PAUSE Academy
At a glance
- What: PAUSE, a therapeutic day academy at the Hildreth building, headed by Melissa Belo with John Fletcher (executive director of special education) presenting.
- Where it stands: open, per auto-captions. Opening depended on lead and PCB testing results; not updated in later videos.
- Next: testing results.
Approval and testing
- It has provisional DESE approval to open September 2.
- The state asked on August 14 for additional lead and PCB documentation.
- An environmental firm (apparently EFI Global) was to begin testing the next morning.
Readiness
- Thirteen to 14 students were expected.
- Most staff were hired.
- Classrooms were refurnished, air-conditioned and rewired.
- Dr. Alex Hersburg was consulting.
Status
- Open, per auto-captions: opening depended on lead and PCB testing results; not updated in later videos.
Discussion time
About 16 minutes across 1 meeting (from transcript timestamps; approximate).
| Meeting | Minutes |
|---|---|
| 2026-08-25 - School Committee | 16 |
Log
- 2026-08-25 - School Committee - Update from John Fletcher and Melissa Belo on state approval, testing and readiness.
- 2026-06-23 - School Committee - Job description for the PAUSE Academy director approved with the district reorganization.