Wellesley Panel Reworks Student Raffle Rules

Policy Subcommittee · Meeting of October 2, 2026

Wellesley's Policy Subcommittee revised draft rules on student raffles and public comment but took no votes. Assistant Principal Colin Shannick and attorney Alex Rubin walked members through state raffle law, which Rubin said bars any school organization, "any school, any school organization," from running a raffle itself, and requires raffle sellers to be "qualifying members" of a sponsoring group for at least three months, a rule that would exclude ninth graders. The panel debated equity concerns around the high school's junior parking-spot raffle versus its $250-per-semester parking lottery, with one member saying parking spots "give us the least amount of comfort." A separate update to public-comment policy BEDH, prompted by a 2023 SJC ruling cited as Barron v.

Kalenda, would limit boards to enforcing time limits and barring disruption, not decorum. Neither policy was deemed ready for the full School Committee.

In the full story:

• Introduction and New Membership
• Policy JJE: Student Fundraising, Raffles and Games of Chance
• Policy BEDH: Public Comment at Committee Meetings
• Other Policy Business
• Who Was There
• Organizations And Documents Referenced
• The complete report: 2,037 words

Source: the Policy Subcommittee meeting of October 2, 2026, reported from the official video recording and transcript.

Checked against the record: before publication this article was automatically compared with the meeting transcript. It was corrected where it differed.