During “Ask the Mayor” on Tuesday, Mayor Michelle Wu answered a wide array of questions from the public. A large portion of the discussion on Boston Public Radio focused on the plan to move the O'Bryant School of Math and Science out of its current home in Roxbury, where it neighbors the Madison Park Vocational Technical School, and into the West Roxbury Educational Complex.
“My perception is that there wasn't a lot of transparency in that decision to move,” said caller Donna from Charlestown. “I also am wondering if you might be able to share the rationale.”
The plan was first announced to the public in a press conference this June. This came after analysis from school leaders and people involved in the historical development of the school district, Wu said. “There was significant vetting that had to be done about whether this was even a proposal we should consider,” she said.
“The bottom line is this: we have two high schools who are battling for space,” said Wu. “The Madison Park Vocational Technical High School and the O'Bryant Math and Science Academy have been jammed into the same complex for multiple decades now.”
A few decades ago, Wu explained, there was a movement to create smaller schools with separate K-8 and 9-12 models. Larger high schools were broken down into multiple, smaller schools in the same building or nearby, Wu said. Since that time, enrollment and demographic shifts have the school district moving towards a seventh through twelfth grade model to accommodate growing enrollment in some places.
O’Bryant and Madison Park currently share athletic and academic space. The close proximity has limited the STEM offerings at O’Bryant and limited vocational tracks and adult education at Madison Park, Wu said.
“Giving each school its own space is really important to tapping into the potential of all of our students,” she said.
Additionally, moving would allow O’Bryant to expand its seventh and eighth grade classes, which are currently capped due to space constraints. Wu said there’s benefit to having students join O’Bryant before ninth grade because it lets them acclimate to school culture and form friendships they can carry through high school.
Boston Public Radio host Jim Braude asked Wu about the perceptions of moving O’Bryant from a community of color to a primarily white community. Particularly when the MBTA is already struggling with slow zones and access.
Wu explained that the exam school admissions process guarantees that every school is already open to students city-wide, from every neighborhood and all socioeconomic backgrounds. The city will also provide dedicated shuttles to West Roxbury. For students coming from East Boston, Wu said the commute “would be the same or even faster than what the students have to do on the T right now.”
Wu said the greatest disparities in access and quality of education and instruction in Boston occur after elementary school. “There's a perception and a feeling that you have to walk a very narrow tightrope to get into the right sort of small mix of schools,” she said. But adjusting the lottery system is not the answer — instead, Wu said “every single one of our high school seats has to be a high quality option.”
