Pepperell Select Board Votes to Oppose Reopening of Ashby Elementary School

PEPPERELL — January 26, 2026 — Pepperell Select Board votes 2-0 to oppose reopening Ashby Elementary School ahead of regional school budget meetings. The emergency session, called by Select Board Chair Mark on Monday afternoon, came one day before the North Middlesex Regional School District Finance Committee and School Committee were both scheduled to take up the question on Tuesday. Town Administrator Andrew reported that a reopening would add approximately $1.6 million to the regional school budget, with Pepperell's share estimated at roughly $800,000, on top of existing budget pressures that the chair said may already require a Proposition 2 1/2 override. Member Chuck, joining by phone, called the proposal "completely disingenuous" and an "11th hour tactic" after nine months of joint budget meetings in which the reopening was never raised. The approved letter will be sent to the school committee chair with a request that it be read into the record at Tuesday's 6 p.m. meeting, and will also be forwarded to the Select Boards and Town Administrators of Townsend and Ashby.