Boston School Committee approves cost-cutting plan
The Boston School Committee voted unanimously last night to close or merge 18 schools, during an emotional and heated meeting that drew hundreds of upset parents, students, staff, and community activists.
Many attendees left the meeting in tears, while others in the crowd shouted to the School Committee, “shame on you.’’
“I’m disgusted,’’ said Kerry Kealey, a second-grade teacher at the Agassiz Elementary School in Jamaica Plain, which will be shutting down in June. “We pour our hearts into our jobs every day. We don’t even have paper in our building. We have to buy our own, but we do it for the kids.’’
School Committee members argued they had no choice but to support the changes for next fall as part of an effort to remedy a potential $63 million shortfall for the next school year. The