Brookline School Committee News
October 27, 2025
School Committee News
October 2025 School Committee Meetings
The School Committee met on October 9 and on October 22.
The October 9 meeting included a presentation of the results of the Brookline Youth Health Survey. Administered every two years, the Brookline Youth Health Survey is one of the tools used to evaluate the impact of the district’s programming to meet the mental health needs of our students. The Committee continued to refine the FY27 Budget Guidelines, an annual document intended to direct the Superintendent and district leadership as they develop the district’s FY27 Budget. Finally, the Committee approved a Memorandum of Agreement with the Town of Brookline to codify several recommendations designed to improve budgeting and financial practices.
At their October 22 meeting, the Committee heard a presentation of the 2024-2025 Annual Report for the Policy Against Discrimination, Harassment, Sexual Harassment, and Retaliation and continued to refine the FY27 Budget Guidelines.
2026-2027 School Calendar
A significant portion of the October 22 meeting was spent reviewing a draft school calendar for the 2026-2027 school year. After extensive discussion, the Committee asked the Superintendent to prepare four new calendar drafts for consideration at their next meeting on November 6. The four versions will be:
a) The draft calendar as presented on October 22, which shows a student start date after Labor Day (Tuesday, September 8) and maintains the current school closures for religious and cultural observances under Category I.
b) A draft calendar with a start date for students after Labor Day (Tuesday, September 8) with school open on the dates of religious and cultural observances under Category I.
c) A draft calendar that moves the start date for students to before Labor Day (Thursday, September 3) and maintains the current school closures for religious and cultural observances under Category I.
d) A draft calendar that moves the start date for students to before Labor Day (Thursday, September 3) with school open on the dates of religious and cultural observances under Category I.
The agenda for the November 6 meeting will be posted here as soon as it’s ready, and the draft calendars will simultaneously be uploaded to the School Committee’s meeting materials page for review.
Upcoming School Committee Meetings
The School Committee will meet on Thursday, November 6 and Thursday, November 13. Regular meetings are held on the 5th floor of Brookline Town Hall in the Walsh School Committee meeting room and start at 6:00pm. The public is welcome. The regular meetings are streamed live through our partner Brookline Interactive Group. As each meeting approaches, the agenda and supporting documents are uploaded to the School Committee's meeting materials page. The agenda (in addition to including items that the School Committee will deliberate on) also includes the time, location, method of remote access, and details for public comment. Meetings are recorded; links to the recordings can also be found on the meeting materials page.
If you would like to receive meeting agendas as soon as they are publicly available, sign-up through the Town’s Agenda Center. Sign-in, click the “subscriptions” button, and toggle the School Committee option. You can use this feature to receive meeting notices for any of the Town’s public boards and commissions.
Subcommittee Corner
The School Committee’s subcommittees had a very busy month:
- The Communications Working Group met on October 6.
- The Government Relations Subcommittee met on October 8 to review and discuss warrant articles for the Special Town Meeting.
- The Finance and Capital Projects Subcommittee met on October 16 to, among other things, review the summer 2025 school projects under the deferred maintenance program and discuss the FY25 Budget Close Report.
- The Policy Subcommittee met on October 21 and plans to advance proposed updates to the Flag Protocol and Pledge of Allegiance Policy and a portion of Section J of the PSB Policy Manual to the full School Committee at a future meeting.
- The Curriculum Subcommittee hosted two meetings during which principals shared updates on their School Improvement Plans. Click here for the October 20 meeting recording, featuring the SIPs for Hayes School, Runkle School, Pierce School, Driscoll School, and the Brookline Early Education Program. Click here for the October 23 meeting recording at which the SIPs for Lawrence School, Ruffin Ridley School, Lincoln School, Baker School, and Brookline High School were presented.
Agendas and related documents for all subcommittee meetings are available on the School Committee's meeting materials page.
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