The Boston University/Chelsea Partnership is a unique, long-term partnership between a city and a private university. The partnership aims not just to improve a particular school or program, but to rebuild an entire school system. The work has made a profound difference to the City of Chelsea and its children.

In 1989, at the invitation of the Chelsea School Committee, the University accepted the responsibility of managing the Chelsea Public Schools, with the goal of restoring excellence to a school system suffering from the problems that afflict many urban public schools. The City of Chelsea and Boston University entered into a ten-year, no-fee contract, and the state legislature passed legislation to make such a partnership legally possible. In 1996, the School Committee asked the University to continue its work in Chelsea for an additional five years; in July 1997, a five-year contract extension was signed. Again in June 2002 the School Committee sought a second five-year extension, set to conclude June 30, 2008.

A College of Fine Arts student helps a teenager at Chelsea High School create a self-portrait as part of the Pathway alternative education program. The six-week course has been offered each spring since 1996.

Rebuilding an entire school system is a lengthy and complex enterprise. Throughout the partnership, three principles have guided these efforts:

• children must come to school prepared to learn;
• teachers must come to school prepared to teach; and
• schools must impart to children the enduring knowledge, skills, and habits necessary to live productive, responsible, and fulfilling lives.

Various programs have been established to implement these principles. The Early Childhood Program, the cornerstone of the partnership, provides preschool children in Chelsea with instruction, healthy meals, and social and physical development that will enable them to succeed in school. It is open every working day of the year, from 7:30 a.m. to 6 p.m.

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