Menino names task force to prevent future achievement gaps

Building on what he called “the excellent progress” that Boston Public Schools have made in closing the educational achievement gap between white and minority students, Mayor Thomas M. Menino recently announced the next phase in addressing the problem: a new 60-member task force called the School Readiness Action Planning Team (APT).

Menino said the group, co-chaired by Wheelock College President Jackie Jenkins-Scott and Children’s Hospital Boston Chief Operating Officer Sandra Fenwick, will tap “some of the best minds in the city,” including direct service providers, early childhood educators, senior government officials and corporate leaders from a variety of cultural backgrounds. A similarly diverse group of 35 Boston parents will give their input on the task force’s plan, and have agreed to meet six times during the year to offer feedback on its developments.

The task force will attempt to develop specific strategies to actively prevent the development of an achievement gap among the next generation of students by helping to make kids more ready for the challenges they’ll face when they begin school.

“We know that to ensure academic success, kids need to be on a level playing field when they first enter school,” Menino said. “This team was chosen to represent the different sectors of the city because I seek changes at all levels that will safeguard our children’s future.”

The APT is part of Boston’s Birth to Five School Readiness Initiative, a partnership between Menino and numerous community organizations launched in December in response to recent scientific research documenting the importance of children’s experiences from birth through the age of 5 on the development of their brains and immune systems. Economic analysis has also cited the potential for significant cost savings due to early childhood prevention and intervention, especially for families with low household income.

Menino is promoting a three-pronged approach to preventing the achievement gap: the continuous gathering and analysis of data about the state of young children in the city and their families; the expansion of existing programs to address the need for early childhood learning and to re-emphasize the role of parents as children’s first teachers; and the development of a strategic plan through the APT to ensure proper interventions and a lasting citywide commitment to school readiness.

The APT’s plan will build on analysis and recommendations provided by a 12-person team of top national early childhood researchers and practitioners convened by Menino last fall.

Mass. congressmen congratulate Roxbury organizations on receiving affordable housing funding

Massachusetts Sens. John F. Kerry and Edward M. Kennedy recently joined Congressman Michael Capuano in congratulating both Nuestra Comunidad Development Corporation and Madison Park Development Corporation on receiving $420,079 and $235,304, respectively, in funding from NeighborWorks America, a nonprofit organization that supports affordable housing and community development.

The grants are part of $2.2 million Massachusetts will receive in this round of funding from NeighborWorks, whom Kerry commended for “their commitment to supporting urban development in Massachusetts and throughout the country.”

“With the high cost of housing undermining so many families across the Commonwealth, it’s more important than ever to provide needed assistance for affordable housing and community development,” said Kennedy. “I’m delighted that Nuestra Comunidad and Madison Park Development Corporation will receive these vital funds to serve the residents of Roxbury.”

“This grant will help both the Nuestra Comunidad Development Corporation and the Madison Park Development Corporation expand home ownership opportunities for working families and increase the amount of affordable rental housing stock available for those who need it,” said Capuano.

In 2007, NeighborWorks America will provide over $75 million in two funding rounds to its national network.

Roxbury Latin School freezes tuition for ‘07-’08

The Roxbury Latin School recently announced today its decision to freeze tuition at $17,900 for the 2007-2008 academic year, a move the school’s headmaster says is designed to make the heralded 362-year-old institution more accessible to students.

“We want to attract students who possess the talent and character to succeed at Roxbury Latin — a demonstrated intellectual curiosity, self-motivation and a capacity for hard work,” said Kerry P. Brennan, headmaster of the West Roxbury school, which was founded in 1645 and has an enrollment of 290 boys in grades 7-12.

Although the actual annual cost of educating a student at Roxbury Latin is reportedly $29,311, the school’s Board of Trustees said it would hold tuition next year at $17,900. That number places the cost of Roxbury Latin significantly lower than several other independent schools in the area, including Belmont Hill School in Belmont, which costs $27,990 per year; Buckingham Browne & Nichols School in Cambridge, $29,520 for grades 9-12; Noble and Greenough School in Dedham, $28,900; and Milton Academy in Milton, $29,550.

While the price tag is lower than other prep schools, an annual tuition of nearly $18,000 is still a considerable amount for many Boston-area families, a hard financial reality that Brennan acknowledged.

“We understand that our tuition is a stretch for most families,” said Brennan. “We want to reduce the burden on families who wish to provide their children with the benefits of a Roxbury Latin education. We also want families to know that we will provide whatever financial aid is necessary in order for a family to send their son here.”

The aid Brennan refers to comes through Roxbury Latin’s “need-blind” admissions and enrollment policy, through which students are admitted without regard to their financial status. Once admitted, students are assured of receiving whatever financial assistance they need.

