Whitman-Hanson Express

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Hanson expects big TM crowd

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HANSON — Selectmen Chairman Laura FitzGerald-Kemmett is anticipating a record turnout at the annual Town Meeting due to the school assessment issue, and has asked Town Administrator John Stanbrook to discuss overflow accommodations with Town Moderator Sean Kealy.

She suggested the Hanson Middle School gym, located next to the auditorium, where town meetings are held, could be the best location for an overflow room.

“We’ll be having conversations with FinCom,” she said. “They’re already percolating — talking about what projects may or may not be able to go forward, and suggesting measures of austerity that we probably need to implement.”

The possibility of an override may also need to be assessed, but FitzGerald-Kemmett said she did not want to put together an override committee just yet. She is waiting for a “little more sharpening of the pencils” before that decision is made.

“I know people are very anxious about this and all I can really say is we’re telling everybody what we can tell them, at the time that we can tell them, about what we’re doing,” she said. “Just because we’re not talking a lot about what is being done doesn’t mean we aren’t doing anything.”

She stressed that the entire board is actively working with people in Whitman and Hanson finance officials and town counsel to look at a “multifaceted approach” to cover all the town’s bases.

FitzGerald-Kemmett said she is planning a presentation to feature Town Counsel Jay Talerman, members of the Select Board, School and Finance committees and Town Accountant Todd Hassett to answer residents’ questions about the school budget.

“I think it’s premature to have that now, because … we don’t have even a nearly final number,” she said. “It’s going to take a lot more whittling down before its anything we can respond to.”

She is thinking it may be late in March before that session can be scheduled, most likely at Hanson Middle School.

cell tower

FitzGerald-Kemmett also questioned an amended cell tower agreement at Hanson Middle School, presented to the board as ready to be signed.

Stressing she did not wish to overstate the issue, FitzGerald-Kemmett said she was hearing from a few parents with “potential health concerns” about the tower’s location near the school.

Stanbrook, who said he had not attended a recent ZBA meeting at which a hearing was held, suggested there was likely a 21-day comment period for residents to express concerns.

“I do not want to stand in the way of a cell phone tower, but I want to make sure that we’re being responsive,” FitzGerald-Kemmett said. “How, as a board, do we know how those things have been addressed so, in full faith and confidence, we can sign on this thing and say that we know that our appointed board has done what they are supposed to do and has been responsive to people expressing concerns?”

Stanbrook agreed to research the question and bring the contract back for a vote at the Tuesday, Feb. 25 meeting. Selectman Jim Hickey suggested asking the ZBA to at least send a representative to that meeting to answer the questions.

“This has been going on for two or three years,” Selectman Kenny Mitchell said. “Cell phone coverage is a public safety issue.”

He agreed that the ZBA should come in, but noted that a lease agreement has been signed and the tower has already been moved to address other concerns.

“For us to hold it back, based on one or two opinions …” he said.

surplus auctions

In other business, a 1986 fire engine declared surplus by the board, gave rise to a discussion on how the town disposes of surplus equipment.

“There were a couple of companies that specialized in taking things that towns would declare surplus, and shopping it around,” FitzGerald-Kemmett said of information she and Selectman Matt Dyer learned at a January conference of the Massachusetts Municipal Association. “I was very impressed with this process and I thought we need to get on board with this, or at least think about getting on board with it,” she said.

Munici-Bid is one such company.

Both Stanbrook and Administrative Assistant Greer Getzen, who have both worked with Munici-Bid before, said such services are sensible.

“It costs us nothing, and they do all the work,” Getzen said. “They take the photos, they post it, they do everything.”

“They do a great job,” Stanbrook concurred, referring to his tenure in Mansfield, which used the company. “We moved all the surplus inventory like that.”

FitzGerald-Kemmett said she talked to a couple people representing such firms, reporting that all costs are passed on to the buyers.

Stanbrook said that equipment is declared surplus and available for disposition, the town would contact the company, and information would be posted online and set up the online auction. Bidders must sign in and demonstrate that the money to pay for the item is available.

A bidding window is established and the high bidder gets the item.

The board declared the fire engine surplus and Stanbrook said he would take the necessary steps to get it sold on Munici-Bid.

Dyer advocated keeping a photographic record for the town as well to keep track of what is being sold.

Budget work begins

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W-H school officials outlined two possible budget packages — a required spending plan of $55,017,938 to provide level services and a $57,492,938 recommended plan that seeks to restore or add programs and teachers either cut or not included in fiscal 2020.

“Gone are the days of the worksheet with ‘this is the increase we want … and this is a 1 percent increase, this is a 2 percent increase on that sheet,’” said Superintendent of Schools Jeffrey Szymaniak. “We don’t do that sheet anymore with the statutory formula.”

Last year, cuts made to balance the budget put it below level service in terms of programs.

The budget presentation and hearing was held Wednesday, Feb. 5.

“There’s been quite a bit of conversation, dialog, emotion about the school budget and the method of assessment,” Szymaniak said about the process that began in August 2019. “Many people worked both publicly and behind the scenes to put together this presentation here, using the statutory method.”

He noted that officials in both towns’ administrative offices, select boards and finance committees have been meeting and discussing ways to make the fiscal 2021 budget work for the students of Whitman and Hanson.

“This isn’t the only piece of information that will be available to the community and the School Committee,” Szymaniak said of the PowerPoint printout and budget worksheets made available to the committee and audience members at the meeting.

