Teachers, residents hit plan to move Latin Academy to Hyde Park

By Gintautas Dumcius
Aug. 18, 2011

A group of Boston Latin Academy teachers and some community members are protesting a proposal that would relocate the Dorchester school on Townsend St. to the Hyde Park High School building.

Paul Eaton of Dorchester, who has taught advanced placement physics and chemistry at the school since 1999, said he and others were caught off guard by the proposal. “I’m not a naysayer,” he said. “I’m not against the administration, but this whole thing…they want to move us to a smaller school and it doesn’t make any sense.”

He and others are planning a pair of community meetings to talk about the proposal. The first is next Tuesday (Aug. 23) at 2 p.m. at the Area E Police Station in West Roxbury and the second is on the following Tuesday at Boston Latin Academy at 6 p.m. He also is encouraging opponents of the plan to attend a meeting of the Boston School Committee, which must sign off on the decisions, on Wed., Sept. 7, at 6 p.m. at 26 Court St.

Public Schools officials have scheduled their own series of community meetings, including one on Aug. 22 at Boston Latin Academy, another at East Boston High School on Aug. 24, and another at Brighton High School on Aug. 31. All are scheduled to start at 6:30 p.m.

“They say it’s a proposal, as if to mollify people,” Eaton said. “But they’re going forward with these community meetings so it’s something that they want to have happen.”

A spokesman for School Superintendent Carol Johnson said the proposal is aimed at increasing student access to high-quality programs and addressing parents’ concerns about the condition of the Townsend Street building.

Matt Wilder, the spokesman, said in an e-mail that the plan would allow school system administrators to relocate Boston Arts Academy and expand the successful program, and give Fenway High School, which currently shares space with Boston Arts Academy, a chance to expand. He said response to the proposal has been a mix of supporters, opponents, and those interested in knowing more, adding that Latin Academy would be moving into a better facility, since the Townsend St. building needs “considerable renovations.”

“Hypothetically, if we were to move Boston Arts Academy to Hyde Park [as some have suggested], it would require us to make major changes to the building to accommodate [its] unique space needs,” Wilder said. “This would mean we would have to renovate two schools instead of just one. That is not an efficient use of tax dollars, in our opinion.”

Eaton maintained that the 1,750-student Hyde Park building is already at capacity and would not be able to accommodate Latin Academy. “I don’t think it could hold another 250 without expanding into the basement,” he said. “But the Hyde Park building couldn’t hold us as we are right now.”

Wilder replies that the Hyde Park building can be retrofitted. “We believe on an initial review that the Hyde Park building can comfortably accommodate the current BLA community,” he said. “Again, some retrofitting may have to be done to better suit BLA’s needs.”

Comments

By jshore - 8/18/11 - 5:53 pm
#1

“Some retrofitting!?!” The Hyde Park Education Complex was jammed packed and fun filled with 1200 students! Now, after “retrofitting,” the BPS plans to squeeze in 1700 Boston Latin Academy students? Maybe more, when BPS “expands the capacity” of Boston Latin Academy! Matt Wilder’s, “retrofitting” suggestion reminds me of, academic and special education classes, I have seen, in BPS schools I taught in, that were assigned to auditorium stages, storage rooms, book rooms and basement hallways! I can remember a Student Support Office, which was originally a men’s room, where the BPS left the sink, but built a box around the toilet!

What about the Regular Ed students who live in Hyde Park? Is the punishment, for not making it into a BPS exam school, traveling to a high school outside of your community for four years? To the taxpaying, Hyde Park parents, this is just adding insult to injury!

Hyde Park parents need to ask, “Is a student who has to travel to school 3+/- hours a day, using public transportation, more likely to graduate from high school or not graduate?” BPS needs to be transparent with the answer and provide graduation rates by community!

My suggestion, move English High School into the Hyde Park building, it is only 10 minutes away from English, and it has about 800 students so it would be the “right fit.” Even when you count the additional 200-300 HP kids, who are moving to English High this September because their schools closed, it is still the “right fit.”

This would return a comprehensive high school to the Hyde Park Community. Historically, if you didn’t get into an exam school, the first choice was English High. Moving would give English High a chance to rise again. Given the English High graduation rate this year, it needs a “fresh start” in a traditional school building, in a community that would take ownership. I think the Hyde Park Community would step-up, especially now that it has lost its comprehensive high school.

Just to remind everyone, Boston Arts Academy, and Fenway Pilot School are supposed to be “small boutique schools,” they were never supposed to “expand capacity!” An increase of population would change their “community.” That was the excuse pilot schools gave for years when parents tried to get the BPS to fill empty seats in grades 10, 11, and 12! That is why they are “pilot schools” with admission applications that lend themselves to SELECTED POPULATIONS!

That said, BPS could move the Boston Arts Academy to the English High Building. English High already has an auditorium, dance studios, music rooms, soundproof instrument practice rooms, and even parking for the guests who attend performances. Renovations costs to the BPS would be minimal; the seven million dollars the BAA parents collected could cover those costs. It is just as close to the Strand Theater, as the Boston Latin Academy Building. Additionally, Jamaica Plain has a large Arts Community that would welcome them.

Finally, Boston Latin Academy needs to stay where it is; centrally located, in proximity to the other exam schools, colleges, universities, and the library. BLA’s partnerships and resources are based in the Roxbury Community, to ask BLA, once again, to move and rebuild is unfair and steals the momentum they have achieved. The Boston Latin Academy building needs renovations, like many BPS school building. The BPS could renovate with the money they were going to use for the extensive renovations required by Boston Arts Academy.