Photo: Kim Tunnicliffe/WBZ NewsRadio
BOSTON (WBZ NewsRadio) — Boston Mayor Michelle Wu’s proposed plan to move the John D. O’Bryant School of Mathematics and Science from Roxbury to a more spacious facility in West Roxbury has been called off.
The idea was to relocate the exam school to the vacant West Roxbury Education Complex on V.F.W Parkway. But, the plan faced staunch criticism. Some parents and students said the facility in West Roxbury was too far of a commute. The two buildings are more than 7 miles apart.
Some students also expressed concerns about moving the school from a predominantly minority neighborhood to the mostly white West Roxbury.
“I think we’re going to lose a lot of our diversity. It’s going to be more of one race,” one student told WBZ NewsRadio last year.
In mid-December, the Boston City Council adopted a resolution opposing the plan.
“The O'Bryant parents, students and educators have been left out of the decision-making process having only been offered one town hall to discuss the proposal since the announcement,” the City Council said in a statement.
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On Tuesday, nearly three months after the City Council expressed its opposition, Boston Public Schools sent an email to parents saying they were unable to “find an alternative location to accommodate the expansion and student experience that had been envisioned.” Therefore, the plan has been halted “indefinitely.”
Some students said they were relieved to hear the plans had been called off.
“I kind of like going to school in Roxbury because there’s a lot of internships with Brigham and Women’s. There’s also a lot of hospitals around, colleges around. We have a lot of college tours sometimes,” one student told WBZ NewsRadio on Wednesday.
Another student said it would have been the wrong move to relocate to a predominantly white neighborhood. “West Roxbury isn’t the place for a place like O’Bryant,” he said.
Mayor Wu had hoped the proposed move would bring benefits to students. She had predicted enrollment would increase and the school would have its own state-of-the-art facilities.
"Across each and every high school in BPS, we are going to ensure that there’s rigorous coursework and rewarding programming, enriching partnerships and college and career pathways, all housed in state of the art facilities," Wu said back in June of 2023.
WBZ NewsRadio's Kim Tunnicliffe (@KimWBZ) reports
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