“We are currently working on feedback we received last year concerning a history of our line items,” Szymaniak said. “That document will be available and I ask people to be patient.”

The required budget would represent an overall increase of 4.94 percent, or $2,592,200. The recommended budget would increase the bottom line by another 4.72 percent, or $2,475,000 — a total increase of 9.66 percent, or $5,067,200.

Local assessments for the required budget would mean $11,903,983 for Hanson, with $200,345 in non-mandated busing; $141,080 in capital/technology for Hanson school buildings and $292,252 for high school debt service. Whitman’s assessment would be $14,974,512, with $300,016 in non-mandated busing and $427,648 for high school debt service.

Local assessments for the recommended budget would mean $12,894,973 and $16,458,522.

“The recommended number includes everything that we are looking for as a regional school district now and in the next five years,” Szymaniak said.

Required expenses include salaries (52 percent or $29,693,543), pension costs, regular day transportation, custodial services, utilities, health insurance, trash, special education transportation and tuition, facilities and curriculum costs. Non-salary expenses, which make up 48 percent of the budget total $27,799,395. Of that figure, $5 million represents under-funded or unfunded mandates.

Per pupil costs of $12,740 put the district at 19th from the bottom in the state, compared to Abington at $13,461; Rockland at $15,567 and a state average of $15,952. The district has been as low as fifth from the bottom in past years.

Revenue sources, meanwhile, are $28,249,836 (51.03 percent) from assessments, $25,200,534 (45.52 percent) from net state aid, $1,313,976 (2.37 percent) from grants, $450,000 (.81 percent) in Circuit Breaker funds and $150,000 (.27 percent) from local receipts.

Programs included in the recommended budget are returning four teachers cut last year and an additional 10 teachers to return foreign language and reading services at the middle schools. It also includes new programs — a robotics program the BRYT medical transition program for students returning from mental or physical health hospitalization at the middle schools, expansion of special ed programs, as well as full-day kindergarten and adjustment of the school start time.

Szymaniak said some items on the recommended list, such as all-day kindergarten and a change in start times are not things he is looking to incorporate into the budget this year, but he also wants to outline programs and materials the district needs.

The high school also faces and issue about capital items reaching end of life, such as phone wiring, which has not been addressed once the school was built.

“When I say we are going on Amazon to fix things, we are,” Szymaniak said. “We’re at end of life for support.”

The governor’s budget came out two weeks ago, and District Business Manager John Tuffy is part time, which limits the time he could spend on those figures.

Tuffy explained how the state calculates the district’s foundation budget of $40,719,547 and required district contribution of $20,274,291.

He also went through the state-required steps toward calculating the statutory assessments. The budget figure, less reimbursement, aid and tuitions determine the net budget — $26,452,087 or a $52,357,657 budget and subtracts the required minimum local contribution — $9,328,114 for Hanson and $11,117,142 for Whitman — to determine the total to be assessed, $6,006,831. Divided by the towns’ enrollment percentages, Hanson’s assessment is $2,405,135.13 and Whitman’s is $3,601,831 plus non-mandated transportation costs, additional operations and debt service costs for totals of $12,104,327.84 for Hanson and $15,274,529.16 for Whitman.

“The hope was to show you the method that we have, give you the chance to think about it — certainly the finance committees and the town administrators — and the, perhaps, respond to questions from the towns or the school committee,” Tuffy said.

Szymaniak said all the budget information will be posted on the district’s website.

“What we really wanted to present was the here and now, what we’re looking for and [where] we’re looking to go in the next few years,” Szymaniak said.

Enrollments, meanwhile are decreasing — down from 4,104 in 2015 to a projected enrollment of 3,755 in 2021.

“Decreased enrollment means a decrease, potentially, in state aid,” Szymaniak said. “We’re fighting that battle of losing kids.”

He pointed to vocational schools for those programs as well as charter schools and school choice because of full-day kindergarten. Smaller families are also a factor, Szymaniak said.

Staff reductions in fiscal 2020 included 9.2 teaching positions, six paraprofessionals, one special ed out of district coordinator, three duty aides, a central office staff member and one person from facilities. Three elementary counselors were added, bringing the net staff reductions to 19.2.

Additionally, $590,000 was taken from excess and deficiency and $290,000 was cut from supplies to help balance the budget.

“I also want to be careful talking about the two towns and what they can afford,” said School Committee member Dawn Beyers. “It also comes down to what they can afford.”

She said that 96 percent of the state’s kindergarten pupils attend full-day kindergarten, in Whitman 60 percent of kindergarten pupils attend a full-day program.

“We’re losing kids because of all-day kindergarten, and we lose them for the duration,” said School Committee Chairman Bob Hayes.

State grants offered to set up such programs ended in 2016.

“You have teachers in this district who are working hard day and night, weekend and night, because we don’t provide them as a school district with what they need, research-based in 2020 in order to teach students effectively, in my mind, as the assistant superintendent,” George Ferro said.

Hanson Selectmen back park plan

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HANSON — The Board of Selectmen on Tuesday, Feb. 11, approved a plan recommended by the Final Plymouth County Hospital Re-Use Committee’s recommended plan for a community park on the site.

Selectman Matt Dyer, vice chairman of the PCH Committee, and the panel’s Chairman Don Ellis presented the plan update to Selectmen.

