Superintendent unveils draft plan to cut Blackstone-Millville school buildings from four to three; committee votes to post hearing

Superintendent Jason DeFalco on Nov. 17 presented a draft plan to reorganize the Blackstone-Millville Regional School District from four buildings into three, saying the goal is to better match facilities to current enrollment and improve instructional programs.

The proposal would keep Millville Elementary largely as-is; reconfigure the JFK/AFM complex into two schools (a lower school for grades 3–5 and an upper school for grades 6–7, each led by its own principal); and move eighth grade into the high school to create an 8–12 building. DeFalco said the district was built for roughly 3,000 students and currently enrolls under 1,500, leaving more than half the space unused. He cited building-specific enrollments: Millville about 360 of 495 capacity, JFK/AFM about 355 of 795, the middle school about 365 of 840, and the high school about 395 of 900.

DeFalco framed the plan as an instructional initiative, saying the proposed configuration would create smaller sixth- and seventh-grade settings for focused supports and give all eighth graders access to high-school courses and early college opportunities. "This isn't coming for cost savings — it's about providing the best quality of education for the students in the district," DeFalco said.

The superintendent outlined next steps: staff and parent meetings (planned for the week of Nov. 28 for families of grades two–four and current seventh-grade families), a public hearing the committee must post in accordance with the regional agreement, and follow-up work on transportation, staffing, maintenance and detailed cost estimates. He said the district will seek information from the Mass. School Building Authority (MSBA) about feasibility and potential reimbursement for capital work tied to any future new high school project.

The committee voted unanimously to authorize posting notice for the public hearing on the consolidation plan; the motion to post was made by Dan (committee member) and seconded by Kerry. The date for the public hearing was left to be determined to allow full notification and additional staff and parent meetings before any committee vote on reconfiguration.

DeFalco cautioned that many implementation details remain unresolved — transportation, cafeteria and locker arrangements, staffing reassignments, and the exact budget impacts — and said those will be presented to the committee prior to any final decision. He urged the public to attend the informational meetings and the public hearing once the date is posted.

The committee said it will maintain administrative offices at the JFK/AFM complex if possible even if classrooms there are taken offline, and that any decision to take a building offline would be coordinated with the towns. The public hearing and additional outreach are the immediate next procedural steps.