On Monday morning, Mayor Jared Nicholson, Ward Councilors Wayne Lozzi and Coco Alinsug, Interim Superintendent Deb Ruggiero, and School Committee members Brian Castellanos and Lorraine Gately toured the school to see how LEAP (learn, explore, aspire, pursue) for Education’s Dream MORE program was enriching students’ lives.

Dozens of middle schoolers formed a line in the Thurgood Marshall Middle School parking lot Monday morning to climb aboard the “SCiLL,” a 30-foot-long mobile Sustainability and Climate Innovation Learning Lab.

Today, U.S. Secretary of Education Miguel Cardona launched the Engage Every Student Initiative, a bold new call to action to utilize American Rescue Plan funds alongside other state and local funds to ensure that every child who wants a spot in a high-quality out-of-school time (OST) program has one.

Dr. Robert Putnam, Harvard professor in public policy at the Harvard School of Government, discusses the growing opportunity gap among our low-income youth and its implications for their social mobility and the costs to society. He makes a compelling case for all of us to take this issue seriously and for us to use our collective voices to compel our government as well as religious leaders to do something about it.