TODAY: 5 Questions for hearing on Madison Park's Renovation
BPI has 5 questions for BPS & City Hall officials as they go before the Council to present Madison Park's MSBA application
BPI has been closely following the decision to delay construction and submit Madison Park Vocational Technical High School’s (MPHS) renovation to the Massachusetts School Building Authority (MSBA), reversing Mayor Wu’s previous promise to pay for the project out of the City’s budget and start construction this spring or summer. Last week Boston Public School Officials presented the MSBA application to the School Committee, and today the same presentation is being made to the City Council. BPI has 5 questions for BPS & City Hall officials to answer about how the decision to seek MSBA funding was made, and where this decision fits into BPS’ long-term facilities plan.
Check out BPI’s previous work on Madison Park, and keep reading for the 5 questions BPI hopes get answered at today’s hearing:
January 22 Council hearing where Mayoral aides announced the reversal;
Boston Globe’s coverage of the decision, including a quote from BPI;
Globe columnist Marcela Garcia calling for Madison Park’s construction to happen on the orginial timeline;
5 QUESTIONS ABOUT MADISON PARK’S RENOVATION & BPS FACILITIES PLAN
This is the first time that the Council will have a chance to ask questions directly of BPS & City Hall officials who are making decisions about school closures and new school construction in 2025.
Can BPS officials talk through how they came to the idea that Madison Park’s renovation would cost $500M? Specifically, can BPS talk through what led officials to believe that Madison Park would cost the same as the new Revere High School, which was going to be less expensive as both a new build and a college prep HS, was estimated to cost $500M back in February 2023?
How much money has been spent on outside consultants like the designers who testified on January 22 for the Madison Park renovation so far? How much of that work will be usable for the MSBA process?
An outside consultant was hired by BPS to write a long-term facilities plan in 2024 - what work have they produced so far? What role did they play in the decision to apply for MSBA to renovate Madison Park, rather than have Boston pay for it?
BPS Capital Planning Chief Delavern Stanislaus told the School Committee last week that if Madison Park was not invited to the MSBA’s Core Program this year, the district would reconsider paying for the project out of pocket in 2026 - she is Speaker 33 and starts at the 3:02:58 mark in the transcript. What does the district expect will be different in 2026 vs 2025?
Besides Madison Park, what is BPS plan to build substantially new schools? Does the district believe it will be able to continue to submit projects to the MSBA’s Core Program while MPHS is on-going, will the district pay for projects itself, or is the district planning to do no other new school construction for the duration of the MPHS project?
Make sure to sign up for BPI’s Weekly Transcript Round-Up to find out how today’s meeting goes!
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