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From YouTube: Back To School - 9/7/23
Description
Boston Mayor Michelle Wu and BPS Superintendent Mary Skipper greet students from the Mildred Avenue K-8 School on their commute to school on an electric school bus, and greet other Mildred students as they arrive at the school.
A
Welcome
to
Mildred
Avenue,
my
name
is
Christina
Reeves,
Barber
and
I
am
the
proud
principal
I'm
in
my
second
year
I'm,
so
excited
to
welcome
our
students
and
families
back.
Our
teachers
have
been
working
so
hard
these
past
few
weeks,
diving
into
curriculum,
planning
lessons
and
really
making
sure
that
classrooms
are
safe
and
welcoming
environments
for
our
students.
So
we
are
just
really
excited
to
welcome
our
students.
We
have
amazing
students,
wonderful
families,
so
much
support
from
the
district
really
special.
A
B
So,
just
a
big
thank
you
to
principal
Rhys
Barber.
As
you
can
see,
they
set
everything
up
here
at
Mildred
to
welcome
the
students
to
make
them
just
feel
so
special
on
the
first
day,
and
you
could
see
that
in
their
smiles
as
they
were
coming
through
their
energy.
Of
course,
the
older
kids
a
little
bit
more
and
it's
got
to
get
in
there.
B
But
the
older
kids,
really
just
just
really
joyful
parents
really
thankful
to
be
able
to
hand
students
to
us
safely
and
know
that
they're
going
to
go
in
and
learn
and
have
a
great
time.
Mayor
and
I
had
an
opportunity
at
the
bus
yard
to
really
thank
the
bus
drivers.
The
bus
monitors
all
of
the
people
that
helped
get
our
students
back
and
forth
safely.
B
We
were
able
to
ride
one
of
the
electric
buses
and
rode
with
a
particularly
one
young
student
that
had
a
conversation
with
who
was
going
into
the
first
grade
here
and
was
very
excited
and,
as
you
can
see,
we'll
spend
the
day
kind
of
going
out
to
schools
just
enjoying
seeing
you
know
how
the
how
the
staff
is
prepared
for
the
students
welcome
back.
You
know
this
is
going
to
be
an
incredible
year.
This
is
a
year
that
we're
starting
so
strong
from
last
year,
fully
staffed.
B
You
know,
with
the
with
bus
drivers,
with
monitors
200
more
than
last
year,
really
food
service,
I
can't
wait
to
get
into
the
cafeterias
and
see
a
lot
of
the
scratch
cooking,
that's
happening
and
the
teachers,
you
know
can't
say
enough.
You
know
many
of
them
worked
over
the
summer
they're
back
here,
they've
been
preparing
ready
to
welcome
our
young
people.
We
have
President
Tang
from
the
btu.
That's
here
with
us,
I
mean
this
is
just
really
everybody
supporting
us
one
team
here
in
BPS
so
wonderful
day.
D
D
Every
young
person
in
Boston
deserves
to
have
the
red
carpet
rolled
out
for
them
to
every
possible
opportunity
we
can
create,
and
our
schools
are
one
of
the
best
platforms
to
really
connect
in
not
just
the
teaching
and
learning
which
is
going
to
be
even
at
a
a
higher
level
this
year,
but
all
of
the
sports
and
arts
and
internships
and
other
opportunities.
Really
the
entire
city
should
be
the
classroom
for
our
young
people,
and
we
thank
our
Educators.
So
much
for
opening
up
the
whole
world
to
them.
D
D
Yeah
I
mean
the
superintendent
has
shared
some
of
the
numbers
in
terms
of
compared
to
this
time
last
year,
if
I
think
about
where
we
were
on
the
very
first
day
of
school
superintendent,
Skipper
had
not
yet
started.
Yet
we
were
in
the
middle
of
the
Orange
Line
shutdown.
We
had.
We
were
short
in
terms
of
many
of
the
kind
of
key
areas
that
really
make
schools
tick
and
have
been
working
hard
since
then
to
implement
new
contracts
and
recruit
and
create
new
hiring
pipelines
and
so
from
bus
drivers
and
bus
monitors.
D
The
fact
that
there
are
200
more
bus
monitors
in
place
now
compared
to
the
first
day
of
school
last
year,
was
a
huge
sign
of
just
how
healthy
the
hiring
pipeline
is
and
how
much
interest
and
excitement
there
is
to
be
part
of
this
district
and
everything
from
Food
Service.
Getting
our
kitchens
back
up
and
running
I'll
hand
it
over
to
the
superintendent,
because
she
has
a
lot
more
detail
on
all
the
many
ways.
But
it's
it's
really
to
show
that
this
day
and
marking
the
start
of
the
school
year,
you
can't
prepare
for
it.
D
Just
the
day
before
I
mean
we
were
out
knocking
on
doors
and
reaching
out
to
students
the
day
before,
but
everything
has
been
months
almost
a
full
year
in
the
planning
to
make
sure
that
we
have
the
best
possible
start
to
this
year
and
I
think
we're
going
to
feel
it
with
the
great
results.
