As the Boston Public Schools move to reverse some of the cutbacks that prompted students to walk out of class and protest earlier this week, Boston Mayor Marty Walsh is offering qualified praise for the students who participated—and voicing frustration with the adults who were involved.

“I commend the kids,” Walsh said after a South Boston Boys & Girls Club event in the Seaport Friday afternoon. “Being advocates out there I think is great. Kids should be involved in the process. They have every right to be.”

While Walsh said the reversals stemmed from conversations he’s had with Superintendent Tommy Chang over the past month, he also said there’s “no question” the protesters played a role.

However, the mayor added: “I would have preferred them to stay in school and do it after school. That’s a couple valuable hours in school that they missed.”

Walsh also stood by his earlier contention that “bad information” played a role in the walkout, and suggested that adults who played a supportive role were responsible.

“The information that was put out in the very beginning, and the information that kept getting repeated—It wasn’t by the kids, it was by the adults," Walsh said. "They weren’t working with us. And actually, as a matter of fact, some of them didn’t even have the decency to give a call to me to find out what’s going on.”

If that sounds familiar, it may be because during the heated debate over Boston’s 2024 Summer Olympic bid, Walsh expressed  frustration with critics who didn’t approach him directly.

At the time, the mayor also lamented the way the Olympics played out on Twitter. On Friday, he suggested the microblogging platform was negatively affecting the BPS back-and-forth as well. 

“I was watching Twitter today—there’s information still being twisted,” Walsh said. “People, even though the cuts are being re-established, people are still trying to tweet that [we’re] doing this or doing that. It’s just non-factual.”

The funding reversals were described in a letter sent to principals and headmasters by Superintendent Tommy Chang. They’ll be formalized, and described in greater detail, in an amended budget that will be sent Boston School Committee, which is slated to vote on next year’s budget later this month.  

According to Chang’s letter, proposed cutbacks to Boston’s public high schools will be restored. But with two notable exceptions—special education and kindergarten—“strategic investments” will be put on hold until an anticipated increase in charter-school reimbursement from the state is confirmed.

March 11th Budget Update From Dr. Chang