Vivi Smilgius

After more than six months of negotiations between Brookline’s teachers union and the Public Schools of Brookline, the Brookline Early Education Program (BEEP) will shift from half- to full-day programming this fall. On July 8, the School Committee unanimously approved an agreement between the Brookline Educators Union and the district to expand the preschool and… Read More »BEEP to move to full-day starting this fall …

Nearly every weekday morning for the past nine years, Ricardo Henry watched his child board the school bus from Boston to the Lawrence School, a public K-8 school in Brookline. Doing so this spring felt different. He was filled with fear for the eighth grader, who had been subject to racial bullying by different students… Read More »‘Were they trying to kill my child?’: Father speaks out on alleged racial bullying at Lawrence School …

On one of the hottest days of the summer, 15 teenagers drenched with sweat pushed wheelbarrows through Larz Anderson Park, helping to mulch a path. It was this year’s largest undertaking as part of the Brookline Teen Center’s Youthscapers program, an initiative which has been ongoing since 2016. The program gives the teenagers a chance… Read More »Teen center’s Youthscapers program gives local students sun, skills and a paycheck …

Ahmad Hamssa, Brookline’s first language access coordinator, moved with his family to the United States from Sudan in 2003, and he learned English at the age of 7. Now, as he works to codify the town’s patchwork of translation and interpretation services, he hopes to ensure that other immigrant families don’t face the same struggles… Read More »Town launches effort to bridge local government language gap, spurred by 2021 Town Meeting vote …

The U.S. Department of Education’s Office of Civil Rights opened an investigation into the Lawrence School, where a student allegedly suffered racial bullying and harassment multiple times during the 2023-’24 school year. The investigation comes in response to a complaint filed by Lawyers for Civil Rights on behalf of MC Henry, a Black eighth-grade student… Read More »U.S. Department of Education to investigate alleged racial bullying at Lawrence School …

The Public Library of Brookline unveiled an automated materials handling system last week, following library systems in Newton and Wellesley in installing the high-tech sorting apparatus.

Superintendent of schools used to be a long-time gig in Brookline. Before 2015, only 13 people had held that job in 142 years, according to data from the district. That’s no longer the case. In the past nine years, seven people have been superintendent on a permanent, acting, or interim basis. Across Massachusetts, an average… Read More »Three years in, Superintendent Linus Guillory is getting good grades despite controversies …

In its first substantive response to allegations made in a July federal civil rights complaint, Brookline’s school district pushed back on claims that it failed to adequately respond to alleged racial harassment and bullying of a student at the Lawrence School. The district released a statement Wednesday afternoon, five days after providing a formal, confidential… Read More »Brookline schools dispute claim of inaction on racial bullying …

In the basement of All Saints Parish in Brookline, the quiet of the church is interrupted by the giggles and squeals of young children solving puzzles, reading books and in a few cases, missing their mothers. The church at the intersection of Dean Road and Beacon Street houses Corner Co-Op Nursery, a play-based early education… Read More »Parents welcome: Inside the Corner Co-op, a 52-year-old Brookline preschool …

Only two private schools in Massachusetts received national recognition for academic excellence this year — and one of them was in Brookline.