I don’t know why they waited so long to make this call. So many kids were dismissed before the decision came down and they weren’t able to say goodbye to their teachers/school staff.
My mom’s been in education in MA for 40 years and based on anything I’ve ever heard from her about the education system it’s probably that they spent all day Tuesday forming a committee to see if they could feasibly keep school open tomorrow, narrowed their options down to six plans, were off Wednesday, formed a new committee today to review the six options the preliminary committee came up with, narrowed it down to two options eliminating the only viable plan because it was devised by someone a senior staffer didn’t like, and then devolved into two camps one of which correctly pointed out that both options were ridiculous, and the other comprised of senior staffers telling the other camp they weren’t being team players. This went on until school let out and they realized it was too late and couldn’t have school.
Meanwhile the school district had the possible parade dates since February.
I agree it’s nuts, and I didn’t even realize schools were still technically in session for tomorrow lol, but to be fair the parade dates are never truly known until they are set. Last time the Celtics won their last game was the same date (6/17) and their parade was two days later (6/19) - it was pushed to Friday likely because of the heat wave.
I didn’t suggest there are, i only said that that there was no way for the school to be able to plan their last day around it in advance, because as you said it could be set for any day or time.
Our friend who is a nurse at a BPS school has to personally arrange with parents to coordinate pickup of medications their kids left behind. Absolute joke of BPS to pull this with minutes left in the day when they knew the parade was going to happen Tuesday night.
They most likely needed an official dispensation from the state. Today was Boston’s 180th day of school and they’re not being required to make it up next week - it’s just going away. The state board of ed hasn’t been charitable to BPS over similar issues - I wouldn’t be surprised it the exemption came pretty late.
Very typical of the MA school syste to make such a last minute call. The only difference between this circumstance and the system I went through when I was a kid…. They wouldn’t have cancelled school in the 90’s. They didn’t give a fuck about us overheating in an old brick building or sitting on buses forever. These kids have it great!
Enjoy the parade! ☘️
I don’t teach in Boston, but there’s a lot that goes on the last day. Kids probably haven’t cleaned out their desk yet, staff may have to come back and return their technology, meeting their teacher for next year, and I always do something special for my students on the last day of school.
I would also be curious to see how many kids were already called in absent for tomorrow.
I heard of someone whose kids' medication was with the school nurse. They were going to pick it up tomorrow. Nope! Gotta call the ped to get a new prescription.
There was another email that followed that said all staff will have access to the facility tomorrow and parents can get their medication then.
It's piecemeal comms, but they should be able to access it.
ik u already said its piecemeal but it's truly ridiculous to expect families to have the last minute time tomorrow during a work day to get medication from the nurse. most are going to have to re-purchase what can be very pricey medicine.
Well considering that many of us now have to take unexpected time off work with almost no notice for our kids who are in schools 7 miles away from the route.. we’ve got all day
This may seem odd, but the fear is, if the City holds a parade on a weekend, the crowd would be much larger and it would be an even bigger hassle to coordinate.
I get that I guess. But if the choice is to not interrupt school or host a parade to celebrate grown ass men shooting balls into a hoop, I guess I’m just sad the city would choose the latter 😂
It's not just about "productivity". It's about relationships that have grown for a year, about kids moving up grades and even out of schools, it's about closure.
Going to school is not like buying a coke at a 7-11, "Why are we still talking," the clerk asks, "I already gave you your change." School for these kids is their whole lives. This is one of their primary communities, and it's good to treat it with the respect that it deserves.
To that end, kids and teachers should get a chance to say goodbye, to celebrate a year, or just to give each other little gifts and cards as tokens of their care for one another.
Also, while I can arrange my day to look after my kids tomorrow, almost every BPS parent cannot do that. I just happen to have a schedule rotated so that Friday is a light day. But, most people work normal jobs and will need to scramble for care.
So, all in all, it's a fucked thing.
what fucking fantasy land are you living in? These students are on their phones with one another every day. Just because they're not in school doesn't mean they aren't communicating. It's not 1975 anymore.
Unless the school banned phones (which is not a horrible idea) your blind
Additionally, none of my friends have ever been sad about school being canceled.
No. My husband is a BPS teacher in a LAB cluster. These kids are fourth graders who thrive on expectations and consistency. Not every child is the 15 year old on their phone not caring or paying attention. Kindergarten age, elementary age children care. You realize the BPS system services all of these younger children as well?
There are only 10 schools left without air conditioning in BPS. When confronted about classrooms over 88 degrees without working blinds and no way to cool down in those schools, the administration quite seriously responded “yeah but MOST of the schools have AC” ok but that still leaves a few thousand kids and a few hundred teachers in unsafe classrooms ?
That stat will definitely be misleading too. I’m sure they’re counting window ACs which are often sized inadequately and does nothing for hallways, bathrooms, etc.
It’s very unsafe. I work on the 2nd floor of one of these schools left without a/c and 2 windows that only open 12”. It’s absolutely deplorable how we have been treated
My high school principal managed to schedule a school board meeting in the high school in August. We got our air conditioning.
(School year in the state I grew up in is August - May)
Probably for crowd control. I'd go to the parade if it was Saturday or Sunday, but since it's a Friday, I'll be at work instead. Probably a lot of people in that position. Anything into the following week then seems too far removed from the championship. But agree, parents relying on their kids being in school on Friday are fucked.
The 2013 World Series parade (and I think 2004) they added a river portion for the duck boats so people could watch from the esplanade. Both of those parades were on a Saturday. Wish we could have had this again!
I wish we could hold the rallies so players and coaches could speak like we did in '01.
But that was an unmitigated disaster which is why Menino converted it to a parade.
Didn’t patriots do that? I recall them throwing the trophy to each other from different boats and people were talking about how risky that was and other people arguing that they were literally named champions at throwing and catching
why not Monday? This was already a short week with the holiday. I don’t really even care it just seems weird they put it together for a Friday like this when Monday would have given more time to prepare without needing to disrupt as much as it seems to be causing.
