If only Boston Public Schools buses moved as quickly as BPS’s school-swapping plan.
In a typical City of Boston process, Mission Hill is poised to lose two namesake schools in a surprise move with a rushed deadline that just happens to coincide with potentially skeptical city councilors distracted by Election Day.
It is unacceptable that our own City Councilor Mike Ross had to call for a special hearing just to find out the impacts of this plan on Mission Hill before it is rammed through. (BPS announced a community meeting after he did so.) He rightly worries that it could further undermine families living on the Hill.
In the clearest sign that the plan is half-baked, the Mission Hill K-8 School might keep the Mission Hill name even after it moves to Jamaica Plain; likewise, “Fenway” High could end up in Mission Hill.
BPS probably doesn’t want to tinker with names to mask the depth of change and placate parents and alums. So it will settle for geographic insanity.
Superintendent Johnson really does know more about school systems than we do. Most or all of this plan could be a good thing in the end. But the structure of our schools, our libraries, our community centers, etc. needs to stop being about surprises and start being about public input—from the start.