“We admit the best students, whether they can afford our tuition or not,” said Brennan. “Once they are accepted at Roxbury Latin, if they need financial assistance, we provide it. That, coupled with the tuition freeze next year, will help us appeal to a wider group of boys and their families, who might otherwise think that an education at a school of the caliber of Roxbury Latin is out of reach.”

The caliber of education is high, indeed. In the past five years, all 247 Roxbury Latin graduates have gone on to attend college. More than one-third of graduates enrolled in Harvard (34), Yale (14), Princeton (12), Boston College (12) or Dartmouth (11).

Sportsmen’s Tennis Club and Boston Center for Youth & Families team up for free tennis lessons

The Dorchester-based Sportsmen’s Tennis Club, the nation’s oldest black-owned and operated nonprofit tennis club, is partnering with Boston Centers for Youth & Family (BCYF) to offer “Girls Friday Nights Out,” a program providing 10 weeks of free tennis instruction to girls between the ages of 14 and 18. The inaugural class of 16 girls will receive instruction on tennis basics, such as scoring, serving, playing a point, calling lines, singles and doubles play and conduct on the court.

According to BCYF Program Manager Barbara Hamilton, Sportsmen’s and BCYF share a common goal: enhancing the quality of life for Bostonians by supporting children, youth and families through a variety of programs and services.

More to the point, Hamilton said, “the goal is fun.”

“Statistics show that girls get into sports at an early age, and it is my desire to collaborate with as many of our partners as possible to offer an opportunity for these girls to learn and develop,” she continued.

And Sportsmen’s — with its focus on teaching responsibility and discipline while providing a safe haven for Boston’s youth — makes for an ideal partner, according to Steve Tompkins, president of the club’s board.

“It’s our hope that they take these lessons to heart and apply that discipline to other aspects of their lives,” Tompkins said.

Girls Friday Nights Out begins this month and runs through mid-May. For more information, contact Sportsmen’s by phone at 617-288-1156, or visit their Web site at www.sportsmens tennisclub.com.

Mattapan residents to rally for rapid transit service without

According to the Mattapan Community Development Corporation (MCDC), many in the neighborhood want to be able to use a Charlie Card on the Fairmount Line — but they don’t want to lose “Charlie” in the process. Local residents will rally in front of the Cote Ford dealership at 820 Cummins Highway in Mattapan from 6-7 p.m. today to elaborate on the link between the two.

While a new stop in Mattapan has been guaranteed, residents want frequent rapid transit, and not commuter rail, service, and they want to ensure that the price of that service is not a rising tide of gentrification that would sweep them out of their neighborhood. The rallying residents are calling for “the creation of an Anti-Displacement Zone to protect people’s homes,” according to an MCDC statement announcing the rally.

“In their campaign for rapid rail transit, Dorchester and Mattapan residents have overcome many hurdles — decades of neglect of once-thriving rail stations, a welcome announcement of plans to reopen these stations followed by more than a year of no action, and an ongoing funding crisis,” the MCDC wrote. “Yet, as they come ever closer to realizing their goal, the very residents fighting for rapid transit may be the least likely to benefit from it for one simple reason: increased accessibility often leads to decreased affordability in communities.”

The rally will include a visit from “Charlie,” the titular character in the famous 1948 folk song “Charlie on the MTA” after whom the new card is named. In the song, after boarding a train at Kendall Square, Charlie is unable to get off the train because he can’t afford to pay the “exit fare” required to depart at his chosen stop. While his “fate will be unlearned,” we are told that Charlie “never returned” home.

Updated lyrics “will wonder if Charlie can ever return after being driven out by rising housing prices,” according to the MCDC.

In May 2005, the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority (MBTA) proposed plans to create four or five new stops along the Fairmount Commuter Rail Line, including one at Cummins Highway. Today, the line runs through Mattapan and Dorchester without stopping to pick up passengers.

Supporters of the new stations are advocating that the commuter rail line be converted into a new “Indigo Line,” which would offer frequent rapid transit service and standard subway fares to afford Mattapan and Dorchester the same connection to the heart of Boston that other communities have.

“Mattapan’s 40,000 residents have a dire need for rapid transportation access to downtown Boston,” said Spencer DeShields, MCDC’s executive director. “A stop at Cummins Highway — and a second stop at Morton Street — is essential to that access.”

Some residents, however, fear that increased public transit access in these neighborhoods would lead to attempts by corporate real estate speculators to raise rents and property taxes to unaffordable levels. David Banks, a member of a tenants association, faced a $300 increase in rent when a new landlord purchased the building he had lived in for decades.

“It was unfair for the landlord to come out of the blue and raise rents,” he said. “[By organizing], we choose to say that we’re not going to accept that because we created the community and created equity in the building. It’s worth it because we call this home.”