Thank you to those who attended and tuned in to our School Committee meeting and Budget Forum on Wednesday night, January 22nd. I had the opportunity to present slides on Chapter 70 state funding for schools, and discuss data specific to the history funding in GDRSD. The slides also include information on the impact flat funding from the state can have on property taxes, funding for schools at the local level, and the recent proposition two and a half override ballots in Groton & Dunstable last year. Both ballot measures failed and resulted in over twenty positions being cut in FY25. Click on Ch70 Slides to access - there is also a link on the last slide to a mass.gov site with informational videos. On February 5th at 7pm, the School Committee will be facilitating another virtual Budget Forum via Zoom. I encourage you to tune in and stay involved. Like many other districts across the Commonwealth, we are facing another difficult budget year and it is critical to have involvement and support from the community to ensure we have the funding and resources necessary to meet the needs of our students and families, prevent further cuts to personnel, and keep our district headed in the right direction.

At our January 22nd School Committee meeting, Chair Lacey McCabe shared slides of our GDRSD staff nominated for the January staff spotlight, a monthly recognition from our School Committee encouraging members of our community to nominate staff who have had a meaningful impact on our community. The slides for staff nominated this month are running on the Groton Channel: click on this link to view!

Check out some pictures from our fourth grade music concert held for students during the day on Wednesday January 22, and Thursday evening on January 23 at the Performing Arts Center. Special thanks to John Wiesner, Sara Mohan, and our music and performing arts teachers - our musicians sounded amazing! Also, see if you can pick out a new 4th grader belting out island tunes from the top row on a sub-zero morning: Assistant Superintendent Kristen DeFrancisco joining in on the fun!

Friday, January 31st - Coffee and Conversation with GD SEPAC. Click here to view more details.

Saturday, February 1st - Preschool Registration opens for the 2025-2026 School Year. For more information, please click here. Please see the district website for the registration link on 2/1/2025.

Wednesday, February 5th - School Committee Budget Forum via Zoom. Zoom link will be shared here in the coming days.

Friday, February 7th - District Half Day

Saturday, March 1st - Florence Roche Community Open House. More details coming soon!