West Bridgewater School Committee approves handbook updates, defers superintendent evaluation

WEST BRIDGEWATER -- June 2, 2025, West Bridgewater School Committee approves handbook revisions and formalizes K-6 elementary school building configuration. The committee unanimously accepted changes to both the elementary and middle-senior high school student handbooks Monday, following a civil rights audit and Title IX review that prompted language updates to the code of conduct, due process, harassment, and special education sections. Superintendent Bodwell updated the board on the Roselle McDonald Elementary School project, which carries a design enrollment of 1,075 students and is targeting an MSBA schematic design approval on June 18, with a community forum planned the same evening. Town meeting and ballot votes are anticipated in December 2025 or January 2026. The committee deferred a vote on Bodwell's annual evaluation after two members recused themselves from the ratings process, leaving the board one member short of the three needed for a quorum; the vote will be taken up at a special meeting later this month pending the return of member Lazardi. The internship program pilot, targeting roughly five students, was also pushed to August pending legal and insurance review.