Taunton School Committee authorizes $690,000 bid for remaining school vestibule projects

TAUNTON — December 3, 2025 — Taunton School Committee hears extended testimony on school safety and approves $690,000 vestibule bid. Eleven speakers addressed the board December 3, the majority representing the Taunton Educational Support Associates union, whose contract has been in negotiations since August with no settlement reached. TESA President Corinne Werra told the committee that the district rejected a proposed 30-to-1 student-to-staff recess ratio in favor of a 50-to-1 counter, while TESA Vice President Sarah Lincoln said the district's highest-earning nine-year lunch-recess veteran brought home $12,202.34 last year. Former ABA therapist Juliana Ferrari, who resigned October 31 after 11 years, read her resignation letter describing a physical breakdown on the pavement while restraining a six-year-old student, saying "I didn't leave bitter. I left broken." The committee voted 7-0 to authorize bidding on the remaining school vestibule security projects, not to exceed $690,000, with $500,000 committed by the City of Taunton's capital improvement fund and the balance drawn from the school revolving account.