Whitman-Hanson Express

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Schools set to unmask Feb. 28

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School mask mandates are being reduced to a recommendation after Feb. 28. Mask requirements on school buses, by federal mandate, and in school health clinics, by state regulation, are still in force. In the meantime, the School Committee is taking another budgetary look at non-mandated busing costs, a decision that ultimately lies with the boards of selectmen in each town.

Superintendent of Schools Jeff Szymaniak said his recommendation has been that the school district should continue to follow state education and health guidelines, as it has done since August 2020. 

He stressed, when asked how masks would be enforced for unvaccinated persons, that the policy was a recommendation — not a requirement.

Szymaniak during the Wednesday, Feb. 9 School Committee meeting, said he had a Zoom call with Education Commissioner Jeffrey C. Riley, who indicated he is not asking to renew the mask mandate after Feb. 28.

“What that means for us is that after Feb. 28, DESE and MDPH are recommending masks only for students who are unvaccinated and staff that are unvaccinated,” he said. “They’ve pretty much dropped the recommendation for other folks attending preK to 12 — preK to 22 — schools, with the exception of buses.” 

Because of HIPAA and other privacy rules, no one could really ask others about their vaccination status, making enforcement nearly impossible.

School Committee Chairman Christopher Howard said that, unless the committee disagreed with the DESE/MDPH recommendation and wanted to revisit an earlier vote to abide by them, no action was required. If they wished to reconsider that vote, the only other meeting scheduled before Feb. 28 was the Feb. 17 meeting, which was planned exclusively as a budget session. 

“The uses of masks is a polarizing issue,” Howard said, noting that the committee received about 600 comments the last time feedback was sought.

“I can’t tell you the number of emails I’ve gotten from happy parents wanting to know how soon the masks can come off,” said Committee member, Fred Small, who was attending remotely be phone. He also reminded the Committee that the earlier vote was to abide by MDPH recommendations, not DESE.

He also said parents contacting him wanted to know why masks could not come off as early as the next day.

Committee member Heather Kniffen suggested that all Szymaniak needed to do was communicate with families about the latest information available so they can make an informed decision.

The Committee then followed Howard’s suggestion to amend the August 2020 vote to read that they would follow the recommendation of MDPH or DESE. That vote was unanimous.

Non-mandated busing

Szymaniak noted that the district is mandated by law to bus all K-12 students who live two miles or farther away from a school to school each day.

“This is not your vote, but I want you to be aware,” Szymaniak said of the options open to the towns. “Things shift at Town Meeting [and] it does change the assessment that we can control.”

The district received regional transportation reimbursement for anyone living 1.5 miles and out, he said. They also provide non-mandated busing for students living .5 miles to 1.5 miles around a school, with the towns picking up that cost.

“Questions have come up in the past about non-mandated busing and do we need it? What can we do?” Szymaniak said. “We truly have local regional elementary schools. There’s a lot of kids that are [within] a mile and a half to the school.”

School Committee policy also requires that all kindergarten students, whether they live within 1.5 miles or not, are bused to school,” he said. “It’s our rule that we do that.”

While there has been occasional discussion about whether Whitman should consider halting non-mandated busing, Hanson has not done so and no calculations have yet been done for Hanson as a result of that fact.

Calculations on whether to keep non-mandates busing within a certain distance from a school takes into consideration whether students within walking distance are kindergarteners, have to cross state roads [routes 14, 18, 27 and 58], where there are no sidewalks or where there are registered sex offenders living in the area, Szymniak said. It creates a tier system for bus ridership on which the budget is based. Each tier represents a school to which a given bus drives students. Four-tier buses drive students to the high school, a town’s middle school and each elementary school. Of the 20 buses contracted from First Student, six are four-tier, 12 are three-tier and two are two-tier.

School Committee member Steve Bois said traffic at the intersection near WMS has been increasingly clogged and he wants to see the state address it.

“There’s no way I’m voting to get rid of any non-mandated busing,” he said.

First Student plugs data into software that makes bus assignments within the parameters of school start times and making sure they arrive safely.

It costs $9,747.20 per day for 20 buses to transport students to school in the district. For 180 school days, that totals $1,753,329.60 plus $10,000 for a fuel clause allocation in the First Student contract.

Byers wondered if there was any way, keeping in mind the time restrictions concerning how long students are on buses and the number of students assigned to each bus, the number of buses could be used in Hanson.

“We could continue to look at this,” Szymaniak said about keeping the committee informed.

“If we increased the ridership on a bus in Hanson, that bus would take longer to do its route,” Small said. “We would probably run into some contractual differences as far as start times go within the schools.”

He also suggested the high school might have to start even earlier to get a jump-start, because the same buses are used in both towns. He suggested a Finance Committee motion last year advocated that the non-mandated bus cost not be recommended for passage. 

Pulling Whitman non-mandated busing out, the service costs $9,606.90 while changes the scheduling. Cutting out all Whitman non-mandated busing reduces the number of buses to 19, and costs $9,011.36.

