School Closings and Mergers

Protesting Cutbacks The Boston School Committee voted on December 15 to support the Superintendent's plan to close or merge more than a dozen schools in the 2011-2012 school year. The vote was unanimous.

In the course of several months and 4 public hearings, it became clear to all that this was not a plan driven by a committment to improve student achievement but a plan to cut costs and channel resources from public schools to charter schools.

All those parents, students and staff who fought so hard for the preservation of their schools and its programs should be proud of the effort they made. Boston filmmaker Robert Lamothe has condensed more than 20 hours of enlightening school closing testimony into a short, moving video, ""TEACH, The People Behind the Curtain, What's Happening to Our Public Schools. View the video here.

The school-closing plan will displace a few hundred teachers and thousands of students from their current assignments.

Redesign and Reinvest: List of Proposed Mergers, Expansions and Closures

(Download in PDF format)

Mergers

School	Zone	Neighborhood	Description of Change
Lee Academy	East	Dorchester	Merge to create a K-8 with Lee Academy (K0-1) and Lee ES (2-8). Students stay within the building at the appropriate grade level.
Alighieri and Umana	North	East Boston	Merge to create a K8 in Umana building. All Alighieri students move to Umana building.
Urban Science Academy (USA)/Parkway Academy of Technology and Health	Citywide	West Roxbury	Expand USA to form one school. All students at USA and PATH remian at USA.
Brook Farm Business & Service Career Academy/Media Communications Technology High School	Citywide	West Roxbury	Merge to form one school. All students at Brook Farm and Media remain at the merged school.
Excel High School/Monument High School	Citywide	South Boston	Expand Excel to form one school. All students at Excel and Monument remain at Excel.

Expansions

School	Zone	Neighborhood	Description of Change
Holland Elementary	East	Dorchester	Add one K1 classroom
Trotter Elementary	West	Dorchester	Add one K1 classroom
King K-8	West	Dorchester	Add Cape Verdean SEI classes from Emerson
Community Academy of Science and Health (CASH)	Citywide	Hyde Park	Relocate school to the Cleveland Building in Dorchester (East Zone)
TechBoston Academy	Citywide	Dorchester	TechBoston Academy becomes a unified Grade 6-12 program at Dorchester Education Complex and increases high school seats
Dorchester Academy	Citywide	Dorchester	Move from Dorchester Education Complex to Wilson Building
Dearborn STEM	North	Roxbury	Create STEEM program and extend to Grades 6-12 pending facility renovation

Schools Proposed for Closure

School	Zone	Neighborhood	Description of Change
East Zone ELC	East	Dorchester	Current K1 and K2 students relocated to Mattahunt
Fifield Elementary	East	Dorchester	Students have priority for other East Zne schools.
Middle School Academy	East	Dorchester	Program moves to the current Gavin building
Emerson Elementary	North	Roxbury	Regular education students have priority for seats in the North Zone. Cape Verdean SEI students move together to the King K-8
Farragut Elementary	North	Mission Hill	Students have priority in other North Zone schools. Current 4th grade AWC students move to the Jackson-Mann AWC program.
Agassiz Elementary	West	Jamaica Plain	Students have priority in other Weset Zone schools. SEI students move to Young Achievers or Lyndon (or another school of their choice.)
The Engineering School	Ciitywide	Hyde Park	Students have priority in other high schools.
Social Justice Academy	Citywide	Hyde Park	Students have priority in other high schools
Alighieri	North	East Boston	Alighieri building closing. (See mergers.)

In-District Charters and Innovation Schools*

School	Zone	Neighborhood	Description of Change
Gavin Middle	East	South Boston	Convert to UP Academy, an in-district charter school, pending State approval. All students eligible to stay at UP Academy.
Green Academy	East	South Boston	Convert Odyssey to in-district charer pending State approval. All students eligible to stay at Green Academy.
Clap Elementary	East	Dorchester	Close Clap Elementary. Change school leadership and staff. Apply for Innovation school. All students stay in the school.

* Innovation applications received from Boston Arts Academy and 2-way bilingual high school proposal.