BOSTON – State Rep. Kenneth P. Sweezey, R-Duxbury, has been appointed to several key House and Joint Committees for the 2025-2026 legislative session.
These assignments will allow him to continue to advocate for public safety, economic growth, and environmental responsibility—three issues critical to the communities of the 6th Plymouth District. Representative Sweezey, who has a background as a law enforcement forensic scientist, is particularly proud to serve on the Public Safety & Homeland Security Committee. His experience gives him firsthand insight into the challenges faced by law enforcement professionals, and he is committed to supporting policies that keep Massachusetts residents safe.
“My previous work in law enforcement was a lifelong dream of mine and a point of pride, and I am excited to continue that work on the Public Safety Committee,” said Sweezey. As the son of small business owners and a former member of the Hanson Economic Development Committee, Representative Sweezey looks forward to his role on the Economic Development & Emerging Technologies Committee.
“I look forward to fostering a more competitive business environment in Massachusetts—something that is lacking at times—by keeping our small businesses in the Commonwealth and in the 6th Plymouth District,” said Sweezey. As the Ranking Minority
Member on the Environment & Natural Resources Committee, Representative Sweezey will focus on protecting the coastal communities he represents, like Duxbury and Marshfield. Recognizing the importance of responsible environmental policy, he will work to balance conservation efforts with recreation, ensuring that both natural resources and local industries are preserved for future generations. Additionally, Sweezey has been appointed as the Ranking Minority Member on the Labor & Workforce Development Committee, where he will advocate for policies that support workers, promote fair labor practices, and encourage workforce competitiveness.
“I look forward to continuing the work that former Representative Cutler has done and hope that the Undersecretary will partner to serve the 6th Plymouth” Sweezey said. “I am honored to receive these committee assignments and grateful to House leadership for this opportunity. I look forward to building strong partnerships and advancing policies that benefit both my constituents in the 6th Plymouth District and the entire Commonwealth.”
Serving Hanson’s seniors
HANSON – Council on Aging Director Mary Collins updated the Select Board on Tuesday, Feb. 25 by “introducing” them to some elder neighbors facing challenges board members may never had imagined being issues in their little town.
“Quite frankly, it’s good for you to hear once a year, some of the figures from the Senior Center,” she said. But many in the public have attitudes that can hinder the work the centers do, according to Collins, who listed some of the public’s reaction to the phrase “senior center:”
• “You’ll never find me in a senior center;”
• “I’m too young to go to a senior center;”
• “They don’t have anything that interests me.”
But when a crisis happens, regarding their health, their spouse’s health, possibly that of their parents or a friend, they turn to the senior center.
“It could be a change in their financial situation, getting behind in payments, or their refusal to burden their children with such worries,” she said. “Where do they go?”
When home modifications are needed for parents to move in, but adult children can’t afford to make those modifications, where can they turn? Problems in finding affordable housing – possibly from the loss of a spouse leaves a person fearful.
“They have a place to turn,” Collins said.
Senior centers help when physical limitations make preparing healthy meals too difficult, or the mailbox is overflowing with material from different healthcare providers as they turn 65 and it gets confusing. Where do these people turn?
“They turn to the senior center,” she said. “They turn to the Hanson Senior Center. Whether it’s through a call to the Town Hall asking for help; whether it’s directly to us, we seem to foster those kind of calls on almost a daily basis.”
Select Board members expressed their appreciation for the work Collins and her staff provide.
“You know we’re huge fans of the work that you do every day all day,” Select Board Chair Laura FitzGerald-Kemmett said. “You’re an amazing person and we’re lucky to have you. What can we do to help you?”
She said that the board does not want to see Collins or her staff get burned out, so, whether she need more part-time people, or whatever else she needed, FitzGerald-Kemmett said.
“If you have the conversation, it might not happen today, but we can try to build it into things and get you that additional support so you can continue to do what you’re doing and you might even be able to do more,” she said.
“Two services that are vastly underfunded [in Hanson] are veterans’ services and the Council on Aging, said Board member Joe Weeks. “That demographic is only rising, and veterans have always been underserviced. If you don’t ask, we can’t help.”
According to figures Collins obtained from the Hanson Town Clerk’s office 4,115 residents are over age 55. If the population is 11,000 that figure represents more than 37 percent of the population. At 10,000 residents it would be 41 percent of the population. Many senior centers want to keep up with the changing interests of people, such as technology and educational programs.
Weeks said Town Meeting is the place where the town decides where its money goes, and if departments don’t know to ask for it there, he doesn’t think it’s possible to get it.
Board member Ed Heal also thanked Collins for her hard work, adding he thinks he’s taken Collins and her department for granted because they are able to do so much.
“I know you need more help, but what you do is unbelievable – way beyond what one person should be doing,” he said.
“That is really difficult to do at the Hanson Senior Center because I have a part-time administrative assistant … a part-time outreach person … I have a van driver and myself,” she said. In 2024, the Hanson Senior Center delivered more than 4,500 meals to people, congregate hot meals were served to more than 1,000 and more than 6,800 people got transportation to the center and/or medical appointments.
Referral paperwork for SNAP and housing assistance paperwork was provided by Collins personally for well over 65 people last year, and the most time-consuming assistance provided by senior center staff and volunteers was for Medicare enrollment was proved to 398 individuals – 170 of them during the annual open enrollment period from mid-October to Dec. 7. That assistance saved those clients more than $91,000.
The weekly programs for community connections and entertainment are also very popular. A healthy aging program offered by Old Colony Elder Services on memory boosting last year was very well attended and a new education program offered this beginning in March, will be a six-week program on chronic illness and disease management.
Perhaps most needed was the Modular unit they recently obtained through a $300,000 grant, which permitted the much-needed Leah’s Club supportive day program.
“It was our one and only chance,” Collins said of the grant. “We’re not like the library – we don’t get that funding.”
The grant was designed for elder services organizations that had lost, or were thinking of starting, a supportive day program.
