Frontier Panel Votes to Relocate Fallen Soldier's Plaque

School Committee · Meeting of September 1, 2026

WHATELY — Frontier Regional School Committee reverses itself, votes 6-4 to relocate a fallen graduate's memorial plaque. After a 10-0 vote to reconsider its June 11 decision, the panel heard roughly two hours of public comment, mostly from veterans, before voting to move Sgt. Gregory Belanger's name plaque, honoring the 1998 Frontier graduate killed in Iraq in 2003, to a new baseball and field hockey scoreboard funded entirely by student fundraising.

VFW Post 3295 Commander Rachel Otto, who served alongside Belanger, told members "the big difference between Greg and I is I came home, he didn't." Belanger's sister, Allison Belanger, said the family wanted only the name plaque moved, not the scoreboard's donor plaque, and asked the committee to "rescind your vote from June 11th." Because Frontier Regional's votes are weighted by town population across its four member towns, the roll call was recalculated before being declared passed. The committee also moved to send a broader, unresolved question, how the district handles aging and future memorials districtwide, to a policy subcommittee.

In the full story:

• Who Was There
• Organizations And Documents Referenced
• The complete report — 2,691 words

Source: the School Committee meeting of September 1, 2026, reported from the official video recording and transcript.