Finance Committee Weighs $169.6 Million School Plan Ahead of January 27 Town Meeting

WEST BRIDGEWATER — January 8, 2026 — West Bridgewater Finance Committee hears full pitch for $169.6 million consolidated elementary school. School Building Committee Chair Gary Keith, owner's project manager Sean Burke, and Superintendent Mark Waddle presented a plan for a 150,000-square-foot kindergarten-through-sixth-grade school at the Roselle McDonald site, with an MSBA estimated grant of $72.13 million and a town share of approximately $97.5 million, to be put before voters at a January 27 special town meeting as a debt exclusion. Finance Committee members pressed on renovation alternatives — a preliminary estimate puts full gut renovation of both the Roselle and Howard buildings at roughly $96 million, with no MSBA reimbursement available — and on the tax impact, which the committee's own calculator showed running close to $1,500 annually for a mid-range property. Town Administrator David Gagne, one of eight School Building Committee members who voted against submitting the project, explained his preference for an earlier pre-K-through-four option he said was roughly $47 to $48 million cheaper: "I think there does have to be a replacement at Roselle." The committee requested detailed renovation cost information before its January 27 deliberation on whether to recommend the project.