Wilmington Middle School Replaces WIN Block With Shorter PAUSE Schedule for Fall

WILMINGTON — May 14, 2026 — Wilmington Middle School will overhaul its daily schedule for 2026-27, replacing the 45-minute WIN intervention block with a 30-minute period called PAUSE open to all building staff. Principal Brian Kyra presented the change to the School Committee on May 14, citing stakeholder surveys showing 93.3 percent of staff believe WIN is not meeting student needs and 97.3 percent support opening the block to all teachers. Under the new model, all sixth graders will take a semester of general reading and a semester of exploratory world language as a fifth core subject, with seventh- and eighth-grade placements in reading or world language determined by diagnostic data. The committee also voted unanimously to decline school choice participation for 2026-27, with members citing the state's $5,000 reimbursement rate as a near-disqualifier; approved a Panama-Costa Rica field trip priced at $3,864 per student for April 2028; accepted the district's 2025 end-of-year audit, which included a historical finding on unwritten fund-allocation procedures between the town and schools; and unanimously re-elected Jesse Fennelly as chair, Dr. Jeff Bryson as vice chair, and Stephen Turner as secretary.