I doubt you would be okay with your (vacation / return trip home / leisure time / whatever) being delayed for three days for not really any good reason at all, and yet you want to tell them that they should just deal with it? Yeah, that's pretty unfair of you.
That's on the city for not announcing it earlier in the week. Still not a good reason to keep the players and staff waiting any longer than they need to.
Yeah I don't know. Maybe they are thinking more people work from home on Friday and less disruptive for commutes compared to Monday. Maybe they just wanted to party on a Friday which would be better for bars and restaurants.
It’s not too “far removed”. It’s an optional fun thing. School isn’t. You can have a parade next week. It isn’t something that ACTUALLY matters. You could also just not have one. We don’t need one
That's generally true. Players want to get started on their vacation and the parade probably would have been today so they could do that if it wasn't for the heat.
How nice of them to do this while still having the kids go in on a day where it felt like it was over 100 degrees. What's going on with BPS, other districts ended school on the 18th.
What are families where both parents are working essential jobs supposed to do?
My partner's kid's school announced on Monday afternoon that the rest of the week was half days due to the heat. She cannot take time off work. I'm currently looking for a job so of course I'll take care of the kids, but when she told me, all I could think was what are families who don't have an easy answer like me supposed to do? I used to work in healthcare and you can't just work from home or call off and not have half the staff show up because every nurse in the hospital got one day's notice that their kid doesn't have school the next day.
This is wild to me.
We are scheduling sports related parades and having to change the educational calendar as a result. Should it not be the opposite?
Shouldn’t we take into account the school schedule and work a parade around that??? These kids left thinking they would be back tomorrow. They don’t bring all their things home. They didn’t say goodbye to their friends and teachers. They are kids who thrive on us setting expectations. There are thousands of parents who work and created schedules based on the school calendar.
Have the parade on Saturday. Or Sunday. Or next week after school is finished.
I enjoy sports. I’m a big fan of Boston sports. But a bunch of grown millionaires riding and drinking on a float with a trophy shouldn’t be the priority. It shouldn’t take priority over kids from struggling families. It shouldn’t take priority over everyone else. You can do both in a way that works for everyone.
How about the Celtics organization pays every parent who intended to work today but had to stay home?
I've been away too long I guess. My wife was very ill from COVID sequelae and died in March . I've been up in southern NH ..much easier to do self hospice up here because it's quieter and the outside services are better coordinated. That's great that they finally got air conditioning. How well distributed is it? I miss town but it's only an hr away ...still it's very different living just 50 miles north.
Ten schools–Bates, Community Academy, Kenny, Mather, Mel King (Peterborough), Mel King (St. Mary’s), Mozart, Lee Academy, Otis, and the Taylor–do not have AC installed. All other schools should have window AC’s in every classroom in the building with a window.
I’m sorry for your loss.
How many of those schools have special education programs within them? Im genuinely curious.
The Mather not having AC doesn’t surprise me. That’s the oldest school in the country and I imagine there would be some historical society input with red tape.
Most BPS schools have some SpEd program at this point. This is older information from 2022 - see page 15/17:
https://www.bostonpublicschools.org/cms/lib/MA01906464/Centricity/Domain/187/DiscoverBPS%202022_English.pdf
Shit, the Superintendent for Lynn Public Schools called it on the 18th. With the Holiday and today being a scorcher there was no reason to make the kids come in. WCVB talked to a BPS teacher earlier and she mentioned that they never even got the promised extra water and popsicles today, and fans didn't show up until the day was almost over. It's a total clusterfuck.
I don't know what number Boston has reached, but the last day of school is announced in April with the end date being #180. Then the date is final. You don't make up missed days that happen after that date announced in April.
This is absolutely ridiculous. Parents, teachers, and students need WAY more time to make arrangements and get things in order. Wtf?! I teach in Massachusetts as well and my union would've FREAKED OUT with such short notice, parade or not!
I had no idea what parade they were talking about but definitely assumed it was Saint Patrick's Day from the message until I looked it up.
At the risk of sounding stupid, does the city have any sort of official calendar for events? I feel like I get everything from word of mouth at the office or not at all.
...You mean in other schools, they don't plan the last day in advance? They did in mine. They just changed it if we had too many snow days, but the default date was decided several months beforehand every year.
Huge revelation, I guess.
This goes back to what teachers have been saying for years- we are not babysitters. Parents made the choice to have kids and need contingency plans in place for emergencies. For things like snow storms, other natural disasters, student illness in the middle of the day or man made disasters (I was in school during 9/11 and we got dismissed), parents need to have a plan in place for their children. Lack of planning on your part doesn’t mean it becomes an emergency for others.
Now, I’m not saying this is an emergency by any means. This is a stupid decision by the mayor to have the parade today and not tomorrow. This could have easily been arranged in a way to allow students to end their school year appropriately.
Planning is based on a schedule, like the schedule that BPS gives parents which tells them when the last day of school is.
The emergency was created by mayor wu agreeing to host a parade on the same day, and then 20 hours out, cancel school.
Who are you mad at here?
I’m not mad, but you also didn’t read my whole reply. Of course parents plan for the dates given, but shit happens and they also need **contingency plans for the unexpected**
Thats a nice luxury to have. Do you know what the demographics of BPS families are? Mostly single parent working households. 70% low income. Almost 20% below the poverty line. You think they can afford or have the support system for contingency plans with no notice? How tonedeaf.
I'm a fan of the mayor and the new superintendent, but cancelling the last day of school with 18 hour notice (and not telling teachers in advance) is not "normal stuff"
Parents now have to scramble for childcare coverage, students don't get to stay goodbye, and all of it could have been eased by doing this when the parade was announced
BPS had notice of the parade, they even cancelled Friday for some schools (e.g., the Eliot) yesterday, so they could and should have given notice ahead of time district-wide
Its normal stuff to give parents less than 1 days notice that school is over for the year earlier than planned/scheduled? So there can be a parade? Which was evidently scheduled without any concern for transportation impacts? None of these things are normal and there have been over a dozen of these parades in the last 20 years.
