The former Jamaica Plain campus of the Croft School, which closed amid controversy earlier this year, will soon house a private school that relies on AI software to educate students.
Alpha is a national network of schools that claims students can complete their core academics like science, math and reading in only two hours a day.
The company plans to open 27 new campuses this year. That includes one at 3815 Washington St. in Jamaica Plain and another in Beacon Hill an Alpha spokesperson. A proposed location in Lexington is under consideration by the town’s school committee
The Croft closed in June after it accumulated more than $12 million in debt and founder Scott Given admitted to misleading families, staff and investors about the school’s finances. The revelation upended the lives of Croft parents who suddenly had to find another school to send their kids to this fall.
Nicky Bandera, a mother of a rising fifth-grader, was among them. She said when she heard about Alpha, the AI model appealed to her.
“Most kids are being prepared for a world that no longer exists now,” said Bandera, who has never used AI. “What does that look like 10 years from now, five years from now, when my daughter is going to that next stage, whether it be college or the workforce?”
In just two hours, Alpha School claims its students use AI-driven software to complete their core education, leaving the rest of the day for practicing real world skills like entrepreneurship and public speaking. The network has drawn praise from members of the Trump administration.
But the company has also faced scrutiny. Former employees have alleged that its AI-generated curriculum can be flawed and that recordings collected through monitoring software on students’ computers were not securely stored.
Alpha disputed these claims in March in response to a segment on WBUR’s Here and Now.
Parents of children joining the Jamaica Plain campus will pay $60,000 a year The school opening in Beacon Hill is charging $65,000. Davlantes said the enrollment at both schools is nearly at capacity. The Beacon Hill school will launch with 25 students this fall and expand to 50 the following year
Across the country, roughly 500 students are enrolled in Alpha schools.
Private schools in Massachusetts operate under limited local and state oversight. State law requires that the local school committee approve a private school before it can open in that district. The private school’s instruction in all required subjects must be as thorough and efficient as that of the district’s public schools.
The Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education leaves it up to school committees to create a policy for approving private schools. Boston’s internal review process includes interviews with school leadership, a review of the application materials and a site visit.
The Boston School Committee approved the opening of Alpha’s Beacon Hill location at 300 Cambridge St. in June. The application did not include a proposal for the Jamaica Plain site and the campus was not discussed in Alpha’s presentation to the school committee.
But Committee Member Franklin Peralta said in a statement that the committee was tasked only with assessing whether Alpha met state requirements to operate within the city.
“We don’t have any oversight of what they do next,” Peralta said.
Several Boston School Committee members said during committee meetings that it felt uncomfortable to be charged with approving a private school to which they will have no oversight and will not receive updates.
Boston Public Schools did not respond to multiple requests for comment.
Katharine Robb’s two children attended the Croft School. Even though the new school is opening at the same location, she’s decided to send her kids to Dedham Country Day.
She said she worries about Alpha because of the amount of screen time and lack of research conducted about using AI as a primary teaching tool.
“My main concern with the AI school is for the younger kids, especially when they can’t read yet,” Robb said.
