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Hanson swears new firefighter

June 19, 2025 By Tracy F. Seelye, Express Editor

HANSON – The Select Board welcomed the town’s newest firefighter, and witnessed his swearing-in ceremony during their meeting on Tuesday, June 10.
Jeffrey Meyers is a Hanson native who had transferred to the Hanson Fire Department from Attleboro Fire and completed his one-year probation and the Mass. Firefighting Academy recruit training program.
“Jeff has been with the department a little over a year now,” said Fire Chief Robert O’Brien Jr. “He’s a 2014 graduate of W-H, and spend four years in the military in the infantry. Ironically, a few years ago when we were having call firefighters, Jeff was one of the people we selected and we knew he’d be the perfect person for full-time position.”
But Meyers was at HFD for a “hot minute” before he went to work with Attleboro, O’Brien said.
He asked what to do, as he really liked the Hanson department and was advised to go to Attleboro and get the experience and when he achieved his firefight-paramedic status, come on back.
“When we went through the last hiring process, Jeff and [Paramedic training officer Peter O’Brien] talked to each other about it an Jeff came back to us,” Chief O’Brien said. Meyers is currently assigned to B shift with Lt. Wilson.
“Ironically this is her first public swearing-in,” he said in introducing new Town Clerk Jessica Fraceschini to administer the oath ton Meyers before his new badge was pinned on by his mom Linda as his dad Jeffery looked on.

Filed Under: More News Left, News

Duval, Teahan are Whitman 150 parade grand marshals

June 19, 2025 By Tracy F. Seelye, Express Editor


WHITMAN – John Duval is one of those people who personify the adage, “love what you do and you’ll never work a day in your life.”
Retired from working in the pharmacy – or drugstore if you prefer – founded by his grandfather just after WWII, in 1946, he can still be found there three days a week from 9 a.m. to noon.
“I work, I get to see my two sons. It’s about the only place I see them,” he said with a laugh. “I still put in my two cents worth, and I like it – it’s my whole life.”
A career of 60-hoour weeks hadn’t lent itself to the development of hobbies.
“I’ve met so many wonderful people over the years,” he says. “Whitman’s been great.”
The feeling is evidently mutual.
Kathleen Teahan, also retired, is also hardly taking it easy. The former English teacher and state representative, has been working at something of a “third act” in life – as an author. She has recently penned the children’s book, “The Cookie Heard ’Round the World,” about the origins of the Toll House cookie in Whitman – illustrated by former W-H Express graphic artist Larisa Hart – and “For the People, Against the Tide,” about her tenure on Beacon Hill.
“That cookie, and the story behind it, kind of personify the character of Whitman,” Teahan said this week. “Just the coming out of troubled times with something that was very positive.”
In addition to his own career as a pharmacy, Duval’s store has been a fixture in Whitman Center – with its own Toll House cookie connection.
His store was ground zero for the New Year’s Eve Cookie Drop in 2013/14 and 2014/15.
Now the two have received another feather in their caps – they’ve been named co-grand marshals of the Whitman 150th anniversary parade by the Whitman 150 Committee.
“We were thrilled,” Duval said of his family’s reaction. “I’m so happy to be with Kathy Teahan. She’s a great person.”
“It’s very exciting,” Teahan said about being chosen. “It’s totally a big surprise. I mean, I knew Whitman was having a birthday and a big celebration, all kinds of projects, but I wasn’t expecting this at all.”
When she got the call, she said she was honored and humbled because she respects John Duval so much.
So, how does one become informed about being chosen as a parade grand marshal?
“I was sitting home watching TV and I got a telephone call from Richard Rosen, who said the committee ha chosen me and Kathleen to be co-grand marshals,” he said last week in the store. “I said, ‘Are you sure?’ Maybe he should be because he’s so involved. But he said, no, at this point he didn’t want to do that.”
He said he doesn’t know how the committee came to choose him, but noted, “I’m happy to be chosen.”
Now he has to select an outfit.
“I told my wife, ‘I’m practicing my wave on you,’ and every once in a while she goes by and I wave,” he said. “She’s ready to throw me out of the house.”
For her part, Teahan seemed taken aback by the honor.
“I’m still connected, and still always interested in the people of Whitman,” she said. “I loved the years that I grew up there, it was such a special place.”
“We have sponsored every children’s thing that came down the road and many other things,” Duval said of the business. “And many years ago, when the Tri-Town Parade was here, my father was grand marshal.”
He said he tries to carry on the tradition of his father and grandfather, and “do a little extra when I can.”
Aside from those unspoken “little extras,” and finally being able to purchase their building after years of trying, they are investing in a pharmaceutical future – assisted living and group home clients and robotic medication packaging.
“It’s very integral for our business to succeed,” he said.
Duval had also served as a member and chair of the Whitman Board of Heath for many years.

