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Melissa Cook and School Committee Chair Melanie Whitney delivered a sobering presentation on behalf of the Teen Center Initiative Committee. Reviewing recent local and statewide metrics, Cook highlighted the problem:

“Between 16 and 25 percent reported feeling so sad or hopeless for two weeks or more that they stopped doing things that they normally do... These are our kids, our neighbors’ kids, kids who walk past us at the grocery store and sit in the bleachers at the same games we attend.” — Melissa Cook

The presentation revealed a sharp disparity between Abington’s structured youth options and its immediate neighbors. While the Abington Recreation Department offers just 11 to 12 summer programs, neighboring Rockland provides 28 and Hanover boasts over 55. Cook stressed that outside of a highly successful middle school drama program and independent sports leagues, local youth who do not make competitive travel teams are left with virtually no structured community options by the 7th or 8th grade.

To address these vulnerabilities, the presenters asked the town to partner on five concrete steps: establishing a centralized community calendar, coordinating volunteer CORI management, exploring a permanent drop-in teen space, creating a path for shared grant resources, and securing reliable gym access. Board members expressed immediate enthusiasm for a unified calendar.

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The Abington Select Board called a brief special session to address a single, time-sensitive agenda item: determining whether the town would participate in a newly enacted state pilot program to expand liquor and entertainment license hours.

Town Manager Mike Maresco explained that the state legislation, titled the “Act Authorizing Municipalities to opt in to a temporary pilot to expand the hours of liquor licenses and to allow for the public consumption in designated districts in the summer of 2026,” was passed rapidly by the General Court to accommodate a unique convergence of summer events. The pilot was heavily driven by Boston lawmakers seeking to keep Massachusetts competitive with major cities like New York and Los Angeles during high-profile draws, including the international World Cup tournament, Sail 2026 (the Tall Ships celebration), and the nation’s 250th anniversary festivities.

“[The state] did it for the whole state, and then it’s up to the local licensing boards to make a decision what’s best for their community.” — Town Manager Mike Maresco

While the state law grants local licensing authorities the option to extend pouring hours up until 3:00 a.m. and designate public consumption zones, the Abington Select Board immediately established tight boundaries for the local rollout. Board member William Cormier emphasized that the extension should strictly apply to on-premise “pouring facilities,” entirely excluding retail package stores. The board also explicitly rejected the notion of establishing any public drinking districts within the town.

Under the approved framework, Abington establishments will not receive a blanket or automatic extension. Instead, individual business owners must submit a formal written request to Town Manager Maresco. This centralized process allows the town administration to compile an accurate roster to share with the police department so public safety officials know exactly which venues are permitted to operate late.

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The regularly scheduled June meeting opened with a major academic update that re-centered the district’s strategic priorities. Principal Jonathan Bourn presented data from a recent state convening in Waltham, detailing why the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education invited Abington High School into its Accelerating Achievement Partnership. The state’s “heat map” metrics placed Abington in the lowest quarter of Massachusetts schools regarding academic growth on standardized testing.

A deep dive into freshman credit-attainment data highlighted a critical vulnerability. While 91.7 percent of students with disabilities and 86 percent of the general student population passed all of their ninth-grade classes, only 50 percent of English Language Learner (ELL) students achieved the same benchmark.

Principal Bourn emphasized that the district is treating the designation as an opportunity for structural growth rather than a punitive measure. Because high school educators are traditionally not trained in foundational literacy instruction in the same manner as elementary school teachers, the upcoming School Improvement Plan will heavily prioritize reading comprehension and vocabulary breakdown across all high school departments. The initiative will also evaluate the high school’s “Vision of the Graduate” compared to state standards, specifically noting that the district’s current framework omits “creativity” and “literacy” metrics. Assistant Superintendent Dr. Christopher Basta clarified that the partnership is voluntary, noting that state officials toured the high school facility to begin aligning resources and exploring peer-school mentorship structures.

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The meeting opened with a focused agenda designed to streamline pending regulatory and administrative duties across town departments. Facing the operational demands of the upcoming summer season—including public “pool” (if you consider Island Grove a pool) safety and food service compliance—the board concentrated heavily on reinforcing the town’s administrative infrastructure.

A central topic of discussion involved managing the technical oversight roles for the Board of Health, with a particular focus on how town staff could step in to maintain critical public inspections. The board discussed utilizing current internal resources to ensure that restaurant and pool monitoring proceeds without disruption. During the evaluation of personnel resources, board members asked if a senior citizen through the town’s tax rebate program could step in to assist with technical financial reconciliations. However, officials clarified that due to the specialized, highly qualified nature of municipal accounting and inspections, such tasks could not easily be delegated to a civilian volunteer.

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Assistant Superintendent Dr. Chris Basta explained that the district had been actively participating in the state’s PRISM 2 “Literacy Launch” program, receiving a $293,000 grant to review, pilot, and adopt a high-quality K-5 literacy curriculum. The district had already completed a four-and-a-half-week pilot of Amplify CKLA in seven classrooms and was in the first week of piloting its second candidate, HMH’s Into Reading.

However, mid-pilot, DESE issued an updated Curate report declaring that the HMH program failed to meet the state’s rigorous criteria for high-quality instructional materials. Because state and grant funds can only be used on fully approved programs, Abington was forced to terminate the pilot immediately.

“The timing was unfortunate for our teachers and for us as a district... It’s unfortunate that districts weren’t told ahead of time that these are the programs that are being evaluated this year and we don’t know how they’re going to do.” — Assistant Superintendent Chris Basta, 01:19:02

While school committee members expressed deep frustration on behalf of the teachers who spent months training on the disqualified software, the district secured permission from DESE to carry over the unspent grant funding into FY27. The ELA committee will reconvene in the fall of 2026 to pilot alternative programs, with a revised goal of purchasing a curriculum by June 30, 2027, for full implementation in the 2027–2028 school year.

