Parenting

Boston Police report the boy was found around 11 p.m. in an elevator at 225 Blue Hill Ave.

He woke up at a local hospital and was able to provide information about his mother, who was nowhere to be found, police say, adding once she does turn up, she'll be charged with child abandonment and child endangerment.

Parent Imperfect is a Roslindale father of two kids in the BPS system - Boston Latin and the Hennigan - yes, the school that delayed opening for two days because of that pesky PCB problem:

Just for the record, the Parent Imperfect contacted Robert Herrick of the Harvard School of Public Health to ask what he thought about the repairs to the Hennigan School. Paint in the school was found to contain PCBs, a dangerous family of chemicals that have been banned in the U.S. since 1978. To the PI's surprise, Herrick replied almost immediately, saying that, "if the abatement has been completed to the satisfaction of the EPA, there is no reason to be concerned about returning to school."

Boston Police have posted photos and a statement from Virginia Cazir, mother of Gabriel Josh Cazir Pierre, who died in the back of that van in Dorchester:

Our family is heartbroken over the loss of our beautiful son, Gabriel. Gabriel was a very happy child and his picture says everything. We are asking everyone to please be respectful of our privacy as we try to grieve and cope with our unimaginable circumstance.

Boston Police report the arrest of a mother for leaving her baby in a locked car, just one day after a 17-month-old was found dead, abandoned in the back of a day-care van.

Police say officers on foot patrol around 10:45 a.m. were alerted by a passerby about the baby in a car outside 2201 Washington St. in Roxbury:

While approaching the scene, officers observed a large crowd gathered around a parked car. Upon looking inside the car, officers observed an infant child crying loudly and sweating heavily. Officers promptly called EMS to respond to the scene. In the interim, to ensure the safety and well-being of the child, officers employed the use of a 'slim jim' in order to gain entry to the car and access to the child. While officers were taking the child from the car, the child's mother showed up on scene and began hysterically crying and stating that she forgot that she had left her child in the car. The child was transported to the Boston Medical Center for treatment and evaluation purposes. The mother stated that she had been gone for about 20 to 30 minutes.

Idalia Grant, 27, was charged with neglect of a child.

Innocent, etc.

LoJack reports MBTA Transit Police used the human version of its tracking system to find an East Boston teen with a predilection for wandering away from home and school to ride the rails underneath Boston.

The company says yesterday's safe return marks the first successful use of its SafetyNet Service since it was introduced in Boston in January:

Approximately 20 minutes after arriving at North Station [where he left his father], officers with the MBTA Transit Police began picking up a signal emitting from the missing boy's SafetyNet Bracelet. The signal was coming from Downtown Crossing and was strongest underground. Officers went underground into the subway, boarded a train and were able to locate the boy, who was heading southbound.

The teen is well known to local police, who had always managed to find him safe, although sometimes after extensive searches that included requesting help from the public.

Boston Police report a two-year-old spent at least an hour in an unattended Trans Pro van outside 25 Trotter Ct. in Roxbury this morning when the van's driver simply locked up and left.

The company manager spoke to the driver who stated that she parked the vehicle at around 10:00am and states that she forgot the child was on the van because the child was a new addition to her route. EMS responded and treated the child on scene. The child was reunited with his parent. The Department of Children & Families will further investigate this incident.

The Globe reports doctors at Boston Medical Center are seeing an increased number of young children suffering from malnourishment:

Many families are unable to afford enough healthy food to feed their children, say the Boston Medical Center doctors. The resulting chronic hunger threatens to leave scores of infants and toddlers with lasting learning and developmental problems.

Jeremy Marin asks:

Looking to rent an elevator for 2 hours for son's 4th bday in a few weeks. Ideas/leads?

Suggestions?

He adds:

The kid loves elevators. Who am I to argue? It'd be a fun surprise w/family greeting him & cupcakes.

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.

Liz Dolin recounts her time at the JP Licks in West Roxbury last night with the 3-year-old kid of some woman she'd never met. She reports both had a grand time.

It would have been all too easy for J's mom to admonish her child to not bother the solitary woman eating her ice cream that evening. Instead, she encouraged her child to interact with a stranger, albeit under her watchful eye.

We are teaching our children, heck we even behave ourselves, that strangers are not to be trusted. On a Saturday evening, a child was taught to talk to a stranger and that it would be okay

The Boston Parent Organizing Network reports the state Board of Education has enacted a rule that will require school districts to incorporate parent and student feedback in evaluations of teachers. Districts have until the 2013-2014 school year to figure out how to do this.

Boston Police report arresting a Hyde Park man on drunk-driving charges - and that his two daughters delivered him to the police station for booking.

Some 21 years ago, Don Martelli and his brother got their father a battery-operated Bruins clock. But dad vowed he would only actually put a battery in after the next time the Bruins won the Stanley Cup. Guess what he did last night?

Bruins Clock: The Movie.

Max Gitell, 4, of Roslindale looks pretty cute in that hand-knit Bruins sweater he's rocking this morning.

But mom Dana reports there's a story behind the sweater: Husband Seth's mom, Leanne Gitell, knit the sweater for him when he was 3 years old - back in 1972, the last time the Bruins won the Stanley Cup.

