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BOSTON
- Tuesday, March 5, 2024 - Today Mayor Michelle Wu, BPS Superintendent Mary
Skipper, the City’s Public Facilities Department, and the Massachusetts
School Building Authority (MSBA) participated in a topping off ceremony for
the new William E. Carter School. The Carter School serves students ages
12-22 with disabilities and complex learning needs. The transformation of
the Carter marks a renewed commitment to better serve these students, with
more classrooms, a new early childhood program and PreK-12 pathway, a ther
apeutic
pool, and sensory garden. The new Carter School, located on the site of the
former building in the South End, is included in the five-year capital plan
for $111 million, including design and construction costs. The
Massachusetts School Building Authority (MSBA) will reimburse the City of
Boston upwards of $30 million for this investment in the district’s
students with the highest needs.
“Today’s
topping off ceremony gets us one step closer to opening the Carter School
that our students, families, and BPS staff deserve,” said Mayor
Michelle Wu. “This new facility will provide the Carter School
community with the learning spaces needed for some of our students with the
greatest needs. Together we’re ensuring every BPS student has the
opportunities they need to thrive.”
"The
topping off of the new Carter School represents a beacon of hope and
progress for our students with disabilities and complex learning needs,”
said BPS Superintendent Mary Skipper. “I'm proud of and
grateful for the work School Leader Mark O’Connor and his dedicated team of
educators have done in their current space, and the new facility will
enable us to provide even more tailored, comprehensive support, ensuring
every student has the resources and environment they need to thrive
academically, socially, and emotionally."
"The
Carter School's topping off ceremony is a testament to the collaborative
efforts of our community, city officials, and educational leaders in
prioritizing the needs of our most vulnerable students,” said Boston
School Committee Chairperson Jeri Robinson. “This new facility will
serve as a cornerstone for innovative education and empowerment for years
to come."
Today’s
topping off ceremony celebrates the placement of the last beam on the new
building, marking the completion of the future school's steel structure.
Mayor Wu, City leaders, and Carter School students and staff were at the
event to sign the final beam. The design of the new facility will provide a
safe, healthy, and inclusive school environment, unlocking each Carter
School student’s full potential. The new facility is planned to open for
the start of the 2025-2026 school year. Carter students have been using a
portion of the Lilla Frederick School while their new space is under
construction. Public Facilities, in partnership with BPS and the MSBA,
began construction on the new facility in the summer of 2022.
At
the Carter School, teachers and therapists work on learning objectives
together to provide individualized, intensive education programming for
students with the highest needs requiring total personal care. Due to these
unique challenges, each classroom is composed of five students, one
teacher, and two teaching assistants. The new building will better enable
educators to provide an accessible, developmentally appropriate educational
environment that includes data driven instruction and individualized services
for all students. The new construction will:
·
Increase the number of classrooms
from 5 to 12 classrooms, (increasing the number of students from 25 to 60).
·
Establish a Carter School Early
Childhood program and a Pre-K-12 pathway.
·
Include a therapeutic pool that is
accessible to all students.
·
Feature a rooftop outdoor
classroom and sensory garden to connect students with the outdoors and
provide an engaging environment to support communication development.
·
A literacy commons when students
and visitors first enter the building to enforce the school’s mission of
developing communication and literacy skills for all students, in alignment
with the district goals of equitable literacy instruction for all.
·
Enforce a whole-school design that
views every space from the lens of how it can best increase each student’s
ability to communicate across all environments.
The
Carter School was designed to be a zero net energy building with an
emphasis on energy efficiency and green infrastructure to support the City
of Boston’s carbon neutrality and sustainability goals. The school’s
rooftop garden is designed to absorb rainwater and slow the burden of storm
water surge in a city prone to coastal flooding. The garden also mitigates
the urban heat island effect in a neighborhood that is unequally burdened
by urban overheating. The building’s envelope is designed for increased
thermal performance to enhance the energy efficiency of the property.
“We
are thrilled to have reached this construction milestone! The Carter
community deserves a space that reflects its excellence,” said Kerrie
Griffin, Director of Public Facilities. “Reaching this step brings us
closer to fulfilling our commitment to delivering a contemporary,
well-equipped learning environment tailored to the needs of all
students.”
The
MSBA has been a valued partner for the Carter School and BPS. The design
process began in the winter of 2020, with participation from the Carter
School students, staff, families, and other community partners. The design
process allowed the team to partner with the Carter School community
to remove the facility barriers to Carter student’s education in a way that
has never before been possible in the special education field.
“This
is an exciting time for students and teachers at the Carter School, and the
entire Boston community,” said State Treasurer Deborah B. Goldberg,
Chair of the Massachusetts School Building Authority. “The MSBA looks
forward to our continued partnership and completing this project, not
only meeting the needs and supporting the current student population but
generations to come.”
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