Whitman-Hanson Express

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Hanson mulls YMCA proposal

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HANSON — The Board of Selectmen on Tuesday, Sept. 29 continued discussion on a request by the Old Colony YMCA to lease of Needles Lodge at Camp Kiwanee for use as a learning pod for children whose parents have to work during remote learning days. [See related story below.]

“I’m supportive of this, but the devil’s in the details on the agreement we enter into with them,” said Selectman Laura FitzGerald-Kemmett.

Town Counsel Kate Feodoroff said she adjusted language in the request to refer to it as a license rather than a lease.

“The interesting part about it is that what they are intending to do is set up a place for remote learning,” she said. “This is allowed by executive order of the governor.”

Towns must appoint someone to inspect proposals, including running CORI checks on all employees, as well as certification that health requirements are being met among other responsibilities.

FitzGerald-Kemmett questioned whether the town should be responsible for such employee background checks.

“I don’t want to minimize the burden on the town, but there’s a burden that’s been placed on the town by this executive order,” Feodoroff said. She noted that the town would have the same inspection responsibilities for private organizations offering the service on public property.

“We do have a private business in town that just got approved for the same exact thing,” FitzGerald-Kemmett said, referring to the Boss Academy learning pod. “I don’t know if we fully appreciated that there was a liability that flowed to the town.”

Boss Academy worked with town inspection boards to ensure that all necessary documentation was in place, she said. It also received approval from the state’s Department Of Early Education and Care (DEEC).

“I don’t think it’s a liability, I think it’s just an obligation — an additional task,” Feodoroff said.

FitzGerald-Kemmett said Boss Academy already does CORI checks on its staff, but Feodoroff said the town is supposed to fill that role for learning pod approval.

“I thought it was a strange, strange thing myself,” Feodoroff said Selectmen could approve the lease request contingent on her speaking to the DEEC about potentially outsourcing CORI checks as was done with the other business.

Selectman Chairman Kenny Mitchell said he was not comfortable voting on the request until more information is available.

“We could do it as quick as Saturday morning if we get all our ducks in a row by then,” Mitchell said.

Selectman Matt Dyer also voiced concerns about the dependability of the internet connectivity at Camp Kiwanee and whether Hanson students would get preference in enrollment.

“We have other vendors up there that are there throughout the week,” Dyer also noted. “Are we pushing current vendors out? Are we displacing them?”

Mitchell said the yoga program is looking into using space at the library.

Dyer also said compensation concerned him — $2,500 per month plus 25 percent of the enrollment fee, while the town charges $5,000 for a wedding, which only uses the space for four hours. He also urged calculation of utilities costs to determine if the Y program will enable the town to break even.

“They’re going to be there in the winter, when we typically don’t have the heat going full-blast five days a week from 7 a.m. to 5 p.m.,” FitzGerald-Kemmett said. “That’s going to be a significant cost. … I’d be surprised if $2,500 per month is even going to cover our heating costs during the winter.”

She said she wasn’t against the proposal so long as the YMCA covers the cost of the additional fiber optics installation and winter heating expenses and the $2,500.

Selectman Jim Hickey said the $50 per child cost could bring the YMCA as much as $50,000 a month.

“They’re going to pay us a drop in the bucket,” he said. “There’s a lot of questions.”

In other business, Selectmen discussed the Finance Committee’s vote against recommending an article to change the tree warden from an elected to an appointed position could lead to more costs down the road in view of the need to hire an experienced certified arborist.

Mitchell said that was a concern he shared and suggested more research on the issue was needed.

The position can remain elected until the next election and can also be raised again at the May Town Meeting, Town Clerk Elizabeth Sloan said.

Selectman Matt Dyer suggested placing the duties under the purview of the Highway Director.

“I really like that,” FitzGerald-Kemmett said. “It addresses FinCom’s concerns … we have a unique opportunity, right now, to modify what that job description is.”

For that reason, the board let the article stand.

Learning pods help parents

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HANSON — Hybrid learning plans being followed in most area schools have forced parents to make some important decisions for the education and health of their children.

Working parents who can’t — or can no longer — work from home have an added dilemma: how to supervise their children’s remote learning if they can’t be at home, too?

The state’s Department Of Early Education and Care (DEEC) has one answer — remote learning pods.

One of those has been approved and is now operating at the Boss Academy of Performing Arts in Hanson.

Director KathyJo Boss has been approved by the DEEC to run a remote learning & activity pod for public school students with hybrid, remote learning schedules.

“It’s a tough time for people,” Boss said. “It’s inexpensive and it’s providing a service to the community that is desperately needed.”

Selectman Laura FitzGerald-Kemmett was integral in helping achieve certification for Boss Academy as a learning pod.

FitzGerald-Kemmett said the learning pod guidelines caught everyone a bit off-guard when they were introduced three or four weeks ago.