Removing Whitman Middle School non-mandated busing saves $24,087 from the transportation budget and removing all Whitman non-mandated busing saves $131,284 in the overall transportation costs.

The number of students whose parents have opted out of bus travel to school in Hanson is 253 and in Whitman, it is 400.

“I have a concern, as a superintendent of students getting to school if non-mandated goes away,” he said. It would also increase vehicle traffic around schools as parents drop students off.

“It would [also] shift our assessments to the towns, because our transportation costs would remain high even though Whitman or Hanson wouldn’t be paying a line item in the budget,” Szymaniak said.

Complex calculations based on three scenarios have to begin with the fiscal ’23 general fund transportation budget, according to Business Manager John Stanbrook.

Scenario 1 starts with the assumption the non-mandated busing is as submitted in the fiscal 2023 budget at $1,7603,329.60. Scenario 2 assumes a cost of $1,739,242.69 with no Whitman Middle School busing — a savings of $54,680 — and Scenario 3 assumes a cost of $1,632,044.80 — a savings of $292,345 — with non-mandated busing for all of Whitman eliminated. Hanson’s costs would increase by $30,593 in Scnario 2 and $161,000 in Scenario 3.

“There’s still transportation costs,” he said.

“I want to get out in front of this with the committee,” Szymaniak said, indicating that traffic studies could be required if Whitman’s non-mandated busing is eliminated. “We’re trying to do our best.” 

He said getting all parents to respond to any kind of survey is difficult, so it makes it hard for the district to make substantive decisions.

“I think it will be really important for you to build scenarios for Hanson,” said Committee Chairman Christopher Howard. “Based on how things have gone in the past … I would think, if this was to happen in Whitman … it’s going to cause a chain reaction.”

Hanson lifts mask mandate

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HANSON —  The Board of Selectmen on Tuesday, Feb. 8, voted to downgrade the Town Hall mask mandate to a recommendation, left to people’s comfort level.

The change went into effect Wednesday, Feb. 9.

“Last time that we met and were considering it, the numbers were over 400,” said Selectmen Chairman Matt Dyer. That number was down to 60 as of the time of the Selectmen’s meeting.

Dyer said that trend echoed the state’s numbers and that the schools’ mask mandate will end Feb. 25, as the DESE and MDPH are reverting to a recommendation only that masks be worn by unvaccinated students and staff [see story, this page].

“I think where we are in terms of the public health crisis, is we’re getting toward the end, or at least we can drop the mask mandate for now and, if it flares back up at a later time, we can always impose this again,” Dyer said, knocking on the wooden table.

Selectman Joe Weeks suggested checking in with the mood of Town Hall employees.

“I don’t want to release mandates, or enforce mandates without checking with the people we’ll be enforcing them on,” he said.

Town Administrator Lisa Green said the majority of people working in Town Hall have been wearing masks when they leave their offices.

“That hasn’t been an issue with anybody,” she said. “I would just recommend that, if people feel they want to wear masks, they can do so. … At this point, I don’t see any need to continue with the mask mandate in Town Hall, unless people on their own, decide they’d like to wear them.”

“That’s the only recommendation I need,” Weeks said.

A disclosure of potential conflict by Town Hall custodian Charlie Baker was deemed unnecessary because he is a member of a Highway Department union and is not a private contractor.

“He plows at night, outside his hours as custodian/maintenance technician for highway in their trucks,” Green said.

storm response

In that vein, Weeks urged Selectmen also commended public safety personnel for their response to last month’s blizzard.

“They just had the biggest storm ever,” he said of the January 28 storm.

The board hadn’t met since before the blizzard.

The board extended thanks to the Police, Fire and Highway departments contract plow drivers and National Grid employees for the work they did clearing streets, responding to motor vehicle crashes and keeping the power on.

“The way they worked together to get it all done, I think we’re blessed to have these people in place,” Selectman Jim Hickey said. “They all knew their parts.”

Selectman Laura FitzGerald-Kemmett offered special congratulations to Highway Director Jameson Shave, who experienced his first major storm in Hanson during a year when it had been difficult finding plow drivers.

$58M budget for the needs of ‘post-COVID students’

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The W-H Regional School District on Wednesday, Feb. 2 unveiled a $58,939,591 fiscal 2023 budget — a 3.7 percent increase that “adjusts to the needs of the post-COVID student.” 

The assessment for Hanson will be $13,372,100.76 — or 39.4 percent — and Whitman would be assessed $16,936,529.76 — or 60.6 percent of the total assessments.

“This is just a global view of what we feel we need, coming out of the gate, for the FY ’22-’23 school year — hopefully getting back to somewhat normal,” Superintendent of Schools Jeffrey Szymaniak said in introducing the presentation. “The past two years have been very difficult on us as a society, our community, our school system and, especially, our students. Masks, hybrid learning, remote learning missing school days due to COVID, being ill and quarantined, have affected our students, academically, socially and in ways that we have not yet determined.”

