At the Sept. 24 meeting the Freetown-Lakeville Regional School Committee accepted several donations, approved an Eagle Scout improvement project, and voted to raise campus facilities user fees.

Donations and projects
- Profile Tavern donated $521.83 raised at an event to buy start-of-year supplies for Freetown Elementary School kindergarten teachers. The committee voted to accept the donation, with district central office ordering the items on behalf of the teachers.
- The Freetown Elementary School PTO offered to donate playground equipment purchased last year and to pay for installation. Documents in the packet show equipment cost at $18,491 and installation at $18,790; the committee voted to accept the PTO donation and the installation arrangement.
- ARHS senior Sullivan Gray presented an Eagle Scout project to repaint campus posts: he counted approximately 390 ground posts and 41 yellow safety posts, estimating 12 gallons of brown paint and 2 gallons of yellow paint. Murphy’s Painting donated paint for the project; Gray said he planned volunteer workdays and aimed to complete the project by Nov. 14, his Eagle Scout deadline. The school committee approved the Eagle Scout project.
- The committee accepted furniture donations for the ARHS “life suite” (apartment) — additional items offered by a donor (Gail Trink) to finish the space — and agreed to commission staff and student volunteers to install donated items.

Fees and permissions
- The committee approved an update to campus facilities user fees discussed at earlier meetings: packet materials note an increase of $10 per hour for one-time event fees and an increase of $10.10 per participant for continual use fees. The vote to adopt the updated user-fee schedule passed by majority vote.
- The committee granted permission to participate in Macy’s charity-roundup program; the proposed window is Oct. 16–31 at the Dartmouth Macy’s store, with rounded-up register donations directed to the FES student activities account. The committee approved moving forward with the retailer’s program; no projected revenue estimate was provided.

Financial details and process
Jack Higgins, interim superintendent, reported the FY25 certified Excess and Deficiency (E&D) figure and explained budget items elsewhere in the agenda. Committee members later voted to return $450,000 of school-choice dollars that had been held as a placeholder pending expected state revenue increases; the two-thirds roll-call vote to restore that money to the school-choice account passed unanimously.

Committee members thanked donors and volunteers. The approvals will allow district central office to accept and process donations, to coordinate installation and to oversee the Eagle Scout project and fee changes going forward.