<p>WHEREAS: The Cambridge Public Schools (CPS) has a responsibility to provide an engaging, rigorous, and equitable education to all students enrolled across each and every school community; and</p><p>WHEREAS: The Kennedy-Longfellow School was founded as the Robert F. Kennedy School in June of 1973 and then renamed in 2003 following its consolidation with the Henry Wadsworth Longfellow School; and</p><p>WHEREAS: For 51 years, the teachers and staff of the Kennedy-Longfellow School have worked tirelessly to provide high-quality educational opportunities to students proudly representing a multitude of backgrounds and diverse learning needs, never having wavered from their responsibility to the children of Cambridge; and</p><p>WHEREAS: For more than two decades, the Kennedy-Longfellow School has played an outsized role in ensuring the Cambridge Public Schools fulfills its moral obligation to support the children and families of the entire Cambridge community and to empower them through a high-quality education, such that other school communities can learn from the expertise and skills cultivated through service to students with empathy, compassion, and a commitment to excellence; and</p><p>WHEREAS: The underlying policies, systems, and structures through which CPS operates have created an inequitable allocation of responsibility across the Cambridge Public Schools that have contributed significantly to a disparity in student outcomes; and</p><p>WHEREAS: The Cambridge Public Schools cannot continue to perpetuate the inequalities represented in gross disproportionality; and</p><p>WHEREAS: CPS owes an unending debt of gratitude to the service and support afforded to students by the former and current educators of the Kennedy-Longfellow School; now therefore be it</p><p>ORDERED: That the Kennedy-Longfellow School cease its current iteration at the conclusion of the 2024-2025 school year, and that all current Kennedy-Longfellow School students be reassigned to other CPS schools, prioritizing reassignment under principles of continuity and choice, meaning students may be prioritized on CPS schools’ waitlists and efforts will be made to better utilize existing space to allow grade-level cohorts a degree of continuity; and be it further</p><p>ORDERED: That a superintendent’s advisory committee be established, composed of representative members of the community, to advise on how best to support the transition of students into new school communities; and be it further</p><p>ORDERED: That the broader Cambridge community be engaged on how CPS will utilize the school building located at 158 Spring Street as a school facility no later than the start of the 2026-2027 school year; and be it further</p><p>ORDERED: That to the extent possible, appropriate reassignment of staff currently based at the Kennedy-Longfellow School to positions within the Cambridge Public Schools be prioritized; and be it further</p><p>ORDERED: That the Superintendent be and hereby is requested to report back to the Cambridge School Committee no later than February 4, 2025, with respect to the progress of the transition.</p>
