Middleborough Superintendent Resigns as District Faces $2.2 Million Budget Shortfall

MIDDLEBOROUGH — February 12, 2026 — Middleborough School Committee absorbs superintendent's abrupt resignation and a $2.2 million budget shortfall in a packed meeting. Acting Superintendent Michael Perrone presented a proposed FY27 budget of $52,806,147 built around 29.5 position reductions — including 23 teachers — with projected class sizes rising from 19 to as high as 22 in the elementary grades. The chair announced that Superintendent Carolyn Lyons had resigned effective immediately to pursue a career opportunity elsewhere, with Perrone agreeing to remain as acting superintendent while the Massachusetts Association of School Committees presents a search process framework at a February 19 meeting. More than 20 speakers filled public comment, with teachers citing blindsiding communications, special education staffing deficits, and objections to the district's $400,000 SAVAS reading program; MEA Co-President Donna Germano told the committee that "cutting teaching staff to save money costs the students more than it saves the town." The committee voted unanimously to reopen its prior approval of the SAVAS program and scheduled a budget public hearing for March 12 and a reconfiguration public hearing for February 25.