Councilors worry new school would move

Adding to the controversial Boston Public School (BPS) school-move plan process, city councilors have expressed concerns about BPS commitment to keeping the new Margarita Muñiz Academy at the former Agassiz School on Child Street in JP.

As part of the BPS plan, the Mission Hill K-8 is slated to move into the now-empty Agassiz building with the Muñiz Academy, a new bilingual school to open in the fall of 2012.

O’Malley initially heard that the academy would move after one year, but was then told by Deputy Superintendent Michael Gore and Superintendent Carol Johnson on separate occasions that BPS had no plans to move the school.

“I take that as a good sign,” said O’Malley. “It would be a tremendous disservice if the academy would be only at Agassiz for one year.”

City Councilor Felix Arroyo was in the same meeting as O’Malley when Johnson made the commitment and felt that it could have been stronger.

“It’s a great concept,” Arroyo said of the academy. “We want them to make a long-term commitment.”

Added O’Malley,“I do want to see the Agassiz School used, but I want to see it used with a sustainable model.”

Bob Goodman, a Mission Hill K-8 parent and local school activist, has heard that his school is adding a kindergarten class and that that would push the academy out of the Agassiz building after the initial year.

The academy is named after the late Margarita Muñiz, the former principal of the Rafael Hernandez School in JP.

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