WHITMAN – A report from the audit firm The Abrahams Group out of Framingham, hired to review the books at the Whitman-Hanson Regional School District seemed to leave some questions unanswered as consultant David King presented its findings to the Select Board on Tuesday, Feb. 4.
Select Boards in both towns requested the “agreed upon procedures report” on the school district. There seemed to be challenges involved from the start.
“We originally planned to do a brand-new data reporting system that the state was piloting, [but] they never piloted it until after we were done, so we used the old-fashioned methods,” King said.
He presented a series of comparison charts to rank Whitman-Hanson among four other regional districts in the area.
“We’ve been looking at these numbers for a while, and it’s nice to share them and to have conversations about them, but, honestly, I was hoping that the audit would dig in deeper and provide some analysis as to why,” Board member Shawn Kain said. “There’s some obvious questions about transportation or about some of the operational practices, and you can see where they rank among the other towns, [but] without an understanding as to why, it just feels lacking to me.”
Kain noted that, on the hard copies provided to the board, The Abrhams Group had written: “We are not engaged to, and will not perform an examination, the objective of which would be to express an opinion.”
“But, I think, in many ways, what we need is an opinion,” he said. “We need people to share opinions almost as a consultant would.”
Kain said an example would be, if a district got high marks, a list of practices they are engaged in to obtain that result, are the kind of opinions that can help the district become more efficient.
King said that was why The Abrahams Group included that statement in the introduction.
“We weren’t hired to do an analysis,” he said. “Transportation [for example] would be an entirely different study.”
The Abrams Group has done audits for the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education (DESE) and school districts throughout Massachusetts and across the country on services; school-based performance and operations management; regionalization rules and budgeting and accounting for 29 years, according to the firm website [theabrahamsgroup.com].
“We started off with four school districts that had been suggested for comparison – Bridgewater-Raynham, Dudley-Charlton, Freetown-Lakeville and Hamden-Wilbraham,” King said. “In working with the [W-H] school district early on, they suggested we also add Dennis-Yarmouth, Dighton-Rehoboth and Dover-Sherborn.”
As the firm began reviewing data from those districts, however, the audit firm decided that Dennis-Yarmouth and Dover-Sherborn were not comparable to the other four districts, but Dighton-Rehoboth was, so it was added into the study, according to King.
“We’re going to look at a bunch of statistics,” he said in opening his PowerPoint presentation. “We’re going to go through them quickly because there’s a lot of them.”
Looking at enrollments, Bridgewater-Raynham is the biggest of the districts studied at 5,392 students, with W-H coming in second with 3,403 and and Dighton-Rehoboth is the smallest at 2,569 students.
W-H was second-highest in the number of economically disadvantage students, at 30 percent of all students in the district, to Dudley-Charlton’s 34 percent. The state average is 42 percent of any given student population, King reported.
“All of the districts [reviewed] are below that,” King said of the state average. All of the studied districts are in single-digits regarding the percentage of English Language Learners with W-H in second place at 2 percent, behind both Bridgewater-Raynham and Dudley-Charlton at 3 percent each. The state average is 13 percent.
Select Board member Justin Evans asked what year the ELL data was from.
“I know it has been a rapidly increasing population at W-H,” he said. King said student data was from 2023 and the financial data was from 2022.
W-H’s per-pupil assessment is second from the bottom in the group studied – it’s $34,340,078 operating assessment in 2022 at $9,859 per pupil. Capital assessments that didn’t apply to per-pupil costs were filtered out, King said.
W-H falls in the middle of the study group at $16,339 per pupil. Data was from state financial reports filed by the districts.
Per-pupil costs for administration and instructional leaders put W-H in the middle of the study group at $1,227. All were between $1,041 (Dudley-Charlton) and $1,447 (Freetown-Lakeville). W-H is second from the top in per-pupil costs for teachers at $6,625, with Dighton-Rehoboth in the top spot at 46,828.
“For other teaching expenses, W-H is at the bottom,” King said noting the category covers primarily teacher aides and paraprofessionals. In Technology spending, W-H’s per-pupil costs are back near the middle of the pack at $375, with Dighton-Rehoboth at $444 and Dudley-Charlton at $265.
W-H was in last place in regard to per-pupil expenditures for food services with $365, with Dudley-Charlton at the top with $575.
“This is point where per-pupil costs don’t mean a lot because of recent [state policy] with school lunches where al the lunches are free,” King said. “I wouldn’t rely too much on this figure, but it’s one of the things we looked at.”
In Trasportation, W-H is at the bottom, as well, spending $895 per pupil, with Freetown-Lakeville at the top with a $1,213 expenditure.
“These are all regional school districts who get regional aid,” he said. “Usually, every district has a different story about how they provide transportation and what their issues are.”
Evans asked if the transportation data represented the total transportation expenditure, or what the towns contribute to it. King said the data reflected the total expenditure.
“It’s nice to see where we rank, but, are there systems and practices in place that allow one town to be more efficient than others?,” Kain asked. “That would be helpful information for us as we’re thinking about [budgeting practices]. That’s some of the things I’d like to see surfaced out of an audit.”
To simply see where W-H ranks without an analysis moved Kain to say, “I don’t know what we can do with that information. I’m not saying that’s on you. It may be the way we put together the audit.”
W-H falls in the middle of the pack where operations and maintenance expenses re ranked, and is “back near the top” in per-pupil expenditures for benedits.
“A little bit of analysis – the two most expensive categories, when you break it down, is teachers and benefits,” King said. “To me, that’s where you want to spend your money – on benefits in order to get employees – and the same on teacher salaries.”
Evans noted that the teacher salaries and benefits was simply and averaging of “just total teachers’ salaries by the number of teachers.
“This doesn’t necessarily dig into whether we just have older teachers, so they’re at higher [salary] steps,” he asked.
“If you’re going to do an analysis of teacher salaries, you’d look at ages of teachers, number of years of experience,” King said. “You’d also look at benefits.”
“For us as well,” Kain said. “We’ve ben through a number of difficult budgets, having [fewer] younger teachers does kind of skew that number up.”
“I think we see that later in the report.” King said.
He also noted that W-H spends less on administration and leaders than all but two districts, spend more per-pupil on teachers than all but one districts and spend less, per-pupil than all districts,
The district also spends more than is required by their net school spending requirement by 15 percent. The state average is 29 percent, King said.
