School faculty greets students and parent at the P.A. Shaw Elementary School in Dorchester on the first day of school in Boston.
Around 6:30, as the O'Bryant's campus started to fill with students, Malcolm X Boulevard began to burble with hellos, hugs and high-fives. Eighth grader Aziza Daniel-Davis got there early, and welcomed the start of the school year for its social component:"Chatting with my friends, you know."from its current location near Nubian Square to the former West Roxbury Education Complex seven miles away.
Back-to-school coincided with a sweltering early September heat wave. Though the morning began with sunny skies and temperatures in the 70s, conditions rapidly heated up to the low 90s by middayThat didn't affect school operations. But it meant muggy travel for the more than 40,000 BPS students in Grades 1 to 12 who took cars, buses, subways and traveled by foot to get to school Thursday.
Skipper also emphasized BPS's investment in upgrades to its fleet of school buses. Officials say the transportation system is fully staffed with bus drivers this year, thanks to 200 additional hires since last year. There were also 20 new electric school buses on the roads Thursday morning.
Fitzgerald Allen and his grandson, Harley, wait for a school bus that's running late in Mattapan on the first day of school.