MAYOR WALSH ANNOUNCES UNVEILING OF IMMIGRANT GRANDMOTHERS MURAL IN EAST BOSTON

MAYOR WALSH ANNOUNCES UNVEILING OF IMMIGRANT GRANDMOTHERS MURAL IN EAST BOSTON

BOSTON - Friday, December 8, 2017 - Mayor Martin J. Walsh and the Mayor's Office of Arts and Culture, in collaboration with the Mayor's Office of Immigrant Advancement and the East Boston Greenway Council, today announced a mural honoring immigrant grandmothers has been completed in East Boston.  The mural, painted by the Mayor's Mural Crew Director Heidi Schork and three assistants, was the third installment of murals dedicated to immigrants in Boston. It was spearheaded by the Mayor's Office for Immigrant Advancement as part of the national letter writing and social media campaign, "To Immigrants with Love". "Immigrants are an integral part of our city, and it's their hard work, dedication and sacrifices that have made Boston the great city it is today," said Mayor Walsh. "I'm so proud to be able to honor them in this way, and I hope that this incredible work inspires other cities to do the same." Photo of Immigrant Grandmothers mural in East Boston An unveiling ceremony was held on Friday in collaboration with the East Boston Greenway Council. Mural subjects and family members gathered to stories about their grandmothers, and their ties to East Boston. State Representative of East Boston Adrian Madaro, along with Director of Mayor's Office for Immigrant Advancement Alejandra St. Guillen, President of East Boston Greenway Council Karen Maddalena, and Director of Mayor's Mural Crew Heidi Schork also spoke about the process and the importance of the mural's location.  "This mural is a wonderful tribute to the immigrant history of East Boston, and it highlights some wonderful family stories of immigrant families from different backgrounds," said Mary Ellen Welch, a founding member of the East Boston Greenway Council. "The families were delighted to share the stories of their immigrant histories."  The first two murals painted as part of the "To Immigrants with Love" campaign were located in Roslindale and East Boston, and featured local immigrants who were business people, entrepreneurs, and community activists, and whose work helped shape the surrounding areas into what they are today.  "This campaign showcases how immigration has been and continues to be embedded in the fabric of our city," said Alejandra St. Guillen, Director of the Mayor's Office for Immigrant Advancement. "The families and stories highlighted on this mural have an intrinsic commonality that people from all backgrounds and origins can connect with."  The idea for the third mural came as Schork was painting the first mural in East Boston. She noticed an abundance of elderly women in the area, and decided to paint a mural dedicated solely to East Boston grandmothers.  Local residents were asked to submit photos of their grandmothers for the project, and many of them made it into the mural's design. Several art workshops were also held in East Boston earlier this fall, where people brought in objects that belonged to their ancestors, such as rosary beads, jewelry, and old keys. Many of those objects informed the Mural Crews' work as they were painting.  Diane Barsotti submitted photos of her maternal and paternal grandmothers, and both were featured in the mural. Her maternal grandmother, whom her and her siblings referred to as "Nonni American", because she was the first of the grandmothers to immigrate to the United States, is depicted wearing an apron and making pasta. Her paternal grandmother, "Nonni Italy" is depicted in a passport photo on the table. "They would walk over this bridge almost every day, on their way to work, or shopping for groceries, or sometimes even visiting each other," Barsotti said. "And they learned the streets of the little part of the city as they knew the streets of Italy. So when we found out about the mural being depicted we submitted the photographs, and we were just so honored to find out that they would be part of it. This is an amazing thing that the Mayor's Office is doing, it's just incredible."  "This mural highlights a message that is a vital goal of Boston Creates -- to create a city where all cultures are represented and treated equally," said Julie Burros, Chief of Arts and Culture. "When it comes to shaping Boston's history, no one group of immigrants was more influential than the other, and this does an excellent job of showing that we all have more in common with each other than we think."  The mural is comprised of seven panels, and it measures 28 feet long by seven feet high. It is located on the East Boston Greenway under the Sumner Street overpass at the intersection of Sumner and Bremer Streets. About the Mayor's Office of Arts and Culture (MOAC) The Mayor's Office of Arts and Culture's mission is to support artists, the cultural sector, and to promote access to the arts for all. The office houses the Boston Cultural Council, the Boston Art Commission, and the Poet Laureate program. Responsibilities include implementing the City's cultural plan, Boston Creates; commissioning public art, managing the Boston Artist-in-Residence program; curating exhibitions in City Hall; and operating the historic Strand Theater in Dorchester. For more information, visit here. About the Mayor's Office for Immigrant Advancement (MOIA) The Mayor's Office for Immigrant Advancement works to ensure the full participation of immigrants within the civic, economic, social and cultural life of Boston. Every year, MOIA assists over 2,000 residents by connecting them to English language classes, helping them obtain citizenship application assistance, facilitating access to city services, and providing accurate information about immigration laws, which helps immigrants contribute socially and economically to the city. For more information, please visit here. Submission by Diane Barsotti "My maternal grandmother is wearing the yellow apron, and she's making homemade ravioli, which she did almost every Sunday for us while we were growing up. And the entire family would congregate at her house in a small, tiny apartment on Everett St. in East Boston. And we would have her pasta and her gravy, which were outstanding. And my paternal grandmother's passport photo is depicted on the table, so my grandmother making the ravioli immigrated to the United States first of the two. So to distinguish between the two grandmothers we would call her Nonni American, and my grandmother that was living in Italy, we would call her Nonni Italy. But they settled in East Boston and they became so familiar with the area that they never left. They would walk over this bridge almost every day, on their way to work, or shopping for groceries, or sometimes even visiting each other. And they learned the streets of the little part of the city as they knew the streets of Italy. And they would talk about going places and so when we found out about the mural being depicted we submitted the photographs, and we were just so honored to find out that they would be part of it. This is an amazing thing that the Mayor's Office is doing, it's just incredible."

