Boston City Council Grills BPS Over Student Barred From Senior Basketball Season

BOSTON — March 24, 2026 — Boston City Council presses BPS over student athlete transfer rules after Charlestown senior loses basketball season. The Committee on Education, chaired by At-Large Councilor Julia M. Mejia and convened on a hearing order sponsored by Councilor Gabriela Coletta Zapata, heard testimony Tuesday that Charlestown High School senior Amir Muhammad was denied eligibility to play basketball this season after transferring from Madison Park High School, with Madison Park citing alleged athletic recruitment on the MIAA Form 200 — a claim disputed by Muhammad, his family, and his coach. Deputy Superintendent Dr. Samuel DePena and Chief of Student Support Cory McCarthy defended BPS's application of MIAA Rule 57, which renders transferring students automatically ineligible for one year unless the sending school certifies the form, but DePena publicly acknowledged failures in communication and language access, saying "things could have been better." Muhammad's mother, Zahra Aydin, a Somali immigrant, testified she received no interpreter during the one phone call she got from BPS and was turned away without help on multiple visits to BPS headquarters. Councilor Mejia called for a third-party independent investigation, Councilor Miniard Culpepper proposed giving students an individual right to appeal when their receiving school declines to do so, and Councilor Erin J. Murphy demanded data on how many Form 200s were initiated this school year — figures BPS said it could not provide during the hearing because relevant staff were at an out-of-town conference.