Filed Under: More News Right, News

Budget knots

June 12, 2025 By Tracy F. Seelye, Express Editor

A sometimes heated discussion over how and how much to fund the regional school budget in the wake of failed overrides roiled the School Committee meeting on Wednesday, June 5 – until Superintendent of Schools Jeff Szymaniak recognized Whitman Town Administrator Mary Beth Carter.
“Today was a bad day, but tonight was a bad night here, and it’s difficult for all of us,” Carter said, listing some of the news she had to pass along already, to town employees.
Whitman now has one administrative position in the assessor’s office unfilled – in a three-person office. In the three-person Town Clerk’s office one position has not been funded. The Police Department budget was cut and two officers’ positions plus another $90,000 or so as currently not funded. Two firefighter positions were not funded and the building inspector was informed that day that his full-time job would now be a part-time job. He rejected the cut in hours and began looking for another job and said, “Good luck finding a part-time building inspector,” he told her. “He’s out as of July 1.”
The DPW was another department where two positions were not funded. The Health Department administrative assistant’s hours were reduced, another part-time clerical position at the Council on Aging was not funded.
“Veteran’s service director – I had to contact him at a conference away for the week – he just started with us, doing an excellent job, we just hired recently, I had to call him and tell him I was cutting his hours back as well,” she said. One part-time library technician position will not be funded and she “zeroed out” expenses and salaries for the park and pool, which means the entire Recreation Department is one person. While the director Kathleen Woodward’s salary has been kept, she now going to try funding the pool program with the revolving fund, but will have to cut back or cancel the Fourth of July events and the Easter events, but has already collected money toward six weeks of the summer program, so she’s going to try to manage that with most of the budget cut.
Before opening to the assessment discussion, Szymaniak had noted that it would focus on Town Meeting and election results, and information that had since been relayed to him from both communities and added he had a recommendation for the committee.
“My recommendation for the committee tonight is to lower the assessment by $1,664,730.35 for Whitman to an assessment of $19,917,568.65 – or the 4.086 percentage – and lowering Hanson’s amount by $677,333.92 to $15,775,031.08 – or 5.344. The district budget will now be $64,564,205.55 – or a 2.596 percent increase over last year, and we will need to reduce by $1,742,070.64.”
The board ultimately voted to support the recommendation, 8 to 1, with Hill abstaining.
Carter urged the Committee to support Szymaniak’s recommendation.
“Before I made any of these cuts, I had already gone through the budget,” Carter said. “I had already gone line by line and cut all the other lines to a bare minimum. When I say there is nowhere else to cut and that these will be felt by all – it’s terrible. This is drastic and anything more is going to decimate the town.”
Select Board member Justin Evans agreed, noting that, with anything less than Szymaniak’s recommendation, he said, he sees a hard time passing a budget.
Hanson Select Board Chair Laura FitzGerald Kemmett, while speaking for herself, said her intention is to set a special Town Meeting before the end of the fiscal year, so the district does not end up under a 1/12 budget.
“This is a financial failure on the town’s level, and to keep accepting it is unconscionable,” School Committee member Rosemary Hill protested. “You cannot do this and say that you’re for teachers or education.”
The School Committee was supplied with a list of 23 positions being cut district-wide.
“I did not name names,” Szymaniak said. “I put buildings to those folks, totaling a reduction in force of three people. We’ve done a nice job of trying to do what’s best to eliminate unemployment.”
Thirteen staff members will be transferred to positions now open because of resignations, retirements and non-renewals or that are currently being filled by long-term substitutes. Positions still open for the 2025-26 school year that need to be filled are an ASD program teacher, a PACES program teacher, multiple inclusion teachers, a school psychologist for a year, an occupational therapy, a speech therapy, chemistry, math and English teachers.
Chair Beth Stafford said that is a point that is often confusing to people – 23 positions does not necessarily mean 23 people. She pointed to the Superintendent’s explanation, but she added, the positions being cut were ones the district added after COVID to help students achieve.
“It really is, to me, disheartening to see that we’re losing our interventionists and some of the position teachers,” she said. Library aides being cut at the two middle schools was also had because they hadn’t had a librarian for years. The WIN (What I Need) program, too, has been successful at the high school has also helped improve grades.
Member Stephanie Blackman noted that cuts to interventionists will also mean more work for teachers, which she doesn’t see as fair.
“I understand the thought process behind every cut on this piece of paper,” Committee member Christopher Marks said. “I hate every single one of them. … But I also understand that that there’s some level of compromise that’s going to have to happen at some point.”
“There is no good solution here, no matter what,” member Glen DiGravio said.
Kniffen said she is opposed to cutting curriculum and they will have to look elsewhere to cut that $400,000. She also recommended holding to the minimum local contribution the state requires from the towns.
The initial proposed operating assessment to Hanson was a 9.87-percent increase, and for Whitman, 9.65-percent increase. Hanson’s minimum local contribution to the state for fiscal 2026 is 7.5 percent, so W-H’s additional assessment is really about 2 percent, according to Kniffen. Whitman’s increased by 7.1 percent.
“This is not a proposal that’s going to make anybody happy, but I don’t understand how we as a School Committee can propose a budget increase that is less than what the state is telling the towns they minimally need to pay,” she said. “I think that 7 percent number … the state is saying, ‘You must minimally pay this percentage more from what you paid last year,’ then I think that those are numbers we should go with. I think that that’s fair, I think that is not us – the School Committee – but it is going to be turned around to be us, the School Committee … But it’s so important to have the facts out there and these are the facts.”
Because W-H is a hold-harmless district, it’s minimum local contribution thresholds will continue to increase, Kniffen reminded the Committee. But her bigger concern was saving curriculum.
“We cannot cut curriculum that we literally just got,” she said. “Curriculum doesn’t make great teachers, but it makes sure everyone in the third grade [for example] is on the right track and we’re pacing at the same rate.”
Curriculum cuts are also in the works – especially at the elementary grades where the district has lacked programs linked to middle schools for 20 years. They may have to look toward state “free curriculum” which carry a cost for training faculty, so it is not really free.
“I believe we put forth a budget to both communities, we asked the communities to vote on that budget, and they told us where they were at,” Szymaniak said. “I don’t believe that we have a sound educational budget. This reduction takes away a lot of what my administration has done since 2018, but it’s the number I think we need to work with tonight. I fear a 1/12 in the month of July and the month of August and school will be drastically different in September, if we’re still on a 1/12.”
Business Manager Stephen Marshall then calculated two different assessment changes, using Whitman’s numbers and saving curriculum would bring the budget increase to 3 percent variation on a level-service budget, or a 6-percent increase for Hanson ($578,554.23 more) and a 4.89-percent assessment for Whitman ($909,465.23 more) for a level-service budget of $64,488,020.84.
Using Kniffen’s suggestion of basing the town’s increases as in addition to the minimum local contribution thresholds, Hanson would see about a 7-percent increase ($427,252.32 more) and Whitman’s would be an 8.1-percent increase ($671,624.19 more) in a total budget increase of 3.618 percent for a budget of $65,207,398.
Szymaniak said a benchmark of a 3 percent overall annual budget increase has been a district goal for several years.
“Can we vote on that right now,” DiGravio asked, and made a motion to do so for the 3.618-percent increase ($65,207,398) based on Kniffen’s suggestion. He later changed his mind and backed Szymaniak’s recommendation.
“Whitman Select Board member Shawn Kain, a member of the town’s budget working group, agreed the budget confronting the district makes for a difficult conversation.
“Hearing some of the cuts that are going to occur is terrible … terrible, terrible. Over the last 15 years, following the budget pretty closely, this is not good news,” he said. “I think the tension I’m feeling, though, is we could have the same conversation about the police and fire department, or the [other] departments in town and it would be as heart-breaking.”
While the School Committee is confronting a budget that continues to be educationally unsound, Kain noted that Whitman has flaws in public safety that the town must deal with now.
“It’s not something I could support, and I don’t say that lightly,” he said, noting that, if Whitman had to reduce the town budget by $600,000 in addition to what they’re cutting now that the override failed, would be devastating. Right now, $800,000 of the $900,000 Whitman has raised in new revenue is going to the schools.
“We’d have to lay off more people that I couldn’t really justify,” Kain said. “It’s terrible, but that’s the situation we’re in,” Kain said.
The district provided its initial budget, maintaining level services, although not educationally sound, in February, he said of the budget timeline. The School Committee then approved a level-service budget and sent an assessment to each community to support that budget. Both towns had communicated early that they could not support the assessment as presented without the support of a Proposition 2.5 override.
School district administrators and School Committee members were invited to meetings with the select boards and finance committees in both towns. Whitman passed its budget at their May 3 Town Meeting on the contingency of an approved override. Hanson passed its budget Article 4 the same day, however the school budget line was not the figure voted by the School Committee. They passed Article 5, containing the correct assessment number, which was contingent on an override.
Informational meetings about the override were held in both towns to which school officials and committee members were invited. Taxpayers voted on the override in the town elections May 17, overwhelmingly voting against an override.
Whitman is holding a special Town Meeting at 6 p.m., Wednesday, June 11 to see if voters will approve a new article 2, and are waiting to see if the School Committee votes to send the same assessment or to reassess.
Hanson, to date, has not set a new Town Meeting because they have an approved budget in Article 4 from May 5, but the School Committee must approve it since that was not the assessment provided to the town. Hanson’s Select Board planned to take up the assessment discussion again on June 10 and awaited the School Committee’s vote.
Szymaniak circulated in the Committee member’s information packed an email from Hill repeating her comments – with more detail – asserting that the district legally has an approved budget, citing regulations of the Department of Elementary Education (DESE).
If the district does not have an approved budget, the DESE commissioner will place W-H on a 1/12 budget, until a budget is approved by both towns. It would, in effect be a cut of $3.375 million to the proposed operating budget and it reverts back to the district’s fiscal 2025 numbers (last fiscal year).
Calculating the cost of unemployment, the real cut is $3.03 million, and Szymaniak said he would have to administer 48 reduction in force (RIF) notifications.
In Whitman, a 1/12 scenario would increase the district budget by 2.596 percent and assesses Whitman at 4.086 percent and Hanson would see a 5.344 percent. The Hanson scenario and increases the district budget by 1.525 percent, assessing Hanson at 3.594 percent and Whitman at 1.933 percent.
“Tonight, I believe we need to listen to what the taxpayers say and lower the assessment,” Szymaniak said. “I also believe we do not have an approved budget, and we need an approved budget by July 1. To not have a budget only RIFs 48 staff members and I cannot, in good faith, hire for critical vacancies.”
Szymaniak also advised that, if the Committee believes that something illegal or inappropriate had been done by either town in this process, the district would consult legal counsel and take action in the future.
“Any litigation now will stall our process and place us in a 1/12 for an inordinate amount of time and hurt our students,” Szymaniak said.
Hill maintained that, “We have a budget, so there wouldn’t need to be a 1/12 budget,” after Szymaniak’s lengthy explanation to the contrary.
“The towns disregarded the district and school finance document … after trying to do something similar to this last year,” Hill continued, saying she has reviewed multiple towns that challenged a similar budget scenario. “In five different school [districts], the schools were correct. What we voted was a bill … To move forward with this vote means we lost the opportunity to save 24 teachers.”
She accused the towns of tricking the School Committee into moving forward without doublechecking, added that no one from the Committee voted for anyone to negotiate with the towns, anything different, or give a different number than was voted by the School Committee.
“They went rogue,” she said. “This was a rogue behavior.”
Conceding that there are things like capital project that can be done within the budget or delaying staff reductions under a 1/12 budget, Hill said, she argued it would be a choice on the administration’s part.
Vice Chair Hillary Kniffen said she reached out to DESE’s regional governance office about the budget process because she had questions about how the School Committee’s assessment was placed on both town warrants. She said Michele Griffin of that office pointed her to the Prop 2/5 regulations, which states “contingent appropriations may be used for appropriations for operating budgets, capital projects and regional school assessments.”
“Right now, Whitman doesn’t have an appropriated number for the schools, so if we go on a 1/12 budget, Whitman does not have money appropriated to pay that bill,” Kniffen said. “So, if we leave tonight and don’t have a number for Whitman to present at their Town Meeting, Wednesday [June 11], we are in way worse shape than we are right now.”
She termed that a major concern she has, so she advises the committee’s time was better spent discussing the actual budget instead of the process.
Moser agreed that the committee’s time would be better spent evaluating where to go from here.

