The School Committee’s discussion of funding non-mandatory busing during an update on the work of Regional Agreement Committee during its meeting on Wednesday, March 26 reflected the financial divisions still evident in the district.
“We’re plugging through the Regional Agreement,” Superintendent of Schools Jeff Szymaniak reported to the School Committee. “We just took the 2018-2020 ‘bones,’ because it was really a good, solid document, and I did the updates on the statutory method. There was some issues around capital and leases of the new Whitman Middle School that we’re being able to pretty much iron out.”
However, the issue of transportation was brought up as a topic of discussion by the Whitman finance representative for the Regional Agreement Committee (RAC) to discuss, Szymaniak said.
“That [discussion] is around non-mandated transportation and costs,” he said. “The proposal is to take that non-mandated appropriation, which is not through the School Committee, but is an assessment assigned to the towns
No vote was taken during the meeting. Rather the discussion was aimed at providing feedback to take back to the Regional Agreement Committee, both Szymaniak and Chair Beth Stafford stressed.
“If we change the methodology, there will be a cost shift from one town to another – that’s all I’m going to say,” Szymaniak said.
But when Committee member Kara Moser asked what the cost shift would look like, Szymaniak said, “roughly, it’s about $50,000 shifting from Whitman to Hanson per year.”
The current non-mandated busing policy, bills both communities by pupil and mileage, Szymaniak explained before the discussion began.
Both communities transport via school buses, students living within a zone of a half-mile and a mile and a half of the school(s) they attend.
“We bill the towns per mileage and per pupil,” he repeated. “The proposal that was brought up is to change that protocol to actually billing the way we bill mandated transportation as reimbursable.”
It would take the non-mandated appropriation, which is an assessment assigned to the towns, voted on in a separate line item in the town budget, and not through the School Committee. The non-mandated busing assessment is now voted on as a separate line item in the town budgets within the town meeting warrants, to get it back to a 60-percent by 40-percent that would be part of the school district’s assessment to the communities and part of the overall budget he said.
“We’ve been back and forth on it,” Szymaniak said. “Both sides have some strong arguments, so the [RAC’s] decision was to go to the School Committee, go to the FinComs and go to the select boards before we get too deep into it get the vibe from the School Committee, [on] whether you want to shift it or not,” the superintendent said.
The Regional Agreement Committee, on which School Committee Vice Chair Hillary Kniffen serves as a representative from Hanson and member Rosemary Connolly represents Whitman, has been meeting for the past two years.
Select board members Justin Evans of Whitman and Laura FitzGerald-Kemmet of Hanson and finance committee members Steve Amico of Hanson and Kathy Ottina of Whitman also serve on the Regional Agreement Committee. Szymaniak, Assistant Superintendent George Ferro and district Business Manager Steven Marshall, also serve on the committee as nonvoting members.
Connolly, said that, even having been a member of Whitman’s Finance Committee in the past and researching some of the history involved in the issue, she had to wade into law books to understand some of the “statutory laws and application of aid.”
“This was one that stood out to me,” she said. “Our application here is unorthodox – it’s not something that other schools are doing, and I think we need to see this a little differently.”
She said anytime aid is viewed as something to benefit a town, as opposed to benefitting a purpose or a goal, collectively, of education, [but] as diversion of money outside of education, is a failure of understanding the aid.
Delving into the history of the issue, she said that when Whitman was given the option of splitting mandated and non-mandated busing, it was seen as an opportunity to do something different because of the differences in the two towns.
“Because Hanson doesn’t have sidewalks, they can’t take this out of their budget, or, if we wanted to keep it and Hanson decided to take it out then we can do something [else], but under MGL Ch. 71 Sec 16c, it actually says the district is responsible for busing all students when we busing within our contracts,” Connolly said. “That was something [on which] the citizens of Whitman were misled when this started.”
The purpose of the aid is so that the region ultimately uses the busing assessment to get the best overall cost and the way it’s being applied, loses a lot of opportunities for cost management, using district buildings in a diverse way and burdens one town more than the other.
“The improper application has created a diversion of money out of education, not one town over the other,” she said.
Committee member Steve Bois asked if that means some Hanson pupils could be sent to Duval School in Whitman, because it’s closer to their homes.
“It opens up the possibility of that,” Connolly said. “We’re going to work it out anyway, because we’re going to do what’s best for kids. … I’m saying let’s actually be a region and share this effort, cost, and everything else.”
Committee member Dawn Byers commiserated with the public who might find the entire issue confusing.
“I wish the RAC had actually voted to propose something, not necessarily to even vote on, but a suggestion,” she said, noting that she appreciated Szymaniak’s explanation of what their discussion was. “Without anything, really, in writing, I’m trying to formulate an opinion and a discussion to go back, but I want to have more concrete [information] in front of me.”
She noted that because of the differing assessment formulas at work, mandated busing is split roughly along the 60-40 percentage break as the operating assessment, while the non-mandated billing formula puts 82 percent of the cost on Whitman and 18 percent for Hanson.
Kniffen reminded the Committee the proposal was in the early discussion stages, seeking feedback on which to proceed.
“The idea has to fall away from towns to the best way to lower the overall cost of this service,” Connolly said.
Committee member Christopher Cloutman said they were apparently hearing two different questions – the first on how the cost had been distributed in the past vs how it should be, and are the buses most efficiently being used to provide the services to the town.
Stafford expressed a concern for the School Committee and how they deal with their budget, if the non-mandated busing cost gets rolled into the district’s operating budget.
“People will forget that that’s why we increased it,” she said. And, “being realistic,” she said she doesn’t see that Hanson would agree to it at all.
“I really don’t know if this is the right time to do this,” she said. “We finally got how we divvy up between the towns and how we pay the correct way and there’s a lot of people who still have a problem with that. Maybe it shouldn’t be [done at] this time.”
Stafford reminded the Committee that the Regional Agreement is supposed to be reviewed every three years and there are other opportunities to address it.
Moser agreed with Stafford.
“I hear the Whitman perspective, but I lived and advocated through that 2020 Town Meeting on the lawn out here, where it took a yeoman’s effort to get Hanson on board with the statutory [assessment] method,” said Moser, who is a Hanson resident. “There is a lot of residual resentment, even though it may be well intended or not, but it hit people’s pocketbooks in a very big way, and I think it unfortunately eroded a little of that sese of mutual responsibility.”
Combined with the economic outlook, Moser said a change in non-mandated busing formulas, would be a hard sell at this time.
Connolly replied that resentments are not only present in Hanson, and Whitman has had major large financial bills for middle schools and other things that “any sort of recognition for partnership” must entail and that she cannot be responsible for misinformation provided the residents of Hanson in the past.
