Bricket Elementary requests two trees from state urban canopy program; subcommittee moves planting to full committee

Bricket (Bricket/Brickett in packet) Elementary Principal Shirley Albert Benedict asked the building and grounds subcommittee on Sept. 11 for approval to plant two trees inside the schoolyard fence using the Department of Conservation and Recreation’s Gateway City urban canopy program. The principal said the program would provide the trees free of charge and that the Bricket parent-teacher organization and a neighborhood volunteer group would water and care for the trees until established. "The idea is that we will put 2 trees in the front of Birkett," the principal said, explaining the locations would be inside the fenced yard at the intersections of Byer & Lewis and Autumn & Lewis.

Why it matters: the project would add shade and improve the school’s frontage and neighborhood aesthetics without direct district cost for the trees. Implementation requires some work from the Department of Public Works to cut holes in the asphalt and plant the trees.

Discussion and outcome: subcommittee members praised the PTO and neighborhood volunteers’ work and asked about long-term watering and maintenance; the principal confirmed neighborhood volunteers and the PTO would assume watering duties during establishment. The subcommittee voted to move the request to the full School Committee for approval; the full committee later approved the motion at roll call.

Speakers quoted in this article are limited to those who spoke on the record in the meeting transcript.