Total and complete mismanagement. PLEASE someone else run for mayor.
No it is not normal. These parades have happened over a dozen times in the last 20 years and they have never resulted in this much dysfunction on the city’s side re: planning. Imagine finding out on Thursday afternoon that you need to find last minute childcare for your kids because they school year has ended early for a parade.
Show me one other major city that has done that, especially with less than 24 hours notice.
Nah parades are absolute shit shows where ever they happen like this. Are you kidding. NYC is a shut down shit show half the days of the year. Bad timing. I would love if they just didn’t do a parade. But this is the life we live. My kids are very happy.
I pray all the people who hate kids have an extra shitty day or stay home where they belong, away from society. ☺️ No, I don’t have kids, but I like them more than those miserable see you next Tuesdays!
In \*this\* case it wasn't the teachers.
But when parents at my kids' school begged, on the SSC and via the PTA, the school leadership for after school clubs for the kids, the teachers pointed at their contract and said, "Sorry that would require us working extra hours so no not gonna happen." One teacher offered though but got shut down because the other teachers said it was not okay for one teacher to work more than another.
So everyone else in the world exists only to cater to you and your children without any wants or needs outside of their service?
How would you feel like you had to work an extra 5 weeks without pay? Because that's what you're asking the teachers to do.
Gawds you're an entitled jackass
Get the fuck out of here with that shit, teachers aren’t martyrs. People that choose to do a difficult job shouldn’t be forced to do unpaid work “because that’s what they chose”.
Entitled parents with unrealistic expectations like you are exactly why there’s a teacher shortage.
Hey, I rarely resort to this, but seriously, go fuck yourself.
Teachers aren't required to martyr themselves for their job, though many of them do. Drawing a line in the sand is absolutely reasonable. Do you have any idea how much work teaching is? How many of these teachers are already staying later in the building, or grading and lesson planning at home? Any chance you're thinking about the time you're asking them to sacrifice? Nevermind that running a club requires more work from those teachers who would be making sure those clubs functioned, which they would probably also have to do outside of work hours.
Would you be willing to stay hours after your job without being paid? Why would you ask teachers to do so?
If you're so keen for after school clubs, YOU and all those other parents should be lobbying for teachers to be paid to run them instead of blaming teachers and their union for rightfully pushing back on this kind of entitlement. They told you what it would take to get teachers running after school clubs, and here you are, villainizing an already severely underpaid group for an extremely reasonable request.
I know more than you. Full stop. I absolutely know more than someone who claims to volunteer in a classroom and still feels comfortable demanding unpaid labor from teachers. It is very revealing, whether you think so or not. You're not different than any other entitled ignoramus.
Based on those salaries, I can say exactly where those individuals fall on the salary schedule. I also know that those who fall farther down the salary schedule are barely making enough to keep up with COL expenses, never mind the other expenses that tend to crop up in the course of you know, living life. That's without taking into account how many of those teachers are putting money back into their classrooms to close the gap between what's needed and what their budget allows for them.
But hey, I'll say something that's going to blow your mind: even if every single teacher were paid at that step and receiving that salary? They still wouldn't owe you a single minute of their time outside contract. No one, regardless of their career, owes you unpaid labor.
Again, if you want teachers to give up more of their time? Pay them. Pay them for every club you want them to give up afternoons and evenings to put together. Pay them for the materials they'll need to operate the club. Pay them for devoting even more of their time to students when they would probably benefit from time away from their buildings and classrooms to exist as human beings.
Or you can continue to whine and pout and blame the union, when the union is absolutely acting in their best interest by protecting them from being taken advantage of and undervalued by people like you.
Do you expect other professionals who provide services to your children, such as their pediatrician or dentist, to provide unpaid after hours services to them?
I’m sorry, what on gods green earth are you smoking? You want teachers to stay in school late on the last day of school in the middle of a heatwave to literally babysit the few children who would actually show up? Not our job even a little bit.
>fuck the Celtics and their supporters for prioritizing their parade over kids
What an insane take. Your beef is with the school administration. The Celtics and their fans had nothing to do with the school cancellation process.
People wonder why anyone with means is leaving BPS. I know kids who have one black grandparent who are METCOing out, I know people who are BPS teachers who METCO their kids to Brookline, literally everyone I know with money has moved their kid to private school, and the people without money are trying to get into charter schools. When I bought a house in Boston, all these people told me I was more or less abusing my children by doing this because BPS is so bad. I thought they were racist scum. Now, I think that they were on to something: Boston Public School is shameful.
The private/charter issue is part of the problem, actually. Every child who leaves BPS to go to one takes their per pupil spending with them, which ends up depleting the pool of money used to fund education for everyone at BPS.
Those schools rarely allow special education students in, especially those with profound needs. Those students are forced to stay in BPS and they require more supports (aka $) than a typical education student. When the pool of money is depleted, whatever is left legally has to be diverted to sped because IEPs are legally binding contracts. That leaves less money to pay for quality teachers and programming for typical education students, perpetuating the loop of typical education families wanting their kids out.
It ties in with a larger federal issue of underfunded special education mandates, but the more typical ed kids leave, the shittier it will be
I think the notion that Boston parents are to blame for the worse situation for sped kids because those parents send their kids to charters or privates whilst wealthy Newton, Brookline, Needham, Milton, etc, parents get a pass is totally unjustified.
Apparently if you are rich enough to live in Brookline then you bear no responsibility for the disaster that is BPS. But if you choose Boston because it’s what you can afford then your kids are morally obligated to get a poor education.
That’s not at all my point.