And
you
see
it
already
in
the
high
energy
and
excitement
of
all
the
families
coming
back
in
hold
on
what
one
more
I
want
to
make
sure
yeah.
B
B
It's
you
know
on
any
given
day
transporting
21
000
students
across
the
city
there's
a
lot
of
movement
in
in
moving
pieces,
and
so
we
worked
really
hard
on
the
foundational
systems
to
get
those
into
place
so
whether
that
was
Food
Service,
whether
that
was
the
facilities
in
the
buildings.
You
know
whether
that
was
Transportation
hiring
of
staff
and
then
there's
the
academics.
Where
you
know,
literally
in
summer
school,
we
had
17
000
students
all
summer.
B
You
know
so
that
they're
having
continuous
learning
throughout
the
year
Additionally,
you
know
our
staff,
our
teachers,
our
principals,
all
went
to
extensive
PD
over
the
summer
to
ready
themselves
for
the
year.
We're
excited
for
inclusive
learning
this
year,
as
we
start
to
do
our
planning
for
that.
Our
deep
planning
with
the
rollout
next
year.
B
For
that-
and
you
know
we
just
Early
College
and
Career
at
the
high
school
level-
there's
just
so
many
exciting
things
that
are
happening
and
at
the
same
time
we
need
to
make
sure
that
the
nuts
and
bolts
of
the
BPS
War
so
we're.
We
feel
really
good
about
the
progress
we
made
in
so
many
different
areas,
and
you
know
we'll
never
be
satisfied.
We're
always
going
to
be
about
continuous
learning
under
this
team
and
in
in
under
mayor
who's
leadership.
So.
D
B
One
big
thing
is:
can
I
think
we've
learned
from
the
bus
drivers
that
we
can't
rely
on
people
just
to
appear?
We
have
to
develop,
and
so
a
big
piece
of
why
we
are
able
to
start
fully
staff
actually
with
more
bus
drivers
in
training
is
because
we
started
our
own
pipeline.
We
started
our
own
CDL
for
that
I
think
there
is
critical
needs
areas
in
teaching
that
we
need
to
do
similar
for,
and
that
would
be
in
Science
and
Mathematics.
B
As
you
can
imagine,
the
stem
areas
I
think
English
language
for
our
English
language,
Learners
ESL
is
another
and
special
education.
These
will
be
areas
that
we'll
be
creating
our
own
pipeline
programs
with
higher
ed
so
that
we
are
fully
staffed
next
year
in
all
of
those
areas.
I
also
think
we
will
continue
to
make
sure
that
our
staff
is
diverse
and
represents
the
students.
This
is
really
critical
and
that
is
in
race
and
culture
and
language
and
experience,
and
so
really
recruiting
and
developing
is
going
to
be
a
big
push
in
peace.
B
For
us
we
had
the
least
turnover
of
leadership
core
in
decade
here
in
BPS.
Having
you
know,
you
know
principal
Rhys,
Barber
and
other
principals
who
are
staying
here
and
US
investing
in
them
and
developing
them
is
critical,
because
a
strong,
principal
Court
leads
to
a
strong
District,
we'll
be
doing
the
same
with
the
assistant
principal
pipeline,
so
really
around
human
resource
development
and
then
looking
at
all
of
our
systems
to
see
where
efficiencies
are
and
how
we
can
be
the
best
service
provider
possible.
B
I
think
with
us,
as
I
indicated
earlier,
the
you
know
we
have.
The
majority
of
our
buildings
have
AC.
We've
worked
hard
in
this.
This
3
800
additional
units
from
last
year,
and
so
really
for
us,
it's
14
buildings,
where
the
electrical
upgrade
was
sort
of
is
in
question
of
what
we
can
do.
Two
of
those
we
feel
confident.
We
can
and
then
there's
five
others
that
are
in
a
stage
of
getting
the
ACs
put
in.
B
We
are
always
going
to
monitor
just
like
cold
we're
always
going
to
monitor,
monitor
those
extremities
I.
Think
for
us.
You
know
we
have
insuring
with
fans
in
those
sites
that
don't
have
AC
to
make
sure
that
the
room
temperatures
are
as
cool
as
possible.
Additionally,
we'll
be
opening
up
with
custodial
staff,
the
windows
at
the
coolest
times
of
the
night
and
the
morning
early
morning
to
do
that,
ear,
exchange
and
then
obviously
lots
of
bottled
water.
B
The
reality
you
know
for
as
I
think
the
mayor
said
earlier
for
many
of
our
students
who
don't
have
AC
at
home,
you
know
being
in
school
with
AC
for
the
the
majority
of
our
schools.
That's
a
that's
the
safest
place
that
they
can
be
the
healthiest
place
they
can
be
and
for
the
others,
for
the
other
schools
we'll
continue
to
find
ways.
Some
of
this
is
going
to
mean
through
Green,
New
Deal
us
getting
new
buildings
right.