It was the first time the School Committee members were receiving the budget documents, according to Chairman Christopher Howard, and all members were given the opportunity to ask questions after Szymaniak’s presentation. School Committee member David Forth attended the meeting remotely.

“This is the start of the budget process,” Howard said. “The presentation is tonight, we will have time at the next meeting to go through it, as well.”

W-H Business Manager John Stanbrook, in reviewing the calculations involved in determining assessments said there are 26 financial documents posted on the district’s website (whrsd.org/school_committee_budget/budget). He said the districts excess and deficiency account — generally used to finance unexpected expenses — began the budget process with a balance of $1,868,318. Proposed uses of the funds are: year two and three of the Whitman water bill settlement ($123,885); half of the full-day kindergarten start-up cost of ($370,404.64); and for Chromebook purchases ($400,000) for a total of $894,288.64 in expenses, with an ending balance of $974,000. Szymaniak said all the district’s Circuit Breaker funding has also been used in calculating the budget. He said it was up to the committee to decide how much of E&D funds they wished to use to help balance the budget.

The meeting may be streamed on the WHCA-TV YouTube channel and is rebroadcast on its educational television channel. 

 In addition to fulfilling the needs post-COVID students, Szymaniak said the budget works toward the strategic plan initiatives that support School Committee goals while providing academic and social services to all 3,442 students in the district.

“Although the budget presented tonight doesn’t get the district to where I think I’d like us to be, it’s definitely a movement in the right direction for all of our kids,” he said.

School Committee priorities voted on last summer are tuition-free all-day kindergarten, one-to-one student personal electronic devices and a robust related arts curriculum.

Anticipated increases in the budget include contractual increases for staff, custodians and transportation; special ed services; insurance costs; moving staff salaries from expiring grants to the budget; building utilities; $740,000+ tuition for full-day K; and two special ed teachers (paid with federal funds). Unanticipated increases include an increase in charter school tuitions. He also reviewed setbacks and achievements of the past three years.

The student-to-teacher ratio is now 14.6:1 thanks to recent faculty additions, with the only larger ratios in the area at Bridgewater-Raynham and Abington. The state average is 13.4:1.

“We’re better than we were and I thank the communities for supporting our budget in the past,” Szymaniak said. 

Enrollment is dropping, however the district is starting to stabilize in the elementary grades. Student enrollments and departures during the school year make projections difficult, he said.

As student numbers decline Szymaniak said teachers now on staff may be used to fill retirement vacancies throughout the district.

There are 670 special education students now enrolled in the district with individual education plans (IEPs) — 456 are in full-inclusion within general classrooms. 95 in partial-enrollment programs, 78 substantially separate from general classrooms and 42 in separate school placements.

Full-day kindergarten implementation will require an additional three teachers and three paraprofessionals at $740,804.27 in FY ’23.

“I think it’s been on the docket for quite a while,” Szymaniak said.

School choice students at the high school, meanwhile should bring about $309,154 to the district. 

Szymaniak said that, since full-day kindergarten has been a topic of conversation for some time, he proposed three option to fund a fully tuition free program.

“I took the one right in the middle,” he said.

Option 1 would use no excess and deficiency funds and would increase assessments to $17,160,993.87 for Whitman and $13,518,039.80 for Hanson. Last year’s assessments were $16,104,903.22 for Whitman and $12,646,117.72 for Hanson.

Option 2 would use excess and deficiency for 50 percent of the startup cost — or $370,404.64 — and would put Whitman’s assessment at $16,936,529.27 and Hanson’s at $13,372,100.76.

Option 3 would use excess and deficiency to fully fund the $740,804.27 startup cost with Whitman’s assessment being $16,712,064.67 and Hanson’s at $13,226,161.73.

School choice

Tuition for students going to other districts will cost an estimated $222,684 and charter school tuition will cost $1,043,981 — up $229,827 from the current year.

“That was unexpected,” he said. “We do get some back, but it doesn’t cover that [gap].” 

Special education is one of a handful of uses for which the district may use federal ESSERIII (Elementary and Secondary Emergency Relief Act) funds. ESSER II ($1,001,704 which must be spent by Sept. 30, 2023) and III ($2,314,697 which must be spent by Sept. 30, 2024) are multi-year grants. There are strict stipulations on how the ESSER funds can be used.

There are about 1,400 Chrombooks that are expected to reach end of life in June, meaning they are no longer useable for testing, assessments or the current curriculum. The district already has the replacements for those, but another 1,500 go out in 2026 and the district must begin planning to replace them, according to Assistant Superintendent George Ferro.

“We’re trying to get on a fiscal cycle of where we can earmark that money — keep that money, but now know that yearly we’re putting that through,” he said.

While the budget can be worked on up until the Monday, May 2 town meetings, it must be certified and sent to the towns by March 19, so Szymaniak has scheduled Wednesday, March 16 as the vote to meet that deadline.

