Boston Public Schools Sees Success With Transportation, Hiring, Attendance

After the first week of the 2025-2026 school year, Boston Public Schools (BPS) reported early improvements in bus transportation, attendance, staffing, and other key metrics.

During the first Wednesday night meeting of the school year, BPS Superintendent Mary Skipper reported to the School Committee the successful adoption of new technologies like the Zum bus-tracking app and increased staffing levels, with 96% of teachers and counselors hired by the start of the school year.

On the first day of school, 66% of the district's morning buses arrived on time, which improved to 84% by midweek, surpassing percentages from previous years. Close to 99% of bus drivers are using the Zum bus-tracking app daily, and more than 16,000 families have downloaded the app.

BPS also made significant facilities improvements over the summer. It opened two new school buildings, the newly built Sarah Roberts Elementary in Roslindale and Carter School in Roxbury. It renovated PJ Kennedy in East Boston. 

Officials also praised the expanded kitchen and cooking-from-scratch capacity in 106 of the 122 school buildings, as well as the new literacy curriculum implemented at every school.

Enrollment as of Wednesday, Sept. 10, was approximately 48,128 students, with approximately 2,400 new registrations occurring between June and September. 

Skipper also noted that, on the first day of school, attendance averaged 78.8% across the district, up two percentage points from the previous year. Boston Mayor Michelle Wu and Skipper took part in an annual door-knocking campaign the day before school and spoke with students at risk of chronic absenteeism or dropping out. The campaign visited 184 homes in Dorchester, Jamaica Plain, and Roxbury.

Wu, who made a rare appearance at the School Committee meeting, said, “The strides forward we've seen, I believe, [are] significantly due to the implementation of new technologies and really stretching and pushing ourselves to take the risks of learning curves in order to reach that next level of service delivery,” Wu said in a statement recorded by the Boston Herald. “That has begun to show that it has made a difference.”