Last Friday was supposed to be the end of the year for Boston Public Schools students. But the school year ended abruptly last Thursday due to the Celtics victory parade on Friday, leaving some parents scrambling.
Meghan Rounseville, who lives in Dorchester, found out at 5 p.m. Thursday evening that her son wouldn’t have his last day of K-2 on Friday.
“For me, as a person who grew up in the city of Boston, I feel like children are very often not the priority of our policy makers,” said Rounseville. “And this was just another moment where you know a private sports team is more important. I felt like this definitely had to have been a decision at many levels of city government.”
When the Boston Celtics won Game 5 of the NBA finals on June 17, clinching their 18th NBA title, the city began preparations for a victory parade.
In a statement, a Boston city spokesperson said, “the decision to hold the parade on Friday was made in partnership with the Celtics and TD Garden to ensure all the players could be present.”
But for parents and students, the parade’s schedule disrupted their academic year.
In a Thursday afternoon email to parents, the school district wrote because of the “expected crowds, road closures and detours for the parade route, and our scheduled half day coinciding with the parade times, there is no safe and reliable way to transport our students.”
Jessica Williamson’s two children attend the Patrick Lyndon School in West Roxbury. She had planned to work a full day on Friday but needed to make childcare arrangements after receiving news of the closure Thursday afternoon.
Williamson said her first grader was in tears because he was unable to say goodbye to his teacher of the past two years.
“If you’re going to plan to do this, give families more advance notice,” said Williamson. “It feels really inconsiderate to working families and public school children. It feels like they were put at the bottom of the priority list,” said Williamson.
Mayor Michelle Wu appeared on WBUR’s Radio Boston Monday morning and said “we did not confirm until the day before the parade that we had authorization to close schools and then there was no notice for families.”