Filed Under: Breaking News, News

Keeping heroes in mind

June 12, 2025 By Tracy F. Seelye, Express Editor

By Tracy F. Seelye, Express editor
editor@whitmanhansonexpress.com
WHITMAN – It was, to say the least, a busy Sunday on Temple Street.
The members of Whitman Fire Department observed Firefighters’ Memorial Day, with ceremony at the fire station and parade to Colebrook Cemetery to place memorial wreaths in honor of firefighters lost in the line of duty.
Once back at the fire station, color guards were included in a solemn rededication of the WWI Memorial Arch, after it’s face lift courtesy of restoration stone cutters. At the same time, entrants in the 5K road race were arriving and registering for the event that sounded the starting gun after the rededication ceremony ended.
This was the kind of life-affirming energy that moved the planners of the Arch to place it here – next to the fire station, and under which the town’s young baseball players would have to pass to arrive at the ball parks where the Armory and the American Legion are now located.
Historical Commission Chair Mary Joyce introduced the speakers and thanked those who made the ceremony possible.
“No project is done alone,” Joyce said.
The event was attended by all five Select Board members, with Shawn Kain giving the main address as the liaison to the Historical Commission. Past Veterans Agent Shannon Burke and current Veteran’s Agent Declan Ware, Al Howe who helped with the research that went into the biographies of the men whose names appear on the arch.
Joyce also thanked the voters of Town Meeting who approved the funds for the restoration work.
“It may be difficult to remember the history that you learn in the classroom,” Kain said. “Facts that you memorized about WWI sometimes feel distant and not too relevant, but our ancestors that stood on this ground 100 years ago went to great lengths to make sure we remember.”
They wanted to remember the names of 21 men who sacrificed their lives abroad for their community back home. So, when the war ended, the Legion dedicated the arch to bear their names as a lasting memorial.
“But stop and consider why they chose this location,” he said, noting there were other prime locations in town, including Whitman Park. “They chose to place the arch here – and it was a deliberate choice. At the time, the Fire Station was built, but the armory and the Spellman Center weren’t there yet. Those were baseball fields.”
The fire department has been a pillar of the community and a symbol of public service throughout its history.
“They wanted the children and families of our community to walk beneath the arch on the way to a Little League game,” he said. “That is a powerful image and a beautiful gesture. Today we remember. We remember the names of the sons of Whitman who made the supreme sacrifice, so that our children can listen to the national anthem and have a safe place to play.”
Asking for an observation of silent respect, Kain slowly recited the names of the soldiers honored in bronze plaques on the arch.*
On the east side

