Wednesday, July 15, 2026, 2 p.m. (Boston time), Boston City Hall, 1 City Hall Square, Boston, MA 02201
Hearing on Dockets #1311-1312
The Ways & Means Committee held a virtual hearing on two dockets funding planning and design for Boston Public Schools projects: Docket 1311 appropriating $5 million for the Madison Park Technical Vocational High School feasibility study and schematic design (MSBA core program), and Docket 1312 appropriating $850,000 for feasibility and schematic design of window, door, and roof projects at five schools (Boston Adult Technical Academy, Hurley, Ellis Mendell, Kilmer, and Mary Lyon) under the MSBA accelerated repair program. City staff from the Public Facilities Department and Boston Public Schools presented the MSBA process, timelines, and reimbursement structure. Councilors asked about prior consultant spending on Madison Park, projected total costs, impacts on the capital budget, and the timeline for construction (anticipated 2030 start, 2033 completion). Extended questioning also addressed the future of the John D. O'Bryant school, with BPS staff stating no renovation or new-build plan is currently in the pipeline for O'Bryant. The chair stated he plans to bring the dockets up for a vote at the next council meeting.
3:28 thanks ben weber.
3:30 Uh, the district six city
3:31 councilor and the chair of the
3:33 boston city council on ways and
3:36 means today is JULY 15th, 2026
3:39 and the exact time is 2:03 P.M.
3:41 In accordance with chapter two
3:45 of the acts of 2025 modifying
3:46 certain requirements of the
3:48 of meaning law and relieving
3:49 public bodies of certain
3:50 requirements including the
3:52 requirement that public bodies
3:54 conduct their meetings in a
3:55 public place that's open and
3:56 physically accessible to the
3:57 public.
3:58 The city council will be
3:59 conducting this hearing
4:00 virtually via zoom.
4:02 .
4:02 This hearing is being recorded
4:03 It's also being live streamed
4:06 at boston.Gov/city council dash
4:08 tv and broadcast on xfinity
4:11 channel eight, rcn channel 82
4:13 and uh fios channel 964.
4:16 Written comments MAY be sent to
4:18 the committee email at squirm
4:21 at boston gov and will be made
4:22 part of the record and
4:23 available to all councilors.
4:26 Public testimony will be taken
4:31 uh, at the end of uh the uh
4:34 first round of questions uh,
4:36 from my colleagues um
4:38 individuals will be called on
4:40 uh in the order in which
4:41 they've signed up and will have
4:42 two minutes to testify if you
4:44 wish to sign up for public
4:44 testimony.
4:46 If not done so please email or
4:48 central staff liaison chris
4:49 mitchell on at.
4:50 Okay or is.
4:55 Mccue and@boston.Com for the
4:57 zoom link and your name will be
4:57 added to the list.
5:00 today's hearing is on two
5:01 dockets that would fund the
5:02 planning and design phase
5:03 of major improvement projects
5:06 for six boston public schools
5:08 one being our vocational tech
5:09 school madison park.
5:12 Uh the msb, a board
5:13 of directors voted to invite
5:15 madison park into the mba's
5:17 eligibility period on DECEMBER
5:18 12th, 2025.
5:22 On OCTOBER 29th 2025, the board
5:23 also voted to invite the other
5:25 five schools to participate in
5:27 their accelerated repair
5:27 program.
5:29 The goal is to modernize our
5:31 aging school facilities and
5:32 improve the safety,
5:33 accessibility and energy
5:35 efficiency of our educational
5:35 spaces.
5:37 I'll now read both dockets into
5:41 the record docket number 1311
5:42 is a message in order
5:44 authorizing the city of boston
5:46 to appropriate the amount of $5
5:47 million for the purpose
5:49 of paying the costs of the
5:51 feasibility study and schematic
5:53 design associated with the
5:54 project for the madison park
5:56 technical vocational high
5:58 school located at 75 malcolm x
6:00 boulevard, roxbury,
6:02 massachusetts 02120.
