BINcA would relocate to onetime Cleveland school site
A Boston Public Schools proposal would move the Boston International Newcomers Academy (BINcA) from Maxwell Street on Codman Hill to the former Grover Cleveland Middle School in Fields Corner, creating a new and expanded multi-lingual learning hub for high school students citywide.
Delavern Stanislaus, chief of Capital Planning for the school district, said the plan was included in a Dec. 17 Boston School Committee vote that approved the 2027 closure of Community Academy of Science and Health (CASH), which now occupies the Cleveland building, the Lee Academy Pilot School in Dorchester, grades 9-12 at the Henderson Inclusion School in Dorchester, and Another Course to College High School in Hyde Park.
“The recommendations were approved by the School Committee and now we are moving forward with the plans we have for BINcA and accommodate the Cleveland building for BINcA at some point in the future,” she said.
“We don’t have a timeline currently, but we’re on an 18-month cycle for proposals and CASH will cease to be in the building [in 2027],” she continued. “Our central office leadership team at BPS will be working on what the future of BINcA will look like…There is still programmatic work we need to work on.”
The Cleveland building, partly occupied by CASH, had extensive renovations done on the other half several years ago to accommodate Boston Arts Academy while its school was under construction in the Fenway. Stanislaus said the Cleveland “is one of the existing buildings with the highest building experience scores.”
The current BINcA building on Maxwell Street – once the Thompson Elementary School – is being considered by the state’s School Building Authority (MSBA) as a possible location for the new Shaw-Taylor merged elementary school, she added.
“It’s part of the MSBA process,” she said. “They are scoping different sites across the district…The BINcA site is right in the geographic center of the Shaw and Taylor. That building will be scoped as part of that project.”
Joelle Gamere, chief of the Office of Multicultural and Multilingual Education, said that moving BINcA would be a win in expanding programming and opportunities for student at a central hub for all multi-lingual learners, who are often spread out at school programs across the city.
“BINcA has been a hub for multi-lingual learners across the district, but this would be able to provide that in a building that can truly accommodate the students and have a high-quality high school experience,” she said. “The facilities there are much better having a gym and access to community centers in the area. I definitely feel it can be a hub for our students and in a neighborhood that does have quite a few multi-lingual learners. I think it will be a beacon for the community. BINcA has a trusted model and having this facility gives it a great opportunity.”
Stanislaus, noting that the Maxwell Street building was not constructed for a high school setting, added: “The current building limits the programming they can do. This gives the district the opportunity to expand programming and serve more multi-lingual learners across the district.”
The renovations to the Cleveland building are contingent upon what kind of programming is foreseen at this kind of a central hub for multi-lingual learners – many of whom now also go to CASH and BINcA.
Gamere said they would be working with the central office leadership team over the next 18 months to come up with a detailed plan for the hub. She said they would be accounting for newcomers and their needs, as well as for Students with Limited or Interrupted Formal Education (SLIFE). Programming would look at all those needs, with all the language groups in mind, as well as what would happen when students progress out of those programs and into a general education setting.
Likewise, having a central location in the city across from the Fields Corner T Station and several bus routes is seen as ideal for students citywide trying to get to school. That accessible location would complement a building that could provide what is expected of a high school experience – meaning a gym, a variety of sports teams, space for extracurricular activities/clubs, and an auditorium for performances.
