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Tempers flare over Whitman budget

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WHITMAN — The unveiling of Whitman’s latest draft version of the fiscal 2020 municipal budget on Tuesday, March 19, led to more than an 90 minutes of often heated debate, in which charges of failure and political grandstanding were exchanged between Selectmen.

The board met in a joint session with the Finance Committee.

The budget document offered two financial scenarios — both of which would require an operational override to prevent layoffs.

The budget’s reduction of $3.3 million features uniform cuts to al departments and cuts $676,779 — a 10-percent cut — rom the school district and $2,623,221 from all other departments, Town Administrator Frank Lynam said.

“These reductions will cause significant impacts on all of town services,” Lynam said, noting the town will be seeking an override. “To implement this would be devastating to the town. This is worse than [Proposition] 2 ½ was, because 2 ½ caused us to redefine our structure as a town and there have been very few additions to employees since then. … What we’re talking about is a cut that would wipe out anything we have done over the last 20 years and would make many of our services part time.”

Without an override, cuts would include $36,176 in the best-case scenario to $65,728 in the worst without an override to the three employees involved in the Selectmen’s budget; $14,123 or $25,660 for the two employees in the accountant’s office; $19,813 or $35,998 to the assessors office; $45,310 or $82,325 from the collector’s office; $40,496 or $73,578 from technology; $20,306 or $36,895 from the clerk’s office; $22,930 or $41,662 from the single maintenance employee; $428,886 or $779,254 from the 26 sworn officers and three other Police Department employees; $482,354 or $876,402 from the Fire Department; $19,397 or $35,243 from inspectional services; $80,560 or $146,372 for the DPW; $21,374 or $38,836 from health; $28,879 or $52,471 from the Council on Aging; and $54,322 or $95,065 from the library. The vocational school assessments remain the same and a best-worst case scenario could not be offered for WHRSD because of financial commitments.

Other reductions being looked at involve street lighting, park maintenance, bylaw committees, veterans’ graves and Whitman Counseling.

Unemployment compensation would increase because of layoffs.

Some lines, such as the law account, are required and cannot be cut.

questions raised

“Has this board, in the last seven or eight months, done anything to bring us any further to an answer [of] what sustainability would mean in this town, and the answer is no,” Selectman Randy LaMattina said, to applause from police and firefighters’ union members in attendance. “We should be embarrassed. … We’ve heard the phrase ‘kicking the can down the road,’ well, are we going to keep kicking it or are we going to fix it?”

Lynam said he met with the Finance Committee last week to discuss reductions to bring the town’s finances within the levy limit.

“The Finance Committee continued to evaluate the most effective approach to conclude this budget cycle,” said Chairman Richard Anderson, who said they followed Lynam’s recommendation to suspend a second round of meeting with department heads in order to devote the entire March 5 meeting to drafting a budget for Article 2. But, he added, the committee continues to meet in an “often contentious process” with the town departments to review budget requests and provide them with a “real time update of where the board stands” for a recommendation to Town Meeting.

The result, Anderson said, was a “responsible draft for an extremely difficult recommendation.”

The deficit was calculated at 6 percent of the total budget, basing cuts on the percentage each department had been allocated in the previous budget cycle.

“It was generally agreed that this approach was the most fair and equitable distribution of the liability,” Anderson said. “In a narrow majority, the board most recently recommended increasing the line item to fund a larger percentage of the school’s estimate … then to further redistribute the additional liability to all the other departments.”

While Lynam said there are no villains in the process, the elephant in the room is the cost of education and is something with which the town can’t keep pace.

The recent Community Assessment Survey, conducted through the offices of Bridgewater State University showed that 62 percent indicated support for an override, Selectmen Chairman Dr. Carl Kowalski noted. Of those people, 69 percent said some of the money from an override should go to the schools, 56 to the police and fire departments and 40 percent wanted to fund the DPW with it.

Kowalski also acknowledged “some talk” around town questioning the need for Assistant Town Administrator Lisa Green’s position.

“I’d like to remind people that over the two years that she has been serving, Lisa has been responsible for  $676,000 worth of grants, some of which will decrease our payments in the future on things like energy,” he said. That figure is more than 7 ½ times her $87,800 salary.

LaMattina pointed to a firefighter in the audience and said he risked his life at the Commercial Street fire and is one of those who will likely be laid off.

“What’s the value of that?” he said. “We are getting to be a joke. Imagine being that person whose job is on the line — and I’ve been in that situation — and it’s horrible, not knowing what’s going to happen. By this time, we should be able to provide some answers and we’re not.”

heated exchange

Near the end of the meeting, Selectman Brian Bezanson and LaMattina became involved in a shouting match over whether LaMattina’s comments reflected genuine concern or a political stump speech.

“We could have met every stinking day, all year, and never would have come up with that money,” Bezanson said. “So to say that this board is not doing its due diligence I find it to be outrageous.”

“I’m sorry you think that,” LaMattina said.

“You’ve had your time,” Bezanson continued. “That was a soap box speech.”

“What have you done in the last year?” LaMattina demanded.

“Not once has anybody here tonight mentioned the elephant in the room, which is the taxpayers in this town, the ones that have to foot the bill,” Bezanson said. “Everybody here has been worrying about what they have had, what they do. What about the people that pay the darned bill? Nobody here brings up the fact that some people are losing their houses, foreclosures are up — why don’t they ever get any consideration?”

Connolly tried to interject in support of resident Shawn Kain’s position that doing due diligence on the concerns of the residents, but Bezanson held his hand up to stop her.

“It’s time we started worrying about them,” he said, advocating his previous suggestion for a pre-town meeting session to outline what cuts will mean. “It’s our job to present the facts, the good, the bad and the ugly.”

Kowalski said that has been all the meeting had been discussing.

“We’re going to end this meeting and there’s not an employee or a department head that knows what’s going on,” LaMattina said. “It’s a failure, admit it.”

“No, I won’t admit it,” Bezanson  said. “Get off your stump speech, that’s bull.”

“We knew [after last year’s Town Meeting] and we did nothing,” LaMattina said.

“And what did you do?” Bezanson retorted. “Zero.”

“Here’s my budget, Brian,” LaMattina said holding papers up. “Here’s my budget, where’s yours? Here’s a legitimate budget with the taxpayer in mind, and what I have for a budget is to protect services, because that’s what I want to do.”

