Groton-Dunstable Regional School District

Groton-Dunstable Regional School District is a school district in the U.S. state of Massachusetts which serves the towns of Groton and Dunstable.HistoryOld Groton School DistrictBy the 1750s Groton had been providing public schooling to its children. There are records of funding provided in 1758 for both "reading and writing schools" in the outer areas of town and a grammar school in the town center. The district 2 school, which was to become the Moors school, was built in 1789. Several new schoolhouses were built on the sites of older ones in 1792.By 1805, the town of Groton already had a school committee and twelve district public schools. School committee records from that time put an emphasis on Bible readings, spelling, arithmetic, and grammar as taught from a common set of district preferred texts. Together in 1806, those schools served a population of 52 students. The grammar school migrated between the district schools and in 1808 was kept for four months in District school number 1, then two months in number 2, two months in number 3, and two months in number five. In 1823 and 1828, districts 10 and 1 each split, forming new sub-districts within the town.For some portion of the 1850s, then Massachusetts Secretary of Education, and future Governor, and U.S. Secretary of the Treasury George S. Boutwell served on the school committee. While Lawrence Academy had long provided private secondary school opportunities in town, a committee was appointed in November 1855 to consider establishing a new high school. On Monday, December 5, 1859 the first public high school opened in the lower hall of the Town House (Town Hall).