Select Board Hears $169.6 Million School Pitch Ahead of January 31 Special Town Meeting

WEST BRIDGEWATER — January 7, 2026 — West Bridgewater Select Board hears full case for $169.6 million elementary school consolidation project. The School Building Committee, led by Chair Gary Keith and supported by Superintendent Mark Baudwell and PMA Consultants owner's project managers Sean Burke and Mitch Miller, presented plans for a new kindergarten-through-sixth-grade school at the Rose L. McDonnell site designed for 1,075 students, with a Massachusetts School Building Authority reimbursement grant of just over $72 million leaving $97.5 million as the town's share, to be financed over 30 years. Keith warned the board that the December 17 vote to schedule only the special town meeting for January 31 — without simultaneously scheduling the required referendum ballot election — risks eliminating the summer demolition window for the existing Roselle building and driving escalation costs. Chair Michael Waldron countered that unresolved conflicts with the Conservation Commission and Zoning Board of Appeals over wetlands setbacks pose a greater scheduling threat, telling Keith: "You are at odds with Conservation, you are at odds with ZBA, and those two are going to hold you up more than this vote is going to hold you up." The board separately voted unanimously to appoint Detective Sergeant Todd Cantalupo as liquor agent, set the annual town meeting for May 11 at the Middle Senior High School, and received word that the state approved $860,000 in loan forgiveness on $10.7 million in water department bond notes.