Middleborough School Committee delays budget vote, awaits final town number

MIDDLEBOROUGH — March 26, 2026 — Middleborough School Committee delays budget vote and launches superintendent search timeline. The committee, meeting March 26 at Middleborough High School Auditorium, announced no budget vote would be taken because the district is still awaiting a final allocation number from the town, with Interim Superintendent Mike telling members he expects the figure within a week and anticipates bringing a motion to the April 9 meeting. Several teachers packed the auditorium to raise concerns, with teacher Tony Cuppie pointing to a specific salary line in the district's published budget book showing the Director of Special Education's pay rising from $130,000 in FY2024 to $145,000 in approved FY2026 — roughly an 8 percent increase — while teachers received a 3 percent contract raise. The committee unanimously accepted two grants totaling $43,500, including a $33,500 Comprehensive School Health Services Grant and a $10,000 Project Lead the Way grant, and approved a consent agenda that included $2,600 in donations from the Oak Point Homeowners Scholarship Fund and Oak Point Veterans Association to the MHS Performing Arts Program. Athletics Director Ryan Sylvia reported 1,032 student-athletes participating across 49 teams this year, highlighted a first-ever league championship by the cooperative boys hockey program, and described a new middle school track and field pilot with more than 64 registrants. The committee voted to form a superintendent search subcommittee at its April 9 meeting — five days after a School Committee election — with an initial subcommittee session targeted for April 16 and a hire-in-place goal of July 1.