On Chapter 70, aid went up by $261,516 in 2022 as did the required net spending and the district’s required contributions went up, “but you were over the requirement anyways,” King said. “So, it didn’t affect you, but the district did get $261,000 more.”
The district was also asked to provide budget items funded by one-time sources – transitioning from a paid full-day kindergarten to a free all-day K in 2023, taking $476,627 from the revolving fund; ESSER funds were used to add positions – five teachers and 11 paraprofessionals.
“When the ESSER funds were expended, they went into the budget as additional staff funded by the budget,” King said.
In ESSER 1, was not spent on salaries, but “pretty much on expenses,” King said, adding that the district did not provide details on what the expenses were. ESSER II went mostly to salaries, a contribution to the Mass Teachers’ Retirement System that went along with those new teachers and more expenses and ESSER III again paid for teachers and paraprofessionals, stipends for attending grant-funded workshops, MTRS and other expenses.
“This is where they added the five teachers and 11 paraprofessionals,” King said.
A detailed appendix to the report, which King said was not conducive for use in a PowerPoint presentation, but he said, “it details five years of revenues and expenditures showing an excess and deficiency use over the five years,” King said. “We looked at those numbers. We didn’t see anything abnormal in them.”
The firm was also asked to look at Capital articles.
“The two parties need to get together and reconcile it, so the two reconciliations agree,” he said.
Sweezey eying MBTA Act controls
HANSON – The Supreme Judicial Court may have ruled that the MBTA Communities Act is legal, if flawed, towns like Hanson are turning to their legislators for help in addressing those flaws.
Still, Town Counsel Elizabeth Lydon cautioned that, because the SJC’s ruling was that the statute is legal, “likey that any regulations that come out of the statute – as long as they fall within the parameters of the statute – will be deemed legal as well.”
State Rep. Ken Sweezey, R-Pembroke, also provided the Select Board with an update on the new legislative session so far, during the Tuesday, Jan. 28 meeting.
“I know the biggest interest right now is the MBTA [Communities Act], so I wanted to make sure that we spent the bulk of the time on that,” Sweezey said.
“… and Chapter 70 money,” said Select Board Chair Laura FitzGerald-Kemmett.
While he said there “seems to be some appetite for amending the [Chapter 70] formula in general,” but he had not heard anything additional about efforts to influence Chapter 70 by MBTA Communities compliance.
Sweezey said that anyone who has attended Town Meeting, or paid attention to what is going on, is familiar with the MBTA Communities project.
“Hanson, as of Dec. 31 was not compliant,” he said, adding, “I’m sure you are also aware of the court case that was going on against Milton, which kind of put is in a different position.”
The Supreme Judicial Court, on Jan. 8, ruled that, while the state Attorney General’s office has the power to enforce MBTA Communities and can bring claims for objective relief, the existing regulations can’t be because the Executive Office of Housing and Livable Communities (EOHLC) made mistakes in the way they issued them.
The state had requested to have someone appointed to write a zoning bylaw for non-compliant towns, which Lydon said would be a worst-case scenario, or to have the building inspector issue building permits for any multi-family building project within a half-mile of the MBTA station.
“That would take the ability of the town to control where the housing should be and what that zoning should look like, and leave it up to a third party who doesn’t have familiarity with the town itself,” Lydon said. “So, that would be the worst-case scenario, if the town doesn’t comply and then it does go to court and the court weighs in favor of the attorney general’s office –as they have already indicated that they would likely do. It’s just a matter of what that injunctive relief would look like and what they could enforce.”
For that reason, Lydon urged Hanson officials to file an action plan.
The Court primarily said it is likely that the statute would ultimately be ruled legal.
The SJC ruling requires the Healey Administration “should promulgate new regulations” as emergency placeholders with a comment period of from midnight Jan. 31, to 11:59 p.m. Feb. 21.
“If you really want to effectuate a change, then you need to participate in the public comment period, so the state is hearing from people, depth and breadth of the concerns that people have got,” FitzGerald-Kemmett said.
“We really want to get high participation in the comment period,” Sweezey agreed. “It should be hundreds, if not thousands of people, I suspect, across the state.”
He noted, however, that the first deadline is before the comment period ends, suggesting, he said, how much weight might be given to the comment period.
“I strongly still urge [that] a show of force during the comment period would be … a productive exercise,” he said.
FitzGerald-Kemmett sought to feel out the board’s attitude about sending a letter about their concerns during the comment period.
Sweezey, who represents five towns – four of which previously rejected MBTA Communities – to do the same. Pembroke, one of the first towns in the state to vote on it, opted to comply with MBTA Communities.
“I think that’s a good idea,” he said, adding that MBTA Communities bills are the “hallmark” of the legislation he has introduced:
- HD1420 seeks to exempt communities with no direct access to rail, bus or subway stations – or ferry terminals – from compliance wih MBTA Communities [such as Marshfield and Duxbury];
- HD1419 seeks to prohibit the state from using grant claw backs, unless explicitly stated in the statute, as a way to force towns to comply; and
- HD1421 seeks to repeal the MBTA Communities Act of Mass General Laws (Sec. 3A of MGL Ch 40A).
“Really, all of the deadlines are quite arbitrary,” he said. “Every two years they do look at the rules package … for how they’re going to deal with them. I’ve been told that they’re looking at changing a few things to make it more transparent, so some of that stuff may be changing” from its current regulations to new ones, in addition to emergency place-holder regulations with a comment period from midnight Jan. 31 to Feb. 25.
Every community is now back into interim compliance with a new action plan from each town due by Feb. 13.
“An action plan is just a piece of paper we’re signing saying we’ll look at creating a zone,” Sweezey said.
The board will be discussing that at its Tuesday Feb 11 meeting.
Sworn in on Jan. 1, Sweezey, as a freshman representative, had a deadline of Jan. 16 to file his 26 pieces of legislation for the year, among 6,800 bills filed by the legislature’s 200 members. There were 23 bills filed by 11 lawmakers in both parties pertaining to MBTA zoning alone, according to Sweezey, who said the act has “taken on life of its own.”
“It’s been a very busy, but productive 28 days,” he said. “This is a two-year term and all of us, in the House and Senate, have to get all of our bills filed for [that] two-year term in the first two weeks after they’re sworn into office.”