Heineman unveils balanced plan

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WHITMAN — Town Administrator Lincoln Heineman presented a balanced fiscal 2023 budget of $38,938,294 — including $261,892 in excess levy — during a joint meeting with the Finance Committee Tuesday, Feb. 1. It would reflect a 2.8 percent tax increase in the average single family home.

Selectman Brian Bezanson was absent.

 “Contrary to the last several budgets was a necessary one-time revenue source to balance the budget, this does not envision that,” Heineman said. “Depending on what the school assessment comes in at, that may be a factor, [but] it should be a relatively small factor, based on past increases … but under this proposed budget, there is excess levy and a clear policy question for the Board of Selectmen is do we as a town, as we did last year, want to capture that excess levy and have a higher tax rate and spend it in some way …  or is there some part of the full excess levy that we as a town would not want to capture and provide in tax relief.”

There is also $1.5 million in currently allocated American Recovery Plan Act (ARPA) funds, funneled through the county, that may be spent through December 2024. Heineman advocated reserving most of the funds for the sewer force main project — as the one-time money should be used on a one-time expense — or to consider applying to some operating budget needs. The latter is not sustainable after 2024, he reminded the boards.

“For the past couple of years of, I think, pretty good fiscal management from the town, we’ve gone from a necessary override to now producing a budget where we’re not using any one-time money, and I think that’s a huge positive in that things are going in the right direction for this town,” Selectman Randy LaMattina said. He argued that one-time money should never be used to balance a budget.

“It’s a pretty good spot to modify from if we see fit,” he said.

“We’re doing what we’re doing to maintain a workable budget for the town,” agreed Selectman Dan Salvucci. 

Heineman said some of the key budget goals and objectives are the implementation of the Madden Report, the draft Strategic Plan and new financial management policies as well as clearly defining the budget’s impact on property taxpayers and the creation of predicable and moderate increases.

Department heads requested $1,077,818 in expense increases — mainly due to increases of $194,000 for Plymouth County Retirement, $144,000 to fully fund unfilled police shifts and $102,000 for storm water management. Another increase of $402,623 is expected in the form of the WHRSD assessment, which is not final yet.

“We have this increase,” Heineman said. “It is not affordable within our property tax levy.”

To close the budget gap, Heinemaan included $239,274 in reductions were made to departmental requests, while still reaching goals.

The budget proposal also includes the allowed 2.5 percent increase under Proposition 2 1/2, as well as a conservative new growth estimate of  $400,000 and debt exclusions of $1,042,920. The spending package also includes Gov. Charlie Baker’s local aid figures.

“It does, almost fully, meet the Madden report’s recommendations regarding revenue,” Heineman said. He said the report set a goal of injecting no more than 85 percent in departmental receipts than what had been received in the previous fiscal year, an approach with which Heineman said he agrees.

“When we’re talking about departmental receipts, the big drivers of that are motor vehicle excise, building permits — any other fees the town collects that aren’t taxes,” he said. “This gets there … many of those projected revenue figures were dangerously high — up to 97 percent, 99 percent in some cases — understandable in the budget crunch that we were in, but not wise in terms of long-term budgeting and not wise in that it makes it very difficult to raise free cash because it’s not conservative budgeting.”

Without the generation of free cash, Heineman said, it can be very difficult to maintain any long-range capital plan. 

“That’s the key Madden Report recommendation that would be almost entirely achieved here in this proposed balanced budget,” he said.

The two acknowledged exceptions were that if a revenue source was almost certain to come in higher than the 85 percent, it would be acceptable to have a higher amount.

The budget fills 20 percent of the unfilled police shifts, including a full-time records clerk ($57,000), and would provide an IT position ($55,000) and a full-time Building Commissioner ($57,000) as well as a full-time facilities manager ($21,000). The town’s lack of an additional IT person, and a full-time building commissioner, were identified as weaknesses by the Madden Report.

“I think it’s a great budget rollout, and a great first step,” said Finance Committee Chairman Richard Anderson. “I think we’re all in agreement that [the impact to residents] is something the strategic plan outlined, and one of our budget objectives is to get that line a little straighter.” 

Heineman said the town is nearing predictability and the moderation point already.

Anderson asked how building projects, such as a school project and/or DPW building would affect that. He also urged that the Capital Committee be included in budget discussions.

Heineman said the level of interest rates would be a key factor in determining that. 

“This is a presentation and then there’s a schedule of events that will happen over the next series of months that involves our two bodies to cooperate and know what each body is doing,” said Selectman Chairman Dr. Carl Kowalski.

Department heads submitted their budget requests by Dec. 7, 2021, with Selectmen considering the budget ahead of their vote on the town-side appropriation between now and early March for inclusion on the warrant for the annual Town Meeting on May 2. The Finance Committee will work on its review of the proposed budget from now until April 5.

Kowalski suggested adding another joint meeting with on the Finance Committee on April 12 “to see how close we are.” He noted it may be difficult to duplicate last year when the two boards were only $10,000 apart on their budget reviews.

