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Boston public schools open tomorrow; officials hope buses show up

Perille

Interim School Superintendent Laura Perille says BPS will be beefing up a busing hotline to handle calls for parents wondering where buses are tomorrow (617-635-9520), but says she's hopeful there won't be a repeat of last week's charter-school problems, which saw some students waiting more than two hours for buses - if they came at all.

BPS and its bus drivers are currently in negotiations over a new contract - although MassLive reports today the talks have failed.

In an interview with reporters this morning, Perille said she is expecting buses to run on schedule tomorrow, but acknowledged that in addition to usual first-day glitches, she and her staff are bracing to respond to additional problems. She said the call center will have 40 people answering phones, up from the usual 32 on the first day of school for BPS students.

Perille declined to speak specifically about the causes of last week's problems.

Perille added that because tomorrow is expected to be hot and humid, BPS schools are being stocked with extra water and fans today - and athletic directors are being asked to take the temperatures into account for tryouts and practices.

Perille said one of her major goals for the coming school year is to restart and refocus conversations around Build BPS - a long-term program to bring all of Boston's schools into the 21st century through a major capital program and possible revamp of how schools educate their students that could affect everything from the number and makeup of school buildings to curriculum.

Because of that, she said one thing she won't be focusing on in the coming school year is start times, an issue that exploded into a crisis for BPS and Mayor Walsh last year.

Perille said schools are already seeing some benefits through increased capital spending, for everything from new boilers and roofs to revamped in-school kitchens and 5,000 new laptops for teachers.

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Comments

Bus drivers are still blowing off work transporting charter school kids as of yesterday FYI.

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Clearly (to me) this is a labor issue that is going to blow up tomorrow. Everyone will be pointing their fingers and acting all surprised.

Perille declined to speak specifically about the causes of last week's problems.

If they refuse to talk about WHY there is a problem, then that is the biggest problem of all.

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I wish I understood why she was chosen. Seemed to come out of nowhere. Does she have a background in this type of labor issue?

And bottled water and fans are not a great solution for 100 year old buildings in 90+ temps.

She just seems like a Betsy Devos to me. No background in schools and in dealing with educators. Came out of nowhere and place in a critical role.

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Not having school in (expletive) September to the exclusion of a week in February.

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Useless if your kid lacks half their sweat glands. Useless if your kid is one of the 10-20% of kids with asthma - or 8-13% of teachers with asthma, which is aggravated by poor air quality that comes with heat. Useless if your kid or if any teacher takes medications that impair heat tolerance.

The Commonwealth needs to get its act together here - summer temperatures have spread into May and September, yet there is more snow than there used to be (on average) and a demand for 180 days in a school year. If they want schools to maintain a long year, they need to pony up some funds to make that possible. If they want communities to have cooling centers and storm shelters, they need to pony up some funds to make sure that schools are equipped to take people in.

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We need to build our schools deep underground, like Beneath the Planet of the Apes.

I think that's where you were going with this.

#geothermalenergy

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Create verdant fields and orchards atop the mounds, for educational and nutritional value that also reduces the heat island effect.

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By the time BUILDBPS gets our schools to the 21st Century, it'll be the 22nd Century.

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IS IT TOO LATE TO SEND ROBO CALLS??

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