“We had a supportive day program for 27 years when COVID hit,” she said. “As a result of COVID and people having to not work during that period, we lost the program. …[Leah’s Club] is a group which was established to fill an unmet need that the loss of the supportive day program during COVID left in it’s wake.”
Collins and her staff were “very strongly aware” of people in the community with forms of dementia and Alzheimer’s disease whose families and spouses were trying to care for them and keep them safe.
“We started Leah’s Club simply because of this need,” she said, noting that one day supportive day Director Leah Guercio, 96, came to Collins and said they had to fill that void in services. Guercio and her young assistant are paid out of a formula grant.
“We have wonderful volunteers,” she said of Leah’s Club, which meets twice a week from 9 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. on Tuesdays and Wednesdays. “People are engaged, they feel like a human being again and gives their families a little bit of respite that they need.
Henry Monet’s Wednesday Dancing with Henry program is very popular with Leah’s Club and sends them out the door to the old song, “You’re My Best Friend.”
The grant helped address a big challenge in returning Leah’s Club, as well – a lack of space.
“People came out of the woodwork for Leah’s Club,” she said. “People can’t afford assisted living housing.”
Once the modular building was obtained, the senior center asked clients’ families if there was any interest in bringing it back up to five days a week. The answer was a resounding, “Yes,” even if they have to pay for it. That full-time service will return in May.
“It’s an answer for a lot of families,” she said.
Collins thanked public safety partners from the Hanson Fire and Police departments that keep seniors safe and go the extra mile by teaching seniors a CPR class, and the Hanson Food Pantry, which has set up a little free “store” in the center lobby for clients to help stretch their food benefits and may be shy about going to the main food pantry.
She also thanked the Friends of the Hanson Senior Center as well as Hanson Community Christmas for always caring for seniors in the community,
Whitman eyes override terms
WHITMAN – Voters will be asked to vote on an operational override of Proposition 2.5 at the Monday, May 5 Town Meeting and the Saturday, May 17 Town Election, but the amount of the override has not yet been determined as the town faces a current deficit of $2.5 million.
“The budget indicates that an override is definitely necessary to maintain level services,” said Select Board member Shawn Kain, who has been working with Town Administrator Mary Beth Carter and Assistant Town Administrator Kathy Keefe, during the Tuesday, Feb. 25 meeting.
Free cash, meanwhile, has finally been certified at $2.2 million and Kain credited the town’s financial policies with keeping projections tighter.
Later in the meeting, the Select Board voted to impose a soft hiring freeze of new municipal employees because of the town’s finances, requiring approval from the Select Board, town administration so they can decide if a hold needs to be placed on a position that might be eliminated.
Execptions include a veterans services agent, which is mandated by law.
Superintendent of Schools Jeff Szymaniak also attended the meeting. Select Board member Laura Howe was absent.
The Select Board and Finance Committee will be meeting to discuss the issue further at its Tuesday, March 25 meeting and to schedule some public information forums in April.
Kain on the budget, said that he favors a smaller, short-term override, with the possibility of further overrides being necessary.
As of now, both boards are leaning toward a one-year override.
FinCom member Mike Andrews also said it would be advisable to put their cards on the table and let taxpayers know ahead of time it might not be just a “one-shot deal.”
“We may need to come back,” he said.
“That’s my concern,” said FinCom Vice Chair Mike Warner. “If we do an override right now, and we just meet the deficit, that means you’re guaranteeing you’re going to have an override next year.”
He said a move that would help any decision on an override, is to mandate a five-year plan from all departments, citing one the DPW has created.
Select Board Vice Chair Dan Salvucci said there is no guarantee that departments would be able to stick to a five-year plan.
“I want to make sure that we’re not positioning this conversation around this school as the reason for this override,” Winter said. “There are other things … that we know have to be done.”
He said he does not believe there’s time between now and May to come up with a projection for a multi-year ask of that magnitude.
Select Board Chair Dr. Carl Kowalski asked Kain if he could have two scenarios – for a one-year and a three-year override – ready in a couple of weeks. Kain said he could do that, as they have already done a one-year, and could have some in some detail, by March 25.
An informational contingency budget will be worked on by a working group between the town administration, the FinCon and Kain as informational tool.
Finance Committee Chair Kathleen Ottina opened the discussion with her statement on the budget before Kain provided a brief budget update.
“Tonight’s a big meeting to inform the finance committee on updating the current situation – I know what it is, but my committee members don’t,” she said. “I’ve looked at the school budget. I’ve analyzed [it] and I’ve sent [Szymaniak] my copy of the analysis with 32 questions.”
Ottina noted that Whitman, as a community, as a town, completely supported [SST’s] building, were very excited about it, and they also excited about the fact that SST is introducing two new programs. For veterinary technician and plumbing.
“This is going to offer students in the 21st century, opportunities that they don’t currently have,” she said. “But when it comes to the W-H Regional School district, there was not an awful lot of support from some corners of the town for the new middle school building, despite the fact that it was desperately needed, and yet it passed – and yet there are no new programs, despite the impact of the current budget, there are no new programs in the WH school budget.”
The middle school language program is not being returned, and no robotics courses are being offered, Ottina noted.
“No future thinking … to offer our kids to have more of them stay in W-H, so I think, when we come to making decisions about how we fund the schools, we as a community have been very generous and very supportive of the schools over the years, but we need to keep in mind that we’re only going to retain the kids if we provide an equitable education for all of them.”
“I couldn’t agree with you more,” said Kowalski.
South Shore Tech Superintendent-Director Dr. Thomas J. Hickey was meeting with the Finance Committee that evening following the joint meeting with the Select Board. Szymaniak will present the school budget to the Finance Committee on March 11.
Ottina, who had been attending meetings remotely of late, due to illness, said she has been working “behind the scenes” and also met remotely with Carter to keep on top of the town’s financial situation. She had contributed a couple of spread sheets during that time analyzing how things are going for the town financially.
