NORTON -- Shuttered libraries, overcrowded classrooms, and the possible revoking of the high school's accreditation were all part of the bleak future School Superintendent Patricia Ansay outlined to the Norton School Committee on Monday night.

`` Playing the blame game won't help,'' she told committee members and parents. `` I for one am looking for solutions, because it's the lives of our kids that are being affected here.''

More than 85 people attended the heated meeting at the Norton Middle School Library -- which itself will be closed this fall under the superintendent's plan. The cuts must be made due to the Norton electorate's lopsided defeat last week of a proposed $2.6 million Proposition 2 1 / sub 2 tax override.

Ansay listed the cuts, which will be implemented this fall to shave $2.2 million off the school department's budget, in a memo distributed to the attendees.

They included: E elimination of more than two dozen positions, including 16 classroom teachers

E closure of all libraries except for Norton High's, which will have its library staff reduced

E increase in class sizes across the district, with up to 32 students per class in Grades 9-12

E discontinuation of the hockey, swimming, and wrestling programs, as well as all freshmen sports

E elimination of professional development for teachers

E elimination of gifted programs and achievement testing

E elimination of most extracurricular activities, including intramurals

E freezing of all purchases, including textbooks, computers, and teaching supplies

`` This community problem won't get any better without shared strategic planning,'' an obviously discouraged Ansay said. She pledged to continue to increase the school department's efficiency, but added that `` adequate funding is still the key.''

After her presentation, Ansay turned the floor over to members of the public. Nearly every speaker expressed their resentment at the override's failure. Some accused the town's senior citizens of being stingy and shortsighted. One man criticized local press coverage of the override as `` skewed.'' And one mother wept as she described the damage the cuts will have on the education of her autistic son.

The third person to speak was vocal override opponent John Freeman, who said he had some suggestions for solutions to the schools' budgetary problems.

`` If we have truly professional educators in this town, ask them to open their contract '85 Maybe forgo a raise this year in order to help a lady like this and her child,'' he said, referring to the autistic child and his mother. School Committee Chair Donna Gradie eventually cut Freeman off.

`` If I am correct,'' responded one woman, `` we are at the bottom of the pay scale for teachers in the state of Massachusetts. And I am sick of hearing about the `rich teachers' in this town because they are not rich,'' she added to applause.

Some called on the community to rally in support of the schools, while others questioned whether the town would ever be willing to shoulder a heavier tax burden.

`` It has just become the yes's and no's,'' said parent Bob Holmes.

He recommended that parents give the schools the $400 which, had the override passed, they would have paid in higher taxes. Others said they were adamantly opposed to the idea of direct aid from individuals to the schools, because residents needed to see the impact of maintaining the current level of funding.

But some parents are already looking into alternate funding sources.

A two-year-old advocacy group, Norton Embraces Education & Development (NEED), has now received 501(c)3 status, meaning it can begin tax-deductible fundraising.

`` A lot of people (who voted against the override) said the money will come from somewhere,'' said Tim Gliblin, a NEED member and town selectman. `` But there isn't any money.''