Photo: Madison Rogers (WBZ)
BOSTON (WBZ NewsRadio) — Boston Mayor Michelle Wu and Boston Public Schools Superintendent Mary Skipper unveiled a major proposal for two of the city's high schools.
Under the proposal, the John D. O'Bryant School of Math and Science would move from its campus on Malcolm X. Boulevard in Roxbury to the site of the vacant West Roxbury Education Complex on V.F.W. Parkway, which closed in 2019 due to poor safety conditions.
Additionally, Madison Park High School, which shares a campus with the O'Bryant School, would take over the entire campus and expand to include the seventh and eighth grades, more than doubling its enrollment.
"These are the kinds of moves that we need to be making," Wu said Tuesday at an event at the O'Bryant School. "We have an opportunity here to make a transformative investment in our students and families, the future of our city."
Wu said the move would allow O'Bryant to increase its enrollment from 1,600 to 2,000 students and give the school its own lab space and sports 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.
"Today we kick off the community engagement process, to ensure that this would be done with full involvement and full empowerment of all the various pieces of our school communities," the mayor added.
According to Wu, $18 million has been proposed in the city’s capital budget for project design for the renovated West Roxbury facility, while another $45 million has been allocated for design on Madison Park.
Officials said they are aiming to start construction in early 2025.
WBZ's Mike Macklin reports.
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