Boston is preparing for the new school year with a focus on safety, more buses and student learning

BOSTON – A top priority for the mayor and Boston Public School officials is making sure students get to and from school safely.

Boston Mayor Michelle Wu and Superintendent Mary Skipper helped put the finishing touches to a freshly painted crosswalk for Roxbury’s Trotter School on Wednesday morning. The repainted crossings help students to walk and cycle safely to school.

“We are re-stripping all crosswalks near BPS schools and making sure all curb markings and safety signs are in place, in good condition and clearly visible,” said Wu.

For students taking the bus, officials are optimistic about them on time. For the first time since before the pandemic, BPS has a fully staffed team of more than 700 bus drivers, 35 of whom are currently in training.

“We are very pleased to be fully staffed on the bus driver side and to have additional bus drivers in training. be time.” said Schipper.

Twenty school buses are electric. The district has placed an order to double that amount and is working on a further expansion of the fleet.

“We are applying for an EPA grant to purchase another 50 to continue to reduce pollution in our neighborhoods and protect our students and drivers from the harmful pollution that comes from diesel buses,” said Wu.

Within the schools, teachers and staff will focus on updating students learning disabilities during the pandemic.

“You can’t really step in to escape what’s happened with the pandemic. You have to make sure that in every classroom, in every school, every day, students are getting quality access to education,” said “We’ve hired extra reading coaches In our English Language Learner piece, we’re hiring a lot more ESL teachers this year,” Skipper said.

BPS has 100 more bus monitors this year compared to the start of last school year, but the district is still looking for more people.