Lowell School Committee calls special meeting on kindergarten lottery overhaul

LOWELL -- January 21, 2026, Lowell School Committee defers vote on kindergarten lottery reduction, calls special meeting. The seven-member committee voted unanimously Wednesday to convene a special meeting before acting on a proposed K-12 school assignment policy change that would cut the district's kindergarten lottery from three rounds to one. Superintendent Liam Skinner urged an immediate vote, noting kindergarten registration opens February 2 and that roughly 80 percent of families enroll before mid-May anyway, making the second and third lotteries largely redundant. Member Fred Bahou asked for subcommittee review first; member Connie Martin brokered a compromise, a 30-minute special meeting the following week ahead of the February 4 regular meeting. The committee also accepted a $500,000 Full-Service Community Schools continuation grant from the US Department of Education and approved 500 Dell Chromebooks from the Massachusetts Technology Collaborative valued at approximately $150,000. Member Bahou reported from the January 15 School Building Committee meeting that front-door locking hardware at Lowell High School remains jammed and an elevator has been trapping administrators, with the construction project still running roughly one year late and $37 million over budget.