“We disagreed on one item in that whole budget, which is pretty good,” Kowalski said.

Anderson said the schedule works fine but the April 12 joint meeting date would hinge on whether any of their other meetings are delayed.

“We had it tentatively scheduled for [April] 19, but the 12th is perfectly fine,” Anderson said. Kowalski said he suggested April 12 because he could not be there on the 19th.

“I think that’s a great schedule,” Anderson said.

Matt Dyer resigns from BOS

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HANSON —  Selectmen Chairman Matt Dyer announced, during a brief meeting of the Board on Tuesday, Feb. 8, that he would be stepping down from the office effective May 21.

The board approved his motions to accept his resignation and that Town Clerk Elizabeth Sloan place his position on the May 21 ballot for a two-year term on the Board of Selectmen.

“This comes with a heavy heart, as my job starts a new chapter,” Dyer said. “It’s going to be impacting my reporting location, my commute and my work schedule, so I would not be able to give the town of Hanson 100 percent or 120 percent, as it deserves.”

He said the decision was a tough one for him to make.

“I still have a lot to give to the town,” Dyer said. “There’s nothing more to it. There is no scandal. There is no health scare. There is nothing exciting, other than my project starts a new chapter and I’m going to be reporting elsewhere. All the rumors out there, I’m sorry to bum you out, but that’s all it is.”

Selectman Laura FitzGerald-Kemmett said her vote to accept Dyer’s resignation came with “deep, deep regret and tremendous gratitude.” 

Selectman Kenny Mitchell has said he is not running for re-election this year, so that places two positions on the town ballot this year. One for Mitchell’s seat for a three-year term and one for a two-year term to fill the vacancy caused by Dyer’s resignation.

“If you do run, you have to specify which position that you want to go for, it’s not a one form-fills-all deal,” Dyer said to the audience about the election process.

He thanked all his supporters, noting he was 27 when he was elected and that he has enjoyed four great years of volunteering for the position.

“It’s been quite an opportunity, quite a learning curve, and I want to thank everyone who has taught me along the way — from town employees, to former selectmen, to volunteers in the town — we really have a great community and we just have to stick together to make sure it thrives,” he said.

In other business, Dyer announced a COVID test distribution event for Hanson residents will be held from 9 a.m. to noon Saturday, Feb. 12 at the Maquan School parking lot.

Selectman Jim Hickey said he and Town Administrator Lisa Green met with members of the Board of Health, three members of the Fire Department and two members of the Police Department to plan the event.

“Once the line [of cars] gets moving, you shouldn’t be there more than two minutes,” he said. “It’s pretty much going to be a nonstop thing.” 

Every car will be handed one, two-test box. Proper ID or transfer station stickers will be accepted as proof of residency. Both Maquan and School streets will be limited to one-way traffic during the event to ease traffic flow. Residents of Meeting House Lane and those residents who are home bound will be able to have test kits delivered to their homes. Contact the Senior Center 781-293- 2683 to sign up for that.

Freezin’ for a reason

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TRUE TO THEIR SCHOOL: Reactions to the frigid water varied as Polar Plunge participants braved the waters at Cranberry Cove in Hanson on Sunday. Feb.6. A hardy crew of volunteers raised funds through pledges supporting their taking a dive to support the Hanson PTO and its programs at Indian Head School. See photos, page 9.                                         

SST sees increase in Chapter 70 aid

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HANOVER — Preliminary assessment figures for South Shore Tech indicate that the school will be receiving a $540,719 increase in Chapter 70 aid as a result of having an additional 38 students in the district.

 Assessments for Whitman and Hanson will also be lower, according to figures  Superintendent-Director Dr. Thomas J. Hickey presented to the South Shore Tech Regional School Committee meeting on Wednesday, Jan. 26.

“Hanson’s enrollment went down by a couple of kids,” he said this week. “That’s always an influencing factor. Now, Whitman’s enrollment went up, but their assessment went down. How does that happen?”

That is because the capital budget within the assessment is much lower than last year so towns like Whitman, with higher enrollments, are poised to benefit more.

A certification vote will be taken the next meeting at 7 p.m., on Wednesday, Feb. 16. Scituate regularly holds its annual Town Meeting in April, and has been joined on that early schedule by other towns such as Abington.

“Assessments can be changed after certification, but they can only go down,” Hickey said.

During the public hearing section of the meeting Jesse McSweeney, chairman of Norwell’s advisory board asked the School Committee why the per-pupil assessment has increased twice in the last three years. He was the only person to ask a question.

Hickey said about 70 percent of the assessment comes from the towns’ minimum local contribution within the state’s Chapter 70 formula, with the other 30 percent coming from apportionment to the member towns through the regional agreement, which is based on a rolling average.

“Per pupil costs absolutely matter when it comes to things like debt, capital and any operating costs that go above the state’s foundation budget,” Hickey said. “It has a direct connection to enrollment.”

