We view this as kind of the first step in a multi-year, multi-step process.
— Peter Lombardi, Brewster Town Manager
A Glimpse of Nauset’s Future?
New study details possible elementary school changes from Brewster to Wellfleet
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16 June 2026 – BREWSTER, MA – A recently-completed study assessing facilities, operations and programming within Nauset Public Schools may lead to significant changes for the district’s five elementary schools.
What is happening with Nauset Schools?
Between June 2-8, the Nauset district towns of Brewster, Orleans, Eastham and Wellfleet each held a public presentation to discuss the Nauset Public Schools Efficiency and Regionalization Study’s final report.
According to the report, “The purpose of the study was to identify potential efficiencies and explore options for sustainable educational service models and capital investments that maintain the district’s high educational standards.”
What did the study do?
The study does not compel local leaders to make any binding decisions at present. Instead, the report provides analysis to help inform future decision-making regarding the structure, programming and sustainability of the district’s elementary schools and middle school. The newly-reconstructed Nauset Regional High School was not part of the study.
“We view this as kind of the first step in a multi-year, multi-step process,” Brewster Town Manager Peter Lombardi said. “Really creating a baseline of understanding and a framework for discussion.”
When did the study start?
The Efficiency and Regionalization Study took shape in spring 2025, when the town of Brewster–in partnership with Orleans, Eastham, Wellfleet and Nauset Public Schools–submitted a Request for Proposals (RFP) seeking a comprehensive assessment of the district’s elementary schools and middle school.
“The idea, in part, behind the study was to avoid having conversations that were siloed within each individual community,” Lombardi said. “You know, kind of zoom out and have a broader focus and try to have some at least coordination, if not real synergy and partnership across the four towns and with the district.”
Why was there a study?
According to the final report, Nauset communities identified similar fiscal challenges, enrollment decline and school facility needs, which prompted the RFP.
The study received a $150,000 state grant as well as $200,000 from the district’s towns collectively. The study itself consisted of four phases: investigation, analysis, findings and reporting. During the process, consultants analyzed enrollment trends–which the study predicts will stabilize somewhat over the next decade–as well as facilities, staffing, programming and operational costs.
Who ran the study?
Town and district leaders selected Cambridge-based HMFH Architects and Civic Solutions Group to helm the study, while a local steering committee provided guidance. This committee featured three officials from each of the four Nauset towns and two regional school district representatives.
Overall, the study lists opportunities for reinvestment, specifies items for future consideration and presents several possible school configuration options.
“The study was exhaustive in many ways, but was really in some ways also creating a suite of potential areas for further study,” Lombardi said.
“I think it is likely that we’re going to take a deeper dive on some of the buildings in the months and years ahead and governance is another area where we’re expecting to have some of those conversations.”
What is Nauset’s future?
While the Efficiency and Regionalization Study does not provide any firm recommendations, it does offer significant guidance for use in future decisions.
Perhaps the most eye-catching portion of the study’s final report addresses the potential consolidation and elimination of elementary schools.
Will schools be consolidated?
The study initially developed 13 school configuration scenarios, which were subsequently narrowed down to four. One of the final four scenarios includes two options, meaning the study’s final report presents a total of five configuration possibilities for consideration.
The process examined all scenarios by examining necessary facility investments, operational costs and staffing implications.
The final report said that it was focusing on each option “to provide detailed information about the four selected School Configuration scenarios; it is not to select a single scenario nor provide a single recommendation.”
Notably, the middle school remains unchanged in every scenario, aside from baseline repair costs.
What are the five options?
Option 1: Status quo.
The Regionalization and Efficiency Study’s first school configuration option maintains the status quo, with all five elementary schools continuing operations. According to the final report, both Stony Brook and Orleans Elementary would require new construction in this situation.
Option 2: Merge Brewster schools.
The second option merges Brewster’s Stony Brook and Eddy Elementary, while the other three schools remain in use. This option also requires new construction in Orleans and includes the option of building a combined PK-5 school on the Stony Brook site or renovating Eddy for the same purpose.
“What was interesting for me and different from the conversation we’ve really had to date in Brewster, was that in may be the case that the Eddy school is newer and has larger shared spaces and so it might actually make some good sense for a whole host of reasons to evaluate in more detail whether the reuse of the Eddy school is a preferred option,” Lombardi said.
Option 3: Merge Brewster schools and also merge Orleans, Eastham and Wellfleet
The third option not only merges Stony Brook and Eddy into a single PK-5 school, but also merges Orleans, Eastham and Wellfleet into one. In this scenario, PK-5 students from Orleans, Eastham and Wellfleet would attend a newly-constructed regional elementary school in Orleans.
