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Acton-Boxborough school committee candidates defend AB Forward, weigh overrides and transition plans
Summary
At a Democratic Town Committee forum, six school‑committee candidates defended the AB Forward reorganization, emphasized listening to thousands of public inputs and proposed transition steps — class lists in June, educator pairing and PTO toolkits — while acknowledging lingering community distrust and ongoing budget pressure that could prompt a Proposition 2½ override.
Several candidates for the Acton‑Boxborough Regional School District school committee used Monday’s Democratic Town Committee forum to defend the district’s recently adopted elementary reorganization and lay out how they would help steady the transition.
Tori Campbell, introduced as chair of the school committee, said the board reviewed “over 5,000 surveys, 354 written public comments and 20 hours of questions and comments from the public” and concluded geographic enrollment would create more balanced student populations and a fairer distribution of educator workload. “That is a lot to digest,” Campbell said, adding the input changed her thinking on possible configurations and implementation steps.
Campbell and other candidates described specific measures intended to reduce disruption: releasing class lists in June to give families time to form peer contacts over the summer, creating a “toolkit” to support PTOs through the first meetings at new schools, and deliberately pairing educators so each new school includes experienced colleagues from different buildings.
Other candidates framed the reorganization in systems terms. Dennis Arthur Bannic (who described his background in engineering and service on AB Forward steering efforts) said the only bad option would have been to do nothing: “We needed sustainable schools. We needed sustainable budgets,” he said. Diego Represa argued the agenda should be refocused on classroom practice and supports for teachers, not only on organizational mechanics.
All candidates acknowledged the budget pressures driving the reconfiguration. Several said they could not identify more internal cuts that would avoid harming student‑facing programs. “We can’t cut any more teachers,” Natasha Sakorski Anen said, urging a multi‑year financial plan to show the community how money, enrollment trends and proposed changes align. Jake Fay, a career educator, urged rapid, transparent communication about placements and teacher assignments to reduce uncertainty.
On the question of whether to seek a Proposition 2½ override, candidates offered cautious answers tied to evolving fiscal forecasts. Campbell said an override is “on the table,” dependent on next year’s health‑insurance costs and the outcome of contract negotiations. Diego Represa warned repeated overrides without a realistic budget plan would harm affordability and reduce community diversity, saying the district should first set a realistic budget and then pursue targeted opportunities to raise revenue or cut nonessential spending.
Candidates repeatedly returned to the need to rebuild trust. Several proposed summer community activities, school‑led welcome sessions and early opportunities for families to visit new buildings so students feel less isolated on the first days. “We’re essentially entering kindergarten for about 50% of the class,” one candidate said, urging summer meet‑ups and playground visits.
The forum closed with candidates saying hiring the next superintendent will be critical. They said the board should prioritize candidates who can build consensus, stay aligned with the AB Forward implementation plan and focus on stabilizing classrooms and educators.
Next steps: the school committee will continue AB Forward implementation work over the summer; candidates urged residents to monitor committee meetings and communications for placement dates and district plans.