“We took input from the community at various times at numerous listening sessions,” Dyer said. “We hired the Conway School to come in and give us some proposed uses, and it gave us different concepts that we could utilize up there.”

The committee worked with those concepts to develop its proposed plan.

Other opportunites, such as a solar farm, were also considered, according to Dyer.

“What we heard at the listening sessions was that we want passive recreation,” he said. “We do not want active recreation, such as baseball, soccer or anything like that at the park.”

Activities such as biking, walking, bird-watching, a play performance in the park or perhaps a playground, were among the requests, Dyer said, noting that the town’s financial outlook isn’t able to fund all the development at one time.

“We want to go after this in phases, [using] not only grants, but CPC money and town funds, or any other opportunities that come our way,” he said.

Grant sources such as the Mass. Dept. of Conservation and Recreation as well as the Executive Office of Energy and Environmental Affairs have “been pretty generous with their grant opportunities,” Dyer said. But only one submission is permitted per year, because the grants could be as much as $1 million, depending on the project.

In order to receive certain grants, big parking lots had to be included in the plan, Dyer explained. But they want to make sure the park has the feel that identifies with the town of Hanson.

“The theme that we really want to stick with is New England,” he said. “We don’t want to do a modern park, we don’t want to do an urban park. We want to really embrace our culture here as New England.”

A main driveway would lead into a roundabout to slow traffic and a parking lot. An event pavilion with an amphitheater, a playground for all ages from toddlers on up is also planned, as well as extending the community garden to include an orchard. An historic area akin to a “mini Sturbridge Village” near the Bonney House could also be included.

“It’s worth saying that we’re not the richest bunch of people around, but we’re trying to minimize the cost to the town of Hanson,” he said.

Land use options could include a wildflower meadow, which is the subject of debate within the committee at the moment, according to Dyer.

“What we’d like from the board tonight is a blessing to keep going forward and looking for grants and coming back with proposals for infrastructure,” Ellis said. He said the committee has asked the engineer for a ballpark figure for the site work costs.

Selectmen Chairman Laura FitzGerald-Kemmett asked for some detail on what the plan priorities would entail.

Dyer said the first phase could include site work, a playground and expansion of the community garden. A veterans’ memorial of some kind was also requested to honor all who have served.

Dyer said he is still not opposed to inclusion of a solar field, if a way can be worked out to bring the generated power to the grid. They are also looking into uses for the vacant building in front of the food pantry.

“If we can make that into a [business] incubator space or individual office space, right now that’s big,” he said. “That   market’s blowing up right now.”

Town Administrator John Stanbrook also reported that an award bid for 0 Liberty Street must be put out to bid again, at the direction of both town counsel and the state Inspector General’s Office, because information about the lot’s non-conforming status — requiring a ZBA variance to build on due to lack of adequate frontage — was not included in the bid package.

“That’s a substantive information that could have influenced people’s bid,” Stanbrook explained. The proposals would be rejected and the description reworded for the rebidding.

Winning bidder Tim McQuarrie of 437 East Washington St., said he would accept the bid description as is, but FitzGerald-Kemmett explained the town could not legally allow it.

In other business, Selectmen heard an update on use over the past year, and upcoming programs planned, at the Hanson Public Library.

Library Director Karen Stolfer said there were 36,900 visitors to the library in 2019, checking out 50,270 items including 8,854 e-Books.

“We had a people counter installed,” she said about the visitor count. “I think this is a good way of showing that people are using the library. It’s an important part of the community.”

In 2020, the library is again participating in the Boston Bruins Pajama Drive, in collaboration with DCF, Cradles to Crayons and Mass. Libraries. New pajamas are collected at the state’s libraries for children in need, with the Hanson Public Library collecting 50 pairs last year. This year’s goal is 75-100 pairs, with the drive going on through March 15.

At 10:30 a.m., Saturday, Feb. 15 a costumed character from Massasoit’s production of Disney’s “Beauty and the Beast” will visit the library for a story time.

During February Vacation Week (Feb. 17-21) there will be a lot going on as well, according to Stolfer. On Tuesday, Feb. 18, family groups of two or three people may attend a painting workshop; on Wednesday, Feb. 19, there will be a screening of “Frozen 2,” with children encouraged to come in pajamas or in “Frozen” costume. Popcorn will be provided. On Thursday, Feb. 20, the “Frozen” theme continues with a Tea Party with the Snow Sisters, and for adults, a martini glass paint night will be held later that day. At 110 a.m., Friday, Feb. 21, a chess club led by W-H National Honor Society students will kickoff.

“Since Karen became librarian two years ago, our children’s programs have doubled,” said Library Trustees Chairman Corinne Cafardo. “There’s always something going on at the library and the parking lot is always filled.”

Cafardo also said the library needs chess sets for the new chess club, adding that donations or loans of sets would be appreciated.

Library Foundation programs on the horizon include author Andre Dubus III will discuss his novel, “Gone So Long,” at 3 p.m., Sunday, Feb. 23. A cooking demonstration and tasting by Good Life Kitchen of Norwell will take place at 12:30 p.m., Saturday, March 7.

A program about the Bay Circuit Trail, co-sponsored with Green Hanson is planned for 7 p.m., Tuesday, March 3.

For information on registration and/or any fees for these programs, visit hansonlibrary.org or call 78-293-2151.