“That is a mystifying deadline and would seem to not be very logical that you would expect, especially new legislators to do that,” FitzGerald-Kemmett said “Any thought to filing a bill to changing all that?”
Sweezey said he was open to filing any bill that the Select Board deems fit to improve the process.
“It puts new members at a very serious disadvantage,” FitzGerald-Kemmett said. “Essentially, you’’ve got to be doing the job before you’re doing the job.”
Gov. Maura Healey filed her fiscal 2026 budget on Jan. 22. The House will debate and pass the budget by the end of April and the Senate will follow suit by the end of May.
A new friend and a mystery
By Linda Ibbitson Hurd
Special to the Express
HANSON — When I was 8 years old, a new family moved to Hanson – a house at the very end of Elm Street, where it turns onto Hudson street. They were from Hingham and moved into a big two-story post and beam Colonial that had, at one time, been owned by a doctor.
I boarded the school bus one morning and noticed a new girl sitting with two of my friends. They were smiling at me when I sat in the seat behind them and I wondered why, when one of them turned to me, pointing to the new girl, and said, “Linda, meet Linda.”
I realized then why they were grinning. Linda and I exchanged grins and hellos. As time went on, we got to know each other and became not only fast friends but life-long ones.
Linda was the youngest of six. Two sisters still lived at home, the other two and her brother were married with families. Her mother, Minnie, was a registered nurse. Her father was Lou Brouillard, one of the first professional fighters to win both the welterweight and middleweight world titles and was inducted into the International Boxing Hall of Fame.
A lot of the local boys tried to date or make friends with the sisters so they could meet their father. I felt honored to meet him myself; he was a quiet, modest man with a good sense of humor.
The first time I was invited to Linda’s, I was impressed.
The circular driveway went from the red brick walk that led to the front door, to a two-story barn on the far right with a field beyond. There was a kennel for boarding dogs between the house and the barn with a gate that led to the backyard. Their dogs of choice were golden retrievers; I met and loved their’s right away, her name was Molly.
When Linda and her sister Judy had friends over for the first time, they held an initiation. They brought me upstairs, blindfolded me and directed me to crawl around in what felt like storage space in the eaves. I was told to keep moving and to not touch the blindfold. Suddenly I felt fur underneath me. I kept going until I felt what I thought was a head and I screamed and ripped off the blind fold.
I was on a big black bear rug and beside it was a white one, also with a head. We were laughing as I looked around at a very nice room with knotty pine walls and a long-cushioned window seat.
Before I left that first day, I met Linda’s grandfather, Joe. He was her mother’s dad and they were from England. He had a workshop on the top floor of the barn where he made beautiful things out of wrought iron. He had also helped her father in his boxing career. I remember him as a good-natured man who almost always had a smile on his face and in his eyes.
During the next few years Linda and I had many good times.
One winter during February vacation, we had gone ice skating. Joe met us as we came in the back door to hang up our coats and skates, telling us he had hotdogs, beans and cocoa warming in the Dutch oven in the living room fireplace and a fire going so we could warm ourselves. He sat in his chair entertaining us with stories about growing up in England while we sat on a warm braided rug on the floor beside him. Eventually he fell asleep. Linda’s parents weren’t home and neither were her sisters.
She looked at me and gestured for me to follow her.
She led me into one of the front rooms that was a spare bedroom and quietly shut the door. She asked me if I remembered asking her what a post and beam house was and that one day she’d show me. I nodded yes. She opened the closet door, reached for the four-foot ladder inside, climbed up and pushed a board at the top of the closet away. I realized I was looking up at the inner structure of the house.
“Be quieter than quiet”, she whispered, as up she went and I followed.
I found it hard to keep quiet as we climbed. I likened it to a huge jungle gym with it’s vertical timbers and horizontal hand hewn beams. Linda was on one side of the structure, I on the other as we kept climbing and exploring, until we heard a voice. “You both come down here, slowly!”
“Okay Gramp!” Linda shouted down.
He was waiting for us at the closet door. He didn’t raise his voice but was very stern when he looked at us, saying, “This won’t happen again and we’ll never speak of it, agreed?”In unison, we said yes. We did the climb one more time when no one else was there.
Fashion renewed in Whitman
WHITMAN – If fashion is cyclical – and why else would someone have once said, “Everything old is new again?” – then a good place to catch it as it goes by again would be 560 Washington St. in Whitman.
Business partners Gina Palaza and one of her four her daughters, Isabella Palaza, 20, have opened Pretty Baby consignment shop at the address next door to Restoration Coffee – in the space which once housed the Fashion Fun Pop boutique.
“My daughter and I kind of came up with the idea of opening a consignment shop – we weren’t even quite ready yet, but this space became available,” Palaza said as she opened the shop for the day on Sunday, Feb. 2. “We saw the ‘For Rent’ sign go up in the window, came and looked at it, and we just had to jump on it. It’s such a great space.”
Gina said they named Pretty Baby partly after Lana Del Rey’s lyrics, but also because it captures the timeless, feminine feel of the store.
“It’s a name that reflects our love for vintage fashion and the special bond between me and my four daughters,” she said.
Another saying has it that in choosing real estate, there are three things to consider – “Location, location, location.” And this space, which the women have named “Pretty Baby,” is a great location.
“We’re located next door to the coffee shop, the two new restaurants that just opened, so we just thought it was a really good opportunity, and the space is beautiful,” she said.
All they needed to do was to put their own stamp on it. “Opening a store this time of year – right after Christmas – it’s a little risky, but I know in time, with a little nicer weather and more foot traffic, I think we’ll do well,” Palaza said.
The white walls have been painted a rich red, and handmade accessories here and there for sale to spice up a real find and put one’s own accent on an outfit are complemented on the walls with artwork from local creators and also some other gift items.
The store has already had customers bring in items to sell on consignment.
“We’re not too fussy about brands, as long as it’s really good quality, almost-like-new condition, we’ll accept it,” Palaza said. “Right now, we have so much, we’ve stopped taking product, but some people donate and some people consign with us.”
There are some pieces that come in with price tags still on them.
Admit it, we all have some of those in our closets that we either weren’t quite sure of, or we were sure we could wear after we lost a pound or two…
Palaza also worked at Anthropoligie for eight years, so friends and coworkers also consign with her.
