Field Project Delay Likely, Other School Building Projects On Course

The School Committee this week learned that the Marshall Simonds Middle School Fields project will likely be delayed by as much as a year, as wetlands flagging revealed that there isn't as much space to build on the land as previously thought.

The project, which was expected to be finished by this fall, will need to be rethought, and a new design will need to be created and approved before a contractor is selected and the work is scheduled to begin, said Burlington High School Facilities and Operations Director, Bob Cunha, at the May 13 School Committee meeting.

Meanwhile, the High School Building Committee is working on the schematic design for the addition-renovation of the high school that is expected to go before Town Meeting in September, and the Fox Hill Building Committee is making interior design decisions for their project, which should go out to bid later this year.

Also at School Committee this week:

• The Drone Team won first place at the state competition and will be moving on to nationals.
• Grants were accepted to:
  • expand cybersecurity component for flipped internship
  • promote food literacy
  • provide support for BHS instructional coach Shannon Janovitz to participate in the InSPIRED fellowship for educators committed to increasing the racial and ethnic diversity of the teacher workforce
• The unified bowling team was highlighted; this team pairs students with and without intellectual disabilities to participate in activities together and builds on the established unified basketball program.
• BHS Principal, Mark Sullivan, was recognized for being named 2025 Massachusetts School Administrator Association High School Principal of the Year.
• Assistant Superintendent for Learning, Dr. Chen, gave some more curriculum updates:
  • The literacy task force of 32 teachers at all grade levels at each school, including English learner and special education teachers, will work on pacing guides in June, ensuring they are anticipating hiccups with implementation and have a realistic idea for how much prep time teachers will need. A pilot of eight early release days throughout the year will be implemented in the 2025-26 school year so teachers can focus on learning and implementing the new curriculum. Town Meeting voted to approve funding for a new K-5 literacy curriculum adoption on Wednesday evening.
  • In math, the curriculum group continues their work ensuring all students can have a path to take Algebra I and will be creating year-at-a-glance guides for each grade level.

See a detailed look at the work Dr. Chen and the BPS teachers have done on curriculum over the last two years.

The next School Committee meeting will be on May 27.