Now my son is wearing it on an 80 degree day.

JacksonBoston City Councilors John Connolly (at large) and Tito Jackson (Roxbury, South End) today proposed raising the minimum age at which public-school students could leave school to 18.

The two say similar action in other states has led to dramatic decreases in dropout rates; they will hold a hearing later on dropout-prevention efforts by Boston Public Schools. If the council as a whole agrees with them, it would have to seek approval from the state legislature to change the current minimum Boston dropout age of 16.

The parents of a girl bitten by a brown Chihuahua in Cambridgeport last week are hoping the owner will come forward and let them know if she has to complete her painful rabies injections, Wicked Local Cambridge reports.

The Globe reports the MBTA board decided today not to change its policy and ask parents to fold up strollers on T trains and buses.

The vote came after mothers showed up at a board meeting today to express their displeasure at the idea.

Googiebaba discussed the organizing moms did:

The mothers have mobilized. You wouldn't know because you aren't on our listservs. But while you making your pretty fingers bleed posting comments on web sites, they have been organizing. They are writing letters, contacting elected officials, going to meetings and making a plan of attack. I would have put in a good word for you, but I decided that I hate you.

The Herald reports the T is readying a policy that would require parents to fold their strollers while on trains.

MBTA GM Richard Davey: "There are some that are like SUVs."

Carla, mother of two, however, is aghast:

On busy train, parent should stand holding baby in 1 hand, stoller in other, & not be able to hang on to anything? Unsafe.

The Outraged Liberal, meanwhile, says there's an even worse group of space hogs the T should combat: Backpackers.

[W]omen and men with small children have one thing urban backpackers lack -- the sense to know they are taking up extra space. Say something to a toddler toter and you will get an attempt at accommodation. Say something to a backpacker and you will likely get a lot of lip.

OneIn3 Boston sponsors a session today on increasing the roles of fathers in Boston Public Schools. A forum that starts at 6 p.m. at Madison Park High School will feature "actively engaged fathers, academic leaders, and other stakeholders who will explore and promote male involvement in their children's education; especially in early childhood."

UPDATE: He was found and is OK.

Boston Police tweet officers are looking for a missing 10-year-old, Native American, 4'11" with blue eyes and weighing 110 lbs. He was wearing a bright blue North Face jacket, blue jeans and black sneakers.

Police say Tobias Chase ran away from his Alveston Street home around 7:30 a.m.

One resident was started to see "a big SWAT looking operation going down on Amory Street" this morning. However, police say he's been known to frequent the Barnes & Noble and Borders bookstores on Boylston Street in the Back Bay.

More info from BPD.

NorthEndWaterfront.com posts a copy of a petition from parents at the Eliot School asking the city to expand what is the downtown area's only public elementary school:

The recent Boston Public School lottery assignments left many of our families with no placements in the system. These displaced North End families are now facing very difficult decisions regarding their ability to raise their children here.

We are proposing to expand the Eliot School so it can accommodate the growing families of the North End as well as the surrounding neighborhoods it already serves - West End, Beacon Hill, Charlestown, East Boston, etc. Expanding the Eliot would not only benefit the North End families, but also families all over the city who have hopes to send their children to the Eliot. We sincerely request that the expansion be completed for the 2011-2012 school year.

Meanwhile, Open Media Boston posts a video of BPS students protesting planned school closures and consolidations.

Just because your stroller is too large to fit in your Charlestown townhouse doesn't mean you can chain it to a street sign every night. At least, not without somebody complaining to the city about it.

The Boston chapter of TAG (Teacher Activist Groups) which is a national coalition of grassroots teacher organizing groups is up and running and their new website recently launched. You can check it out here:

http://tagboston.org/

There are already some interesting posts regarding Boston student assignment and videos about the potential school closings.

The owner of a school-van service was arraigned yesterday on charges he sexually assaulted a young girl in one of his vans on the way home from school on Tuesday.

Sergio Lara, 53, was ordered held in lieu of $100,000 bail at his arraignment in Chelsea District Court on charges of rape of a child and indecent assault and battery on a child, Revere Police and the Suffolk County District Attorney's office said.

Lara owns Maya Transportation, which brings children to and from schools in Revere, Chelsea and East Boston. According to a statement from the DA's office:

One of his passengers, a five-year-old Everett girl, told her mother on Tuesday that Lara had sexually assaulted her on the way home from school. The girl’s parents took her to an area hospital the same evening and notified police. Lara was identified and arrested the next day.

The van in question. Photo from Suffolk County DA's office.

Innocent, etc.

BJ Ray doesn't get why people are organizing protests over the closing of the Hi-Lo but not the Agassiz School:

Boston Public School administration has given the school the kiss-off and, it would seem, is readying it for private development. For a school whose majority percentage of students were minorities in the community, this should be greater cause for alarm than an organic food chain. THIS is where the attention should be paid. If you google ("Agassiz School" & "Jamaica Plain") you get about 4000 results. If you google ("Whole Foods" & "Jamaica Plain") you get about 150,000 results. You don't have to be a mathematician to see where the public's priorities align. Clearly its easier to rally behind the cause that has the face of corporate influence.