波士頓前鋒報宣佈破產 賣了

            (Boston Orange整理報導)波士頓兩大英文報紙之一的前鋒報(The Boston Herald)週五宣佈破產，以450萬元賣給”門房媒體(GateHouse Media)”。

該報發行人Patrick Purcell耗費巨資，竭力保持波士頓第二大日報的保持獨立經營，然掙扎多年，如今決定放棄。

            在出售的同時，波士頓前鋒報也在週五(12月8日)向聯邦政府申請了破產保護 ，以容許該報和債主重新協商。Purcell表示，門房媒體不同意承擔波士頓前鋒報許多工會的退休金債務。

            Purcell周五下午在新聞室內向該報源工做此宣佈，情緒激動。根據一名該報員工在社交媒體上公佈的訊息，Purcell說，長久以來，他竭盡可能的維持著前鋒報，不希望前鋒報關門。”門房媒體”已表示，前鋒報的大約240名員工中，約有175人可以留下來。

            Purcell表示，他想要盡他所能的長期保住波士頓是個有兩家報紙的城市，但顯然這已是他能撐住的最長時間了。

            波士頓前鋒報的員工們獲悉，他們不但得憂慮退休金，還得在一月份時和”門房媒體”面談，以期保住工作。

            波士頓前鋒報的大波士頓報業工會代表O’Ryan Johnson表示，對他們來說這是很不確定的時刻，他們全都在等著看接下來會發生什麼。

            波士頓前鋒報的出售，在這報業劇變年代，勢將改變波士頓的媒體景觀。在Purcell，以及前業主默多克((Rupert Murdoch)手下，波士頓前鋒報一直是以報導犯罪，政治及體育聞名的活躍小報。

            在以刪減開支，中央化營運期龐大媒體帝國出名的"門房媒體”收購後，波士頓前鋒報是否能保有以網的特色，還很難說。

            在美國，”門房媒體”擁有比任何其他發行人都多的報紙，包括130家日報，例如屋斯特的”電報公報( Telegram & Gazette)”，昆士市的”愛國者報(The Patriot Ledger)”，布洛克頓的”企業報(Enterprise)”，以及鱈魚角時報(Cape Cod Times)，還有640家社區報。

            波士頓前鋒報的破產申報紀錄顯示，該報在本會計年度中預計會損失3400萬元。

            波士頓前鋒報創辦於1846年，近年來因為來自業內媒體的競爭，一直掙扎求存，面對著廣告及訂閱收益下降，印刷營運費用昂貴的威脅。

            同時，Purcell嚐試擴展數位服務，包括推出了網上前鋒電台，在高峰時期的2000年，波士頓前鋒報有900名員工。

Purcell是1994年時從默多克手上買下前鋒報，多年來曾採取許多措施來刪減開支，包括出售波士頓前鋒報位於夏利臣接的工廠，把印刷外包給波士頓環球報，還在2013年搬到海港區一個比較小的辦公室。