  • Peter Paul Brown, KIA – Aisne-Marne American Cemetery, Belleau, France;
  • Leo Joseph Buckley, accidental drowning – buried at sea;
  • Vernon Kendal Churchill, MD, influenza – Melrose Cemetery, Brockton;
  • • Albert Henry Cook, influenza – Colebrook Cemetery, Whitman;
  • Robert Lester Hain, influenza – Aulenbach Cemetery, Reading, Pa.;
  • Charles Timothy Haynes, influenza — St. James Cemetery, Whitman;
  • Warren Haven Joyce, KIA three weeks before armistice – Meuse-Argonne American Cemetery, Lorraine, France;
  • Hezekiah Rufus Lombard, KIA – Oise-Aisne American Cemetery, France;
  • John Duncan Matheson – influenza, Colebrook Cemetery, Whitman and
  • Raynor Bassett Nye,, MD, influenza – Colebrook Cemetery, Whitman.
    On the west side
  • Martin Richard O’Brien, KIA -Aisne-Marne American Cemetery, Belleau, France;
  • Walter Pease, influenza; Robert J. Pillsbury, influenza;
  • George H. Simmons, influenza – Colebrook Cemetery – Whitman;
  • James McNeil Smith – Dominion Cemetery, Hendecourt-les-Cagnicourt, Departement du Pas-de Calais;
  • Julian Mozart Southworth, KIA near Cunel, France – Union Cemetery, Carver;
  • Elwin Sweney, KIA – Meuse-Argonne American Cemetery, Lorraine, France;
  • Shirley Sampson Thayer, influenza – Colebrook Cemetery, Whitman;
  • William MacIntosh Warwick, KIA with 1st Canadian Cavalry – body left behind, no burial site – Belgian Croix de Guerre;
  • Leeson Albion Whiting, influenza – Mount Vernon Cemetery, Abington and
  • Dwight Clifford Wood, influenza – Colebrook Cemetery, Whitman.
    Fire Chief Timothy Clancy spoke of Whitman’s pride.
    “We’re proud of who we are and what we do and where we came from,” he said, thanking the CPC for funding the restoration. “To sit here and watch, while we were coming and going, the restoration of the arch, was truly a feat, They meticulously worked on the arch to secure it, they made it safe, it was quite a feat and I’m proud of it.”
    Ware put the dangers facing U.S. Servicemen heading for France in 1917-18 in context.
    “I’m going to bore everybody with a history lesson, but it’s important that we know our history,” he said.
    In what was to be the final year of WWI, the Russian Revolution of 1917 ensured things would become more dangerous for the powers of the Entente – who, except for Italy, would be known as the Allies in the next war – as Germany could focus its full attention to the Western Front. The armies of the Entente were already badly bloodied.
    In 1916, the French Army suffered 400,000 casualties defending Verdun, that same year the British and Commonwealth forces suffered 57,000 casualties in the first day alone of the Battle of the Somme. They needed an infusion of fresh troops by 1917 and, when the United States entered the war in April 1917, they got them, and by 1918, the American troops were at full strength with 2 million men in France. Ware spoke of one of them, Pvt Peter Brown of Whitman
    Just two months after enlisting, Brown was already on the front lines in France, where his 77th Division fought in the 100-Days Offensive. He was killed on Aug.26, 1918.
    “Today, we rededicate this Memorial Arch to the brave servicemen like Pvt. Peter Brown,” Ware said. “Their sacrifices must never be forgotten. Not only must we honor the fallen, but we have a duty to remember the heroes of the American Expeditionary Force. They were regular people, just like you or I – they held jobs, they had families. They were members of the community.”

*Editor’s note – Select Board member Shawn Kain did not read out the cause of death or final resting place [as was printed in the Historical Commission’s program]. All these men were heroes who, after three years of viscous trench warfare and the German use of mustard gas, were well aware of what they were heading into – one of which was influenza, known then as the Spanish flu. Many of them had survived the shooting war, only to succumb to influenza at American bases when they were sent home, many military doctors and nurses also died after prolonged exposure while treating ill servicemen.