“There’s no easy way to do it that would be fair to both towns because we’ve got such a number discrepancies between student population and mileage,” said member Stephanie Blackman. “I do think this is something that’s worth looking at further, but I certainly don’t want to be asking people in either town to be paying more than they should be paying.”
Once RAC develops a consensus of opinion and gets the same from the School Committee, according to Szymaniak they are also asking for feedback from the select boards before a policy change is sent to the commissioner of education for approval before going before Town Meeting. The goal is currently to get on the commissioners calendar for May 2026.
Towns, but not regional school districts, could also opt to bill parents on a per-child basis for non-mandated busing it they so choose.
Property article scratched from warrant
HANSON – The Select Board, on Tuesday, March 25 conducted a brief review the annual Town Meeting warrant, with more detailed run-through to come in April.
“Warrant is always a work in progress,” said Town Administrator Lisa Green.
Article 38, stricken by a vote of the board, was an example or that, she explained. The article would have permitted a resident who owns number of parcels of property on Pine Street to purchase another parcel from the town.
Green had consulted Town Counsel regarding a small parcel, identified as Parcel A66, that he would like to purchase from the town.
“According to the assessor, the parcel is valued at $4,500, she said. “It’s a very small piece of property.”
Green consulted town counsel, who indicated “all that is needed is for Town Meeting approval to allow the board to sell that piece of property to the gentleman, who already owns pretty much all the parcels that surround that property,” Green said.
Board Chair Laura FitzGerald-Kemmett said she wanted to be clear on what Green was saying.
“If I want to offer to buy some random parcel of land from the town, I can just make an offer to the town and, if we put it on the Town Meeting warrant, you will let me buy that piece of property?” she asked.
Green said the property’s value needs to be assessed first. Property valued at $35,000 or more must go through a bidding process. Property valued at less than $35,000 can be placed on a Town Meeting warrant to allow the Select Board to sell it, and could negotiate with a potential buyer.
“Because of the location of this parcel of land – because it’s located within the parcels that the gentleman already owns – and the value is very low … it just makes sense to put it in the Town Meeting warrant to allow the Select Board to enter into a sale of the property with that gentleman,” Green said.
FitzGerald-Kemmett also asked Green whether she had checked with the town planner about whether such a sale “would allow this person to do something with that property that they’re not allowed to do now?”
Green said if he does plan to to anything with the property, he would still have to follow zoning regulations.
“So, how do we know it would be worth only $4,500?” FitzGerald-Kemmett asked. “If it makes his other pieces of property more valuable, then why would we settle at $4,500? … Our job is to do what’s in the best interests of our town of Hanson – not this gentleman on Pine Street, so I want to make sure that we’re doing that.”
Board member Joe Weeks asked how the value of the land is determined.
Green said town counsel advised that the value of a property is determined by the town’s assessor.
“But we know that the assessor valuation is always lower than what it actually brings at the market,” FitzGerald-Kemmett said. “I have to be honest with you, my spider senses are tingling. I don’t even know who this is, I don’t know where the property is, I have no sense whatsoever of any of this. Why are we choosing to sell it?”
Basically, he had been at the assessor’s office to determine the parcel’s value, according to Green, and stopped in at the Select Board’s office to inquire about buying it.
FitzGerald-Kemmett advocated holding off until the matter could be investigated further.
Board memer Ed Heal agreed.
“I don’t think this is something that I think needs to be added to the Town Meeting warrant, and I don’t think we need to be deciding this in May,” FitzGerald-Kemmett said. “I would like a lot more conversation about this.”
She said if the town sells the property, it should be done the way they’ve done every other poperty sale – at auction.
Weeks argued that such a break with past practice would end up circumventing an entire established processs.
“It’s not the dollars, it’s procedure,” he said.
Decisions loom on one- vs three-year overrides
A library closed, an ambulance and crew lost and with them the certainty of emergency response, a police department still short of staffing needs, and losses of senior center staff in Whitman; deep faculty cuts to district schools — are some possible scenarios if a Proposition 2.5 override fails. Hanson also faces some dire town services outcomes.
Town select boards had long ago accepted that overrides to Proposition 2.5 in Whitman and Hanson would be necessary to overcome deficits that threaten a need for potentially devastating cuts not only for the school district, but also for all town departments. But like many area towns are facing similar budget gaps in excess of $2 million, the only question was how much, of an override for how long and affecting how many years might voters accept?
It appeared that the two Whitman boards had reached a consensus on a three-year override, however, in the Finance Committee following the joint session, the Finance committee deliberated further and unanimously voted to recommend only a one-year override, according to an email sent to the Select Board from FinCom Chair Kathleen Ottina after their meeting, said Select Board member Justin Evans.
Ottina said they had not yet made the decision at the time of the joint meeting with the Select Board, but it was on that night’s agenda.
“We had some informal discussions, but there’s no firm consensus,” she had told the Select Board.
Some of the FinCom members, during the joint meeting had urged a one-year approach [a $2.4 million override] to see if more funding might be forthcoming from the state in the next two years.
“The $2.4 million is what we need for just this year,” said Town Administrator Mary Beth Carter. “If we go with just the one-year override, my fear is that, next year, we would need money, as well.”
The three-year override would be for about $4.2 million, perhaps a little less.
That would give the town a single-year override to cover the town for three years, Carter said, clarifying what a “three-year override” label means.
“It would go into the fiscal year calculation in fiscal year 2026,” she said. “We would have excess levy and we would leave that money on the table and that would roll into ’27 and ’28. That would cover us for three years as opposed to having three separate overrides.”
In the first year, the town would need $2,262,000 with an impact of $421.49 to taxpayers, based on the value of an average single-family home in Whitman of $495,736.78. The additional money flowing in during fiscal 2027 was looking like $370 tax increase for that average home. The third year would see an increase of $198.
The impact to voters is the same in the first year of a three-year override as with a one-year override.
Based on the solid waste costs are projected to go up 6 percent, so that was factored in on the revenue side, as well as unfunded liability for Pymouth County retirement and OPEB costs until that is completely paid.
She advocated the one override that covers the town for three years. rather than the one-year override.
Evans said there was the hope that the budget group and Finance Committee would receive the decision on April 7 on a one-year vs three-year override.
“The amount that the Select Board will put on the ballot [has to be] settled by Monday, April 7,” Evans said as Town Counsel wants to meet with the Select Board in executive session and they are not free on Tuesdays. “We don’t have to have the numbers exactly dialed in today, but we do have to have [the one- or three-year term].”
Kain added that going with a one-year override would put the town short next year and the year after, but is more likely to pass, with no guarantee that would happen, either.
“It’s a big decision,” he said. “A smaller override, that isn’t quite enough and we know we’ll have to cut, or a bigger override that would sustain us three years,” he said.