6:04 Uh this includes the payment
6:07 of all costs incidental related
6:09 thereto and for which the city
6:11 of boston MAY be eligible for a
6:12 grant from the massachusetts
6:14 school building authority
6:16 otherwise known as the msba uh
6:18 set amount to be expanded under
6:19 the direction of the public
6:20 facilities department on behalf
6:23 of the boston public schools
6:26 and docket number 1312a message
6:28 in order authorizing the city
6:29 of boston to appropriate the
6:33 amount of $850,000 for the
6:35 purpose of paying costs of the
6:36 feasibility study and schematic
6:38 design work associated with
6:40 window, door and roof projects
6:42 of the following schools boston
6:44 adult academy joseph j.
6:46 Hurley school ellis mendel
6:47 elementary school, joyce kilmer
6:50 ,keith reed school and uh the
6:53 uh lyon uh upper nine through
6:53 12 school.
6:57 Um this includes the payment
6:58 of all costs incidental related
7:00 thereto and for which the city
7:01 of boston MAY be eligible for a
7:03 grant from the massachusetts
7:05 school building authority set
7:07 amount to be expended under the
7:08 direction of the public
7:09 facilities department on behalf
7:10 of the boston public schools.
7:13 These matters were sponsored by
7:14 mayor michelle wu and referred
7:16 to the committee on JULY 8th,
7:17 2026.
7:19 Today I'm joined by my
7:21 colleagues in order of arrival
7:22 councilor flynn,
7:23 councilor fitzgerald,
7:24 councilor murphy and
7:25 councilor louijeune uh I'm
7:28 joined or we are joined um uh
7:30 by a wonderful panel today
7:32 we've got brian mclaughlin,
7:33 senior project manager for the
7:34 public facilities department.
7:37 Carlton jones director
7:40 of public facilities, uh del
7:42 stanislaus uh chief of capital
7:44 planning for boston public
7:45 schools and brad dickens, the
7:47 assistant superintendent for
7:48 secondary schools and college
7:52 career and life readiness um
7:53 uh, for the boston public
7:54 schools.
7:57 Um, so with that said, uh, I
8:00 think is the panel I get back
8:03 to screen here the panel has uh
8:05 uh presentation or anything you
8:07 want to say the floor is yours
8:08 and then we'll go for a first
8:10 round of questions from my
8:11 colleagues and then uh, to
8:12 public testimony and come back
8:14 for a second round
8:14 of questions.
8:15 All right.
8:15 Thank you, CHAIRMAN.
8:18 Uh, weber and uh, councilors
8:20 again, carlton jones for the
8:20 public facilities department.
8:23 I just want to, um, introduce
8:26 myself and my colleague, um,
8:27 brian mclaughlin who's going to
8:29 run through our slide senior
8:30 project manager brian lofton
8:31 and we're going to turn it over
8:32 to our colleagues from boston
8:33 public schools.
8:34 Uh, dillon brett.
8:35 So without further ado and I
8:36 know we have a lot to go
8:37 through so I'm just going to
8:38 turn it over to brian.
8:40 You have the floor, colin.
8:41 Thank you.
8:41 Uh thank you.
8:43 Chair weber council members as
8:45 chair weber introduced months
8:45 ago.
8:47 Uh, before you today are two
8:49 loaners associated with the
8:50 school building authority
8:51 school construction program.
8:54 The first uh, we'll go through
8:55 today is a 2025 accelerator
8:57 repair program projects.
8:58 And the second is for the mass
8:59 and park technical vocational
9:00 high school feasibility study.
9:04 Um, funds the msba.
9:08 Um, we're going to be sharing a
9:11 a presentation to is that oh,
9:12 there we go.
9:15 Sorry can we go to the second
9:15 slide?
9:18 Thank you.
9:20 uh, the msba is a state
9:22 authority that oversees the
9:23 funding of public school
9:24 construction projects in the
9:25 state of massachusetts.
9:26 It's a reimbursement agency
9:28 that works with local school
9:31 districts great affordable,
9:32 sustainable, energy efficient
9:33 schools across the commonwealth
9:35 and it's funded through one
9:36 penny of the sales tax.
