City Year Helps Ready New Mary Lyon Elementary School For Students' Arrival

City Year Boston and Bain Capital took on a beautification project in July at the Mary Lyon Elementary School, with 200-plus volunteers coming together to help prepare the school for its first year in the upper building.

City Year Helps Ready New Mary Lyon Elementary School For Students' Arrival

One of the Boston Public Schools' (BPS) longtime partners has helped shape a beautiful new beginning for the Mary Lyon Elementary School community.

City Year Boston took on a beautification project this summer in Brighton at Lyon Elementary. City Year arranged for 200-plus volunteers from Bain Capital to participate in transformative days of service in July and August.

With Lyon Elementary moving across the street into the former Mary Lyon Pilot High School in school year 2026-27, BPS contacted City Year to City Year last spring to see if they would be interested in helping support the community in this process. City Year enthusiastically agreed and worked closely with the new Lyon Elementary Principal Jackie Carolan on a project that reflected the school’s commitment to creating a positive and welcoming environment for its students and staff.

Murals that align with Lyon Elementary's core values highlight the design of the school's new space. Between the paw prints scattered throughout the building to the ROAR (Respect, Optimism, Achievement, Responsibility) mural along the back wall of the cafeteria, the school’s pride is on display for all to see. Students who visit the library will read, learn, and grow under a mural depicting one of Boston’s most iconic sights: the Charles River Esplanade.

Prior to starting their work, City Year volunteers heard from Carolan why the project is so important to the community. “This is a big year for us, at the Lyon,” she explained, “The Lyon was established in 1992 by Dr. Mary Nash. ... She pioneered inclusion in this school before inclusion was a thing. And now we see the district adopting inclusion across all the schools. With our move to the upper building, it gave us the opportunity to add K0 (three-year-old PreK). The work that you will do today will make this building feel like a fresh start, and a really exciting beginning for our school.”

The volunteers also worked hard to beautify the exterior and interior of the building. In addition to painting murals, they built outdoor furniture and packed supply kits for the students.

We are deeply grateful for the support of Bain Capital and City Year. Their time and effort helps ensure Lyon Elementary students, staff and families will return to a welcoming environment that they will call home for years to come.

Melvin H. King South End Academy

The Melvin H. King South End Academy is a therapeutic public day school that serves students with a primary disability of emotional impairment who require a high level of academic and/or therapeutic support. The school was renamed the Melvin H. King South End Academy in 2023 in honor of Boston Civil Rights hero and community activist, Melvin H. King.

As of September 2026, all MHKSEA programs (Lower School and Upper School) will be located in the South End. The Lower School includes students in grades 5-8, and the Upper School includes students in grades 9-12. Both programs provide high-quality education that includes academic and therapeutic support from dedicated staff who utilize a collaborative approach to ensure the needs of the diverse student population are met. Strong partnerships with caregivers, community members, and partners are a priority. A shared decision-making model is utilized via frequent staff professional development, teaming structures, School Site Council, School Parent Council, Student Council, and community-based partnerships.

MHKSEA strives to foster a space that is demonstrative of the five core values: Kindness, Respect, Responsibility, Perseverance, and Safety. We aim to provide a safe, healing-centered learning environment where students are known, respected, and supported through predictable routines, restorative practices, and trauma-responsive care. We integrate academic and therapeutic supports that align instruction, clinical services, and individualized goals so students can stabilize, grow, and re-engage meaningfully in school and provide rigorous, relevant learning through instruction that connects academics to real-world problems, builds confidence, and helps students experience success. We strive to cultivate strong transition pathways including credit recovery, career exploration, work-based learning, and clear postsecondary plans for employment, training, or continued education. MHKSEA develops a sense of belonging and identity fostered through enrichment, arts, wellness, leadership opportunities, and culturally affirming practice. MHKSEA holds high expectations paired with compassion, where progress is monitored, growth is celebrated, and students move forward with dignity through individualized and personalized education plans centered on input from the student and caregivers, monitored through ongoing data collection and reflective of students’ current and transitional goals.