Steve Duff, superintendent of the Quaboag Regional School District, presented the district’s academic and career-pathway offerings to the North Brookfield School Committee on Nov. 18, emphasizing credentials and postsecondary options available to students who might tuition into Quaboag.

Duff highlighted a suite of career programs: a CNA program with recent graduates working while still in high school; a fire academy (level 1 and level 2 training) with students serving as junior firefighters in local departments; and an EMT program that has been growing in enrollment. He described articulation agreements with Holyoke Community College and other partnerships that allow students to earn college credit and work-ready credentials. Duff said Quaboag offers 13 AP courses for 2025–26 and reported AP pass rates above the Massachusetts average in most tests.

On facilities and grants, Duff said Quaboag has secured more than $1 million in green-community and related grants for energy and capital projects and described a $100,000 earmark used to build a snack shack. He also described safety protocols, monthly multiagency safety meetings, IdentiCade visitor screening and a red-dot emergency alert system.

On governance and finance, Duff explained that a tuition agreement is usually a time-limited arrangement (commonly renewed every three years) while regionalization is a permanent reorganization requiring extra statutory steps. He told the committee that “North Brookfield would still receive their current total foundation aid for all students per DESE,” and that any arrangement would require DESE notification and commissioner approval.

Duff and Quaboag staff offered to provide detailed capacity numbers for pathway programs, transportation-run limits and sample tuition-rate ranges so the North Brookfield committee can model budgetary impacts and special-education placements. The committee subsequently voted to form a subcommittee to gather those figures.