Resident urges board to limit off‑campus programming, warns of 'Lifewise' influence

Tracy Dobson, who identified herself as a Montague resident, parent, lawyer and retired college professor, used the public‑comment period to urge the board to limit involvement of an organization she named “Lifewise” with district schools. “I am here to speak about the invasion of our schools by an organization called Lifewise,” Dobson said, adding she was concerned about program timing, lost instructional hours and church‑state separation.

Dobson said she brought printed material from historian Heather Cox Richardson to illustrate her view of First Amendment protections and argued the district should allow outside groups to pick up students after the school day rather than during instructional time. “I would like to advocate that we work with these people on the basis that they are welcome to pick the children up at the end of the school day, but we do not want disruption during school,” she said.

The board did not respond during the meeting; the public‑comment statement was the only recorded citizen comment on that topic in the transcript. No district staff provided a legal or policy response on the record at the meeting about how the district will handle future requests from outside providers or whether court guidance applies to the district’s specific contracts or schedules.