About Ashby Evergreen
A community-led effort to create a new kind of public school—rooted in nature, built on relationships, and designed to help every child thrive. Ashby Evergreen will serve students from Fitchburg, Ashby, Townsend, and Pepperell, with a planned opening in Fall 2027.
We’re building a K–8 school where children learn through curiosity, connection, outdoor exploration, and the Finnish tradition of Sisu—the resilience to keep going, even when things are hard.
A new school for our community. A different way to learn.
Our Story
For more than seventy years, Ashby Elementary School was at the heart of our community. The school closed in June 2025, but seventy years of learning, memories, and community are not easily erased.
Soon, a group of neighbors—parents, educators, librarians, and longtime community members—began asking a simple question:
What if we brought a school back?
Not the same school. Something new.
A school designed around how children actually learn: with time and space to play and learn outdoors in an integrated community where they’re allowed to follow their curiosity and go at their own pace. A school where academic achievement and childhood well-being are essential parts of the same picture.
We looked to Finland for inspiration, where education places a strong emphasis on student well-being, teacher professionalism, play, independence, and learning through the world beyond the classroom. We also looked closely at our own community and asked what kind of school would help our children—and our region—thrive.
That question became a vision.
The vision became a plan.
The plan became a charter application.
And that application is becoming Ashby Evergreen Charter School: a public school rooted in community, connected to nature, and built around the belief that children deserve both high expectations and the freedom to grow.
Who we are.
Ashby Evergreen is being founded by a group of community members: librarians, parents, educators, and longtime residents of Ashby, Townsend, Pepperell, Fitchburg, and surrounding towns. Together, we are working alongside legal advisors, education consultants, and field experts to bring this vision to life.
Ashby Evergreen Charter School is a proposed public school, pending approval by the Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education (DESE).
As our founding team and Board of Directors take shape, we will introduce them here. We look forward to sharing the people, experience, and community commitment behind Ashby Evergreen.
Sponsored by Ashby Community Collaborative.
Ashby Evergreen Charter School is a project of Ashby Community Collaborative, Inc., a Massachusetts nonprofit corporation pursuing 501(c)(3) status. The Collaborative was founded to support community initiatives in Ashby and the surrounding region — beginning with the school, and growing from there.
Build it with us.
Whether you’re a parent, a teacher, a neighbor, or simply someone who believes in what we’re doing — there is a place for you in this work.