THIS STORY HAS BEEN FORMATTED FOR EASY PRINTING

Public schools replaced with pilot programs By Megan Tench, Globe Staff, 6/26/2003 Despite pleas from parents and supporters of Dorchester's Endicott Elementary School, and the mayor's restoration of $27.1 million to the district's budget, the Boston School Committee last night voted to replace the Endicott with the Middle School Academy, a short-term disciplinary program. The Endicott was one of six schools shut down this year due to an estimated $81 million budget cut. School officials said yesterday that they expect the actual deficit to be roughly $54 million after Mayor Thomas M. Menino restored the funds. Still, citing potential financial savings, the school committee voted to reuse some closed buildings. Fuller Elementary School in Jamaica Plainwill house the new Boston International High School for non-English-speaking students, and Roxbury's Wheatley Middle School will house the Boston Evening Academy, which caters to young adults. ''At the outset, the goal was to make sure we didn't end up in a situation where we had schools that were mothballed,'' Boston School Superintendent Thomas W. Payzant said before the vote. The School Committee also approved conversion of four public schools -- the Lee and Mason elementary schools, Another Course to College, and Early Learning Center North -- to pilot schools. The move, supported by the Boston Teachers Union and sponsored in part by the Boston Foundation, will take the number of pilot schools in Boston from 11 to 15. This story ran on page B7 of the Boston Globe on 6/26/2003. © Copyright 2003 Globe Newspaper Company.