The future of the Ashby Elementary School is still in flux after the North Middlesex Regional School District School Committee reversed course on closing the building last month.
During a meeting on Jan. 16, committee member June McNeil, a representative for Ashby, made a motion to rescind the vote made at the Dec. 3 meeting to close the elementary school as a means to deal with budget problems. That vote would’ve also closed the Spaulding Memorial School in Townsend. The new vote was passed 4-2, though three committee members were not in attendance at that meeting. With this new vote, the committee will use its upcoming budget hearing set for Feb. 6 to discuss new means of addressing financial concerns.
One of the committee members who was absent from the January vote was Patrick McPhillips, one of four Pepperell representatives on the committee. McPhillips said last week via email that he was “very angry, upset and shocked” at the vote, calling it “a massive step backwards and a waste of time.”
“The vote to close Ashby and Spaulding was extremely difficult and only covers a small part of the deficit we must resolve in order to be fully funded in [fiscal year 2026],” he added. “If we don’t close Ashby Elementary, more cuts will have to be made in other areas. We already have millions in cuts that need to be made and adding more to it will most definitely impact teachers and staffing even further, which was already impacted heavily last year.”
The committee voted on Dec. 3 to close Ashby and Spaulding after members of the district voted to reject Proposition 2.5 overrides in early 2024. The North Middlesex district budget increased from $63.41 million in fiscal 2024 to $66.08 million in fiscal 2025 — a $2.7 million increase year over year. Although Pepperell and Townsend residents approved the Proposition 2.5 overrides to send the issue to the ballot box, voters in both towns later rejected the override.
School Committee Vice Chair Randee Rusch further explained last week that the committee was presented with six options for “reconfiguration for the district to save money” at the Dec. 3 meeting. The committee voted 5-4 for the fourth option, which involved closing Ashby and Spaulding after the current school year. Rusch said the vote was meant to give the district administration “an answer on a direction to go due to the extensive planning and scheduling” needed to address its budget problems.
Rusch was one of the committee members in favor of rescinding the school closure, saying the January vote “opened up the options again” so the committee and district members can process more information and new options. Superintendent Brad Morgan presented new options at the January meeting that would keep Ashby Elementary open. Those options involve either moving fifth grade students into Ashby that would turn it from a K-4 school into a K-5 school, or having Ashby Elementary become a K-1 school for all of Ashby and all of Townsend.
“I believe that AES should remain open,” Rusch said via email last week. “If we are to treat each town equally and value the students from each town, then we must work to make all students feel welcome, safe, and part of our community as well as their town community. A school, especially in a small town, provides a place for the community and for the students to feel like they belong. The new option brought by the Superintendent not only keeps AES open, but reconfigures the schools to allow Townsend and Ashby students to come together earlier than the 5th grade and allowing for better educational opportunities for these students similar to those that Pepperell students already experience. It creates better parity throughout the district. It also shows Ashby town residents that we respect and value them as part of the district.”
McPhillips noted several reasons that Ashby should close, including low student numbers, high costs per student, and expensive renovations needed for the building. He noted how the district is responsible for general maintenance of Ashby Elementary despite not owning the building and it having “decades of neglect.” McPhillips hopes that more district members attend the next meeting and make their concerns heard.
“Pepperell isn’t really paying attention, and these changes negatively impact the budget and the class sizes in our district,” McPhillips added. “Pepperell takes on a lion’s share of the budget and in my opinion is dealing with the most overpopulated classrooms. Parents in Ashby, our smallest community, are advocating strongly to keep their school open, but lots of Pepperell parents are very unhappy with class sizes now and those (are) growing larger each year. Many of them are considering pulling their students or moving from Pepperell, where the taxes are very high and the services are non-existent. I also think we as a school district need to better advertise the meetings and people need to understand the dire situation we are in.”
State Sen. John Cronin, who represents the Worcester and Middlesex District, said his office has heard from “dozens of constituents” on the issues of NMRSD funding and how the state needs to offer more support to this and other local school districts.
“Fixing the state funding formula to get North Middlesex its fair share in state funding is my top priority this legislative session,” Cronin said in an email last week. “We have been working in partnership with the North Middlesex Regional School District administration and School Committee to increase state funding for regional school transportation, special education circuit breaker reimbursements, and the overall Ch. 70 line item to the District.”
State Rep. Margaret Scarsdale of the 1st Middlesex District said she convened a meeting last summer of all six towns in her district and the state Department of Elementary and Secondary Education to “unpack structural reasons” for school funding issues. That meeting led to Scarsdale organizing discussions between other organizations, including the Massachusetts Association of Regional Schools, Massachusetts Association of School Superintendents, Massachusetts Association of School Committees, and the Mass Budget and Policy Center.
“We have been following the school funding issue for quite some time, dating back to my Select Board days,” Scarsdale added. “Along with bringing Nashoba Valley Medical Center back online – as co-chair of the Emergency, Outpatient, and Healthcare Services Sub-Committee – school funding reform is one of my top two priorities.”
School Committee Chair Lisa Martin said last week that some district members are in favor of Ashby staying open and others are not. She added that the budget process for next year is still in development and “all options are being considered.”
“I would love to maintain all schools in the district, but that will require a substantial override to pass,” Martin added. “Given that an override failed this past year, it is incumbent upon the committee to consider all options to create a balanced budget while delivering a quality educational experience to our students.”