根據”稽核的媒體聯盟(Alliance for Audited Media)”的資料，波士頓前鋒報的銷量一直在縮減，今年第三季降到每日45,155份左右。2011年時卻有將近84,000份。

根據法院文件，Purcell九月時開始拋售波士頓前鋒報，共有9名潛在買家簽署了保密協議，但只有”門房媒體”出價，450萬元現金加上估計至少50萬元的債務。

門房媒體是座落在紐約羅徹斯特市郊的一家公司，但執行長Kirk Davis是從麻州尼罕(Needham)辦公室遙距工作。該公司的母公司是堡壘(Fortress)投資集團支持的新媒體投資集團。

根據破產申報文件，波士頓環球報也是前鋒報債主，有60萬元帳款待收。

陳家驊高票連任紐英崙中華公所主席

右起，朱蘇珊，陳家驊，陳文浩，雷國輝當選下屆中華公所幹部。
(周菊子攝)

               (Boston Orange 周菊子波士頓報導) 紐英崙中華公所12月5日的職員改選，由在位主席陳家驊以30票的高票當選下屆主席，得票數之高打破近10年紀錄。(12月8日更正)

                12月5日這場紐英崙中華公所二年一度的職員改選，共有46名董事及職員有投票權，其中美東國術會代表胡衛正，華裔退伍軍人會代表李錦堂分別因事，或度假在外，未能出席投票，其餘44人都在下午6點半前到場投票。

選舉結果為陳家驊團隊全額當選，得票數及職位為主席陳家驊30票，中文書記雷國輝33票，英文書紀朱蘇珊29票，財政陳文浩34票，核數周樹昂31票。

中華公所選舉小組主持大選。右起，鄭慧民，朱紹昌，李奇舜，
陳滋源(後排右起)，翁宇才，謝中之。(周菊子攝)

其中雷國輝，周樹昂為新一屆當選的陳家驊團隊成員。本屆團隊中的翁宇才，李翠屏未參選。

             黃立輝的競選團隊，職位及得票數依序為，黃立輝13票，梁利棠11票，陳國華14票，葉福文10票，翁英宏13票。

             選舉小組的翁宇才，陳仕維，陳滋源，朱紹昌，鄭慧民，李奇舜，謝中之等人，5日一早九點起，就分批駐守中華公所會議廳，等候中華公所董事隨時出席投票。為確保投票過程的公開，公正，無爭議，中華公所還特地安裝了一個現場錄影設備。當晚6點半左右，台山同鄉聯誼會代表李兆桃趕到，投出最後一票。

華人經濟發展協會董事長蔣宗壬(右二)開出第一張票。(周菊子攝)

             陳家驊在選後表示，過去兩年來，中華公所5名職員相處融洽，服務精神極佳，他最引以為傲的是辦事公開，透明，從來沒有董事索要文件卻拿不到，也沒發生過職員辦事有利益衝突的情況。未來兩年，他將繼續推動中華公所的大同村，喜露街50號土地發展計畫，修訂章程，以期中英文版本內容一致，並提高中華公所行事效率。

各候選人得票數。(周菊子攝)

            中華公所選舉小組的鄭慧民在等開票時，也和李奇舜等其他選舉小組成員討論，認為將來修改章程還應該修改選舉制度，或者是只選舉主席，再在主席當選後指派輔佐幹部；或是只選舉團隊，不能分開來選某個職位的某個人，以免當選幹部分屬不同團隊，上任後合作不佳。

             開票結束後，兩名候選人黃立輝，陳家驊伸出兩臂，彼此環抱，充分展現風度。

為確保投票無爭議，中華公所今年特地準備了錄影機，錄下開票
現場情況。(周菊子攝)

             選前，陳家驊已公開表示，無論輸贏，都在帝苑大酒樓設宴，感謝支持者。5日晚有不下60人到場。波士頓資深僑領陳毓璇，陳毓禮兩兄弟，波士頓僑務委員蔣宗壬，波士頓洪門致公堂元老伍伯和，監堂阮振強都特地出席致賀。波士頓僑教中心主任歐宏偉也特地趕來道喜。
             (補註:紐英崙中華公所主席陳家驊回應外界求證時說明，在中華公所歷史中，有至少三人曾連任主席，波士頓前任常委李伍綺蓮的丈夫李實卿因為大同村建造案，一連在位三任；陳毓璇因為中華公所遷址至泰勒街90號而連任，陳志航則是因為下一屆的主席選舉發生爭執而連任。這些案例都超過了任期兩年的規定。中華公所章程並未明文規定主席不得連任，反倒是執行董事不得連任。
           若依照中華公所這一執行董事不得連任的章程，陳國華，何遠光，梁永基，黃立輝，翁宇才等人違反了規定。)