Filed Under: Featured Story, News

Hanson sets new TM date

June 12, 2025 By Tracy F. Seelye, Express Editor


HANSON – The Select Board on Tuesday, June 10, voted to hold a special Town Meeting on the new W-H school budget numbers on June 25 at 6:30 p.m. at WHRHS. Like, Whitman, a Wednesday evening was chosen – in Hanson’s case it was to get ahead of the prime vacation time of the first two weeks in July, when even Town Moderator Sean Kealy would not be available.
“Sometimes we have to be a little bit versatile,” Chair Laura FitzGerald-Kemmett said.
Still, June 25 is not a date that Select Board member Joe Weeks can attend, although he was not opposed to the date.
“If we don’t meet [in Town Meeting] before that 45 days is up, effectively, we will have a dissonance between the fact that we’ve been given the assessment, but we have not voted on any way to fund that.”
Town Administrator Lisa Green gave the Board a brief synopsis of the Wednesday, June 4 School Committee meeting, in which Whitman’s assessment cut scenario was approved over Hanson’s [see related story].
Superintendent of Schools Jeff Szymaniak recommended the option, to lower the assessment by $1,664,730.35 for Whitman to an assessment of $19,917,568.65 – or the 4.086 percentage – and lowering Hanson’s amount by $677,333.92 to $15,775,031.08 – or 5.344. The district budget will now be $64,564,205.55 – or a 2.596 percent increase over last year, and we will need to reduce by $1,742,070.64.
What was voted at Hanson’s May 5 Town Meeting in Article 5 was $15,512,363 leaving a gap of $262,669 that Hanson must appropriate by the beginning of the new fiscal year on July 1 for the school district to avoid falling under a state-guided 1/12 budget.
“I want to acknowledge that … similar to the work we do to prepare our budget, the W-H Regional School District, School Committee and the district itself, put in quite a bit of work into their budget,” FitzGerald-Kemmett said. “It was much debated at their last meeting whether they would, in fact, reduce the assessment to the two towns.”
While the cuts the district will be making are not largely “boots on the ground,” as teachers, there will be significant cuts in supporting roles, which does impact teachers and the quality of education, she said.
“I think there was recognition that Whitman and Hanson were both cutting, Mary Beth Carter [Whitman’s Town Administrator] got up and spoke about the fact that that they recently hired a building commissioner and a veteran’s’ agent in Whitman and she had to call both of them and tell them they were both going to be part time, as well as various other cuts,” FitzGerald-Kemmett said. “I’ve heard a lot of bantering back and forth – various comments. I’ve had a lot of people reaching out to me, saying, ‘Well. We should not give the district the additional money,’ or, ‘We should wait until after July 1 to hod the meeting and then the slchool district would have to go into a 1/12 budget…”
She noted that going into a 1/12 budget would mean a cut of roughly $3.3 million which would be 50-some-odd people that would be pink-slipped.
“There are costs that go with that, with unemployment, not to mention insecurity with staff and losing good people,” she said.
Hanson has 45 days to hold a special Town Meeting, which has to be posted 14 days in advance.
“When we look at the calendar we are looking at high vacation time during the first two weeks of July,” FitzGerald-Kemmett noted. “I question whether we’re even going to get a quorum, but if we are, it certainly won’t be after July 1.”
Town Accountant Eric Kinsherf, meanwhile, has advised the Select Boar that waiting until after July 1 to hold a special Town Meeting would mean the town cannot touch free cash, because to be certified after July 1, and would be inaccessible until the certification is completed.
Select Board member Ed Heal said he would be attending the Town Meeting, but asked about an article that only includes the school budget.
“Thank you for pointing that out,” FitzGerald-Kemmett said. “We’ve passed a budget. All of our departments are on notice about what will be cut based on the budget that passed at the Town Meeting. It was carefully calibrated – and I can’t emphasize this enough – that the Finance Committee, Ms. Green and the Department heads spent hours and hours and hours combing through the budget, figuring out, ‘If you do this, I’ll do that, I’ll do this next year, maybe I can cut here, etc.”
FitzGerald-Kemmett acknowledged that for those attending Town Meeting, the cuts might seem arbitrary.
“I assure you that it is not,” she said. Since the schools have “come down significantly” on Hanson’s assessment and are making an over-all $1.7 million reduction in the school budget for fiscal 2025, which is not insignificant, the thought was, “Let’s be clean about it, and expeditious about it and take it from free cash – once and done, end of discussion.”
The only thing unknown is, will Town Meeting pass the article?
Finance Chair Kevin Sullivan, who was attending the meeting, confirmed his committee is on board with the proposal.
“Laura and I have had several discussions over this and this is the most expeditious way of getting this done,” he said. “Close the book on this.”
Weeks had two concerns remaining: What happens if the special Town Meeting fails to achieve a quorum or if the article is voted down?
“We’re going to really have to crank on making sure we have a quorum, otherwise, the vote is the least of our worries,” Weeks said. “You need to have enough days between now and then posted to get this figured out.”
FitzGerald-Kemmett agreed.
Green added that the moderator is not available on June 26, in the event a quorum fails on the first day.
“We have it all figured out on our end,” Green said, noting that 100 people are needed to constitute a quorum. “We have the warrant ready to be posted tomorrow [June 11] and we will get it all over our social media – all the platforms possible – we’ll make sure we get it out to the Senior Center, the Library, so that people will know.”
“The only other day he’s available is the 30th, which is literally Fourth of July week,” FitzGerald-Kemmett said.

Filed Under: More News Left, News

Geared toward the future

June 12, 2025 By Tracy F. Seelye, Express Editor


HANOVER — Family.
That was the feeling running through the Thursday, June 5 South Shore Tech commencement ceremony, as speaker after speaker noted the support they’ve always enjoyed from family at home, and the new “family” of teachers, mentors and friends they’ve found in deciding to attend vocational school – a decision often viewed as “risky” by those who’ve never walked in their work boots.
Today, we honor all of the hard work and dedication it took for our class to walk across this stage. But that hard work didn’t come only from us — it also came from everyone else in the audience not wearing a cap and gown this evening,” said Salutatorian Reese Hughes. “Their support allowed us to get here. So before I begin, some words of appreciation— and at some point today I hope you do the same.
“We’ve grown comfortable not just with each other, but in who we are together,” Student Body President Jeremy Leonard said to his classmates before addressing their parents in closing. “We’re all products of our surroundings, and it’s clear that the one you built for us was something truly special.”
Some represented their own family’s legacy of attending a vocational school – and SST in particular – as Sienna Molla does. Her late granduncle Robert Molla, a graduate of Weymouth Vocational and served as a member of the SST School Committee from 1979 to shortly before his death in 2023. Molla was a proud spokesman on the benefits of vocational education.
His grandniece no doubt found inspiration there as much as she took valuable life lessons from learning the violin:
“In school, we often treat success like a single note: Get the grade. Pass the test. Win the award,” she said. “ But life—like a violin—isn’t one perfect note. It’s a whole symphony of moving parts. Your health, your relationships, your timing, your sleep, your passions—even the small things you don’t think matter—they do. They shape the sound of your life.”
Still others walked in as freshmen thinking they had their future planned out, only to follow that detour to their real calling, again supported in their choice by those intertwined family units.
“Being a vocational student has changed what I wanted to do with my life. When I was little, I wanted to be a nurse. I saw how cool nurses were and decided that one day I would be one. Like how little kids change their minds every five minutes, I decided that I would be a pediatrician, and then a pediatric nurse,” said Vocational Student of the Year speaker Maya Crawford.
“When I got into the Allied Health program, I decided that becoming a Certified Nursing Assistant was a wonderful stepping stone to achieve that goal. After getting my CNA license, I was faced with a choice. Either work in a nursing home, stay at school for extra learning, or work in an early education facility — and I chose the latter. Working at Primrose School of Rockland through cooperative education has made me change my career choice once again, to be a child behavioral therapist.”
This was a class with major accomplishments of their own of which they are no doubt proud – as school Principal Sandra Baldner certainly is.

