Graduates of the Bromfield School Class of 2025 walked to the school’s 145th graduation exercises Saturday morning to the bittersweet notes of Noah Kahan’s “You’re Gonna Go Far,” a fitting anthem of nostalgia and hope for a class that weathered the disruption of COVID-19 during its formative eighth- and ninth-grade years.

As the 2024–2025 school year comes to an end, the schools say farewell to seven staff members, six of whom are retiring.

Gathered around a table on the Hildreth House porch, Select Board members met to decide what they wanted to achieve on behalf of the town in the coming year. With only a five-minute break and running just 15 minutes past its scheduled three hours, the board drafted six goals for fiscal 2026.

Following a federal court order, the Shriver Job Corps Center in Devens reopened on Monday, June 9—but by then, most of its students were already gone. The center’s closure followed a May 29 announcement by the U.S. Department of Labor that it would “pause” all contractor-operated Job Corps centers nationwide by June 30.

The town has contracted with Capital Strategic Solutions, a municipal consulting firm based in Marlborough, for an interim Department of Public Works director. 

Although it is still fairly early in the growing season, orchards in town are already feeling the impacts of the extreme shift in weather, with some reporting delayed plant growth and crop losses.

The sun smiled on Harvard’s Memorial Day ceremonies May 26 as warmer temperatures brought out a crowd of more than 100 people to the Common to remember Harvard residents who died while serving in the United States armed forces. 

Manganese. Arsenic. Dioxane. In all, eight substances, including PFAS, were found in the groundwater around the old landfill at levels that exceed various state and federal drinking water standards.

The only public transportation in town, MART, (Montachusett Regional Transit Authority), has expanded its services. Harvard residents can now get rides to Emerson Hospital and nearby Baker Avenue medical offices.

Around 5 p.m. Sunday, May 25, a caller notified Harvard police of a break-in at the Oak Ridge Observatory on Pinnacle Road. 

Massachusetts museums and cultural institutions are bracing for the fallout of federal funding cuts enacted by the Trump administration, which aim to eliminate the National Endowment for the Arts and dismantle the Institute of Museum and Library Services.

In early May, the Harvard Board of Health received a report of a water quality test on a private well with levels of PFAS (per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances) more than 20 times the state’s maximum contaminant level.

The Devens Housing Working Group wrapped up three months of work last week, sending the Legislature a 25-page report and strategy for increasing housing at Devens. Now comes the hard part.

Allyson Mitchell, who has been the town’s assistant town administrator and human resources director since last August, has resigned.

Four Bromfield students were among about 50 athletes taking part in a Special Olympics Day of Games earlier this month in Maynard.

As one traumatized local family has learned, Harvard is not immune from the harsh consequences of the current administration’s tightened rules for entry into the U.S.

Former Select Board member Rich Maiore has withdrawn his complaint that Select Board Chair SusanMary Redinger violated the Open Meeting Law in her handling of a code of conduct violation.

The personnel difficulties at the Department of Public Works that reportedly caused David Smith to resign as director after only six months on the job have put a hold on hiring a new full-time director. 

Superintendent of Schools Linda Dwight announced at Monday’s School Committee meeting that she will be leaving her position at the end of July 2026,.