“The key point … is the $993,176 – the amount of new revenue over last year that we can use toward the operating budget,” Kain said. One of the Select Board’s fiscal priorities is to put 10 to 15 percent of free cash into capital stabilization this year, Kain added. Another 10 to 15 percent is being eyed for stabilization.
After processing the budget figures provided by the W-H School District earlier this month, coupled with the town’s budget forecast in December and updated revenue figures for the town and its expenditures, Kain offered a brief revue to facilitate discussion.
Whitman’s “solid number” for the $797,975 as the 2.5 percent, plus $200,000 in new growth, puts the town’s projected levy limit at $32,916,982, with excluded debt of $4,346.763 and receipts form other sources at $10,872,308 brings the maximum allowable levy at $10,872,308 for a total revenue of $48,136,053.
After charges and offsets are calculated the available funds are $47,410,216. The town also used $509,000 in free cash to balance the budget at last year’s Town meeting.
“Switching over to expenses, that Plymouth County Retirement figure is a real killer,” Kain said. At $363,000 it represents an 11-percent increase. “That’s a huge increase that’s very difficult to account for.” Medical insurance is also up 7 percent. With Carter’s support, Kain said he would like to place another $200,000 from free cash to offset the major liability at Plymouth County Retirement.
“We do not support using free cash in the operating budget,” he said, explaining it as a short-tern use for the next five years, but recognizing that the schools are in a tough situation, the board recommends using $140,000 of the meals tax that was otherwise going to be used for OPEB, dedicated for educational purposes.
The other post-employment benefits liability would instead be funded with $140,000 in free cash.
Carter added that Town Hall needs an accounting software package to replace the current one, which is approaching end-of-life, and Fire Chief Timothy Clancy has been talking about a new fire engine, which could cost $1.8 million.
“In order to have money for these huge expenditures, we really need to be consistent,” said, endorsing the placement of 10 to 15 percent of free cash into capital stabilization, as well as the 10 to 15 percent into regular stabilization.
The Select Board agreed with the stabilization moves.
“When towns get in trouble is when they stop putting money into stabilization,” Select Board member Justin Evans said.
W-H’s assessment – at $1.8 million increase is 9.65 percent and SST’s assessment is actually down as Whitman’s enrollment is down and the overall enrollment at SST is stable.
The town’s salary increases at 2.5 percent is the placeholder, he added, noting that all town unions are currently in negotiations.
Expenses based on figures available in December were basically “zeroes across he board,” Kain said, adding expenses that must be paid into Article 2, to provide a little more realistic picture of where expenses need to be even with “a really sparse budget.”
Kain said the new growth figure is less than the town typically anticipates, but added that the feedback they are getting is that building is down a little bit.
“I feel pretty strongly that I think we should have a small override, one year, that we show the public how we’re sacrificing, as well,” Kain said. “Because of the debt the town has incurred with new building projects, people are going to feel the burden pretty significantly with that, and it’s understandable. To recognize that, the appropriate step forward – just my opinion – is a smaller override, one that is more palatable than adding significant services.”
Ideally, Kain said he would support a multi-year override, but he’s having a problem with the town’s ability to predict how much that would be over, say, five years, to a high degree.
“We have some unique variables in Whitman and Hanson that make it really difficult to project out that are beyond our control,” he said.
Kowalski said he had been supporting a multiple-year override, until he listened to Kain more carefully.
“I think I agree with you,” he said. “What you just described might be the way to go.”
Evans, however, said he thinks a multiple-year approach is the way to go.
“I don’t know that we have the numbers today,” he said, but didn’t think it would be too difficult to “get a good ballpark figure,” noting that the school district’s projections are available, the board can make some assumptions how on contract might go and other expenses within town departments for a three-year override, based on those assumptions. Getting beyond that, Evans did see forecasting problems.
“We could probably pencil in 10 percent for pension increases, 7 percent for health care increases – it seems like it’s going to continue to stay high,” he said.
Finance Committee members seemed to agree a shorter-period override would pose less of a burden on taxpayers, but have not discussed it a their meetings.
Challenge ahead on special education funding
Mandated services for special education students – and the future of federal funding and grants to pay for them as well as other programs offered by the school district – have become a source of concern for educators during the current budget season.
Superintendent of Schools Jeff Szymaniak on Wednesday, Feb. 12 outlined the budget pressures and concerns facing school districts during a period of uncertainty at the federal level.
“We’re presenting a budget here and I want people out there to know, we get money from the Department of Education in Washington, and it’s $1.4 million,” he said.
The school district receives $1.8 million in grants from both state and federal funding, not included in the budget. One of the revenue sources for the overall budget that concerns Szymaniak is federal grants. The IDEA 240 special education grant [a little over $1 million] and A 262 preschool grant carries $41,000.
“I’m just reading what I hear and what comes down from the state,” Szymaniak said. “We received something from our attorney that there’s no cause to be alarmed, but just be mindful.”
Vice Chair Hillary Kniffen also noted that the district is legally responsible for providing the services to students, and the state doesn’t give enough support.
“What we do here – we do a lot, and I can’t say enough about our teaching staff our support staff, our paraprofessionals – working really hard for our students during difficult times,” Szymaniak said. “People are uneasy about a lot of different things.”
A federal Title 1 Grant [$375,000], among the Title 1 through Title 4 non-competitive entitlement grants the district receives from the Department of Education, is passed to districts through Department of Elementary and Secondary Education (DESE).
“One of the things that is concerning, a little bit, is the federal grants. … There has been some talk that they’re going to eliminate the funding source from the fed,” he said. “It concerns me. Right now, it’s in the budget – it’s $1.4 million in our budget (the Title 1 and IDEA 240 grant funding). If it goes away, I don’t know where we’re coming up with those funds for our students That’s something we’ve had for forever.”
Grant 147/644 is a high school internship grant. Other grants promote safe and healthy learning, vacation acceleration academies, 21st Century grants, an innovation-career pathways grant and a 710 grant which reinforces education and student health.
Szymniak said that, if the district relies on grants, “And I think it’s pretty clear here, that we do,” either they end up moving staff around, cutting staff or not providing those programs.
