Town Edition
Hampshire County
Worthington, Massachusetts
Worthington holds its Town Meeting in the gym of the R. H. Conwell School, which means the people voting on the school budget are sitting inside the school they pay for. That district exists because the town chose it. Years ago Worthington pulled out of a regional school district, stood up its own district for its one elementary school, and now pays tuition to send its older students to Hampshire Regional. Those are the kinds of decisions a town of about 1,200 people makes for itself, in a room where any registered voter can stand up and vote. This guide shows you how to get into that room.
Worthington at a Glance
Sources: Massachusetts DESE, district profile · US Census Bureau (data.census.gov) · Town of Worthington.
- County: Hampshire. Worthington is a rural hilltown of about 32 square miles in western Massachusetts, first settled in 1762 and incorporated in 1768, and the birthplace of Russell H. Conwell, the founder of Temple University.
- Government: open Town Meeting, with an elected three-member Selectboard that serves as the town’s executive. Charley Rose chairs the board.
- Schools: R. H. Conwell is the town’s own elementary district of about 73 students; Worthington pays tuition to send its grades 7 to 12 students to Hampshire Regional. Gretchen Morse-Dobosz is the district’s Principal and Superintendent.
How Worthington’s Government Works
Worthington runs on an open Town Meeting, which means there are no elected Town Meeting members at all: every registered voter in Worthington is a member, and any of them can walk in, speak, and vote on the budget. Voters also elect a three-member Selectboard and the School Committee that oversees the town’s elementary school. The Selectboard serves as the town’s chief executive: it sets policy, approves the bills, appoints residents to town boards and offices, and carries the town’s business between Town Meetings, working out of an office staffed by an executive assistant rather than through an appointed administrator. So the money is voted by whoever shows up, and the direction and the daily work both belong to the board the voters elect.
Town Meeting
The legislative body, and it is not a committee. Every registered voter in Worthington is a member. Town Meeting adopts the annual budget, passes town bylaws, and approves major spending. This is direct democracy in its literal sense.
Selectboard
Three members elected town-wide to staggered three-year terms. They set policy, sign the warrants that decide what reaches Town Meeting, appoint residents to many town boards, and serve as the town’s chief executive officers.
The Selectboard’s Office
The board’s own office at 160 Huntington Road carries the town’s daily paperwork, staffed by an executive assistant who works for the three elected members.
School Committee
Elected town-wide. It sets policy for R. H. Conwell, approves its budget, and hires and evaluates the district’s Superintendent.
- Residents elect the three members of the Selectboard, the School Committee, and a long ballot of working town offices.
- The Selectboard runs the town between meetings: it sets policy, decides what goes on the Town Meeting warrant, and carries out what Town Meeting votes.
- Town Meeting votes the budget and the bylaws, and every registered voter present can vote.
- You take part: pre-register at 16. A pre-registrant is on the list but is not allowed to vote yet. Once you turn 18 that designation comes off on its own and you are a registered voter in Worthington, which makes you a member of Town Meeting with a vote on the floor. If you never pre-registered, register with the Town Clerk, and do it well ahead: the rolls close at 5 p.m. on the tenth day before any election or Town Meeting.
Civic Calendar
- Selectboard: meets Tuesday evenings at 6:30 PM at Town Hall, and each agenda is posted in advance on the town website.
- Town Meeting: the Annual Town Meeting is held on the first Saturday in May, and the clerk posts the vote on every article afterward.
- Town elections: the Annual Town Election is held the first Saturday in May. In 2026 it was held May 2, and 314 voters filled the offices on the ballot. The next is in spring 2027.
- State and federal elections: even-numbered years, and the clerk offers early voting and vote by mail.
Explore the Worthington Edition
- Selectboard’s OfficeThe board that runs the town
- SelectboardYour three board members
- School CommitteeSuperintendent & committee
- Town DepartmentsWho does what at Town Hall
- Boards & CommissionsWhere residents serve
- LegislatorsYour voice in Boston & D.C.
- Worthington HistoryBirthplace of Russell Conwell
- DemographicsWho lives in Worthington
- Non-ProfitsCommunity organizations
- Student DataWorthington schools by the numbers
Your County Officials
Two of the people with the most direct power over your life are elected, and neither one sits on Beacon Hill. The district attorney decides who gets charged with a crime, and what they get charged with. The sheriff runs the county jail. The sheriff is elected by the voters of Hampshire County. The district attorney is elected by the voters of a prosecution district, and Massachusetts draws eleven of those across its fourteen counties, so a district attorney’s territory does not always follow a county line. Both appear on your ballot in Worthington. Now you know what to look for.
Massachusetts elects fourteen sheriffs, one for each county, and eleven district attorneys, one for each prosecution district. The job is the same everywhere: the charging decisions, the jail. Look up any town in the state and see who holds these two offices there.
Your First Civic Action in Worthington
You do not have to wait until you can vote to be heard in your own town. Here is how to take a real concern to the people who decide.
- Pick the right body. Town policy, roads, and licenses go to the Selectboard. Schools go to the School Committee. The budget and bylaws are voted by Town Meeting.
- Find the meeting. The Selectboard meets Tuesday evenings at 6:30 PM at Town Hall, and the agenda is posted in advance.
- Know your members. All three Selectboard members are elected town-wide, so every one of them answers to you.
- Speak. Meetings are open to the public and residents may address the board. The town posts a Request an Appearance form.
- Or skip the trip. Report a pothole, a broken sign, or a plowing problem to the Highway Department at (413) 238-5830, which owns the repair.
- Town offices: 160 Huntington Road, PO Box 247. Selectboard office (413) 238-5577 ext. 100, open to the public Monday, Tuesday, and Thursday 10:00 to 5:00 and Wednesday 1:00 to 6:00.
- Town Clerk & agendas: (413) 238-5577 ext. 110, with meeting agendas and minutes posted at worthington-ma.us.
- Public schools: R. H. Conwell Elementary School, worthington-ma.us; older students attend Hampshire Regional.
Local government works best when residents show up. Find your Selectboard, speak at a meeting on a Monday evening, or simply register to vote and take your seat at Town Meeting.