Abington Select Board Issues RFP for Two Vacant School Buildings Amid Budget Pressure

ABINGTON — March 30, 2026 — Abington Select Board honors railroad-rescue sergeant, approves school sale RFP, and takes action on a 20-year road dispute. The board unanimously voted to issue a new request for proposals for the sale of North School at 171 Adams Street and Center School at 65 Thatcher Avenue — both 1938 WPA-era buildings — with Town Manager Michael Maresco calling a pre-June 30 closing essential to ease pressure on the fiscal year 2028 budget. On Gruden Circle, the board took three unanimous votes to support a new developer-completion bylaw, endorse eventual town acceptance of the street, and recommend the planning board not return a developer bond that has sat unclaimed for over 20 years. The meeting opened with the department's Life-Saving Medal of Valor citation for Sergeant Stephen Marquardt, who pulled a woman from the Main Line railroad tracks seconds before a train passed on March 6 — an incident the police chief called "death-defying" — with citations also presented by State Representative Allison Almeida and State Senator John Keenan.