“We pay teachers out of that,” he said. “Some of the 21st Century grants are those special programs after school for some of our students at-risk, so it’s not only the course of the school day.”
Member Rosemary Connolly asked if all federal funding is iffy.
Last week, a televised video of a White-House governor’s conference with the president, showed him threatening Maine Gov. Janet Mills with elimination of federal funding for her state if she refuses to comply with his executive order banning transgender women from competing in women’s sports.
“See you in court,” Mills replied.
Atop the W-H fiscal concerns are district-wide special education programs and services, he said.
“We start servicing our students at 3 years old,” Szymaniak said. “If a student qualifies in our preschool for special education or has qualified for special intervention services, prior to age 3, we have to support that student and those student need.”
That can mean everything from speech, some students are autistic, some are medically fragile, there’s a wide variety of special education needs begin at 3 years old, he noted.
There are autism support rooms, integrated classrooms where students receiving some special education services are in classrooms with students tuitioned in, like peers at the preschool level. A therapeutic learning center for emotional impairment is among elementary school services along with TLC program at both Conley and Duval, ASD programs, PACES (a program for developmental and intellectual disabilities) and a language-based program for students not necessarily fully integrated and in need of support.
At the middle school level, TLC (a program that helps students who have had prolonged absence due to illness or injury, return to the school routine), ASD, PACES and the language-based program.
“You can see, trickling up from age 3, if you need services, we are there to provide those services,” Szymaniak said.
PACES continues at the high school, allowing students to graduate out of the program and, if need be, attend the post-graduate program – servicing students from age 18 to 22.
There are also dual-certified teacher in special education-science as well as in history, English and math, in an academic learning center (ALC), for students who may need some support, but not necessarily a fully integrated program during their high school years.
The district also employs nine speech pathologists and two assistants. Three occupational therapists, one certified therapist assisting and four board-certified behavior analysts (down from five last year), who help students with behavioral issues in the classrooms. A contract service provider is available for students who need physical therapy.
An average of 19 students attending collaborative programs at area agencies such as North River Collaborative, costing $82,310 per student, which are not negotiable prices. The total cost of the collaboratives is $1.9 million.
There are 250 English learners are also enrolled this school year.
“The law says, and our district does, try to create an environment of least-restrictive classroom setting for our students,” Szymaniak said. What’s written in a student’s IEP (individual education plan) determines where a student will be placed. Being a member of the collaboratives saves the district about 15 percent on tuition.
The district also has a residential placement at a cost of nearly $430,000 per year. Circuit-breaker covers up to 75 percent of the coverage over that.
Another 18 students are enrolled in private, out-of-district placements.
“Private placement tuitions have gone up extensively post-COVID and we don’t really have control over that,” Szymaniak said. That total is about $2.8 million, about $160,000 per student, he said, noting the figure is lower than some other districts. An additional $2.3 million has been estimated to be the cost of transportation to those programs.
“That’s more expensive than Harvard,” member Glen DiGravio said. “That’s the greatest education in the world.”
“We actually have lower-than-average special ed costs,” Connolly said. “But it’s still expensive. One of the stressors that we want to look at, is what is the appropriate price tag to educate a child, and are the towns actually paying that appropriate price tag? … Sometimes we get into, ‘How do we get it cheaper?’ as opposed to what is the most effective education we could provide.”
The district plans to add an ASD program at the high school in either FY 2027 or 28, in an effort to provide services to middle schoolers aging out.
“We want to keep our kids home,” Szymaniak said. “We don’t want to send them somewhere – a residential placement or a residential or private school – one, because of cost; but, two, we want to keep them with like peers here in district,” he said.
The state is budgeting $1.3 million for those costs to W-H,” School Committee member Dawn Byers said.
Szymaniak said the district is not alone in the budgeting gap for special education, adding that schools are struggling to afford it.
“Our goal is to provide every student an opportunity to be successful in our district,” Superintendent of Schools Jeff Szymaniak. “The goal of this budget is to keep as-is – not to add more, because based on the data that we have … we’re doing a decent job.”
He said that, in his opinion, students get a pretty good education in a budget that, comparable to other districts, is lower.
Aside from illness, flu, RSV, noralvirus and COVID are all circulating again; changes in the media and other volatile components of society, Szymaniak assured the community that W-H students are “well taken care of both academically and socially.
New friends amid old struggles
HANSON – Author and “Chronicle” contributor Ted Reinstein loves “The Main Streets and Backroads of New England,” so much so, that’s where he found the subjects of one of his books – and several people he now considers close friends.
This is a person who finds comfort and adventure in the small communities of rural New England. But one of his first visits to Hanson Library shook him.
Reinstein shared the anecdote as a humorous opening to is recent book talk at Hanson Public Library, titled, “Travels Through the Heart and Soul of New England: Stories of Struggle, Resilience and Triumph,” on Tuesday, Feb. 18.
“Part of what I love about coming down here is it is tucked away,” he said of the Hanson Library.
Not having GPS at the time, he thought, Reinstein sought directions out of town after his talk. He recalled how two library staff members argued a bit about directing him.
“It’s the most lost I’ve ever been in my life,” he said to hid full-house author talk.
After driving a while, he came upon a large swamp in the dark.
“Oh, my god,” he thought to himself. “This is the Bridgewater Triangle!”
“I’ve been traveling all over New England for almost 30 years and this book is about the most memorable people I’ve met. Every single person is someone whose story not only intrigued me a lot…In telling their stories, I got to be equally fascinated with each of these people and, with no exceptions, they’ve become lifelong friends,” he said. “That is why I wanted to write a book. That doesn’t happen with every story – it can’t – but it did, and that’s why I wanted to tell their stories.”
It’s also about “third places.” Not workplaces or home, but where communities gather. Libraries, diners, general stores, rail trails offer nothing one can’t find somewhere else, except a sense of community, Reinstein says.
