Roxbury’s Madison Park High School Students Get Class Schedules Following Protests
Five days into the school year — and after protests and petitions from its students — Roxbury’s Madison Park Technical Vocational High School finally has class schedules in place.
The only vocational school in Boston has long been troubled by poor test scores and graduation rates. But this school year began on a hopeful note after an “intervention’’ over last spring and summer — until students actually got to school and found they didn’t have any classes. By the fourth day of school with no class schedule, students organized a protest outside the school and circulated a petition demanding that the schedules be finished and classes start.
It worked. The Boston Globe reports that interim Boston Public School superintendent John McDonough spent 12 hours at the school on Tuesday making sure the schedules were complete. On Wednesday, students could truly begin the school year.
That doesn’t mean the issue is closed, however. School chairman Michael O’Neill told The Globe that the schedule delay was “absolutely inexcusable,’’ and that he would be demanding an explanation. Mayor Marty Walsh said in a statement that the situation was “completely unacceptable’’ but he was “encouraged’’ by the dedication of the students, parents, and teachers.
The first School Committee meeting of the school year will be held on Wednesday night. The Globe says attendees can expect a “wide-ranging discussion’’ about the schedule delay there.
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