“You know, these used to have power,” Kowalski said, holding is gavel.

“What I’m saying is we should have done, as a board, a better job — maybe staying on top of these two people [motioning toward Lynam and Green] so that they got more got done so information could have gotten out to the public in a more timely manner,” LaMattina said. “We shouldn’t be in this position March 19 when we knew a year ago what we had in front of us.”

“They’ve been working on it ever since,” Bezanson said.

“What have we done?” LaMattina shouted. “Give me some tangibles — do you have any tangibles?”

LaMattina also questioned the regional agreement’s financial formula, in view of what he termed Whitman’s being short-changed on $450,000 in Chapter 70 funds that go instead to the region.

School Committee Chairman Bob Hayes argued the main problem is the state’s unfunded mandates. School Committee member Fred Small said he could not obtain the information after two hours on the phone with the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education. Finance Committee member Rosemary Connolly said she had obtained that information, but not until earlier Tuesday afternoon.

“The last thing I want to see is one department against another,” Small said.

Both Small and Hayes also pointed to a an $897,000 spike in special education  transportation costs and $650,000 in unexpected tuition costs, for part of the school budget increase.

Selectman Dan Salvucci said the town side of the budget is within the $970,000 in new growth and that, if that was their only budget obligation, there would be no layoffs.

“You’ve got to look at controllable numbers,” he said.

Lynam countered that most communities devote 70 percent of their annual economic growth to the schools, which at about $680,000 for Whitman would still put the town side at $500,000 or so on the town budget would also be in excess of the town’s growth.

LaMattina then asked Salvucci, who is the representative to the South Shore Tech School Committee, why that school is thriving while the W-H budget is in such difficulty.

“It’s because you constantly get your assessments,” LaMattina said. “We’re not funding [W-H] properly, yet South Shore Tech gets their full assessment and they are a thriving school. … Why not have an override for the vo-tech?”

Hayes argued that South Shore offers a different program and that charter schools present a bigger concern.

“[SSVT] offers a way different service — it’s a fabulous school. We lose kids to charter schools that don’t even come to W-H because we don’t have all-day kindergarten … it costs us,” he said. “I don’t think anybody’s questioning the professionalism of [any department], it’s how do we fund this runaway train?”

Kowalski also raised the issue of wage freezes. Salvucci said payroll is the largest portion of all department budgets.

Anderson said the Finance Committee recognizes and has prioritized the need for a sustainable financial plan, but also has to address the town’s immediate financial need.

Fire union President Scott Figgins expressed frustration that nothing has been accomplished on the budget front.

“We’re looking at losing half our department and you’re talking about giving us wage freezes,” he said. “We bargained faithfully with this board, we’ve given up things. … That override passes, there’s no guarantee that money comes to the department.”

He said he supports the schools, but the school budget keeps increasing while others have been cut.

“It’s very unfair to put that on the employees of this town,” Figgins said.

“I’m trying to think of as many ways as possible for us to avoid that,” Kowalski replied. “A wage freeze shouldn’t be a magic bullet to fix everything.”

Lynam said his two conversations with unions, and his request that the schools have to do the same, have been met with some support and some skepticism, over school employees’ continuing to receive step and lane increases.

Hayes said the school employees’ unions are still in discussions on the wage freeze issue.

“Hanson has its own assessment issues,” said Lynam, who said he was told by Hanson Town Administrator Michael McCue and town Accountant Todd Hassett that the most Hanson can increase is 6.5 percent.

A Whitman override must provide enough to meet the current budget as well as capital needs, Lynam warned.

Selectmen began the meeting with a 4-0 vote — Selectman Scott Lambiase was absent — to approve the sale of the $5,235,000 general obligation refunding bonds of the town for the police station debt to Fidelity Capital Markets for $5,836,956.07 and accrued interest, if any. The bond, payable on June 1 2020 through 2030, saves the town $564,631.09 or about $50,000 in saving per year for the next 11 years.

Planning ahead for new WMS

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Emphasizing it could be years before a shovel breaks ground, the School Committee on Wednesday, March 13 approved the drafting of a statement of interest (SOI) to the Massachusetts School Building Authority for a new Whitman Middle School.

Superintendent of Schools Jeffrey Szymaniak said he has asked Facilities Director Ernest Sandland to begin work on the SOI for a grade five through eight school to address structural problems and place a new school in alignment with programs now in place at Hanson Middle School.

“This is just the process [of] what we have to do to get in the queue for MSBA,” Szymaniak said.

Sandland said all documents would have to be in by April 12, but  said he has been asked why the district is taking that route while it is facing budget problems.

“There is a process we have to go through and there’s a time frame we’ve got to go through and this is the beginning of it,” he said. “We’re trying to meet all those time frames.”

It could be two years before MSBA gives an indication that the district would be considered for funding, with eight possible categories for a district to apply under. WHRSD would be seeking funds for replacement/modernization of school facilities, one of eight possible categories. The school opened in 1972 and was last renovated in 1997. Boilers were replaced in 2007.

“We’re good stewards in trying to identify what’s going on at Whitman Middle,” he said. “It’s the story that we’re writing on the history of [the school].”

A past facilities survey on the WMS renovation outlined that the work was supposed to include replacement of the roof, a lot of the exterior façade and of lockers throughout the building — none of which was done.

“We’re going to tell that story and, once it gets to the state they’re going to read it and they’ll say, ‘OK, this is what we’re going to do, we’re going to put you off for two more years, we’re going to put you off for a year,’” Sandland said. “But at least we start the process.”

Szymaniak said the facilities subcommittee has expressed concern with mold issues at the school.

“I’d like to see where we stand,” he said. “There’s no harm, no foul at this point.”

School Committee Chairman Bob Hayes said his experience with similar projects has shown the approval process for an SOI could take as long as five years.

“We don’t even know where the list is — what they are accepting, what they aren’t accepting,” Hayes said. “This is a first step. The commitment comes way down the road when you have to do a feasibility study. … This is not committing any dollars and cents.”

School Committee member Fred Small stressed that an SOI should make clear WMS has only had a partial renovation done.

Sandland said the MSBA has noted that W-H has an excellent capital plan, something 40 to 60 percent of school districts do not have.

The debt exclusion for the high school comes off the books in seven years, Hayes said.

Budget committee

In other business, Small suggested a separate subcommittee charged with reviewing the strategic plan as part of an effort to align them with small goals to begin working on the budget in August or September and obtain a clear idea from the towns about where the schools stand on the goal of developing a sustainable budget.

“I know we have to get through today first,” he said, suggesting it might be a way to determine what programs might be funded a year or so in advance through a debt exclusion.

Hayes agreed that the budget is difficult for other town departments at well.

“It costs more, it demands more, and everybody’s in this budget crisis,” he said. “Nobody’s putting the blame here. I think everybody wants better education for every student.”

Business Services Director Christine Suckow said year to-date expenditures are up by just over $13,000 for recovery high school tuition, and unexpected retirements have increased the salary reserve line. Special education accounts have increased by just over $600,000 in the current budget year due to contracted services, legal costs, transportation and out-of-district tuition costs.

Szymaniak attributed the special ed increase to a few movements of students already committed to a collaborative and transportation costs from $250 to $400 per day, depending on the company used.

The fiscal 2019 budget is currently frozen except for emergency expenses, which generally includes special education changes.

Superindendent goals

The committee also discussed Szymaniak’s midyear goals, part of the process of evaluating his job performance.

The goals involve ensuring a cohesive pre-k to grade 12 system of teaching and learning; keeping visible throughout the district to support teachers and staff; ensuring school safety and security; and a workable budget to deliver services to district students to prepare them for career or college.

“It’s out there right now,” he said of the budget. “I appreciate the support of what we’re looking at for level services … How do we progress through? I think, looking at a realistic budget that will maintain the level of services and add — without adding to the budget — a curriculum and curriculum leadership that we so desperately need.”

Szymaniak said the first goal involves reviewing which math pilot program the district would purchase as well as different programs to highlight for English classes next year. Changes in curriculum leadership are also being investigated. All changes being considered within the goal are budget-dependent, he noted.

Being more visible is a favorite part of the job for Szymaniak.

“We’re out and about looking at teachers that make a difference and celebrating that,” he said. “I’ve had several visits with principals formally to discuss things, and informally I pop into buildings to see [what’s going on]. … It’s important for me to be out, visible to teachers and staff and students know who I am.”

He said he and Ferro have both been seeing evidence of teachers doing a good job — in the absence, Assistant Superintendent George Ferro said, of an elementary English Language Arts curriculum and an expiring 7-year-old math program that is obsolete for today’s standards and cuts to the elementary science program.

Safety continues to be a priority, Szymaniak said, by keeping in communication via text with police and fire chiefs in both towns and the establishment of a district communication weather team to have the latest information in any emergency. He is also reviewing the “relatively antiquated radio system” for internal school communications. He is also exploring the expansion of the ALICE program to elementary schools.

School Committee member Christopher Howard said it would be very helpful for committee members to observe classes and programs for themselves without getting in the way.

“I think it would be really helpful,” he said. “We spend a lot of time talking about dollars and cents, we spend a lot of time talking about buildings, but the reason we’re here is for the education of children…. It would be very helpful to all of us and I think it allows us to think about how we can share that message back to the public.”

Szymaniak said there is an open invitation to all committee members to visit schools and classrooms.

“You get so much out of it,” said Small who recalled an art class in which fifth-grade students were discussing what message different colors convey in a PowerPoint presentation. “To me art class was where you take a piece of paper and draw a picture. … School has changed so much.”

Cutler book traces attack on early American press

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State Rep. Josh Cutler, D-Duxbury, has published a book, “Mobtown Massacre,” that tells an interesting story of when the press really was under attack, and the story of a fiery young editor for whom the town of Hanson was named. Cutler’s 6thPlymouth District includes Hanson.The central event of the book took place in 1812 —a time when the nation was bitterly divided, plunged into foreign conflict, and polarized by growing partisanship and rising tensions with the press. Then, into the fray, stepped Hanson, the editor, who penned a sharply worded attack on the President and his policies.In “Mobtown Massacre,” Cutler shares the story of Alexander Hanson, a 19thcentury Federalist newspaper editor whose anti-war writings provoked a bloodthirsty mob, a midnight jailbreak and a brutal massacre in the city of Baltimore that stunned the nation. Hanson was later elected to the U.S. Congress, but never fully recovered from the brutal attack on his newspaper.This fateful but little-known episode in American history helped shape the course of a war and the nation’s promise of a free press. And it all started with a headline. Josh Cutler, a Duxbury resident, is an attorney, and former newspaper editor who currently serves as a State Representative. He represents a district which includes the Town of Hanson, MA, which is named after Alexander Hanson. “Mobtown Massacre: Alexander Hanson and the Baltimore Newspaper War of 1812:is published by The History Press and includes a foreword by Dr. Edward Papenfuse, a notedhistorian and retired Maryland State Archivist.All proceeds from the sale of the book are being donated to local historical societies. For more information on the book, visit mobtownmassacre.com.

Crafting a hands-on sewing class

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HOW-TO: Karen Senechal shows a finished pattern, ready for transfer to paper, crafted by a draping technique. (Photo by Tracy Seelye)

HANSON — If you ever tried, and possibly failed, to learn sewing from a mass-produced pattern — or if you just always wanted to learn to sew — Hanson native Karen Senechal wants to teach you a better way.

Her free three-month course uses the techniques of draping muslin on a dress form to create a customized pattern, sewing and some design at the First Congregational Church of Hanson, 639 High St., beginning in mid-April. Classes will take the summer off before concluding in the fall.

Fans of TV’s “Project Runway” will recall that it, and other fashion design-themed reality contest television shows, have shown contestants draping fabric on a dress form as a first step in creating their final vision.

“I have [students] use a dress form because that’s the way I did it designing,” said Senechal. “It’s the easiest way to see how you want things done.”

Materials provided

All machines, dress forms, muslin and other equipment will be provided. The church is providing workspace in the fellowship hall’s lower level for the class and storage for Senechal’s equipment.

Classes will meet for two hours once a week, with the day to be determined based on the best timing for those who sign up. But Senechal said it will be important for those taking the class not to miss one, or it will be hard to catch them up on what the rest of the class has achieved.

There is room in the class for about 10 students. For more information or to register, call 978-360-2986, and leave a message about the day and time — morning or afternoons —that works best for you, or email knsenechal@me.com.

“It’s the church that I go to, and I want to open it up to the community,” she said.

Once her students learn the technique, and are sticking pins in a dress form, they can do it on each other and literally make a personal pattern on paper, she explained.

“You really have to know in your own mind how to approach it,” she said of making patterns and clothing. “I use the female form because you have to put in the most darts because of the bust and everything. If you can do that, you can do kids, men’s, anybody’s.”

Hanson roots

As a little girl in Hanson Senechal, the daughter of veterinarian Dr. Robert Nutter, became fascinated with sewing while creating outfits for her dolls and later learned to sew with 4-H leader Esther “Tessie” Smith.

“She taught everything, from starting to tailoring,” Senechal said. “I learned everything from her.”

Senechal graduated from Endicott College with a degree in fashion design and merchandising, going to work for bridal house Priscilla’s of Boston before joining The Limited, the company that also owns Victoria’s Secret — in stores as well as the catalog —and Lane Bryant as well as Appleseed’s catalog.

“I never sewed for a living, but my sewing knowledge helped me unbelievably in designing,” Senechal said.

She has taught draping, pattern design and seweing at the California Design College and the Southeastern Regional Vocational Technical High School in Easton. Senechal had also taught sewing in a both a home-school co-op and a women’s center for homeless or abused women in Albuquerque, N.M., when she and her husband lived there for four years.

In the shelter classes in New Mexico, she stressed the importance never throwing out useable clothing, which can be transformed into something else. At Southeastern Vo-Tech, she drove home the need to learn how to do hems well.

“You can make money just hemming skirts and pants for people,” she said, noting that a sewing machine, too, is a machine that can pay for itself.

By the book

Senechal has translated her years of sewing technique into the textbook she created for the class, which uses simple step-by-step instructions and illustrations to explain the lessons.

“I’ve done this for years, so I just wrote it,” she said. “It just kept coming and coming and I tried everything on the form as I went.”

The book also discusses tools needed for sewing and how dress forms are used. While she is not out to sell her book, she is willing to provide it to students to keep in exchange for a donation to the church.

Once a pattern is created by draping muslin and transferring the pattern to paper, students will sew the dress in muslin and see how well it fits back on the dress form.

“There’s no mistake you can make that I haven’t already made in my career,” Senechal said. “That’s how you learn. If you’re not making mistakes, you’re not trying new things.”

Hanson closes its TM warrant

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HANSON — The Board of Selectmen has closed the warrants for the Monday, May 6 special and annual Town Meetings, including a proposed ban on plastic shopping bags and polystyrene beverage cups.

The bans, however, may be passed over at Town Meeting if there is evidence that residents are not ready for it. Selectmen will be meeting with the Board of Health to discuss the process of educating the public on, and implementing any ban, and Selectmen Matt Dyer and Wes Blauss plan to hold a public informational meeting on the proposal ahead of Town Meeting. Dyer said he would like to see the ban in effect by July 2020.

“There’s an appreciable amount of articles, both in the special and the annual that are financial — and we’re still working through the budget …and we’re going to hone down what we can do,” Town Administrator Michael McCue,   told the board at it’s Tuesday, March 12 meeting. “We can’t afford all the requests, so we’ll go back and give you an idea of where we are in terms of what’s affordable.”

The warrant review will continue at the Selectmen’s Tuesday, March 26 meeting and McCue said he and Town Accountant Todd Hassett will also be meeting with their Whitman counterparts as well as school officials on that budget.

An article seeking a $500 stipend for employees at the Treasurer/Collector’s Office who have recently earned a certification, similar to other Town Hall staff receive, was not yet on the warrant, McCue said, noting it must be discussed further with the union. He does intend to include it on the warrant, however.

Dyer said he has discussed the Board of Health’s concerns about Selectmen’s work on the plastic bag ban with Health Chairman Arlene Dias.

“They were concerned we were putting the cart before the horse in terms of putting the bylaw in place and then educating and transitioning to plastic bag-less stores,” Dyer said, suggesting a public forum be held in early April. “I didn’t think it would hurt to have a hearing this spring to kind of see where the public is with it and — if there is strong opposition implementing a by law this spring — maybe revisiting it in the fall.”

Dias, for her part, expressed concern to the Board of Selectmen that sponsoring the warrant article was the purview of her board.

“I don’t have a problem with the ban,” Dias said. “I would like for us to take time to really look at it, come up with a good policy, and implement it. Not backwards.”

She also asked if the town has funding to cover the person who will need to handle the implementation, public education and enforcement involved. The last time Dias met with Selectmen on the issue a couple of months ago, she said they were in agreement to meet jointly to plan and conduct community forums.

“That didn’t happen and now you’re talking about implementing a ban in a couple of months,” Dias said.

Selectmen Chairman Kenny Mitchell agreed, as did Selectman Laura FitzGerald-Kemmett, who stressed it was never the intention to step on any other board’s feet.

“We have people that were particularly impassioned about it,” FitzGerald-Kemmett said. “Maybe we just didn’t put two and two together that we should be working through you.”

She said the issue does need to be looked at, and said she was concerned with the timeline for a spring Town Meeting.

“If we can do the public forum and feel as though people’s concerns have been voiced and answered … we’ve got a place-holder [article],” FitzGerald-Kemmett said.

Where major retail chains such as Shaw’s are concerned, McCue said there are “fall back positions” in place for the possibility of such bans.

“It’s really the smaller ones that you’d really want to reach out to and give them considerations,” McCue said. “It’s a path that’s already been blazed.”

Dyer has already begun talking to business about the issue, as well.

“Everyone, for the most part, has said, ‘We knew it was coming and it’s just a matter of time before it becomes a state law,’ so there wasn’t any big push-back,” he said. “Let’s have a hearing … and if the town isn’t ready for it, I’m not going to force it on them, by any means.”

Green Hanson members attending the meeting also offered their view. Member Marianne DiMascio said the website massgreen.org can supply a lot of the information Selectmen were discussing.

“It may sound daunting that there’s so much to go over, but they have some really good resources,” she said.

Marah Burt, a WHRHS student, also attended the meeting to voice her support for the ban.

“Plastic bags are something that concerns me about the town,” she said.

Another resident said education is really important because of the size of the issue and the time involved in the decomposition process of plastics, especially in view of the fact that the United States produces more than 100 billion plastic bags per year.

“It takes a couple of hundred years for those to break down, and even that is not even the final process,” he said. “It then takes, literally forever, because these micro bits of plastic get into everything, including our bodies.”

15.1-percent assessment hike OK’d

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The School Committee, in a special meeting Monday night, unanimously voted to set a 15.1 percent increase — $3,349,712 — in the assessments to the towns in support of a level-service budget. The fiscal 2020 budget has not yet been certified.

Based on enrollment, Whitman would pay 59.82 percent, in dollars a total assessment of $15,273,983 — an increase of $2,003,798 over the current assessment. Hanson would pay 40.18 percent, a total assessment of $10,259,255 — an increase of $1,345,914 over the current assessment.

The proposed budget is up by 5.4 percent overall.

“I can’t see going backwards,” said School Committee member Fred Small. “I think it will be up to the taxpayers to decide and we should let them decide. I would urge everyone to support staying the same for another year, as horrible as that is.”

“It seems to me there’s an erosion of public schools,” School Committee member Robert Trotta said. “It’s a sad commentary on the way in which public schools are looked at. It’s a shame. I think public schools are probably one of the best investments for a community and I would be disheartened if we could not support these people that we have.”

He said he would not support less than a level-service budget.

“I would love this to include some programs that we were bringing back, but I know, realistically, it can’t happen so I’m not going to ask for anything less than 15.1 [percent],” said School Committee member Alexandria Taylor.

The Committee decided to wait for a full end-fiscal year accounting report before making a decision on whether to tap into excess and deficiency because that account is down to $961,237 at this time.

Of the $8,131,147 in costs for programs mandated by the state, only $2,100,957 of those costs are fully funded, leaving $5,067,542 unfunded or underfunded for the Whitman-Hanson Regional School District. [See tables, page 3].

“It’s not just Chapter 70 money, it’s not just the governor’s budget with funding regional districts and funding towns, it’s the under-funded and unfunded mandates that are bleeding our district right now,” Superintendent of Schools Jeffrey Szymaniak said.

Special education costs have also increased suddenly in recent days, including one incident in which a teacher ended up in urgent care because of a bite from a student with “social-emotional and cognitive issues” and another student who was making suicidal threats. Between the two issues and transportation costs, the special education budget increased by $650,000, for which Szymaniak is hoping to use Circuit Breaker funds.

“These are our students,” he said, noting he has also been approached by parents asking when gifted and talented students would benefit from programs. “We do a lot of here … and now some of these under-funded and unfunded mandates are now taking away from the decisions we make educationally for our students.”

After district officials pared $292,000 from the budget over the last two weeks “without affecting any people” in the district. That figure includes a $197,000 savings in insurances, a reduction of $20,000 from the substitute teacher line, a cut to the Chromebook initiative approved last year by $53,000, a $2,000 reduction to facilities general supplies, $5,000 from instructional supplies and a class Szymaniak is currently taking — at $10,000 — is a one-time expense that won’t appear in the fiscal 2020 budget. The budget for legal costs was trimmed by $10,000, funds for the English Language Learners program were cut by $10,000, the summer school budget was cut by $5,000.

Before the cuts, the budget would have required a 16.4 percent increase to reach level service.

“The things that we’ve already cut so far, the $292,000 [in cuts] are not people, anywhere else, we are going to start cutting folks,” Szymaniak said.

He supplied the committee with breakdown of how potential budget cuts would effect general staff, supply and program funds as well as how assessment cuts would hit class size.

“[It’s] something we’ve really tried hard to keep under wraps, so to speak — not to hide anything from the public, but to not have people get nervous and bail, or leave, or decide to apply elsewhere,” Szymaniak said. He said there was also a concern that parents were already opting to send their children to other schools, such as South Shore Tech, parochial high schools or charter schools.

Hanson Middle School is forecasting that about 106 eighth-grade students were planning to attend WHRHS, with 27 accepted at South Shore Tech and six private or Catholic School applications out.

Whitman Middle School, meanwhile, with 201 eighth-graders, has reported that 34 have already been accepted at South Shore Tech, with another 20 on a wait list and 13 applying to Catholic school.

“Those numbers I haven’t seen since I’ve been here,” Szymaniak said. “I think the word is out that there might be severe budget cuts and our eighth-graders are seeking to go to school elsewhere.”

A level-funded budget, in which no increase to the bottom line would require program cuts, Szymaniak said 54 positions — or 48 people — would be lost in the areas of tech support, counseling, foreign languages, teachers and all three school levels, facilities, paraprofessionals, administrative support, the high school library, elementary music, reading and district leadership.

Education programs hit would include elementary math, music and science; middle school Spanish and related arts; electives; financial literacy; district curriculum coordinators and reading.

Class sizes would also be impacted with elementary and middle schools losing one teacher per grade level and the high school losing one teacher per department.

“I told district staff today that we’re going to advocate for our people and our programs, things that we’ve committed to that are in the best interests of our students and our communities,” he said. Both school choice, for students moving out of district, and charter school numbers are both up.

School Committee, Whitman officials hold wage freeze talks with unions

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The School Committee on Wednesday, Feb. 27 supported a suggestion by Whitman Town Administrator Frank Lynam that they conduct talks with school union representatives, similar to talks he is having with town unions, as Whitman works to negotiate a two-year wage freeze.

It is part  of Whitman officials’ efforts to find a sustainable solution to a $3.5 million school budget shortfall. The School Committee was slated to meet with union representatives in executive sesstion Tuesday night.

A $2.5 million override and a debt exclusion for the remainder of the debt on the Whitman Police Station are also being considered by the town.

The committee also asked Superintendent of Schools Jeffrey Szymaniak and Assistant Superintendent George Ferro to provide them with a better idea how the $200,000, representing each assessment percentage, would effect the schools if there were cuts.

The school budget must be certified by March 13.

“We have a dire situation here,” School Committee Chairman Bob Hayes said. “We may have to hold Town Meeting. Is there any chance of that happening?”

Lynam said in order to kick the can down the road in that way, there has to be somewhere to reach for the funds and it isn’t there.

“Yes, Town Meeting can be delayed, but that only puts the region in a more difficult situation,” he said. “If we don’t act until June, and we go to a vote, we’re now into July before we know what the answers are and you’re now on a 1/12 budget.”

He said he intends to see a question on the May ballot, which has to be posted 45 days before.

“So we’re going to have to make some decisions in a couple of weeks,” Lynam said.

A wage freeze could save Whitman about $800,000 in school salaries, according to Szymaniak, who noted Whitman department head meetings have begun discussing the three proposed financial moves.

School Committee members voted to have the entire committee, not just the bargaining subcommittee, meet in executive session March 6 with School District bargaining units about the issue.

“That was discussed at both department head meetings [held recently in Whitman],” Szymaniak said of wage freezes. “Nothing was finalized there. We still don’t have numbers if those things don’t come to fruition, so I can’t give the committee what that impact would be. If that impact is a zero for our budget that impact would be not good.”

Teacher Jill Kain said she would support a wage freeze, as she and other teachers have in the past, but said they need some indication that they are supported in return.

“We’re willing to give up what we need to to help,” she said of her family. “We have done it and I think there’s a huge portion that would do it again. … As the budget gets tighter, our support and our classrooms and our services get less. … If you ask the staff and they say no, I wouldn’t say it’s because they don’t want to help, I would say it’s more like they feel like we’re giving all we can and everyday we’re asked to give more with less.”

She felt that other town unions might say the same thing for the same reason.

WHEA representative Kevin Kavka asked about the schedule and format of Lynam’s meeting with the other unions. Lynam said the March 4 meeting would be his first with the collective group and that he intended to work collaboratively with them.

“I had [previously] gone to them and said, ‘this is a thought,’” he said.

Lynam said Whitman’s Board of Selectmen and Finance Committee have met — and he planned to meet with his FinCom again March 5 for the sole purpose of a line-by-line review of the budget. He also planned to meet with Hanson Town Administrator Michael McCue and Accountant Todd Hassett March 5, and had a tentative plan to meet with representatives from Whitman’s collective bargaining agreements on March 4.

“The key to all this is what we see for numbers,” Lynam said. “What happens if we do get an override, what happens if we don’t. There hasn’t been enough urgency in working those numbers.”

The biggest part of the process, Lynam said, was the ability to reach a sustainable budget.

“Sustainability means living within our ability to generate revenue,” Lynam said. “Right now we generate, in new dollars, $975,000. … It’s far short.”

He questions whether voters will support an override unless the town can present a clear picture that such a move will address the town’s financial problems for several years.

Both a capital plan and budget that are now in development will help make that case he said. The capital plan can’t be viewed as a five-year plan, however, because the town does not have the revenue predictability to support that.

“Here we are, I think 65 days from Town Meeting and we’re crunching numbers,” Lynam said.

Hayes asked Lynam if he anticipated having numbers before the committee meets again on March 13.

Lynam said he would have suggested numbers — representing budgets with and without an override — by that meeting.

“Without an override, the numbers are going to have minuses in front of them — for almost everybody,” he said.

School Committee member Robert Trotta asked if there was any indication about the town’s financial situation made evident before the district began the latest round of union negotiations last year.

“When the Town Meeting voted its budget last May, it was made very clear that we were appropriating money from a non-recurring source to fund the cost for debt payments in order to balance the budget and that, in order to move forward the following year we were going to have to increase the levy,” Lynam said.

The $1.2 million that is the bottom line of this budget and was $1.2 million more than we had to spend, Lynam said. The $975,000 in new revenue for this year is $225,000 short to start, plus a $2.5 million increase.

Trotta said those figures were not in his mind when negotiations began and asked if a meeting prior to contract negotiations could have been arranged to obtain that information.

“A thought for me would be if you had come to us and said we are going to negotiate, what are your concerns, you would have had that answer,” Lynam replied.

Salaries, however, make up only 39 percent of the budget increase this year.

“Conversely, 61 percent is being driven by things that either aren’t controlled or are uncontrollable,” Lynam said. “We’re in the same boat. … It’s a community problem.”

Fixed costs have been as great a budgeting concern as unfunded mandates for school officials, but there has been a bit of good news on that front. Szymaniak noted health insurance costs for next year — forecast to increase by 5 percent — could go up by as little as 1.5 percent, for a $150,000 savings, which would help the school budget’s bottom line. It will be voted by the insurance collaborative on March 11. But out-of-district special education placements, which looked to be decreased by $200,000 could end up being a wash because of transportation costs, Szymaniak said, noting that negotiations are continuing on that front.

“I’m asking the committee at this point to stay true,” he said. “We don’t have real numbers to say [what assessment percent will be offered]. I know they still have that zero ace.”

School Committee member Fred Small said a $3.6 million budget increase is unprecedented.

“I think it’s the perfect storm of a lot of things at the same time,” he said.

The committee’s request to see an indication of how each $200,000 in potential assessment cutbacks, raised a concern over taking an à la carte approach to the school budget.

Small said identifying where the district could work with a reduced budget would be “a good thing,” especially since excess and deficiency funds have been so tight with the adoption of a more exacting budgeting software.

“Finding money is getting harder and harder every year,” said Committee member Dan Cullity.

“If we get numbers and have to cut an assessment … we will look at programs and service and the last thing we want is to cut people,” Szymaniak said. “But I need to know if it’s $3.5 million or $2.5 million.”

But if the number is $2.5 million, $1 million would be in special education costs that could be reduced if the district could afford to maintain programs that keep students in-district and reduce costs overall.

“Anything lower than level-service will cut staff,” he said.

Committee member Christopher Howard said he was not interested in anything less than a level-service budget, but added that if voters don’t support it he would have to make “some hard decisions about where I am on the committee, in the community, where my kids go to school.” He said the community needs to understand the consequences of such decisions.

“Rest assured, that this committee and anybody whose watching will have a clear view of what things would look like depending on what the moneys that are available are,” Ferro said.

Cullity asked if the cuts meant services or people?

“It will be across the board K-12,” Szymaniak said.

Hayes suggested showing what each percentage would cut, raising the question of à la carte menus of potiential cuts.

“When we make and a’ la carte menu, that is a difficult way to educate children,” Ferro said noting he and Szymaniak were the ones qualified to make those decisions. “You’re going to get 10 phone calls from 10 people who don’t want that at that level, but want that at that level.”

Hayes said he wanted to demonstrate to the public the difficulty of the decisions they face. WHRHS Principal Dr. Christopher Jones expressed concern about how the committee wanted Szymaniak and Ferro to demonstrate the impact of budget cuts.

“One of the reasons I decided to apply for the principalship here … is because of the educational vision of Mr. Szymaniak and Mr. Ferro and the reputation they have for moving education forward the way it needs to be,” Jones said. “Once you open a budget up to à la carte choices, as staunch as people want to be, people do have their own agendas and pick from different things and there’s a very real threat … even when it addresses the vision and addresses the priorities of the educational leaders, quite often it gets carved out from the vision of the educational leaders and gets eroded.”

Hanson exploring a plastic bag ban

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HANSON —Selectmen on Tuesday,  Feb. 26 reviewed proposed warrant articles — including one dealing with the banning of plastic grocery bags — for the May 7 annual Town Meeting.

“We really have a little more footwork to do on that before we introduce it,” said Selectman Laura FitzGerald-Kemmett, said of the ban.

“We’re all looking toward [Selectman] Matt [Dyer],” said Selectman Wes Blauss, who has championed the ban. “I’m going with Matt for a recommendation on this one.”

Town Administrator Michael McCue reminded the board any other proposals for articles must be in to his office for refining language by Friday, March 7.

“I think that people are becoming more aware about the plastic bags and their potential for harm against the environment,” Dyer said. “I think we should go forward with that. My question is would we [also] be in favor of supporting a polystyrene ban at Dunkin’ Donuts.”

Polystyrene is the generic term for the material used in foam beverage cups — Styrofoam is a brand name.

Dyer noted that companies selling to-go coffee in paper cups include MaryLou’s and Starbucks. McDonald’s also sells coffee in paper cups. Dunkin’ Donuts, Honey Dew and convenience stores such as Cumberland Farms still use the foam cups for hot beverages, but also fill re-useable cups — in some cases at a lower price than that of a new foam cup with coffee.

“A lot of towns are doing this, they just didn’t want a joint warrant on polystyrene and plastic bags,” Dyer said. “To be fair, you can’t just say, ‘Overnight you have to do this.’ You have to have a transition period and I also want to hold forums — just to get feedback from townspeople.”

Selectmen Chairman Kenny Mitchell questioned whether it would find support in town, but both Dyer and FitzGerald-Kemmett said they believe support is there.

“People are passionate about this,” FitzGerald-Kemmett said.

McCue said that since Blauss first brought up the proposed ban months ago they have found several examples of similar bylaws.

“There is a procedure by which, after the bylaw passes, major stores like Shaw’s have six months to implement it, smaller places have longer to implement it because it’s more of a hardship to them,” he said. “We can work through all of that, not only wording, but what other towns have done for implementation.

The board supported the prospective article.

“Go for it,” Mitchell said.

“I think we should go for putting in the placeholder,” FitzGerald-Kemmett agreed. “If you can pull off the forum and we can get the right feedback, then we’ll keep it in place.”

Library foundation vacancy

Volunteers are beginning to come forward to fill both appointed and elected positions in town as two of them vied for a vacancy on the Hanson Public Library Board of Trustees. Selectmen and the Board of Library Trustees voted to support the joint appointment of Pamela Fager, 167 Woodbine Ave., to fill a vacancy until the annual Town Election.

Both Fager and Alexander Stewart, 671 Liberty St., who also applied for the appointment, have pledged to run for the post on the Town Election ballot. Two positions will be listed on the ballot with incumbent Dianna McDevitt also seeking re-election.

“I would like to say it’s been a difficult decision,” said Trustee President Linda Wall. “So, we have to make a choice. They will both have another opportunity to run in the election.”

Wall pointed to Fager’s work on the library’s Expansion Planning Committee as a main reason for selecting her to fill the vacancy.

“I support their decision,” FitzGerald-Kemmett said. “I can see that Pam is excellent and engaged and yet I like the idea of Alex getting out there [and being involved in the community]. I am really encouraging [him], if not this opportunity, seek other opportunities. We see you here every week, we know you’re interested and I want to see you being engaged and find the right opportunity.”

A Hanson native who lived in Whitman for a time before moving back to town, Fager said she has always been involved with the library, serving on the Foundation for more than a year. Both of her children have volunteered at the library and she has worked on the lirary expansion planning committee.

“I want to help the library as much as I can,” she said. “It’s helped me personally, growing up in the town and, when I lived briefly in Whitman and moved back into town, I was able to get more reconnected to it and have brought my kids up with it.”

She said her work with the Foundation and the planning committee has allowed her to see more evidence of how the library brings the community together and has a few ideas for bringing the town’s children into the library more.

Mitchell kicked off the questions by asking if Fager had any overdue library books.

“I brought them back tonight,” she said with a laugh.

Stewart, a lifelong Hanson resident and recent graduate of the Mass. College of Liberal arts, said the library has played a pivotal role in his life.

“It’s given me a lot of helpful resources in schoolwork and extra-curriculars,” he said. “I’ve been thinking of ways I can give back to the community, and I figured why not go to a place that has been a very familiar area for me?”

While at college, he was secretary and vice president of several on-campus clubs and organizations, where he feels the skills he obtained will help him in the work of supporting the Hanson Public Library.

The Library Trustees’ questions focused on the role of the board, the applicants’ top three skills and how they felt about supporting the library expansion within the community.

Fager said the Trustees are more deeply involved with the community than volunteers because they develop programs, and they look at other libraries’ programs. She said she is connected to the town and hopes to use that to draw more people in. Expansion must be approached carefully, she said, noting the survey feedback made it apparent there is a need to bring the generations together.

Stewart said his top skills are attention to detail, planning events and programs and  organizational skills and networking.

He supports the expansion program and, like Fager, sees it as a tool for bridging generations. He said he believes the Trustees serve a more managerial position than the average volunteer.

More freezes are eyed in Whitman

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WHITMAN — Hiring, overtime, or spending freezes “are things we have to start considering now,” according Selectman Scott Lambiase, who is heading up budget review meetings between town departments as budget liaison.

“We’re going to be going into some difficult times,” he said during the board’s Tuesday, Feb. 26 meeting on why the measures may have to be considered.

Town Administrator Frank Lynam said he is working on a Monday, March 4 date for a meeting with union representatives about a possible two-year wage freeze. Lynam said he would be meeting with the Finance Committee that same evening regarding the budget and warrants for the Town Meeting as they conduct the second round of meetings with department heads.

“Walking into this meeting, or subsequent meetings, we really do need — and hopefully that’ll come out tonight — the overall number to walk into Town Meeting,” Lambiase said. “We met with these unions originally and we, in good faith, came up with some contracts that we’re technically obligated under. So what is that number to us now — and that’s the number we’ve got to be pushing for now to fully fund this and make it sustainable.”