That sense of community can help people deal with struggles such as the loss of family-owned fishing boats in Gloucester; losing a livelihood through injury; working to chronicle the story of overlooked ancestors; or running a business alone.
Reinstein chronicles the struggles of:
Fifth-generation Gloucester fishing boat Capt. Joe Sanfilippo, who now teaches fishing to people who may want to go into the business since families are no longer passing the skills down the generations.
Louis Escobar, a former Rhode Island dairy farmer who was paralyzed when his tractor fell on him, immediately switched gears and work helping others with farm plans.
Jerri-Anne Boggis of Milford, N.H., a Jamaican immigrant, has a knack for asking questions about people who look like her in her adopted state, and ended up co-founding the New Hampshire Black Hertiage Trail.
The Windsor Diner in Windsor, Vt., is owned by Theresa Rhodes, a rarity as a woman who owns a diner outright, but rarer still – she runs it by herself, with a secret to make it all work.
Then there are the tales of resilience.
“I think resilience is in New Englanders’ DNA. You have to be resilient just for weather, if nothing else,” Reinstein said.
That introduces the only non-human subject in his book.
“New England’s mill towns are the embodiment of resilience,” he said. “They’ve always been there. They’ve been there through thick and thin, they’ve been there , empty, abandoned and nobody wants to look at them anymore.”
Leaders of any mill town in New England could tell you the exact same thing: “If I could have blown those damn things up, I would have done it,” Reinstein said,
The building were too expensive to get rid of and they all were built on the exact same blueprint and a history of decades of economic ups and downs, only to be killed by corporate greed and the search for cheaper labor.
That began to change in the 1990s with an improving economy and new companies like biotech – and leaders with vision, such as Alan Casavant of Biddeford, Maine.
As a teen, he worked in a mill, the first in his family to go to college, he returned to his hometown to be a math teacher and track coach – and eventually ran for mayor to give something back to his city.
His success story is one of mayors across America who have used public-private partnerships to bring their cities back from the brink.
Small community rope-tow-equipped nonprofit ski areas in Vermont; a diner transferred from a mom to her daughter; an addict’s use of extreme hiking as a recovery program on Mt. Monadnock; and the Providence, R.I.’s Good Night Lights program for the children at Hasbro Children’s Hospital round out the book.
WFD’s Busch graduates firefighter academy
WHITMAN — Chief Timothy Clancy is pleased to share that Whitman Firefighter/EMT Matthew Busch Jr. successfully completed and graduated from the Massachusetts Firefighter Academy (MFA) on Friday, Feb. 14.
Firefighter/EMT Busch was one of 18 graduates from 12 departments in the Career Recruit Firefighter Training Program Class #BW33.
Firefighter/EMT Busch, a Whitman resident, has been with the Whiteman Fire Department since August 2024.
During the 50-day Career Recruit Firefighting Training Program, students received classroom training in all basic firefighter skills, practicing first under non-fire conditions and then during controlled fire conditions. To graduate, students needed to demonstrate proficiency in life safety, search and rescue, ladder operations, water supply, pump operation, and fire attack, ranging from mailbox fires to multi-floor structural fires.
The graduates are now certified to the levels of Firefighter I and II, and Hazardous Materials First Responder Operations, by the Massachusetts Fire Training Council, which is accredited by the National Board on Fire Service Professional Qualifications.
“Matthew has been a great asset to our department, and we want to congratulate him on this outstanding accomplishment,” said Chief Clancy. “I wish him the best of luck in the next phase of his career here in Whitman.”
The other 17 graduates of Class #BW33 represent the fire departments of Barnstable, Dennis, East Bridgewater, Hull, Kingston, Milton, New Bedford, Sandwich, West Bridgewater, Wrentham, and Yarmouth.
“Massachusetts firefighters are on the frontlines protecting their communities every day, and today’s graduates are needed now more than ever,” said State Fire Marshal Jon M. Davine. “The hundreds of hours of foundational training they’ve received will provide them with the physical, mental, and technical skills to perform their jobs effectively and safely.”
W-H school budget unveiled for FY26
The W-H Regional School District presented its fiscal 2026 budget to the School Committee Wednesday, Feb. 12 – a $66,306,276,19 level-service spending plan that is up $3,375,931.19 over the $ 62,530,345 budgeted in FY 25 – a total budget increase of 5.6 percent.
As of now, operational assessment totals are 61.12 percent or ($20.9 million, a 9.65 percent increase over last year) for Whitman, and 38.88 percent ($16.4 million, a 9.87 percent increase) for Hanson.
Individual line items have not been reviewed, as yet.
Besides the budget presentation, conducted mainly by district’s Director of Business and Finance Stephen Marshall, the committee conducted a public hearing on the proposed budget to outline what is “fiscally needed for the 2025-26 school year.”
The committee also voted to limit meeting times, even if that means scheduling a second meeting some months.
The main comments during the hearing were from Whitman Select Board member Justin Evans and Hanson Finance Committee member Steve Amico, both of whom discussed the potential impact of the increase in light of their towns’ deficits and plans to seek operational overrides.
Evans reminded the committee that Whitman is looking at between $800,000 and $850,00 in new revenue and a deficit of about $1.7 million. Whitman used $500,000 from free cash to avoid a school override last year.
“It seems like were looking at an override, and that was before this number from the district,” he said.
Szymaniak said he appreciated being able to attend a recent Select Board meeting in Whitman and discussing their financial outlook and the plan moving forward, and said he would be willing to attend a similar session in Hanson. In response to Evans’ question, he said staffing costs, special education and insurance costs are the “big drivers” of the district’s budget increase.
“This is a tough year,” Chair Beth Stafford agreed. “We knew this, because, if you look at our five-year projection, this was a tougher year.”
Amico said that Hanson is looking at an override in the neighborhood of $2.5 million just for it’s town deficit.
“It seems that a deficit of $2.6 or $2.5 million is in every single [South Shore] town this year,” he said. “It’s absolutely crazy. … It just seems that’s the number.” Hanson’s accountant has been calculating based on a 7 percent assessment increase from the schools.
