At an emotion-laden meeting of the Acton Boxborough Regional School Committee on January 22, a decision-making process that began in May 2025, known as AB Forward, reached its conclusion.
Over many months, and utilizing a structured process which prioritized community input and engaged a 19-member Steering Committee to narrow 13+ options down to four for School Committee consideration, the final decision came down to two choices:
- Option 4, which would reduce the number of K-6 elementary schools from six to five by combining the Merriam and McCarthy-Towne Elementary Schools into a single school community, reassigning some of its students to another school due to building capacity, and moving the Conant School community into the available space.
- Option 5.2, which would consolidate all elementary schools into three school buildings, with the Boardwalk Campus and Parker Damon Building in Acton each housing grade-banded K-3 and 4-6 schools while Blanchard Memorial in Boxborough remains a K-6 school.
By a vote of 18 to 3.5, with nine members voting YES and two members voting NO, the eleven-member Committee approved elementary reorganization which corresponds with option 5.2.
The language of the motion reads as follows: “Close the Acton elementary schools (Conant, Douglas, Gates, McCarthy-Towne, and Merriam) effective June 30, 2026, and move students from the Acton elementary schools into four, new as yet unnamed, Acton elementary schools – two for grades K-3, and two for grades 4-6, or to the Blanchard Elementary School, effective July 1, 2026.”
Per the regional agreement, School Committee members representing Acton each receive 2.5 votes while Boxborough members each receive one vote.
In a separate vote, also 18 to 3.5, the Committee approved a motion to discontinue a longstanding, lottery-based open-enrollment practice where students are assigned to a school based on family rankings of preferred schools and in its place, implement a geography-based enrollment model for the three elementary schools of option 5.2.
The motion includes language that directs the administration to work with the consultant who will oversee the process of identifying geographic boundaries that will determine neighborhood schools, to understand if and how the District might introduce limited, structured choice that would, under certain conditions, allow for personal preference.
After the votes were announced, Chair Campbell congratulated the team on getting to a decision and acknowledged that there will be a lot of unhappy people, as would have been the case no matter which way the decision had gone. Committee members offered suggestions for how to move forward into the implementation process.
The committee then turned their attention to the FY27 preliminary budget presentation.
The Acton Exchange will have more detailed coverage of this meeting in next week’s edition. Video of the full meeting is available on ActonTV.
