The Old Rochester Regional School District will learn on December 9 whether the Town of Acushnet will begin sending its students to Old Rochester Regional High School.
Superintendent Michael Nelson reported at the ORR School Committee meeting on November 20 that Acushnet has been looking into forming a new school district partnership or partnerships for the 2025-26 school year because the town’s current contracts with Fairhaven and New Bedford expire with the conclusion of this academic year.
Nelson said he and other ORR officials visited the Acushnet School Committee on August 26 to give a presentation on why the ORR district should become the town’s new partner. In November, Acushnet school officials toured the school; some tours were conducted by the ORR students themselves. Since then, ORR officials have met again with the Acushnet School Committee to discuss the issue further. But decision day for the Acushnet will be December 9, he said. That’s when the town’s school committee will meet to vote on its choice.
For that reason, the ORR School Committee authorized Nelson to negotiate a tuition-based contract should Acushnet choose ORR for its new high school partner. He noted Acushnet estimates having 120 high-school-age students this school year, though approximately half of them attend Old Colony Regional Vocational-Technical High School.
In other action, the committee re-elected Michelle Smith as its chair as it reorganized.
The committee accepted the following donations and grants: $1,526.22 from Shutterfly for ORR Junior High School student pictures; a tuba from Friends of Old Rochester Music to the ORR Junior High School Music Program; all recent donations related to the Tri-Town Senior Citizen Thanksgiving Dinner at ORR Junior High School such as monetary donations of $750, food/paper goods, apple cider, store-bought apple pies, gift cards and/or other items for door prizes and fall/festive decorations; all recent donations related to the Day of Service at ORR High School such as monetary donations, gifts cards to Walmart and Amazon, paint, craft and baking supplies; $870 from the Mattapoisett Land Trust to Elizabeth Kennedy for a trip to Silverbrook Farm; $5,000 for DESE for Fund Code 0453: Strengthening Career and Technical Education; $500 mini-grant from the Plymouth County District Attorney’s Office Community Reinvestment Funds for the ORRJHS Tri-Town Senior Citizen Thanksgiving Dinner; $1,000 from the Feinstein Foundation to ORR Junior High School; and $30,000 for DESE Fund Massachusetts Farming Reinforces Education and Student Health (MA FRESH) Competitive Grant.
The next Old Rochester Regional School Committee meeting will be held on Thursday, January 15, 2026, at 6:00 pm at ORR Junior High School Media Center, 133 Marion Road, Mattapoisett.
Old Rochester Regional School Committee
By Michael J. DeCicco