Per pupil calculations are done at the end of the process to try to give an across-the-board comparison.

“Oftentimes our towns are interested in seeing how the different towns shake out in terms of per-pupil costs,” he said. “The biggest driver is a town’s ability to pay and the Chapter 70 formula. … It’s an attempt at equity.”

Norwell School Committee member Robert Molla said it was only the third time in his tenure that a Norwell representative has attended a meeting. 

Hickey said a large number of families have indicated interest in the rapid test for the omicron variant of COVID-19. More than 180 families and another 100 or so staff members were signed up as of Jan. 26, with one more day left to do so.

Principal Mark Aubrey introduced the members of the school’s HVAC department.

“Putting together a vocational program team is kind of like building a Major League baseball roster,” he said. “You have that wiley veteran, who’s been there a while, who knows the system better than anyone — that’s Mr. Sean Mulkern.” 

He described Russ Esau as the really strong free agent and Greg Boudreau as the promising player brought up through the organization.

“They have come together, doing a great job re-looking at the curriculum, redistributing some things, rechanging the order of events and bringing some stuff in,” Aubrey said.

Mulkern said he believes teaching chose him 15 years ago rather than the other way around. His son also attended SST.

“One of the things that intrigued me about the school is how it helped my son change and how his life became better,” he said.  When an opportunity for a job at the school came his way, Mulkern said he knew he could teach people as he had done at his job, so he gave teaching at SST a try.

“The amount of progress we have made taking our shop from 15 years ago being a place people were put to becoming a place where people fight to get in and that’s where I wanted to be and that’s where we’re at today,” he said.

Lifelong Abington resident Esau said his son also graduated from SST. He had wanted to work at the school 15 years ago, but there were no staff openings. For 10 years he commuted an hour and a half each way to a job teaching HVAC at the Leominster Center for Technical Education in the Leominster Public School system.

As much as he liked that job and city, when the opportunity to teach at SST came up, he said he felt at home.

“I’m creating a plan and a program that I know works,” Esau said.

Boudreau, “brand-new to teaching” and the school has 30 years’ experience in industry.

“I’m bringing a wide range of industry experience, [and] these two gentlemen are great mentors,” he said, noting that his plumbing experience brings that component to the HVAC program at SST.

Hanson school study leaves questions

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HANSON — The Board of Selectmen on Tuesday, Jan. 25 heard a presentation from consultants hired to conduct a De-Regionalization Feasibility Study during a joint meeting with the De-Regionalization Feasibility Study Committee.

Selectmen peppered the consultants with questions and comments.

“I think this was a great presentation, but I still find myself with so many questions,” said Selectman Laura FitzGerald-Kemmett. “I don’t feel I’m completely armed with the empirical data that I would need to make an educated decision about whether this is a cost-effective decision to make or not.”

She said they were “maybe halfway there” on the information needed to make an informed decision.­

“I think we are all in consensus that we need more information before we can even think about which direction we want to head,” said Selectmen Chairman Matt Dyer.

Selectmen Joe Weeks and Jim Hickey had already asked a lengthy list of questions on points TMS consultants had reviewed in their presentation.

Weeks also said more local control was as much as a concern for Hanson residents as school budget costs.

“It’s hard for me to wrap my head around the data,” he said. “As a homeowner, as a taxpayer and as someone who has to take a vote on something, that’s hard to reverse. There’s still so many data points that I’m missing.”

Town Administrator Lisa Green noted that Selectmen had voted before she came on board to form a de-regionalization committee and have consultant firm TMSolutions Inc., out of Auburn study the potential and possible effects of such a move. They compiled and studied documents on assessments, revenue support, staffing, special education and other issues — and attended the meeting remotely to present their report.

The Jan. 25 presentation can be viewed on WHCA-TV’s YouTube channel as well as rebroadcast on its Hanson access channel.

Judy Houle, senior VP and chief education officer at TMS and Associate Consultant for Special Projects and Business Services Michael DeBarge presented the report. A 43-year educator, Houle has been a teacher, principal, curriculum director, superintendent and business manager for school districts. She said TMS has done three de-regionalization studies, including Hanson’s and two regionalization studies.

DeBarge holds a master’s degree in conflict studies from the London School of Economics where he studied how institutional design could be used in conflict resolution. He also provides general financial management services for K-12 schools.

“We were to provide information to the town of Hanson with regard to the question of should the town separate from the W-H Regional School District or remain with them,” Houle said.

The scope of the study was to inform Hanson officials of the educational, financial and administrative impacts. Legal implications and a potential timeline and processes for town officials’ consideration.

“For me, it’s what’s best for the kids,” Selectman Jim Hickey said. But he added that 30 percent of Hanson’s population is over age 60 and 45 percent is over 50.

“We either have people ready to go to a fixed income or already on a fixed income,” he said.

Houle responded that it was an important concern, but added that quality schools help property values to go up.

