School panel splits over church space request
School Committee · Meeting of August 5, 2026
Taunton School Committee sends a church's building-reuse request to two subcommittees after a contentious procedural fight. Dr. Greg DeMello's motion to refer the Rev.
Matthew Thornton's "community care center" proposal, for the former 66 Summer Street building now called the Carol A. Daugherty Professional Development Center, to a single subcommittee failed on a roll call; a broader motion sending it to both the Long-Range Planning and Space and Utilization subcommittees then passed. DeMello argued the committee lacked basic facts, saying "we're making votes on something of this magnitude, which I don't even know what the magnitude is." Separately, Superintendent Cabral reported 19 teaching vacancies districtwide, including six at Taunton High School, with a month of summer left.
The committee's Finance and Law Subcommittee earlier approved $251,991.34 in FY27 bills, including $38,000 for Cybertrust security monitoring, on 2-0 votes.
In the full story:
- Who Was There
- Organizations And Documents Referenced
- The complete report — 1,830 words
Source: the School Committee meeting of August 5, 2026, reported from the official video recording and transcript.
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