BOSTON, Mass. — Boston Public Schools wants to shut down Charlestown High School, and the Boston School Committee will get its first look at the plan on Wednesday night.
District leaders told families about the recommendation in a letter on Friday. The reason they gave is shrinking enrollment: the school had about 820 students three years ago and now has 559, a drop of roughly one third, and officials expect the slide to continue.
The committee briefing is set for 6 p.m. Wednesday. A vote is expected on Dec. 2. If members approve, the school would close on June 30, 2028. New students would stop being assigned there, apart from siblings of current students, and juniors and seniors who are eligible would still graduate on schedule through June 2028.
Charlestown is one piece of a larger package. In a joint statement, Superintendent Mary Skipper and Mayor Michelle Wu said the week’s full proposal moves three schools, grows two, reorganizes two and closes three, yet Charlestown High is the only school they have identified.
The building itself would not sit empty. The mayor and superintendent said the city plans to move a different high school into it as soon as the 2028-29 school year, and the district intends to renovate it first. District data rate the building well above average for energy efficiency, space and modernization needs.
The proposal is part of a long-range facilities plan the district released in 2025, which set a goal of 17 fewer schools by 2030, using mergers as well as closures, as birth rates and immigration slow. Earlier closures under that plan, including schools in South Boston, Jamaica Plain, Allston-Brighton, Hyde Park and Dorchester, have drawn pushback from neighborhoods.
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Filed under: Boston MA Education News