“I jus think it’s nice to have the opportunity to purchase higher-quality items,” she said, noting that some jeans on her racks originally sold for $250, now going for 60 percent less. “We try to sell items for 50 percent off, but I also consider where we are and [that] $125 for a pair of used jeans is still high.”
They take that into account, sometimes dropping a price a bit more.
“Everything is negotiable,” Palaza said. “We’ll work with them.”
The store’s inventory is mostly new or more recently owned pieces, but there are some vintage items, and try to keep a size range from XS to XL. The shop also offers styling services.
Hanson FD grant is returned
HANSON – While the town budget is at a $ 2.6 million deficit as the budget season begins, according to Town Accountant Eric Kinsherf, the town did receive some good financial news this week on the grant front.
One of those announcements came after 36 hours of concentrated bipartisan legislative pushback from state Sen. Mike Brady, D-Brockton and state Rep. Ken Sweezey, R-Pembroke, when a $19,000 grant the Hanson Fire Department has been counting on to fund firefighting equipment. was rescinded because Hanson is not MBTA Communities compliant as of Dec. 31.
Another $9,000 grant funding safety programs for children and seniors is still in jeopardy, O’Brien said Wednesday morning.
“A letter that awarded them, a paragraph that should have had a happy tone, had a whole paragraph about the future of additional grant money, and said very explicitly ALL future grant money awards will take compliance into consideration,” Sweezey said.
The grant had been awarded last November.
“Thank you very much for the support,” Fire Chief Robert O’Brien Jr., said, adding that Sweezey had started making phone calls before he could get started working the phones. … It meant a lot to us.”
Fire Chief Robert O’Brien Jr., also addressed the situation, thanking Sweezey and Brady’s legislative aide, and noted that, as well as Hanson officials, they were getting talks or phone calls or texts to the point where they cloud see that the grant would be restored.
“I want to thank you and Sen. Brady for your very timely support on our little ‘fire drill’ last week,” Select Board Chair Laura FitzGerald-Kemmett punned during the Tuesday, Jan. 28 meeting. “I called [them] and, after a ‘therapeutic session’ with both of them, in which I expressed my very strong views [they went to work to restore the funding]. That was one of the lowest things I’ve seen in many, many years.”
Within four hours, FitzGerald-Kemmett had received a follow-up call to the effect that the state had “changed their mind.”
“I want to thank you for your ‘right out of the gate’ partnership,” she said as Sweezey attended the Select Board’s meeting to provide a legislative update. “I didn’t expect anything different, having served with you on the Economic Development Committee, but I did want to thank you.”
Sweezey said he’s had a very busy but productive 28 days in office since being sworn in on Jan. 1.
He’s also filed 26 of the 7,000 bills filed by the Jan. 16 legislation filing deadline this year.
Sweezey noted that the Supreme Judicial Court had ruled on Jan 8 that the state’s attorney general can enforce the MBTA Communities law, which they ruled is constitutional, but they did not rule on the law’s guidelines. There are 23 separate bills filed on MBTA zoning by 11 different representatives of both parties.
“I do very much believe this is going to get worse, to be honest with everybody,” Sweezey said.
The following week, the governor’s office and the Executive Office of Housing and Livable Communities issued emergency regulations with new deadlines. As of now, Sweezey said, every community is back into “interim compliance,” which is why Hanson was awarded the fire safety equipment grant.
On Feb. 13, all towns must file an action plan, whether they plan on being compliant or not. Hanson had done a couple of years ago before the timeline had been changed because of the court challenge, before beginning the process of bringing it back to Town Meeting by July 14.
FitzGerald-Kemmett said the action plan would be further discussed and voted on at the Select Board’s Feb. 11 meeting.
“At that point, if no zone is created, then that town – if they filed an action plan – would then be out of compliance,” Sweezey said.
FitzGerald-Kemmett said Sweezey liked the letter received by Hanson Fire, also came short of saying ‘You won’t get it,” she said. “But you won’t get it.”
She noted that, as the law is structured now, educational grants, first responder grants, could be on the table.
“There’s no guardrails there,” she said.
“The townspeople overwhelmingly, gave us decision,” said Vice Chair Ann Rein. “They don’t want to be in compliance. Starting that process up, makes it look like we are going against the townspeople’s desires, and trying to bring Hanson into compliance. I have to say, I do not want to be compliant.
“I don’t want Hanson to change the way they want it to change, the way they want Hanson to change,” she said.
The Hanson Public Library has also been awarded a sizeable grant – $100,000 to be funded immediately – by the Massachusetts Board of Library Commissioners at it’s January Board meeting.
The MPLCP awards grants in two phases: Planning and Design Phase and Construction Phase. All the projects will move through the planning and design phase at the same time, regardless of status. At the culmination of this phase in late 2025 or early 2026, all projects will undergo an independent review of the MPLCP Level of Design. The immediately funded projects that pass the review will be recommended for a construction phase grant immediately.
SST wins in landslide
Any way you look at it, this was a landslide win, even if South Shore Tech’s Superintendent-Director Dr. Thomas J. Hickey, declined use that word at the risk of appearing to be “spiking the football,” but he is grateful to voters and pleased with the result.
“The term has been used and I think it’s around 77 percent overall,” he said of the “L-word,” on Monday, Jan. 27 of a ballot question before voters of SST’s nine member towns on Saturday, Jan. 25 to build a new South Shore Tech High School. “If you drill into the numbers, town-specific, the other big headline is that all nine towns approved it, even though that was not a necessary threshold.”
Turnout was low – in single digits for Whitman and Hanson, but Hickey found many reasons for encouragement.
“It’s so interesting, when you look at each town, there’s a story behind it,” Hickey said. “When I look at Cohassett and Norwell, I see two towns that send very few kids, and I would not have expected that big of a turnout.” Scituate, where the margin of victory for the project was 995, just voted for a new elementary school project.
“And here’s Whitman, [approving] a new middle school and DPW building,” he said. “We’re the third in line and, while the turnout was lower, the fact that it was in the affirmative, that was an extra special feeling, knowing the sacrifice folks are making to support this investment.”
He said the building should meet the needs of vocational education for the next 50 or 60 years; and the district is not going to lose sight of what voters did as SST moves forward with annual budgets and with this project.
“Wherever there are ways that we can curb costs – that also includes continuing to advocate to our legislative delegation that the state could still help by increasing money for equipment grants … adding more reimbursement for vocational schools,” Hickey said. “We can’t let up on the advocacy for making these schools more affordable.”
