Littleton School Committee Removes Good Friday, Approves Two-Tier Bus System

LITTLETON -- March 9, 2023, Littleton School Committee drops Good Friday and commits $484,000 to shift bus tiers. The committee voted 4 to 1 Thursday to remove Good Friday from the 2023-24 school calendar while retaining Yom Kippur and Diwali, concluding a weeks-long debate that drew dozens of community emails and public comment from high school DEI club members. A motion to remove all three religious holidays failed 1 to 4. The committee then voted 4 to 1, Member Brett Austin dissenting, to authorize Business Manager Steve Mark to sign a 14-bus contract moving the district from a three-tier to a two-tier transportation system, adding $484,000 to annual transportation costs above the renewed contract price; Superintendent Steve Clinchy said the school choice fund, currently healthy, would absorb the first-year hit of roughly $267,000. In a joint session with the Select Board and Town Moderator Tim Goddard, the three bodies unanimously appointed Ed Mullins, Littleton's Director of Land Use and Buildings, as alternate representative to the Nashoba Valley Technical High School committee for the remaining two years of a three-year term.