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Leilana Mei Chen, 5, still does not know where she will attend kindergarten. |
Facing a shortage, Boston will add more kindergarten classrooms
City scrambles to accommodate kindergarteners
By James Vaznis
Globe Staff /
August 23, 2012
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Burrell said that he does not expect that parents of all the unassigned students will take one of the new seats. Some parents, he said, only want their children to attend certain schools; otherwise, they will pursue options elsewhere.
But he also pointed out that many other parents are still registering their children for kindergarten and some will do so after the school year begins. The first day of kindergarten at most Boston public schools is Sept. 10, and the city’s annual “Countdown to Kindergarten” welcoming event will be held at the Boston Children’s Museum Aug. 28 at 4:30 p.m.
Councilor Michael Ross of Mission Hill, who represents many of the city’s northern neighborhoods, said it was a positive development that more parents are enrolling their children in the city’s school system.
“That wasn’t the case 10 or 15 years ago,” Ross said. “. . . More families are staying in the city, and more families are getting involved in the schools, and the schools are improving.”
Ross applauded the addition of seats at the Harvard-Kent and the Eliot, two popular schools, but questioned the wisdom of relocating Mission Hill K-8 from the north zone to the west zone, in Jamaica Plain, when the north zone has a shortage of seats.
The School Department is moving Mission Hill K-8 so its building can accommodate an expansion of Fenway High School. But even as Mission Hill K-8 moves, it will continue to register students from the north zone, according to the School Department’s website.
James Vaznis can be reached at jvaznis@globe.com.
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