The Select Board will meet Monday, April 7 to decide that question, after the joint Select Board/Finance Committee meeting that began with an all-around hesitancy to risk more than one year, and ended with a consensus to decide the question next week as both boards were now leaning heavily toward three years after hearing from the police and fire chiefs on the likely effects of cuts that might otherwise be necessary.
That same evening in Hanson, however, found some Select Board members wishing they could separate a schools’ override from a municipal one.
“I wish we could separate the school out,” said Select Board member Ed Heal as the board was returning from an executive session.
“We’re actually going to have a conversation about that,” said Chair Laura FitzGerald-Kemmett.
She said several people have reached out to her to ask why the board wasn’t separating the school override portion from the town’s operational override. She also spoke to Whitman officials to find out how they are handling it.
“If you recall, if both towns don’t handle things correctly, everything gets out of [synch],” she said. “Then we end up in the same situation we were in last year.”
Based on several phone conversations she and Town Administrator Lisa Green had made, Whitman is doing one all-encompassing override as well, for about $2.3 million.
“Their feeling is they don’t want to pit the schools against their town services,” FitzGerald-Kemmett said. “That does not mean we have to do it that way. We could split the question in two, and let’s think through how that would work.”
Vice Chair Ann Rein said that when the questions were split they know that “the emails are going to start flying all over the place from everybody in the school side and they’re going to fear-monger that, and the tone and tenor of the town right now is they don’t want to fund the schools. They don’t want to fund us. They don’t want to fund anybody.”
She doesn’t see separating the overrides is a clarifying way to do solve the issue and FitzGerald-Kemmett agreed.
“When you have a group of individuals devoted to the task – as the Finance Committee is – it’s only the right thing to do to give some deference and some consideration to what their recommendation is,” she said.
Hanson’s Finance Committee is recommending a single override question.
“Any way you look at it,” FitzGerald-Kemmett said. “These [questions] are inextricably linked and, although we have no control over 43 percent of our budget … we’re where we are.”
She advised those against the school budget to stay engaged and reach out to the School Committee to reduce Hanson’s assessment.
This board has no control over the school budget,” she said, outside of pushback about the assessment figure, which they plan to do. The board voted to draft such a letter to the School Committee.
Back in Whitman, meanwhile, Select Board member Shawn Kain provided another budget update, noting that he and board member Justin Evans attended the March 19 School Committee meeting.
“They had some really thoughtful things to say about the school district and some of their struggles,” he said.
Superintendent of Schools Jeff Szymaniak, School Committee Chair Beth Stafford and other members, in turn attended joint FinCom and Select board meeting.
“We’re luck to have them here,” he said.
Finance Chair Kathleen Ottina said the budget working group, which included present and past administrators, representatives from the FinCom and Select board as well as private citizens, had been a great idea.
“This lines of communication have been kept open,” she said. “I’ve learned from Shawn Kain’s thoughtful listening and issues the accounted to his position. He rethinks things, so I’m learning to do the same thing because we have two ears and one mouth. We should be listening twice as much as we talk.”
She said the group has been working very hard on a budget to provide town services and a narrative as to why they are important and what’s at stake if residents opt against supporting it.
“Although this is a difficult conversation, I think the vibe this year is different,” Kain said.
The Fire Department budget looks “pretty tight,” Kain said, and there is a safety concern about the police department’s personnel shortage that is currently leaving shifts unfilled.
Funds have been taken from other departments to be included it in the DPW solid waste line to ensure continuing trash pickup from a public health standpoint.
Who feels the pain
“If the override fails, we will be cutting police, fire DPW, Town Hall staff, Council on Aging will be effected and closing the library.
“It kills me to even say that,” Carter said. “But that is $489,000 and when I’m looking at $1.81 million plus employment costs…”
Fire Chief Timothy Clancy said he was not aware of any of the numbers discussed before the meeting.
“Our budget dramatically impacts the service we can provide this community,” Clancy said. “We’re not staffed to where we need to be – we all know that.” If he loses the four firefighter/paramedics added through the 2017 override, the department goes back to the 1970s.
“That would be shameful,” he said. “I’d have to take an ambulance out of service. … I’m not trying to be sarcastic, but I’m not 100-percent sure I’d be able to able to put anybody at your house from Whitman Fire.”
Since he became Chief of Police, Timothy Hanlon has not had all the officers his department requires.
“We’re still not there yet,” he said. “When we don’t have the resources, that adds stress to an already stressful situation.”
“A million dollars out of a town budget is a big deal,” Kain said. “It’s not as simple as X-amount of salary and one individual. It effects a whole bunch of things, like how many people on a shift.”
The schools would be losing about 21 positions.
“It’s going to hit all of us, and that’s why we all need to be a team,” Stafford said. “If this doesn’t go through, this town’s going to be not what it used to be.”
Szymaniak said the school district has looked at the five-year plan through 2028, and the town’s three-year override covers them.
For risk purposes, because it affects all other departments, Kain said technology would be getting a “slight bump,” contingent on the override.
“That leads us to the critical question, and we should have some discussion first, before we hopefully reach some sort of consensus – should we support a one-year override that’s about $2.4 million?” which Kain said is still a little bit fluid. “A three-year might be at about $4.2 million or it might be a bit less than that.”
Evans noted that it is already difficult to recruit candidates for town positions.
“If we’re going to ask, let’s ask for the one that will sustain us for a couple of years, make a very clear pitch [that] these are the service levels, now, we’re going to raise the levy incrementally … and here’s the projected tax increases,” he said. “It would require more explanation on our part, but it is the more sound fiscal policy.”
Vice Chair Dan Salvucci argued that “overrides are forever.”
“The challenge comes down to what’s the palatability of how we go about this,” said Finance Vice Chair Mike Warner. “We could do three-yearly increments or one three-year increment. The end result is the same, realistically. … The challenge I see here is, what’s the town’s and the taxpayer’s stomach for three separate votes to override, as opposed to one?”
Salvucci said it all comes down to departments’ ability to control their budgets.
FinCom member Mike Flanagan agreed, pointing to recent building ballot questions that had passed, and asked what happened to the marijuana impact money the town was counting on.
“Everyone’s in a jam right now,” he said, noting the number of overrides on town ballots this year. “Maybe the state, within the next couple of years, will loosen up some money because they see all this.”
For those calculations, he favored a one-year override.
School panel OKs assessments
Now it’s time to show their work, School Committee members say, as they gear up for town meetings and their mission of gaining passage of the budget completed at town meetings – as well as the ballot box.
This time, the overrides are aimed at funding all departments in Whitman and Hanson – not just the schools.
Superintendent of Schools Jeff Szymaniak recommended that the committee affirm the assessment figures he provided in the February – 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 – $1,846,621.19 by dollars) for Whitman, and 38.88 percent ($16.4 million, a 9.87 percent increase – $1,477387.35 in dollars) for Hanson.
