Mayor Michelle Wu stood by her position that the city will not consider applying the initiative granting BPS students free access to museums to other students on Sunday.
“This was a very carefully negotiated opportunity over the course of an entire year of conversations and negotiations,” Wu said, visiting the Boston Children’s Museum with her kids Sunday. “And we’re not going to reopen those negotiations just in the middle of the agreed-upon pilot.”
The “BPS Sundays” pilot program was launched in January to allow BPS students free access to cultural institutions on the first and second Sunday of each month up to August. Under the program, BPS students and up to three family members have free access to six museums and cultural institutions around Boston.
The program does not include other school-age children, including public charter school students and METCO students. The exclusion of other students has stirred controversy and led some city councilors to push for an expansion of the pilot.
The mayor’s remarks come days after the cancellation of a city council hearing on altering the initiative, with Councilor Henry Santana saying he needed more time to review early data on the program.
“We’re looking to very, very carefully at learn about this program, see exactly the impacts on the finances of these institutions, on the community members and families, so that we can have the best idea about how to turn this into something permanent at the end of the pilot period,” Wu said Sunday.
Wu previously told the Herald there is not funding to expand the program to more students during the pilot period, and the exclusion is not politically motivated.
Regarding the cancelled hearing, the mayor said “the City Council is in charge of their own scheduling. City staff intends to present more data on the subject towards the end of the pilot and analyze how the program is working and can be improved, Wu added.
The city is collecting data on the financial impacts on the institutions, numbers of students and families participating, outreach methods and numbers of first time attendees, Wu said.
“I hope that we can keep the momentum going and make sure that this will be something that’s in place for a long time to come,” Wu said.
“This is a great opportunity for kids to get to visit all these museums that are here and they’ve never been before,” said Zara Abba-Aji, who brought her kids to the Children’s Museum for the first time Sunday. “They love it.”
