Photo: (Getty Images/Spaces Images)
BOSTON (WBZ NewsRadio) — The Lilla G. Frederick Pilot Middle School in Dorchester will close at the end of the 2024-25 academic year, Boston Public School officials announced Thursday.
The Frederick is the district's last stand-alone middle school. It will close as a result of a School Committee plan approved in 2019 to consolidate middle schools into other district buildings: PreK through Grade 6 & Grade 7-12, or PreK through Grade 8 & Grade 9-12 schools.
"The purpose of this policy is to create seamless, one-time transitions for students and families," BPS Region 3 Superintendent Natalie Diaz Ake wrote in a letter to families. "The district continues to believe that Frederick’s strength, as the last remaining stand-alone middle school, is a testament to the work of the entire school community and partnerships with the Grove Hall community."
The letter states during the school registration period for the 2025-26 school year, "the district will give priority in the assignment process for all grade 7 students to be assigned to a new school for grade 8."
"All students enrolled in grade 8 during the 2024-2025 school year will go through the normal process for selecting a secondary school for the 2025-2026 school year," the letter explains.
Speaking with WBZ NewsRadio Friday, Jessica Tang, President of the Boston Teachers Union, said the move is not surprising, but the timing is a bit unexpected.
"There has to be [...] dedicated attention to the specific grade levels, because again, developmentally there’s a big difference between a sixth grader and a ninth grader, or an eighth grader and a twelfth grader," Tang said.
The announcement came one week after BPS released a new facilities plan that proposed closing and consolidating more schools as a response to aging buildings and struggling student enrollment.
The most extreme scenario in the plan said as many as half of the district's schools could close. The day after the plan was released, BPS Superintendent Mary Skipper assured principals and families the district had no plans to close half the schools.
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