A representative of the Duxbury Recreation Collaborative urged the Duxbury School Committee on Thursday to prioritize significant — not incremental — improvements to town recreational fields that serve students and other residents.

The request came during the public comment period and preceded committee discussion of multiple gifts and in-kind donations listed on the consent agenda. The committee then moved a consent agenda that included approval of meeting minutes, pay warrants, a Duxbury High School overnight trip to Ecuador and the Galapagos, a monetary gift to Duxbury Public Schools, an in-kind donation to Duxbury Soccer, and athletic transportation donations from the boosters.

The recreation group representative, speaking for a nonprofit that serves the town’s nine youth sports organizations, said the collaborative “directly engage[s] 1,400 homes, about 2,000 students” and maintains a database of adult voters with interest in youth sports. The speaker said the group would be willing to “come alongside the schools and the town with private funding” and asked the committee to “find ways to make substantial improvements, not just incremental ones, to those spaces.”

During committee discussion, Lisa (school business office) explained how gifts are recorded. “Those will go into a small gift account, which is a revolving account, and then we report that similar to everything else,” she said, describing the district’s practice of placing monetary gifts in a separate Gifts-to-School account and expending them for their designated purpose. She also said truly in-kind contributions — where no money exchanges hands and outside parties manage and pay vendors directly — are recorded differently from fiscal gifts.

Committee members asked for clarification about ownership and maintenance of a soccer field discussed by a public commenter. Committee members were told the field sits on school department property but is mowed and generally managed by the town, while rental and maintenance logistics are handled by the town.

A motion to approve the consent agenda was made and seconded; the transcript records the motion and second and indicates the chair planned to take a vote, but does not include the vote tally or final outcome in the record.

The public comments and committee remarks linked the immediate issue of donor-funded field work to the larger FY26 budget conversation, including whether the town will pursue an override that could affect program and facility funding.

Looking ahead, committee members said detailed accounting for gifts and donations will continue to be available in the district’s reporting and that questions about specific gifts can be directed to the business office.

Votes at a glance: the transcript records a motion and second to approve the consent agenda, which included the following items (as read into the record): approval of meeting minutes from 12/4/24; accounts payable warrants for FY25 (warrants 23, 24, 25); Duxbury High School overnight trip to Ecuador and the Galapagos; approval of a monetary gift to Duxbury Public Schools; approval of an in-kind donation to Duxbury Soccer; and approval of athletic transportation donations from the boosters. The transcript does not include a recorded tally or named yeas/nays.

Community members and the committee reiterated that gifts meant for specific projects are tracked separately from the operating budget and that liability and insurance questions for third-party field work generally route through the town’s field rental and insurance processes.

The committee did not take additional action on the public comment beyond discussion and the recording of the consent agenda motion; it directed members and staff to continue using the gifts accounting process and to route questions to appropriate staff.