English High Students Return to Boarded Windows as Repairs Drag Into Year Two

Students walked back into English High School this week for a second consecutive school year with the same scaffolding, cranes, and boarded-up windows still ringing the Jamaica Plain campus. What was supposed to be a routine window and door replacement has stretched well past a year, leaving families and staff to navigate an active construction zone during the school day.

According to CBS News, the project at 144 McBride Street has now continued for over a year, with construction crews, cranes, and covered windows greeting students and teachers each morning. Parent Sam Molina told the outlet he has seen drilling around the building and is not sure exactly what is being fixed, adding that the ongoing work would be disruptive for students trying to learn.

The scope of the job is substantial. The renovation calls for replacing more than 100 windows and 20 exterior doors with custom, energy-efficient units meant to improve indoor climate control, cut heating costs, and boost daylighting in classrooms, according to Jamaica Plain News. The Boston Public Facilities Department has said temporary window coverings went up because of unforeseen delivery delays, and custom orders for older municipal buildings like English High routinely run into long manufacturing lead times.

A Year of Boarded Windows and Shifting Timelines

Boston Public Schools told families last September that phase one of the project was nearly complete and that boards would soon come off the windows. That timeline has since slipped considerably. The Boston Public Facilities Department now projects the renovation will wrap later this fall, with remaining work scheduled to take place after school hours to limit disruption during class time.

WBZ-TV also covered the construction at English High last September, documenting the same scaffolding and boarded windows still visible on campus today. The Boston Teachers Union has said it is grateful the district scheduled remaining renovation work after school hours, easing some concerns about classroom disruption even as the project timeline continues to stretch.

State Grant Rules and a Historic Campus

The project carries a total approved budget of $11,241,814, with an estimated maximum facility grant of $5,596,320 coming from the Massachusetts School Building Authority, per state building authority records. Under the authority's Accelerated Repair Program guidelines, building components like windows must be at least 30 years old before they qualify for that matching state funding, a threshold English High's aging window stock cleared with room to spare.

English High School was founded in 1821 as the nation's first public high school, established as the English Classical School to prepare working-class boys for careers in commerce and industry. Notable alumni include financier J.P. Morgan, actor Leonard Nimoy, and former Massachusetts Lt. Gov. Frank Bellotti, according to the school's own historical materials. The institution has occupied its current Jamaica Plain building since 1989, when it moved into the former Jamaica Plain High School site.

Part of a Citywide Facilities Backlog

Erik Berg said he hoped more resources would be put into public schools across Boston, calling the boarded windows at English High a highly visible example of a much larger school facilities problem. Roughly 65 percent of Boston Public Schools buildings were built before World War II, with an average building age around 80 years old and nearly three-quarters lacking mechanical HVAC ventilation, according to city data.

Mayor Michelle Wu launched a $2 billion Green New Deal for Boston Public Schools in May 2022, committing capital funding toward major building overhauls, energy efficiency retrofits, and decarbonization across the district. At the same time, a BPS Long-Term Facilities Plan submitted to state regulators in January 2024 warned the district may need to close or merge up to half of its 119 school buildings amid declining enrollment and aging infrastructure, a tension that looms over visible, drawn-out projects like the one at English High.

The city has also allocated $650,000 separately to redesign and renovate English High's outdoor athletic courts for basketball, tennis, and pickleball, showing additional investment moving forward on campus even as the window project lags. And in July, Boston City Council committees reviewed an $850,000 request for feasibility and schematic design work covering five more MSBA Accelerated Repair projects districtwide, including additional roof, door, and window replacements, according to the Boston Policy Institute.

For now, English High's own boarded windows and idle cranes stand as a daily reminder of that backlog. Berg and others argue the city and state need to invest more in school facilities generally, particularly in Boston, where aging and crumbling buildings continue to fall short of what students need.