HANSON – People may complain about their cable bill, but they seem to value the services of the local cable access channels – especially in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, when people felt isolated during the health restrictions on public gatherings.
The Hanson Select Board held a public hearing with Comcast Communications LLC of Massachusetts during its Tuesday, Feb. 7 meeting regarding renewal of the Whitman Hanson Community Access contract with the town of Hanson.
Select Board member Ann Rein was unable to attend the meeting.The process aims to identify the future cable-related community needs and interest in reviewing the contract under the current provider. The current 10-year contract expires June 1, 2025.
“It’s required to start this renewal process well in advance because of all the formalities that need to take place,” Town Administrator Lisa Green said. Attorney William Sullivan, who represents the town in the renewal process took part in the hearing to go over the specifications.
“Never has community television and the assistance they have provided to both towns – Whitman and Hanson – and the Commonwealth … has it been recognized as such an essential part of the community,” he said of the cable access company’s service during the COVID pandemic. “Those were [among] the essential workers who allowed democracy and government to continue.”
Without it, for several months, local government would have ceased.
Cable access has continued to see public access coverage of government activities make up more of their schedule.
“If you show me a community that has strong local television, I’ll show you a town that works together toward democracy as its goals,” Sullivan said.
He has worked with Hanson during the two previous renewal processes and said his role is to determine how the federal cable law incentivizes both sides to figure out what’s important for the town to negotiate a license.
Comcast began as a small local company whose employees “understand localism,” according to Sullivan.
WHCA-TV executive director Eric Dresser made a presentation on the history of the access channel’s service to the town. He has been with WHCA since 2017. Hanson had 2,292 subscribers out of 10,639 residents as of 2021, and Whitman had 2,160 subscribers out of 15,121 residents in that same year.
Established in 2002, WHCA has gained a production truck for live TV programming, outfitted auditoriums for town meeting broadcasts and moved to tapeless production during that time.
Hanson Veterans’ Agent Timothy White said WHCA provided the ability for him to honor the community’s fallen when public health restrictions on the number of people allowed to gather in public during COVID threatened the event in 2020.
“It was a very difficult situation,” he said. “We really didn’t have clear or set guidelines on what to do, we didn’t have a parade. … The ability to project [that year’s program] and send that out to the community was huge … WHCA was a great partner on that day and every day.”
Indian Head Elementary Principal Dr. Joel Jocelyn said he has also had a very beneficial and constructive partnership with WHCA, which has taped events at the school so the community can see what type of programs are offered.
“But, even more than that, it’s valuable in enhancing the leadership skills of some of our students,” he said, noting the fourth-grade student council members have been able to learn about for their own video work. “You can’t put a price on something like this.”
Superintendent of Schools Jeff Szymaniak told the Select Board that the 10 members of the School Committee, representing both towns, unanimously endorsed WHCA.
“Being a [school administrator], I live in a world of Twitter, Instagram, Snapchat and Facebook, and I think ‘old reliable’ is TV,” he said. “It’s a real medium for us to get our message out. … They’re professional. They’re always unbiased in how they approach things and they’re always available.”
Carlos Caldas of 87 Waltham St., asked if the town has a cable committee, which Select Board Chair Laura FitzGerald-Kemmett said the town does not have, and what has Comcast offered. FitzGerald-Kemmett said the negotiation process had not yet reached that point.
Caldas said he should like to serve on any Cable Committee the town might establish and has undergone the ethics training.
FitzGerald-Kemmett said it might be a good time to establish a subcommittee for the negotiations, but Select Board Vice Chair Joe Weeks said the board had dissolved the committee last year, when Caldas was the only active member.
“I think that was an opportunity for us to, before we talk of removing things, figuring out how to utilize talent appropriately, and we never circled back to it,”: Weeks said. “To me, it makes sense that, if we have people who are willing to help out in some way, if we already had a foundation that existed … maybe it’s worthwhile to come back to it.”
FitzGerald-Kemmett said at the time people expressing an interest in applying, thought they were actually applying to the W-H Cable Access board,” she said, asking Sullivan what he saw in other communities.
He said there are varying degrees of acitivity with cable committees around the state.
“There are a lot of things a committee could do,.” he said. “The best committees are those that stay together in some way [during] the 10-year period.”
The Select Board will discuss reviving the Cable Committee at the board’s next meeting on Tuesday, Feb.21.