主席職位候選人陳家驊與黃立輝在開票後互相擁抱。(周菊子攝)

中華公所董事李奇舜(右)和雷國輝討論現場錄影。(周菊子攝)

陳毓璇(右)、陳毓禮(左)兩兄弟特地出席選後晚宴，慶祝陳家驊
當選連任中華公所主席。(周菊子攝)

中華公所董事，職員及波士頓僑教中心主任歐宏偉(左四)等出席
選後餐會。(周菊子攝)

中華公所董事出席選後餐會。(周菊子攝)

支持者出席陳家驊自己掏腰包的選後餐會。(周菊子攝)

波士頓僑教中心主任歐宏偉(左起)特地趕來，恭喜朱蘇珊，陳家驊，
陳文浩，雷國輝等人當選。(周菊子攝)

紐英崙華史會活動探討"誰是美國人" (圖片)

左起，紐英崙華人歷史協會總監甄翠嬿，教育家Benny Sato Ambush，
麻州大學亞美研究院院長保羅渡邊(Paul Watanabe)回應聽眾提問。
(周菊子攝)

紐英崙華人歷史協會總監甄翠嬿。

麻州大學亞美研究院院長保羅渡邊(Paul Watanabe)。

麻省理工學院榮休教授李燦輝(右)和譚道源基金會理事譚國民(左)都來
出席活動。

哈佛大學榮休教授江淵聲也到會參與。

"排華法案"影片製作人。

美國司法部逮捕前任麻州參議員 Brian Augustine Joyce

FORMER STATE SENATOR BRIAN JOYCE ARRESTED

AND CHARGED IN FEDERAL INDICTMENT

BOSTON – Brian Augustine Joyce, a former Massachusetts State Senator, was arrested this morning by federal authorities for allegedly using his state senate office for private gain. 

Joyce, 55, of Westport, Mass., was charged in a federal indictment unsealed today with racketeering, extortion, honest services fraud, money laundering, conspiracy to defraud the IRS, and other charges.  The indictment alleges that Joyce secretly profited from his position as state senator by accepting a stream of concealed bribes and kickbacks in exchange for his official action on matters before the state legislature and for exerting pressure on and advising state and municipal officials to take official action on government matters.  The indictment further alleges that Joyce employed sophisticated methods to conceal his corrupt acts, including using a shell company and other entities to launder proceeds from his bribery and kickback schemes and to conceal his ongoing criminal activities.  

Specifically, the indictment alleges that Joyce agreed to use his official position to exert pressure on and advise Town Administrators to use a particular energy broker in return for kickbacks in the form of commissions to a shell company, which Joyce controlled.  It is further alleged that Joyce used his official position to pressure and advise members of the Milton Planning Board to approve a property subdivision waiver that a developer sought, in exchange for a kickback.  Joyce allegedly concealed the kickback by, among other things, falsely telling a Milton Planning Board member that he had not been paid by the developer, and by accepting payment from the developer in the form of a Jeep from one of the developer’s car dealerships.

In addition, it is alleged that Joyce took official action, or pressured others to take official action, on behalf of a coffee-business franchise owner in exchange for hundreds of pounds of free coffee.  Joyce took steps to conceal this by submitting backdated checks to the State Ethics Commission and instructed the franchise owner and his relative to falsely represent to the Ethics Commission that they had agreed to provide Joyce coffee in exchange for legal services. 

According to the indictment, Joyce also exerted pressure on and advised officials at the Massachusetts Division of Insurance to take official action on matters in favor of an Energy Insurance Brokerage Company (EIB), who paid Joyce in exchange for his official assistance in promoting, sponsoring, and filing legislation that would benefit the EIB.  The indictment also alleges that Joyce attempted to use his official position as state senator to collect money for “legal work” from representatives of a Philadelphia solar company who sought Joyce’s assistance with local permitting and pending legislation. 

Joyce is also charged with conspiring to defraud the IRS in connection with his purchase of more than $470,000 in common stock from the EIB Company and falsely reporting the stock purchase as a tax-exempt retirement account rollover in his personal tax return.

