Braintree School Committee Votes 6-1 to Close Highlands Elementary Starting Fall 2026

PEPPERELL — April 10, 2026 — Braintree School Committee votes 6-1 to close Highlands Elementary and reopen Old South for fall 2026. The committee approved closing the roughly 315-student Highlands Elementary and relocating its community to Old South — most recently a middle school annex — in a roll-call vote at the April 10 meeting, with only Member Fogarty dissenting. Superintendent McDonald's administration estimated the district owes approximately $500,000 to the Massachusetts School Building Authority on the Highlands grant and $250,000 on Old South, with repayment terms to be negotiated. More than 200 Highlands students currently walk to school; the administration acknowledged that nearly all would require bus transportation to Old South and that traffic impacts near South Middle School remain under active study. Town Council President Peter Morin, who said he learned of the planned vote only hours before it was taken, warned the committee that "this decision does not save the town money — it moves it off of your books and onto the town's books," and that the Highlands building, without a reuse plan, "will sit and decay in my neighborhood." Member Kurzberg, who moved the closure motion, said after touring the building that morning that "Braintree can no longer afford to maintain that model the way we have in the past." No plan for the future use of the Highlands building has been announced.