Milton's Select Board is days from a self-imposed deadline to decide whether to buy the closing Labouré College campus for school use, a purchase that would need voter approval at a Fall Special Town Meeting.

The School Building Committee posted a new meeting agenda Thursday, July 30. Specific agenda items were not available as of the posting. The committee, chaired by Sean O'Rourke, is managing two parallel efforts to add classroom space for a district that has grown by about 200 students over the past decade, to more than 4,350.

The deadline is days away. SBC Chair O'Rourke told the Boston Globe in June that the Select Board would need to decide on the Labouré purchase by early August to get any needed financing on the November ballot.

The Labouré track

Labouré College of Healthcare, at 303 Adams Street, announced Feb. 12 it would close Aug. 31, with its nursing programs transferring to Curry College. The five-acre campus has three buildings. O'Rourke has recommended renovating just one to avoid triggering costly energy code upgrades in the others.

On June 15, the SBC voted to hire contractors to evaluate costs and design options for the site. The Labouré acquisition is among potential articles for Milton's Fall 2026 Special Town Meeting, according to the Select Board's July 14 agenda.

"I think it's a great asset for the town. ... Does it work for a school? That's kind of what we're all trying to figure out," O'Rourke told the Globe in June.

Cunningham feasibility study

The longer-term track is the MSBA-backed Cunningham Elementary School feasibility study, which carries an estimated maximum state grant of $70,653,130. The Massachusetts School Building Authority voted Feb. 25 to invite Milton into the feasibility study phase.

Though named for Cunningham Elementary, the project is intended to address overcrowding across all of Milton's elementary and middle schools. Overcrowding is visible at both Cunningham and Collicott, according to SBC discussions in June.

The committee interviewed three OPM finalists on June 8 as part of forming the project team. The SBC's timeline, presented at the October 2025 Special Town Meeting, projected a town vote in the 2027–2028 timeframe if the MSBA process stays on schedule.

The SBC's voting members include O'Rourke, Vice Chair Mark Loring of the School Committee, Select Board member Meghan Haggerty, and School Committee member Nathan Hutto, among others. Interim Superintendent John Phelan and Town Administrator Nick Milano serve as non-voting members.

What's next

The early-August purchase window for Labouré is the most immediate decision point. If the Select Board moves forward, voters would weigh in at a Fall Special Town Meeting. That date has not been set.