A three-year special education staffing proposal was the focus of Monday night’s School Committee meeting. The presentation, given by Superintendent Carol Cavanaugh, Director of Student Services Karen Zaleski and Marathon Elementary School Principal Lauren Dubeau,...
School Committee
School Committee approves Special Town Meeting article wording; enrollment numbers rise
The School Committee on Thursday approved the language for a Special Town Meeting warrant article asking for an additional $850,000 for the Marathon School addition project. The money for the project could be taken out of the department’s Legacy Farms Fund allocation...
Safety prime topic at School Committee meeting
School safety, the contract for nurses and the Elmwood School building project were among the topics on the Hopkinton School Committee agenda on Thursday night. With the mass school shooting in Uvalde, Texas, still weighing on people’s minds, Superintendent Carol...
School Committee roundup: Repairs continue after flood at middle school; protocols adopted
At Thursday’s School Committee meeting, Superintendent Carol Cavanaugh shared details about a flood earlier this week in the basement at Hopkinton Middle School that resulted in 3-4 inches of water consistently and water up to 4 feet high in the elevator shaft. The...
School Committee roundup: Testing rescheduled for many students due to COVID surge
The impact of COVID-19 continues to be felt in Hopkinton Public Schools. At Thursday’s School Committee meeting, Superintendent Carol Cavanaugh reported the number of students and staff with COVID at each school as follows: 19 students and six staff at Marathon, six...
Superintendent receives high praise from School Committee
The School Committee on Thursday night rated Superintendent Carol Cavanaugh as “exemplary” in many areas of performance and noted that she exceeded expectations in achieving established goals. School Committee member Amanda Fargiano said the superintendent did an...
School Committee roundup: Services outlined for children with dyslexia; lunch prices to rise
More than half of the three-hour School Committee meeting Thursday night was devoted to the issue of dyslexia and the various programs the district offers to address it and other learning disabilities. During the public comment period, several mothers spoke about the...
Schools Notebook: District turns down school choice option
At a brief meeting Thursday night, the School Committee voted not to participate in school choice for the 2022-23 school year. Hopkinton traditionally does not participate in the program, which would allow students from other districts to enter the local schools. The...
School Committee ratifies contracts for teachers, custodians
The School Committee at Wednesday’s meeting ratified three-year contracts for the teachers and custodians unions and a one-year contract for the school physician. Superintendent Carol Cavanaugh said that using an interest-based model for negotiations proved successful...
Gifted learners, COVID numbers discussed at School Committee meeting
A presentation about the efforts being made to address the needs of high-achieving learners in the district dominated Thursday's School Committee meeting. Superintendent Carol Cavanaugh noted that knowing each child as an individual learner is a priority in the...
School Committee vacancies to be placed on this year’s ballot
At a special meeting Saturday morning, the Select Board voted unanimously to have the two new School Committee vacancies placed on the ballot for the May 16 Annual Town Election. Joe Markey and Meg Tyler submitted letters of resignation to the town clerk on Tuesday,...
School Committee officially announces vacancies in special meeting: ‘We will continue with the business of the schools’
The School Committee held a special meeting Friday to officially announce the two vacancies created when Joe Markey and Meg Tyler announced their resignations earlier this week. Chair Nancy Cavanaugh said she was notified by Town Clerk Connor Degan on Tuesday at about...
Markey, Tyler resign from School Committee, which calls special meeting
Editor's note: Updated March 10 with the Select Board calling a meeting for Saturday. Joe Markey and Meg Tyler filed paperwork this week with the town clerk to immediately resign from the School Committee, and the committee called a special meeting for Friday to...
School Committee roundup: Members seek to ‘strengthen the dialogue’ with help from consultant; security camera policy debated
Following recent issues of divisiveness, the School Committee had a midyear check-in of its norms and beliefs, part of its protocols and best practices for effective meetings. While at recent meetings some members expressed frustration with how meetings were run and a...
School Committee votes 4-1 to drop mask mandate on Feb. 28
The School Committee at its Thursday night meeting voted to discontinue the school mask mandate policy on Feb. 28 by a 4-1 vote. Because of a federal mandate, masks still will be required on school buses. The decision was in line with an announcement earlier this...
Tensions high at School Committee meeting despite calls for unity
Editor's note: This story was updated Feb. 19 with a comment from Meg Tyler regarding criticism from the Hopkinton Teachers Association. There were some tense moments at Thursday night’s School Committee meeting — even before the vote to lift the mask mandate starting...
School Committee duo cleared after open meeting law complaint
In a special meeting of the School Committee on Tuesday night, members Joe Markey and Meg Tyler were cleared of an allegation brought forth at the Feb. 3 meeting that they violated open meeting law by holding a Zoom meeting on Jan. 30 regarding the district’s mask...
School Committee eyes March 7 for mask-optional but delays vote, approves calendar with extra holidays
Editor's note: This story was updated with a statement from Joe Markey. The School Committee met for nearly three hours Thursday night to tackle some longstanding controversial topics, including the mask policy debate and the approval of the school calendar that now...
School Committee duo face open meeting law complaint, criticism from teachers union
Editor's note: This story was updated with a statement from Joe Markey. The School Committee at its Thursday night meeting responded to a complaint by a Hopkinton resident against two School Committee members, Joe Markey and Meg Tyler, saying that they were in...
School Committee roudup: Budget approved; calendar debated; COVID policy questioned
The School Committee at Thursday’s meeting approved the fiscal year 2023 budget of $57,116,438 and discussed a range of topics from updating the school calendar to the decrease in COVID-19 cases in schools over the past week. The committee approved by a 4-0-1 vote the...