9:39 Msba has two programs the core
9:41 program which is for larger
9:42 renovation and new school
9:43 construction projects like the
9:45 boston arts academy, jersey
9:46 quincy upper school and the car
9:48 school and the accelerated
9:50 repair program which focuses on
9:53 the repair and replacement
9:55 of roof windows, boiler heat
9:57 pump systems in otherwise
9:58 structurally sound buildings.
9:59 Uh next slide please.
10:02 Over the past several years
10:04 boston has made an effort to
10:05 increase their participation in
10:07 program.
10:07 the school building authority
10:09 As of today there are 57
10:10 projects in various stages
10:12 of the msba process.
10:14 This slide provides an overview
10:15 of the status of these 57
10:19 projects of the coa projects
10:20 which there are seven the
10:22 dearborn boston arts academy
10:26 does at quincy upper school in
10:28 the carter school a complete
10:29 one school the shot taylor has
10:30 recently started the
10:31 feasibility study.
10:34 Through batson academy and is
10:37 currently procuring the old opm
10:39 in madison park started the
10:41 eligibility period two weeks
10:43 ago under the accelerate repair
10:45 program, 34 projects have
10:47 completed construction, one is
10:49 in construction, seven are in
10:51 design slated for 2027
10:54 construction and eight projects
10:55 will be starting design later
10:57 this summer and into the fall.
11:00 These collaborative efforts
11:03 with the msba reflect $696
11:04 million in construction costs,
11:08 with upwards of 263 million
11:10 of estimated reimbursement
11:10 coming back to the city.
11:14 Next slide please.
11:19 The first loan order is for the
11:20 2025 erp projects.
11:25 For the boston adult technical
11:26 academy, mendel elementary
11:28 school, kilmer aid school, the
11:30 mary lyon school this
11:31 appropriation will allow the
11:33 msba to sign an opm an
11:35 architect to begin the design
11:36 of the projects in the coming
11:39 months stage early the second
11:40 loan orders madison park high
11:42 school which had the
11:43 eligibility appear in JULY 1st.
11:45 The vote will appropriate funds
11:46 so the city can begin to
11:48 procure in opm an architect
11:49 then begin the early phase
11:50 of design as part of the msba
11:51 feasibility study.
11:53 We'll be going through each
11:55 of these separately and these
11:56 next three slides are specific
11:58 to the 2025 aarp projects.
12:01 The process for the eight
12:03 schools on this on the slide in
12:04 front of you began with the
12:05 city council voted to support
12:07 the submission of the
12:08 applications to the msba back
12:09 in MARCH of 2025.
12:12 The applications were
12:14 officially submitted to the
12:15 msba on MARCH 21st.
12:18 Msba reviewed these submissions
12:21 through summer early fall
12:22 of 2025 and visited these
12:24 schools with their consultant
12:26 team in AUGUST of 2025.
12:29 The msb board then voted to
12:32 invite the schools into the
12:33 2025 accelerator repair program
12:37 at their OCTOBER 30th, 2025
12:40 board meeting.
12:41 With the large number of arp
12:43 projects submitted in 2025, the
12:45 msba staggered the start of the
12:45 projects.
12:48 Boston eight projects were
12:50 broken into two groups benny's
12:51 mildred ab in orchard gardens
12:53 were approved to start the msba
12:55 process on MARCH 1st 2026.
12:58 Boston adult technical academy
13:00 hurley mendel kilmer and lyon
13:03 upper were approved to begin on
13:03 JULY 1st.
13:05 Please note the minnie's
13:07 mildred at orchard gardens had
13:08 a hearing before you on APRIL
13:10 1st and the council voted to
13:12 approve the funds to start the
13:14 design the projects this past
13:16 APRIL 15th and today we had to
13:17 request design funds the
13:19 remaining five schools as part
13:20 of the 2025 erp program.
13:22 Next slide please.
13:27 And please note there's an
13:30 error on this slide that
13:32 $900,000 should reflect
13:34 $850,000 as read in by the uh
13:34 council CHAIRMAN.
