School committee schedules public listening sessions on calendar after sustained community feedback

The Hopkinton School Committee agreed on July 24 to hold two public listening sessions — one by Zoom and one in person — to gather community input on the district school calendar before proposing any changes. Committee members said feedback from families this year has been unusually voluminous and varied, and several members expressed concern that previous surveys produced unclear results. Members said a listening-session format would allow residents, educators and other stakeholders to present their views directly; the committee suggested scheduling one Zoom evening and one in-person session and publicizing the sessions with a press release. Committee members discussed timeline considerations: the current 2025–26 calendar is final, but members noted that calendar-setting for future years typically takes place in the winter and that any changes would need to be coordinated with neighboring districts and with collective-bargaining contract provisions. The committee suggested recording or publishing the sessions and inviting staff, religious leaders and other community stakeholders to participate. The committee directed staff to publicize the sessions and to include calendar discussion on an upcoming school committee agenda.