School Committee approves Delaware band trip
Wakefield School Committee approved an overnight band trip and a coaching stipend gift Tuesday.
School Committee · Meeting of March 24, 2026
Wakefield School Committee approved an overnight band trip and a coaching stipend gift Tuesday. Members voted 7-0 to send 80 marching band students and 12 chaperones to a Bands of America competition at the University of Delaware on October 15 and 16, at a cost of $400 per student, with music teacher Tom Bankert saying "no student will be turned away from the trip." The committee also accepted a $1,500 stipend from the Wakefield Track Boosters Club and voted 6-0-1 to approve March 10 meeting minutes, with member Thomas Markham abstaining. Superintendent Douglas Lyons told the committee a lagging state Chapter 70 reimbursement rate is costing Wakefield "close to $300,000," and cited a pending state bill, the Lowell Mason Act, that would direct 1 percent of Chapter 70 funds to arts programming.
A public budget hearing was set for March 25.
In the full story:
- The complete report — 769 words
Source: the School Committee meeting of March 24, 2026, reported from the official video recording and transcript.
Members read the rest of this story and every Wakefield meeting we cover, in full.
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