Stolfer said the library is also working to create a teen room dedicated to Gret Lozeau, which will be dedicated in her memory at 11 a.m., Saturday, March 28.

“We would like to have people come and tell us what other materials they might like us to offer,” Stolfer said, noting they recently accepted the donation of a telescope that is available for loan. “Some of the things that other libraries have done [include] fishing poles, unusual cake pans, ukuleles, mobile hot spots.”

“You’ve got a lot of really great programming,” FitzGerald-Kemmett said. “There’s a lot of thought going into everything you guys are doing, it’s really impressive.”

Spreading warmth

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WHITMAN — Defense attorney Christopher DiOrio really does tend to his knitting — helping those in need through his church via a program that echoes his approach to practicing law.

DiOrio attends Love Alliance Church in Brockton where the pastor’s wife and a women’s group had seen churches in other communities wrapping scarves around utility poles, inviting those in need to use them for the past five years.

The program, called Wrapping Brockton in Love, is similar to the theme of a children’s book, “The Mitten Tree,” used by Whitman’s Duval Elementary School as the inspiration for an annual holiday giving program.

“Through social media, they were getting scarf deliveries from all over the state, from out of state,” DiOrio said of his church’s effort. “The note says [the items] are not lost, you’re not stealing, this is for you and, if you don’t need it yourself, take it anyway and find somebody who does.”

A couple of years ago, DiOrio picked up his knitting needles again and joined in the effort. He had also continued his needlepoint over the years.

While political work — he ran for the Whitman Board of Selectmen last year and served on the Finance Committee — limited how much he could do, DiOrio still kept up with the knitting.

He also had gastric surgery in the fall and had to find a way to slow down his eating. He would take a bite, knit for two or three minutes and then take another.

“It’s something that I have to do to take care of myself and the end result is it goes to help other folks,” he said of the scarves he’s been knitting for the church project.

He had done 40 scarves once before and set a goal of 50 to give away, finding it a bit remarkable how easy it came back to him.

He took up knitting after a high school football injury — and an alarmingly high blood pressure — at age 15

“I damaged my ACL and went to the hospital,” he recalled. “When they took my blood pressure it was 210/85, just obnoxiously high.”

Doctors thought the blood pressure was related to the trauma of the ligament injury, but after waiting a bit, it was still high and they didn’t want to resort to medication because he was so young.

A school nurse suggested a form of occupational therapy that 1960s L.A. Rams football player Roosevelt Greer was known for — handicraft. While Greer was a devotee of needlepoint, the nurse suggested both needlepoint and knitting for DiOrio.

He had been ordered by his doctor to check in with the nurse for a daily blood pressure check.

“She said, ‘You have too much going on in your life, with school with sports — all these other things. You need to have one thing in your life that will just calm you down for 20 minutes or 30 minutes that takes absolutely no mental energy whatsoever,’” DiOrio said.

He told his dad, who was an athletic trainer for the N.Y. Giants football team, what the nurse had prescribed and he mentioned Greer’s hobby.

“I can get a scarf a day done,” he said.

DiOrio already does a lot of his legal work at home to help care for his younger children, Peter, 3, and Amelia, 6 months. His older children, Isabella, 18, and Dominic, 17, live with their mom.

When the kids are napping or playing he knits.

He prefers big needles and bulky yarns for his scarves.

The project also complements his approach to his profession.

DiOrio has a law office in Hingham, but says most of the work gets done at home because family is more important.

He also gives back in his work through a program he calls Grace Law, which provides legal services such as divorces, landlord-tenant cases or other civil law work.

“It’s not just indigent people,” he said, noting that while about 86 percent of people involved in criminal cases are eligible for some kind of legal aid, civil procedures are not covered.

“In 79 percent of the civil cases, one of the parties is there without an attorney,” DiOrio said. “In 90 percent of landlord-tenant cases, the landlord has counsel, but the tenant does not. This is liberty, too. … If you can’t afford it, we’ll figure it out.”

His view is vocations are meant to serve the people who need it most, not just those who can pay.

Early voting policy OK’d

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WHITMAN — The Board of Selectmen voted on Tuesday, Jan. 28 to approve electioneering guidelines recommended by Secretary of the Commonwealth Bill Galvin during a recent election worker training session. The guidelines are based on ones recently approved by West Bridgewater.

Since the town is participating in early voting for the March 3 Super Tuesday Primary, Town Clerk Dawn Varley, asked for the guidelines to be considered. Early voting for the Super Tuesday primary is from Feb. 23 to 28 during hours when the Town Clerk’s office is open — 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Monday, Wednesday, Thursday and Friday; and from 8 a.m. to 7:30 p.m. on Tuesday.

In November, early voting will take place over 11 days during hours the Clerk’s office is open.

Absentee ballots are available now — they differ in that one must provide a signed affidavit that they are ill, absent from town or has a religious conflict with Election Day, while no excuse is required to participate in early voting.

“Voters who early vote should have the same courtesy that the voters do on a regular [election] day,” she said. “It would only be just to make sure people aren’t harassing them as they come in to early vote. It’s basically what is already in place for Election Day.”

Police details would not be necessary outside to enforce the no-electioneering buffer 150-feet from the polling place, Varley said.

“Just to be clear, people are aware that, on election day, they don’t approach people within the perimeter of the Town Hall,” said Selectmen Chairman Dr. Carl Kowalski. “We just observe those lines every day, now, during the early voting.”

