Lowell panel votes to study office relocation

School Committee · Meeting of October 21, 2026

LOWELL — The Lowell School Committee voted unanimously to explore relocating central administrative offices off Merrimack Street to cut roughly $500,000 in annual lease costs. Member Fred Bahou's motion, amended on the floor at member Dominik Lay's request to include the first floor along with the fourth and fifth, passed 6-0. Bahou said the current lease is in its final year and suggested the soon-to-reopen Freshman Academy as a possible alternative site.

Superintendent Liam Skinner called the idea "a consideration as well as several others" already under internal review. The committee also approved a Mayor Gitschier motion directing a path forward for a pilot school bus camera program, 6-0, after Bahou requested the report address ticket costs, license implications and revenue-sharing. A subcommittee report flagged a roughly $3.4 million technology refresh under discussion, including leasing options for devices priced around $800 each.

In the full story:

• Spotlight on Excellence: Project LEARN
• Minutes Approval and Permission to Enter
• Motions: Pay Schedule Report and Bus Camera Pilot
• Motion on Relocating Administrative Offices
• Joint Finance and Curriculum and Instruction Subcommittee Report
• Home Education, New Business and Routine Approvals
• Professional Personnel
• Executive Session
• Who Was There
• Organizations And Documents Referenced
• The complete report: 1,902 words

Source: the School Committee meeting of October 21, 2026, reported from the official video recording and transcript.

Checked against the record: before publication this article was automatically compared with the meeting transcript.