Elementary School Opening Update
Move timeline. All of our schools have been hard at work preparing to welcome staff, students, and families into the newly reorganized elementary schools. The largest portion of the move happened in July and took about a week and a half, less than half the time we originally anticipated. We continue to work our way classroom by classroom to make sure each room has all of the necessary furniture and materials. Many of our educators have already returned, and a good number of classrooms across the district are nearly set up. We feel confident we are on pace to open as planned.
PTOs. I want to give a huge thank you to all of our elementary PTOs. While we talked a lot about the school restructuring, our PTOs had to restructure as well. Thanks to the incredible work of our families, the PTOs were able to reorganize and hold student meet-and-greets throughout the summer. Thank you to all of the family members who supported this effort.
Transportation. We completed our transportation routes for the elementary schools and were able to reduce three bus routes, while still making sure all routes ran within the time guidelines the School Committee established.
Parking. We have added parking capacity at both the Parker Damon Building and the Boardwalk Campus to accommodate increases in student population. You will continue to see some construction on the new parking area at Boardwalk through the first couple of weeks of school.
I always thank our Operations Department for all of the work they do, but this year they deserve a special thanks.
Setting expectations. Our goal throughout this process has been to make the transition as smooth as possible for our students, families, and staff. I also want to set healthy expectations for the start of the school year, because any change of this magnitude will come with some unanticipated bumps in the road. I think it's fair to expect that the large majority of what we planned will happen as planned, a smaller portion will still happen but may look a little different, and a small number of things may need to change more substantially. I encourage everyone to give our teachers and school staff grace as we open our elementary schools this fall and begin a new chapter for our district.
Teaching & Learning Update
The Office of Teaching and Learning has been deeply involved in ensuring schools have what they need to welcome students on August 31. This work has included:
Inventorying and distributing curriculum materials Reviewing preliminary MCAS results Setting up our data systems for the new school configurations
We are also excited to finalize the interim student reporting and family resource documents that educators will share with families this year to support consistency and coherence across our K-6 schools. We have established a schedule to collect feedback from families and educators on how this process supports their understanding of student strengths and learning needs, and we will use that feedback to finalize these documents for the 2027-28 school year.
We are excited to welcome back our professional and support staff on August 26 and have planned meaningful opportunities to build a professional community and engaging learning spaces throughout the district.
Conant Building Update - Community Education Extended Day Programming Increased
We have been able to use a portion of the Conant Building to increase the number of seats available in our Extended Day Program. Thank you to Erin Bettez and her team in Community Education for this creative use of our building to address a long-standing need for childcare among our families.
As you may remember, the Conant Building will also be used this year to host the Acton Town Offices while Town Hall is under construction. We were also able to use some of the space at Conant to provide a practice field for our new high school robotics team.
Human Resources Update
Overall, we are almost fully staffed, with 479 of 482 Certified Educator positions filled. There are a few critical, late vacancies that still need to be filled, including:
Kindergarten Teacher – Parker Damon Lower Pathways Teacher – Junior High School Special Education Learning Center (LC) Teacher – Parker Damon Lower .6 FTE Desktop Support – Educational Technology Bus Drivers – Transportation Department
We also have several general and special education assistant positions that we are working to fill. Interested applicants can see our full list of available positions on the district website.
Educational Technology Update
We are excited to announce the launch of new school websites for the Parker Damon Building and Boardwalk Campus schools, giving families updated, easy-to-navigate information as we begin the new school year. Please bookmark the links below as needed:
Please also make sure to check your inbox and register with ParentSquare if you haven't already done so. Families should look for an invitation to register, as we will continue to use ParentSquare as an important tool for school and district communication.
Special Education Update
The Special Education Department had a busy and productive summer, with teams focused on strengthening support for students and staff while preparing for the 2026-27 school year.
Strengthening Mental and Behavioral Health Supports
Throughout the summer, Dr. Alex Hirshberg, our PK-8 counselors, BCBAs, and Special Education leadership collaborated to strengthen the district's Tier 1 mental and behavioral health supports. Building on the district's work around inclusionary practices, the group developed practical resources and structures to help schools respond proactively and consistently to students' social-emotional and behavioral needs, including:
Guidance and resources for establishing inclusionary time-out and regulation spaces within schools Regulation strategies and in-class supports that help students remain engaged in their learning environment A tiered response framework to guide staff in responding to students' social-emotional and behavioral needs Training materials for general educators focused on responding effectively to student behavior, supporting regulation, and establishing proactive classroom structures
This work will continue into the school year through professional learning, implementation support, and collaboration across schools, with the goal of building greater consistency and increasing educators' capacity to support students within inclusive settings.
Extended School Year (ESY) Update
The 2026 Extended School Year (ESY) program was a great success. From July 7 through August 13, 176 students participated in meaningful learning and enrichment opportunities, supported by 75 dedicated staff members.
Programs were held at the Carol Huebner Early Childhood Program (CHECP), Boardwalk Campus, and Acton-Boxborough Regional High School, creating vibrant summer learning communities across the district. Students had opportunities to maintain important skills and connect with peers and staff throughout the summer.
A tremendous thank you to our ESY educators, related service providers, assistants, coordinators, administrative staff, and families whose collaboration made the summer program possible.
Community Education & Extended Day Update
A-B Community Ed. ran a robust array of summer classes and activities for children and adults, with nearly 3,000 enrollments across the board.
Summer Day Program. Led by Blanchard teacher Kyle Puzikov, the program ran from June 29 through August 7. Open to students entering Grades 1-6, it drew 286 children, many of whom returned week after week. They enjoyed daily open swim at the high school pool, arts and crafts, music and drama, cooperative games, and an array of special events throughout the summer. Community Ed. provided over $20,000 in scholarships to eligible households, covering both SDP tuition and extended hours care.
Children's Summer Escapades. These week-long programs, running three hours per day and led primarily by ABRSD teaching staff, temporarily moved to Acton-Boxborough Regional High School and quickly settled into their new location. Dozens of students each week dove deeply into topics such as Dungeons & Dragons, engineering, acting and theater, writing, Legos, architecture, science, and card making, among many others.
Summer sports. From the end of June through mid-August, enrollment in our largest youth sports clinics, including Summer Hoops, Junior Jump Shot Basketball, Crossman Speed & Agility, Kids' Tennis Lessons, and AB Plays Volleyball, topped 650.
Extended Day
At this time, Extended Day has enrolled 505 children in its program for the 2026-2027 school year.
During the coming year, Extended Day will operate:
Mornings at the Administration Building, Blanchard, and the Boardwalk Campus Afternoons at the Administration Building, Blanchard, the Boardwalk Campus, the Parker Damon Building, and the former Conant School
Extended Day has also added considerable staff, including four new full-time Assistant Site Coordinators and a full-time nurse.
Facilities Update
This was one of the most significant years on record for our Facilities team. A quick overview of the major work completed:
Relocated almost 300 elementary school classrooms Completed parking lot improvements at Blanchard, Boardwalk Campus, and the High School Installed air conditioning in 16 additional classrooms at Blanchard and JHS, bringing us to nearly full air conditioning across all of our schools Completed emergency repairs and an overhaul of the Blanchard fire suppression system Completed an emergency replacement of the Blanchard main boiler's heat exchanger Made improvements to the PDB kitchen, including electrification and additional freezer and dishwashing capacity Overhauled the bleachers and flooring at the High School's Reagan Gymnasium
With much appreciation,
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