Response to Harvard's proposed education portal
Rita Vaidya
to Harvard's education portal (an education community benefit) that was
proposed by Harvard in mid-August in the Harvard/Allston Task force
meeting. We don't think it is sufficient and we are getting signatures
from community education leaders, neighbors, etc for a
university-assisted community school approach. We have gotten support
from the principals of the Thomas Gardner Elementary School and German
International School in North Allston. We also have gotten signatures
from over 100 residents and educators in the community.
I hope you would be willing to sign this letter. If yes, please send me
(rita....@rcn.com) an email message saying that you support the
letter below (cut and paste the text of the letter into your email) and
put your name, address and education affiliation (if any - teacher,
school age kids, etc.). The comment period is due Sept. 10th, 2007.
Thank you.
Rita Vaidya
15 Athol Street,
Allston, MA 02134
rita....@rcn.com
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September 6th , 2007
Gerald Autler,
Boston Redevelopment Authority
City Hall, 9th Floor
Boston, MA 02201-1007
As members of the Allston community, we would like to voice our
disappointment with the proposed Harvard Allston Education Portal. We
believe this approach to community benefits, designed to offset the
impact of Harvard University’s expansion into Allston, does not meet the
community’s needs and is not proportionate with the scale of the
development that Harvard is planning for the neighborhood. The programs
proposed for the Education Portal amount to little more than an
incoherent array of activities that do not meet the stated objectives of
a broad and deep relationship with the community. Moreover, the Portal
does not align with the long-term vision endorsed by Harvard and the
BRA's Harvard Allston Task Force for a model community-university
education partnership that would have a significant impact on the
school-age population in the neighborhood.
Additionally, we think that the BRA should not waiver further review of
the Science Complex. More time is warranted to build community consensus
and negotiate with Harvard a more substantial community benefits
agreement. A Final Project Impact Report should be required to resolve
the community benefits and other important issues including
transportation, construction mitigation, the contribution of the Science
Complex to the public realm, and the many items in the BRA's Scoping
Determination that have not yet been answered by Harvard.
We believe that the community would be better served if Harvard would
agree to a more comprehensive approach that is commensurate with the
vast scope of the Science Complex and the University’s long-term
development plans. If Harvard provides a separate community benefit
package for every individual development project, then the benefits to
the community will be disjointed and ineffective. Rather than a
piecemeal approach, we urge Harvard to approach the community with a
more substantive proposal now that will have a meaningful and lasting
impact on the community.
We would like to suggest that Harvard consider a science focused
university-assisted community school approach whereby a school would
function as a center for the entire community, providing a focal point
for education, social services, recreation and activities for students,
their parents and the community as a whole. Through collaboration, the
program could offer service learning programs that engage young people
in projects to serve their school, families and community.
A university assisted community school would be an ideal strategy for
building communities of support and improved academic success for local
children, youth, and their families in the Allston neighborhood. Such a
school could provide educational, recreational, and health-related
services and by serving as the informational and coordinating hub for
local community resources. Similar school-university partnerships
function as an integrator that effectively aligns the university’s
numerous schools and departments in order to help develop and maintain
university-assisted community schools and bring about mutually
beneficial collaboration.
We urge Harvard to fully consider the dimensions of its unprecedented
expansion into Allston. The BRA should insist that the City and the
Allston/Brighton community receive the benefits that they are due. There
is a clear need to develop a community benefits approach that is
commensurate with the dramatic impact of future development that goes
well beyond Harvard’s new science complex.
Signature Name Address Educational Affiliation