The committee voted to certify the fiscal 2025 operating budget at $66,306,219.,9 by a vote of 9-1. Both assessment increases, non-mandated busing costs and each town’s debt assessment were also approved by 9-1 votes.
Steve Cloutman of Hanson voted no each time.
“I’m coming from a different perspective,” said School Committee member Rosemary Connolly, a former Whitman Finance Committee member. “The town is supposed to be working from a financial perspective. The town is supposed to be working with numbers and a plan that we gave, although when we made this plan, we didn’t have the risk of pullback of state and federal aid that we do now.”
The day after the Wednesday, March 19 meeting President Trump signed an executive order eliminating the federal Department of Education, a president has no legal authority to do that to a Congressionally established department.
That action should be factored in by the towns Connolly said.
“Jeff [Szymaniak] put forward what would have been, to me, a responsible, level-service plan with some risks, that we might not get the aid,” she said. “So, I’m with some [in thinking] that this isn’t enough, because there are risks. We are the only department that holds so much aid and grants – risky finances.”
For those reasons Connolly said, while she understands the district’s position, there’s a risk that the budget – and by extension, the assessments – are too low.
“We want every kid to be successful and we want to be those roots for their lives, and if we don’t have a budget, we don’t have good roots for those kids,” she said noting that all district children, including those who go to South Shore Tech start in W-H Schools.
Szymaniak spoke about a legislative breakfast he had attended the week before when budgets were the topic of conversation.
There are 45 towns across the state going for overrides this year as of last week, and 245 districts are in hold-harmless right now, Szymaniak said.
“Everybody’s concerned about that,” he said. “What we got from the legislators is they are working on a safety net in case that happens because we wouldn’t be the only town or district devastated.”
“The only thing that can be done this year is, if this does not pass is we’re cutting people,” Chair Beth Stafford. “There’s no fat.
The district doesn’t have the E&D to do it, she said, adding the district have done their cuts there already, leaving it bare minimum last year.
“That’s not happening this year,” she said.
The state is also looking at the Fair Share Act as a potential funding mechanism, as well, he said.
“That is a risk that is uncertain,” he said.
In rough numbers, federal grants account for important programs, with the “heavy” one being the 240 Grant’s $1.9 million, Szymaniak said. Title 1, after-school grants are included in that figure.
“I don’t know if I could fiscally put that on the town in case that doesn’t happen,” he said. “There’s money out there that could be wiped away with the loss of [the Department of Education] and some funding.”
“I think that’s a concern for everybody, no matter where they are,” Stafford said. “We need to really push for this budget. We need to be really careful, but we need everybody to be at the Town Meeting when this does go through.”
Noting that both towns would likely seek an override, Stafford told School Committee members that they must be supportive and attend town meetings.
“If we don’t, and that override does not happen, we could lose, probably, if we don’t get what we need to get,” she said. That means a minimum of 21 employees – 14, plus another seven whose salaries would be needed to fund unemployment costs – could be lost.
“I’m all for foreign languages,” she said. “I’m all for robotics, and hopefully, when we are putting forth, that the town has requested, what we want coming up, we can put those in the budget,” she said. “It’s not just what we want, it’s what we need. … We need to show up, and have our voices heard, that’s our job.”
Hanson Committee member Glenn DiGravio asked if the assessment numbers could be rejected.
“They can’t be rejected,” Szymaniak said. “We can always lower that number.”
But he said it could end up back at the School Committee it will have to take up the issue than.
“To me that’s a financial crisis,” DiGravio said. “That’s a lot of money. What we’re asking is for us not to be affected by that money – we’re going to push this to the town, and either the taxpayers are going to pick up the slack or the town’s going to cut jobs, but we’re asking not to cut anything, correct? We don’t want to cut anything, you guys [the towns] have to cut and you guys have to pay, but we’re not changing what we’re doing.”
“We’re not changing because they say they’re going for an override,” Stafford said.
DiGravio asked if the other departments are making cuts, and schools officials said they don’t believe so.
Szymaniak said that, from what he’d seen in published reports, Hanson is not planning cuts to other departments at this point and Whitman is not offering up an alternative budget reflecting any forecast cuts.
Whitman Select Board member Justin Evans said his board has been working through various budget scenarios, as well.
“I think it would be our intent to vote the budgets as contingent budgets either way, The entire town and school budget as contingent,” he said. “If it fails on May 17 [as a ballot question], we have to come back and vote a budget, as well as it would be a rejection of the School Committee’s budget. We’re not sure exactly which way we’re going to go yet.”
South Shore Tech also has to keep a wary eye on school budget votes around its district, according to Evans.
“If Whitman and Hanson reject it, and one other town rejected it – there’s a lot of overrides on the table this year, that’s quite possible – their budget would also fail,” he said. “Actually, we’d need four of their nine towns to fail for SST to be rejected.”
Connolly said it seems as though select boards are not having honest conversations about what it reasonably costs to educate a child.
“In our history of our relationship with the towns, it has never been the question of anybody in the selectmen’s offices – are we really educating kids to go on and have great educations and good foundations?” she asked. “That’s really concerning, because it’s not a number. It’s a whole entire life, a foundation for every job they’re going to get.”
Szymaniak said, to be fair, neither town gave him a number to keep to.
“I just presented them with what was needed this year and neither town has said no,” he said.
Kara Moser, using a special education tuition line item, which doesn’t even reflect all placements because they are funded by grants and programs outside the budget, such as federal grants and circuit-breakers, as well as charter school costs. It also shows charter school reimbursement is down
“I think a lot of the chatter … is ‘Just stay within your budget,” she said adding that the district is given requirements for populations of our students that we don’t have an option to “lean down,” Moser said.
“The only option is it gets cut from other places,” she said.
Kniffen said she and Moser attended a Hanson Select Board meeting about the special education, “And I’m not sure it resonated,” Kniffen said. “If your child sees a counselor at school, those are mandated, she said. Schools are mandated to offer such programs – and the funding general education, not special ed and staff.”
Whitman Select Board member Shawn Kain, who has been very active in amassing the town’s budget said he would never want to send the message that the schools are easy to beat up on, as one School Committee member did. The real issue in Whitman is that it has only taken in about $1 million in revenue above last year.
“Just the district’s assessment [increase] is $1.8 million, so you can see how we’re in a difficult bind, just on what we can naturally afford,” Kain said. “I think you’re all good people, and I think you’re practical and logical, and if the override failed, I would respect your opinion and figure out how we can do this together.”
With one budget, if the override fails, a special town meeting would be needed anyway, Evans explained.
