The School Committee endorsed a major policy shift at their April 9 meeting that will change the way elementary students are assigned to schools in Acton-Boxborough.
The policy change directs the District to assign elementary students who are enrolling in the District to a school based on geographic attendance zones that have been established by the Committee and that prioritize balanced enrollment, efficient use of facilities, and equitable access to educational opportunities. The move overturns a 54-year practice of open enrollment which assigned students to an elementary school based on families’ ranked preferences.
Elementary school families remain deeply divided about the change, with protesters displaying signs at the April 9 meeting and parents and staff voicing both opposition and support during public comment periods at School Committee meetings, in hundreds of emails to the School Committee, and on social media.
Over 1,700 viewers watched the April 9 proceedings on Acton TV.
By unanimous vote, the Committee endorsed the specific geographic boundary map known as “scenario 7” as the official map delineating which Acton and Boxborough neighborhoods will be assigned to which of the two school campuses in Acton or to the Blanchard Memorial K-6 School in Boxborough effective July 1, 2026. The geographic boundaries in scenario 7 remain in effect until or unless amended by the School Committee.
In a second, contested vote, the Committee approved a transition policy allowing Acton students currently attending Blanchard, regardless of the neighborhood they live in, to remain at Blanchard for the duration of their elementary career. This transition policy will right-size enrollment in each of Acton-Boxborough’s elementary schools. Students currently residing in the neighborhoods designated as the Blanchard Extended Zone under scenario 7 who currently attend Acton schools would, under the transition policy, also be allowed to remain at their current campus in Acton for the duration of their elementary experience.
According to the voted language, the transition policy applies only to students already enrolled in an elementary school and attending grades K-5 during the 2025-26 school year and does not apply to students entering kindergarten or to younger siblings who are not yet enrolled in school, or to students who enroll in the District after June 30, 2026. Parents of eligible students may unilaterally opt-out of grandfathering, but final placement decisions remain with the District.
Members who voted YES in the contested vote (on the transition policy) included Tori Campbell, Glen Cote, Adam Klein, and Andrew Schwartz (8.5 votes). Members voting NO included Lisa Adil, Liz Fowlks, Lakshmi Kaja, and Yanxin Schmidt (7 votes). Members Ben Bloomenthal, Vikram Parikh, and Leela Ramachandran were absent. The contested vote rested on an alternative transition policy put forward by Member Liz Fowlks that would have assigned all students based on pure geographic criteria and drawn on other mechanisms to balance enrollment.
In another unanimous vote, the School Committee approved the logistics around and location of geographical areas called Flex Zones: three discrete, designated geographic areas in Acton and one in Boxborough, described in an FAQ, specifically where and under what conditions students may be assigned to one of two elementary schools. Flex Zones offer a way for the District to continue to right-size class sizes and school utilization over time without overly relying on hiring new staff in response to enrollment shifts. The particulars regarding Flex Zones will be incorporated into a new set of administrative procedures that document how the District will implement the School Committee’s revised enrollment policy.
Meanwhile, as AB Forward implementation moves through phase two, the School Committee unanimously approved the formation of a Task Force called Common Thread, at their April 9 meeting. Led by Committee members Andrew Schwartz and Liz Fowlks, the group will function similarly to a parent-teacher-student organization (PTO) with the goal of facilitating connection and engagement for elementary students and families throughout the spring and summer as PTOs are reforming.
The Task Force will serve as a centralized resource for community-planned and -led initiatives that include collecting, cataloguing and memorializing existing elementary school community traditions as Acton’s K-6 schools are re-formed as new, grade-banded K-3 and 4-6 schools this fall. Schwartz told his School Committee colleagues on April 9 that he hopes Common Thread will spark enrichment inside the elementary schools once the school year begins. Participation at scheduled meetings is open to the community. Schwartz reported that he has already reached out to Acton-Boxborough’s Parent-Teacher-Student Organization leadership who meet jointly on a monthly basis and have expressed interest in the Task Force. School Committee Chair Tori Campbell and Vice Chair Adam Klein requested that Schwartz and Fowlks update the full School Committee on the Task Force’s membership at their May and early June business meetings.
The School Committee also approved a revision to the current 2025-26 school year calendar at their April 9 meeting that adds three early dismissal days to the school year on Friday May 22 and on June 22 and June 23 which are the Monday and Tuesday of the last week of school. The change was made to afford elementary teachers and staff extra time to pack up their classrooms as the AB Forward elementary school reorganization is implemented. Staffing placements for elementary general education teachers were released earlier in the week.
Other April 9 votes
At their April 9 meeting, with two unanimous votes, the School Committee ratified employment contracts that will be in effect from July 1, 2026 through June 30, 2029 with the Acton-Boxborough Office Support Association (ABOSA), which represents the District’s clerical and administrative support staff, and the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees AFL-CIO Massachusetts State Council 93, Local #1703 (AFSCME), which represents the District’s custodians, maintenance, and grounds staff. Deputy Superintendent, Andrew Shen, provided an overview of contractual changes. Negotiations with the Acton-Boxborough Education Association are still ongoing.
The School Committee also approved fee increases at their April 9 meeting for families participating in athletics next year. The annual user fee will increase from $350 to $365 per sport with the family cap remaining at $1,200. The additional fee for students participating in ice hockey and alpine skiing will increase from $250 to $275. Revenue from fee hikes will allow the district to hire a certified strength and conditioning coach, a position which, according to Superintendent Light, is one that “most high schools our size have accessible for all teams and is a significant benefit to students in Division One high schools.” Fees for student parking at the high school and a one-time $50 fee for student participation in extra-curricular activities at the Junior and Senior High Schools will remain the same.
Diane Baum is the Acton Exchange School Committee beat reporter.
