BPS officials are recommending the closure of four schools, along with a slate of school reconfigurations, by the end of the 2025-26 year – ramping up a long-awaited facilities overhaul set to spread across the district.

“Today is an important step forward in our long term facilities plan, one that, as the mayor indicated, we’ve been planning for and developing programmatically and with a set of very powerful, transformative tools for the last several years,” BPS Superintendent Mary Skipper said Tuesday morning. “What we’re proposing, and I will share today, are for the district’s physical footprint come the end of 25-26 school year.”

The closure, merger and reconfiguration recommendations will be presented to the Boston School Committee for approval at the Jan. 22 meeting.

Dever Elementary School in Dorchester, Excel High School in South Boston, the high school portion of Mary Lyon Pilot in Brighton, and Community Academy in Jamaica Plain would all be closed under the district’s proposal. Community Academy would be closed as a degree-granting school but redesigned as an alternative service center for students.

The district is also recommending the mergers and reconfigurations of several schools. Winthrop and Clap Elementary Schools would be combined and relocated to the Lilla G. Frederick Pilot Middle School building in Dorchester, which is slated to close at the end of this school year.

Under the proposal, the Young Achievers Science and Math Pilot School, BTU Pilot School, and Mary Lyon lower school would all transition into grades pre-K through 6 schools. The Dearborn STEM Academy would be reconfigured into a grades 7 through 12 school.

BPS officials will also present a “road map for long term projections” to the school committee on Jan. 22, detailing a 5-year projection to 2030 of what the physical spaces the district will need to adjust to enrollment projections.

“When you take into account what has already either been closed, merged, consolidated – the current proposals that are on the table and what is to come – we would be looking forward to 2030,” Skipper said, “at the elementary level approximately five to seven additional schools, and at the high school level an additional three to seven schools.”

Related Articles

BPS recommending closure of Excel School in South Boston

Boston Family Days launches free museum access for all school-age kids each month

Boston Mayor Wu inks lease deal over White Stadium with women’s pro soccer team

Ex-BPS leader Brenda Cassellius was runner-up for St. Paul, Minnesota school superintendent

Boston School Committee considers another edit to exam school admissions policy

Skipper and Mayor Michelle Wu said community feedback will be incorporated and valued as plans move forward.

The current proposals come one year after the district put forth a “long-term facilities plan” suggesting a framework for school closures as BPS catches up to long-neglected aging facilities and a drop in enrollment over the last decade.