Hundreds of minutes of public comment and staff testimony centered on the high school bell schedule on March 27, as students, teachers and parents urged the Holliston School Committee to slow the pace of change and better involve students and educators in planning. Committee members voted to set the final student day for the 2025‑26 school year as Monday, June 22, a change they said would reduce calendar risk if snow days occur.

The committee and district leaders repeatedly told the public that no staff layoffs will result from the schedule or the budget. “I just want to be very, very clear with everyone that there are not going to be any staff cuts for budget or high school schedule reasons,” a committee speaker said at the meeting, reiterating that assertion several times.

Why it matters: The high school schedule has become a flashpoint in town: students and teachers say rushed implementation is creating stress and confusion, while committee members and administrators say they are balancing operational constraints, bargaining with the Holliston Federation of Teachers and legal and technical scheduling issues.

Students and teachers urged delay and clearer communication. Multiple student speakers said they felt excluded from decisions that affect their daily lives. Jordan Kiley, a student who read a poem to the committee, said the change would worsen anxiety for peers with learning differences and mental health challenges and warned that “rushing into change will never solve” existing problems. Oliver, a junior, said students feel “left out of communications” about the schedule and pleaded for the committee to stop what he called “negligence.”

Teachers said they are not opposed to schedule reform but objected to how the proposal was advanced. Caroline Roy, a chemistry and physics teacher, told the committee, “The teachers of Holliston High School are not opposed to a schedule change. The teachers are on the front lines of your children's education.” Amanda Rivera, another chemistry teacher, described the teachers’ alternative — a 7‑drop‑2 model — as a compromise meant to protect instructional quality and said administrators had presented an AB schedule to the committee without fully explaining its drawbacks.

Administration and bargaining status. District leaders told the meeting they received a counterproposal from the Holliston Federation of Teachers earlier the same day. “We did receive a counterproposal from the HFT…we believe it's a step in the right direction,” a committee speaker said, adding that any ratified 7‑drop‑2 schedule would be implemented for the 2026‑27 school year rather than the coming year. Principal David List clarified technical impacts on course credits and science lab time, saying AP science courses will include AP lab components built into year‑long scheduling regardless of the bell schedule.

Calendar decision and next steps. After discussion about meeting cadence and further bargaining, the committee voted to set the last student day for the 2025‑26 school year as June 22, 2026. The roll call recorded five votes in favor and two against. Committee members also discussed adding meeting time in early April to consider schedule status depending on the outcome of continuing negotiations. Administrators said counselors and scheduling staff are continuing course selection work: roughly 330 high school students had completed course selections at the time of the meeting.

What was not decided. The committee did not adopt a final bell schedule at the meeting; administrators and the committee said final adoption depends on bargaining results and additional reviews of technical scheduling constraints. The school committee and district administrators said they will continue negotiating with the HFT and will provide updates as ratification decisions are reached.

Looking ahead. Committee members signaled they will monitor bargaining and may place the schedule back on the agenda for a future meeting once parties have reviewed the latest counterproposal and technical scheduling implications. For now, the district said AB scheduling will remain the path the administration is preparing for, while 7‑drop‑2 remains under negotiation for 2026‑27.