She said Galvin’s office related incidents in other states where people wore pins of past candidates not on the ballot, which are permitted, but some included badges for people who were on the ballot.

“Election workers had to go through and say, ‘Take that one off, take that one off, it’s crazy,” Varley said.

Another example the municipal clerks were told about was of a woman wearing a campaign shirt, who was asked politely to go to the ladies’ room and reverse it. Instead she took it off in a public area and voted wearing only her bra.

“People are out there and they’re challenging the clerks,” she said. “They’re trying to see what they [can get away with]. I just want to protect my poll workers and my election workers and the voters.”

‘The envelope, please…’

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HANSON — Who will come away with the Oscars at Sunday’s 92nd Academy Awards ceremony? Have you seen any of the top nominated films — or know that one is in Korean or that another billed as a dark comedy satire features Adolf Hitler as a boy’s “idiotic imaginary friend?”

Another, from director Quentin Tarantino posits the question of what might have been had the Charles Manson “family” gone to the wrong house in 1969.

There is also a more traditional WWI epic, “1917,” a biopic of Judy Garland’s final days “Judy;” another remake of “Little Women;” a film about the development of a race car, “Ford vs Ferrari;” a film about Jimmy Hoffa, “The Irishman;” a portrait of a crumbling marriage, “Marriage Story” and an origin story of the comic book “Joker” character.

To prep residents for the Oscars, the Hanson Public Library hosted high school English teacher and film historian Frank Mandosa Friday, Jan. 31 for his talk, “The Academy Awards, the Good the Bad and the Outrageous.”

The evening came complete with a red “carpet” — really red plastic sheeting taped to the floor of the Hanson Senior Center — and popcorn to munch on during Mandosa’s talk.

If you haven’t seen all nine nominated films Mandosa hasn’t, either — he still hasn’t seen “Ford vs Ferrari” or “JoJo Rabbit” — he also discussed the origin of the nickname Oscar for the Award and its history.

Trivia questions unearthed information like Bob Hope’s record-holding 18 hosting gigs, the disastrous opening number in 1989 in which Rob Lowe danced with Snow White, John Travolta’s mangling of “good friend” Idina Menzel, 1974’s streaker, and that time Sally Field over-emoted that her second Oscar was proof that people liked her.

Mandosa said if either “1917” or “Parasite” wins the Best Picture Oscar it would be only the 11th time a film took home that prize without any nominations in the acting categories. Among the current 10 are “An American in Paris,” “Slumdog Millionaire” and “Braveheart.”

Celebrating the best in the cinematic arts, however, was never the reason for the Academy Awards. It was created by MGM mogul Louis B. Mayer in the 1920s as a way to stem the unionization of Hollywood. Content of movies was also inspiring calls for censorship, and the advent of sound in film was also creating challenges.

“He owned Hollywood, and when I say he owned Hollywood, I mean he owned Hollywood,” Mandosa said. “He controlled the personal lives, as well as the professional lives of his stable of actors. He ran the show.”

The Studio Basic Agreement was a contract offering a temporary answer to the union issue in January 1927 before the idea of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences was discussed at a dinner between Mayer and representatives of three crafts and trades at the studio. A banquet that spring signed up 230 out of 300 people invited to be members of the Academy.

As for the name Oscar?

“There are 50 million different stories that are out there, and we’ll never know which one is true,” Mandosa said.

It took all of five minutes to hand out all the awards at the first ceremony honoring all the silent films, only, of the years 1928-29. Supporting actors were not honored in the first years of the Oscars and when they were, only plaques here handed out until 1943, and child actors were only awarded miniature Oscars until 1960.

What will be remembered this year?

On Sunday, Feb. 2, Britain’s EE BAFTA ceremony honored “1917” as best picture and director, the Korean film “Parasite” took home best original screenplay and film not in the English language, “JoJo Rabbit” and his weird friend Adolf won for best adapted screenplay. Best actor honors went to Brad Pitt — supporting role for the Tarantino film “Once Upon a Time in Hollywood” and — Joaquin Pheonix for “The Joker.” Laura Dern won the supporting actress BAFTA for “Marriage Story” and Renée Zelweger for lead actress in “Judy.”

The Screen Actors’ Guild honored the same people in acting roles, but gave “Parasite” the top award for cast in a motion picture.

The Golden Globes also agreed with the BAFTA acting awards and gave “1917” Best Drama and “Once Upon a Time in Hollywood” best musical or comedy motion picture.

We sense a trend forming. The Oscars are televised on ABC at 8 p.m., Sunday, Feb. 9.

Splitting region not ideal

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WHITMAN — Town Administrator Frank Lynam updated the Board of Selectmen about WHRSD audit process on Tuesday, Jan. 28, expressing concern about the emergence of a group that is, perhaps seeking to develop a method to de-regionalize the school district.

“I could not be more opposed to that concept,” Lynam said. “This audit would not have any relationship to that type of an analysis. We simply want to understand how the money comes in, how it’s allocated, what the growth factors are and see if we can project out.”

Selectmen Chairman Dr. Carl Kowalski agreed that getting the information the audit would supply is extremely important, but cautioned that no one should take it as an expression that the board favored de-regionalization.

“We’re still firm in our stand that the statutory should be used this year,” Kowalski said he told Hanson Selectmen Chairman Laura FitzGerald-Kemmett in a phone conversation. “We are also not in favor of de-regionalization.”