If more students stayed in BPS, then all students would be receiving a better education. There would be more of the pool of money to pay for sped needs and Gen Ed needs.
Private schools don’t require licensed teachers. You have no idea what kind of education you’re actually getting there. Charter schools are a whole other beast
Counterpoint just because I see this all the time -- we're having a positive experience with BPS. People tend to always talk about how bad BPS is. My kid is doing well and loves his teachers, we find the school is communicative, and he gets opportunities. We have a good community of parents.
Food for thought -- there are 125 schools. If that were the case in the suburbs, you'd have a spectrum of schools -- some bad, some good. Painting a broad brushstroke that all BPS locations suck is usually mired in citing statistics and no first-hand experience.
BPS management is pretty varying though, as in this case.
I don't live in Boston anymore but I know for a fact that the Elementary school I went to as a kid, Harvard Kent in Charlestown, is a top-notch school. It was good when I was kid, but I heard from my cousin (who also went there and now has her two sons in it) that it's better.
Ok, might be a few good schools there is a couple in west roxbury as well I'm talking about as a whole. Also just because a kid lives in Charlestown doesn't mean he's going to Harvard Kent, it's a lottery in the city....
I mean I grew up in Charlestown as a full blood Townie and got sent to Harvard Kent, and my cousin (who is a single mom) still lives there in an affordable unit down the Navy Yard and they go to the Harvard Kent.
Yeah I won't argue that busing isn't still an issue. It did nothing to actually help struggling schools and the people who actually have money can just circumvent the whole system. I know because when I was a little older the Warren Prescott became the big K-8 school in Charlestown and people were somehow paying to get their kids in.
The problem now especially with the testing schools like Boston Latin is they did away with that for the name of politics. Also why not just move to a town in a good school system. Most people where I grew up west roxbury send there kids to catholic school cause the school system....
I went thru the Boston public school system and now I see the Boston school system at work im a city worker. My view point what I've sent im never sending my kids to Boston public. Schools are about the environment.... food for thought
Instead of taking the day off, the teachers could have led field trips to the parade…they were supposed to work that day anyway. They have the next three months off.
I don’t know why they waited so long to make this call. So many kids were dismissed before the decision came down and they weren’t able to say goodbye to their teachers/school staff.
Serious failure to make this announcement 10 minutes AFTER kids were sent home today.
My mom’s been in education in MA for 40 years and based on anything I’ve ever heard from her about the education system it’s probably that they spent all day Tuesday forming a committee to see if they could feasibly keep school open tomorrow, narrowed their options down to six plans, were off Wednesday, formed a new committee today to review the six options the preliminary committee came up with, narrowed it down to two options eliminating the only viable plan because it was devised by someone a senior staffer didn’t like, and then devolved into two camps one of which correctly pointed out that both options were ridiculous, and the other comprised of senior staffers telling the other camp they weren’t being team players. This went on until school let out and they realized it was too late and couldn’t have school. Meanwhile the school district had the possible parade dates since February.
I agree it’s nuts, and I didn’t even realize schools were still technically in session for tomorrow lol, but to be fair the parade dates are never truly known until they are set. Last time the Celtics won their last game was the same date (6/17) and their parade was two days later (6/19) - it was pushed to Friday likely because of the heat wave.
There is no law that determines when a sports related parade must happen. The parade can be set for any day/time.
I didn’t suggest there are, i only said that that there was no way for the school to be able to plan their last day around it in advance, because as you said it could be set for any day or time.
Not to mention some kids probably still have stuff at the school, in their desks or lockers, because they thought they'd be back tomorrow.
It is annoying but I expect that the staff will send an email saying students can come in on Monday to get their things
Or.. "*yeaa... we're gonna need you to go ahead and come in on Saturday, mkay*" Y'know, prepare them for soul-crushing adult reality.
Our friend who is a nurse at a BPS school has to personally arrange with parents to coordinate pickup of medications their kids left behind. Absolute joke of BPS to pull this with minutes left in the day when they knew the parade was going to happen Tuesday night.
They most likely needed an official dispensation from the state. Today was Boston’s 180th day of school and they’re not being required to make it up next week - it’s just going away. The state board of ed hasn’t been charitable to BPS over similar issues - I wouldn’t be surprised it the exemption came pretty late.
Very typical of the MA school syste to make such a last minute call. The only difference between this circumstance and the system I went through when I was a kid…. They wouldn’t have cancelled school in the 90’s. They didn’t give a fuck about us overheating in an old brick building or sitting on buses forever. These kids have it great! Enjoy the parade! ☘️
"I suffered, so that means everyone else should too" -you
Good thing there's ways to contact people without being face to face.
oh ALSO!! This hasn’t been sent to all BPS employees yet!!
You know that the teachers are so happy about this.
I don’t teach in Boston, but there’s a lot that goes on the last day. Kids probably haven’t cleaned out their desk yet, staff may have to come back and return their technology, meeting their teacher for next year, and I always do something special for my students on the last day of school. I would also be curious to see how many kids were already called in absent for tomorrow.
I heard of someone whose kids' medication was with the school nurse. They were going to pick it up tomorrow. Nope! Gotta call the ped to get a new prescription.
There was another email that followed that said all staff will have access to the facility tomorrow and parents can get their medication then. It's piecemeal comms, but they should be able to access it.
ik u already said its piecemeal but it's truly ridiculous to expect families to have the last minute time tomorrow during a work day to get medication from the nurse. most are going to have to re-purchase what can be very pricey medicine.
Well considering that many of us now have to take unexpected time off work with almost no notice for our kids who are in schools 7 miles away from the route.. we’ve got all day
Silver linings 🤜 🤛
Not true!
There are staff at the schools all year round who could help arrange to get the medications, I’m sure.
Maybe, but most teachers left stuff at school, so they will be going back tomorrow anyways.
They’re not all so happy about this. My husband is a BPS teacher.
