BPS Ensures Every Student, Family, and Staff Member Has Mental Health Care

New landmark partnership with Cartwheel, The Brookline Center for Community Mental Health (BCCMH), and Boston Public Schools ensures timely, multilingual mental health services for students, families, caregivers, and educators.

Boston Public Schools Ensures Every Student, Family, and Staff Member Has Mental Health Care

BOSTON, MA – December 10, 2025 – Boston Public Schools (BPS) today announced a transformative investment in student mental health through a partnership with Cartwheel, Massachusetts' leading school-based mental health provider, with implementation support from the MA School-Based Telebehavioral Health Pilot led by The Brookline Center, a partner of the Massachusetts Department of Public Health. This comprehensive initiative will bring immediate, multilingual mental health care to students, families, and staff at 82 schools across the district, in partnership with The Brookline Center for Community Mental Health (BCCMH).

“We want all our students to feel supported and inspired when they come to school every day as they work towards achieving their goals and aspirations," said BPS Chief of Students Cory McCarthy. “We recognize that for some students, this becomes more difficult when they are facing mental health challenges. Through this new partnership with Cartwheel, BPS is connecting our students and families to timely, high-quality, evidence-based support. This initiative aims to help remove barriers that prevent students from feeling ready to participate in school, which will help strengthen their attendance, enhance their well-being, and promote personal growth, giving every young person the opportunity to succeed beyond our classrooms.”

Boston Public Schools has long been a leader in student mental health, making exceptional investments in counseling services, crisis intervention, and partnerships with local mental health organizations. Despite these efforts and the district's commitment to supporting students' social-emotional wellbeing, the needs still vastly outweigh capacity. School leaders are seeing the direct impact on student attendance, classroom behaviors, and academic performance, driving the district's decision to make this bold, proactive investment to support more students and families.

"Boston Public Schools is setting the standard for what's possible when a district decides that student mental health is mission-critical," said Joe English, CEO of Cartwheel. "This isn't just about providing therapy—it's about creating a comprehensive ecosystem of support that helps students thrive academically, socially, and emotionally. We're honored to partner with a district that shares our belief that every child deserves timely, best-in-class mental health care."

Cartwheel, with programmatic funding from The Brookline Center, brings the nation's most comprehensive school-based mental health care model to BPS. Cartwheel’s platform empowers school-based staff to identify students who may benefit from evidence-based therapy and psychiatry from a licensed Cartwheel clinician, track student progress as they receive services, and coordinate with families. The partnership also includes Cartwheel's specialty School Avoidance Program, which helps students tackle mental health related causes of chronic absenteeism.

With a track record serving 325+ school districts nationwide, including 70 districts here in Massachusetts, Cartwheel combines local expertise with national-scale impact.

"This changes everything for our students and families. When a child is struggling, they can be connected to a licensed clinician immediately and not in months,” said Jenna Parafinczuk, Director of Social Work, Division of Student Support, Boston Public Schools. “That kind of support can make the difference between a student falling behind or thriving in school and in life."

The partnership addresses an urgent crisis facing schools nationwide. According to the CDC, more than 40% of high school students report feeling persistently sad or hopeless, while 1 in 5 seriously considered suicide in the past year. In Massachusetts, families often face months-long waitlists for child and adolescent mental health services. This partnership eliminates those barriers entirely.

“The data also reflects the collective strength of the statewide SBTBH Pilot,” said Carla Gonçalves, Director of the Massachusetts School Based Telebehavioral Health Pilot at The Brookline Center for Community Mental Health. “As the state’s lead SBTBH implementation partner, The Brookline Center measures program effectiveness and ensures that districts and clinical providers, including Cartwheel, can deliver high quality, equitable care. Across the Commonwealth, we have supported more than 2,280 referrals, completed 1,266 intakes, and delivered nearly 19,000 telebehavioral health sessions to over 2,400 students, contributing to measurable reductions in depression and anxiety symptoms. As we welcome Boston Public Schools as a new pilot site, we are building a proven, data driven model. We are honored to partner with Boston and providers like Cartwheel to expand timely, multilingual, culturally responsive mental health care across the Commonwealth.”

At the school level, educators see Cartwheel’s program as transformative. Since its launch earlier this school year, over 350 Boston Public Schools students have been referred to Cartwheel and more than 450 teletherapy sessions have been completed. The program was made possible with implementation and capacity-building support and programmatic funding from The Massachusetts School Based Telebehavioral Health Pilot led by The Brookline Center for Community Mental Health, which has a long history of driving school-based mental health innovation across the commonwealth and nationally.

