The Eliot School Family Council has launched a formal petition and expansion campaign. The grass roots effort aims to “resolve our crisis of space” that currently exists at the nearly 300 year-old Eliot K-8 public school located in the North End. The petition letter calls for “a long-term solution to the Eliot School’s expansion needs before the City of Boston-initiated sale of the buildings at 150 North Street and 130 – 140 Richmond Street is completed.” (See recent posts on the North St. buildings.)
The full petition can be read and “signed” at this Change.org link:
http://www.change.org/petitions/the-eliot-school-expansion-campaign-needs-your-help
A message and letter from the Family Council are shown below. There is also a Facebook page.
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There are 320 students currently enrolled at the Eliot School, part of the Boston Public School System, with a wait list of more than 400 children. Schools all across Boston are crowded; providing more space for one school alleviates pressure in other schools.
In the last two years, the students have boasted significant improvements in learning , with double digit increases in the percentage of students passing and achieving proficiency in the MCAS, across all grade levels and in nearly every subject.
Our enrollment will increase in September 2012, as we welcome a new round of students into PreK classrooms. There is simply no space to house all of our students.
We urge you to support our request to the City of Boston to resolve our crisis of space! Please sign in support.
We would be grateful if you could help us make a difference by forwarding this to your friends and neighbors. Every signature counts. With students coming from the North End, Beacon Hill, East Boston, Back Bay, Bay Village, the Leather District, Charlestown, Allston, Brighton, South End, Dorchester, the West End, and Downtown – solving this problem would truly positively impact families all over the City of Boston.
We also invite you to Like our Facebook Page!
If you need more information or would like to volunteer to directly help us with this cause, email us at expansioneliot@gmail.com
Very Truly Yours,
Eliot School Family Council
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Petition letter:
Expand the Eliot School!!
Dear Boston Neighbor,
The Eliot School and its entire community request your support in our Expansion Campaign.
Simply put, we are bursting at the seams and we need more space. Next year, the school will welcome even more students and we already have a wait list of over 400 children. Some of our classes are spilled over into borrowed space in other buildings to help accommodate us. We are very grateful to the North Bennett Street School and the Nazzarro Center for lending us their space. This is not a permanent solution however and is one that will already be inadequate as of September 2012. Our City officials are aware of the problem. We are urging them to identify and commit to both a short term plan for September 2012 and a long-term expansion plan for the Eliot School from September 2012 and beyond.
It recently came to our attention that there has been significant action taken by the City that could impact the Eliot School. On January 11th, 2012 the City of Boston released a Request for Proposal for the largest vacant city-owned property in downtown Boston. The sale of this property, located at 150 North Street and 130 – 140 Richmond Street in the North End, could play a strong role in helping to resolve the Eliot School’s space needs.
We must request that the Boston Public Schools and the City of Boston detail a long-term solution to the Eliot School’s expansion needs before the City of Boston-initiated sale of the buildings at 150 North Street and 130 – 140 Richmond Street is completed. All options must be weighed appropriately in light of the Eliot School’s capacity crisis. Every possibility needs to be contemplated by the City in creating its short-term and long-term expansion plans for our school.
Your signature on a petition filled with others of concerned community members and voters will prompt expeditious action from our City officials. Time is of the essence because the bidding process is scheduled to close on February 16, 2012! To enlist in our Campaign, simply sign your name as indicated; please include your zip code.
If you have any questions or would like to know how you can directly help our cause, please contact us at expansioneliot@gmail.com.
Very truly yours,
[Your name]
As a teacher at St. John School for 30 years, I am also a resident of the North end, going on 37 years. I wholeheartedly support the initiatives that the Eliot School parents are undertaking. The city of Boston needs to take this petition seriously. The North St building should be part of the plan. The NBSS needs to stay in the North End , and should be granted that space; likewise, the Eliot uses the current NBSS space… Doesn’t take a genius to figure out the logistics, or is it about money, once again???? Classrooms vs condos??? Hmmmmmm -! The mayor knows what the answer should be!!!
While I understand that the Eliot School needs to be expanded, I do not understand why the Parents Council is asking that the North St Buildings not be sold until there is an expansion plan for the school in place. The city already stated that it would be too expensive to renovate the North St properties as a school.
The Boston Business Journal’s Thomas Grillo reports the City of Boston is no longer considering the former police station and printing plant on North St. to expand the Eliot School.
“Michael Galvin, chief of public property for the Thomas M. Menino administration, said the cost to turn the shuttered printing department and the former police station at North and Richmond streets into an elementary school would be in the millions — a cost that is out of reach for the city. The city has reissued a request for proposal (RFP) for the properties that have been appraised at $11.8 million.”
It is a know fact that the North Bennet St School (NBBS) is interested in the North St properties and wants to do a building swap so that the existing NBSS building could be used to expand the Eliot. The Parents Council should be getting behind the NBSS and helping them to achieve what would be a win-win for both schools.
This is not just an issue of expanding the Eliot School, it is an issue of keeping the NBSS in the North End where it has always been and wants to stay and finding a joint solution for the Eliot School expansion into the former NBSS property.
Your petition should reflect support for the NBSS and not just that the Parents Council wants property the city has already said it will not consider renovating for a public school.
Joyce,
The Eliot parents are not seeking to delay the rfp process. We are simply asking that the city detail plans for our expansion before the sale of the last city-owned vacant buildings in the North End is complete as they MAY PLAY A ROLE in solving our space crisis. We are open to ANY solution, including the NBSS who we are engaged in discussions with.
Jennifer