“There are no increases to staffing in this budget, however, we are improving programming for students with the intent of filling the positions needed to staff that, currently on our payroll,” Superintendent of Schools Jeff Szymaniak said. “This budget does, however, fund certain costs and light items that were cut in fiscal 2025 to maintain our curriculum standards and capacity for one-to-one devices.”
He noted that, over the years, his office has been criticized for both failing to ask the towns to financially support expanding programs for students, and for asking way too much.
This is Szymaniak’s seventh budget season at W-H.
The district lacks foreign language instruction in the middle schools and seeks to expand the related arts program, K-12, to expand students’ life experiences. This year, however neither program is included in the budget. Still, he stressed, W-H provides a solid education for students, prekindergarten to age 22, for special needs students.
Szymaniak indicated the one constant has been that it is very hard to provide a strong, well-rounded education while costs keep going up each year, but he said he is confident that the budget presented follows the strategic plan and provides the best opportunity for students to learn, grow and become productive people in our society.
Marshall then reviewed the major financial points of the budget.
Big factors
The strategic focus of the budget is the 2023-28 five-year plan. All budget documents are posted on the whrsd.org website under School Committee, the scroll down to “FY 26 Preliminary budget.”
Budget discussions will be an agenda item “everywhere until Town Meeting,” which is Monday, May 5.
The next School Committee meeting is scheduled for Wednesday, Feb. 26.
The goals and priorities for this budget are maintenance of: the educational plan and services for incoming and current students; current staffing levels while meeting contractual obligations; contractual obligations for transportation and custodial services; services for MLL enrollment and the services and obligations of increased special education needs.
The 2024-25 enrollment was 3.457 students, 26 less than last year.
Chapter 70, the major program of state aid for public school systems across Massachusetts, not only helps school operations with state funds, it sets the minimum spending requirement that towns must meet.
The FY25 amount of Chapter 70 was $25.6 million. In FY26 the district has a foundation budget increase of zero and will only see an increase of $75 per student minimum in the governor’s budget, adding up to only $258,675.
Total Chapter 70 aid for FY 2026 is expected to be $25,929,471.
“Chapter 70 has been a major discussion across the Commonwealth right now,” Szymaniak interjected. A letter, endorsed by the Mass. Association of School Committees, the Mass. Association of School Superintendents, quite a few local politicians, the Mass Teachers’ Association, different associations and unions has been circulating through school districts and is on its way to Gov. Healey looking to address how Chapter 70 is funded for public schools, he noted.
More than 230 Massachusetts school districts are now in hold-harmless, meaning they are getting the minimum aid of $75 per pupil.
“Something isn’t necessarily right with the formula,” Szymaniak said. “We’ve been talking about the formula for quite a while.”
He added that, while there’s been some talk that the governor’s final budget in June could include $100 per-student in Chapter 70, but he and Marshall wanted to keep their budget calculations to the numbers they are certain about.
Transportation
The total transportation budget is $1.9 million.
“This is yellow bus transportation only,” Marshall said. “There is other transportation you might see in the budget – some other lines with a transportation total which is greater than that,” he said, listing van service for special education students as an example. Mandated busing costs are budgeted for about $1.6 million and non-mandated is at $255,407.
Whitman’s non-mandated busing cost is $207,520.36 and Hanson’s is $47,887.55.
“As the superintendent stated, we’re projecting reimbursement here at 75 percent, based on the numbers that are in the governor’s budget – that’s what we believe, we’ve talked to DESE (the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education) as well,” Marshall said. “They also believe that, for right now, we should not be looking for more than 75-percent reimbursement, based on the numbers that are currently in the budget.”
That projection is about $1.2 million of the $1.9 million total transportation costs, he said.
“Just let folks know, the rule is 100-percent regional transportation reimbursement, subject to appropriation,” Szymaniak said. “We have never seen 100 percent – we’ve gotten close, we’ve gotten into the 90s – but, again, we don’t want to make a mistake of over-estimating, and looking at a reduction when the budget is finally confirmed in July, June – whenever, one year it was August – and be short.”
Medicaid reimbursement offsets costs for certain healthcare services or administrative activities within the district, and the claims are very complex, requiring a third-party data management firm to assist in submitting the claims. A reduction in the line for FY26 stems from the FY25 budgeted amount being too high, Marshall said.
Circuit breaker is a percentage reimbursement for costs paid by the district for qualified special education tuition and instruction services and associated transportation costs (not included until 2021 at 25 percent) for out-of-district programs.
“It’s the extraordinary costs, is what they’re saying,” Member Rosemary Connolly said.
The cost of employee benefits is also higher, even as there are no new positions included in the budget. Property and liability insurance rates are also higher in FY26 for the district.
“Post-breach, as most insurance companies do, they’ll pay for your damage and then your premiums go up – ours went up substantially after we claimed $500,000 for the breach in 2022, and we spent $600,000 from excess and deficiency to get us whole again,” Szymaniak said. The flood caused by a burst pipe at Hanson Middle School also contributed to the premium spike.
A portion of grants received from DESE has to go toward teacher retirement, as well, so this year they made a change and paid tuitions with the grant instead to avoid that requirement, saving $85,000 so far.
“We don’t pay for retirements … That’s an anomaly that Stephen picked up on, and it’s something that we picked up on to say that we can save some money here by transferring funds,” Szymaniak said.
Length of meetings
Stafford had opened the session by noting that she had fielded comments from a couple committee members about meeting length.
“I am going to propose that our meetings will end at 8:30 [p.m.] with the ability to vote to extend [them] 15 minutes by a majority, and then another 15 minutes until 9,” she said. “The last two meetings have gone until almost 1 o’clock – I think everybody had had enough at that point.”
She added that, to work appropriately and with our minds working well, two to two and a half hours is more than long enough for a meeting.
“If we need to, we can carry [a discussion] to the next meeting,” she said. “Sometimes we might have to have a second meeting, which is better than going for four hours.”