Byers points to need for vocational ed in W-H schools
The School Committee on Wednesday, March 19 voted to approve the fiscal 2026 budget assessments for fiscal 2026. They also certified the FY ’26 budget [see story opposite]. It was the deadline date for the vote ahead of the May 5 town meetings.
Superintendent of Schools Jeff Szymaniak recommended that the committee affirm the assessment figures he provided in the February – 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. Once a budget is certified, it can go down in dollars, but not up between that time and Select Board budget certifications – not up.
“I’m not asking the committee to bring this down at this point because, from the numbers provided by the two towns, there’s no budget outside of a potential override,” Szymaniak said. “So, I’m going to ask the committee to stay firm on the assessment that I provided to our budget hearing in February.”
“Those [municipal budget] numbers have not been shared with us yet,” he said. “I’m hoping to have those next week, but due to the law that says we have to set an assessment 45 days before Town Meeting, I don’t have those numbers for you and 45 days is tomorrow.”
He has met with finance committees and select boards from both towns, and planned another round of join finance committee/select board meeting in Whitman and in Hanson this week.
He said a productive meeting with the Whitman FinCom on Wednesday, March 12 yielded “some good questions from the chair, who shared those answers with the committee.”
“The [Whitman Finance] Committee has an idea of where the school budget is,” Szymaniak said, noting goals involved in five-year plans were fairly accurate in forecasting for fiscal ’26. “We knew this was going to be a difficult budget year and both towns have shared thoughts in writing, in the paper, out, vocally, that both towns are struggling financially and there will be a need or potential need for an override in both communities.”
Those overrides, he added, will not only fund the school budget, but also municipal services in both towns.
School Committee Dawn Byers, recalling four years ago when then-Chair Christopher Howard and the committee worked together in summer budget workshops to plan and set goals for the committee, including one with the Mass. Association of School Committees, which helped with the committee/superintendent relationship.
“It boils down to the ‘what and the how,’” Byers said. “The School Committee’s job is the ‘what,’ the does the ‘how,’” she quoted the message at the session. “We made some progress on class sizes and so-forth, but I feel for budget, in particular, there wasn’t as much dialog in advance over what the budget was going to include.”
While she said she was happy that it maintains programs, she said she wondered a bit if it might not be lopsided.
“Certainly, our spending should be fiscally responsible, but is it being spent with the greatest impact on student achievement?” she asked referencing are towns’ per-pupil expenditures.
W-H is at $17,000, including State Aid. East Bridgewater is $1,000 less per pupil, where they offer the world languages in middle school and robotics, for which she has long lobbied. Hanover is steady with W-H and also offer world languages in the middle school.
“We know it’s not in this budget, but I’m wondering how we are spending our money?” she said.
She also noted that the growth of South Shore Charter, which has a 400-student waiting list, Whitman and Hanson could lose another 25-30 students.
“How do we keep kids here?” she asked. “Career-tech education is the new CTE acronym for vocational schools [and] there are actually 43 programs approved by DESE for vocational – 43 programs. We know South Shore Tech has about 12 of those 43, and they are adding two.”
Weymouth Public Schools has 10 career-tech ed, and receives Chapter 74 vocational funding in their foundation budget, Silver Lake has seven, where they have 340 students enrolled in their vocational program within the public high school.
A foundation budget of a school with vocational students is $17,000, W-H’s foundation budget is $11,000 Byers noted.
“There’s state aid to be had,” she said. “We could have a Chapter 74 vocational program in this school.”
Byers listed several other area school districts offering Career-tech ed that brings in Chapter 74 funding in their high schools.
CTE has always been the main mission of vocational education, confirmed SST Superintendent-Director Dr. Thomas J. Hickey this week.
“She’s not wrong,” he said, adding it’s nothing new.
“Career-tech education, also known as vocational education, has been a valuable public school resource for decades,” Hickey said. “We don’t offer every vocational program that the state allows. I think students and their families are eager to have applied education that would lead to more direct-to-work options as kids graduate and get into their young adult years.”
He added that young people often need an economic leg-up in order to pay for post-secondary education and a vocational skill applied in the workplace can help.
Szymaniak said he has looked into Chapter 74 funding.
“We used to have a vocational [program],” said Committee Chair Beth Stafford. “We used to have wood shop, we used to have a metal shop – my son participated in that. Unfortunately, one of the reasons it was cancelled, actually, was not enough kids were participating.”
Byers clarified that the law prohibits W-H from competing with SST, because the towns are member communities. That is why she stressed there are 43 CTE programs that DESE recognizes, one of which is early childhood education, three business programs – including marketing, which Hickey had also mentioned as an excellent program for W-H.
“Some of them are not trades – construction, mechanical – that require a lot of space. They’re technology, they’re engineering, so I don’t think it’s going to require a lot of physical space or equipment. I would ask people to look at those 43 programs that are online at DESE.”
Stafford also suggested they examine how many programs W-H needs to adopt to earn Chapter 74 funds, or if some of the school’s programs would already qualify.
School Committee member Rosemary Connolly also noted that Chapter 74 also carries more aid for special education.
“I would love to establish some sort of vocational program here,” he said. “We’re limited on space right now.”
While every classroom is full, there might be some flexibility once the middle school is built and there is a decision from the committee to move the preschool out of the high school building.
“There’s a vacant lot in Whitman specifically designated for education,” Byers said. “If this committee wanted to vote for education, and ask the town of Whitman if we could use Park Avenue … they’re not doing anything else with that property.”
Both Vice Chair Hillary Kniffen and committee member Kara Moser stressed that vocational programs carry the need for extra staff that sometimes exacts cuts to other programs – Kniffen pointed to Pembroke’s once strong music program, caused problems for vocational pathways students interested in music because of the rigid vocational schedule.
“We just need to be careful when we’re making these decisions,” Kniffen said.
She teaches in Pembroke and said the school band, for example went from 200 students two or three years ago to nine this year because of the scheduling issue.
“We are looking long term,” Szymaniak said. “This is going to be a tight fiscal year. This is why we didn’t try to add multiple programs to this budget. My concern is going to be trying to pass a budget at Town Meeting where there’s not going to be an impact on student learning and we’re gearing up for a fight after tonight to go forward with both communities.
“I say ‘fight’ in a positive way to support our kids,” he said. He said the district’s business manager Stephen Marshall has already submitted assessments that are sustainable for the communities and will grow the schools if the overrides pass.
According to Byers’ research, Whitman’s town budget pays W-H $9,000 per pupil in addition to the school’s state aid from its Article 2 budget, another $11,000 per pupil goes to SST; $15,000 per pupil is paid to South Shore Charter; $28,000 per pupil to Bristol County Agricultural-Vocational and $29,000 per pupil to Norfolk County Agricultural-Vocational.
