In March of 1989, the Chelsea School Committee endorsed a revolutionary proposal that the City and Boston University form a Partnership in which the University would manage the Chelsea Public Schools. In June of that year, the Massachusetts Legislature passed a bill enabling the City of Chelsea to assign to the University all authority normally exercised by an elected school committee. Because Boston University had been heavily involved in the schools in 1988, the ten-year contract was in effect retroactively from June, 1988, to June, 1998.
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In September of 1991, the City of Chelsea became unable to meet its financial obligations and was placed in receivership. In setting the terms of the Partnership, Chelsea had agreed to fund the schools at or above 1989 levels. The University and the Partnership faced a moral and financial crisis. Chelsea no longer had the resources to live up to the terms of the original partnership, but to abandon the children would be unconscionable. Boston University therefore maintained its role in the Partnership despite a reduced financial contribution from Chelsea. The University established A Different September Foundation in 1991 to raise funds to compensate for the deficit and to finance other initiatives of the Partnership.
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| Signing of the Boston University/Chelsea Partnership Agreement on May 3, 1989 |
The Partnership outlined a comprehensive, long-term program of educational reform that treated all aspects of preparing children to learn, equipping teachers to teach, restructuring the curriculum, and involving as much of the community as possible in its education system. It established a Boston University Management Team to realize the seventeen goals of the Partnership while remaining accountable to the School Committee. A majority vote of the School Committee at any time can terminate the contract. The Partnership has been successful, and, at the unanimous request of the Chelsea School Committee and the Chelsea City Council, the contract was extended until 2003 and again until 2008.
The School Committee had the courage to ask for help and the wisdom to take it when it was offered. This pioneering partnership has given the people of Chelsea valuable opportunities and has improved the education of the children. It has also demonstrated a successful way in which to manage the school system, and the City of Chelsea will one day be able to operate its schools effectively and independently.