Emotions high over school closings

Students, parents protest proposal

Wilson Petitfrere (right), an 8-year-old third grader at the Elihu Greenwood Elementary School, held up a sign at last night's meeting to protest the school's proposed closing. (PHOTOS BY DAVID KAMERMAN/GLOBE STAFF)

Protesting a plan to close their Hyde Park school, students from Elihu Greenwood Elementary School held handwritten and photocopied signs that read "Save Our School" during last night's School Committee meeting, which drew hundreds of students, parents, and staff from across the city.

For more than an hour and a half, students and adults spoke out against Superintendent Carol R. Johnson's ambitious plan to reorganize city schools. The proposal calls for closing about a dozen schools, leaving five buildings empty, while other buildings would be used to expand popular schools or house new ones.

"My school is a second home," said Henrique Fernandes Silva, a student at the Academy of Public Service, one of two small high schools at the Dorchester Education Complex that would close so another school can expand. "You're not changing our school. You are changing our lives."

Students from the academy, along with those from Noonan Business Academy, the other Dorchester high school Johnson plans to close, shared personal stories of how their schools transformed their lives, inspiring them to go to college.

Two female students from Noonan cried during their testimony, prompting 16-year-old Dilma Lobo to say, "We are a family that sticks together."

The School Committee is scheduled to vote on the proposal Oct. 29, four weeks after Johnson presented it. School officials say they need to act fast because next month parents need to begin selecting schools for the next school year.

The plan aims to reduce operating expenses by $13.8 million over five years to comply with a City Hall edict to cut millions of dollars in spending. Johnson, however, has stressed that although her plan saves money, her ultimate goal is to improve quality. For instance, she would develop several new K-8 schools, which many parents want.

But Richard Miller, a Greenwood parent, told the committee that many parents at his child's school were taken by surprise by her recommendation for closure and felt like they were not consulted.

"We want to know how we were selected for closing," said Miller, who later explained that parents were frustrated by a blanket explanation from school officials that lacked specifics about their school.

Earlier in the meeting, Johnson said she consulted parents at gatherings around the district last year.

James Vaznis can be reached at jvaznis@globe.com.