Connolly asked how many meetings other school committees scheduled. Stafford replied that in some districts two meetings a month were scheduled.
“We used to [do that] years ago,” she said.
Connolly suggested that limiting the schedule to one meeting a month might be causing the problem.
“We want to make sure, particularly during budget season, what we do is thorough,” Connolly said.
The members agreed to the change by consensus.
Stafford said that night’s meeting was the first in which the rule would go into effect. It ended up not being needed on that occasion, however, as the meeting was one hour, 35 minutes and 56 seconds in length.
Szymaniak said two meetings per month are already scheduled through the end of March to accommodate budget work.
O’Brien makes case for staffing $
HANSON – On the heels of being honored for his lifesaving work last summer, [See story opposite], Fire Chief Robert O’Brien Jr., outlined his fiscal 2026 budget and updated forecast of the department’s needs heading into the fiscal 2026 financial planning season on Tuesday, Feb. 11He spoke on the town’s impending override to help fund next year’s budget.
“Nobody likes the word override,” O’Brien said. “It’s never a good time to talk about staffing increases.”
But he talked about what’s gone on within the last 12 months – as well as the next 48 hours.
“[Police] Deputy Chief hit on it,” he said. “Both our ambulances were tied up in town, they [couldn’t] leave, once you’re committed on call, you’re there, legally,” he said.
The day he was speaking, the department had multiple calls deep about three times on Monday, Feb. 10 and five or six times calls deep between 1 an 4:30 pm., on Tuesday, Feb. 11.
The department always runs four-person ambulance crew – consisting of a lieutenant and a crew of three firefighter-paramedics, per shift, which allows two advanced life support (ALS) ambulances while putting four people on the ground, providing four people on the fire ground so long on the fire ground for that.
To solve the staffing problems he sees in the department, O’Brien is seeking $344,000 – which would include all benefits.
“I don’t want anything hidden,” O’Brien said on the figures the department calculated about six months ago are built on three family plans and one single plan. “It’s built to show all the costs.”
The $344,000 price tag, spread over 4,378 on residential and commercial tax bills, calculates out to $82.54 a year or $20.64 per quarter on the average home to allow O’Brien to staff shifts at five people all the time. That fifth person would permit someone to be at headquarters can allow a second ambulance, when needed, to get out the door faster, he said. Overtime might have to be recalculated, but he is confident it can be worked out.
“We’re looking at average usage, and we are below where we need to be in order to keep the service where we need it,” Select Board Chair Laura FitzGerald-Kemmett said. “That’s what this is about. We’re not trying to add bloat to a budget or over-staff or anything of that sort.”
“We see it – we know people are struggling,” O’Brien said. “The problem is, it’s never a good time to ask for staff.”
One third of the Fire Department’s budget – roughly $800,000 per year comes from ambulance billing.
“We do make every attempt to recall people from home,” he said, noting the recall system has been in place long before O’Brien joined the department in 1997.
When the first call comes in and the ambulance and squad are on an EMS call, unless another call comes in, the duty squad is not recalled. Once that second call comes in or if they’re going to transport with three or they end up with all four firefighter/EMTs are stuck on a call, they’ll put in for a duty squad.
“It’s hit or miss whether we get people back,” O’Brien said. “There is no rhyme or reason to it. Quite honestly, we have a vert young department, so a lot of them have just gotten married, are getting married, are starting to have families and things like that. Their significant others are professionals, so they also work. Getting people to come back on the recall system is not a guarantee.”
At the same time, the department has not undergone a shift staffing increase since 2004. But they have added a deputy chief and ensured all shifts have four firefighters and can staff up, if needed, according to O’Brien.
Call volume, meanwhile, is steadily increasing – not including the routine business of the fire prevention officer, inspections, training, people stopping in to ask directions or permits, etc.
“Right now, we’re tracking higher than average for 2025 – and we’re only about six weeks into it,” he said. There is also an increasing population of people over age 65, thanks to the increase in “over-55 residences in the last 20 years. There are also several group homes in town.
All the department’s statistics are real numbers, O’Brien noted, because they have to be reported to the state Department of Fire Services and the National Fire Agency.
To answer residents’ questions before Town Meeting, O’Brien is planning to set up coffee meetings or meet and greets at the Fire Station. They are also talking about doing an April open house.
“Everybody hears from me, being the fire chief, let people come and talk to the lieutenants, let them talk to the other firefighter/paramedics that are there,” he said. They are also planning a social media campaign to make their case to voters for the additional personnel.
Hanson’s hometown heroes
HANSON – The Select Board welcomed some new faces to the town’s public safety departments – as another was promoted – and the board had the opportunity to honor others for their life-saving work, during its Tuesday, Feb. 11 meeting.
Joining the Hanson Police Department were: Cameron Carpenter, Thomas Malloy and Kyle Crombie. All three were introduced to the board by Deputy Police Chief Michael Casey before being sworn in by Town Clerk Elizabeth Sloan and having their new badges pinned on by family members.
“Some are just getting here, some might have been here a few minutes longer, but I think it’s important, as they get sworn in … this is an opportunity for the families to see some of the new faces and demonstrate the culture that we have, the great officers that we bring on for the town and what these men and women do every day for us,” Casey said.
Carpenter, a lifelong resident of Hanson, holds a master’s degree from Merrimack University, where he was also able to get his academy certification through its MBC program. He had gone through all the application processes in 2023, when “I failed to get him here,” Casey said. “So, I apologize.”
Carpenter is a young officer who loves the community.
“He wanted to be here,” Casey said. “He had other opportunities, and we couldn’t be happier to have him,” Casey said.
“We tend to attract qualified individuals,” he said. “They want to come here, they want to serve here.”
Moore is also a local resident, having grown up in Whitman, Casey said.
“We were able to obtain Tommy through a lateral transfer from Plymouth P.D.,” where he served for a year and a half, the deputy chief noted.
A 13-year Marine veteran, Moore “married a local girl, and expressed some interest [in Hanson P.D.], he went through an interview process and were able to hire [him] in late December 2024.
