Hey, there! Log in / Register

Boston Latin Academy to move to Hyde Park?

The Globe reports a Boston Public Schools plan would relocate the exam school to what is now a defunct Hyde Park High School and use the BLA building to move the Boston Arts Academy out of its shared quarters with Fenway High School. Also, the Eliot School in the North End would be expanded.

Neighborhoods: 


Ad:


Like the job UHub is doing? Consider a contribution. Thanks!

Comments

Hyde Park shuts down a 'failing' school, and dumps the failing kids that went with it, and gets an exam school, which weeds out the troublemakers and gets the 'good' kids. Nuff Said.

up
Voting closed 0

Don't forget, Hyde Park also has a new charter school.

http://backbay.patch.com/articles/cheating-charter...

up
Voting closed 0

There was already one a couple blocks from where the new one is - and another one maybe a mile away.

Hyde Park: Education Nexus of the Universe. Discuss.

up
Voting closed 0

Clearly you didn't go to BLA... The fact that it is an "exam" school doesn't mean they screen the accepted students for good behavior. It's not like they are moving Phillips Andover there.

up
Voting closed 0

I didn't go to BLA, but I did go to Boston Tech. We weren't all angels, but the fact that there was an exam meant that the functional illiterates were screened out. It's the kids who are 3 years behind grade level who are the worst actors. At least the BLA kids were motivated enough to take an exam.

up
Voting closed 0

You've clearly never gone drinking with anybody who actually attended Phillips Andover, Phillips Exeter, or any other upmarket boarding academy. I've heard some interesting stories about this "good behavior" by students of such schools.

up
Voting closed 0

After actually reading the article, additional thoughts.

It seems wise to reconfigure Boston public schools so that the most amount of space is used wisely. Obviously, we're enrolling fewer students (7,000 fewer in 10 years, off the top of my head), so we have a lot of under-utilized space. Because charter schools are the "next big thing", why not expand them, and the exam schools, too. And, those schools (such as the Eliot) where parents seem happy to get involved.

It's disturbing to read about how much money was wasted on renovating schools that ended up shutting down. The right hand doesn't know what the left hand is doing. Superintendent Johnson wasn't here, then, so she isn't to blame. Hopefully, she is here for the long haul and smart enough to make things work.

up
Voting closed 0

Because charter schools are the "next big thing", why not expand them, and the exam schools, too.

Dilution.

up
Voting closed 0

The BLA should serve the whole city. It would be preferable if it was centrally located like the Latin School.

up
Voting closed 0

Arts Academy people have been pushing for a new space for years - looks like they are getting their wish.

up
Voting closed 0

Is Hyde Park not centrally located for the BPS demographic?

up
Voting closed 0

Overall I like the direction of expanding the schools parents want.

As for Latin Academy, the current location on Townsend St. is pretty south/west, but this takes the school even farther in that direction. The neighborhood is also "not great" so the kids don't really go outside much. I suppose with the move you could draw more from West Roxbury and Hyde Park.

I was driving around Hyde Park the other day, and it's not impossible to get to. Without a car, the current transportation situation could only be called non-functional at the school. There is one late bus and then the kids are on their own. I'm concerned that the new location will only be worse in this respect if the transporation issues are not looked at.

To be clear, I'm open to the change if the school building is better as far as technology and just a decent physical plant. If it's good for the Fenway and Arts school then that would be nice, because parents seem to want to send their kids to those schools.

up
Voting closed 0

The building is too small. BLA will have to reduce it's population if it moves to HPEC.

up
Voting closed 0

Is Hyde Park not centrally located for the BPS demographic?

2 miles from the south border of the city.

8.5 from East Boston.

6.25 miles to Brighton.

6.25 to South Boston.

4 miles to Roxbury.

The current BLA is 4.5 miles to East Boston.

4 miles to Brighton.

2.5 miles to South Boston.

4.3 miles to West Roxbury.

up
Voting closed 0

Roxbury/JP is the most central area for a school in my opinion.

And Madison Park is by far the nicest high school in Boston with the most potential for future building, expansion, remodeling, etc.

up
Voting closed 0

Forest Hills or Roxbury Crossing are probably the two best spots in the city. Geographically, it would probably be Grove Hall.

up
Voting closed 0

I know a nice big open spot by Forest Hills...

up
Voting closed 0

Franklin Park?
Arboretum?

up
Voting closed 0

My youngest is starting his senior year at no-longer-Girls-Latin. He rolled his eyes. He could walk to the proposed location, but has had years of tedious, multi-platform transit to the hard-to-get-to BLA on Townsend.