He said FitzGerald-Kemmett understands the situation and is trying to get through a difficult time in her town with some “dicey” input from some of the members of her town about the relationship between the towns.

Kowalski said he reminded her of the budget cycle a couple of years ago when Whitman thought it could only do 5 percent and his board’s “most fiscally conservative member,” Brian Bezanson said Whitman should just give the towns what they needed. Within the levy limit, using free cash, Whitman came up with about $800,000 to match what Whitman needed to match for the children.

“We are partly where we are today fiscally because of that move that we made,” Kowalski said. “Whitman has shown that it is interested in the health of the school system. It has shown it by making a sacrifice when it was hard to make it. That is a fact, and that ought to be clear.”

Since 2017, Whitman has sacrificed $3.3 million.

“We’re not asking for it back, we’re not assigning blame or responsibility for what happened,” Kowalski said. But it’s a thing that happened — and it hurts, quite frankly. It hurts to hear from a town we’ve partnered with for a long time that we are hard or we don’t care. We all know that we do. We’ve shown that we do.”

He thanked Selectman Randy LaMattina for getting on top of the issue a couple years ago and for getting the town in a position where the town can look forward with some clarity.

“There are some misguided, misinformed statements going on on social media right now that speaks on our current relationship and in our standings,” LaMattina said of the meetings he, Lynam and Selectman Justin Evans have had with Hanson town administrators, FitzGerald-Kemmett and Selectman Matt Dyer. “There has not been much progress, but there is no negativity and we are going to meet again.”

The group’s consensus is to wait until after the School Committee meeting Wednesday, Feb. 5 when the fiscal 2021 budget is presented.

Lynam said the audit is looking for information, but not to assign blame.

Both Lynam and Kowalski lauded the efforts of Superintendent of Schools Jeff Szymaniak to work through the crisis.

Lynam was slated to meet on Wednesday, Jan. 29 with budget managers to review and update submitted budgets to “hopefully bring forward a budget that will conform to the guidelines the board voted last week.”

In other business, Selectmen voted to approve seeking an exam for the open position of fire chief when Chief Timothy Grenno retires.

Lynam met with Civil Service representatives last week at a Mass. Municipal Association conference.

“As of this moment, we do not have an exam for fire chief,” Lynam said. “It’s important for the board to know that it reserves its rights in the event that we don’t have a timely opportunity for an exam, should we need one.”

The board may seek a written exam through HRD, or return to a previously discussed option of an assessment center. He recommended that a written exam be sought.

“It doesn’t mean that our current chief is going anywhere, it simply gives us a list from which to appoint in the event he does leave,” he said. “We should always have a standing list.”

Once the list is issued, it is good for two years.

Lynam announced that the town was notified on Friday, Jan. 24 that changes need to be made to the flood plain in order to continue the town’s participation in the National Flood Insurance Program. Selectmen approved sending the recommended bylaw change to the Planning Board for review and hearings.

Region on a roll for Team USA soccer

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There are two more World-Cup caliber soccer players in the region.

About six months after Hanson native Samantha Mewis and the U.S. Women’s Soccer team won the World Cup, 24-year-old twins Andrew and Troy Chauppetta have been named to the U.S. Powerchair Soccer Team’s 12-player roster — and could be competing for their country at the sport’s World Cup in Australia next year. The Fédération Internationale de Powerchair Football Association, (FIPFA) headquartered in Paris, is the international governing body of the sport, and runs the World Cup program.

The young men have been battling Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy since they were children when playing soccer was a favorite sport.

“We’re training to go to Australia,” Andrew said during an interview at Brack’s Grille & Tap in Brockton, where a burger on the menu benefits the family’s Wheelchair Strong nonprofit charity. The Twins also run their own T-shirt business, at twinteeshirts.com.

“Teams from all over the world will be competing for the gold medal,” Andrew said.

They have been playing power chair soccer for about 10 years now, and went to a tryout in Minnesota where 24 players competed for the 12 spots on the team.

“Three weeks after that, the coach called us and selected us to be part of the 12-man roster,” Andrew said.

Troy explained eight players will ultimately be selected to travel to the World Cup tournament, with four serving as alternates in case of injury or other reason why a player can’t go.

In the meantime, in addition to settling into their first independent housing in Bridgewater, the twins will be participating in 10 training camps followed by selection of the eight players who will travel to Australia.

“They made Team USA at our national tournament in June,” said their dad Mark Chauppetta, a WHRHS grad. “There’s hundreds of wheelchair soccer players that play in Indiana [and] Troy and Andrew had a basic tryout there.”

While a proud achievement, selection to Team USA also brings a big financial commitment, Chauppetta said, including the cost of travel to training camps all around the country. The estimated cost is about $25,000 per player. A personal care attendant must also travel with the family to help Chauppetta, which adds to the expenses.

They just returned from Tampa, Fla., and will be headed to Indianapolis, Ind., in April and San Antonio in July.

The family has set up a GoFundMe tab on their website wheelchairstrong.com and are looking for corporate sponsorships. Wheelchair Strong’s 501 (c) 3 status means tax deductions can accompany donations.

“Troy and Andrew are willing to put the logo any local business has straight across their foreheads, if the price is good enough,” Chuppetta joked.

Team selection

The national team’s coach was scouting at the Indiana tournament and invited them to an October selection camp in Minnesota where the team was narrowed to 12.