Crombie has a degree in criminal justice and had been a full-time officer in Truro.
Carpenter’s mother Jennifer pinned on his new badge. Moore’s wife, Whitney and his daughter Avery pinned on his badge, and Crombie’s sister in-law, did the honors for him.
“Well. We’re excited,” said Select Board Chair Laura FitzGerald-Kemmett. “What else have you got for us?”
“There’s definitely a transition,” he said. “As our older officers are leaving, we’re able to obtain these guys and girls to build the force back up.”
Casey said that, as the new officers are coming in, some veteran officers are getting ready for retirement including officer Michelle Hughes, who will be retiring after 32 years and Chief Michael Miksch who will retire after 34 years in law enforcement – both at the end of June.
The next order of business was the promotion of new Sgt. Brian Shaughnessy, who transferred to Hanson from the Plymouth County Sheriff’s Department a couple of years ago.
“He looks young, but he’s way beyond his years,” Casey said. “He has just fit in. He’s willing to learn. He keeps his mouth shut and he just does an outstanding job.”
A Bridgewater native, he is recently married and the father of a new baby. Last year, through vacancies, including retirements, the department was able to hold a sergeant’s exam
“Brian just blew it out of the water,” Casey said. “He did an excellent job –as they all did. Brain is clearly a leader and his future in the Hanson Police is extremely bright and he’s goiing to have a successful career.”
After his swearing in, his wife Marissa with the “help” of son Beau pinned on his new badge,
“So that is it, with the swearing-ins and the promotional announcement,” Casey said.
“But that is not it for our recognitions,” FitzGerald-Kemmett said. “Nope. We’re all about first responders, tonight – and every day, but particularly tonight.”
The board then honored members of the Police and Fire departments for their recent life-saving emergency responses, as FitzGerald-Kemmett called on officers Mark Vigneau, William Frazier and Robert Manfield as well as Deputy Fire Chief Charles Barrends for their actions.
“We don’t even know a tenth of the calls that you’re on [every day] and you’re always taking heroic measures, so it seems weird to recognize that work for the one particular incident, but it was way above and beyond,” FitzGerald-Kemmett said.
On Dec. 30, 2024, the four men “came to the aid of another human being with dedication and brilliance and rendered life-saving CPR to a victim in medical crisis,” she said. “We just wanted to let you know that your heroic actions will always be remembered.”
Board awarded the three officers and Barend’s commendations and letters of commendation for their files.
“But, mostly, we want to tell you … that we have a heart-felt thanks for everything that you did on that day,” FitzGerald-Kemmett said
Casey echoed her sentiments.
“This is something that we do do every day,” he said. “We have a fantastic relationship with our Fire Department, our police department, mutual aid, Whitman – all the towns that surround us. We’re always working together.”
That means, there have been “many occasions where we’ve all done CPR, Casey continued, noting that the number of times that officers have to help with medical emergencies because of the Fire Department’s call volume means the town has to lean more heavily on mutual aid – between Hanson departments and from other towns.
“This is one of those perfect storms where this does happen a lot,” Casey said, describing the situation on Dec. 30, which happened directly across the street from the police station on Main Street, where 911 call indicated a man had been found unresponsive and not breathing.
Vigneau and Frazier were the first officers on scene. Casey and Barends also responded to the incident.
“At that moment, there was no red truck showing up,” Casey said. “It just shows you, on a day-to-day basis, what these men are able to do.” Officer Mansfield rotated with the other two police officers on CPR.
“This man would not be alive, if it weren’t for these four gentlemen,” he said. Vigneau and Frazier both have more than 25 years on the department, who transferred from Oak Bluffs is also a department veteran.
“Again, that collaboration between towns, between departments, we’re so lucky because we’re all walking a high wire and you guys are our safety net,” FitzGerald-Kemmett said presenting individual commendations to the officers and firefighters.
Highway Superintendent Kevin Dykes was also honored for his actions during a brush fire on Nov. 9, 2024. When he heard the fire announced, he took the initiative of going directly to the highway department, loaded the skid unit (a self-contained tank and pump and forestry hoses that drop onto a truck for transport) onto a highway vehicle and sent photos to the fire chief and advising him that the unit was in service, if needed.
Fire Chief Robert O’Brien Jr., was also recognized for some off-duty heroics.
Weymouth Police Chief Richard Fuller had written to the Select Board of the recommendation from Weymouth Fire Capt. Brian Morse regarding a commendation report regarding O’Brien for his life-saving actions on that town’s Four River Channel on Aug. 16, 2024.
O’Brien and his brother, Weymouth officer Edward O’Brien were boating in the area when another boat crash near Grape Island. The O’Briens responded, along with Weymouth officer Christopher D’Angelo, aiding two severely injured victims.
“Is he ever really off-duty?” FitzGerald-Kemmett said of Chief O’Brien. “I think not.”
The three men extracted the victims, providing first aid and transport back to Turn Harbor Marina, where ambulances were waiting.
Edward O’Brien applied a tourniquet to the male victim, who was losing a lot of blood, while fire Chief O’Brien applied pressure to a massive laceration sustained by the female victim.
Morse wrote to Fuller that the three men, “Embody the spirit of heroism that is the hallmark of the public safety community.”
“Your actions reflect great credit upon yourself, the Weymouth Police Department and the Hanson Fire Department,” Fuller wrote.
Presidents Day Protest in Plymouth
‘NOT ON OUR WATCH’ —Plymouth police estimate more than 500 protesters, bundled against frigid winds, gathered at Plymouth Rock for a Presidents Day rally on Monday, Feb.17, joining similar gatherings large and small across the country against the slashing of federal departments. Whitman Select Board member Justin Evans, above, spoke about funding cuts at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. Halifax Democratic Town Committee Co-Chair Ellen Snoeyenbos energizes the crowd, right.See story, page 6.
Courtesy photo, Kathleen Evans above/Photo courtesy Karen Wong, right