He also expressed appreciation for the legislative delegation’s bipartisan support for the project. Hickey expressed as much humility and appreciation as he did joy in the results.
“I feel profound gratitude over the support that’s throughout our district,” he said. “It says that people believe in the value of vocational education as a necessary investment for these trade areas… but I am also fully aware that voters despite difficult economic times and despite competing capital demands and looming operational overrides. It means so much to have the support.”
Supporters of the project were out in force online and outside polling places as residents in the SST district’s nine member towns voted. On a day when the temperature never climbed out of the 20s, the sun helped warm up the 150 members of the school’s alumi association, members of the Construction & General Labor Union Local 721 out of Brockton, parents and students, as they fanned out to their sign-holding posts.
“We’re the alumi,” Mark Consiglio of Whitman and Meghan Bickford [using her maiden name so her automotive classmates would recognize her] said in unison, as they held signs in front of the Dunkin Donuts next door to Whitman Town Hall.
“This has been over a year in the making, with meetings and everything,” Bickford said of the organizing the alumni group has done. “We’ve been doing meetings and calls.”
Before they even hit the streets, however, voters had been greeted that morning with a text message reminding them to vote and providing a link to information on the locations of the polling places.
“I was able to go to all of the polling places throughout the day and it was very gratifying that our supporters in our community were willing to stand out in 30-degree weather and just put a personal face on support for the school,” Hickey said.
Turnout, however, especially during the morning was “very, very slow,” according to Town Clerk Dawn Varley. In the end, only 5.8 percent – 1,771 voters of the town’s 11,930 eligible voters cast ballots in Whitman.
“Can I say it one more time? It’s been very slow,” said Assistant Town Clerk Michael Ganshirt.
Hanson Town Clerk Elizabeth Sloan said the turnout is “busier than we thought.”
There were 60 absentee votes cast. Hanson, which gave the building project a winning margin of 471 votes (543 voting yes and 72 voting no), did so with only 7 percent of voters casting ballots.
“More than I thought,” said Assistant Town Clerk Jean Kelly.
Hickey said he did some numbers crunching on his own and, while he doesn’t claim to have the right answer, but based on the town results, going back over four years of local election results, in most of the SST district towns, the turnout numbers probably rivaled the results on ballots where, “the only contested race was cemetery commission” or something.
“If you compare that turnout to a town meeting – even a high-octane town meeting – I think it’s good that this process probably engaged more people, through absentee ballot and same-day voting, as perhaps a town meeting,” he said.
At the entrance to the Maquan School driveway, SST Junior Graphic Arts student, Nathan Osso, said his SkillsUSA program advisor asked students to volunteer as a civics exercise. They also participate in volunteer efforts to bolster community efforts like toy drives and collections for food pantires.
Sign-holders in both towns reported many thumbs-up from motorists and positive comments from passersby.
“We’ve had a lot of people come in today,” Nathan said, explaining how much hope it gave him. “We’ve gotten some thumbs up, whistles, honks.”
“I think it’s going to do good,” said Jane Sayce of Hanson, who was on duty with her sign since 8:45a.m., along with middle her son, Brody. “I think it’s a good turnout.”
Both were dressed for the occasion in SST sweatshirt to spread school pride, especially since Brody and another one of her younger sons plan to attend SST in the future, as their older brother does now.
“We feel positive electronics alum Consiglio, who now works audio/visual in the entertainment industry said. “A lot of the turnout here has been very positive. There’s a couple of towns that are worried about the tax increase, but either way there’s a tax increase. A “yes” vote is for a new school and a “no” vote is for the repairs.”
“It’s evenly divided between all the towns,” said Consiglio.
SST School Committee representative, and Select Board member, Dan Salvucci, though, expressed uncertainty mixed with hope, but he forecast a close race of it in Whitman, Abington and Rockland. All three are at the top of the enrollment figures and stood to have to be contributing more toward a new school.
“I hope it passes,” he said. “I don’t know. I’ve been posting a lot on Facebook. I haven’t said, ‘Please vote for it,’ I don’t tell them what to do.”
Outside and down the street from Whitman Town Hall, the Local 721 Laborers were putting in some volunteer time sign-holding.
“We’re [here] just as a union,” said Mike Pidgeon of Lakeville. “If they go with [the school] that’s more work for us. We get work either way, but we get more work if they go with a new one.”
He also spoke about the importance of vocational education and the trades in the workforce.
“You’ll have more courses available for the kids and you’re getting everything new while you don’t have to live out of trailers,” he said of portable classrooms that were briefly considered for the expanding school enrollment. “In the long run, it’ll save you money.”
Pidgeon attended Southeastern Tech when he was in high school in 1976.
“I went for plumbing and never really got into that, but now I know how to do it. But I’ve been in the trades for over 50 years,” he said, noting that the trades are a work segment that is not vulnerable to being replaced by AI.
“They’re always going to need the trades,” he said. “More people are going to trade schools than colleges. You don’t have a guarantee when you get out.”
“I hope it goes ‘Yes,’” said Jim Rich of Foxboro. “That’s why we’re here, holding signs. Vo-techs work. You go to college and get debt, or go to work and get paid to learn.”
Graduation requirements after MCAS
In the wake of the commonwealth’s vote last year to remove the MCAS test as a graduation requirement, school districts have been grappling with whether to keep it as an educational tool and how it should be used if it is retained.
“We’ve always had high graduation requirements at W-H,” Superintendent of Schools Jeff Szymaniak said during the Wednesday, Jan. 15 School Committee meeting.
Vice Chair Hillary Kniffen noted that the change is a shift to the Committee’s requirements, asked what graduation requirements have been set.
The Committee unanimously voted to accept changes to the district’s high school graduation requirements, after a lengthy discussion on the implication of the changes toward graduation requirements.
High School Principal Dr. Christopher Jones presented this year’s changes to the program of study to the School Committee.
The main changes concern a change of language due to graduation requirements following the ballot question removing it as a graduation requirement last November.
Jones said language changes are usually done merely for updating, accuracy and clarity; two new course additions – Teen Literature II and Physics: Electricity and Waves, or Magnetism – accessible via graphic. Course adjustments to keep courses fresh and provide students with different opportunities and options, are also included in the program of study.
