The John D. O’Bryant School of Mathematics and Science is one of five Massachusetts schools ranked among the top 300 high schools in the country, according to U.S. News & World Report. The O’Bryant is also the most diverse of Boston’s three exam schools, with about two-thirds of its students identifying as either Black or Hispanic.
It’s a success story right where it is — in Roxbury — and because of where it is. Yet Boston Mayor Michelle Wu wants to move the O’Bryant to West Roxbury, which is 63 percent white and more than 7 miles away from its current location. Why? It doesn’t make sense — not if you’re trying to build on what has already been accomplished at the O’Bryant, which is diversity, equity, and excellence. The Boston public schools need more of that, not less. The lack of community outreach ahead of Wu’s announcement also makes little sense, given that a major change like this is bound to be controversial.
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“This seems to be the suffering of all Boston public schools — non-transparent, arbitrary decisions,” said Rahul Dhanda, an O’Bryant parent who first told WBUR that the school community was kept completely out of the planning loop. “What’s even a little worse is that it’s a zero sum game when it comes to racial equity. Let’s help one group but hurt another.”
The O’Bryant school currently shares space with the long-troubled Madison Park Technical Vocational High School. The plan announced earlier this month by Wu and Boston Public Schools Superintendent Mary Skipper is to have Madison Park take over the entire campus on Malcolm X Boulevard, extensively renovate it, double its enrollment, and expand its vocational educational offerings. The O’Bryant would move to a renovated facility at the now-closed West Roxbury high school complex on VFW Parkway, allowing it, too, to expand its student population and add new spaces for biomedical science, robotics, engineering, and a swimming pool.
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Madison Park deserves an upgrade. So does the O’Bryant. But moving the O’Bryant, which has been unceremoniously relocated before, disrespects it once again and also disrespects the community that makes it what it is. “It’s a good school, functioning well. Don’t move it,” said Dhanda, the parent of one son who just graduated from the O’Bryant and another who just finished seventh grade. “It’s a diverse school; don’t take the diversity away.” Dhanda, the cofounder and CEO of Syntis Bio, a company that develops therapies that target tissues, knows something about building a diverse workforce. He said he moved his company to Dorchester because “If you want participation, if you want representation, you go where that diversity is. That has been the challenge of STEM. For so long, we put it in places that are unwelcoming.”
To add to the insult, he said, Wu held a coffee hour in West Roxbury at which questions about the O’Bryant were addressed. Meanwhile, “The O’Bryant community has not had that opportunity,” he said. According to the Dorchester Reporter, a parent/community meeting about the O’Bryant is scheduled for June 20. It was supposed to be in-person, but has now been moved to Zoom.
Asked for comment, Wu’s press office said, “There will be a community process regarding the proposal to rebuild Madison Park and build a brand new facility at the WREC (West Roxbury Educational Complex) for the O’Bryant.”
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Who will be helped by this O’Bryant relocation plan and who will be hurt?
According to ZIP code information reported by WBUR, about 3 percent of current O’Bryant students come from West Roxbury and 9.3 percent come from East Boston. Moving the O’Bryant to West Roxbury, which is more than 10 miles from East Boston, would increase the commute for East Boston students to about 90 minutes each way, O’Bryant teachers told WBUR. That’s just one example of the potential impact. Although the Wu administration said it would provide shuttle buses from T stops to the West Roxbury campus, there’s little reason for confidence in that solution, given the current state of the MBTA and the unreliability of Boston’s school bus service.
Sadiki Kambon, director of the Black Community Information Center, Inc. and chairman of the Nubian Square Coalition, bluntly said that relocating the O’Bryant to West Roxbury is designed primarily “for the benefit of white students,” to the detriment of students of color who would have a longer, more complicated commute. Kambon also sees it as a pattern of Wu “disrespecting the Black community.” Added Kambon, “The mayor came in, held a press conference talking about what they planned to do, with no consideration for whatever perspective we as a community might have.”
City Councilor Erin Murphy, a former teacher, said she understands the need for school building improvements. But Murphy, too, questions the secrecy around the unveiling of Wu’s plan, which she said was “hidden even from us on the council.” Given the community pushback, Murphy says Wu’s plan for the O’Bryant “needs more transparent, open conversation.”
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Why didn’t that happen before? Maybe because it’s just too hard to make the case that moving the O’Bryant to West Roxbury benefits the current O’Bryant school community.
Joan Vennochi is a Globe columnist. She can be reached at joan.vennochi@globe.com. Follow her on Twitter @joan_vennochi.