  • Students in the SST Class of 2025:
  • Qualified for, and competed in the SkillsUSA national competition four times;
  • Earned 13 individual and 14 team spots at the FFA nationals;
  • Won six Mayflower League championships for SST teams;
    • Graduates have been accepted at dozens of prestigious colleges and universities and
  • Earned more than $1,104,000 in co-op salaries while at SST.
    “You made us feel happy when you joined clubs and athletics than we’ve seen in years – possibly ever,” Baldner said. “Y’all are joiners, and we love it. It will be different next year but keep participating. Choose opportunities in your workplace, at your college or university or community – just stay involved and make connections.”
    The Class of 2025 has been inclusive.
    “You made us feel human, “Baldner said. “The Class of 2025 interacted with us not always as teacher-student or coach-athlete. Sometimes we just talked … In fact, we talked a lot – some of you never stopped talking, in fact, you’re probably still talking now. Some of you made appointments to talk, some of you got hall passes to walk and talk. Some of you – and it was often – it was human to human. Labels did not apply.”
    They also came out of the COVID lockdown that hit while they were in seventh-grade and had to navigate a whole new way of doing shop exploratories in a world of social distancing, hand-sanitizer, vaccines and masks. They aced that, too.
    “At first, we were excited — school being canceled sounded great,” Leonard recalled.. “ ‘Yay — two weeks off!’ we said. But those two weeks turned into more than three years before things finally felt normal again. Freshman year brought its own chaos — the confusion of exploratory, picking our first shop, and getting lost in the maze that was South Shore Tech. Sophomore and Junior year became a time of real growth. I watched as the loud, restless kids we once were, began to mature into young adults with drive and passion for their trades. We found our people — friends who, hopefully, stay with us for life. And then came Senior year, where everything started to feel real. We realized that our childhoods were coming to an end, and adulthood was waiting for us just around the corner.”
    Superintendent-Director Dr. Thomas J. Hickey noted how his niece’s graduation from Blackstone Valley Vocational recently gave him renewed appreciation for being a family member at graduation, He’d been there before, as his two sons graduated from Whitman-Hanson Regional High School.
    “We’re here to celebrate our students for their personal, academic and technical accomplishments,” he said. “To rhose folks siting on the other side of the rope [line], the parents, the caregivers and extended family members who are part of the success of our graduates, thank you for being such great partners over the past four years.”
    As the proud uncle of a vocational-technical school graduate, Hickey said this year, more than ever, I fee the emotions on this side of the podium as superintendent, and on that side of the podium on the other side of the ropes makes me reflect on this moment.”
    Whie coaches and staff have spent a of time with the Class of 2025 over the past four years, “family members know a more complete story of our graduates.”
    It reminds me that there’s more to the story,” Hickey said. “There’s a touching and powerful story for each of our graduates. Stories are so important – we tell them and learn from them in many different ways. … Stories come in all forms. They tell the world who we are, what we value, where we come from and where we hope to go next.”
    This promises to be a class that will have fascinating stories to tell – to the friends and family of today – and the families ahead of them.

Filed Under: More News Right, News

Whitman preps for June 11 TM

June 5, 2025 By Tracy F. Seelye, Express Editor

WHITMAN – When Whitman convenes its special Town Meeting at 6 p.m., Wednesday, June 11, voters will see a warrant with only three articles – a revised Article 2 budget, and two articles dealing with union contracts for the police and fire departments, if they have been finalized by then.
The Select Board in a meeting lasting just over nine minutes, discussed an update on the budget and Town Meeting.
“It’s a very short warrant,” said Town Administrator Mary Beth Carter, who described the union contract articles as placeholders as of the May 27 meeting, before the board voted to approve the warrant and voted in support of Town Clerk Dawn Varley’s request to appoint checkers for the June 11 Town Meeting.
Select Board member Shawn Kain said that the budget working group has been fine-tuning “the numbers that we’ve been sharing all along,” since the override failed at the ballot box during the May 17 Town Election.
“There’s nothing out of the ordinary, there’s no big change, just the final numbers after they’ve been fine-tuned,” Kain said.
Finance Committee Chair Kathleen Ottina had been “kept in the loop” and Carter recently reached out to Superintendent of Schools Jeff Szymaniak to advise him of an “assessment cut” – a decrease in what had been proposed – of $1,064,765.
“In order to make up the deficit, the district is asked to cut a little over $1 million,” Kain said. “On the town side, we’re asked to cut a little bit under $1 million. What that looks like for a percentage of the budget moving forward is a 4.01 percent increase to the school and a 1.62 percent increase [if all things were bundled together on the town side]. Just to give some comparison and a bit more comparison on that … if you took the new revenue that we have this year, for fiscal ’26, compared to fiscal ’25, it’s about $830,000 … of that $781,000 is going to the schools.”
Kain said the budget group wrestled with it several ways, and they feel they have come up with a fair compromise.
“The schools need to look at their budget real good,” Board Vice Chair Dan Salvucci said. “I don’t want to put this town in danger by eliminating staff – especially fire and police. … The whole town is important, we serve, what? 17,000 people?”
DPW office
building
Carter also provided a brief progress report on the DPW building.
During an appearance by Whitman Food Pantry officers at the May 27 meeting, a question was asked about the square footage of the building, she explained. The pantry, operated in partnership with the St. Vincent dePaul Society, has expressed interest in using the building now serving as the DPW’s administrative offices.
“I sent a letter off to town counsel, after last week’s meeting, just to see what the steps would be if we want to move forward with either selling or leasing the property,” Carter said, noting that she had received a list of things to do, had already begun and would provide more information at the next meeting.
On the main floor, that area is 1,980 square feet.
“There is [also] the full basement, “ she said, which puts the total building space at 3,960 square feet.
Salvucci offered some advice for the Food Pantry staff: they should go checkout “all aspects of the pantry building to make sure it fits their needs.
“I hate to have them get out of one place and get into that place [and encounter problems] or it’s still not big enough, or it’s not handicapped accessible or something like that” Salvucci said. ”I think they have to take a real good look at it.”
Any improvements needed to bring it up to any code requirements involved “would be on them,” he argued.
“The town hasn’t made any decisions yet on any direction,” Carter said.
In other business, the Select Board voted to appoint Sharon LoPiccolo as the town’s temporary treasurer/collector.
.