“When a town tries to say, ‘W-H, your costs are going up, they’re too much,’ we’re the cheapest deal out of all those public schools,” she said. “I’m glad this committee is not falling for the false narrative that the towns can’t afford the education budget we’re presenting.”
She said she has listened to Hickey state, when his committee certified their budget in February, that “the town financial teams are baking it into their budgets,” and that he didn’t flinch one bit with his School Committee members because he knows the assessment is going right to Town Meeting floor and the people will decide what they want to fund.
Finally, she asked about the bond rating, wanting to know if stabilization accounts are being funded as a senior adviser from Unibank recommended keep financial reserves above the 5 percent threshold crucial to maintain a strong bond rating.
Marshall said there is nothing in the budget that’s funding any stabilization funds.
“There’s not any stabilization funds that have been set up in the district,” he said. “There’s no funding in there right now for OPEB, either.”
Based on the answers to her questions, Byers said she would support the budget.
“I want to make sure we’re looking long-term, to the stability of this district and protecting that bond rating over all,” she said.
Positive ‘principals’ in children’s books
HANSON – Like everything else today, if one seeks to develop a personal values system one can “Google it.” You can even short-cut it, by taking Google’s AI Overview’s step-by-step approach, which “involves self-reflection to identify core principles, prioritizing them, and aligning actions with those values, ultimately guiding decision-making and shaping your life’s direction.”
They have links.
And it sounds like a lot of work, as everything we should have learned in kindergarten does, when you grow up before realizing something may be missing in your world view. Children’s books on the other hand, have a way of teaching these difficult life lessons easily.
Educators have long known this, and – whether a lack of time because of everything else they have to do in a typical work day, from lesson plans and offering extra help, to behavior correction and correcting papers – one wonders why more of them don’t write children’s books.
One local educator, WHRHS Principal Dr. Christopher Jones has written a children’s book, titled, “Isabella and the Storm,” along with his wife Mary Aiello-Jones, who is a seventh-grade English teacher. Lush, full-page illustrations are by Megan Stratton.
“Education has to start at an early age and reading’s really important,” Jones said before a Saturday morning storytime at Hanson Public Library on March 22. “We want them to read early and be surrounded by books early, with stories about character and different lessons in life that we try to teach afterward, but sometimes we start a little too late or it’s more difficult when it’s late.”
“Isabella and the Storm.” is a story about embracing change and the unexpected bonds that guide us through life’s struggles. As the first book of the Coastal Chronicles series, it shows how, like the ocean after a storm, new treasures and friendships can wash ashore, bringing comfort and a renewed sense of belonging, strength, and hope.
Isabella sells seashells by the seashore and goes through the titular storm, worried that she’ll lose her seashell treasures. But amid her loneliness, she encounters a new friend, Jerimiah, who was training to be a knight, but felt out of place. Working together they saved Isabella’s shells and found joy in it – and in helping others and discovering a friendship blooming – and a sense of belonging and purpose.
“It’s really about difficulties we run across and that, oftentimes we uncover even better things,” Jones said.
Weaving this kind of tale comes naturally to Jones.
“It’s kind of tied to the genesis of the book and why the book came about anyway,” he said. “Before we were married, when we were dating, I used to just kind of rattle off some bedtime stories to [Mary] about a seashell girl who collected seashells.”
“Isabella and the Storm” was a Christmas gift to Mary.
“We’re almost done with book two, and that one’s all about gratitude,” Mary said. “And that means an attitude of gratitude, to carry throughout our lives.”
She said that fitting a life lesson in a book without losing the entertainment value can be tricky.
“This one is all about friendship and not being alone and the next one is about an attitude of gratitude,” she said. “It’s half educating, half entertainment.”
It being a craft and story hour, Mary had the children attending decorate craft-store “seashells.” While the day’s unusually bright weather may have worked against audience size, the children who came, enjoyed the story – and stayed for the craft.
“They can get as creative as they want to – I don’t care. They can make lady bugs or sharks – whatever works for them,” Mary said. “I love the [Duxbury] beach and when we were little, we always used to draw pictures.”
Fish and rainbows were the popular designs. With one cow.
Creativity is a life lesson, too.
The book is available on Amazon [Isabella and the Storm (Coastal Chronicles): Jones, Dr. Christopher S, Aiello-Jones, Mrs. Mary B: 9798897057931: Amazon.com: Books] Paperback $12.95/ Kindle $9.99.
Hanson Library building panel OK’d
HANSON – The Select Board on Tuesday, March 11 voted to form a Library Building Committee the list of proposed members.
Town Administrator Lisa Green reminded the board that the Hanson Public Library had received a grant for a design and planning phase for either the renovation of its space or the construction of a new building.
One of the requirements of the grant, of up to $100,000, is that a committee be created to discuss the project and follow it along, Green said. Another is that the grant funding be spent on the project or the unused portion – plus interest – must be returned.
Library Director Karen Stolfer has submitted a list of names of volunteers who have stepped forward or agreed to do so when asked. They are: Stolfer, Corrine Cofardo, Teresa Santalucia, Linda Wall, Pamela French, Antonio DeFrais, Tom Hickey, Patrick Faella, and Melissa Valcovic.
Stolfer said this week that the committee’s main job will be developing a request for proposals (RFP) for hiring an owner’s project manager (OPM), a task that must be completed by the end of the year – not only because of the grant’s spending deadline, but also because there are at least four other library projects in the state that are ahead in that process.
Once an OPM is hired, they will help in the hiring of an architect.
“Once we have all our documentation in by the end of this year, then the Massachusetts Board of Library Commissioners will make sure we meet their level of design,” she said, noting that the MBLC would decide on the construction grants it will award in February 2026 – which is also the time in which the town’s lawsuit over the MBTA Communities Act could come into play.
“With construction, we’re just not really sure,” Stolfer said. “That is tied into the MBTA issues, so we don’t know if we’re going to be proceeding with construction, depending on what happens with that. … We’re just moving forward in the environment we find ourselves in.”
MBLC works under a funding cap of $25 million per grant round to finance all the projects it approves, much as the Massachusetts School Building Authority makes financial decisions on school projects it funds.
While the Select Board was supportive of the project, there are concerns over how a building committee will be staffed.
“Employees really shouldn’t be voting members of the committee, but certainly [could serve as] supporting members of the committee,” said Select Chair Laura FitzGerald-Kemmett. She also called Cofardo that week to advise her that DeFrais “had limited bandwidth,” but certainly would be supportive, if the committee had specific needs for his assistance.
FitzGerald-Kemmett also reached out to offer her advice that the list of names indicated it was a rather large committee, but limiting Stolfer and DeFrias to advisory roles, the panel becomes a little smaller.
“The one thing that I would urge you guys to think about, is I know these people have expressed an interest, but I think it’s just as vital to get an at-large member coming in with fresh eyes, that’s going to look at this in the same way as an average taxpayer is going to look at it,” she said.