“Like the coach said, ‘How could I pick one and not pick the other?’” Chauppetta said of both his sons being selected for the team. “They play very similar styles.”

The coach has Andrew playing forward right now to give him more roster options, but his natural position is as goalie. Troy, who currently leads their home league in goals scored, is a forward. They play for the Pappas Chariots, based out of Canton.

“We have to practice more than one position,” Andrew said of the national team.

“We’ve been playing power soccer for about 10 years,” Troy said. “We travel all over the country playing in tournaments every couple of months.”

Troy said the sport is an important part of their lives.

“The best part of being able to play power soccer is being able to get that competitive edge back that we used to have as little kids when we were able to run around and play sports in the yard,” he said. “Finding this sport has really changed our life, just from the sports perspective.”

Their father said the Chariots, which used to be affiliated with the Mass. Hospital School, since they lost ambulation at age 12.

Andrew said it was an emotional experience to lose the ability to play ambulatory sports.

“Being extremely athletic kids, and being very rambunctious kids, I was sort of bummed out that there weren’t any sports they could play anymore when they went into wheelchairs,” he said.

A friend in the Muscular Dystrophy community suggested wheelchair soccer. The twins were all for it and fell in love with the sport, which has evolved a great deal in the ensuing years.

“Back then, they were using their personal wheelchairs and putting a crate on the front to hit a [13-inch in diameter] soccer ball,” Chauppetta said. “The athletes were running into a lot of problems with their chairs getting damaged and insurance not covering it.”

The Power Soccer Shop — a Minnesota company — invented the Strike Force Chair now required for use by every player who wants to play at the elite level. The chairs cost more than $10,000 each.

The twins took out loans through Santander Bank on their own to purchase their chairs.

“I guess you could say they went from Little League baseball to the Major Leagues,” Chauppetta said. “Troy and Andrew are the only two players [on Team USA] from New England.”

Travel with the chairs is stressful, Chauppetta said, but as they travel more, they become used to how to instruct flight crews how to handle the chairs to prevent damage — and they film the loading process on their phones for insurance purposes.

They had always wanted to play either with or against a particular player they admired and, as they went through the process of advancing in the sport, they decided Team USA would be their eventual goal.

The sport takes more mental preparation and getting accustomed to the chairs banging into each other than physical conditioning, Chauppetta said.

“I think the club team prepared them,” he said.

A Merry send-off

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HANSON — The Board of Selectmen, state legislators, family and former colleagues came together Tuesday, Jan. 28 to say goodbye to interim Town Administrator Meredith Marini after 21 years as the Board of Selectmen’s administrative assistant.

She served as interim town administrator several times during her tenure, the most recent delaying her retirement a month until new Town Administrator John Stanbrook could settle into his role.

“This is really a surprise, and surprising me is kind of hard,” she said while opening the gift from the Board of Selectmen.

Her family presented her with flowers, Selectmen presented her with a clock with the Seal of the Town of Hanson on its face. State Rep. Josh Cutler, D-Duxbury, and state Sen. Mike Brady gave her a mirror — to reflect on her retirement — and a reception with cake was held.

“Cake?!?” Marini said. “For people who aren’t here on a regular basis, cake is what we do.”

She counted off the 25 selectmen and eight town administrators in her 21 years on the job.

“It has been a blast,” Marini said. “It’s been the best job ever. … Remember who you’re working for, remember why we’re here and everybody will be fine.”

She credited the people she works with at Town Hall for making her work so pleasant and noted the reason she never wanted to be a full-time town administrator was because her family comes first.

Her family also surprised her, with one son, Jeff Scozzari, coming from his home in New York to join his brother Steven Scozzari and his girlfriend Suzie, daughter Trish Glenn and Marini’s husband Fran in attending the meeting.

“What can I say about Merry that each of you don’t already know?” said Selectmen Chairman Laura FitzGerald-Kemmett. “It isn’t an overstatement to say that Merry has been the heart and soul of the town of Hanson and Hanson Town Hall for many years.”

She has answered questions from residents and town officials, and oriented “scores of freshmen selectmen” on their jobs.

“She is one of the hardest-working women I have ever met,” FitzGerald-Kemmett said, noting there’s a lot to Marini’s dedication that people don’t see. “She has single-handedly been responsible for some semblance of stability … in the selectmen’s office as we’ve had the revolving door of town administrators, which we’re hoping to break that chain.”

She has also continued to do her own job, while doing the little things that make Town Hall run smoothly like organizing the decoration of Town Hall for the Holiday Festival and taking part in the town’s Halloween Extravaganza.

Case in point was what Marini was doing the weekend before Stanbrook began working — spackling and painting his office so he would have a “nice, sparking office when he arrived,” FitzGerald-Kemmett said.

U.S. Rep. Bill Keating sent a Certificate of Congressional Recognition, presented by an aide, to Marini and Brady and Cutler presented citations from the Senate and House of the General Court.

Cutler related attending a Scouting event at which he was asked what a state representative did, asking if it was akin to being a mayor.

“No, that’s Merry Marini,” he replied. “We know when we need something done, we’d always call Merry and she’d always have the answer or know where to get the answer.”

The gift from Cutler and Brady was wrapped in wallpaper from the Statehouse because giftwrap wasn’t available.

“As you reflect on your many years of service to the town of Hanson, you can reflect,” Cutler said as Marini opened the mirror’s packaging.

