Two Days After the Closure Plan, Councilors File to Slow It: A Charlestown High Hearing and a Call to Delay the Dec. 2 Vote
Wednesday's Boston City Council agenda includes a hearing order on Charlestown High and a resolution asking the School Committee to postpone its vote on closures, plus city responses on White Stadium costs and a former BPS engineer's pay.
Two Boston city councilors have filed measures on Wednesday's council agenda aimed at the Wu administration's proposal to close Charlestown High School, one seeking a public hearing and the other asking the Boston School Committee to put off its scheduled vote, according to the agenda posted for the council's noon meeting.
Councilor Gabriela Coletta Zapata filed Docket #2097, an order for a hearing "to examine the proposed closure of Charlestown High School and the future of secondary education in Charlestown." Councilor Julia Mejia filed Docket #2106, a resolution "calling for the postponement of the December 2, 2026, Boston School Committee vote on proposed Charlestown High School closure, and any votes on any other closures, mergers, and consolidations the public has not yet been notified of due to the lack of community engagement, transparency, and sufficient time in the decision making process."
The council does not vote on school closures. Under the city's structure, the mayor-appointed School Committee must approve them, The Boston Globe reported Monday. A hearing order, if adopted, would send the issue to a council committee for a public hearing. A resolution states the council's position but has no binding effect on the School Committee.
The proposal the councilors are responding to
Mayor Michelle Wu's administration on Monday proposed closing Charlestown High School and Greater Egleston High School in Roxbury, along with the East Boston Early Education Center, in June 2028, the Globe reported. Wu said administrators plan to move a different high school into the Charlestown building by fall 2028 so it does not sit empty.
"Our public education dollars should be going to serving students and delivering outcomes," Wu said at a press briefing, according to the Globe, "rather than keeping open half empty buildings or schools that are too small."
The district's figures, as reported by the Globe, show the Charlestown building has space for 1,000 students and enrolls 559. Enrollment in grades 7 through 12 has dropped by nearly one-third in three years. Superintendent Mary Skipper said nearly 80 percent of the school's students do not live in Charlestown and that their average commute is nearly 5 miles.
About 20 protesters gathered outside Charlestown High on Monday afternoon, the Globe reported, and some followed Skipper down the sidewalk chanting "Shame on you!" Parents who spoke to the newspaper praised the school's special education program and its effect on their children's attendance and grades.
The proposal also calls for relocating Boston Green Academy to the former South Boston High School building on G Street in fall 2028, and moving Boston International High School & Newcomers Academy and the Boston Adult Technical Academy to the Cleveland Building in Dorchester next school year, according to the Globe. The Wu administration also wants to drop grades 7 and 8 from the Hurley K-8 School in Roxbury and the Kilmer K-8 School in West Roxbury by fall 2028. The plan would bring the number of city public schools to 97, officials said.
What Mejia's resolution asks for
Mejia's resolution names a specific date: a School Committee vote on Dec. 2. The resolution's title also asks for postponement of votes on any other closures, mergers and consolidations "the public has not yet been notified of," which suggests its sponsor expects additional proposals. The agenda text does not say which schools those might be, and the Globe's account of Monday's announcement describes the closure proposal as part of a broader effort to close almost 20 schools.
The full text of the hearing order and the resolution, including any findings, was not included in the public notice and is posted with the meeting's agenda packet on the council's Legistar site.
Other school items on the same agenda
The agenda also includes three responses from the Wu administration under Section 17F of the city charter, which lets the council request information from city departments. One, Docket #2089, transmits information on "increased White Stadium costs and their effect on other Boston Public Schools capital projects," in response to an order the council passed on Feb. 25.
Another, Docket #2091, responds to two orders the council passed on Sept. 30 regarding "BPS residency requirements, remote work, contractor classification, and payments to a former senior environmental engineer," and regarding BPS procurement, contracting, payment controls and the district's implementation of recommendations from the state Inspector General. The agenda does not include the contents of the responses.
Councilors Ed Flynn and Erin Murphy also filed an order for a hearing on the Oct. 27 bomb threats at Boston Public Schools and several colleges, universities and nonprofit institutions in the city, and Flynn filed a 17F request for any drafted, existing or expired memoranda of understanding between Boston Public Schools and the Boston Police Department.
The council also has on its agenda a $787,501 supplemental appropriation to cover first-year raises for school custodians represented by Local 1952 of the International Union of Painters and Allied Trades, District Council 35, under a contract running Sept. 1, 2026, through Aug. 31, 2027. The administration's order describes a 2 percent base wage increase plus a flat $800 added to annual salaries, both in September 2026.
