The Duxbury School Committee opened their November 19 session with a celebration of student excellence before diving into the sobering realities of the FY27 budget. Superintendent Dr. Beth Wilcox presented the 2025 Massachusetts Association of School Superintendents’ Award to High School scholar-athlete McKenzie Kingston, praising her as an exceptional Duxbury High School scholar leader whose schedule would intimidate most adults. Kingston’s mother looked on as Chair Kellie Bresnehan joked, I just wish that you were a little more driven, highlighting the senior's extensive list of academic, athletic, and community leadership roles. Following the award, student representatives and school leaders shared updates on Chandler’s annual Turkey Trot and Alden’s Kids Care Club, which recently worked with End Hunger New England to pack over 20,000 nutritious meals for families across the state.

The committee received a comprehensive breakdown of last spring's MCAS results, which showed Duxbury students consistently outperforming state averages. Sarah Milner, Curriculum Supervisor for grades preK-5, noted that In all three content areas, math, literacy, and science, we did outperform the state by 20% or more. However, Humanities Curriculum Supervisor Allison McHugh highlighted a new challenge: AI scoring. Discussing the shift to machine-scored essays, McHugh observed, I think it's safe to say that we're we got a haircut... because the machine isn't very good at great writing. It's good at what it's good at. While high school results remained stellar, particularly in 10th-grade math where non-passing scores plummeted to zero, officials remained focused on achievement gaps within the high-needs student population. Assistant Superintendent Beth Wilcox emphasized that Tonight we heard the continued need to focus on our co-teaching practices as a primary strategy to close those gaps.

The transition to the FY27 budget discussion sparked intense debate over the long-term impact of staffing cuts. Vice Chair Matt Gambino expressed deep concern over the diluted state of curriculum leadership, noting that our curriculum leadership has been diluted and that's a problem. STEM Supervisor Mike Murray, who now oversees math in addition to science, admitted that watching the new math program implementation was unlike anything I have ever experienced as a student, but he acknowledged the strain of managing multiple disciplines. Laurel Deacon warned that the current fiscal path is unsustainable, stating that a level service is a cut basically and we've seen it. Jen Weedon pressed the administration for deeper data on special education, asking for metrics such as the spend per enrolled student with disability to better inform future deliberations. The district’s Special Education Director responded by acknowledging discrepancies in historical data, stating, I really want to clean that up for you before the next formal budget vote.

Logistical and facilities updates rounded out the meeting, including a proposal to utilize $300,000 from the building use revolving fund to offset the $1.75 million feasibility study for the Alden School. Food Service Director Kelly Prince reported that daily meal participation remains high at nearly 1,900 meals, noting that basically we’re the department that has a lot of fun while introducing new global eats and homemade sauces to the cafeteria. Regarding a town-wide debate over moving the annual Town Meeting to May, Matt Gambino reminded the selectboard that the school calendar is a policy decision that's under the purview of this committee, suggesting the schools would be willing to prioritize town government dates in future facility planning to support the budget process.

Motion Made by Jen Weedon to approve the consent agenda with the addition of the budget form meeting minutes Motion Passed 4-0

Motion Made by Matt Gambino to adjourn Motion Passed 4-0