Dighton selectmen to decide Nov. 18 whether $123.2 million Dighton Elementary rebuild goes to voters

DIGHTON Dighton selectmen will decide next week whether to put the planned replacement of Dighton Elementary School before town voters in April, Dighton-Rehoboth Superintendent Bill Runey told the regional School Committee on Tuesday.

The Board of Selectmen meets Wednesday, Nov. 18, at 6 p.m. on the upper level of Old Town Hall, 1111 Somerset Ave., according to the town's calendar. Runey said he will be there to brief the board on where the project stands, the work completed and what the next steps would involve. "I fully recognize that this is the Board of Selectmen's decision, and I respect their role in the process," he said at the Nov. 10 meeting.

The answer decides whether Dighton voters get a spring vote on paying for a new school, estimated at $123.2 million, for 515 students in kindergarten through grade 4, plus pre-kindergarten. The Massachusetts School Building Authority's staff memo, the source of that estimate, lists a debt exclusion, a vote that lets a town raise property taxes above its levy limit to repay borrowing, as anticipated.

What the project would cost

The authority's board voted Oct. 28 to move the project into schematic design, the next design phase. Its staff memo, dated Oct. 21, puts total project costs for the district's preferred plan at $123,240,910, including $94,800,700 for construction. The plan is a new 92,250-square-foot school on the 23.4-acre campus Dighton Elementary shares with Dighton Middle School, with a planned central green linking the two buildings and bus traffic separated from parent drop-off.

Dighton Elementary opened in 1953 and covers 68,500 square feet. It enrolled 447 students in 2025-26, and the district reported problems with its electrical systems and accessibility, a building that does not support its educational program, and crowding, according to the memo.

The district studied 12 early options before settling on four. A second new-building layout was estimated at $122.8 million, and a code upgrade of the existing building was estimated at $93.4 million in total project costs, but the district did not choose it because it did not adequately address its educational program needs or crowding, the memo says. A renovation with an addition came in at $128.7 million.

How much the state pays is not set yet. The memo lists a 55.63% reimbursement rate for the feasibility study and says the district and the authority will work out during schematic design which costs are eligible for state money. The district is aiming for the authority's board to approve a project scope and budget on April 28, 2027, the memo says.

Runey said he wants the selectmen to see "how we have been faithful stewards of the $1.2 million that the taxpayers devoted towards the feasibility study."

Building committee meets Monday

The Dighton Elementary School Building Committee meets Monday, Nov. 16, at 6 p.m. in the Harrington Library Media Center at Dighton-Rehoboth Regional High School, with a Google Meet link and a dial-in number on its agenda. The owner's project manager, Skanska, is set to report on a construction manager at risk application and the vote schedule, and the designer, Arrowstreet, on design progress, Mass Save incentives and a hydrant flow test. The agenda also lists a mass timber update, an item titled "Office of Campaign Finance Next Steps," a building permit discussion and approval of invoices of $65,450 from Arrowstreet and $22,730 from Skanska.

The committee's communications subcommittee was scheduled to meet online Thursday, Nov. 12, with an agenda to plan website and Facebook updates, outreach to residents beyond school families, more information sessions and school tours, and a way for residents to submit questions and get answers.

Budget talks the next night

Dighton hosts a meeting of the School Committee, the Board of Selectmen and the Finance Committee at 6 p.m. Thursday, Nov. 19, with work on the fiscal 2028 budget already underway, Runey and the committee's chair said. "Getting everyone around the same table early in the process should give the best opportunity to build a shared understanding of the FY28 budget before difficult decisions have to be made," Runey said, and the chair said the committee's budget subcommittee will represent it at that meeting. The School Committee approved its fiscal 2028 budget calendar Tuesday and voted to update its school adjustment counselor job description to match a state change in the job's minimum requirements that takes effect in January 2027.

Recess safety update

Runey also updated the committee on the student who left the Dighton Elementary playground during recess, saying, "That should never happen." Since then the district has added two recess monitors, kept recruiting paraprofessionals and behavioral support staff, reviewed caseloads and staffing and added safeguards around the playground, where a permanent gate is on order and the opening is secured, he said.

A draft protocol for what staff do when a student leaves supervision has gone to local law enforcement, administrators and clinicians for feedback, and Runey said the district expected to finish it by Friday, Nov. 13, and start using it the week of Nov. 16. An independent investigation is underway, and he said he will update the committee as he can while protecting student and staff confidentiality. Buying fencing improvements for the Palmer River Elementary playground is also underway, he said.

Our Nov. 10 story has the steps Runey outlined before the meeting.

How to weigh in

The selectmen's meeting is open to the public, and the building committee meeting is open in person and online. Dighton Town Hall, 979 Somerset Ave., can be reached at 508-669-6431, and the Dighton-Rehoboth district office at 508-252-5000.

Label: Reported by us, from the town's posted records.