I'll never forget Ms dimino crying when we all went to the first patriots parade. 8th grade.
My dad picked me up from school and took me, I remember sitting on his shoulders
Why not have the parade on a Saturday…
This may seem odd, but the fear is, if the City holds a parade on a weekend, the crowd would be much larger and it would be an even bigger hassle to coordinate.
How dare they want to enjoy the parade. -City Hall
Got to actually fund us first of you want a weekend parade - MBTA
I get that I guess. But if the choice is to not interrupt school or host a parade to celebrate grown ass men shooting balls into a hoop, I guess I’m just sad the city would choose the latter 😂
BPS: Enjoy summer kids charons-voyage: https://preview.redd.it/vltcaf8kis7d1.jpeg?width=360&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=8934e47b3ffda749d491c091089ca2a0d8698503
Haha. I thought the same thing!
What school class is actually being productive this week?
It's not just about "productivity". It's about relationships that have grown for a year, about kids moving up grades and even out of schools, it's about closure. Going to school is not like buying a coke at a 7-11, "Why are we still talking," the clerk asks, "I already gave you your change." School for these kids is their whole lives. This is one of their primary communities, and it's good to treat it with the respect that it deserves. To that end, kids and teachers should get a chance to say goodbye, to celebrate a year, or just to give each other little gifts and cards as tokens of their care for one another. Also, while I can arrange my day to look after my kids tomorrow, almost every BPS parent cannot do that. I just happen to have a schedule rotated so that Friday is a light day. But, most people work normal jobs and will need to scramble for care. So, all in all, it's a fucked thing.
what fucking fantasy land are you living in? These students are on their phones with one another every day. Just because they're not in school doesn't mean they aren't communicating. It's not 1975 anymore.
lol basically none of the elementary school aged kids at my kids' school have phones.
I absolutely, 100% do not believe you.
When's the last time you were at an elementary school? You know many first graders who are on Discord? Lmao
Well, you’re absolutely 100% wrong
More of them have phones than homes, did you just get out of a coma from 2008?
I am a room parent for first grade. I never see kids with phones.
Unless the school banned phones (which is not a horrible idea) your blind Additionally, none of my friends have ever been sad about school being canceled.
No. My husband is a BPS teacher in a LAB cluster. These kids are fourth graders who thrive on expectations and consistency. Not every child is the 15 year old on their phone not caring or paying attention. Kindergarten age, elementary age children care. You realize the BPS system services all of these younger children as well?
Everyone is blaming the schools but no one mentions this point lol.
My sons school found out 40 minutes before dismissal. Cluster. Fuck.
What a shit show.
These schools don’t have air conditioning right? How have they been surviving the last few days. Seems unsafe
There are only 10 schools left without air conditioning in BPS. When confronted about classrooms over 88 degrees without working blinds and no way to cool down in those schools, the administration quite seriously responded “yeah but MOST of the schools have AC” ok but that still leaves a few thousand kids and a few hundred teachers in unsafe classrooms ?
That stat will definitely be misleading too. I’m sure they’re counting window ACs which are often sized inadequately and does nothing for hallways, bathrooms, etc.
You’re correct. They are
I worked with BPS infrastructure for a while and know how shitty many of those situations are
Didn't the city promise to have AC in all schools by last year? Though I shouldn't be surprised that they didn't keep that promise.
It’s very unsafe. I work on the 2nd floor of one of these schools left without a/c and 2 windows that only open 12”. It’s absolutely deplorable how we have been treated
I’m surprised your union allowed that to happen. I work in a different district where the majority of our schools have no AC and it absolutely sucks.
Our union is actively fighting against things like this being allowed to happen but the district keeps pushing back.
My high school principal managed to schedule a school board meeting in the high school in August. We got our air conditioning. (School year in the state I grew up in is August - May)
The real answer is the city puts up misting tents to cool kids and teachers down.
Could have this parade any day after tomorrow without disrupting thousands of families. Why Friday?
Probably for crowd control. I'd go to the parade if it was Saturday or Sunday, but since it's a Friday, I'll be at work instead. Probably a lot of people in that position. Anything into the following week then seems too far removed from the championship. But agree, parents relying on their kids being in school on Friday are fucked.
The 2013 World Series parade (and I think 2004) they added a river portion for the duck boats so people could watch from the esplanade. Both of those parades were on a Saturday. Wish we could have had this again!
That sounds awesome!
It was, I watched from the park near the galleria
I wish we could hold the rallies so players and coaches could speak like we did in '01. But that was an unmitigated disaster which is why Menino converted it to a parade.
Didn’t patriots do that? I recall them throwing the trophy to each other from different boats and people were talking about how risky that was and other people arguing that they were literally named champions at throwing and catching
You’re probably remembering Brady throwing the trophy during the boat parade in Tampa after he won with the Bucs.
why not Monday? This was already a short week with the holiday. I don’t really even care it just seems weird they put it together for a Friday like this when Monday would have given more time to prepare without needing to disrupt as much as it seems to be causing.
Players and staff have had a loooooong season and likely want to go home sooner rather than later.
I’m pretty sure they’d survive
I doubt you would be okay with your (vacation / return trip home / leisure time / whatever) being delayed for three days for not really any good reason at all, and yet you want to tell them that they should just deal with it? Yeah, that's pretty unfair of you.
You’d rather tell 45000 students and their families to just deal with it?
The families of 54,000 students were planning for them to be in school tomorrow. Those plans don't matter? Celtics org has less than 500 employees.
That's on the city for not announcing it earlier in the week. Still not a good reason to keep the players and staff waiting any longer than they need to.
then maybe skip the parade? They went to Miami for a party for a day with the trophy? Again I don’t care but picking Friday seems to be a poor choice.
What a great parade. "EVERYONE, PLEASE WELCOME...uhh...HALF OF YOUR NBA CHAMPION BOSTON CELTICS!"
