City looks to expand elementary schools in West Roxbury

Buried in a press release about "exciting new and expanded programs" for parents this fall in the Boston Public Schools is this nugget:

The Superintendent is exploring options to expand elementary school capacity in the West Zone, particularly in West Roxbury, where demand currently exceeds supply. Dr. Johnson is investigating and costing out modular classrooms and considering other expansion strategies to create more seats in highly chosen elementary and K-8 schools. She also has been meeting regularly with a group of Roslindale families to ensure a strong, seamless educational experience throughout the elementary and middle school years, including possible feeder patterns and improvements to the Irving Middle School.

Cool for two reasons: One is that it shows people actually want to send their kids to public schools. The other is that Court Street is responding.

The problem with most of the schools in West Roxbury (and Roslindale) is that they were built in the 1930s (the Conley in Roslindale actually has some nice art-deco flourishes) and they've long had problems finding space for such things as cafeterias and libraries (gyms? hah!).

But it'll be interesting to see where they'd put those "modular classrooms." The Lyndon barely has enough room for its new playground, and the "upper" Kilmer School (in what used to be the Lyndon back when the Lyndon had modular classrooms all the way over in Roslindale) basically has two small parking lots, one of which has some lines drawn on it as a "playground" (the "lower" school already has a trailer and sits atop a hill and you probably don't want trailers rolling down that). The Ohrenberger and the Beethoven have plenty of room, but they're not the "highly chosen" schools.

Via Geeky Mama, who's become my go-to person for BPS happenings.