


Boston Public Schools is planning to announce a list of school closures according to a city councilor who talked to a teacher at one of the affected schools — but district officials haven’t yet to clarify which facilities are on the chopping block.
“School officials met with administrators and teachers at (Excel High School in South Boston) today, and parents are being sent notification of the plans this evening,” City Councilor Erin Murphy told the Herald just after 7:30 p.m. Monday.
Dever Elementary School, which was designated as chronically underperforming by the state education department, has been among the schools mentioned as being on the closure list, along with Excel High, Murphy said.
BPS did not answer an inquiry on the closures as of 8 p.m. Monday.
Murphy said BPS also did not respond to her questions regarding which schools may be closed.
The Boston Teachers Union also reportedly were at a meeting at Excel High to inform teachers, Murphy said.
BTU officials also did not respond to inquiries as of 8 p.m. Monday.
The next Boston School Committee meeting is January 22, Murphy said, which has been suggested to be when BPS Superintendent Mary Skipper may publicly make the Excel High closure announcement.
The school closure buzz comes nearly one year after the district’s “long-term facilities plan” stirred speculation that as many as half of BPS schools could be closed amid a steep enrollment decline. At the time, Superintendent Skipper clarified that “we as a system will not be closing half of our schools” but did not state how many may close.