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The meeting opened with a comprehensive look back at the special town election held on Saturday, May 16, 2026. The Select Board Chair Paul Bunker announced that ballot questions funding the fire, police, school, public works, library, and Council on Aging departments all successfully passed. The sole ballot question that failed was the funding allocation for the town hall budget.

Town Manager Mike Maresco expressed immense gratitude to the community and local cable access. He noted that while municipal overrides typically see lopsided 80-20 failures, Abington’s success was highly unusual and directly tied to an intensive transparency campaign. Maresco credited Abington CAM and Executive Director Kevin Tocci for producing 30-minute deep-dives and short soundbites that effectively illustrated to residents exactly what services and personnel would be cut without the additional funding. Addressing the single failed question, Maresco reassured town hall employees that the vote was not a reflection of their value, but rather a structural reaction from taxpayers who associate town hall with paying tax and building permit fees.

“[The videos] really resonated with folks... It was fantastic, and it’s really thanks to the Select Board and really thanks to the residents who were willing to dig into their pockets and tax themselves to make sure that we continue to provide top-notch service.” [24:51] — Mike Maresco, Town Manager

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Town Manager Mike Maresco delivered a comprehensive update on the long-awaited redevelopment of two former school sites: the North School (currently utilized by the DPW) and the residential Center Street school. Maresco revealed that Request for Proposals (RFP) will go live on May 20th, with a submission deadline of June 19th [31:32].

The buildings, which have become a financial “drain” on the town, recently required emergency water pumping and electricity shut-offs due to flooding [32:50]. Maresco noted that each building requires approximately $1 million in asbestos remediation—a cost that will now fall to the future developers rather than the taxpayers [33:53]. The town is looking for “best use” proposals that generate long-term tax revenue, such as assisted living facilities or other commercial developments [33:15].

“The reason we’re selling is they’re sort of a drain... Now they’ll produce revenue, which will help us in the long term.” [32:50] — Mike Maresco, Town Manager

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Voters overwhelmingly supported the community’s first responders and community services. The Fire Department question passed with the widest margin of the day, securing 1,511 “Yes” votes to just 943 “No” votes. The Council on Aging (1,480 to 966), Police Department (1,415 to 1,039), and the Library (1,403 to 1,040) also saw comfortable victories.

The races for education and infrastructure were far closer. The School Department’s massive $1.76 million request survived by just 101 votes, passing 1,279 to 1,178. Meanwhile, funding for the Department of Public Works squeaked by with a razor-thin 24-vote margin, with 1,236 in favor and 1,212 opposed.

The sole casualty of the menu override was Question 7: Town Hall, which failed decisively with 1,054 “Yes” votes to 1,388 “No” votes.

Because of the “à la carte” nature of the election, the passed amounts will be added together to permanently increase the town’s tax levy limit. However, the failure of Question 7 means that starting July 1, the town will have to absorb reductions in the Town Manager, Clerk, Assessors, IT, and Health offices, which officials previously warned could result in mid-day closures of Town Hall.

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The 2026 Abington Annual Town Meeting opened with a somber reminder of the town’s democratic heritage, marking 250 years since the “Noble Resolves” were authored in Abington to protest British tyranny. However, the focus quickly shifted from historical liberty to modern financial survival. Moderator Shawn Reilly presided over a packed auditorium with 364 registered voters in attendance, well over the required quorum. [00:42]

Town Manager Michael Maresco, in his first Town Meeting since being hired four months ago, delivered a blunt “State of the Town” address. He explained that the community is suffering from a structural deficit where recurring costs are outpacing recurring revenues, exacerbated by state aid increases of only 1%. “This challenge is not caused by a misappropriation of funds or wasteful spending,” Maresco stated. “The result is a widening gap between what the town can fund and what it costs to provide the services expected of a full-service community.” [13:02]

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The April 28 meeting of the Abington School Committee was a tale of two districts: one celebrating growth and innovation, and another preparing for a potential fiscal contraction. The evening began with the annual reorganization of the Committee following the town election. In a series of roll-call votes, Melanie Whitney was elected Chairperson [01:41], with Pam Neely taking the role of Vice Chair [02:44] and Heidi Hernandez continuing as Secretary [03:19].

However, the celebratory mood shifted as Superintendent Dr. Felicia Moschella delivered an update on the FY27 budget. She emphasized that the requested override is not about “adding” new services, but rather maintaining current staffing levels and programming [01:37:07]. Should the May 16 ballot question fail, the district is prepared to cut 28.1 positions across all departments [01:37:32].

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The meeting opened with a somber moment of silence for Charles Whitman Jr., a retired Abington firefighter and Army veteran who passed away on April 12 [00:49]. Following this tribute, Town Clerk Leanne Adams swore in the board’s three newest members: William Cormier Jr., Daniel Eddy, and Ken Coyle, the latter described as returning “by popular demand” [01:23].

Newly elected Chair Paul Bunker took a moment to recognize the service of outgoing members Roger Woods, Suzanne Djusberg, and Kevin Donovan, noting that the board relies on their shared experience and leadership [03:08]. “Now the fun begins,” Bunker remarked as the board moved into official business [02:35].

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The meeting began on a somber note as Chair Roger Woods called for a moment of silence to honor George “Don” Litzen, a longtime teacher in the Abington school system who recently passed away [00:23].

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The meeting began with a packed chamber as Police Chief John Bonney detailed the chilling events of early March [01:11]. In the final hour of an overnight shift, Sergeant Stephen Marquardt responded to reports of a woman walking in the middle of Plymouth Street. The situation escalated when the woman moved onto the train tracks just as the gates descended and lights began to flash.

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