The charges of racketeering, mail fraud, wire fraud, honest services fraud and extortion provide for a sentence of no greater than 20 years in prison; the money laundering charges provide for a sentence of up to 20 years in prison; and the charge of fraud, misapplication involving federal funds provides for a sentence of no greater than 10 years in prison.  Sentences are imposed by a federal district court judge based on the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and other statutory factors.

Acting United States Attorney William D. Weinreb; Harold H. Shaw, Special Agent in Charge of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, Boston Field Division; and Joel P. Garland, Special Agent in Charge of the Internal Revenue Service’s Criminal Investigation in Boston made the announcement today. Assistant U.S. Attorneys Dustin Chao and William F. Bloomer of Weinreb’s Public Corruption and Special Prosecutions Unit are prosecuting the case.

The details contained in the indictment are allegations.  The defendant is presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt in a court of law.

麻州亞美局行政主任換上台美第二代蔣如婷

The Asian American Commission welcomes Jenny Chiang as Interim Executive Director!

BOSTON – This fall, the Asian American Commission’s former Executive Director, Bora Chiemroum, ended her three-year term. It is our pleasure to introduce AAC’s new Interim Executive Director, Jenny Chiang. She will continue to build upon the foundation that Ms. Chiemroum so effectively built over the past three years. We are confident that Ms. Chiang will successfully assume these responsibilities in addition to her unique contributions to the betterment of AAPI communities throughout the Commonwealth.
 
Ms. Chiang is a second generation Taiwanese American. She first got involved in the AAPI community after taking Asian American Studies at UMass Boston; it was an explorative process that revealed the inequities faced by the AAPI community and offered a space that fostered a sense of leadership. She continued her exploration through community organizing in Chicago’s Chinatown as an AmeriCorps VISTA at the Coalition for a Better Chinese American Community.
 
Ms. Chiang furthered her education with a Master of Social Work degree at Boston College, focusing on Macro Intervention, with a determination to improve systems affecting the AAPI community. She has worked alongside community leaders in her work with UMass Boston, the Boston Public Health Commission, and the Asian Task Force Against Domestic Violence (ATASK). Ms. Chiang has been dedicated to advocating for undocumented immigrants, supporting AAPI health equity, and encouraging youth leadership and civic engagement.

波士頓 - 麻州亞美局在行政主任Bora Chiemroum 三年任期告滿，今秋卸任後，現覓得新人蔣如婷(Jenny Chiang)暫代主任一職。
蔣如婷(Jenny Chiang)是第二代台裔美人，在麻州大學波士頓芬校選修亞美研究課程時，開始接觸亞裔太平洋島民社區，既看見了亞太裔社區所面對的不公平，也日漸培養出領導力。她後來到芝加哥華埠，經由美國志工(AmeriCorp) VISTA項目，加入更好的華美社區聯盟，經由組織社區工作，繼續探討相關議題。
Jenny Chiang後來進了波士頓學院，取得社工碩士學位，專注於宏觀角度的干預，決心要改善影響亞太裔社區的體系。她在麻州大學波士頓分校，波士頓公共衛生局，以及亞太裔反家庭暴力小組等機構工作時，都曾和社區領袖一起共事。一直以來她都致力支持無證件移民，亞太裔在健康上的平等，並鼓勵青年培養領袖，參與公共事務。