Option 4: Merge Brewster schools, keep Orleans, merge Eastham and Wellfleet
The fourth option merges both Stony Brook and Eddy, keeps Orleans separate and combines Eastham and Wellfleet at the Wellfleet Elementary site.
This scenario requires either a rebuild or renovations to the current Wellfleet school.
Option 5: Restructure all schools into two PK-2 school, and one regional grade 3-5 school.
The fifth and final option presents the most significant change. This scenario creates two PK-2 schools and one regional school for grades 3-5. Brewster PK-2 students would attend school at either Stony Brook or Eddy, while PK-2 students from the other three towns would attend a newly-constructed or renovated Eastham Elementary.
Additionally, Orleans Elementary would receive new construction and serve as a district-wide school for grades 3-5.
How do the options compare?
The study’s final report says, “with each scenario there are trade-offs to be further considered and discussed by each town, at the school district level, and collectively.”
“I think it was really helpful that the consulting team also through their work evaluated those scenarios against the status quo looking out 10 years for operating costs and capital and enrollment and otherwise,” Lombardi said.
“So that we know what [the district] could look like if we continue taking the same approach and then what it may look like under one or some of these alternatives,” he added.
In addition to the five options presented in the Efficiency and Regionalization Study’s final report, Nauset Superintendent Glenn Brand says further alternatives may emerge in the future.
“This is a first step and even with the ongoing work of the Steering Committee, there could be other possibilities that emerge from that discussion and/or partnership with the [Massachusetts School Building Authority],” he said.
What makes a successful school?
The Efficiency and Regionalization Study use a priority framework that was developed through community and educator input. It includes five core priority areas that guided the study and helped reduce the number of potential school configuration scenarios from 13 to four, These include:
- School culture, belonging and student wellness
- Learning, enrichment, and student experience
- Excellent staff and leadership
- Family and community partnership
- Facilities, resources and operational conditions
Will there be investment in the physical buildings?
Whatever the future holds for the Nauset district, the study is clear on one point:the need for investment in school facilities. Every scenario detailed in the final report includes baseline repairs, renovations, additions or new construction in some capacity.
“We have a pretty extensive building stock–and by that I mean the total number of buildings that are operated across the four towns–that are in need of some considerable capital improvement and repairs,” Brand said.
What will the investment cost?
According to the study’s final report, project cost estimates for the school configuration scenarios–including middle school repair costs–range from a minimum of $182 million up to $255 million. Projected annual operating costs range from $32.2 million to $41.5 million.
In both cases, continued operation of all five elementary schools represents the most expensive option, while the least expensive involves reducing that number to two: one PK-5 school in Brewster and one regional PK-5 school in Orleans.
What other factors played a role?
Expenses and savings were not the only factors local leaders are looking at as they move forward into the next stage of the process.
“While certainly our focus, understandably, has been on potential cost savings through consolidation or regionalization, the study also identified several areas where we could potentially reinvest a portion of those savings in other areas,” Lombardi said.
“Specifically, they identified the possibility of universal pre-k and extended afterschool support and activities and programs.”
What happens to staffing?
If Nauset eventually decides to reduce its number of elementary schools, staffing will likely decrease as well. According to the final report, the four configuration options that deviate from the status quo require less operational staff.
The report estimates staff reductions ranging from 9.5% and 26.2%, depending on the configuration model. This includes instructional, administrative and support personnel. Notably, the final report also specifies that thoughtful planning may reduce the possibility of involuntary layoffs.
When will staffing decisions be made?
At this time, however, Brand says making any determinations is premature.
“It would be impossible to forecast to that sort of granular level,” Nauset’s superintendent said.
What happens next?
The Efficiency and Regionalization Study’s final report specifies a series of goals for the next year. Over the next six months, local leaders will distribute the report, collect community feedback and schedule several discussion groups. The Steering Committee will continue to convene as well.
Town and district representatives also intend to meet with the Massachusetts School Building Authority (MSBA), which will likely prove crucial when acquiring funds for future projects informed by the study.
“Time is of the essence here for most of our school and our communities,” Brand said.
“The time that it will take once a decision is made to pursue whatever option [or improvement] takes a lot of time, especially if the reliance on that MSBA grant funding is really the only way to realize those improvements. It’s a very competitive program.”
How soon will a recommendation happen?
Within the next year, local leaders intend to establish processes and decision-making deadlines as well as determine which scenarios and considerations detailed in the Efficiency and Regionalization Study warrant further exploration.
“My guess is that we’ll be providing information to residents about the [public] feedback and then also a path forward with some timelines and so forth in the coming months,” Lombardi said.
“My guess would probably be in early fall.”
For more information:
Final Report Link: https://drive.google.com/file/