Filed Under: Breaking News, News

Grads hear words of wisdom for trying times

June 5, 2025 By Tracy F. Seelye, Express Editor


From the start, commencement exercises at WHRHS on Friday, May 30 were a bit different – and not because of the brisk wind that threatened to send mortarboards airborne before the graduating class sat down.
Easily noticeable on the crimson graduation stoles worn by the seniors were bright green mental health awareness ribbons, and the first speaker on the program – Class President Francesca Ruffini helped explain why in her speech, a welcome on behalf of the graduating class.
“This class has been through so much together, and I hope we all learned something from each other,” Ruffini said.
As she concluded her speech, Ruffini addressed the presence of and “empty chair.”
“Scanning our crowd today, we are missing one of the brightest lights of people, and that is Ava Patete,” she said. “She was a light that lit up our graduating class – we all knew her, we all loved her and we will all miss her forever. Let us remember her today, especially on her anniversary and for many years to come.”
Ruffini personally asked the class to live like Ava: spontaneously, kindly and compassionately, She then asked the graduates and families to observe a moment of silence for her late friend.
“Let’s carry her light forward in everything we do,” she said.
It was a message of hope in community, echoed by a school official who spoke with humor about his anxiety, a valedictorian who had worked to overcome insecurity and a principal whose words had to be spoken by someone else, as he recovered at home from hip surgery.
Kindness, resiliency and hope were themes repeated by the speakers as they sent the Class of 2025 out into the world to forge their futures.
Focusing on the adversity the class has seen, and will no doubt encounter in their future lives, Ruffini also spoke of a book her mother gave her that helped her work through some of the toughest times she has so far faced in life.
“The book involves the theory called, the ‘let them’ theory,” she said. “’the let them’ theory reveals who people really are, and when you see them, show their true colors is when you choose what to do next.”
The upshot is to learn how to stop trying to get other people to meet your expectations – how someone treats you is how important you are to them.
“Instead of trying to change yourself, or even that other person, let them be who they are and let yourself be who you are,” she said. “Life is about finding people who value you for your true self.”
Superintendent of Schools Jeff Szymaniak kept to the message on the importance of mental health as he opened his remarks by repeating an anecdote from a previous graduation speech concerning the anxiety he feels, which is more intense before giving speeches and his wife’s reassurance.
He spoke about “The Power of You,” which means “showing up, even when it’s hard.”
“It means trying again, even when you didn’t get it right the first time, – or the fifth time,” he said. “It means being a Panther, not just wearing the red and back, but representing the strength, the pride and the heart of this school. … You’ve been building something powerful – not just knowledge, but character, not just skills, but purpose and not just memories, but mementoes – the power of you is not just in what you’ve learned, but how you’ve learned, how you faced adversity and kept going, how you’ve lifted others when they needed a hand and how you’ve asked bold questions or dared to be different.”
Valedictorian Patrick Hurley spoke on “Who We Are” and how one of the most important gifts the class had received from W-H has been a sense of community, which provide a foundation for who we want to be and how to get there.
“While that may seem like a given, for someone like me it took a bit longer than usual to really come to engage with that part of life,” he said. “I entered high school a far more reserved and insecure person than I am standing here, someone who perceived themselves as more awkward than anything else, and who felt stunted in their social life. While I doubt that that aspect of myself is completely gone, I’m overjoyed to be in a place where, looking out at you all, I see friends—people I’m fond of, whose aspirations to become teachers, doctors, engineers, artists, businesspeople, tradespeople, and so much more — I’ve come to know and understand.”
The health of a community, he noted, requires individual responsibility to make it the best that it can be, Hurley noted.
“As we set out into the world, there are going to be challenges far greater than anything high school had to offer. As you rise to face the difficulties of an increasingly complex and hostile world, I encourage my classmates to ask themselves who their community is,” he said. “Who do you trust and support, and how can you show that? What can you do to make your world a kinder place?”
Salutatorian Nolan Keyes, meanwhile, reflected on the meaning of success.
“Deep down, I truly do believe that each individual here has what it takes to succeed,” he said. “Success is not determined by others, but by yourself, and the different goals, aspirations, and plans for the future that you create. While I do believe it is important to dream big, I believe it is far more important to dream for yourself. Chase your own goals, find your own personalized passions, and make your own impact on the world.”
Selected from among her fellow seniors for the opportunity to speak for the Class of 2025, Karyn Stone spoke about “Your Moment” by enumerating the ways in which graduation is not one’s “moment,” the defining moment of one’s life.
“Because those things, as amazing as they were, don’t define you,” she said, explaining that high school and the accomplishments made there are just a chapter of a bigger story. “They are a part of your story, sure, but not your whole story. … Graduation is an incredible accomplishment, and we should all be proud. We made it through the early mornings, long nights, big tests, and even bigger doubts. We supported each other. We laughed, we learned, and sometimes we crashed and burned. But we kept going. So yes, celebrate this moment. Hold it close. But don’t let it be the finish line.”
School Committee Chair Beth Stafford injected some humor into the program as she spoke about memories, by putting on a fabric Pharoh’s crown as she addressed members of the graduating class she taught as sixth-graders at Whitman Middle School in 2019 – her last students before retiring.
“To bring back some happy, funny memories, I thought I would add this to my outfit today,” she said. “I would start each unit in costume and this, of course is Egypt. I hope that when you look back at your years at school … that you have a lot of memories. … I would ask you to use these memories to help shape your future dreams. Even unhappy memories can affect how you go on about achieving your dreams.”
Reading Principal Dr. Christopher Jones’ speech – as he was home recovering from surgery — Assistant Principal David Floeck related Jones’ comments on dealing with anxiety and fear.
“Let’s be honest, success isn’t about living without anxiety, it’s about walking through it,” Jones wrote. “It’s about learning to pause. Breathe in. Breathe out, and take the next step anyway.”
Discomfort, Jones says, is not the enemy, it may be one’s greatest teacher.
“Growth doesn’t live inside your comfort zone,” he stated. “Dreams don’t chase you down, they wait in places that stretch you, scare you and require you to show up differently.”
Floeck, offered thanks to Class Advisors Daniel Moriarty and John Rosen for the hours they have dedicated to the senior class, Administrative Assistan Siobhan Horton and Megan McDonald for the herculean task of planning and overseeing the setup of the graduation ceremony and Chris Googins for his assistance in that work, Courtney Selig and the school’s counseling department for their unrelenting support for W-H students and Marcus Casey and Jason Cook for the audio and visual equipment setup.
He also recognized retiring teachers: Michelle Gentile, who taught history at the high school for 18 years and Rosen, who retires as a science teacher after 31 years.
The ceremony was broadcast live on Whitman-Hanson Community access TV, where it will be rebroadcast and on their YouTube channel at Whitman-Hanson Educational Channel – YouTube.