The updated graduation policy changes from requiring the MCAS test to just mentioning “successfully passed all requirements set forth by the WHRSD School Committee, Commonwealth of Massachusetts and the Department of Education.”
A schedule change to eight different blocks of class time, also means students are now required to take minimum of seven classes, instead of six – with a total of 98 credits instead of 90 to graduate, beginning with the Class of 2028 with certain number in certain classes – beginning with the Class of 2026.
“Students have to have a certain number of credits to graduate, and a certain number of those credits have to be in certain courses,” Jones said. “We haven’t adjusted the number courses that they need, or specific courses that they need, so we put those into electives. That doesn’t mean that they have to be a half-year course. It could be a full-year course – it really opens up options for students to explore more of what they would like to explore when they’re in high school.”
Jones said it is a requirement that is easily attainable by the time they’ve completed their four years of high school.
“Now that the MCAS is off the table, and – DESE – we’re still waiting for guidance, and maybe we’ll get it this year, probably not,” she said. “But, by the time we get it, it’ll be too late for this current class. Right? So, what is our role here?”
She said, if the language in the program of study refers to requirements set by the School Committee, “then that means we, as a School Committee, have to have a conversation about adopting MassCORE or looking at the MassCORE framework.” She noted that MassCORE is what most state universities look at, as well.
“Is that a future topic?” Kniffen asked.
Szymaniak said if the district aligns with MassCORE, which requires the increase to 98 credits, but it is a modified version, or a future topic to be discussed.
“It could be both,” Szymaniak said. “We use MassCORE, [which is why the credit total is being changed]. It’s modified MassCORE. A student in science could take biology, could take physics, and then, potentially, could take two other courses to fulfill that requirement.”
Glen DiGravio asked for confirmation that the local School Committee is subordinate to the other two, referring to DESE at the state level and the U.S, Department of Education.
“We couldn’t supersede them?” DiGravio asked.
“Yes, you could,” Szymaniak replied. “Right now, there is nothing from the Commonwealth of Mass. … Certain School Committees now, still require MCAS.”
“We could do that?” Digravio asked.
“You could,” Szymaniak said. “If you do, you’re opening up for a lawsuit from voters, saying you’re not supporting the vote of the Commonwealth.”
The vote in 2024 reset the law and abolishes the MCAS tests.
The MCAS vote is now law, “but the phrase “local requirements” have also to be factored in, Szymaniak explained.
There is no competency determination in the Commonwealth,” said Szymaniak. “The state only gave us MCAS, which is a competency, not a graduation requirement in the Commonwealth, however, a number of our students still have to take MCAS because it’s a federal assessment, for attendance – not necessarily schoolwork.
“This is where the state is doing the push-pull right now,” Szymaniak said. “The School Committee has always approved graduation requirements and the state said, ‘For a state diploma, because of the law, you need the competency determination for MCAS.’ That is now off the table, so the School Committee could do multiple things.”
W-H has always had high graduation requirements, according to the superintendent.
Kniffen noted that the district requires two units of foreign language, adding that it is important for the School Committee members to know how many courses and credits students are supposed to take at W-H.
“Currently, we don’t have foreign language at our middle schools,” she said. “If you take a foreign language in middle school, and you take it in seventh and eighth grade, that can set you up to go more than just your first two units [in high school]. I’m just saying that there are more budgetary implications to – now that we don’t have MCAS – making sure that the students have access to these things in that way.”
Member Dawn Byers argued that, when they approve the program of studies changes, they are, essentially, setting graduation policy. But, when the high school advocates for no mid-term and final exams in order to give more in-class time on learning, but when the committee supported Jones in that, MCAS was still a measure of competency and a tool.
“Now, our students are not experiencing the learning process to learn, [and prepare] for a midterm or final exam or an MCAS,” she said, adding that she has heard feedback from some students that the situation is problematic for them.
She also noted that AP Spanish is being removed because it doesn’t qualify for W-H students. Robotics is not offered until junior year.
Jones countered that AP Spanish has not been removed [but] the way it’s worded is a little tricky.
“It’s being taken out that we’re not offering it,” he said. “So, we’re taking that back, because it was put in the program of study last year that it was not going to be offered … it will be offered,” he said. “Now, whether it runs or not depends on how many students can qualify or apply for it or to enter into it.” He said the number is very low right now. “If I were a betting person, I don’t think it will run next year,” Jones said.
Whitman Health Board issues bird flu caution
PLYMOUTH — State environmental and health officials are informing the public that Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza (HPAI), also known as bird flu, which very rarely infects humans, is suspected to be the cause of over 60 deceased Canada geese, swans, and other birds in Plymouth.
The Whitman Board of Health is warning residents of the Avian Flu. It is imperative not to touch any birds you may come across dead or alive
The Division of Fisheries and Wildlife (MassWildlife), the Massachusetts Department of Agricultural Resources (MDAR), and the Massachusetts Department of Public Health (DPH) are advising the public to refrain from handling birds or other animals that are dead or appear sick.
The recent outbreak at Billington Sea in Plymouth has impacted over 60 Canada geese, swans, and ducks. Smaller outbreaks of suspected HPAI impacting fewer than 15 geese at each location have been reported in recent weeks in other parts of the state. Officials responded quickly and are collecting, testing, and safely disposing of dead birds. Prompt reporting of sick and dead birds by the public will expedite testing and diagnosis in cooperation with state and federal partners who have been monitoring HPAI for several years.
Both wild and domesticated birds can become infected with HPAI. Raptors, waterfowl and other aquatic birds are most at risk for infection, although any bird species should be considered susceptible. Birds may be infected with HPAI without showing any signs of illness. Wild mammals, especially those that scavenge on birds such as foxes, can also become infected.
Humans are rarely infected with avian influenza viruses. Humans that have prolonged close contact with sick or dead birds infected with HPAI are the most at risk of becoming infected. People with questions about the public health impact of HPAI can visit DPH’s Avian influenza webpage or call the Division of Epidemiology (available 24/7) at 617-983-6800.
Reporting wild birds
The public should report observations of sick or deceased birds if 5 or more birds are found at a single location using this simple form at mass.gov/reportbirds.
- Reporting domestic birds: The public should report sick or dead poultry or other domestic birds by calling MDAR’s Division of Animal Health at (617) 626-1795.
