Boston School Committee votes unanimously to pursue new BCLA-McCormick campus through state program

BOSTON -- March 20, 2024, Boston School Committee unanimously approves MSBA statement of interest for new BCLA-McCormick campus, confirms new executive secretary. The committee voted without dissent Wednesday to authorize Superintendent Mary Skipper to submit a Massachusetts School Building Authority Core Program Statement of Interest for a new state-of-the-art 7-12 campus for the Boston Collegiate Latin Academy-McCormick school, envisioned as a university-assisted community hub connected to the UMass Boston campus. The committee also unanimously confirmed Lena Parvix as executive secretary, approved $911,946 in grants, and received the superintendent's report, which included news of a $21 million city investment in school mental and behavioral health and three BPS state championship titles in basketball and hockey. In a 5-0-1 vote, the committee approved the district's three-year Student Opportunity Act plan, with member Jini Tran abstaining over concerns that the plan inadequately addresses students with disabilities and multilingual learners. More than 50 speakers during two public comment periods voiced sharp frustration with the district's $1.5 billion FY25 budget and inclusive education rollout, with parents and teachers from the JP Manning School, the Raphael Hernandez School, the Curley K-8, and the Henderson Inclusion School charging that schools were asked to build inclusion plans only to receive a fraction of requested staffing, one parent describing the process as "an exercise in futility" and teachers at the Manning citing a staff no-confidence vote in their principal with an 8 percent approval rating on the school climate survey. The full budget vote is scheduled for March 27.