Winchester school committee unanimously approves student trips and accepts $2,000 donation

The Winchester School Committee approved a consent agenda at its Jan. 14, 2026, meeting that cleared several student travel requests and accepted a $2,000 donation for Vincent Owen Elementary School.

A committee member moved to accept the consent agenda but excluded approval of past meeting minutes; the chair acknowledged the motion and members approved it unanimously. The approved travel requests included Winchester High School’s Bella Voce choir trip to Providence, R.I., in January 2026 to perform the national anthem for the Bruins, the WHS math team’s planned trip to Brown University for a math Olympiad in February 2026, and a biannual WHS exchange trip to Spain scheduled for February 2026. The chair also announced a $2,000 donation from the Winchester School of Chinese Culture to Vincent Owen Elementary School.

The chair congratulated students and staff traveling on the approved trips, saying, “Good luck to all of our teams and all of our kids who are going to be representing Winchester and the high school as we go along.” The chair added that "Rhode Island is beautiful this time of year." Minutes from June 12 and Nov. 20, 2025, were removed from the consent agenda and tabled for a future meeting.

The committee completed its business quickly: the meeting convened at 4:00 p.m. and the chair declared the meeting adjourned at 4:03 p.m. The chair said the committee’s next meeting is scheduled for Jan. 22, likely in person at the high school at 6:30 p.m.

Formal actions recorded in the meeting were the approval of the consent agenda (unanimous) and a subsequent unanimous motion to adjourn. The committee did not vote on the previously tabled minutes during this session.