We request that the Cambridge City Council, School Committee, and Dept. of Human Service Programs dedicate resources to ensure that students located at the Amigos School have access to Community School and afterschool services. We petition for the following reasons.

The City of Cambridge pledges to provide Community School and afterschool services to ALL public school students. Afterschool services are necessary to recruit and retain students reflecting the diversity of the City, particularly those from lower income families.

Yet as of today no resources or support have been allocated to develop a Community School or any other afterschool service at the Amigos School when it moves to Upton Street.

Furthermore, no resources or support have been allocated to provide busing or other safe transportation for Amigos students to access nearby Community School and  afterschool programs – in particular 2 of the 4 city-supported full-time afterschool programs located at the Morse School and Martin Luther King Jr. School.

This lack of service and lack of transportation does not meet the needs of Amigos students nor does it fulfill the City’s pledge to provide access to Community School afterschool services to all students.

We urge the City Council, the School Committee, and the Dept. of Human Service Programs to dedicate resources to provide Community School and safe transportation to students at the Amigos School.

Thank you.