Madison Park Technical Vocational High School

Mayor Michelle Wu has committed the largest investment in a generation to the redesign of Madison Park Technical Vocational High School, the City’s only vocational high school. Madison Park must receive the support it needs to support its diverse high school student body as well as adult learners in the community. Our investments in the school must reflect the fact that Madison Park not only opens doors for its students, but also builds the economic vitality of our entire City.

After decades of disinvestment, Madison Park’s facilities are aging, and are not designed to support a full suite of innovative Career and Technical Education (CTE) programs connected to Boston industries. The redesign project is an opportunity to reinvigorate its CTE programs and equip students for high-quality, fulfilling careers in Boston, including the green sector jobs that will be critical to Boston’s future.

What is the timeline for the MSBA Core Program?

Applications for the Core Program are due in April 2025, and we expect to hear back in December 2025. If we are invited into the program by the MSBA this year, we would anticipate the design process starting in 2026. All of the feedback we heard through the Programming and Feasibility Study would continue to be carried forward into the MSBA process.

What happens if the MSBA doesn’t accept the Madison Park application to the Core Program in 2025?

We remain committed to delivering a redesigned Madison Park whether or not we are invited into the MSBA process. If the MSBA Board does not invite Madison Park into its pipeline for 2025, we remain open to funding the project entirely through City funds, but will need to carefully and transparently evaluate the tradeoffs associated with doing so.  

In 2025, we will continue to refine our programmatic vision, build new partnerships and strengthen students’ career pathways, and seek philanthropic support for the project – all of which will better prepare us to begin construction.

What are the odds that the MSBA accepts the application for Madison Park?

The MSBA is a competitive process, and considers applications from all over Massachusetts. Thanks to the deep community involvement in developing the vision for Madison Park over the last few years, we are confident that we can put forward a very strong application that makes a compelling case for why a new building would support a higher-quality vocational education. We have a strong working relationship with the MSBA, and our last two applications to the MSBA (Shaw-Taylor School and the Ruth Batson Academy) have been successfully advanced into the MSBA process.

What progress has been made so far, and what are the next steps?

• Programming and Feasibility Study (August 2022 - October 2023): We conducted a programming and feasibility study, working with Annum Architects in collaboration with the Public Facilities Department (PFD), the City of Boston, Boston Public Schools, and community stakeholders. The Feasibility Study assessed the current conditions of the facilities, identified the community priorities for a redesigned campus, and estimated the space needs of MPTVHS. The Feasibility Study is not the final design or architectural plan for the campus nor the program, but it helps us develop a cost estimate for the project for planning purposes.
• Procurement, Pre-Design Planning, and Cost Estimates (October 2023 - December 2024): The Public Facilities Department (PFD) hired an Owner’s Project Manager (OPM) – LeftField Project Management– an important step in a complex project of this size. The OPM also contracted with a labor market economist to complete a deeper analysis of current and potential CTE programs at Madison and their connection to good-paying local jobs. We also hired a design team to begin to translate the programming vision into facilities design concepts and develop detailed cost estimates for those design concepts. More information and visuals of the design concepts can be found here.
• Budget Development (ongoing): Based on the cost estimates received in Fall 2024, we believe the best path to deliver the full vision of the Madison Park facilities redesign is to seek partnership from state and other sources to support the City’s investment. We plan to submit a Statement of Interest to the Massachusetts School Building Authority in Spring 2025, and expect to hear back by the end of 2025. We will also continue seeking partnerships to help support this renovation.

How’re you engaging community members in this process?

We are committed to keeping the community actively involved at every stage of this project. We host periodic community meetings to share broad updates and hold monthly meetings with vocational experts, community advocates, alumni, partners, school leaders, and others to gather valuable feedback on project development. If you’d like to connect with a project team member or bring more information to your community, please reach out to capitalplanning@bostonpublicschools.org.

