Andi Hoy Thomas BRRSD School Committee Member

09/02/2026

Wishing all the BR students, teachers, and staff an exciting first day and a happy and healthy school year! 📚 🍎 🥳

07/09/2026

Join us on Wednesday, July 15th, at 5:00 PM to meet our new high school principal!

05/29/2026

My sincerest congratulations to the Bridgewater-Raynham Regional High School class of 2026! You did it!

05/28/2026

Achievement looks different for all. I had the pleasure of attending the Therapeutic Day Program Graduation ceremony as well as the Excel: Learning for Life Program Graduation ceremony today. Congratulations to all of the graduates and much success in your future endeavors!

05/28/2026

Congratulations to all of the 2026 Scholarship Award Winners!

05/05/2026

🚨 Budget Order O-FY27-001: FY2027 Annual Town Budget 🚨

Was approved by Bridgewater Fin Comm at last nights Zoom meeting, and now appears on the agenda for tonight’s

-Budget and Finance Subcommittee and Fin Comm Joint hybrid meeting at 6pm, on Zoom or in the Conf Room 2nd Floor of the Academy Building

-as well as the 7pm Town Council Meeting, in the Council Chambers of the 2nd floor in the Academy Building

04/28/2026

**EDITED TO ADD* In an effort to hold space on your calendars I may have jumped the gun with this post. I was just informed by a Town Councilor that this may be postponed until the Finance Committee has an opportunity to vote on it and send back to Council. I will update the post when the Agenda for Tuesdays meeting is live. **

🔔BRIDGEWATER RESIDENTS 🔔Tuesday May 5th @ 7PM- Academy Building, 2nd Floor- PUBLIC HEARING for FY’27 Budget ‼️

I spoke at the Town Council Meeting on 4/14 regarding the budget, and I will leave my public comment below. It is SO important the town hear from its residents and I implore you to make time in your schedule to advocate for district funds. Thank you!

“I’m here tonight not as a member of the School Committee, but solely as a Bridgewater resident who cares about our town and the multiple issues we’re facing. Looking at this budget, it’s clear the problem isn’t how the pie is divided- it’s that the pie itself is not big enough.

I’ve read through the budget and the Collin’s Center report being presented tonight and we are unilaterally running on fumes. I hope all of the towns people realize any cost saving measure presented at this time will come at a detriment to Bridgewater as a town.

Running a fire engine with only two firefighters goes against safety standards. Putting newly graduated educators in charge of 36 nine year olds raises real safety and quality concerns.

The recreation department is more than just maintenance- it plays an important role in bringing our community together. When we treat it and other departments as just another expense, we overlook their real value.

Rather than continuing to justify years of minimal investment in our town services, I hope we can come together and focus on growing the pie. It is an investment in the future of our town and there is simply no other way.

Thanks for your time.”

04/15/2026

Aprils School Committee Meeting will be held tonight, 4/15, at 7pm in the lecture hall of the High School.

Agenda below.

03/24/2026

🍎 CLASS SIZE MATTERS 🍎

A look at the projected class sizes for FY 27 if nothing changes. Circled in green are the areas of targeted improvement if, and only if, the towns can fund the proposed budget which includes restoration of 10 positions. 10 of the 72 positions lost in two years.

Ideal class size varies by cohort, but a widely accepted range is 15–21 students. Without appropriate municipal financial support, we are asking too much of both our teachers and our students to achieve positive outcomes.

It is also widely recognized that average class size data can understate the reality. A study by the Rennie Center for Education Research & Policy offers this example-

“To illustrate this, consider an elementary school with seven classrooms, one of which is a separate special education class of eight students, the other six of which are mainstream classes with 22 students. The average class size including both types of classes is 20 students, however 94 percent of kids are in a class of 22 students.”

03/19/2026

For those that simply do not have the time to review the 98-page Independent Financial Review of the district, paid for by the Towns of Bridgewater and Raynham, I have pulled some excerpts on trend with their findings and assessments:

📍• “BRRSD is projected to see transportation costs increase from $6.8 million in FY2024 to $7.7 million in FY2028, representing an increase of $925,210, or 13.6 percent, over the next five years. This reflects an annual growth rate of 2.7 percent, which is below the estimated inflation pattern for transportation costs in the Boston Metropolitan Statistical Area.” (p.29)

📍• “The District’s current [transportation] contract sets an increase in bus monitor hourly pay of 6.1 percent across FY2024 to FY2028, moving from $24.50 to $26.00 per hour. This pace is below the expected inflation for the period.”(p.31)

📍• “The District has seen a net insurance premium increase of 15.47 percent since FY2019. That cumulative change has closely tracked the medical care component of the Consumer Price Index for the Boston–Cambridge–Newton area over the same period, where medical care prices increased by 15.67 percent. Relative to local medical care inflation, the District’s performance has been better than area price trends.” (p.33)

📍• “The District’s spending pattern indicates a deliberate approach to maximize available grant resources within their periods of performance.” (p.57)

As a Bridgewater taxpayer, I am deeply disappointed in the Council leadership that pushed for this review. I consider it a waste of tax dollars as it offered no immediate actionable steps for improvement, serving instead as a pat on the back for the District for turning dust into diamonds. Without real financial commitment from The Towns in the form of dollars, any expectation of maintaining current services is unrealistic.

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