ORR Joint School Committee — January 29, 2026

The Old Rochester Regional Joint School Committee met on January 29, 2026, chaired in person by Vice Chair April Nye due to the chairperson's illness. During his report, Superintendent Michael Nelson gave somber remarks regarding the upcoming budget season, describing the fiscal situation as "dire" and warning that tri-town school departments face a potential fiscal cliff driven by escalating special education costs and rising health insurance expenses. The committees reviewed and approved the meeting minutes from the October 9, 2025 regular meeting and the December 10, 2025 District Wellness Committee meeting, and reviewed the timeline for the superintendent's end-of-cycle evaluation.

A significant portion of the meeting centered on the proposed 2026–2027 district school calendar. Following an extensive month-by-month review and a presentation by Assistant Superintendent Dr. Shari Fedorowicz requesting additional professional development time, the committee agreed on compromises: moving the March early release professional development day from March 3 to March 17, adding an additional half-day professional development day on Friday, October 9, and rescheduling elementary parent-teacher conferences to October 29 and October 30. Both the ORR and Superintendency Union committees voted unanimously to approve the revised calendar.

Dr. Fedorowicz also presented an update on the Vision of the Graduate initiative, detailing alignment work between the district's Vision 2028 and new recommendations from the Healey-Driscoll state administration. In policy business, the Superintendency Union committee voted to concur with ORR on three previously adopted policies (JFAE, IKF, and IKFE), and both committees subsequently approved seven policies on second read, including revisions to policies on access to grounds, parent advisory councils, vocational technical admissions, staff gift solicitations, school committee evaluation procedures, artificial intelligence, and policy adoption. With no public comments submitted, the meeting was adjourned.

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