BPS cancels last day of school for Eliot, two other schools

Parents of Eliot school children were notified via email on Wednesday that the last day of school had been cancelled. The email notification - which came on a holiday and with less than 48 hours notice - left parents scrambling to find childcare and reschedule end-of-year activities.

The closures affect 2,502 students across three campuses and six schools.

BPS explained that the street closures and increased pedestrian traffic caused by the Celtics Parade were expected to be too disruptive to transportation. And that the only way around it was to just cancel the last day of school altogether for the three schools closest to the parade route.

After consulting with Boston Police, City of Boston Transportation Department and DESE, we have decided to close four [sic] schools on Friday that will be directly impacted by street closures and increased pedestrian traffic along the parade route. These schools will be inaccessible to school buses and also would experience significant dismissal challenges for students who walk, take the MBTA, or are picked up from school. 

The affected schools:

• Snowden International High School
• Josiah Quincy (Elementary & Upper Schools)
• Eliot K-8 Innovation (Lower, Intermediate, & Upper Schools)

An additional email from Eliot School principal Traci Walker Griffith went into more detail:

...our last day of school at the Eliot School will be tomorrow, Thursday, June 20th instead of June 21st due to the significant impact of the Celtics Championship Parade given our school’s location near the parade route. Road closures, detours, and anticipated crowds will prevent buses from accessing our school and would present significant dismissal challenges for students who walk, take the MBTA, or are picked up from school.

This decision was made with student safety in mind, as well as the logistical constraints of managing dismissal and transporting our students to school and home in a timely manner, and made by the District after consulting with Boston Police, City of Boston Transportation Department and Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education.