West Newbury Select Board Approves SRO Pact, Lease, and Reserve Officer Reappointments

WEST NEWBURY — June 26, 2025 — West Newbury Select Board hears $250,000 pedestrian safety concept for Pentucket school driveway on Route 113. TEC principal Kevin Dandridge presented a state-earmark-funded concept plan recommending a rectangular rapid-flash beacon, new sidewalk connections to Nick's Place, and upgraded school zone markings near the Pentucket Regional Middle-High School exit, with a construction estimate "somewhere around $250,000" comparable to the recently completed Page School crossing. The board spent much of the discussion pressing for documentation on why the school driveway was converted to one-way traffic late in the building project, with member Chris Kerr calling it "a pretty significant problem" and asking the district to provide the underlying engineering study and MassDOT permit approval. Town Manager Angus Regan also reported the town's first PFAS settlement payment from the 3M class action, a fully executed construction contract for the Page School pipe crossing, and the upcoming start of new town clerk Amanda Haxton on June 30. The board unanimously approved a two-year lease renewal for the Learning Tree childcare program at a 3 percent annual increase and extended the school resource officer MOU with Pentucket Regional for one year at a 2.5 percent cost escalator — while acknowledging no dedicated SRO has been in place for most of the past two school years.