Teachers from Shaw Pauline A. Elementary School huddle up in a fourth-grade classroom. From left: Morgan Keohane, Tracy Curtin and Sabine Ferdinand.
“I’m excited about this proposal and the opportunity to build a world-class facility to serve the Dorchester and Mattapan communities for generations to come,” said Mary Skipper, BPS superintendent and Dorchester resident, in a statement to the Dorchester Reporter.District officials said they planned to submit a “statement of interest” to the MSBA for a new school following an affirmative vote by the school committee.
The announcement of the plans for a new building brings excitement but also an air of frustration for some. Many BPS students for the past few generations have gone to buildings without modern amenities, a “harsh reality” that Stanislaus acknowledged when noting that most current Taylor-Shaw families will not benefit from the new amenities due to the long timeline for planning and construction.
The bid for a new school does not mean the current two-school, one-campus situation will get any less attention, school officials told the Dorchester Reporter. If approved, the merger will take effect for the 2024-2025 school year and the overall plan includes short-term and the long-term investments. For instance, the Taylor is scheduled to have a new HVAC system installed this year and to get a new roof.
“That will put us in a place to know the condition of all of our buildings. We will have a long-term master plan where we can better plan for all our future projects and understand what buildings need to be accelerated,” said capital planning chief Stanislaus. “We’re going to have to look at different options. I will be looking at merging buildings, closing buildings, and building new buildings.”