BOSTON, Mass. — A crowded midweek hearing before Boston school board members became the latest flashpoint over a district plan that would shutter Charlestown High School and fold its students into other campuses.
Boston Public Schools says the Charlestown building has shed roughly three in ten students across three years, falling from about 820 enrolled to 559 and leaving large parts of the campus unused.
Superintendent Mary Skipper describes the move as part of a broader facilities strategy meant to stop spending on half-empty buildings and concentrate dollars on instruction. Mayor Michelle Wu has echoed that consolidation argument.
Under the proposal, the campus would wind down by June 30, 2028. Eleventh- and twelfth-graders could finish there through that date, but seventh-grade enrollment would stop next fall and remaining students would get priority placement elsewhere for the 2028-29 year.
District planners say a different secondary program could later occupy the Charlestown building, though no replacement school has been named. Charlestown High sits on a short list with an early education campus in East Boston and Greater Egleston High in Roxbury.
Skipper has told audiences that most Charlestown High students already ride buses from other neighborhoods, a point opponents say should not erase the school’s identity as a community hub.
Board members are expected to cast ballots on Dec. 2. City Council members have asked leaders to slow the calendar, and the Boston Teachers Union warned that rushing a holiday-season decision without first exploring a merger is unfair to staff and students.
Thursday brought more forums, including a virtual district session and a neighborhood council meeting, as families argued that enrollment charts alone do not capture what the school delivers.
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Filed under: Boston MA Education News
