjacent to the Madison Park vocational school, about eight miles away from its current location to the abandoned facility in West Roxbury.
The proposal announced last June by Mayor Michelle Wu during a panel discussion at GBH sparked sharp criticism from educators and parents who said the plan would require students at a popular math and science school that predominantly serves students of color to travel from an accessible location to a more remote and largely white neighborhood on the Newton border.
Parents like Rahul Dhanda, who has one son at the school and another who graduated from it, said he felt somewhat relieved that the move was off the table, but remained concerned about next steps.
The superintendents' letter to parents said renovations at Madison Park vocational school would proceed, but did not outline next steps for the O'Bryant.
"I feel like we're partway there," he said. "It seems somewhat absurd that they're going forward with a very detailed visioning and engagement process around Madison Park, which deserves it, and not do that for O'Bryant."
District leaders said they are compiling parents' feedback from the process into a report.
The district will host a Zoom meeting from 5-6 p.m. on March 13 to answer questions and concerns from the O'Bryant school community.
District officials also said they are hosting conversations with BPS families and educators about the capital planning process that will include consideration of next steps for the O'Bryant as well as ways the West Roxbury Educational Complex could be put to use.