波士頓公校新學年 更多學校早上8點開始上課

Boston Public Schools Announces School Day Start- and End-Times for 2018-19

New Times Aim to Better Serve Students, Reflect New School Committee Policy

BOSTON — Thursday, December 7, 2017 — Today, Boston Public Schools (BPS) released the school day start- and end-times for the district’s 125 schools for the 2018-19 school year, significantly increasing the number of middle and high school students who will begin their school days at or after 8:00 AM. Families can find their school’s start- and end-times for 2018-19 on the BPS Start Times website. “School bell times have tangible impacts on the lives of families, ranging from jobs to a student’s academic performance,” said BPS Superintendent Tommy Chang. “As a district, we must make sure that our students and families are set up for success, and they deserve nothing less. I am confident that next year’s school bell schedule will be an improvement for the majority of families, and is reflective of the feedback we have received from thousands of students, parents, and staff.” Of the district’s 125 schools, 105 will have new bell times next year. The later secondary school start times come after a body of research shows teenagers have better academic outcomes when their school days begin later in the morning. Under the new scheduling plan, more than 94% of secondary students will begin their days at or after 8:00 AM, compared to 27% of secondary students who do so currently. The new times are the result of nationally-leading optimization work conducted with the MIT Operations Research Center, 18 months of community feedback from 10,000 students, family members and staff, and input from the Boston School Committee, which on Wednesday voted unanimously in favor of a start- and end-time policy that sets best practices for school scheduling district-wide. Because the school bus system is highly interconnected, it is nearly impossible to alter any one school’s schedule without a system-wide change. The new times for schools were announced this evening in an automated phone call to families and on bostonpublicschools.org/starttimes. Dr. Judith Owens, the director of sleep medicine at Boston Children’s Hospital, applauded BPS for establishing start times that facilitate better sleep patterns for secondary school students. “In moving middle- and high-school start times later, Boston Public Schools is taking a critical step to ensuring an academic environment that promotes health, safety, well-being and learning in adolescents,” Owens said. “The BPS community and leadership are to be commended for recognizing the substantial body of scientific evidence that demonstrates the importance of sleep patterns that are in sync with teenagers’ biological needs. Later school start times promote healthy sleep, which not only helps students perform better academically, but decreases the risk of car crashes, depression, and alcohol and substance abuse. We all win.” The new school schedules are reflective of the priorities that are now formalized in the new district policy, which are: To increase the number of middle and high schools that begin after 8:00 AM; Where possible, increase the number of elementary schools dismissing before 4:00 PM; Where possible, assign schools with higher concentrations of medically fragile students or students with autism or emotional impairments to bell times reflective of the needs of their student body; Where possible, maximize reinvestment in schools; And, work with out-of-school partners to ensure a range of before- and after-school programming options for students who experience schedule changes. In addition to the priorities outlined in the policy, the district accounted for several unique factors, such as: Traffic patterns throughout the city at various times throughout the day. Schools sharing the same building do not start or end at the same time. Secondary schools close to each other will have different dismissal times so as not to overcrowd MBTA stations or streets. Equity considerations, including, for example, the ability for families in different neighborhoods to have multiple school start-time choices. Over the past three years, 57 BPS elementary schools extended the length of their school days, resulting in dismissal times of 4:10 PM in 27 schools this year, which some families feel is too late for them. The percentage of elementary school students being dismissed after 4:00 PM will decrease from 33% currently to 15% next year. While collecting community feedback, a sizeable number of parents indicated their desire to keep later start times for their elementary school students and, therefore, would appreciate this element of choice. The new system-wide scheduling plan eliminates a three-tier system in which most schools began at 7:30 AM, 8:30 AM, or 9:30 AM, and replaces it with a 10-tier system in which schools begin every 15 minutes between 7:15 AM and 9:30 AM. “The district should be commended for taking an innovative approach to providing solutions to a decades-old problem,” said Boston School Committee Chairperson Michael O’Neill. “The adoption of this policy allows the district to implement system-wide solutions to provide the best possible scheduling outcomes for our students, families, and staff. While the majority of families should see scheduling improvements, it is critical that the district also support those schools, families, employees and partners who may be subject to challenges due to a new bell time.” BPS Chief of Operations John Hanlon said the voices of students, parents, and staff have been invaluable during the scheduling process. “We heard loud and clear from parents, students, and staff that bell times need to better reflect the sleep patterns of teenagers and provide earlier dismissal options for our youngest students,” Hanlon said. “Getting input from thousands of students, families, and staff members, as well as the optimization experts from MIT, has been vitally important to our work of creating a comprehensive, district-wide solution.” The optimization team from MIT’s Operations Research Center, led by Professor Dimitris Bertsimas, worked with BPS to formulate the best possible scheduling options by taking into account community feedback along with the astonishing 1.8 octodecillion possible school start time combinations. The MIT solution can design BPS bus routes based on school start-times more quickly than BPS staff can manually. It has historically taken about 3,000 hours to manually design routes, whereas MIT’s solution can produce a robust estimate in 30 minutes and allows the district to look at a much broader range of scenarios. Deb Putnam, the parent of a Boston Latin Academy student who is also the Boston chapter leader of Start School Later, Inc., said she appreciates the district’s thoughtful approach to scheduling. “I’m heartened and pleased that the school department looked at research and dove deep to find solutions in a way that values the health and wellbeing of students,” Putnam said. “BPS has put in much forethought and bold thinking on the issues of start times and transportation. I’m excited about the plan, and that there will be an evaluation of its impact in the near future.”