Wayland schools advance reading pilot, weigh major facilities overhaul

WAYLAND — January 27, 2026 — Wayland weighs $103M in school base repairs while piloting two new reading curricula. The School Committee on Tuesday heard that conceptual base-repair costs total $19 million at Happy Hollow, $25 million at Claypit Hill, $20 million at Loker and $39 million at the middle school, with HMFH project director Laurie Coles and architect James Liebman urging the figures be doubled for planning. Reading lead Sarah Sontag said teachers are piloting Amplify CKLA and Benchmark Advance — and Spanish equivalents Caminos and Adelante — noting that 73 percent of K-5 students hit DIBELS benchmark but only 48.7 percent of students with IEPs and 26.3 percent of multilingual learners do. Consultant Mike Parolla said a "what if" administrator workshop favored a pre-K-2, 3-5, 6-8 configuration. A public forum is targeted for March 4.