One example of this engagement was during the Programming & Feasibility Study, when we asked Madison Park community members key questions, such as: What do you love about your school? What do you want to see prioritized in a new building? Below are the key meetings that supported this study:

• June 24, 2022: Focus group with Madison Park leadership
• August 5, 2022: Educational leadership team kickoff meeting 
• August 2022: Visioning sessions with Madison Park leadership 
• September 27, 2022: Community meeting (virtual)
• October 17, 2022: Community meeting (virtual)
• October 2022: Focus groups with Madison Park students
• November 3, 2022: Focus group with Madison Park students
• November 15, 2022: Community visioning session
• November 17, 2022: Focus group with Madison Park students
• November 29, 2022: Community visioning session
• November 29, 2022: Focus group with Madison Park educators
• December 13, 2022: Focus group with Madison Park educators
• February 9, 2023: Community meeting (virtual)
• February 2023: Student forum
• June 21, 2023: Community meeting (virtual)
• March 2023: Family forum
• November 16, 2023: Community meeting (in-person)

Will Madison Park students have the opportunity to work on this project?

Yes! We will keep engaging Madison Park students throughout this process. Visiting classes and speaking with students has already informed and strengthened this project, and we will look for opportunities to give students hands-on experiences when design/construction are underway. In the meantime, Mayor Wu and Superintendent Skipper are making programmatic investments in the vocational programs for current students, long before construction even begins.

FEASIBILITY STUDY

What is the Madison Park Feasibility Study?

The Feasibility Study for the Madison Park project was prepared by Annum Architects in collaboration with the Public Facilities Department (PFD), the City of Boston, and school community stakeholders from August 2022 - October 2023. The Feasibility Study assessed the current conditions of the facilities, and identified the community priorities for a redesigned campus, and determined the space needs of MPTVHS. The Feasibility Study is not the final design or architectural plan for the campus nor the program, but it helps us develop a cost estimate for the project for planning purposes. It also includes an updated Educational Plan for Madison Park.

LATEST DESIGN UPDATES

Which buildings will be used for the Madison Park project?

While it’s tempting to think about the school’s square footage in terms of building numbers, this approach doesn’t reflect the redesign accurately. With the redesign, the school will have better-utilized square footage than it currently does, providing thoughtfully designed learning spaces. The designs will optimize space to provide more functional and engaging environments for students, rather than simply adding to the current building layouts. This means the school will feel larger and more effective in meeting student needs.

Will new programs be considered for Madison Park?

The Feasibility Study, guided by community meetings, identified new potential Career and Technical Education (CTE) programs and program spaces the school currently lacks, including an auditorium, performing arts spaces, and an expanded media center.

We have continued to review current CTE programs and potential new programs with the Madison Park leadership team as well as industry, labor, economic, and data experts to develop a final list of CTE programs.

How will this project impact the O’Bryant?

The O’Bryant and Madison Park have shared a campus since 1987. Mayor Wu and Superintendent Skipper proposed to move the O’Bryant to the West Roxbury Education Complex so that both programs can expand and have the state-of-the-art facilities students need. In March 2024, due to a lack of community consensus, the Mayor and Superintendent decided to pause that proposal. O’Bryant will be staying on the Malcolm X Blvd campus throughout Madison Park’s redesign project. Read the full letter to the O’Bryant community linked here.

Where will students go during construction?

In order to minimize disruption to students, we are exploring a variety of options including renovating the current Madison Park buildings and building a new building. In the scenario where we renovate the existing buildings, students would use swing space on alternate sites for both their academic and vocational education. In the new building scenario, students would stay in their current buildings while the new building is being built on part of the athletic complex. We would relocate the sports teams during this time, until the new sports fields can be rebuilt where Madison Park currently stands.

Will grades 7-8 be included in the redesigned Madison Park school building?

The Programming and Feasibility Study proposed expanding Madison Park to serve students in grades 7-12 to align with the typical BPS grade configuration for secondary schools. We plan to submit a Statement of Interest to the MSBA for a Madison Park program that serves the full 7-12 community.

What’s the plan for parking?

There are currently approximately 150 parking spaces at the rear of building 7 and on the street, which are primarily used by staff and students. Throughout the design process, the team will consider options for maintaining parking.