FitzGerald-Kemmett suggested members who could look at the project from an outsider’s perspective.
“I will leave that up to you guys in terms of whether that’s the list,” she said.
She also told library representatives that they would need a Select Board member.
“In looking at everyone’s commitment levels, I was somewhat hoping that [David] George might be that member,” she said.
George agreed to take on that role.
“For tonight, I think what we want to say is the formation of the committee – we need to take some kind of vote [for that], and as far as who is in it … we can figure that out up the road,” FitzGerald-Kemmett said.
The one question the board had was whether the library committee would be considered temporary or a permanent one.
“The vote that I’d like to take tonight would be contingent on legal counsel getting back to us,” she said. “It seems that it might be quasi-temporary, although it’s going to be protracted. so it’s not a hit-and run committee. It’s not a one-issue committee, if you will.”
She suggested forming the building committee to the extent that legal counsel as well a vote to getting back to us and tells us whether we need to put it on the Town Meeting warrant, and if not, reassuring the board it has taken the action it need to.
Stolfer said Hickey’s agreeing to serve on the committee was especially helpful, since – as superintendent-director of SST, which is also involved in a building project involving a state funding authority – he has just completed many similar pre-construction work.
“I’m looking forward to it, and I want to help out,” Hickey said.
“We have to choose a site, they will do schematic designs, they’ll be looking at our library building program that we had to submit grant application,” Stolfer said. “It really lays out the kind of features the library should have, using that document to come up with a design.”
Site visits would also be included in the RFP.
Elder tax fund and panel formed in Whitman
WHITMAN – The Select Board on Tuesday, March 11voted 3-0 to appoint a tax relief fund and committee to aid elderly and disabled taxpayers.
Committee members Justin Evans and Laura Howe were not present.
Town Administrator Mary Beth Carter said that the assessor had asked on Thursday, Feb. 27 about Whitman Aid Taxation Fund that had been approved under Article 65 of the May 2001 annual Town Meeting.
The provisions, under MGL Ch. 60 Sec. 3D authorizes the town to design and designate a place on municipal tax bills, motor vehicle excise tax bills or a separate form to mail with such bills to permit taxpayer the opportunity to voluntarily check off, donate or pledge and amount not less than $1or other designated amount. The tax bill would be increased by the amount designated, with proceeds to go into an Elderly and Disabled Taxation Fund in order to defray the real estate taxes of elderly and disabled persons of low income.
Donations received must be deposited into a special account in the custody of the treasurer,
Any town setting up such a fund must also form a Taxation Aid Committee consisting of the Board of Assessors Chair, city or town treasurer and three residents appointed by the mayor or select board. The Committee will adopt rules and regulations under which it will carry out its function and to identify recipients of tax aid.
“While this provision was voted in 2001, I can’t find any evidence that a Whitman Aid Taxation Committee was formed,” she stated. “Tonight, I’d like to ask the board to establish a Taxation Aid Committee. If it’s done, then any resident interested in serving on the committee can certainly contact the Select Board.”
“Twenty-four years ago and nothing’s happened,” Select Board Chair Dr. Carl Kowalski said before the board voted to change that.
Resident John Galvin volunteered to serve on the committee as soon as it was voted.
“I did hear about this and I want to commend the assessor’s office for finding this, because this is something I’ve been pushing for for a while,” he said. “The way I understand it, is that is would be like Community preservation, except it’s voluntary.”
Former Select Board Chair Randy LaMattina spoke during the public forum about questions he had for the Town Administrator concerning the schools’ bond position and how it will affect the overall payment for the WMS school project and whether there was any situation where a town employee would work 80 to 90 hours per week without compensation, as he recently saw posted on social media and for an explanation of the animal control officer position in town.
Town Administrator Mary Beth Carter said, regarding his first question that she attended a meeting with the state’s Municipal Finance Oversight Board as the WHRSD needed to contact them to become state-rated, rather than on their own, because the 2022 and the 2023 audits were not available to the district, as they are required to have to go out for bids on the open market. The MFOB approved the district’s request to go out to bid with state-rated bonds, which she said have a better rate than the district’s rating when they last had an active rating.
LaMAttina asked if the rating from MFOB is higher.
“Yes, it is a little higher,” Carter said. “I have a [preliminary] debt schedule right now … we plan on borrowing $30 million in May.” She said she thinks that rating is estimated at 5 percent.
On employee hours, Carter said she was not aware of any employee, whose hours match what LaMattina saw on town social media pages.
LaMattina said he knew there are two ACOs working for Whitman – one during the day and one at night who also covers, asking for information on the position’s pay scale and how it is covered.
Carter said both positions were 19 hours each and Carter confirmed they alternate weekends on call.
“It’s no one that I’m asking about specifically,” he said. “It’s just things I’ve read online and unfortunately, it comes from a person that represents this town, and it’s really bothered me for quite some time.”
Hanson sues over MBTA zoning
HANSON — The town has filed suit against the Commonwealth, arguing that the MBTA Community Act is an unfunded mandate.
Hanson Select Board issued a statement about lawsuit on March 6.
Contacted Monday, March 17. Select Board Chair Laura FitzGerald-Kemmett said the statement completely expressed the board’s objections to the MBTA Communities Act and that there was little to add.
“We know we’re in a minority,” FitzGerald-Kemmett said. “But we’re committed to doing the will of the people and that’s the message we got at Town Meeting.”
Hanson is the fifth community to file suit in a new legal fight against the transit hub housing law, joining Marshfield, Middleborough, Middleton and Wrentham in maintining that the MBTA Communities Act represents an unfunded mandate, following an opinion issued by Massachusetts Auditor Diana DiZoglio’s office to that point in February.
According to published reports Gov. Healey’s office said DiZoglio’s opinion has no weight and that the state has provided close to $8 million in funding to help communities rewrite their zoning. Her office also created a fund to help compliant communities support new construction, offering money to help pay for things like infrastructure improvements and land acquisition, according to a spokesman.
In January, the Supreme Judicial Court ruled that the state can in fact force communities to comply with the MBTA Communities Act, if the state rewrites the housing law’s regulations.
The following is the Hanson Select Board’s statement:
“Last Thursday, [March 6] the Town commenced legal action against the Commonwealth, seeking relief from enforcement of the so-called MBTA zoning law and also seeking release of vital grants that have been frozen by the State.
“The Town’s suit arises from a recent determination from the State Auditor that the MBTA zoning law constitutes an unfunded mandate. Under such determination, the Auditor, through its Division of Local Mandates, directed the Commonwealth’s housing agency, EOHLC, to provide the required information on the fiscal impact of the law.
“To date, the Commonwealth has refused to do so and has emphatically declared that it will enforce the law, including the requirement that Hanson pass a complying zoning bylaw by July 14.