Whether or not that committee is re-establish, Select Board member Jim Hickey recommended getting Caldas to advise the board on what would be best for the town. The Select Board agreed to that.
Historical Commission member Teresa Santalucia also voiced support for WHCA for its help with an interview project recording the memories of Hanson residents as part of the town’s 200th anniversary project.
WHCA has also covered her family’s Red Acres Christmas Sing event for several years.
“You’re finding in the aftermath of COVID that people are feeling disconnected and isolated, and sometimes that connectivity, even if it’s just through cable, watching an event or meeting, does help people feel a little bit more connected,” FitzGerald-Kemmett said.
Green also expressed support for WHCA, in her role as a private citizen who hosts a Halloween car show to benefit Dollars for Scholars.
“It’s a great way to see … what went on in their neighborhood and community,” she said.
FitzGerald-Kemmett said WHCA’s broadcasting of events and meetings in both towns helps inform Hanson residents about their partner town in the regional school district, as well.
Dresser said WHCA serves more than 200 nonprofit groups, 43 departments and committees – broadcasting 412 government meetings since 2018. They have covered 82 events at the schools over the past 10 years, as well as 1,400 unique programs produced by their staff.
WHCA also devoted time and resources for extensive information about the pandemic and coverage of events during COVID.
“We remain ready to stay dynamic and ready to pivot for whatever might come in the future, and with sufficient resources … we stand ready to continue to proudly fulfil our mission statement,” he said.
More information, as well as opportunities to comment are still available on the WHCA website, whca.tv.

The W-H Regional School Committee held its public hearing and budget presentation on the fiscal 2024 budget on Wednesday, Feb. 1.
The current budget figure of $60,510,901.43 for fiscal 2024 represents a 3.45-percent increase over the final operating budget of $58,492,314 for the current fiscal ’23 budget.
“The budget I present today aligns with the district’s strategic plan, the School Committee goals and what we believe provides a quality education for the students of Whitman and Hanson,” Superintendent of Schools Jeffrey Szimaniak said. “What you will see tonight is a level-services budget.
But he is willing to move the financial needle, if the School Committee wants to do that.
Szymaniak said he has also included options for increasing services and “enhancing the educational opportunities” for students.
“This budget is different from the budget presentations in December and January, and I assume this is not the final iteration of the district budget,” he said.
Gov. Maura Healey’s state budget does not come out until March 1, as new governors are given extra time to assemble their first spending plan.
Szymaniak gave a Powerpoint presentation, answering questions from the committee and pubic attending.
The four points of the disctrict’s strategic plan are: ExSEL (Excellence in Social Emotional Learning), a Pre K-12 system of teaching and learning, safe and secure school environments and community engagement.
The School Committee’s focus areas are: Early college and Innovation Pathways, robust related arts curriculum in kindergarten to grade 12, improving school culture and climate ad an examination of school start times. The strategic plan initiatives included in the FY24 budget presentation are an adjustment to school start times, inclusion of a K-8 robotics and foreign language with implementation of Spanish in grade 8.
A presentation on transportation costs will be held on Wednesday, Feb. 15, but the cost of aligning elementary start times in one of three scenarios, could cost as much as $148,666.72 more than the proposed budget of $1,759,984.88. Excess and deficiency would be looked to in that case.
The deadline for sending the school budget to the towns is March 16, with a certification vote slated for March 15.
A major unanticipated cost to the budget is a 14-percent potential increase for private and public special education placements. Szymaniak said administration has recently learned there is a potential for two out-of-district placements to be moving into the district under the new budget year.
“It could be 14 percent,” he said, noting Business Manager John Stanbrook had included a 3-percent benchmark in the budget for the increase. “But, I’m also not confident that it’s going to be 14 percent, so this number of $650,000 is not in the budget.”
He pulled it out of the budget, where it was included in December and January, and has placed it as a separate line item that the School Committee will have to provide guidance in funding, using either excess and deficiency (he sees it as a one-time cost), or fiscal 2025 Circuit Breaker funds could be used.
Szymaniak is estimating that retirements planned across the district could save $313,937 in replacement costs at lower salaries. ESSER III funds used in the fiscal ’24 budget are $67,000 for BCBA (?), $125,000 for English as a second language teachers and $260,000 for interventionists as well as $300,000 for paraprofessionals. ESSER funds expire in fiscal 2025.
