Gloucester School Committee Approves Calendar Shift, Accepts $52,000 in Education Grants

GLOUCESTER -- January 8, 2025, Gloucester School Committee adjusts 2025-26 school start date and accepts over $52,000 in grants. The committee voted unanimously at its January 8 meeting to push the first day of school for students from September 3 to September 4, 2025, and the last day from June 17 to June 18, 2026, reflecting a collective bargaining agreement provision requiring a pre-opening staff work day. The board also accepted four grants totaling approximately $52,380, including a $31,200 Gloucester Education Foundation grant for O'Malley Academy programs and a $4,100 elementary chorus grant. Superintendent Ben Linnis unveiled plans for a new joint working group on student learning and academic achievement, a contract-mandated body expected to include at least 13 stakeholders from across the district, with participating teachers to be compensated at $37.50 per hour. During oral communications, Union of Gloucester Educators co-president Rachel Rex and three colleagues pressed the committee on retroactive pay for retired paraprofessionals; Chairperson Annie Glancy cited paragraph four of the November 2024 return-to-work agreement, signed by Rex and district negotiator Marianne Aiello, as binding the committee's hands. CFO Gary Frisch reported the district's circuit breaker special education balance stands at approximately $466,000, roughly half the typical level at this point in the year.