The Joint School Committee of the Old Rochester Regional District met on October 9 and passed new policies on school nutrition and access to career technical education information.
In a meeting that reviewed a variety of school-system goals and new and revised school policies, the 18-member committee that joins the nine-member ORR School Committee with the nine-member Superintendents Union #55 (three delegates each from the Rochester, Mattapoisett and Marion school committees) approved two new federal and state mandates that Superintendent Michael Nelson said needed to be put in place right away.
The first of these policies is that the ORR District will now provide meal modifications, at no additional cost “for students with disabilities or other special dietary reasons that restrict the student’s diet, on a case-by-case basis, per (United States Food & Drug Administration) requirements.” ORR’s Policy Subcommittee reviewed and recommended the policy at its September 25 meeting.
The second new policy adopts the state Middle School Pathway Exploration Policy that ensures that middle school (junior high) students are made aware of information on career technical education. This new policy applies to sharing information on schools and programming available in their district, regional, agricultural and other public high schools. (Mattapoisett and Rochester students are eligible to attend Old Colony Regional Vocational-Technical High School, and Marion students are eligible to attend Upper Cape Technical High School.)
Even though this was the first reading of this policy, Nelson said, it needed to be approved locally and submitted to the state for its approval by November 1. “However, ninety-eight percent of this, we already do,” he added.
The remainder of the JSC meeting focused on revising and reviewing a variety of other policies. The committee debated longest over an updated policy that staff may not organize raffles while acting as employees. Rochester School Committee member Matthew Monteiro noted the policy should specify that staff may not conduct such activities “at school.” A staff member may, for instance, play Keno on their own time, he said. Nelson said he will refer this policy to the school legal counsel.
The Joint School Committee/Superintendents Union #55 announced its next meeting will be held on Thursday, January 29, 2026, at 6:00 pm in the media room at ORR Junior High School, 133 Marion Road (Route 6), Mattapoisett.
ORR Joint School Committee
By Michael J. DeCicco