Dear Bates Families,
The Bates is one of 3 or 4 schools that will be losing City Connects next year. Other larger schools are losing their partnership funding for it but have a large enough budget to absorb the cost. Looking at last year’s budget, BPS funded a total of $874,493 for all City Connects partnerships. For reference, the city calculates that BC underpaid the cash portion of their 2017 PILOT by $1,410,098, and they have not submitted a report on their community benefits. This is not an unrealistic ask based on these numbers.
Parents from the Winship and Josiah Quincy elementary schools are joining us in asking that BC fund a larger (or full) portion of our City Connects position. We need to gather more testimonials from families who will be severely impacted by losing their counselors. We can keep names anonymous if people prefer, but the ability to reference specific, tangible impacts is important. We will draft a new letter to BC, referencing their PILOT underpayments as well as the larger #FundOurSchools campaign.
On #FundOurSchools:
The full petition has been finalized. Please spread it around in your networks. Send to friends, families, and neighbors in BPS. If you are a pick-up/drop-off parent, please talk it up with other parents. If you are a YMCA care parent, mention it to parents there. Here is the online version: bit.ly/fundourschoolsboston.
Phineas Bates Elementary School 