There's Going to Be a Phase Two!

Our readers from the Boston area might already know the news. Perhaps they read it in the newspaper, or saw it on TV. For the rest of you, we're happy to say that the federal government is supplying another money to do Phase 2 of the Old Colony renovation project. If you want to know the rest of the official story, you can click on the story written by the Boston Globe.

What's our news at the PerkinsBlog? People from the federal government actually came to the Perkins School to give the check to people of the government of Massachusetts! The Perkins kids got to see the ceremony and listen to all the speakers.

It's a really big check, isn't it? It's big in two ways--a lot of money (22 million dollars!) and big in size. It turns out this is just a check for the ceremony. But one student turned to another and asked how they were going to deposit it in the bank!

There were a lot of speeches. Some people said this was a wonderful day because it was going to supply more jobs for our construction workers. We're glad for that. It will be nice to keep them around. Other people said that it means more people from Old Colony will have better places to live. And that it will help the environment and because the buildings will use much less energy.




Stephen Lynch is the person who stands up for our part of Boston in the United States House of Representatives. When he got up to speak, he said that he had grown up in Old Colony. He lived in an apartment for fifteen years with his parents and his five sisters.







Then he pointed to the metal picket fence at the edge of our playground. He remembered a time when his friend somehow pushed his head through and got it stuck. Luckily that hasn't happened around here for a long while!


When the speeches were over, the kids got to talk to some of our important visitors. One student was a little disappointed, though. There weren't any limousines lined up in front of the school.

Mayor Menino gave out a lot of high-fives. And when someone tried to tell him about the PerkinsBlog, he said, "I know all about the blog. I know that these kids voted for the Big Giraffe!" (If you want to know what he's talking about, click here.)


Our United States Senator, John Kerry, didn't know about the Big Giraffe, though. So the kindergarteners told him about how they voted for the name of the biggest crane across the street by secret ballot--just like a real election.

Senator Kerry seemed very interested. He also noticed that one student had an untied shoelace, and tried to give him some help.

Soon it was time for us to get back to school. When asked what he thought the morning was all about, Jaymil might have made the best speech of the day. "This is happening, so people can have nice homes," he said, "and live with their heads kept up."