- Handling birds and other wildlife: The public should strictly avoid handling any sick or dead birds or other animals. Report sightings as indicated above or call the local Animal Control Officer.
- Keeping pets safe: Pets should always be kept away from wildlife. Cats are highly susceptible to HPAI and may die from an infection. Cat owners in affected areas should keep their pets indoors to prevent them from being exposed to infected wildlife.
- Hunting geese: While eating wild game meat is generally considered safe, licensed hunters can minimize risk from wildlife diseases by following best practices when handling and processing game.
Override questions linger
WHITMAN – The Select Board and Finance Committee agree that it will likely take an override to resolve the town’s deficit situation. The question remains how big and whether it would be a one-year or a multi-year one?
Some important numbers, which would allow a projection, are not in yet, which is one reason another joint meeting is planned for Tuesday, Feb, 25, after the School District budget is released on Wednesday, Feb. 12.
“It might make sense to have more joint meetings than we’re accustomed to, said Select Board Chair Dr. Carl Kowalski during the Tuesday, Jan. 21 joint meeting. FinCom Chair Kathleen Ottina attended remotely be phone and Finance members Mike Flanagan, Jason Hunter, Vice Chair Mike Warner, Rick Anders and Al Cafferty also attended. Select Board member Laura Howe was absent.
W-H Superintendent of Schools Jeff Szymaniak also attended the meeting.
Select Boad member Shawn Kain opened the meeting with a brief review of the latest revenue and expenditure projections before the two boards got down to discussing the financial outlook for fiscal 2027.
“The preliminary budget numbers indicate that an override is necessary [his emphasis] to maintain level services,” Kain said, announcing that current revenue projections and expense outlook put the town at a deficit of about $1.7 million, inviting a discussion “on the size and scope” of an override this year.
That figure already factors the 2.5 percent increase for town department and adding a progression of 1 percent and so on, dividing the calculations to 1-percent increases, without interrupting that negotiation.
But what kind of override? That was his question regarding the size and duration of such a move.
Flanagan said Kain’s last budget review on Jan. 7 “opened my eyes a little bit,” and he found some sense in Select Board member Justin Evans’ proposal of a possible multi-year override, “to spread it out a little bit.”
Winter also favored a multi-year override.
“I would be concerned each of the following years … that we have to go back each year to hope that [voters] would go for another one,” he said. “We’re hearing it from the departments. We have some pretty major capital outlays that need to be made.”
All union locals for both the schools and town are due for contract negotiations this year, Evans and Szymaniak also noted.
Looking at a deficit that big, Ottina asked if a grant from the state secured by Town Administrator Mary Beth Carter that allows her to project the impact of different union contract raises on the budget
Carter confirmed that information.
While not wanting anyone to tip their hand in a contract negotiation, Ottina wondered what the pact of a 1-percent rise, “just or the sake of having a piece of information out there.”
“On a multi-year override, I don’t think we explained exactly how that works too well,” Evans said. “So, my thought was, if we have reasonable expense projections out, say, three years, is override to the level that you would need to be at in those three years, and not tax to the levy in the first two years.”
By intentionally leaving excess levy, which [the town] had not been doing for the past three years, so that we’re no hitting the taxpayers at the maximum level,” he said. “It would be one override vote, but it would step up, almost like it was a couple of overrides.”
It would increase by 2.5 percent plus new growth during the interim years, but it’s all projection right now.
“For me, I’m thinking that we should have the smallest possible override that we could ask the people to consider, knowing that we’re sacrificing, we’re demonstrating our sacrifice, and asking them to sacrifice in a way that’s a complement to our own, so we can just get by with level services, but that is a different message” he said.
While going back before the voters each year is a harder route, Kain said it would be the better route.
Andrews said he agreed, noting that a year-to year override is a better option because, it gives the town options.
Where the budget stands
“If we look at what we had in revenue last year, and what we have in revenue this year … we’re looking at a little over $800,000 in new revenue,” Kain said. “We’re pretty sparse, is the message that was sent out to the department heads.”
Among the bigger expenses officials are keeping an eye on is an 11.32 percent (or $323,260) increase in Plymouth County Retirement. “It’s a huge number for us,” Kain said. Medical and health insurance is estimated to increase by 7 percent.
“We’re not exactly sure where that’s going land, so that’s just a place-holder,” he said.
WHRSD, about a $20 million assessment line for Whitman, and $200,000 for every 1 percent it increases. Kain therefore put an estimated increase of 5 percent sits at close to $1 million.
“It is also important to note that we had discussed as a board earlier that a creative way to get them some revenue that’s not currently used in the operating budget, is the funding that we used to fund our OPEB liability,” he said. “That doesn’t mean that we’re not going to fund our OPEB liability, it’s just that it would go in the queue at Town Meeting and we’d ask for the Town Meeting’s support to pay for it with free cash.”
Resident John Galvin asked why free cash has not yet been certified by the state.
“We can’t talk about it unless we get it certified,” he said.
Carter said she had the town accountant’s office to check on the free cash certification status on Tuesday. The tax rate had been set in mid-December and took priority as well as a lot of year-end documents to be reconciled by the treasurer-collector’s office.
“I was told today that, where we have a new accountant in place full-time, the DOR is putting us at the top of the list and were working on it this afternoon,” Carter said, adding that it was hoped that task would be done that afternoon and could be available as soon as Wednesday, Jan. 22.
The budgeting situation means that the district is “missing critical components” in the district budget.
“They don’t have an educationally sound budget at W-H Regional School district, so they need more funding,” he said. “But they’re getting less money from the state because [of] this hold-harmless situation, so they’re in a bind.”
Instituted in 2021 to help with funding gaps as pandemic-related enrollment losses, hold-harmless provides funding stability for districts experiencing declining enrollments. It can take several forms, such as limiting changes in state aid from year to year, providing supplemental funding for districts with declining enrollment, or using past enrollments in grant calculations, but some argue it may unintentionally disadvantage districts that were seeing steady enrollment or increases before the pandemic.
“We know they’re in a difficult situation with their current budget,” Kain said, noting that Szymaniak has reported to the School Committee on the specifics of the problem. “That’s definitely going to hurt when it comes to hold-harmless, which means we’re not looking to get more money from the state.”
South Shore Tech’s Whitman enrollment is down a bit, as well, Kain has included a level-funded number as a place-holder, but SST Superintendent/Director Dr. Thomas J. Hickey said that number would be reduced some to reflect that decline.