“Hanson voters overwhelmingly defeated an article concerning an MBTA zoning bylaw amendment, in large part due to a concern over unfunded obligations. Under the Act, the Town would be required to zone for a minimum of 750 multi-family units at a gross density of 15 units per acre across a minimum of 50 acres. This increase in density would require substantial investment in municipal infrastructure, including educational services.
“The Hanson Select Board determined that the most practical and fiscally responsible way to compel the Commonwealth to provide the necessary financial impact information was to file suit in Superior Court. The legal action also seeks to relieve the Town from the duty of complying with the statute until the Commonwealth provides funding to cover the financial costs of compliance. Hanson has been joined by four other communities in bringing suit against the Commonwealth.
“The Select Board remains committed to obtaining important fiscal impact information on MBTA zoning compliance and believes that the Commonwealth’s financial analysis is necessary for voters to make an informed decision at Town Meeting on whether to adopt an MBTA Zoning bylaw.”
A novel approach to diplomatic career
HANSON – Author visits to the Hanson Public Library at 9 a.m. on a Saturday are unusual, to say the least.
As a regular morning Saturday Stories group sang “The Itsy Bitsy Spider” and “The Wheels on the Bus,” in the Children’s Room on the other side of the wall, Duxbury teen Julianna Lee was reading a poignant passage from her debut novella, “we never slept after that,” about survival among political and religious violence and upheaval.
If the time and atmosphere were different, so is the author.
The early hour was because Lee, a senior at Duxbury High School, had to travel to New Haven, Conn., in the afternoon for a scholarship reception where she’ll be studying international politics and Albanian at Yale University in the fall.
More than a dozen Hanson residents listened to her speak about how she came to write her self-published book, answer questions and read selected passages before offering to sign purchased copies of the book. The audience included friends and neighbors of Lee’s grandparents, who reside at Stonebridge Commons in Hanson.
They all learned that the fractured history of post-WWII Albania and war-torn Kosovo of the 1990s have some resonance for America, and so many other areas of the world in 2025.
Lee’s book, liker her, was born in Massachusetts – part of an Albanian-American community and church. In a history class interview project in 2022, her sophomore year, she got to know the real-life stories that serve as the nucleus of her novel of two young men fleeing their homes to find new lives in America.
Dimitri is a Muslim Albanian raised in what became the Serian-controlled territory of Kosovo during the ethnic cleansing as the former Yugoslavia was shattered. Gjon is a Chrisian Albanian living under the repressive government had betrayed had the people’s hopes that communism would bring the freedom for which they long hoped.
“The narrative history is the most important thing in this book,” she said in her talk. “Just being able to recognize, even though they’re such different people in different stories in different time periods, and religions, that what they’ve gone through is surprisingly very similar.”
She fictionalized the work because most of the people she had interviewed for her class project had wanted to remain anonymous, for obvious reasons. Her use of parallel story lines, she said, is a more powerful way to see that they share more in common that even they might think.
The book, however, was a personal journey that stemmed from the AP World History interview project, and credited her teacher, Jesse Dennis, with running a classroom focused on discussion and conversation that sparked ideas and curiosity in her mind to do outside research.
Her additional research took her back to the days of Ottoman Empire Albania, and understanding how one empire can overtake another country and what it looks like for people to have to convert to a different religion, as they struggle to understand where do their existing beliefs fit into a new reality.
“Who are you when you’re controlled by a different government that doesn’t represent your people? These questions made me think not just of my family, but of the entire Albanian population, as much as governments around the world,” she said. “It’s definitely very specific to the Balkan area, just because there are so many smaller nations and different religious groups –you’ll find a Muslim nation next to a Christian nation – and because the history of that area is so disputed, there’s great disagreement over who owns the land and has claim over it. It’s something that’s exasperated the Balkans, but is something that’s common across the world, as well.”
To find her interview subjects, she started local and expanded on an interest her family had kindled..
“I think, overall it was the not knowing and uncertainty of my own family history, as well as this history that has such rich stories and ideas … and needs more recognition that it has a story applicable to governments around the world,” she said.
Family, parishioners at the Albanian Eastern Orthodox Church she visited in Boston, taking a trip to Albania to hear more recent accounts as well as the stories of people who have passed provided a wealth of information.
Among the most powerful stories Lee had heard was from a Muslim Kosovar who works at an optometry shop where she has her glasses tightened.
“I had originally set out to interview an X-amount of Christian Albanians and the same amount of Muslim Albanians and have it spread out over a time period,” she said. “But, when I interviewed this man – I’ll keep his name anonymous – I think that it would be almost too many stories to interview a bunch more because he was sharing other people’s stories, as well.”
He had been forced to leave his home when the Serbs invaded Kosovo, he had to flee and ended up in a refugee camp in northern Macedonia, among others, before he was finally able to relocate to the United States. His story of his escape on the day Serbians came to his village, and separated the men from the women and girls before beating them provided the title for the book.
Some wrapped up in these conflicts are faced as Dimitri must, with the decision of whether to flee and leave other family members behind. That family connection, as well as personal safety and agency all enter into a person’s decision to flee and seek refuge in another country, she said.
Available through Amazon Kindle Direct Publishing, she found that process allowed a quick turnaround for her book to get published, but a career in writing is not definite at this point, she said.
“I always wanted to be [a writer] when I was younger, but I think, now, I’m so interested in the idea of international politics and relations, I think maybe going that route, and using writing as a way to support that,” she said. “In the foreign services, you are writing a lot and that’s a major part of your job. … I think that’s what I want to do.”
Lee said she wants to improve her command of the Albanian language – something offered at some New England universities – with Harvard and Yale offering budding Albanian programs. Yale, where Lee will be studying also offers a major in Slavic, Baltic and Albanian languages. At Harvard, it is part of the languages curriculum.
She is also keeping a sober eye on the effects of current politics on the place she hopes to work one day – the United States Department of State.
“It’s important to maintain civil relationships with other countries and to have good diplomatic relationships with these other states,” she said. “I am concerned with the future of the State Department, but hopeful that future politicians and generations that will be running the State Department in the future, will recognize the need to support the State Department and diplomacy abroad.”
That said, she noted that – as with the military — chain of command is important.
One member of the audience lauded Lee’s work as not many of the world’s genocides are known about.
“Being able to allow complex histories and contrasting viewpoints as a way of bring communities together and spark conversations to uplift society, rather than be the driving force for division, is something that we all need to take away in our country and other countries everywhere,” Lee said. “Political polarization is something that people talk about a lot, but just the idea of allowing differences to start conversations that bring people together instead of dividing them is something that I really wanted to get across in the book.”
Just because it’s history, she said, doesn’t mean it’s in the past.
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