BOSTON — Boston Public School leaders announced a proposal Monday to close three more schools and reconfigure three others.
“These are just difficult, hard decisions, but they’re based on data,” said Superintendent Mary Skipper. “We’re seeing post-pandemic smaller cohorts of students coming up, this has been happening nationally, statewide over time, families are just having fewer children.”
Lower enrollment is just one of the reasons for these closures.
City and school leaders say this is part of a long-term facilities plan to make better use of fewer school buildings, so that every student has access to the best programs.
Part of this plan means closing more than a dozen schools in the next five years.
Right immediately, BPS has 109 schools, and the goal is to have about 95 schools by 2030.
“We wanted to make sure, big picture always that we’re not just about trying to close or reduce seats to cut dollars,” said Mayor Michelle Wu. “This is truly about delivering the highest quality student experience.”
BPS announced the following changes effective June 2027:
- Close Lee Academy Pilot School (PreK-3)
- Close Another Course to College (9-12)
- Close Community Academy of Science and Health (CASH) (9-12)
- Shift the Henderson K-12 Inclusion School into a PreK-8 School:
- Reconfigure the Henderson Upper: Eliminate grades 9-12 and Transition Program (currently housing grades 2-12)
- Merge Henderson Lower and Upper into one PreK-8 school community
- Shift grade 1 into the Upper building to expand Pre-K capacity in the Lower building.
- Reconfigure Maurice J. Tobin K-8 School as a PreK-6 school
- Reconfigure William E. Russell School PreK-5 as a PreK-6 school, effective June 30, 2026.
“When it comes to closures, mergers and reconfigurations, these aren’t just seats, these are children, these are staff, these are families, these are communities and we don’t think of it just as a seat – what we think of is getting a student into a better experience,” said Skipper.
BPS district leaders will be presenting this proposal to the School Committee on Wednesday night, and that’s when the public will get a chance to weigh in as well.
This is a developing story. Check back for updates as more information becomes available.
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