When Nyla Hicks Fernandes graduates this year from the Community Academy of Science and Health (CASH), a public high school in Dorchester, Mass., she will never return for a reunion or visit her favorite teachers — because there will be no building to visit.
CASH is one of several public schools in the Greater Boston area poised to shutter within the next two years due to facility concerns and enrollment declines, joining more than 20 public schools that closed or merged within the last two decades.
The closures are a part of a long-term facilities plan to reduce the number of school buildings within the city in an effort to provide students with newer facilities and a better, more attentive educational environment. The plan was created in 2023 after the Boston Public Schools district encountered a sharp enrollment decline that followed the pandemic, a decrease from more than 53,000 students to roughly 46,800…