He is singularly unimpressed by complaints from East Boston parents. He typically has to walk the mile to Clearly Square, wait for a 32 bus to Forest Hills (often full and bypassing the station), and then wait for a bus to near BLA. Alternately, he takes a rare, slow 24 to Mattapan Square and two buses from there.

Truth be told, BLA isn't easy to get to by T, is distant from subways and isn't in walking distance for the vast majority of its pupils. The HP locale would be a quick walk off the 24 or 32 bus lines and easier for many. Ideally instead they'd place it near a major subway line for convenience and while not as bad as Townsend still isn't.

Regardless, the change, if it happens, won't be until after he graduates. He gets the chance to play old coot later telling his children and grands about his terrible school commutes.

up
Voting closed 0

They had the Latin Academy charter buses that went from Cleary Square to Ipswich Street, but at least there was the Route 55 bus, walking distance to either Ruggles/Museum (now Museum of Fine Arts), Mass Avenue or Kenmore, as Fenway Park was right across the street from us.

When the commuter rail and Orange Line opened in 1987, I had even more options. Walking down the Fens was easy enough and it took about 20 minutes.

Massmarrier is correct: it will be a quick walk down Greenwood Avenue or Metropolitan Avenue if the proposed new Boston Latin Academy opens. The only problem I foresee is for students in Allston-Brighton, who will have to make several connections just to get to Forest Hills.

I was peeved too when I graduated from BLA in 1990 and saw that the students in the class ahead of me would be the last to graduate from Ipswich Street; the class of 1992 was the first class to graduate from Townsend Street.

up
Voting closed 0

When I started Boston Tech (in the same building), I took a streetcar, an elevated train and a bus every day. And I was in next-door Jamaica Plain. Then they started running express buses from different parts of the city to get us white kids out of Roxbury as fast as possible.

up
Voting closed 0

So the school district should move a historic school that has been in existence since 1880 (in its current form as a co-ed school since 1976) YET AGAIN, in favor of a new pilot school which has only been in existence since 1998 and only has about 1/5 of the population? That makes no sense. I went to Boston Latin Academy when it was housed in a run down, rodent infested Ipswich Street. It was insulting. When we moved to Townsend Street we were in heaven. We actually had a gym, and a cafeteria! We had a functioning library and a student lounge. All of the things one would expect in any high school- not to mention a top competitor on the national educational stage. When my sister was accepted at Boston Arts Academy, I was amazed to see the wonderful renovations that were made at Ipswich Street. It's an ideal location for them, and hooray for pilot school funding that made the way for such an incredible renovation. I don't doubt that BAA needs to expand. However, I believe they should stay in the Fenway area to be near the museums and performance colleges. They have a population of about 500 kids. They don't need all of the space at Townsend Street. Maybe BPS should move the Fenway school, call it something different and give BAA one building. I am strongly opposed- and again feel insulted by the Boston Public School System, with this proposal to move BLA. That is our home. It was designed for our students. Our student body is 1700 strong. Give our school the respect that it is due. We moved to that building in 1993. I'm sure it needs renovating. So invest in our history, invest in our tradition. Make our home sparkle again...But don't move us. By the way, anybody ever hear of Boston Latin School being moved around? It would never even be an option. Hmmm....

up
Voting closed 0

I Believe that if the school moves they are losing money & to move to HPEC is a downgrade , I am starting there this year & i dont mind moving to HPEC unless they renovate it or expand the school. Otherwise I would think they would have to reduce the amount of students .

up
Voting closed 0

I graduated from Girls Latin in 1974,had to travel from Hyde Park to get there. Took two buses and a trolley. Took an hour each way. No easy commute when you're carrying all those books! GLS/BLA has has been treated with such disrespectsince it was founded. It is has always been academically successful but the Boston School Committee and the powers that be fail to recognize and reward the students and the teachers for their superior academic performance. Boston Latin has never been moved! I am sick and tired of my alma mater being treated so poorly. GLS/BLA should rightfully be located in a permanent location with BLS. The two Latin schools should share buses and pool their resources. They are both co-educational now and should form some sort of alliance to help each other. Maybe the city could save money if the two schools pool their resources and join campuses. Just a thought. The schools could still be separate but share facilities, faculty, and maybe in the end strengthen each other.

up
Voting closed 0

The current location of BLS is its sixth:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boston_Latin_School#L...

No moves since 1922, however (except for the move of the 7th graders while lots of renovation work went on back in the early 90s).

up
Voting closed 0