This
is
the
this
is
the
key
point,
so
we'll
be
looking
and
monitoring
all
those
heat
emergency.
B
A
B
Think
it
certainly
helps
in
the
in
the
out
of
school
hours
right
to
make
sure
that
is
cooling.
You
know,
families
that
don't
have
you
know
any
kind
of
cool
area
to
go
to
or
students
that
they'll
have
a
place
to
be
able
to
go
to.
Certainly,
we
obviously
want
to
make
sure
whether
it's
Athletics
or
outside
activities
or
even
in
school,
that
the
kids
are
hydrating.
That
is
one
of
the
major
things.
So
we've
delivered
lots
of
water
to
all
of
the
schools
and
we'll
be
monitoring
throughout
the
day.
E
That's
right
so
I
mean
one
I
want
to
acknowledge
and
appreciate
Mary
Wu
superintendent
and
the
team,
because
these
are
very
long
overdue
changes
that
were
needed
and
in
a
relatively
short
amount
of
time.
You
know,
since
this
Administration
started,
the
AC
implementation
has
been
happening,
and
so
we've
been
in
schools
over.
You
know
the
last
few
days
where
Educators
have
all
been
doing
professional
development
and
checking
in
all
the
different
issues
and
they've
been
very
responsive.
E
We've
been
in
touch
with
them
over
the
last
few
days,
but
obviously,
if
you
are
in
one
of
those
classrooms
that
doesn't
yet
have
the
AC,
because
the
electrical
wasn't
able
to
you
know
have
it
be.
What's
the
word
yeah
upgraded,
that's
what
we've
been
hearing,
so
we
like
I,
said
yesterday
we
were
in
touch
with
our
team
and
we're
like
literally
naming
rooms
where
there
were
issues
or
the
AC
hadn't
been
installed
and
they
were
on
it.
E
And
you
know
it's
going
to
be
tough,
obviously,
and
we
want
to
see
100
done,
but
the
good
news
is
the
vast
majority
of
schools
that
we
visited
do
have
the
AC
in
place
and
they
are
so
relieved.
It
makes
such
a
difference.
It's
the
heat
is
no
longer
a
distraction
and
they're
able
to
actually
focus
on
their
learning,
and
so
the
amount
of
progress
that's
been
made
in
the
last
few
years
is
I.
Think
extremely
significant
and
worth
noting.
E
I
think
that
everyone's
feeling,
very
hopeful
and-
and
we
finally
I
think-
are
in
a
place
coming
out
of
the
pandemic,
where
there's
stability
and
we
have
much
better
Staffing
levels
than
we've
had
in
the
past.
You
know
I
was
reflecting
on
when
I
started
teaching
you
know
in
2005
and
we
didn't
have
furniture.
We
didn't
have
AC
for
sure.
You
know
we
didn't
have
a
lot
of
the
resources
and
supplies
that
teachers
need
to
really
start
the
year
off
right
and
visiting
the
schools
yesterday
and
seeing
the
teachers
prepare
there.
B
E
Well,
I
think
that's
why
the
district's
been
focused
so
much
on.
Literacy
is
because
we
know
that
students
are
learning
how
to
read
until
third
grade
and
really
then
switch
to
a
reading
in
order
to
learn,
and
so
there's
been
a
lot
of
professional
development
and
work
in
making
sure
that
those
early
years
are
strong.
But
I
think
that
you
know
the
superintendent
could
definitely
speak
on
this
as
well.
But
you
know
starting
the
school
year
off.
F
Hi
everyone
at
large
city,
councilor,
Richie
luigien
here
it
was
just
a
joy
to
be
here
with
the
red
carpet
and
welcome
our
kids
to
school,
with
these
lovely
pencils
and
to
send
them
off
with
encouragement,
but
I.
Also
I
was
here
primarily
because
my
niece
started-
and
this
is
her
first
day
at
the
Mildred
and
just
wanted
to
make
sure
that
she
felt
at
home
here.
F
Stable
leadership
is
so
important
for
all
of
our
kids
and
I
just
want
to
thank
all
of
the
bus
drivers,
all
the
parents,
the
the
teachers
involved
in
making
this
a
great
first
day,
despite
the
heat,
so
that
our
kids
can
really
reach
all
of
their
potential
and
realize
that
the
sky
is
the
limit,
and
it's
it's
all
of
us.
Together.
It's
leadership.
It's
it's
elected
officials.
It's
the
schools!
It's
our
non-profit,
Sean
Brown,
here
with
bam,
welcoming
and
loving
on
our
kids.
F
That's
what
our
kids
need:
they
need
adults
in
their
lives
who
love
them
and
who
help
them
realize
their
full
potential
and
as
a
BPS
graduate.
This
is
beautiful
and
we'll
be
out
at
all
our
schools
throughout
the
city,
my
team
and
other
employees
of
the
city
of
Boston,
because
it
takes
a
village
to
raise
our
kids
and
that's
what
we're
doing
every
day.
Thank
you.