13:37 Uh next step for this project
13:38 is request city
13:41 council appropriate $850,000
13:43 for the design costs at the
13:45 barda hurley mental kilmer line
13:47 up for approval of city
13:48 council will allow the msba to
13:51 assign an opm an architect most
13:52 likely in early SEPTEMBER.
13:55 Design will start in the fall
13:56 and we anticipate construction
13:57 in the summer of 2028.
13:59 Uh.
14:01 With that, the next few slides
14:03 will be specific to madison
14:04 park and I'm going to turn it
14:05 over to del stanislaw.
14:08 Thank you brian.
14:10 Um good afternoon.
14:13 Uh, council members as um my
14:15 colleague shared I'm del
14:17 stanislaus, chief of capital
14:18 planning for boston public
14:20 schools, the massachusetts
14:22 school building authority or
14:24 the msba process for madison
14:25 park began with the submission
14:27 of the statement of interest
14:30 application on APRIL 11th, 2025
14:31 .
14:32 This application was supported
14:35 by a vote by this body on APRIL
14:37 2nd, 2025.
14:40 As part of its review process,
14:42 the msba conducted due
14:44 diligence on applications
14:45 submitted from across the
14:46 commonwealth.
14:50 On SEPTEMBER 17th 2025, msba
14:51 representatives toured madison
14:53 park with district staff and
14:55 consultants to observe
14:57 firsthand the facilities
14:59 condition identified in the
15:00 application and to understand
15:02 how those condition impacted
15:04 the school's ability.
15:04 To the.
15:07 to deliver its desired
15:08 educational program.
15:12 Following its review, the msba
15:13 board of directors voted at its
15:17 final meeting of 2025 on
15:19 DECEMBER 12th to invite the
15:21 madison park project into the
15:23 eligibility period, marking the
15:25 next step in the msb school
15:26 building process.
15:27 Next slide.
15:34 Madison park technical
15:36 vocational high school serves
15:38 approximately 1000 students and
15:40 is the only comprehensive
15:42 technical vocational high
15:44 school in the city of boston.
15:48 the school offers 20 career and
15:50 technical education programs
15:51 providing students with
15:53 pathways into high demand
15:55 careers and paul secondary
15:58 education programs span for
16:00 major career sectors building
16:02 trades, communication and
16:04 technology, human services and
16:05 health care.
16:07 A key component of the madison
16:10 park experience is the
16:11 cooperative education or co-op
16:14 as it's called um program which
16:16 allows juniors and seniors to
16:18 earn academic credit toward
16:20 graduation, gain real world
16:23 hands on work experience, earn
16:25 a paycheck while learning in
16:27 their chosen field by combining
16:29 rigorous academics with career
16:31 focused technical training and
16:33 work based learning
16:34 opportunities, madison park
16:36 prepare students for college
16:38 career apprenticeship and
16:41 direct entry into the workforce
16:41 and more.
16:43 Next slide.
16:50 Madison park students have
16:52 incredible talent, ambition and
16:54 potential but the current
16:56 facility does not provide the
16:58 learning environment they need
16:58 and deserve.
17:01 What we know today is that
17:03 madison park facilities are
17:04 outdated and can no longer
17:07 fully support the high quality
17:08 student experience our
17:10 students, staff and families
17:11 expect and deserve.
17:13 The building limits
17:15 opportunities for learning,
17:17 teaching and career preparation
17:19 in ways that directly impact
17:20 student success.
17:24 The project represents a once
17:26 in a generation opportunity to
17:28 transform madison park into a
17:30 state of the art technical
17:33 vocational high school and
17:34 boston's premier workforce
17:35 development center.
17:38 We are excited to partner with
17:40 the msba to create the modern
17:41 learning environments that
17:44 students, educators, families,
17:45 alumni and industry partners
17:47 have long advocated for.
17:50 A new madison park will provide
17:52 students with modern classrooms
17:54 ,advanced career and technical
17:59 set up shops, cutting edge
18:00 technology and dedicated spaces
18:02 for arts and music student and
18:04 staff collaboration.