Burlington School Committee Adopts Common Lit 360 for Middle School English Curriculum

NAHANT — March 24, 2026 — Burlington School Committee unanimously adopts Common Lit 360 as its new middle school English curriculum after a two-year educator review. Director of Curriculum Dr. Lisa Chen reported that 97 percent of middle school staff surveyed — including English, special education, ESOL, and reading specialist teachers — preferred Common Lit 360 over competitor EL Education, with teachers citing robust back-end support, differentiation flexibility, and a focus on full-text novels, vocabulary development, and writing. The committee also approved a $35,000 DESE career technical education planning grant for a programming and web development pathway at Burlington High School and authorized 20 DECA students to travel to the national career development conference in Atlanta from April 25 to April 29 at $1,200 per student. On technology, the board amended a warrant article for system-wide PC replacement to $329,215.10 — removing point-of-sale systems and adding printer replacements — and approved a new $59,818.48 warrant for a portable wireless microphone system for the high school auditorium. State Representative Ken Gordon, House chair of the Joint Committee on Education and recipient of the Massachusetts Association of School Committees legislator of the year award, confirmed Burlington received a $100,000 supplemental appropriation to replace a failed Memorial School generator, and told the committee that bell-to-bell cell phone restriction legislation is advancing through the legislature.