After 550-Day Wait, Roxbury Prep Students Are Not Giving Up

The students and staff at Roxbury Prep Charter School have been increasing their efforts to have their project placed on the Boston Planning and Development Agency’s agenda and they have picked up more and more elected official support.

A new video released on YouTube last week by the students captures their frustration and hopes. “We are the students of Roxbury Prep, we represent every neighborhood of this great city,” narrates Tabreia Vann-Crump, a senior at Roxbury Prep who has been advocating for her school at City Hall for nearly two years.

Roxbury Prep, a tuition-free, high-performing public charter school open to all Boston students, is proposing to build a state-of-the-art high school on the site of a vacant dilapidated used car lot and auto repair shop at 361 Belgrade Avenue.

Roxbury Prep submitted its application for an extended Article 80 Small Project Review with the BPDA nearly two years ago. The review requires a public comment period, which closed on March 29, 2019. Despite the fact that thousands have signed on to a petition of support and more than 85 percent of the comments submitted to the BPDA were in favor of the project, the BPDA still has not placed the project on the agenda for a vote.

The school has picked up the support of notable elected officials who have also called on City Hall to put the project on the agenda for a vote, including Councilors Ricardo Arroyo, Andrea Campbell, Lydia Edwards, as well as Representatives Nika Elugardo, Liz Miranda and Russell Holmes. In addition, Councilors Annissa Essaibi George and Julia Mejia have not publicly supported the new high school at the site—but they did ask City Hall to at least place the project on the agenda for a fair vote one way or the other and to stop delaying.

“We have found a home, right here in Roslindale, a place to build a high school where we can reach our full potential,” says Tabreia in the video. “Some people do not want us here. Why not? It’s zoned for a school. Why not our school? Maybe you don’t want students who look like us here. Since June, our elected officials have talked openly about systemic racism and its impact on our city. Talk is cheap, it’s time for action. We are your Black and Brown students and we have waited more than 500 days to be heard.”

The video is getting shared widely across social media platforms with a link to contact Mayor Walsh and the BPDA board imploring them to give Roxbury Prep a fair shot and finally be heard by the BPDA board.

The issue has also gained the attention of the Boston Globe, which in 2019 and this past summer called out the race factor in the opposition to the school from nearby West Roxbury, which is not far from the proposed school.