“Financial considerations have been driving a lot of this discussion, and the big questions before us are what do you save as a result of de-regionalization? What costs would be incurred as a result of that?” DeBarge said.

The three options TMS brought forth for the town to consider are to:

• fully separate for a PreK-12 district and a decision about the WHRHS faculty;

• PK-8 supervisory union and region for nine to 12 or

• maintain the status quo.

“I still find myself asking the question, ‘What would it cost to completely de-regionalize,” FitzGerald-Kemmett said noting that complete de-regionalization was not fully fleshed out. She cited legal costs and forensic accounting as two areas of concern.

“Both towns would have to vote to amend or dissolve the regional agreement,” Houle said, advising that be done by July 2023. She noted that the next steps right now would be to engage stakeholders in both towns to discuss the issue. She said the soonest any separation could be achieved, were that the decision would be 2025.

“We recommend you move slowly and methodically in this process and make sure stakeholders’ voices are heard,” Houle said. She noted that total cost would depend on the option Hanson chooses.

The commissioner of education must approve any long-range feasibility plan by Dec. 31 of the fiscal year any de-regionalization would be planned.

The first option raises issues over ownership of buildings or responsibility for building a new facility; the need for a separate administrative set up and a new school committee, the need for added staff and the loss of regional transportation reimbursement.

Option two presents some of the same considerations, but DeBarge said the impact would be lessened as special education programs would be easier absorbed and most central office services could be shared.

The third option’s main focus is collaboration in containing costs while maintaining a high level of educational programs. 

The regional agreement, first entered into in 1956 established a grade nine to 12 region and was amended in 1992 to become a K-12 district. The assessment methodology was amended in 2020 to conform with the state’s preferred statutory method based on the rolling average of enrollment in the district, and was the impetus for the study.

Hanson owns the Indian Head Elementary and Hanson Middle schools, both of which Houle and DeBarge have toured. They noted HMS’ high-priority capital needs are roof and kitchen repairs and gymnasium egress. Outstanding high-priority capital needs at Indian Head are the playground and lead paint, which is currently encapsulated.

Hanson’s share of capital costs to the town’s schools is $710,650 and $1,643,703.12 for a total on $2,354,365.12. Hanson’s liability for regional capital costs is also calculated based on enrollment.

“Your regional agreement specifies that you are liable for any capital debt that has been incurred during the process and at the time of separation,” Houle said.

DeBarge said the financial impact of de-regionalization was investigated in concentrating on three specific areas — the foundation budget, transportation and human resources. 

“From 2015 to 2021, Hanson experienced a total decline in foundation enrollment of nearly 14 percent,” DeBarge said. The decline in enrollment, however, does not translate to financial savings.

The Department of Elementary and Secondary Education (DESE), determines the adequate spending level for a school district, based on enrollment inflation and the wage-adjustment factor, DeBarge said.

Hanson should also consider that, should de-regionalization be pursued, transportation reimbursement would disappear.

“While transportation expenses would decline, if you look at the percent of transportation funding that has been reimbursed, you see that this is not an inconsequential amount of money,” he said. If Hanson opted for partial separation, some of that reimbursement would be maintained, but it would be only at the high school level.

“The point is, transportation is a major factor to consider, and separation does not entail significant savings,” he said. De-regionalization would also increase the costs for staffing by about 4 to 5 percent, for cost of living, advancing steps and salary lane changes with additional education. Those figures do not include custodial costs. Administrative and instructional support costs must also be considered.

Town Meeting fails quorum

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WHITMAN — Resets seemed to be the order of things on Monday, Jan. 31 as officials, unable to achieve a required quorum — checking in only 127 of the needed 150 — were unable to take action on about half the seven-article warrant at the special Town Meeting. 

Selectmen, meeting both in open and executive session before the Town Meeting,  were forced to table next steps in the assistant town administrator search after contract negotiations with designate Rogeria Medeiros-Kowalczykowski proved fruitless.

The special Town Meeting warrants not acted on Monday will likely have to be delayed until the annual Town Meeting in May, according to Town Administrator Lincoln Heineman on Tuesday, Feb.1.

 Selectmen will take up the assistant town administrator situation at an upcoming meeting.

Medeiros-Kowalczykowski, currently the assistant to the town manager in Stoughton, had impressed the board both on paper and in her interviews.

The search attracted some 90 applicants, of which the search subcommittee of Kowalski, Town Administrator Lincoln Heineman and Selectman Justin Evans interviewed eight semi-finalists to narrow the field to the three interviewed by the entire board on Jan. 11.

 “I’d say we have three really strong candidates, and they all have their own strengths and, perhaps, weaknesses or errors of opportunity,” Heineman said. “I think, in many ways, [Medeiros-Kowalczykowski’s] skill set and past match – quite precisely, in many ways – the job description that we identified.”

Heineman said after the meeting that the town was not able to come to an agreement with Medeiros-Kowalczykowski.

