Education Is Walsh’s Top Priority

Listening to the Mayor Martin Walsh’s State of the City address last Tuesday night, one had to be struck by his emphasis on education for Boston Public School students.

More than a quarter of his address was devoted to initiatives that he has committed city resources and his time and effort to.

A longer school day for Boston students is one of several plans that he outlined on Tuesday night.  Another was a School Building Program that will assess all current Boston Public School buildings for evaluation for their best future educational use.  We support Mayor Walsh in his effort to make Boston Public Schools truly work.  It is very surprising to think of Walsh as an education mayor.  In the mayoralty contest that title seemed to have gone to John Connolly.  But those who have followed Walsh’s career in Dorchester know of his commitment to education and charter schools as he had served on their numerous boards for many years.  In his home neighborhood, Walsh is known for his activism on school issues.

Citywide, parents should be encouraged by his open process to select the next Superintendent of Schools.  In our neighborhood, many parents are encouraged by his focus on new school buildings that could result in a new school that is sorely needed for our Beacon Hill district.

Today, for many of us, our children will be too old to take advantage of any future benefits of a public school education.  However, for the parents of the graduating class of 2030, as Walsh said, if his efforts to turn the Boston Public Schools into a real learning institution succeed, even within the next five years the result will be greater stability for our neighborhoods, where families will remain in their current homes and condos, and not flee to the suburbs to raise and educate their children.