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Updated December 18, 2024, at 2:54 p.m.
The Cambridge School Committee voted unanimously to close the Kennedy-Longfellow School at their last scheduled regular meeting of the year, following extensive criticism during a nearly two-hour public comment period.
The school committee’s Tuesday vote follows Cambridge Public Schools interim superintendent David G. Murphy’s Dec. 10 recommendation to close the elementary school. The school, which serves predominantly high-needs students, has long struggled with low test scores and under enrollment.
Murphy reported that the closure, which will take effect during the 2025-26 school year, is necessary to “resolve the school’s untenable situation.”
But of the more than 50 Cambridge residents who spoke at the meeting, many said the decision had been made without sufficient outreach to K-Lo affiliates. Eleven-year-old K-Lo student Zora Coburn-Zeller spoke out against the decision to close the school.
“You have been acting like toddlers in playtime, stacking up the blocks just to knock them down,” Coburn-Zeller said. “That is what you are doing with the school. You should be acting like grown adults.”
A Wednesday afternoon press release from CPS quoted K-Lo principal Christine Gerber as saying she was “deeply saddened by the decision.”
“But I do not disagree with the ultimate analysis of the systems and structures that led to this recommendation,” she said. “I am committed to successfully completing the remainder of the school year while guiding our families and staff through their transition into their new learning communities."’
Some speakers at Tuesday’s meeting said they thought the School Committee’s earlier discussions of K-Lo’s closure had placed blame on students and educators, rather than systemic failures.
Kennedy-Longfellow teacher Christine Burke said that in her 28 years of teaching, the majority of School Committee members had never entered her classroom. Burke said remarks made by School Committee members — including Cambridge Mayor E. Denise Simmons — at the group's Nov. 19 meeting unfairly blamed her and other educators for K-Lo’s struggles.
“Member Simmons referenced that the K-Lo staff wasn’t doing their job, and maybe we should look elsewhere for employment. She then stated that maybe we should work with trees, followed by her statement of, ‘Oh no, that wouldn’t be fair to the trees,’” Burke said.
“Look at me. I am one of the individuals that you’ve deemed the problem,” she said. “Going forward, I suggest that you look in the mirror and take accountability for your own words and actions.”
Other attendees said the Committee should consider and respect the opinion of teachers in future decisions.
“Educators must be included as equal partners in our decisions going forward,” said Alyssa Tyler, a math interventionist at Rindge Avenue Upper School. “Please trust us that we are here to help our students. We are here as partners, not as adversaries.”
Tyler, along with several other speakers, blamed CPS’ controlled choice system — which assigns students to their families’ preferred schools through a weighted lottery that considers gender and socioeconomic factors — for allowing students and resources to drain from K-Lo.
While presenting his recommendation to the committee, Murphy noted plans to relocate students like Coborn-Zeller to other CPS schools — including Martin Luther King, Jr. School and the King Open School. The district also identified John M. Tobin Montessori School as a destination for English language learners currently enrolled in K-Lo’s Sheltered English Immersion program.
Under a late order proposed by School Committee member Richard Harding, Jr. and approved by the committee, K-Lo families would have the option to register students at their preferred schools, as long as space was available. Displaced K-Lo students would receive priority for available seats.
Cambridge Education Association president Dan Monahan said that K-Lo’s closure must entail “no job cuts — period” for staff currently working at the school.
“Our scholars need additional support now, not less,” he said. “Any position cut, not just CEA, will be viewed as evidence that finances were a factor in the decision.”
Murphy said that he planned to reassign “vast majority ” of K-Lo employees to elsewhere in the district but did not promise no jobs would be cut.
“I don’t anticipate a significant reduction in positions of any kind,” Murphy said. “I expect to retain the vast majority of individuals that are serving.”
During the meeting, Murphy said he understands Kennedy-Longfellow affiliates may be “furious” with the decision.
“No one should blame you for that,” Murphy said. “But my responsibility is to look at the system as a whole and see what are our options from this point forward.”
“It is my professional view that we do not have a better option than the one that I have put before the School Committee tonight,” he added.
Correction: December 18, 2024
A previous version of this article misspelled Zora Coburn-Zeller’s last name.