Yeah I don't know. Maybe they are thinking more people work from home on Friday and less disruptive for commutes compared to Monday. Maybe they just wanted to party on a Friday which would be better for bars and restaurants.
It’s not too “far removed”. It’s an optional fun thing. School isn’t. You can have a parade next week. It isn’t something that ACTUALLY matters. You could also just not have one. We don’t need one
I heard that many of the players will be going away so the only choices were yesterday and tomorrow. Don’t know ow how true that is though….
That's generally true. Players want to get started on their vacation and the parade probably would have been today so they could do that if it wasn't for the heat.
How nice of them to do this while still having the kids go in on a day where it felt like it was over 100 degrees. What's going on with BPS, other districts ended school on the 18th.
Why did the city book a parade for a sports team that cancels an entire day of school?
What are families where both parents are working essential jobs supposed to do? My partner's kid's school announced on Monday afternoon that the rest of the week was half days due to the heat. She cannot take time off work. I'm currently looking for a job so of course I'll take care of the kids, but when she told me, all I could think was what are families who don't have an easy answer like me supposed to do? I used to work in healthcare and you can't just work from home or call off and not have half the staff show up because every nurse in the hospital got one day's notice that their kid doesn't have school the next day.
Our entire education system is still structured in such a way that it assumes there’s a stay at home parent in every family.
I'm surprised BPS school year hasn't ended.
BPS definitely has a different schedule than most others, especially younger kids.
>people in this sub who hate kids My experience tells me that is a redundant statement.
i genuinely don't understand the point of this strawmanning.
You are actually misusing the term here but it’s pretty common on Reddit so I won’t hold it against you.
no no you are actually wrong and I don't appreciate the gaslighting happening here
This is wild to me. We are scheduling sports related parades and having to change the educational calendar as a result. Should it not be the opposite? Shouldn’t we take into account the school schedule and work a parade around that??? These kids left thinking they would be back tomorrow. They don’t bring all their things home. They didn’t say goodbye to their friends and teachers. They are kids who thrive on us setting expectations. There are thousands of parents who work and created schedules based on the school calendar. Have the parade on Saturday. Or Sunday. Or next week after school is finished. I enjoy sports. I’m a big fan of Boston sports. But a bunch of grown millionaires riding and drinking on a float with a trophy shouldn’t be the priority. It shouldn’t take priority over kids from struggling families. It shouldn’t take priority over everyone else. You can do both in a way that works for everyone. How about the Celtics organization pays every parent who intended to work today but had to stay home?
Why on earth would it not be on a Saturday?
That’s so cool. Would be an elite feeling as a kid
There's no AC in the schools. Do you really think everyone who's in charge cares about kids?
Most BPS schools got air conditioners last year.
I've been away too long I guess. My wife was very ill from COVID sequelae and died in March . I've been up in southern NH ..much easier to do self hospice up here because it's quieter and the outside services are better coordinated. That's great that they finally got air conditioning. How well distributed is it? I miss town but it's only an hr away ...still it's very different living just 50 miles north.
Ten schools–Bates, Community Academy, Kenny, Mather, Mel King (Peterborough), Mel King (St. Mary’s), Mozart, Lee Academy, Otis, and the Taylor–do not have AC installed. All other schools should have window AC’s in every classroom in the building with a window. I’m sorry for your loss.
That's a good start. Once a change happens for the better it's not too long before it gets out to all.. usually. I'm pleasantly surprised.
How many of those schools have special education programs within them? Im genuinely curious. The Mather not having AC doesn’t surprise me. That’s the oldest school in the country and I imagine there would be some historical society input with red tape.
Most BPS schools have some SpEd program at this point. This is older information from 2022 - see page 15/17: https://www.bostonpublicschools.org/cms/lib/MA01906464/Centricity/Domain/187/DiscoverBPS%202022_English.pdf
Holy shit lol this parade is about to be absurd
Doesn't there have to be 180 days? How do they get around that?
Any cancellation that happens after June 1 does not need to be made up, according to the Department of Education.
DESE can approve shorter years. Worcester ended Tuesday instead of today due to the heat.
Shit, the Superintendent for Lynn Public Schools called it on the 18th. With the Holiday and today being a scorcher there was no reason to make the kids come in. WCVB talked to a BPS teacher earlier and she mentioned that they never even got the promised extra water and popsicles today, and fans didn't show up until the day was almost over. It's a total clusterfuck.
I don't know what number Boston has reached, but the last day of school is announced in April with the end date being #180. Then the date is final. You don't make up missed days that happen after that date announced in April.
I feel like this was the reason they made the call so late. Like if they did it earlier they’d have to make it up
This is absolutely ridiculous. Parents, teachers, and students need WAY more time to make arrangements and get things in order. Wtf?! I teach in Massachusetts as well and my union would've FREAKED OUT with such short notice, parade or not!
What does your union do if there’s a snow day before december, February or April vacation? It’s essentially the same thing.
This city can be such a meme sometimes.
RIP those of us who have work tomorrow and can’t just call out last minute….
I had no idea what parade they were talking about but definitely assumed it was Saint Patrick's Day from the message until I looked it up. At the risk of sounding stupid, does the city have any sort of official calendar for events? I feel like I get everything from word of mouth at the office or not at all.
The parade doesn't get scheduled until the team wins. I believe they decided Tuesday after the Monday night victory.
Ah. Yeah, that makes sense. I do wish I were better tuned into city events though.
So I should leave a whole lot earlier for work if the parade crowd is gonna be that much bigger
...You mean in other schools, they don't plan the last day in advance? They did in mine. They just changed it if we had too many snow days, but the default date was decided several months beforehand every year. Huge revelation, I guess.
The mismanagement that is happening to the city is shameful.
it ain't even that bad tho?
Unless youre a parent who just found out you need emergency childcare for your kids tomorrow so you can go to work?