Filed Under: Featured Story, News

An ode to the joy of a journey’s end

June 5, 2025 By Tracy F. Seelye, Express Editor

“Persistence is the most powerful force on earth, it can move mountains.”
— Albert Einstein
By Tracy F. Seelye, Express editor
editor@whitmanhansonexpress.com
Even Albert Einstein was not a good fit for a traditional education as a young scholar. While he excelled and loved math, he didn’t care much for other subjects and, as a result, a myth was born that he was a poor student who somehow became a genius.
But there’s always the backstory few delve into to learn more about him.
Perhaps the dozen students who graduated from Whitman-Hanson’s Community Evening School on Thursday, May 29 would understand Einstein better than anyone else – they, too, took a non-traditional route to their high school diploma, and their families were overjoyed with pride, just as much, if not a little bit more than parents attending the graduation for the main group of seniors on Friday, May 30.
And all of them are equally members of the Class of 2025.
“This evening’s ceremony not only celebrates the countless hours of hard work on the part of our graduates, but the dedication of those who have supported the students throughout their journey,” said CES co-director Joseph Chismar in welcoming the graduates and their families to the ceremony, “Everyone sitting in this auditorium has contributed to each students’ success.”
Chismar then encouraged the graduates’ loved ones to give themselves a round of applause.
Superintendent of Schools Jeff Szymaniak also celebrated the class’s educational journey, speaking on theme, “The Power of You,” and noting that when thinking about power, we often envision something big – something outside ourselves.
“Today, I want to talk about the power that is within you,” he said. “The power to choose your path, to rise again after setbacks, to defy expectations and to define success on your own terms.”
Szymaniak, who began his career in education teaching in alternative high school programs, spoke from experience.
“Each of you sitting here today, took a different route than most,” he said. “That doesn’t mean your path is less valuable – it makes it more remarkable, because it took courage to keep going when things got hard.”
He said their achievement took strength and vision to show up when giving up would seem easier and to believe in a future that wasn’t aways clearly marked. Success is not one-size-fits-all.
But, as with nearly every CES graduation, the speaker the Class of 2025 no doubt looked most forward to was co-director William Glynn, opening as per usual with several “if-you-know-you-know” references for the benefit of the graduates he had guided since their freshman English class and concluding with a short list of things to remember in life.
“RZA, the abbott of the Wu-Tang Clan, and author of the magnificent little book, “The Tao of Wu,” reminds us to be open to the echoes of Wisdom – it will reveal itself in time,” Glynn said, before offering his own thoughts which he hoped contained a little bit of wisdom, ans concluding with poet Carl Sandbur’s musings on hope [see opposite].
“I have been, or worked with, teenagers for more than two generations, so I won’t waste your time,” he said, listing three points to ponder as they walk off into their future – fear, courage and hope.
“I did steal some of this, also from the RZA, but don’t worry, I properly quoted and cited these words from the text,” he said. “I was afraid as a child – I’m afraid right now. Honestly, I’m afraid of ghosts, but at some point, I realized [that] a ghost is something you create yourself. … So much of what we fear is inside ourselves.”
He said his aim is to remind them that anytime they find their fears stopping them from persuing their goals remembering that one creates fear from their mind, can help them overcome it.
“Don’t let fear be your master,” Glynn said.
Leaning on his English teacher experience, he quoted Beowulf, “fortune may favor a person if their courage holds.”
“To put it, simply, if you try, you might succeed,” he said. “So, try. You might succeed. … Have the courage to take the chance. Life is often hard – it’s banal, it’s awkward, yes, it’s even tragic – but do the hard things, do the scary things. Do those different things. Do. Don’t let life pass you by.”
Leaning on Sandburg’s poem, “Hope is a Tattered Fag,” Glynn.
“Hope is always ephemeral,” he said. “It’s hard to quantify. It’s often delicate and small, needing constant attention, but hope is … also essential to living a meaningful and present life. … You can be grim, you can be serious, you can be pragmatic and hopeful at the same time.”

Filed Under: More News Left, News

WWI Memorial Arch rededication

June 5, 2025 By Tracy F. Seelye, Express Editor

The Whitman Historical Commission, in partnership with Whitman Fire/Rescue and Whitman Veterans Services, will host a rededication ceremony for the historic Arch on Temple Street at 11:30 a.m., Sunday, June 8, marking the completion of preservation efforts and celebrating the town’s 150th anniversary.
The Arch, a longstanding symbol of community service and remembrance, recently underwent a comprehensive restoration that included the replacement of compromised granite stones, repointing of mortar joints, shoring of keystones, and resetting of capstones.  This project was made possible through collaborative funding and support from local and state partners.
The June 8 ceremony will include remarks from town officials, a blessing of the Arch, and participation by local veterans.  Community members are warmly invited to attend and take part in this historic moment.
The Arch restoration is one of several projects commemorating Whitman’s 150th Anniversary and reflects the town’s ongoing dedication to preserving its historical landmarks for future generations.
Right after the rededication, The Whitman Historical Commission is also sponsoring a scavenger hunt for all in conjunction with the 150th Anniversary celebrations.
The Whitman Historical Commission works to identify, preserve, and promote the town’s historic resources through advocacy, education, and restoration efforts. The Commission supports initiatives that honor Whitman’s unique heritage and foster public engagement with local history.

Filed Under: More News Right, News

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