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Consultant outlines process, equity goals and timeline for Worcester boundary realignment
Summary
A consultant presented how the district will develop boundary realignment scenarios—emphasizing equity, transportation, program placement and public engagement—and the school committee scheduled a multi-month public comment process with subcommittee review ahead of possible December action.
School district officials and consultant Dellinger Research & Applied Data presented an update on the district boundary realignment process, describing the data, public engagement and decision points that will guide scenario development.
Nick Stellitano of Dellinger told the committee the firm began work with the district in late January and has run targeted outreach (six forums, virtual and Spanish sessions) and surveys that together produced more than 500 pieces of community input and roughly 200 forum participants. The consultant said no finalized scenarios have been produced yet, and that the fall will be used for a public window to refine scenarios informed by stakeholder feedback.
Stellitano outlined four principal decision points for scenario design: utilization (matching building capacity to student enrollment), program placement (pre-K availability and distribution), student pathways (reducing fragmentation that splits elementary cohorts across multiple middle or high schools) and transportation (shortening long walk zones and optimizing routes). He said the district aims to reduce the number of schools over capacity and to align utilization rates across quadrants within set bands.
Committee members and public commenters repeatedly asked that every scenario include clear public-facing maps, equity analyses (racial, economic, linguistic and disability impacts), and enrollment and transportation impacts for each option. Barbara Mott of the Worcester NAACP Education Committee pressed for transparency and public access to the full set of scenarios the consultant develops, not only the administration's preferred options.
Administration outlined a timeline: an in-depth subcommittee presentation on Aug. 18, followed by public meetings through September–November and possible School Committee action in December for implementation planning for the 2027–28 school year. Committee members cautioned that some program expansions (for example, full-day pre-K districtwide) may require phasing because of fiscal and facility constraints. The superintendent and consultant emphasized the realignment is a districtwide, multi-step design process and that any final plan will balance equity goals with fiscal and facility realities.
Next steps: the consultant will continue scenario modeling with the working group; Operations & Governance will receive scenario presentations in August and public hearings will follow in the fall.
