School consolidation matters because Boston Public Schools (BPS) infrastructure is crumbling and antiquated: the average school building in Allston-Brighton is 102 years old. Century-old properties like the Garfield and Winship school buildings have potential for adaptive re-use, modeled on the successful transformation of Hyde Park’s Rogers School into the Pryde Senior Living Community.

The inversely proportional enrollment and spending realities of BPS demand courageous planning. BPS's transportation costs have risen sharply even as the number of students transported has fallen. Between 2010-11 and 2015-16, BPS enrollment as a percentage of eligible residents was essentially flat, while Boston-resident charter enrollment nearly doubled.

Boston has a generational opportunity to reduce transportation costs, and compete with better-performing charter schools by building a first-rate elementary school at the Jackson Mann site alongside new housing and a new community center. The site’s transit and park access, the potential for rational school consolidation, and the prospect of a more sensible use of older buildings make this opportunity a no-brainer.

We should seize it.

Dan Cuddy

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Tony D’Isidoro

Kelly McGrath

Pam Mullaney