“The goal and objectives for FY 2525 will be to drill down, after three years of data collecting, [to learn] how well the interventionists worked in the district and if they’re a necessity moving forward , or how we could pare down that,” Szymaniak said. “I know that’s a big number, but it’s a number we’re going to be working on moving into this school year.”
Interventionists were hired to help students struggling after the isolation of remote instruction during the COVID-19 pandemic. The efficiency of paraprofessionals will also be studied.
State and federal student support guidelines also inform district programs.
For STEM and robotics trough grade eight, the options are to conduct if through library class at elementary schools with pre-constructed curricula of iRobot ($30,000) for K-2 and Robotifi ($25,000 online programs) for grades three to eight, and revamping middle school ccurriculm to create a solid foundation for high school instruction. The additional cost to move the district forward is $55,000.
Foreign language options are: an approach with independent student work augmented with part-time teachers for a cost of $98,400, or adding three Spanish teachers and two reading teachers between the two middle schools at a cost of $335,000 to add.
“I don’t know if we can hire three Spanish teachers in this current climate of teachers – they’re few and far between,” Szymaniak said. “I’m also looking at a potential building project in Whitman, moving between a grade alignment.”
He said he’d prefer phasing the language program in through an online presence, but noted that was a discussion for another time.
But W-H is no longer at the bottom of per-pupil spending in the state.
“We’re not at [the per-pupil spending level] of the area communities yet, and I don’t know if we’ll ever be … but it’s important that we are still behind,” Szymaniak said. “Most of our league-mates in our athletic league, and most of our colleagues on the South Shore [spend more].”
Committee member Fred Small said state officials are anticipating a revenue increase of 1.6 percent, rather than the larger percentages of recent years, and that projections should be cautious. “We’re talking about how much we’re going to get in reimbursement,” Small said. “But we’re also a year behind on reimbursements, but yet we’re factoring in those funds.”
Chair Christopher Howard said the Budget Committee had been discussing that issue.
“It’s not going to help us for this year, but it kind of speaks to the one-time offset,” he said.
Small said that if the Committee was sure a reimbursement was definitely coming back, then the special ed increase would be a proper use for one-time money.
“But it’s not in here, anywhere,” he said of the budget and presentation
Committee member Dawn Byers commented on Szymaniak’s assessment of teacher morale and it’s impact on the budget.
“I have a teaching staff whose morale is teetering,” he said. “Things are difficult in the classroom. Things are difficult with our students.”
Students are returning to school with socialization issues following the pandemic, acting differently. Parents are also different, while they have always been respectfully demanding, there has been an increase in the attitude that “I want an answer now,” he said.
“It’s not bad, it’s just different,” he said.
Szymaniak said he wanted to avoid presenting a budget that residents attending would feel there is no way they could succeed with, and have teachers fear layoffs.
“We pink-slipped 62 people while we were home during COVID, and I don’t want to do that again,” he said.
Byers said the new state Secretary of Education has already been speaking about the importance of working to stabilize, heal and transform.
“I feel that’s where we’re still at,” she said. “When you say staff is panicked about pink slips, I don’t think we’re at all near that, nor should we.”
She said the towns, having received the MARS report on funding formulas, officials know where they stand.
“We know that best practices for finances in municipalities is that they should take care of their largest budget first, and the schools are the largest budget,” she said. “Absolutely. They should be. It’s education. It’s the future. I can’t at all participate in any type of false narrative, if we get there, that the town’s can’t afford our education budget. It is important and we are nowhere near providing what our students and staff deserve.”
She asked Szymaniak if he had anything in writing pertaining to what is being done with the savings to the budget from teacher retirements.
“As I said before, the numbers I had in December were off,” he said. “Salary increases moved the budget needle to 5.5. That $300,00 went right into making sure this budget was around a 3.5 target [increase], pushing it forward.”
Small said the committee should try sending a Student Success Budget again.
“It’s not up to us to go over the town’s budget and try to tell the town, ‘You should cut this, you should cut that. You have too many police officers, you have too many firefighters.’ They have their budgets and they have what they’re doing for a reason,” he said. “We know there’s a guidance for us, at least in Whitman, and if we can live within a guidance … I would hope we can make a case for everything we want.”