On January 16, members of the Roxbury Prep community gathered on the steps of Boston City Hall to protest the Boston Planning and Development Agency’s (BPDA) delay in scheduling a hearing for a proposed high school to be built on a vacant lot in Roslindale.
Currently, Roxbury Prep High School is split between two campuses five miles apart — 9th and 10th grade in Hyde Park, and 11th and 12th grade in Maywood. Over the last four years, students moved three times and eat lunch in their classrooms because they lack a cafeteria. Despite these challenges, Roxbury Prep students have and continue to achieve academically.
The proposal for a new, permanent high school building has strong support from Boston residents with over 2,000 resident signatures in support of the project. Public officials have also voiced their support, including District 5 Councilman Ricardo Arroyo, and State representatives Nika Elugardo and Russell Holmes.
Representative Chynah Tyler — a Roxbury Prep alumna — expressed disappointment “at the long wait that the students have faced in bringing their high school facility to a vote at the BPDA,” and urged “the BPDA to end this delay and allow this beautiful project for hundreds of public school children to go to a vote.”
Read more about the High School proposal and support the project.
See below for Tweets from the rally: