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Learning rules of the games

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Eighth-graders planning to participate in sports as freshmen this fall at WHRHS — along with their parents — took part in the annual Athletics First Night program Wednesday, June 13.

It was the second year in which the program was held in the spring instead of the week before school begins in late August when families are trying to “squeeze in an extra week of vacation,” according to Athletic Director Bob Rodgers.

Project Impact concussion baseline exams were administered; school and MIAA rules for eligibility, game-day attendance, chemical health and other issues were reviewed; Athletic Trainer Lexi Watkins went over rules governing post-concussion returns to competition and three team captains spoke before two guest speakers talked about opioid addiction and positive sports psychology.

“It’s important for you to know them,” Rodgers said of the rules. “It solves a lot of problems before they happen.”

Quinn Sweeney, a football team co-captain spoke about the importance of the fitness center in conditioning. Fellow football team co-captain Jacob Nixon advised incoming freshmen to keep in mind what high school sports are all about.

“High school sports are not your job,” he said. “You do not get paid to do this, so make it fun, make it count.”

But he said sports do serve an important social function.

“They bring people together of a variety of races, religions and all different backgrounds,” Nixon said. “In this world today that’s very special because you don’t see a lot of that across the country. … We’re creating peace and we don’t even realize it.”

He also said high school sports bring the two communities together.

Chloe Wilson, a cross-country captain, said a team is a place to feel welcomed with open arms.

“I understood — from the hallways, to the classrooms to the track — it was no longer just me, a little powerless freshman, it was me and my team,” she said. “Open arms — my team took me under their wing [and] I took them into my heart. … Our job is to welcome you with open arms.”

Messages sent

In reviewing the chemical health rules, Rodgers set up his first speaker by cautioning parents that none of the rules would serve to dissuade students from violating them, but stressed there are consequences that will be enforced.

“Parents, we need to work together to make sure we’re sending the same message: It’s not OK for them to drink in the basement as long as you take their keys,” he said. “The addictive part of their brain gets triggered when they start doing these things. The younger they do it, the greater the chance that they’re going to have a problem with addiction as they get older.”

He drove home the point that the reasoning and impulse-control center of the brain is not fully developed until age 25 — and that vaping is addictive and may soon be included as a drug offense at the school.

“I have been to too many funerals of W-H student-athletes who left here, had trouble, overdosed and died,” Rodgers said. “We’ve had a lot of them. … they were the best and the brightest.”

Speaker Kevin Rosario, regional outreach representative for Gosnold Treatment Center, headquartered in Falmouth, outlined the challenges he faced as a teen that, coupled with a family history of addiction led to his abusing alcohol and drugs.

“What I bring to the table is I’m a person in long-term recovery,” said Rosario, a New Bedford native who has been sober since July 2010. “I try to be a decent human today … but that wasn’t always the case.”

A student who was small for his age and socially insecure, he was bullied and when his heart was broken in sixth grade, he felt the need to “create a new character.”

He became a class clown and “player” who frequently got into fights. He also started smoking weed and drinking in grade seven.

“Self-esteem, insecurity and peer pressure, body image and all those different things play a huge factor in whether somebody will experiment with drugs or alcohol,” he said, noting he also had undiagnosed ADHD. “Before drugs or alcohol I already had an issue.”

Even nicotine can impede the reasoning and impulse-control center of the brain he said.

“If at a young age, you use a chemical to try to deal with feelings, the body naturally builds a tolerance to it … over time, you will find you need stronger chemicals to get the same effect,” Rosario said. Even one small Juul contains the same amount of nicotine as more than two packs of cigarettes.

Eating, exercise, making love — but wait until you’re at least out of high school, he quipped — and laughter release the same dopamine in the brain as the chemicals that addictive drugs release in larger quantities.

“Once you start abusing [drugs, alcohol or nicotine] you’re flooding your body with so much dopamine from an unnatural source, the rest of your life becomes desensitized,” he said. “All those things that used to make you feel good don’t do it anymore because now you’re so used to being over-stimulated.”

Rosario’s first arrest for under-age drinking was at 16, after moving on to marijuana and pain-killers such as percocet and within a year after that he started sniffing heroin — and shooting it six months after that. It was the beginning of nine years of addiction.

“It wasn’t fun anymore,” he said. “I needed it every day to not be sick.”

He has had episodes where he has walked out of the hospital after being saved by Narcan to get high again — and has been arrested “more than a dozen times,” but does not remember exactly how many.

“It was a long, nasty cycle,” he said.

About 63 percent of Americans know a person, or have a family member, struggling with addiction to drugs or alcohol.

“You’ve got to know the risk that you’re at,” Rosario said, noting that alcoholism runs on both sides of his family.

Power of happiness

He concluded where speaker Pam Garramone picked up, that finding what makes you happy and confident because “happy, confident people don’t do what other people are doing.”

A positive psychology life coach, Garramone said being happy is a goal parents have for their children and each person would like attain in life — but most people say they know more unhappy people.

While 60 percent of how happy we are is due to genetics or external influences, she said “the good news is, 40 percent … are things you can do everyday to increase your happiness and well-being.”

Social connection, exercise, a healthy and happy committed relationship, all lead to happiness and research shows that happy people are more productive, make more money and have better jobs, are better leaders, are more likely to marry and stay married, have more friends, are healthier and live longer, they give more and are less stressed, anxious and depressed.

“Or brains are hard-wired for negative thoughts,” Garramone cautioned. She recommended journaling the three good things that have happened to you that day. “It proves the power of words.”

She had the audience pair off to discuss three good things that happened to them over the past 24 hours, with a few sharing examples with the audience.

One student-athlete was part of a community service project to clean an elderly man’s home so he could keep his cat. Another said he had played his first Junior Legion game.

Garramone also offered students a chance to thank people who have made a difference to them to demonstrate how gratitude makes both you and the person you thank feel better. Several thanked teachers.

“I want to thank [Hanson Middle School history teacher and Builders Club advisor Joshua] Lopes for not only being an amazing teacher, but for teaching his students to be better people,” one student said.

“I want to thank my mom, Amanda Pearl, for keeping my head up high,” her daughter in the crowd said.

Ready for a disaster

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HANSON — When a “tornado” struck, the state’s assisted living, nursing and rehabilitation facilities had to coordinate evacuations from affected areas.

It was just a drill, but an important one.

Among the facilities participating in the mock facility evacuation scenario on Tuesday, June 19 was All American Assisted Living in Hanson where resident volunteers were staged awaiting transportation to “Resident Accepting Facilities” within MassMAP. It was part of a full-scale, statewide annual exercise for simulating disaster at nursing facilities and covered how staff and families would be notified, recovery and repair of building damage — down to working with local public safety personnel.

Responders included the professionally trained staff at the Hanson facility – which consist of nurses, certified nursing assistants, physical therapists, and other professional staff. Hanson Fire Chief Jerome Thompson Jr., Lt. Sherilyn Mullin and Lt. Charles Barends as well as Hanson Police Sgt. Peter Casey represented the town’s first responders at the drill.

No patients were actually moved in the exercise — “evacuations” were done via fax machine on this day.

“Everyone [on staff] has their priority, it’s just how does it fall into disaster mode?” said facilitator Darren Osleger of Russell Phillips & Associates (RPA), a fire and emergency management consulting firm out of Fairport, N.Y. “It’s very similar to incident command … a fairly new concept in health care.”

Osleger said after the event that he thought the exercise went well.

“What we’re trying to do is better prepare ourselves and put ourselves in a position so, if we ever had to evacuate a building like that, through communicating with the coordinating center, having … the team really figure out certain tasks, they were able to identify open beds and correct fit for the residents if they had to be moved.”

The All American staff communicated with other participating facilities via computer and telephone to find open beds for evacuating patients.

“We are proud to have been chosen to participate in this exercise, although we spend countless hours training all of our associates in disaster events, a real live drill allows us to put our training to the test,” All American Assisted Living Executive Director Kristen Ward said before the event.

Chief Thompson said the exercise provided, especially for his command staff, the ability to iron out any problems or work with All American so things would run smoother if something did happen.

“We’re here to observe and assist them,” he said. “It gives an opportunity to see how they would handle stuff internally before we got here.”

The purpose of the exercise is to evaluate the interaction of the long-term care/mutual aid plan (LTC-MAP) members in each region in preparation for internal events. Though rare in such communities, the evacuation of an assisted living community is a complex event requiring significant coordination with the local community and region to ensure the safety of all residents, associates, and family members involved.

“I was impressed,” said Community Relations Director Bonnie Durrell at the midpoint of the tabletop exercise in which All American had to find beds in other facilities for eight male residents and 17 females, plus an additional 13 residents requiring care in a secure or dementia facility. “We have a plan in place, now we’ve used it and we have somebody to call and there’s a chain of command. … It’s going really well.”

The resident volunteers were given name tags bearing the name of the “victim” they were portraying for the exercise and a go-bag representing the one they would take with them in a real emergency. The bags would contain their medications — represented this day by candies or placebos — and a change of clothes.

“When they had the flooding in Texas, they were saying everyone had totes [packed with their needed belongings], which looked heavy,” Ward said. “We thought that it would be good to have a bug-out bag for this drill so they would have at least their meds and a change of clothes. The most important thing is that their medications go with them and for each of them we have their prescription list.”

A first for Hanson Fire

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HANSON — The Board of Selectmen welcomed the town’s first female fire officer Tuesday, June 19 with the official swearing-in of Lt. Sherilyn Mullin, who has been working in that capacity since May 8.

After the ceremony, Selectmen approved a marijuana application process designed to protect the town until a bylaw article on recreational cannabis can be voted on at next May’s annual Town Meeting and Town Election.

Lt. Mullin fills the vacancy created when Dept. Chief Robert O’Brien was promoted to that rank.

Under the department’s collective bargaining agreement, the promotion process requires that applicants score 70 percent or higher on a written exam, followed by an assessment center involving exercises in a fire problem and a structured interview.

Seven members of the Hanson Fire Department participated in the promotion process, according to Chief Jerome Thompson Jr.

“Although we only had one position available, I believe that those members in our department benefitted by taking the time to study the materials and prepare themselves for the process,” he said. “She has been a great addition to our command staff. Lt. Mullin will be the first female fire officer to serve the town of Hanson.”

A native of Abington and a 2006 graduate of Abington High School, Mullin holds a bachelor’s degree from Bridgewater State University in 2010. She then trained in EMS and became a paramedic and was hired as a full-time Hanson firefighter/paramedic in 2015. Mullin is a graduate of Mass. Firefighting Academy Class No. 234.

Her fiancé Sean Malley pinned on her badge after Town Clerk Elizabeth Sloan administered the oath of office to Mullin.

Marijuana policy

Town Counsel Katherine Feodoroff briefed Selectmen on the cannabis policy and bylaw process before the board voted 5-0 to approve the policy.

Selectman Laura FitzGerald-Kemmett asked about how the policy protects the town.

“If people vote yes [on the Town Meeting warrant] then it will go to ballot,” FitzGerald-Kemmett said. “However, in the interim, we’re talking about having something in place just in case someone comes forward. We don’t want to be left out in the cold without having something that we at least can manage the process until we get to Town Meeting.”

The new article — proposed after this year’s Town Meeting approved a zoning bylaw to allow siting of all recreational marijuana establishments within certain areas of town — would seek to ban retail marijuana sales.

Selectman Jim Hickey asked for simpler language on the ballot question so residents better understand how to vote their opinions.

The article, Feodoroff said, makes it clear an affirmative vote is required at both Town Meeting and on the election ballot, but agreed the ballot language can be difficult to understand.

“To me, it could be confusing to a voter because if all someone is thinking is, ‘I do not want marijuana in Hanson,’ they’re going to vote no,” Hickey said. “But [a no vote] is actually confirming a vote to have marijuana in Hanson. Can that question be simplified?”

Feodoroff said legislation requires the text of the bylaw on the ballot, but said the style of the question and its summary can be changed for clarity.

“You’re asking if the town wants this bylaw,” she said. “You want to make sure everyone votes and their vote is then counted in way they expect it to be counted.”

Procedure outlined

Feodoroff outlined the procedures applicants would be required to follow under the policy.

“What you want to do, because it’s not necessarily spelled out in the law, what the order should be in terms of local approvals, so you want to create a policy like this,” Feodoroff said. “That’s for every type of establishment, including your retailers, your cultivators, your manufacturers and your testing facilities, because all of them are required by law to execute a host community agreement.”

Such an agreement must be executed by would-be businesses before they can even apply to the Cannabis Control Commission (CCC) for a license to operate.

The agreement requires submission of a letter of intent to Selectmen identifying the type of special permit sought, with copies sent to the Police Department. Applicants must then hold a community outreach meeting in accordance with state regulations and broadcast by local cable access TV.

Applicants must obtain a special permit from the Board of Selectmen and site plan approval, providing Selectmen with a synopsis of the community meeting, copies of the special permit/site plan vote and draft application of intent and supporting documents. They must also present a proposed draft of a host community agreement, which Feodoroff said town counsel can help with.

local impact

“One of the impacts that you’re going to find is the Board of Health is going to have to ramp up because they are now the inspection agency,” Feodoroff said. “Where, with medical [marijuana] it was under DPH and not the purview of the Board of Health, so we’re going to have to do training — we’re going to have to think about staffing, depending on the number of establishments that are planning on siting in Hanson.”

Police will also require additional training, she said.

The town can lock in a dollar amount in fees, rather than a 3-percent tax over the sales tax, but Feodoroff said the town should not do so at this time, because the 3-percent figure could represent a higher amount.

“When you have a general bylaw in place, there’s no grandfathering [of existing businesses], unlike zoning bylaws, which have a grandfather component,” Feodoroff said. “But what we have proposed for this Town Meeting is both a general and a zoning bylaw.”

She said Attorney General Maura Healy has recommended both kinds of bylaws to avoid cases where general bylaws were invalidated because courts saw a failure of proper procedure to pass them. Zoning bylaws require a two-thirds majority to pass after protectionary procedures.

“If both measures pass and aren’t challenged or are challenged and not properly defended, there’s no grandfathering,” Feodoroff said. “So it is complicated and there are risks in this kind of interim period.”

VIP pass to parking safety

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A dangerous parking lot situation at Friday night football games is being addressed — while also helping raise funds for the WHRHS athletic programs — through a one-year trial program of “VIP parking passes.”

Athletic Director Bob Rodgers also received the School Committee’s backing to accept a $25,000 donation from the J.J. Frisoli Foundation toward the installation of a new scoreboard at the football field.

It was the idea of the parking passes that generated the most discussion. The School Committee unanimously approved both proposals.

“I’m not really about this as much about the revenue, although we can use every penny we get,” Rodgers said of the parking fee idea School Committee member Fred Small has been talking about for a couple of years. “My concern as the athletic director is safety.”

He said Friday night football games present a traffic nightmare of double-parking, parking in fire lanes and by fire hydrants, creating access problems for ambulances, no matter how many police officers there are working traffic details. Children running through the parking lot also present a dangerous situation, Rodgers said.

“I want to create an environment down there [in the lot in front of the football field known as the junior lot] where parking is a little bit more structured, a little safer … and we can make some money in the process,” he argued.

The proposal would make the entire 150-space junior lot VIP parking, either on a pre-paid permit basis, for $50 for the football season or for $10 per game. There is ample free parking elsewhere on school grounds and the seniors’ lot to the left front of the school is actually a shorter walk to the field than some of the junior lot spaces.

He will also offer football parents a parking pass for $30 above the user fee. Handicapped placards will allow motorists to park there free of charge.

“I’m trying to convince myself to vote for this,” said School Committee member Robert Trotta, who was concerned about angering the community. “It’s like fee, fee, fee, fee, fee. [But] I understand the purpose.”

School Committee member Dan Cullity was concerned about the fairness of asking taxpayers to pay for parking at the school that their tax dollars support.

Rodgers countered that they are already charged admission to the game and school plays.

“It comes down to safety,” he said. Signs and hired parking lot details would direct motorists and enforce paid parking restrictions.

School Committee member Alexandria Taylor asked if a game/parking fee package was considered, but Rodgers said it would make his accounting to the auditors more complicated at this point.

“At least right now that’s not something I want to do,” he said. “I don’t know how this is going to go. We can try it for a year and, if we don’t like it, we can undo it.”

“Between safety and revenue, I’m all for trying it this year,” School Committee member Michael Jones said.

NEW SCOREBOARD

Regarding the scoreboard, Rodgers said a new one is needed. His request to the School Committee was in three parts: acceptance of a $25,000 donation from the Frisoli Foundation toward a new scoreboard; allow him to obtain sponsors for scoreboard ads; and give Rodgers, new Principal Dr. Christopher Jones and new Superintendent of Schools Jeffrey Szymaniak authority to contract with advertisers on the scoreboard.

The total cost is estimated in the $50,000 range.

“There are 36 panels in that current scoreboard we have that is quite old,” he said. “Each [panel] costs between $1,600 and $2,000 and we’ve already had to replace four of them.”

The main panel, showing the minute number, has just failed and must be replaced if the old scoreboard is kept. There are also frequency problems between the controller and scoreboard.

“Bottom line is we need a new scoreboard,” he said, and it was not a high enough priority for the capital plan. Rodgers, therefore, began working on obtaining one without the school district or towns having to pay.

A $25,000 donation has been secured from the Frisoli Foundation, named for W-H alum and football and wrestling standout J.J. Frisoli. To pay any up-front costs, no matter what scoreboard is purchased, Rodgers said he would have to use the athletic revolving account, reimbursing it when the sustaining advertising revenue comes in.

“His name will be on the scoreboard at some point,” Rodgers said. “He represented the ideals that we want here at W-H.”

There are also two advertising panels, for which sponsors are currently negotiating with Rodgers, and two additional sponsored ad panels would also be included, as well as a four-foot-by-10-foot video panel.

Rodgers said the video panel “which is going to open so many doors for us to be able to raise revenue” for the athletic program, which one of the lowest-funded — if not the lowest-funded — programs in the Patriot League. Among services not funded are uniforms, officials, buses, athletic trainers and equipment.

Advertisers would have to meet School Committee policy standards opposing ads that discriminate against any group or promote the use of tobacco or alcohol, and must be approved by the superintendent and principal at rates set by the School Committee.

“We really don’t want to raise user fees because, frankly, a lot of families can’t afford that,” Rodgers said. “This scoreboard … could be a sustainable source of revenue moving forward.”

He also argued the video screen could be a safety consideration, permitting important messages on where to park or where safety officers are when it is hard to hear the public address system. Postive messages on sportsmanship and student-athletes’ work on community projects could also be posted there, Rodgers said.

The scoreboard would also be relocated to a more visible location.

Youth sports groups would be able to use the scoreboard, and perhaps a scroll of pre-recorded sportsmanship messages on the video screen, but not live use of the screen.

One-to-one devices lease plan approved

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The manner in which Chromebook purchases were included in the level-service fiscal 2019 school budget was the subject of terse discussion during a review of one-to-one devices in the region’s schools by the district’s IT Director Chad Peters during the Wednesday, June 6 meeting.

“As you know, money was put in the budget to begin a plan to add one-to-one devices to the school system,” Superintendent of Schools Dr. Ruth Gilbert-Whitner said in introducing Peters’ report.

Peters said about 600 more Chromebooks have been added over the course of the school year, bringing the total number to about 1,760 devices district-wide. He requested a $140,760 four-year lease for 600 more devices, which the School Committee approved by an 8-1 vote. Member Fred Small voted no based on how he felt the program’s inclusion in the FY ’19 budget was presented. Member Rob O’Brien was absent.

“We looked at a one-to-one, where every student got one, or going to a cart-based system,” he said, noting the cart-based approach was preferred to ensure that no teachers were left scrambling if a student forgot their device or forgot to charge it. The goal is to provide a cart of 25 devices for every classroom.

“In order to fully get to that one cart in every classroom, it’s going to take about 4,000, so we do have a little ways to go,” Peters said. “But because we had the money put into our budget this year — $40,000 to start this initiative to little by little increase the number of devices — we were able to get 600 new devices for next year.”

That point raised questions for Whitman School Committee members Small and Dan Cullity. Both said their understanding was that the one-to-one initiative had been part of the “extras” above a level-service budget that had been cut to bring the assessment increase down to 9.5 percent, and that they had “sold” it that way at Town Meeting.

“It was my understanding that we were doing only level services,” Small said. “I know we go up on Town Hall floor and we stated that we were asking for exact level services.”

Cullity said that had been his understanding, as well.

“Service does not include this,” he said of the one-to-one device initiative. “We went and sold [the budget] to the town … we told them we were taking this out.”

Gilbert-Whitner said that would have meant selling students short and was never stated by the district. She said the only cuts that were made were a plan to add two special ed liaisons at Whitman Middle School and no-cost full-day kindergarten.

“We said the things that we took out to get to the [9.5 percent] increase in the assessment were the exact positions we said that would be, but we never once said we were taking the [computers] out,” Gilbert-Whitner countered. “We felt that they were instructional supplies that are needed absolutely to provide level services as we move to testing that has to be done online.”

The 600 new devices were divided between the middle schools in support of the math and science curriculum and the high school, where standardized testing is going to be exclusively online in coming years.

Duval’s fundraising has put that school “three or four carts away” from having a Chromebook for every student, Peters said.

“In my thinking, these are supplies that our students need,” she said. “What used to be a textbook that we would have put into a budget, can’t be a textbook anymore.”

The middle school math and science program, for example, is “absolutely dependent” on the use of Chromebooks. Pulling the devices would have put students behind.

“There was no intent by anyone — the leadership team, the administrative team — to say that those had been cut,” Gilbert-Whitner said. “We were extremely clear in what we said. … There was no intent to try and fool somebody or to say we’re not doing what we’re doing. I think we’re very transparent — maybe we need to be more so in the future.”

NEW PRINCIPALS

In other business, W-H Principal Jeffrey Szymaniak, who becomes superintendent in July, introduced the new principals hired at district schools.

Succeeding Szymaniak at WHRHS will be Dr. Christopher Jones, who had been principal of Seekonk High School. He was introduced to the staff June 6.

Whitman Middle School’s current Assistant Principal Michael Grable will take the helm as principal when Principal George Ferro assumes his new position as assistant superintendent of schools in July.

Jill Cotreau will be the new principal at Indian Head School in Hanson. She was introduced to the staff last week. A new Duval School principal was expected to be hired by Friday, June 8. There are still vacancies for assistant principals at Indian Head and Whitman Middle School to fill.

Indian Head Principal Dr. Elizabeth Wilcox is taking a new job in Hingham and Duval Principal Julie McKillop is taking a position in Scituate.

“We had several search committees,” Gilbert-Whitner said. “We had wonderful people helping us with those.”

Szymaniak also lauded the search process.

“I think we have fantastic people in place right now,” he said. “The staff reaction to the folks that are here has been extremely positive, they were accessible and answered questions.”

Cotreau thanked the search committees for the opportunity.

“I’m so excited to be part of Indian Head and part of your school district,” she said. “I’m excited to jump right in and get started and for the opportunity to show you what we can do.”

“I hear great things about W-H and I really look forward to stepping into this position and taking it to even greater heights than it already is,” Jones said. “Thanks for the opportunity.”

Grable joked about the famously casual nature of Ferro’s attire — generally featuring cargo shorts and, occasionally sandals — at some past School Committee meetings.

“I just want to apologize for the way I’m dressed,” he said of his khaki slacks and black polo shirt. “I just found out I was going to be introduced tonight. I think George was a little excited to go on [the eighth-grade trip to New York] and he forgot to tell me.”

“I am very excited about my new position,” Grable said. “I can’t wait.”

“He didn’t forget,” Small joked.

“He’s got pants on,” Cullity quipped about Grable.

Special Education Parent Advisory Council co-chairman Tina Sidstone and co-chairman Jim Fitzgerald reviewed the SEPAC’s past year and plans for the 2018-19 school year.

Sidstone said they had taken a relatively inactive PAC and revitalized it, holding eight meetings and doubling participation to about 24 parent members. A representative from each school has also attended and SEPAC has also surveyed members about potential programs.

“We are very excited for the next school year,” Fitzgerald said. “Back in September I didn’t know what the SEPAC was and now I’m the co-chair.”

He said the group will be producing informational brochures and he and Sidstone will sit down for an interview with the Whitman-Hanson Expressover the summer to help raise awareness of the group. There are 10 SEPAC meetings slated for the next school year, starting in September.

SEPAC is also planning what is intended to be an annual family picnic day as an opportunity to meet first responders and hopes to build on speaker programs with a resource fair in the early fall.

Small suggested School Committee members could find it beneficial to attend SEPAC meetings as well.

CES grads take different path

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The harder one has to fight for something, the more it generally means to achieve it.

For the 14 graduates of the W-H Community Evening School’s Class of 2018 that certainly seemed to be the case as they crossed the stage at the Dr. John F. McEwan Performing Arts Center Thursday, May 31 to receive their diplomas. Acknowledging the pride their families take in the accomplishment, many selected parents to hand them those diplomas. For others, CES Director William Glynn or English teacher Keryn Cordo did the honors and Charles Sampson-Williams asked his U.S. Air Force recruiter Sgt. David LaPlant to do the honors.

The evening was also a moment of proud passage for W-H Principl Jeffrey Szymaniak and Superintendent of Schools Dr. Ruth Gilbert-Whitner.

Szymaniak, who will take the post of superintendent on July 1, got his start teaching alternative education students in Plymouth, moving on to teach five subjects in one classroom “to some angry freshmen in Abington” and U.S. history in a non-traditional day program in Scituate.

Gilbert-Whitner, who is retiring after 24 years with the W-H Regional School District has been dedicated to the “Every Child Every Day” mantra as superintendent.

“Evening School graduation is very special to me,” Szymaniak told he graduates. “In 2000 — the year many of you were born — my principal allowed me to create my own program.”

That full-time, non-traditional day program helped students who needed an alternative pathway to a diploma.

“I totally get it that traditional high school isn’t easy for some of you, and sometimes not a good fit for anyone,” he said. “That’s why you, the students on stage tonight, are very special to all of us and me.”

He said that, while the path to a diploma hasn’t always been easy for them, their parents or guardians, and each student’s grit got them through.

We are all very proud of you, each and every one of you,” Szymaniak said, taking the liberty to speak for their families and teachers. “You did it. You made it and no one can ever take that away from you.”

Gilbert-Whitner, who noted that her 50th class reunion would be held on Saturday, June 2 and added she would be 117 when the Class of 2018 celebrated their 50th reunion.

She said that, when she sat in their place and listened to graduation speakers, “It was very evident that I didn’t know what I didn’t know.”

That included becoming a school superintendent, or that any woman could achieve that and that she had learned that four key attributes become valuable as one goes through life. By using their head to ask questions, think things through and keep learning; their heart to show empathy and seek understanding; their heads to do the hard work required and their gut to trust their instincts and believe in themselves.

Then, as usual at CES graduations, Glynn stole the show, so to speak, with an irreverent take on graduation advice.

“I’m going to ramble about three things,” he said. “First thing, be you — be honest as you can about you, be the finest version of you as you can.”

Secondly, he advised them to work hard.

“The world is full of people who think avoiding hard work is the way to go. These people — wait for it — are fools,” he said. “Third thing: altruism.”

Glynn asked the graduates to live a life of doing things for other people, expecting nothing in return.

“How can we make our mark in the world? Altruism,” he said. “If you can do [all three] and do it with a little bit of style and flair, I think everything else will take care of itself.”

School Committee Chairman Bob Hayes spoke to the class, as he did with the rest of the W-H graduates, the following night, about the importance of life-long learning — as well as putting down the smart phones once in awhile to interact directly with others.

“Every single day you need to learn something about life, it’s the most important thing you’ll do,” he said. “When you have discussions with other people, you learn many, many things and find the world is rich with experiences — but you have to ask for it.”

Graduates were: Justin E. Cole, Samuell A. Delgado, Alec J. Denver, Regan H. Goode, Lucas M. Goss, Laura A. Hardy, Zachary E. Hunter, Travis C. Lawrence, Brittaney A. Milley, Kyle R. Perkins, Amelia R. Quintero, Hailey M. Ralph, Charles A. Sampson-Williams and Matthew R. Wilson.

Circumstance amid pomp

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HANOVER — One might say that even the South Shore Vo-Tech National Honor Society members of the Class of 2018 went down in history … the school’s history book, that is.

It represented the largest graduating class in school history with 148 diplomas awarded on Friday, June 8 at Cohasset’s South Shore Music Circus. The venue was nearly filled to capacity with graduates and their proud family members.

More members of the Class of 2018 participated in cooperative education work outside the school than ever before and 14 juniors and seniors, accompanied by four faculty chaperones, exercised the school’s renewed dedication to community service in its first service trip over April vacation.

“They showed us that civic-mindedness means playing a role in our community, even one that is hundreds of miles away, and that is because ‘community’ and the common good are not limited by ZIP Codes,” Superintendent-Director Dr. Thomas J. Hickey said in his address. “Our students told me that the service trip inspired them to be part of something bigger than themselves, to tackle something they had never done before.”

Valedictorian Rosa Gachia of Whitman has also made her mark in the SSVT history books. Born and raised in Kenya, Gachia told her fellow graduates that she spoke little to no English when she moved to the United States with her family. She also graduated as the school’s Outstanding Allied Health Technician student and a licensed CNA who will attend Bridgwater State University in the fall and hopes to become a surgeon.

She thanked her father for his influence in her life.

“For as long as I can remember you have guided me and influenced me into making the right decisions,” Gachia said. “You helped me with every stage of my life, including the adjustment into a new country, but I don’t think I was quite ready for the changes high school brought.”

She added the same could be said for many of her classmates. But there were plenty of firsts.

“This was the first class to go on a service trip to New Jersey, the first class to have a rocking senior reception, and the first class to ask someone to prom through an email,” she said encouraging her fellow graduates to continue embracing life and taking risks.

Hickey also singled out the seniors who went to trip to Wall Township, N.J., to help in the continuing recovery effort after Hurricane Sandy for thanks: Grace Ciampa, Alixandra Elliot, Outstanding Metal Fab/Welding Student Cole Hoadley, Kelly Pienkos, Jackson Powers, Outstanding Automotive Mechanic and Vocational Student of the Year Mikaela Drake and Gachia.

“For four years we have told you that the workforce needs your skills and talents,” Hickey said. “Beyond that, the world needs you to share your time and talents with others. Invitations for service are all around you.”

He stressed that means more then building houses for the poor or dispossessed. It includes serving as youth sports coaches, Scout leaders, volunteers in local government and voting in elections or attending town meetings.

Service to country is also important and nine members of the Class of 2018 have enlisted to serve in the armed forces. Students going on to higher education from SSVT have been accepted to more than 50 colleges and universities.

Senior Class President Taylor McKinnon of Abington also spoke of the value in SSVT’s cooperative education program as part of the added responsibilities they found being seniors meant.

“We now had freshmen to watch over,” said McKinnon, who was also the Outstanding Culinary Artist for the Class of 2018. “We earned more and more trust as some of us went out on coop and got real-world experience, while some of us stayed to learn more from our shop teachers.”

She noted the bittersweet nature of graduation, but added SSVT seniors gradate “with two educations that have the power to change our futures.”

But McKinnon also basked in the goofy memories — the time she set off a fire alarm at a SkillsUSA competition or a classmate starting a minor fire in shop freshman year.

“It’s a mistake not to dedicate yourself to the things you are great at,” she concluded. “So, whether it be your trade, art, music or even basket weaving, dedicate yourself to it because your talents are like no other.”

FY ’20 budget work starts early

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WHITMAN — Residents will soon be asked to fill out questionnaires regarding the local government priorities they value — part of an effort, which will include financial work sessions with department heads, to start work on the fiscal 2020 town budget early.

“We’re approaching some pretty interesting times,” Town Administrator Frank Lynam said, noting that Selectmen Chairman Carl Kowalski had raised the proposal of a community assessment survey.

Kowalski and Selectman Brian Bezanson were absent from the Tuesday, June 12 meeting. Lynam met Monday with Dr. Melinda Tarsi from the Bridgewater State University Political Science Department to discuss work on the questionnaire and Lynam has invited her to the June 26 meeting to discuss it with the board in more detail.

“It’s probably essential to our planning for fiscal ’20,” he said. “Not probably — it is essential.”

Selectman Scott Lambiase requested a budget review also be included on the June 12 agenda, and suggested it should be a regular agenda item for the foreseeable future. He said the budget season has to start earlier to get a handle on what is needed and what the town can afford.

“As we’re trying to work with the Finance Committee and trying to get a budget together that we can get into Town Meeting next year, it would be nice to have the department heads present to us … showing cuts and, within that, a narrative on how that’s going to affect services,” Lambiase said. “We need to know, and we need to get it out there to everybody, what’s going to happen if we do have to cut this budget and what it’s going to mean to the level of service that the town’s going to receive.”

Additionally, he said they should also present a level-service or level-funded budget as much is practicable.

“I think we need to be more involved and I think we need to have them come in and present to us [with a certain level of detail] that shows us what they’ve been doing historically and what they’re looking to do in the future,” he said. “We have to let the town know that we are taking this seriously.”

Lynam said the Selectmen used to be more involved in the budget process, but has relegated it to the Finance Committee over the years.

“This is the executive board of the town,” he said. “We need to set direction.”

“We have to jump in and help them [the Finance Committee],” Lambiase agreed. “we have to help set a tone, especially with the larger departments — some of the smaller ones, there’s not much they can do.”

A handful of line-item transfers were approved to fund current shortfalls and a tense discussion centered on the discovery of a calculation error regarding use of the motor vehicle fine reserve for appropriation account and how the Police Department was notified. The error means that, unless another funding avenue can be found, the department can only buy one new cruiser instead of the two approved by Town Meeting in May.

CRUISER CALCULATION

“Unfortunately, at the time we voted, there was a $14,000 credit from the state to motor vehicles that actually belonged to the Complete Streets program,” Lynam explained. “At the time we voted, we believed we had the funds to support the lease-purchase of two vehicles.”

He said he has been looking for options to retain the second cruiser, but so far does not see any. Line item transfers are not a viable option because the purchase involves next year’s money.

“The law requires that you make your appropriation based on what’s available the day it’s voted,” Lynam said.

Police Chief Scott Benton, meanwhile, expressed his irritation about not learning about the agenda item until Monday, June 11.

Lynam countered that the interim accountant informed Benton’s office through Administrative Assistant Katrina Patton the week before.

“For three weeks you’ve known,” Benton said. “Why wouldn’t you inform me as the department head?”

“I knew last week when the accountant came to me and said we had an error in appropriations and she said, ‘Katrina was very upset when I told her about it,’” Lynam related. “At that point, it would have been reasonable to assume that you also would have known.”

Benton said Lynam should have called him directly, but Lynam said Patton was advised since Benton was away.

“I was away — I have my phone,” he said. “I have to answer my phone.”

Regardless of whether, or how, the message was relayed, Selectman Dan Salvucci asked Benton if he had any ideas on how to find the funds for a second cruiser.

“Legally, I don’t know what I can do,” Benton replied. I rely on the town administrator to help me with that stuff.”

He did ask if Lynam could look into the propriety of encumbering funds from this fiscal year to the next, for example $10,000 slated to be turned in out of all other services.

“Fair question,” Lynam said.

The transfers Selectmen approved involved: $2,700 from the removal of dead animals line to animal control expenses;  $165 from Town Meeting and elections line to Town Clerk expenses; $22,000 from Norfolk County Vocational Tuition line to street lighting to cover a recent rate increase; and $44,000 from Norfolk County Vocational Tuition line to the law account. Three students who had planned to attend Norfolk County Vocational, two of which were already budgeted for, will not be attending the school, freeing up the funds.

Selectmen also approved the sale of a $280,000 bond anticipation note dated June 20, 2018 and payable on May 20, 2019 with an interest rate of 2.05 percent to fund streetlight conversion to LED lights.

“When this was first proposed a lot of this was hinging on grants,” said Selectman Randy LaMattina. “I just want to know where we stand with those grants right now.”

Lynam said the town is awaiting a response from the state on two grants — the Metropolitan Area Planning Council grant and the Green Communities grant — which are being sought to pay the full conversion cost. Both are reimbursement grants.

Lynam noted, as he did at Town Meeting, that the borrowing would ensure that the lights can be bought and the debt is serviced even if the grants are not received. If Whitman fails to win the grants, the net cost would be no greater than the $86,000 the town now pays National Grid for maintenance costs and rental fees each year, he argued.

“If we’re successful in getting the grants, it’s pure return,” he said, followed by a $60,000 to $70,000 per year savings on rental and maintenance after that.

“I believe the net savings on the light rentals is $50,000 and I expect that the energy savings is going to be another $20,000,” Lynam said. Even receiving only the $50,000 MAPC grant, he noted, servicing the debt over five years would mean a principal payment of $46,000 per year with interest costs of $5,600.

“The money that we pay out [with no other grant money] would be equal to or less than what we’re paying right now to rent the lights,” he said. “And then we achieve the energy savings of LEDs.”

Assistant Town Administrator Lisa Green said comparable figures to other towns on maintenance contracts is difficult because the number of street lights is different from town to town.

“Right now the town is looking for ways of saving money any way we can because of the situation we’re in where we had to cut the budget drastically this year to make ends meet,” said Salvucci. “I think anything that we do that saves the town money in the long run, we need to plan ahead.”

LaMattina was concerned about the up-front installation costs as well as maintenance costs during the life of the bond.

“I don’t have any reason to believe that we would not receive the grants,” Green said. “We followed all deadlines and stayed up to date with all the requirements. … I’d be heart-broken if we didn’t receive the Green Communities, we’ve received it the last two years.”

Consultant costs for low-bidder Light Smart are $14,728, including the audit, lighting design and project management. The cost is part of the $280,000 total cost.

“There’s not many communities that fall into the timeline to apply for both of the grants,” Green said.

In other business, the board approved a three-step process for the application, evaluation and recommendation of those seeking appointment as constables. The police chief would be involved in investigating and evaluating applicants and make recommendations to Selectmen.

Hanson Selectmen to give voters say on cannabis

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HANSON — The Board of Selectmen has approved the placement of a local-control retail marijuana bylaw, banning the sale of cannabis, before October’s special Town Meeting as well as a referendum ballot.

Discussing the issue only among themselves without accepting questions or comments from the public, the board agreed 5-0 that the state’s Chapter 94G provisions for the two-step process would best permit residents to have a say on the issue.

Selectmen also declined to share their own personal opinions on the issue as irrelevant.

“I’m not even going to share that because it doesn’t really matter,” said Selectmen Chairman Kenny Mitchell, supporting the Town Meeting warrant article. “I got voted in to make the right decision for the town of Hanson. I personally think that it should be left up to the voters.”

Selectman Laura FitzGerald-Kemmett, who asked for the issue to be placed on the board’s agenda, agreed with Mitchell.

“We’re here to do the will of the people,” she said. “I don’t think it matters what each one of us individually think and I’m not here to argue for or against the moral merits because the state has decided that it’s legal.”

She said she did not anticipate, nor endorse “continually” bringing the issue back before the board.

“Move forward,” Selectman Wes Blauss said in support of the article.

“I believe the will of the people will really be voiced,” agreed Selectman Matt Dyer.

“It’s up to the people,” Selectman Jim Hickey said.

They rejected claims they had heard around town that it was a ploy to give proponents “a second bite of the apple.”

Selectmen plan to hold an informational forum on the issue before the special Town Meeting to permit residents to ask questions and/or comment on the issue.

 “This is on the agenda because the Board of Selectmen wanted to talk about this and make a decision whether or not we wanted to move forward regarding retail marijuana shops,” said Mitchell. “This started in November 2016 [when] we had a state-wide vote … whether or not we wanted to legalize marijuana. The town of Hanson said yes. It was a slim margin, but we said yes.”

The next year Town Meeting rejected a moratorium measure sought by the Planning Board, based on an East Bridgewater measure designed to provide towns more time to obtain more information before further action was taken.

“We were very surprised that it did not pass, that people did not want to at least take some time to be thoughtful and study it,” said FitzGerald-Kemmett. “I think that a lot of people, when it was voted on at the state level, were voting on it conceptually. … ‘Am I OK with it in the state of Massachusetts?’ They weren’t necessarily aware … now you need a two-step process [to keep it out of town].”

In July 2017, Gov. Charlie Baker developed a process for towns that voted yes on the 2016 ballot to opt out of permitting retail shops within their borders.

“If a town voted no on marijuana [in 2016] all they had to do was go to a Town Meeting vote to ban retail shops,” Mitchell said. “If a town voted yes, then there is a two-step process.”

A local-control bylaw would have to go before Town Meeting, and if approved there, to a referendum.

“The two votes that we’ve had are totally different than we’re discussing tonight,” Mitchell said.

In other business, the board approved a request by the Education Committee to place information, as well as a request for donations, on the tax bill in an effort to spur donations.

“There’s a misconception bout what the Hanson Education Fund is and we’re hoping to alleviate some of that and have people understand what it is,” said Chairman Gary Banuk. The fund has been on the tax bill as a donation option since 1993.

Response has not been good of late, with last year averaging about $150 per quarter in total donations.

“That’s not really a lot to help the students of Hanson,” Banuk said, noting that funds had been donated to purchase Chromebooks for Hanson schools last year. It is not limited to primary or secondary school pupils. Residents of Hanson with educational expenses are welcome to apply for funding, including for college or other vocational education costs such as books.

Selectmen also discussed their goals for the year, most of which are ongoing projects. But Blauss requested the addition of a plastic bag ban and Dyer asked if polystyrene beverage cups could be added to that list.

“We can look around at the process that other towns have already worked at to do this,” Blauss said. “I also don’t want to scare our businesses, either, by going at it so fast that they don’t have time to adjust.”

Town Administrator Michael McCue said that issue, conceivably could go before the October Town Meeting, providing a grace period until the start of next fiscal year before implementation in order to give local businesses time to make accommodation.

A lot to cheer about

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On the 50th anniversary of the Class of 1968, the news has been ticking off that milestone in national and world events — the Tet Offensive in Vietnam, student strikes in Paris and Prague, assassinations of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and Sen. Robert F. Kennedy during his presidential campaign and the riots at the Chicago Democratic National Convention.

But for many young people who graduated high school in that tumultuous year, it was the beginning of a life dedicated to improving the lives of others.

The 275 members of the Class of 2018 have that in common with their predecessors.

It is a class that has been — and plans to continue to be — dedicated to public service as 15 members will join the military after high school or college, several have charted majors geared toward education, medicine or other related pursuits and at least one plans to join the Peace Corps.

“We have such an awesome class, one comprised of driven athletes, talented musicians and performers, brilliant artists, leaders, and humanitarians,” said Salutatorian Cameron Rogers in his address. “Thank you for being such a great group of friends to go to school with every day.”

He noted that the people they were as freshmen may have been far different than the seniors they have become — or the adults they can be.

“If you wished your journey through high school went differently, I encourage you to be active and involved wherever the next step in your life takes you,” he challenged. “That is the best way to discover yourself and what you love to do. Once you realize what you love to do, take it and run with it.”

One student, Hanson’s Aubrie Galinis will be studying bioinformatics aiming to get her bachelor’s degree and pursue a career in medical research. Galinis, who uses a wheelchair, said she was looking forward to graduating prior to the Friday, June 1 ceremony to “move on to the next chapter” of her life. The national Honor Society member and recipient of the Class of 1968 Scholarship will attend Wheaton College in Norton this fall.

Principal Jeffrey Szymniak reviewed some of the class’ accomplishments in service to others during his remarks during Friday’s ceremony before awarding 50th anniversary diplomas to members of the Class of 1968 present — and of an honorary 50th anniversary diploma from WHRHS to Superintendent of Schools Dr. Ruth Gilbert-Whitner. She was traveling the next morning to celebrate her 50th reunion with classmates in Mercersburg, Pa.

She advised the graduates to recognize now, what she learned long after her own high school graduation — “As I sat through speeches like this one, it is now evident that I didn’t even know what I didn’t know,” she said. That included not knowing, as she began her college years majoring in biology, that she would retire 50 years later as a school superintendent or that a woman could ever hold that position.

By using their head to ask questions, think things through and keep learning; their heart to show empathy and seek understanding; their heads to do the hard work required and their gut to trust their instincts and believe in themselves.

“Whether you are graduating from high school today or walked across the stage 50 years ago, a balance of head, heart, hands, and gut will ensure that as the world changes, you will also grow, prosper, and change with it,” she said.

In addition to those planning to serve in uniform, Szymaniak lauded the 81 John and Abigail Adams Scholars in the class; 53 who participated in the Experiential Learning & Leadership internship program; honor society members who worked on projects to support food pantries, Habitat for Humanity, cancer fundraisers, the Brockton VA Hospital, hurricane relief in Puerto Rico and Texas and area homeless shelters as well as the school’s SADD chapter, which worked on the biannual pre-prom mock car crash.

Student speakers also alluded to the past dedication and future aims of their classmates.

“I am excited for everything that the future holds for every one of us,” said class President Kristina Woodward. “We all have the ability to change the world in our own way, despite time continuously working against us, and I am eager to see where everyone’s hands end up.

“Maybe I’ll run into Lexi Grazioso at 5 o’clock on some remote island in the tropics nursing a sea turtle back to health, or I’ll call up David Murphy around 3 p.m. to have him help me with my finances, or I’ll hear someone singing on the radio on my way to work at 6 and immediately know that its Grayce Brown’s new single …” Woodward said, comparing their school lives and future to a clock.

Valedictorian Kaitlyn Morrison said that, while educational lessons, friendships and athletic achievements of the class are memorable; the Class of 2018 has done much to improve their world already.

“We have participated in multiple Shanty Town fundraisers for Habitat for Humanity,” she said. “We have been a part of and organized a school walkout for the victims of the Parkland school shooting. These are just some of the incredible accomplishments and memories we have made here at Whitman-Hanson. Whitman-Hanson’s Class of 2018 has become a family whose home is this school.”

She also urged classmates to cherish the memories they have made.

“Maybe this was the place that you fell in love. Maybe this is where you lost someone. Maybe this was the place you met your best friend. Maybe it was a place where you went through hardship. Or maybe it was the place where you discovered your true self,” Morrison said. “Whatever your experience maybe, cherish these years. Don’t look back with despair or regret of the things that you didn’t do. Look back at the accomplishments you’ve made.”

Speaking for the Class of 2018, senior Riley MacDonald reminded her classmates that they were much more than their grade point average.

“I have a challenge for you,” she said. “I challenge you to strive for greatness and achieve all of your goals. For a chapter of our lives is coming to an end today but another one is waiting to be started.”

School Committee Chairman Bob Hayes suggested a good place to start is to take it easy on social media and strive to interact more with people face-to-face.

“Cell phones are great but they do have a place and it’s not at the dinner table,” he said to cheers and applause from parents in the audience. “Our future is together.”

(Stephanie Spyropoulos contributed to this report.)