When it came to the main business of the night — the special Town Meeting — the lack of a quorum meant that the wait of more than half an hour past the scheduled 7:30 p.m. start, was longer than the meeting which clocked in at about 16:30 minutes. With only 127 voters attending, only three of seven warrant articles could be acted on.

Heineman said Tuesday that falling 14 short of a quorum was disappointing.

“Unfortunately, on the warrant, there are several articles that we cannot act on … but there are a couple that we can,” said Moderator Michael Seele. “So if the meeting is going to be OK with that, I think that we can. The rest of it will have to be considered at a later time.”

Of the three articles that were acted on, two calling for approval of land donations to the town took up the bulk of discussion.

Article 1, calling for authorization for the town to appropriate from sewer-water retained earnings, $352.50 to pay a professional engineering services invoice from fiscal 2021. A 9/10 vote was required. The Town Meeting voted to approve the article.

Discussion centered on Article 5 a gift of land at Little Comfort Circle on Assessors map 23D, block 23D, lot 46 and — after that was approved, Article 6 concerning land on Hogg Memorial Drive shown on Assessors map 22A, block 8, lot 124 was also passed quickly.

A Harvard Street resident asked to know exactly how much tax money the town would be losing by accepting the land.

Heineman said the Little Comfort land, offered as a donation by the landowner was billed $5,484.75 in fiscal 2022.

“So, by accepting this land donation, that means that this town loses $5,484.75 in taxes?” she asked.

“The town would no longer be collecting those taxes,” he replied. “Correct. Beginning in fiscal year 2023.”

She also asked if the land is buildable.

“I cannot speak to that directly,” Heineman said.

Developer Steve Egan, who made the offer to donate both parcels of property in Articles 5 and 6, spoke in favor of the gift.

“One of the arguments that we always get, when we’re doing any type of project is about open space,” he said. “Where is area for the animals and some conservation areas.”

He noted that people don’t want to see all the trees come down and every available space developed.

“As part of most of our projects now, we try to incorporate areas of open space and conservation, whether it be in Whitman or other towns that we work in,” Egan said. Both parcels being donated are in the same area off Auburn Street.

The Planning Board approved plans that allowed for smaller lots on both sites, which left the company the ability to donate a couple of large sections of open space, with plans to donate them to the town when the projects were completed. One of the plots in the Hogg Memorial site is a 19-acre section of land abutting the Whitman Middle School. Another section of the donation abuts another 4.5 acres of town property to the south of their land, giving the town a contiguous area of about 58 acres.

At the Little Comfort development, a 15-acre piece was left as an open space area, abutting a 48-acre piece in East Bridgewater — more than 60 acres of land bridging both towns.

“I think it’s important that we develop responsibly, trying to create come open space area,” Egan said. “These two projects did both.”

He said both properties had been vacant, bringing Whitman under $10,000 in taxes. Meanwhile, the Little Comfort development added $400,000 to town coffers in property taxes. Another $250,000 in taxes was brought in via the Heritage Park/Hogg Memorial Drive project.

“I don’t think the town is losing by accepting some open space,” he said. There is both wetland and upland — or buildable — areas in the donated land. 

Finance Chairman Richard Anderson said the reason his board voted against recommending the article because not enough information was available when they voted.

Selectman Vice Chairman Dan Salvucci had opened Town Meeting by asking that articles 1,2,3,4 and 7 be passed over because there was a failure to draw a quorum.

Frank Lynam, the retired town administrator, pointed out that Article 1 was an unpaid bill.

“It doesn’t fall under the limitations for $25,000, so we can act on Article 1,” Lynam said. “I would like to exclude that from the motion.”

Salvucci agreed to remove Article 1 from his motion.

COVID update

Updating the COVID-19 situation prior to adjourning to Town Meeting, Heineman said legal opinions had been sought from town counsel about the mask policy at the session.

“After much discussion, getting some opinion from town counsel and much discussion with Selectmen Chairman [Dr. Carl] Kowalski and Town Moderator [Seele], regarding what to do if a voter wants to come in to Town Meeting and refuses to wear a mask … in the first instance, myself [or other Town Hall personnel] would ask them to please wear a mask,” he said. If a person still refused, they would be asked to sit in a roped-off section to the left-rear of the hall. No one had to be seated there during Town Meeting.

Two COVID test kits (containing two tests per box) were also handed out to everyone attending — from 5,310 given to Whitman out of the supply purchased by the county. Vaccination rate in town is now at 66 percent, and another Moderna booster clinic is scheduled for 3 to 6 p.m., Wednesday, Feb. 9 at the Knights of Columbus on Bedford Street. Appointment slots are still available.

Booster Clinic cancels appointments

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WHITMAN — A Moderna booster clinic that was scheduled for 3 to 6 p.m., Wednesday, Feb. 9 at the Knights of Columbus on Bedford Street has been canceled. Too many appointment slots went unfilled to hold it, Fire Chief Timothy Clancy said Wednesday, Feb, 2.