Uxbridge School Committee reactivates student-activity account, approves transfers and supports town Article; athletic fee cap approved

The Uxbridge School Committee on Sept. 23 voted to reactivate the district student activity account with a maximum balance of $45,000 and approved intra-department line transfers to correct accounting object codes after a Munis/VADOC transition.

Mr. Youngberg, who presented the finance items, told the committee the student activity account would be used only for student activities and recommended the $45,000 maximum “pursuant to DESE regulations.” The committee moved to reactivate the account with that cap and members voted in favor.

The committee also authorized technical line transfers to reassign funds to correct object codes so the district’s spending is reported properly to DESE. Mr. Youngberg said the amounts of the lines do not change, only the account/object codes do.

In a separate action, the committee voted to support Article 9 as it was posted for the June town meeting after a member said the language had been vetted earlier and recommended by the town. The motion to support Article 9 passed with ayes recorded.

Votes at a glance: - Reactivate student activity account (cap $45,000): motion by Unidentified Speaker 3, second recorded; outcome: approved (ayes recorded). - Intra-department line transfers (object-code corrections): motion by Unidentified Speaker 3; outcome: approved (ayes recorded). - Support Article 9 (town meeting language as posted): motion by Unidentified Speaker 3; outcome: approved (ayes recorded).

The committee also accepted multiple grants, including a five-year continuation of the 21st Century Learning grant totaling $188,250, a $2,000 Charlotte’s Litter grant to fund care for the police dog and donate children’s books, a $50,000 Innovation Pathways grant, and a $15,000 planning Pathways grant. Motions to accept those grants were made and the committee voted to approve them.

On athletics, Mr. Youngberg presented an analysis using 2024–25 registrations and recommended a $900 family cap on athletic fees. "If we were to establish a $900 baseline as a family cap, we would have had 26 families who had registrations last year that would have exceeded that number," he said. Unidentified Speaker 3 moved to adopt a $900 family cap per school year; the committee approved the cap for implementation starting with winter sports.

Policy updates: the committee agreed to move most Section A policy updates to a second reading but exempted the background-check/fingerprint policy and the wellness policy for separate work and additional review. The decision followed extended discussion about whether fingerprinting requirements for volunteers are a barrier and concerns about consistent enforcement.

The committee chair said it will seek further community input and clarified that exempted sections will be addressed separately before being returned to the full committee.

The meeting closed after routine updates and a superintendent report on DESE supports for budget and reading strategy work.

Next steps: administrators will provide follow-up documentation on the $40,000 feasibility item for the high-school entrance/egress question and the exempted policy items will be the subject of additional outreach and revision before a future vote.