DORCHESTER – Boston Public Schools rolled out the red carpet Thursday for students heading back to school as teachers begin the year with no contract. At the Joseph Lee School in Dorchester, Boston Mayor Michelle Wu was there to hand out pencils to students.

New bus-tracking app

Something new this year a lot of parents are excited about is the Zum app, which allows parents to track their students’ buses, get alerts of delays, and even let the driver know if a kid will not be taking the bus one day. 

Boston Public Schools Superintendent Mary Skipper said about 6,000 families have already signed up for the app, along with over 700 bus drivers and monitors. Parents say they are feeling more confident about the busing this year. 

“Last year was a little hard but hopefully this app is a little bit better so we can see the navigation and how the buses are moving and where the children are at because I always track where he’s at,” said Tatyanah Belin, the mother of a fourth-grader.

Teachers’ contract expired

Apart from all the excitement of the first day of school, contracts for Boston Public School teachers remain in limbo and will expire on Saturday after over six months of negotiations with the city.

Boston Teachers Union Vice President Erik Berg said, “The BTU and our educators are seeking a system where teachers are not required to perform the jobs of both the general education teacher and the special education teacher at the same time.”

When it comes to education, Mayor Wu said, “There are a number of issues, there’s a lot happening in education everywhere and all of that has to fit into the limits of a budget that has to accommodate a lot of other needs as well, so we are still at the table.”