“We get it,” a voice in the room replied.

“I can’t say much more than has already been said, other than the fact that I’m glad I checked up on you every morning, and days that I missed, you were afraid I was sick or something,” said former Selectman Don Howard, who said she was still welcome to stop by his house in the summer for zucchini from his garden.

Former Town Administrator René Read, now Duxbury’s town manager also shared memories of working with Merry during a difficult financial period for the town, when they were trying to avoid layoffs.

“I can’t believe you’re leaving,” he said after giving Marini a big hug. “When I first got here things were rough.”

He recalled talking to his wife about it after one typically long day, marveling how Marini “just won’t stop, she’s just go, go, go.”

Years later, he asked Marini about how she did it.

“S**t, you were going so fast, I thought I had to keep up with you,” he related was her reply. “I said, Merry, I was trying to keep up with you. This is the kind of conversation we should have had when I first started.”

He added he always swore if Marini ever left the Town Hall would have to close.

“They better watch out, after you walk out of here if they have to shut the lights off, I wouldn’t be surprised,” he said, wishing her a long, healthy and happy retirement.

Halifax Town Administrator Charlie Selig, who has dealt with Marini over the years, also wished her well.

“In losing Merry, you’re losing someone great,” he said.

SSVT holds budget hearing

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HANOVER — The South Shore Tech School Committee held its annual budget hearing on Wednesday, Jan. 22.

The hearing followed the release earlier in the day of Gov. Charlie Baker’s fiscal 2021 budget, as well as the Chapter 70 and minimum local contribution numbers for the budget cycle by the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education (DESE).

The budget will be up for certification at its February meeting.

“To this point, we’ve had an initial proposal on fiscal 2021 and now we can look at some other numbers,” said Superintendent-Director Dr. Thomas J. Hickey, noting that the information was being sent to member towns on Thursday, Jan. 23 and will be posted on the school website.

The overall budget proposal represented a 4.09-percent increase, and — thanks to non-resident tuition revenue, regional transportation and a modest increase in Chapter 70 state aid — funds sought from member towns would therefore be slightly lower than the current budget of $13,816,873. Hanson’s assessment increases by $132,507 and Whitman’s by $18,468.

Assessments vary based on the funding formula (75 percent) and the number of students in the school (25 percent).

“In general, the towns that saw assessment increases, usually it’s because there’s an increase in students,” Hickey said. “It’s not always guaranteed and the intensity might be different.”

Hanson’s minimum local contribution — the amount the state says towns should be spending to educate students — is $1,135,420 and Whitman’s is $1,623,676. Non-resident tuition, divided proportionally among the SST member towns gives $14,193 to Hanson and $12,027 to Whitman. The towns’ assessments would be even higher without the increased revenue,  Hickey said Monday, Jan. 27, noting that the non-resident tuition is traditionally used to offset the next year’s tuition. He also said he is very confident that regional transportation reimbursement, anticipated to be at 70 percent, will be 80 percent this go-round. As labor costs and the fuel and maintenance costs brought with the transition to propane-powered buses, are being pointed to as reasons next year’s transportation costs are calculated as “largely flat,” Hickey said the additional 10 percent of transportation reimbursement could be passed along to the towns.

Capital expenses are up slightly due to the capital improvement plan, while transportation costs are largely flat and the district has eliminated most of its debt, according to Hickey.

Hickey said on Monday, Jan. 27 that DESE is expected to issue guidance to better explain what they are looking for in terms of student opportunity grant paperwork, seeking explanations from each district about how additional Chapter 70 funds are going to be used — from closing achievement gaps to improvements to social-emotional learning and other priorities.

The report, due April 1 and must be completed by all districts in the state, expects districts to reach out to community stakeholders and figure out how it’s going to be spent.

“A lot of districts are not getting a lot of money,” Hickey said. “Our Chapter 70 increase is $30 a student — I think we saw a bump of, it might be $18,000.”

There is a long-form and a short-form document to complete, Hickey said, adding that SST’s “modest amount of money” would likely translate into a short-form document for the district. He said he would be interested in reading the actual paperwork within the next couple of weeks.

In other business, Assistant Principal Sandra Baldner announced the school has achieved its goal of reducing absenteeism by 20 percent.

“It required a lot of work by a lot of people,” she said, describing weekly attendance meetings with guidance counselors, an administrative aide assisting with data management, the school nurse and other administrators. “We’re attacking this with a student-centered approach to target each student intervention based on the student’s reasons for absences. We’re very involved with the families, as well.”

While not meant to be punitive, freshmen absent four times in a row without a valid excuse, receive a detention in a supportive environment with the assistance of a teaching aide. After a fifth unexcused absence a letter is sent home to their family, and in the case of 10 absences, the family is asked in for a 10-day appeal meeting.

“Those meetings are starting to happen now,” Baldner said.

Initial response from families have been generally positive.

A Saturday School initiative for struggling students meets once a month from 8 to 11 a.m. In November, the session had 26 students and last Saturday, there were 27 students working during the session.

“The goal is that we have fewer failures during the school year,” she said. Class failures are also being targeted for a 27-percent reduction this year.

Principal Mark Aubrey reviewed the pilot data program on the breakfast programs, reporting a plateau after an initial improvement. The numbers are still improved even with the plateau considered.

March 4 to 8 is National Breakfast week, when new menu items will be offered free of charge to gauge interest.