Kain noted that Whitman Fire Department’s budget is down by 2.36 percent, due mainly to recent retirements.
“We used free cash last year [$509,212], so that puts us behind the eight-ball a little bit this year,” he said.
Resident Robert Kimball of Auburnville Way said his calculations put SST at a 10-percent decrease in Whitman students for an $80,000 decrease in that budget.
Galvin noted that SST’s budget is a zero-based plan calculated on a three-year rolling average of the enrollment for each community.
“Even though [Whitman] is down 18, that average isn’t going to come down that much, it will, but not that much,” he said.
Kimball also pointed to a new cannabis retailer expected to open by mid-year, and expressed the expectation that it might help reduce the hit on taxpayers. He also questioned how WHRSD enrollment numbers could be continuing to decline when “we seem to have more and more people moving into the community.”
Szymaniak said the high school is down by 109 this year, and indicating the same trend has been true for lower grades – although there is anecdotal evidence of some classes bouncing back a bit. But the high school number “isn’t surprising” because some students opt for SST or carter and parochial schools.
“It looks like grades one and two are continuing to build back up to areas that might be sustainable, but those [families] aren’t having four or five kids anymore, they’re having one or two.”
“I’m very pleased that we’re having this discussion in January,” Ottina said. “The information has to be gotten out to the public.”
Noting that Hanson is using ARPA funding to help them illustrate the override need to its residents through the use of Guilfoil Public Relations, a firm already used by Whitman Police and Fire, as well as the schools to inform residents a how an override could hep the town’s fiscal outlook,
“Supporting an override doesn’t mean that you want the override to pass,” Kain said “But I do think the right choice is to allow the town to make that desicion.”
Hanson hires for PD and IT
HANSON – While the Select Board keeps an eye on the budget bottom line, they made a few hiring moves to bring some essential personnel on board during their Tuesday, Jan. 14 meeting – appointing a new police officer and an IT director.
The hires came amid a meeting in which the budget’s ability to maintain services frequently bubbled to the surface.
“We’ve never cut first responders in town, we don’t want to cut first responders in town,” Chair Laura FitzGerald-Kemmett said during a later discussion on the town’s efforts to inform residents of the need for an override. “We’ve done everything we can to attract people, to retain people, to treat those unions well.”
She echoed Vice Chair Ann Rein’s comment that more than 50 percent of the town budget is tied to the one area where the town has no control – the school budget.
“We’re supporting an elephant we can’t do anything about, and then we have to support the town services that they want,” Rein said. “They want good police officers. They want a good fire department.”
Town Administrator Lisa Green said her conversations with department heads have often included the conclusion that the housing growth in town over recent years means that Hanson has out-grown its public safety departments. Reductions in municipal services, especially the quality of the schools, could mean a decrease in the value of those homes, making the town less attractive to young families who could afford the necessary taxes to maintain public safety services.
“People don’t always act in the moment for their future needs,” FitzGerald-Kemmett said. “This is serious.”
In presenting his case for the new officer, Deputy Police Chief Michael Casey noted that the Hanson Police Department had lost two officers last year through transfers, and Chief Michael Miksch had been before the board just last month to bring on one replacement through a lateral transfer.
Since then, Casey said after the loss of the two who transferred elsewhere, the department posted two full-time academy-trained, MPTC-certified officers looking for laterals and had conducted several interviews after receiving applications and vet the officers through police consulting firm.
“We were able to hire officer Thomas Malloy, who started Dec. 23, and in that same process, we were able to then fill the second vacancy with an officer Kyle Crombie,” Casey said. “He is a graduate of Bridgewater State, and started over in Truro Police Department in 2023. Just finding an officer … you’re extremely fortunate, and Kyle, just like officer Malloy, is [a round peg for round hole] – they fit perfect.”
Casey asked for Crombie’s appointment as a full-time police officer and liquor control officer for the town of Hanson, contingent on passing a medical exam, background check and completion of a conditional offer, with a target start date of Feb, 3.
The board unanimously appointed Crombie by a 4-0 vote. Member Joe Weeks was absent.
The Board, also voted 4-0 to appoint Stephen Burke as the town’s new IT director.
Hanson has been without an IT Director since April, but recently conducted a search for new director and searched ed town records for information regarding salary, possibly removing it from the bylaw to make it a contractual position to provide more flexibility for the town, conducted a search and collected resumes. After a review of the resumes, Planning Board Chair Joe Campbell, who has professional experience in information technology, and Green, who said that process gave them a list of four candidates to bring in for interviews. Three of them interviewed, and one had withdrawn their name from consideration.
“After the interviews, we both agreed that the most qualified candidate to present to the Board this evening would be Stephen Burke,” she said, adding that [they wanted] to present to the board the recommendation written by Mr. Cambell.”
Describing the candidate vetting process as the best way to make its hiring decision and citing his own expertise of 30 years in both military and civilian IT work, stated that all the applicants were well-versed in municipal experiences as well as having an abundance of professional background, education applicable to most aspects of the position’s requirements, but the interviews made the difference.
“After the in-person interviews, it is my highest recommendation to the town to select Mr. Stephen Burke,” he said, noting Burke’s ability to learn and adapt, commit to the town and position – as well as having displayed critical out-of-the-box thinking. “[His] pedigree, educational experience and education surpassed my expectations.”
Green added that Burke has already been helping Hanson with its IT needs without any hiccoughs and has kept the town moving forward and added her highest recommendation to the Select Board to appoint him.
“We probably haven’t adequately expressed our appreciation for you for bailing us out, literally with no notice,” FitzGerald-Kemmett said of the sensitive position. “I was hoping that this [process] would ultimately result in you being the person that we hired, but we wanted to go through that.”
She asked Green when Burke’s effective date would be.
“Is it, like, five minutes ago or …?” she asked.
Green said she would meet with Burke to work out salary and contract terms as he provided his notice to the town of Whitman, where he had been employed, with the aim of Jan. 28 as his effective start date.
FitzGerald-Kemmett also thanked Campbell for his help to the town in the hiring process.
Board member Ed Heal echoed the appreciation for Burke’s assistance over the last months.
“He’s helped me out over the short period of time he’s been helping us,” Heal said. “It’s been very valuable to have him here.
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