For some parents in the Paul A. Dever Elementary School community on Columbia Point, the closure of their K-6 school was an unexpected hit on their radar on Monday night. Cheryl Buckman, who attended the Dever as a child and has a child there now, received a letter via the Parent Square app at 9:15 p.m.

“I read it with tears in my eyes,” Buckman said. “I had to figure out how to have the courage to tell my autistic 12-year-old that he won’t have that safety net there for him like he thought. He thought he would always be able to go back and see his teachers and his school.”

Boston Public Schools (BPS) officials said Tuesday that the sixth-grade class at the Dever this year will graduate, and so will the current fifth-grade class next year. However, no new students will be taken next year and those in lower grades will be routed to other schools.

“I’m not so much defending my sixth-grade son but really the kids behind him,” said Buckman. “They are so small and have no voice to stand up to these bullies. You can’t just put a lock on the door and say that’s it. We’re going to have to be there for these kids, be their backbone, because they’ll need us.”

The Dever School is unique in that it’s under state receivership, and the state Department of Elementary and Secondary Education (DESE) has approved the closing.

On Tuesday, a spokesperson for DESE said that the agency “understands Boston Public Schools’ urgent need to align the number of seats in the district with the number of students and is allowing the district to close the Dever Elementary School in 2026 as part of a system-wide facilities plan.”

For parents at the school, academic improvement had increased, and the school nearly exited receivership last year.
“We got so close to getting out of [it]. Such hard work was done, and all that just for this – a closure,” said Buckman.
Supt. Mary Skipper said the Dever School students have a very “fractured walk zone” and many don’t live near the school. “We believe we are able to get students closer to home with that closure,” said Skipper.

Councillor John Fitzgerald said on Tuesday that the closure news is a mixed bag. His district includes both the Roger Clap Elementary School on Harvest Street and the Dever. The Clap is to merge with the John Winthrop School and re-open in Sept. 2026 at the now-vacant Lilla Frederick School on Columbia Road.

“I think everyone is comfortable with the Clap closing and merging with the Winthrop at Lilla Frederick and those students will have a chance to be closer to home, but the Dever is a tough one,” he said.

“But given the population there,” he said, “they are spread out over [Dorchester] and about one-fifth are from Mattapan. There will be a chance to keep some of these kids closer to home and hopefully they’ll get priority status.

“If you’re a sixth grader at the Dever, well, you knew the end was coming, but if you’re in second or third grade and you’re a kid with your friend group there, that’s not going to be easy,” he noted.

Will Austin, a public school advocate who works with the non-profit Boston Focus group, criticized school closures that he said are not done in partnership with the school communities.

“The gap between enrollment and the buildings we have is saying to families that every January and every spring you’re going to get more news,” he said. “It’s not saying to them ‘Let’s produce a plan together,’ but rather that we (BPS) will tell you what’s happening each year. There is not a long-term plan…What we have to ask is will these closures provide a better educational experience for kids…Is it providing a better option?”

The Boston Teacher’s Union (BTU) said students and educators have had to endure “crumbling” buildings for far too long. In a statement, the union called on BPS to commit to building three new schools annually within their plan.

“The conversation cannot be simply about whether to retain or close poorly crumbling and dilapidated buildings. [It] must be about how soon the district can complete the construction and renovations necessary to provide high-quality learning environments for every single BPS student, without exception,” read the statement.

Councillor Brian Worrell’s district includes the Frederick School. “There's no right way to close a school,” he said. “With declining enrollment, BPS needs to right-size to ensure every student is in a high-quality learning environment, and I am committed to working to ensure that those decisions are equitable, and that students and families are supported in the transition.”

Councillor Ed Flynn said the loss of Excel Academy, which occupied about one-third of the total space at the former South Boston High School building, was a huge loss. He said he was “disappointed” with the lack of communication, and he was also concerned about the future of a “robust” Junior Reserve Officers' Training Corps (JROTC) Leadership Program there.

He also mentioned the World War I memorial on site, and the other veterans memorabilia attached to the school.

“With the closing of Excel High School, we will lose the remaining high school in South Boston,” he said. “This is a tragic loss for the many families with graduates from both South Boston High School and Excel High School, as well as the community at large.”

Councillor at-Large Erin Murphy echoed Flynn’s critique that decisions were made “behind closed doors.” She said that “decisions of this magnitude must include meaningful input from school communities – not just announcements after the fact. Our students, families, and educators deserve better.”

Councillor at-Large Julia Mejia said she was “disappointed” that she wasn’t briefed on the decisions before they were announced.

"This is a situation where if we had an elected School Committee rather than an appointed one, we'd be having a different conversation," she said. "We wouldn't be learning about it on the news. There would have been more deliberation and a different process. This appointed School Committee will be making a decision on Jan. 22 that has already been made."

Austin said that if the district is aiming for cost savings with these closures, it will be about two things that overwhelm the budget – “people and buses.” He said if you don’t change the amounts of people and buses, you have not changed the budget. Boilers, custodians, school administrators, they don’t drive the budget or the costs.”