It wasn’t that long ago that the state of athletics in Boston Public Schools was downright dismal. Teams did not have a fully equipped field to practice. Some were even left to run practice drills in alleyways because space was not available on school property. There were not enough uniforms to go around, leaving teammates swapping sweaty shirts with one another in the midst of competitions.
But when the sports weren’t available, even in this less than ideal state, high school and middle school students were left with too much empty time on their hands when school got out. Pay-to-play, an option seen in many of the wealthier suburban school districts nearby, simply didn’t cut it in a district where 75 percent of the student population lives below the poverty level. The quandary seemed to be growing deeper and deeper – until two Good Samaritan organizations stepped in.
This video reports on the Boston Scholar Athletes Academic Zone.
Boston Scholar Athletes Focus on Athletics, Academics
In 2009, Boston Globe reporter Bob Hohler did a series on the miserable state of affairs in Boston Public Schools athletic programs across the city. After visiting every school in the district, Hohler found that many of the problems within the system boiled down to a lack of money, according to a report at WBUR. After the reports were published, Boston Schools Superintendent Carol Johnson began receiving