"When students walk through our doors each day, they bring with them their aspirations, hopes and their vision for the future. Students also bring with them the many challenges they face every day, and the emotions that accompany them,” said Principal Andrew Bott, Brighton High School. “Having direct access to mental health care through this partnership means our students don’t have to face those challenges alone. It allows them to focus on learning, connecting with their peers, and seeing themselves as capable of achieving their goals. Providing this service to our school community is about showing every student that their well-being should always be a top priority, and we're all here to ensure they have the supports needed to succeed.”

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Apply to Boston Pre-K

Step 1: Make sure your child meets the eligibility criteria for Boston Pre-K

A child is eligible for Boston Pre-K if they are:

3 or 4 years old by September 1 of the school year they are applying to
Resident of the City of Boston

Additional Considerations

Additional Considerations

Priority Eligibility: Families already enrolled at a Boston Pre-K CBO, FCC, or Independent School providers have priority for Boston Pre-K seats at their current sites. If you qualify for priority seat, please contact your current provider. They will guide you through the steps to submit your application.
ABCD Head Start: ABCD Head Start programs have additional income restrictions and won’t appear in the Boston Pre-K application. To apply for a seat at an ABCD Head Start program, please visit or contact one of the following locations: Walnut Grove, Hyde Park, Jamaica Plain, Roslindale, or Allston. They will conduct a screening to determine your eligibility. If you qualify for a Boston Pre-K seat at one of these locations, they will guide you through the application process.
Horizons for Homeless Children: Horizons for Homeless Children’s mission is to support families experiencing homelessness or needing stable housing. If you select/selected Horizons for Homeless Children as an option in your application, you will be contacted by the program to ensure your family meets the program’s eligibility criteria.
Specialized Services: Screenings, evaluations, and services offered may vary by setting. If your child has an IEP, the Boston Pre-K team may contact you after you submit your application to ensure the program you applied to can serve your child's needs.
Boston Public Schools: BPS uses a home-based assignment plan to determine the schools available to your family. This plan uses your home address to create a personalized list of quality schools for which you are eligible. If a school does not appear on your list, you are not eligible to apply to that school. Learn more about the BPS assignment plan.

Step 2: Identify the programs you are interested in

Visit boston.explore.avela.org to explore all the programs in the city that offer Boston Pre-K seats. Be sure to click on the "Filter" option and select "Boston Pre-K" to see only the programs that provide these seats.

Not sure which type of program is best for your family? Check out this comparison table to learn about the differences between settings like Boston Public Schools, Family Child Care, and Independent Schools.

If your child has specialized education needs, you can also use this resource to understand how each program may support them.

Step 3: Apply

For the school year 2026-2027, registration opens on Monday, January 5, 2026.

Families applying to Boston Pre-K — whether in BPS or community settings — should apply through Great Starts at apply.avela.org/boston. To be considered for a city-funded seat in both options, you’ll need to submit two separate applications - one for Boston Public Schools (BPS) and one for community settings.

A family can choose to apply to one, or both. Please note that if a family chooses to apply to both a community provider and a Boston Public School, they may receive separate offers for each. Accepting or registering for one offer does not affect eligibility or placement for the other, provided both options are available. Learn more about the registration process at BPS here.

The dates and registration processes for each school setting can be seen below:

Contact

If you have questions about the registration process at Community-Based Organizations, Family Child Care, and Independent Schools, you may contact the Boston Pre-K Office with any questions at 617-635-1507 or bostonprek@bostonpublicschools.org. Translation options are available upon request.

If you have questions about the registration process at Boston Public Schools, you may contact Boston Public Schools, Welcome Services, with any questions at 617-635-9010. Translation options are available upon request.

Boston Pre-K Registration Flyers

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Boston Pre-K Registration Flyer

This flyer will help you learn about the Boston Pre-K settings, explore your Boston Pre-K options, and outlines the steps to apply to Boston Pre-K. Boston Pre-K offers high-quality pre-k (K0/K1) in both Boston Public Schools and community programs. Learn about the schools and programs that best meet your family’s needs, then follow the steps to apply!

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“Boston Pre-K has been the perfect transition for my son from his small and loving home childcare to a more traditional school environment. The hands-on teaching staff, diverse peer group, and focus on play and exploration have contributed immensely to his growth over the past year. He has acquired important literacy and numeracy skills, but has also become a more confident learner, a deeply curious thinker, and a better friend through his Boston Pre-K experience. The highlight of our day is when he opens his backpack to present me with the artwork and projects he created which showcase his learning and enthusiasm in a tangible way. In addition, we have been thoroughly impressed with the Boston Pre-K teaching team.”

- Sarah Olia, Boston Pre-K parent, 2021