He said, without harder budget numbers and what they will mean to employees, “it’s going to difficult at best” walking into the meetings with union representatives. Lynam agreed with that characterization.

Selectman Randy LaMattina said they also need to discuss strategy on what the town will do if the wage freezes don’t happen.

“To be honest with you, I think we’re getting them a little late for that being a possibility,” he said. “It’s [important] getting this number and facing the cold, hard truth of what it’s going to be. It’s not going to be pretty — I think we all know that — and it has to come out and we have to start dealing with it, I think, in a little more timely fashion.”

Any override, LaMattina argued, would have to be no less than a level-service budget.

Lynam also said Dr. Melinda Tarsi of Bridgewater State University is working on an outline for a community presentation of the findings from the recent Community Assessment survey.

Tarsi is looking to schedule a meeting 7 p.m., Tuesday, March 19 in the Town Hall Auditorium. Selectmen will meet at 6 p.m. before the community presentation.

He also announced that the town recently completed its annual audit with only to “very minimal” comments of little concern. The audit report is viewable online at Whitman.ma.gov.

Lynam also announced that Assistant Town Administrator Lisa Green has earned and received the state designation of municipal certified procurement officer (MCPO), and has also embarked on a challenging course on human resource management and has received her first designation.

W-H unveils winter school program

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A winter school program is beginning this semester at WHRHS, as an alternative to summer school for some students who are falling behind.

“Winter school is basically the idea of taking summer school and moving it into the winter to head off a student failing midway through the year who has no light at the end of the tunnel, so that at the end of the first semester they know they are pretty much sunk for the year,” Principal Dr. Christopher Jones.

Teachers and departments have selected the most important benchmarks for subject mastery and put them into a computer-based program for curriculum for credit recovery courses. The more specific course helps students move from a failing grade to a 60 — the lowest possible passing grade for a course.

“The whole idea is they get the concepts they need to be able to be successful in the second semester, because if you fail the first half of biology, odds are, you’re not going to pass the second half,” he said. “We are already loaded up and set to go with 44 students and three coordinators.”

It retains the integrity of the grade because students are required to pass the concepts the school requires in a course. Summer school, which can be taken in other school districts may not always achieve that.

Jones said that, while it is not easy, about 92 percent of the students taking winter school in his former district passed for the year and did not have to attend summer school.

The program is done after school, with coordinators required to unlock access to pre-tests and assessments. Secure browsers prevent them from finding answers elsewhere online.

“There is no financial impact,” Jones said. “It’s a self-funding program.”

Each student pays $50 to participate to take winter school, significantly less than summer school, and may take two courses because the fee is for entrance and not levied per course.

“Right now, we’re seeing a profit, which I don’t like,” Jones said. “I’m not looking to make money off of this, I’m looking to self-fund a program that is to help students succeed.”

The three hours per week required for the program must be arranged between the student and the coordinator.

“I like the innovation of it,” Committee member Robert Trotta said. “People are thinking of ways to improve things, especially for our students. … I think this is what education is all about, to look at what you have and to change things, if necessary, for students to enjoy success.”

“The accessibility of this program for the kids is awesome and the innovative nature is very encouraging,” member Chris Scriven agreed.

W-H Regional High School is also working to make summer reading more enjoyable for students with the inauguration of the Summer Reading Smack Down.

Reading madness

Partly an exercise in NCAA March Madness Bracketology, partly the PBS Great American Read, it’s a project that invites all high school students and staff to propose titles for the one book all students will be required to read as part of the summer reading list.

Jones said the idea is to promote summer literacy by offering an opportunity for students to help select a book they may actually read.

Students and faculty are asked to take suggested books out, fill out a 1-to-5 rating on a book mark survey and a committee will select a book in April.

The titles will be placed in a March Madness-type bracket with a panel of mostly students — and some staff — selecting “winners” in each bracket, based on 30-second pitches for each book.

“Everybody votes as to which book moves forward,” Jones said. Interdisciplinary days based on the selected book will kick off the school year in August — for example if the book, “Code Name Verily,” about female British pilots during WW II, is chosen, a math department could talk about codes, history classes could focus on the historical aspects of the book and a science class could focus on flight instruments.

“Isn’t it nice to do something that’s awesome instead of talking about budgets and negativism,” School Committee Chairman Bob Hayes said.

“I love this idea,” member Alexandria Taylor said. “I love to read … [but] summer reading killed me. I hated it. I hate being told to read a book that I’m not interested in, so I love the idea that you’re getting students involved in choosing a book.”

“Reading should not be punitive,” Jones concurred. “We talk about helping our teachers work. This idea was brought up in the English Department.”

Program of studies

Jones also outlined a revised program of studies that shifts 21 courses to keep pace with changed in curriculum programs. For example, Intro to TV and Radio Production has been changed to Video Production as television and radio “becomes outdated,” as well as changes to math programs such as courses that prepare students for AP Calculus. The School Committee approved the changes.

School Choice was also approved for 20 freshmen and 20 sophomore students — and upper classmen whose families have moved out of district and want to stay at W-H through graduation — again for the 2019-20 school year. Approval is an annual requirement for the program to continue. There are now 62 students attending the high school through the school choice option, some from other towns, but most are those whose families moved and they want to stay and graduate from WHRHS, Superintendent Jeffrey Szymaniak said.

Last year 20 freshmen and 20 sophomores were approved.

“We did not hit those numbers,” Szymaniak said. The average school choice student brings $5,000 into the district and those with IEPs can mean from $15,000 to $18,000 to the district’s coffers.

“That doesn’t drain programs, it’s special education services we already provide,” Szymaniak said.

District Business Manager Christine Suckow confirmed that the school choice program has enabled the district to hire six teachers, funded through the program.

The school will also be taking part in a state DESE Youth Risk Behavior Survey at the high school among freshmen and sophomores, referring them to the school adjustment counselors for some further discussions.

“This survey gives us information on substances and different things that students are exposed to,” Jones said.

Information gleaned provides a picture on substance use and frequency and social-emotional issues. At a certain threshold of affirmative answers, the student is referred to an adjustment counselor for further discussion and/or alternative treatment.

“The only hitch with that is that [adjustment counselors] can’t necessarily divulge that information to the parents,” Jones said. “It’s really having the kids in an anonymous or confidential atmosphere.”