Getting the Boston Public Schools rightsizing right

Mayor Wu and Boston Public Schools superintendent Mary Skipper recently announced plans to close and consolidate several schools. The closures and consolidations aim to improve the educational experience, respond to declining enrollment numbers, and ultimately improve student learning outcomes.

There will be a lot of conversation about whether these particular schools should close or be consolidated, if too many or too few schools are affected, and if the process involved the right people at the right time. These questions leave little room for what comes after any decision: how closures and consolidations are implemented and what happens to students and educators in the process. Over EdVestors’ two decades of work with public schools in Boston, we have researched and observed essential lessons to draw from as the city and district move forward with plans to close, merge, and build new school communities.

Read President and CEO Marinell Rousmaniere's full op-ed on CommonWealth Beacon here.