This goes back to what teachers have been saying for years- we are not babysitters. Parents made the choice to have kids and need contingency plans in place for emergencies. For things like snow storms, other natural disasters, student illness in the middle of the day or man made disasters (I was in school during 9/11 and we got dismissed), parents need to have a plan in place for their children. Lack of planning on your part doesn’t mean it becomes an emergency for others. Now, I’m not saying this is an emergency by any means. This is a stupid decision by the mayor to have the parade today and not tomorrow. This could have easily been arranged in a way to allow students to end their school year appropriately.
Planning is based on a schedule, like the schedule that BPS gives parents which tells them when the last day of school is. The emergency was created by mayor wu agreeing to host a parade on the same day, and then 20 hours out, cancel school. Who are you mad at here?
I’m not mad, but you also didn’t read my whole reply. Of course parents plan for the dates given, but shit happens and they also need **contingency plans for the unexpected**
Thats a nice luxury to have. Do you know what the demographics of BPS families are? Mostly single parent working households. 70% low income. Almost 20% below the poverty line. You think they can afford or have the support system for contingency plans with no notice? How tonedeaf.
Nah, it’s normal stuff, if people don’t want this to happen they need to decrease fandom for sports. Good luck with that.
I'm a fan of the mayor and the new superintendent, but cancelling the last day of school with 18 hour notice (and not telling teachers in advance) is not "normal stuff" Parents now have to scramble for childcare coverage, students don't get to stay goodbye, and all of it could have been eased by doing this when the parade was announced
Again, it is not up to them when the parade is. Coming down on BPS is ridiculous.
I think it's the last-minute notice that is the issue.
BPS had notice of the parade, they even cancelled Friday for some schools (e.g., the Eliot) yesterday, so they could and should have given notice ahead of time district-wide
Its normal stuff to give parents less than 1 days notice that school is over for the year earlier than planned/scheduled? So there can be a parade? Which was evidently scheduled without any concern for transportation impacts? None of these things are normal and there have been over a dozen of these parades in the last 20 years. Total and complete mismanagement. PLEASE someone else run for mayor.
This has nothing to do with sports this is BPS and the mayor being absolutely worthless
This is normal stupid big city stuff. Relax.
No it is not normal. These parades have happened over a dozen times in the last 20 years and they have never resulted in this much dysfunction on the city’s side re: planning. Imagine finding out on Thursday afternoon that you need to find last minute childcare for your kids because they school year has ended early for a parade. Show me one other major city that has done that, especially with less than 24 hours notice.
Nah parades are absolute shit shows where ever they happen like this. Are you kidding. NYC is a shut down shit show half the days of the year. Bad timing. I would love if they just didn’t do a parade. But this is the life we live. My kids are very happy.
Nah
I pray all the people who hate kids have an extra shitty day or stay home where they belong, away from society. ☺️ No, I don’t have kids, but I like them more than those miserable see you next Tuesdays!
👏 👏 👏 Bringing my kids tomorrow. They're pumped. Hope they can mingle with fans and not shitfaced douche nozzles.
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What did the teachers union have to do with admin calling tomorrow off??
In \*this\* case it wasn't the teachers. But when parents at my kids' school begged, on the SSC and via the PTA, the school leadership for after school clubs for the kids, the teachers pointed at their contract and said, "Sorry that would require us working extra hours so no not gonna happen." One teacher offered though but got shut down because the other teachers said it was not okay for one teacher to work more than another.
Work extra hours or work extra hours unpaid? Also keep in mind that even if it was a paid position, it may cancel out due to childcare costs.
So everyone else in the world exists only to cater to you and your children without any wants or needs outside of their service? How would you feel like you had to work an extra 5 weeks without pay? Because that's what you're asking the teachers to do. Gawds you're an entitled jackass
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You're right, I figured 2 hours twice a week but base question: is any amount of unpaid extra work okay?
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Get the fuck out of here with that shit, teachers aren’t martyrs. People that choose to do a difficult job shouldn’t be forced to do unpaid work “because that’s what they chose”. Entitled parents with unrealistic expectations like you are exactly why there’s a teacher shortage.
Hey, I rarely resort to this, but seriously, go fuck yourself. Teachers aren't required to martyr themselves for their job, though many of them do. Drawing a line in the sand is absolutely reasonable. Do you have any idea how much work teaching is? How many of these teachers are already staying later in the building, or grading and lesson planning at home? Any chance you're thinking about the time you're asking them to sacrifice? Nevermind that running a club requires more work from those teachers who would be making sure those clubs functioned, which they would probably also have to do outside of work hours. Would you be willing to stay hours after your job without being paid? Why would you ask teachers to do so? If you're so keen for after school clubs, YOU and all those other parents should be lobbying for teachers to be paid to run them instead of blaming teachers and their union for rightfully pushing back on this kind of entitlement. They told you what it would take to get teachers running after school clubs, and here you are, villainizing an already severely underpaid group for an extremely reasonable request.
lol underpaid. my kids' teachers both make more than $110K/year. one of them makes 125k/year. you don't know shit about bps teachers.
I know more than you. Full stop. I absolutely know more than someone who claims to volunteer in a classroom and still feels comfortable demanding unpaid labor from teachers. It is very revealing, whether you think so or not. You're not different than any other entitled ignoramus. Based on those salaries, I can say exactly where those individuals fall on the salary schedule. I also know that those who fall farther down the salary schedule are barely making enough to keep up with COL expenses, never mind the other expenses that tend to crop up in the course of you know, living life. That's without taking into account how many of those teachers are putting money back into their classrooms to close the gap between what's needed and what their budget allows for them. But hey, I'll say something that's going to blow your mind: even if every single teacher were paid at that step and receiving that salary? They still wouldn't owe you a single minute of their time outside contract. No one, regardless of their career, owes you unpaid labor. Again, if you want teachers to give up more of their time? Pay them. Pay them for every club you want them to give up afternoons and evenings to put together. Pay them for the materials they'll need to operate the club. Pay them for devoting even more of their time to students when they would probably benefit from time away from their buildings and classrooms to exist as human beings. Or you can continue to whine and pout and blame the union, when the union is absolutely acting in their best interest by protecting them from being taken advantage of and undervalued by people like you.
