The Boston School Committee is set to vote on the potential closure of five schools at their Thursday night meeting following strong pushback from some of the communities.

The School Committee will consider the closures of Community Academy in Jamaica Plain, Paul A. Dever School in Dorchester, Excel High School in South Boston, and Mary Lyon Pilot High School in Brighton. The members will also vote whether to merge Clap Elementary School and Winthrop Elementary School in Dorchester, as well as four grade reconfigurations,

The vote comes nearly two months after the BPS leadership announced plans to drop 17 schools through closures and mergers by 2030 in response to lower enrollment and aging facilities concerns. The first round of five closures and one merger announced at the time would be complete by the end of the 2025-26 school year if approved by the School Committee.

A memo sent to the School Committee from BPS leadership ahead of Thursday’s meeting outlined the framework behind the school closure decisions, saying “our students at these schools do not have access to a full range of academic and enrichment opportunities, in some instances including elective and advanced courses, career pathways, sports, arts, and clubs.”

“Closing these schools will create pathways for students to transition into schools that are more fully enrolled, with more resources, and offering a higher-quality student experience – often closer to home,” Chief of Capital Planning Delavern Stanislaus wrote in the memo. “This year’s slate of proposed closures and merger was developed intentionally in order to provide adequate support to each impacted student, not overload any welcoming school with programming, and to guarantee each impacted student has a high-quality seat available to transition into.”

Community pushback to the planned closures has ramped up in recent weeks, with a rally of community members from Dever Elementary, Mary Lyon, and Community Academy at the BPS Headquarters in Roxbury on Tuesday.

“The majority of students impacted by these closures are Black, Latino, and from immigrant families — communities that already face systemic barriers in education,” the protestors wrote in a release ahead of Tuesday’s rally. “Instead of investing in these schools, BPS is moving to disrupt and displace students, breaking apart communities that have relied on these schools for decades.”

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Within their demands, the educators, parents and others asked BPS to halt to “all school closures,” engage in a more transparent process, invest in the schools, explore mergers over closures, and end to school closures “disproportionately affecting Black, Latino, immigrant, and special education students.”

The BPS memo wrote the district “welcomed feedback from community members at
each of the impacted schools” — including responses to frequently asked questions by community members — and added “closures are always painful.”