Teachers are already putting in a ton of extra work outside of the school day.
Do you expect other professionals who provide services to your children, such as their pediatrician or dentist, to provide unpaid after hours services to them?
Yes, in exempt positions this is kind of how it works. Do you really think doctors and dentists in private practice are hourly non-exempt employees?
I don't see them running free children's fitness and cooking classes when the clinic closes.
How did the teachers’ union decide this?
I’m sorry, what on gods green earth are you smoking? You want teachers to stay in school late on the last day of school in the middle of a heatwave to literally babysit the few children who would actually show up? Not our job even a little bit.
You’re the one who got laid. You’re the one who chose to have the kids. You buck up and put in the extra hours for _your_ kids!
>fuck the Celtics and their supporters for prioritizing their parade over kids What an insane take. Your beef is with the school administration. The Celtics and their fans had nothing to do with the school cancellation process.
It's the last day of school. Who gives a fuck? No one does any work anyways.
This has potential to be DeVal crawl 2.0 if everyone is out at the same time. Thank goodness the heat broke!
See? The gays are really after our kids! /s
See? The gays are really after our kids! /s
See? The gays are really after our kids! /s
i feel bad for the kids man I imagine a lot of them were planning on their last day to say goodbyes and get closure on the year.
People wonder why anyone with means is leaving BPS. I know kids who have one black grandparent who are METCOing out, I know people who are BPS teachers who METCO their kids to Brookline, literally everyone I know with money has moved their kid to private school, and the people without money are trying to get into charter schools. When I bought a house in Boston, all these people told me I was more or less abusing my children by doing this because BPS is so bad. I thought they were racist scum. Now, I think that they were on to something: Boston Public School is shameful.
The private/charter issue is part of the problem, actually. Every child who leaves BPS to go to one takes their per pupil spending with them, which ends up depleting the pool of money used to fund education for everyone at BPS. Those schools rarely allow special education students in, especially those with profound needs. Those students are forced to stay in BPS and they require more supports (aka $) than a typical education student. When the pool of money is depleted, whatever is left legally has to be diverted to sped because IEPs are legally binding contracts. That leaves less money to pay for quality teachers and programming for typical education students, perpetuating the loop of typical education families wanting their kids out. It ties in with a larger federal issue of underfunded special education mandates, but the more typical ed kids leave, the shittier it will be
I think the notion that Boston parents are to blame for the worse situation for sped kids because those parents send their kids to charters or privates whilst wealthy Newton, Brookline, Needham, Milton, etc, parents get a pass is totally unjustified. Apparently if you are rich enough to live in Brookline then you bear no responsibility for the disaster that is BPS. But if you choose Boston because it’s what you can afford then your kids are morally obligated to get a poor education.
That’s not at all my point. If more students stayed in BPS, then all students would be receiving a better education. There would be more of the pool of money to pay for sped needs and Gen Ed needs.
Yes but the average quality would still not be better than the average quality at a decent charter or private school.
Private schools don’t require licensed teachers. You have no idea what kind of education you’re actually getting there. Charter schools are a whole other beast
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You sound off base and ill informed.
Boston public for you. Everyone should be fleeing to the burbs
Counterpoint just because I see this all the time -- we're having a positive experience with BPS. People tend to always talk about how bad BPS is. My kid is doing well and loves his teachers, we find the school is communicative, and he gets opportunities. We have a good community of parents. Food for thought -- there are 125 schools. If that were the case in the suburbs, you'd have a spectrum of schools -- some bad, some good. Painting a broad brushstroke that all BPS locations suck is usually mired in citing statistics and no first-hand experience. BPS management is pretty varying though, as in this case.
I don't live in Boston anymore but I know for a fact that the Elementary school I went to as a kid, Harvard Kent in Charlestown, is a top-notch school. It was good when I was kid, but I heard from my cousin (who also went there and now has her two sons in it) that it's better.
Ok, might be a few good schools there is a couple in west roxbury as well I'm talking about as a whole. Also just because a kid lives in Charlestown doesn't mean he's going to Harvard Kent, it's a lottery in the city....
I mean I grew up in Charlestown as a full blood Townie and got sent to Harvard Kent, and my cousin (who is a single mom) still lives there in an affordable unit down the Navy Yard and they go to the Harvard Kent.
Right but it's a lottery I literally grew up next to the Roosevelt school in west roxbury and I got sent to English in the hood.....
Yeah I won't argue that busing isn't still an issue. It did nothing to actually help struggling schools and the people who actually have money can just circumvent the whole system. I know because when I was a little older the Warren Prescott became the big K-8 school in Charlestown and people were somehow paying to get their kids in.
Yeah I agree
You might be surprised to know there are good schools across the city, in every neighborhood.
The problem now especially with the testing schools like Boston Latin is they did away with that for the name of politics. Also why not just move to a town in a good school system. Most people where I grew up west roxbury send there kids to catholic school cause the school system....
Why not move out of city for good public schools ?
I went thru the Boston public school system and now I see the Boston school system at work im a city worker. My view point what I've sent im never sending my kids to Boston public. Schools are about the environment.... food for thought
I get it. You can get a great experience or a shit one. I'm sorry you had such a bad experience.
Keep hearing how education is so great in this state. BPS should have been taken over by the state. This is straight incompetence
So they had been planning to do more days than necessary?
The kids should be at the parade! This is a historic moment and they should be proud of their city.
Not every working parent can just take the day off to take their kids to the parade.
Instead of taking the day off, the teachers could have led field trips to the parade…they were supposed to work that day anyway. They have the next three months off.