“It was a new concept, but a concept that I definitely thought was important for our community to have,” FitzGerald-Kemmett said. “If I was a parent with kids in the schools right now, I probably would be having my kid remote and looking for something like this.”

As a small business owner, she also saw it as a “great way to pivot” to a change that could help a business stay in business.

“One of the challenges for small business is trying to figure out how to be resilient during a time when the services you normally provide may not be in demand like they were prior to COVID-19, or there may be additional regulations on it that make it cost-prohibitive,” FitzGerald-Kemmett said.

On the heels of the Boss Academy learning pod approval, FitzGerald-Kemmett said Hanson has been approached about placing another at Camp Kiwanee by the Old Colony YMCA. That project is now in the approval process.

“We’re going to provide it as long as the community needs it. … This learning pod, for us, is just a temporary situation, it’s just until the schools can take them back full-time,” Boss said, noting that she had to apply for certification and pass inspections by the Board of Health, Building Inspector and Fire Department. “The state was kind of figuring it out, too. … We definitely went through the whole process.”

Parents who can’t be home to assist with online classes can sign their children up at Boss (https://www.bossacademy.net/learning-pod-registration) from 8 a.m. to 3 p.m., for up to five days a week. The program, which currently serves 10 pupils, has enough room for 10 more, according to Boss.

The cost is $35 per day, and goes down to $30 per day if students attend more than two days per week. She said it is a very flexible program, because in this environment, it has to be.

“We do have Boss Academy students, but we also have students that are … from all over the place,” Boss said, noting she has students from school districts all across the county, who come in for as many days as their schools’ plan and parents’ work schedules require. “We literally do their online learning with them, in terms of whether they have meetings with their teachers, if they have schoolwork that has to be done — that’s the first priority.”

She noted that, while her youngest daughter is busy with classwork online all day through WHRHS on virtual days, for middle school students that kind of remote work varies by school district and, sometimes, from teacher to teacher.

“They need supervision and they need guidance as to how to do it,” Boss said. “It’s challenging for the teachers, too. … We don’t profess to be a teacher, but we are definitely working with them to understand it.”

She said most of that work falls to her, with her husband Geoff Diehl providing IT support. That’s why she keeps the number of children enrolled to 10 now and a maximum of 20.

“We had the internet anyway, but we increased the bandwidth,” she said.

Health precautions are strictly enforced, with parents not permitted beyond the lobby.

“When kids come in the front door, they have their temperature taken and then their hands and their feet sanitized,” Boss said. “We’re using one room for the school room, and another for the activity room and the upstairs for a lunchroom, so it’s also a change of environment.”

Everything is spaced six feet apart in learning, activity and lunch areas.

She said activities and crafts, acting exercises, outside play and other activity in a different room from their remote, online lessons provides children with a break while surfaces are cleaned.

“I’ve been lucky,” Boss said of her business. “When the pandemic happened for everybody in March, we shut down for a week, like everybody, to figure out what was going on — and quickly went remote.”

All her remaining class schedules were conducted via Zoom, and only the big end of the year show has been disrupted. There are still plans to stage it in December. The school only lost 10 of a total enrollment of 300 during the pandemic.

Whitman hires TA search company

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WHITMAN — The Board of Selectmen has contracted with Community Paradigm Associates of Plymouth to conduct a search for the town’s new town administrator during the board’s Tuesday, Sept. 22 meeting. The vote was 4-1, with Selectman Brian Bezanson voting for Municipal Resources Inc., (MRI), of Meredith, N.H,

Current Town Administrator Frank Lynam is retiring, effective Oct. 13.

Rather than conduct official presentations, the board had both organizations simply answer questions from selectmen, based on materials presented to the board in advance. Lynam had already reached out to references from both companies.

“All of the people I have been able to contact have had very positive things to say about both organizations,” Lynam said.

Paradigm was represented by Bernard Lynch, Sharon Flaherty and John Petrin, representatives of the firm, who would be working on Whitman’s recruitment effort.

MRI had managed the search for Hanson’s new town administrator last year. Was represented by  Robert Mercier and Reginald “Buzz” Stapscynski.

Selectmen Chairman Dr. Carl Kowalski asked both firms why Whitman should select them.

“Because we’re better than everybody else,” Lynch said. “We have the most extensive experience in Massachusetts over the last several years.”

Lynch said Paradigm is the most active recruiting firm in the state with more than 50 town administrator searches to its credit. Recent area searches have included Pembroke, Plympton, East Bridgewater, Lakeville and Rockland. They are also currently working with Kingston.

“We know the region very well, we know the manager world very well,” said Lynch who has served as a town administrator for 30 years and Petrin has done so for nearly 40 years in Massachusetts. They generally get pools of 30 to 40 candidates.

“The list of towns [they serve], basically in our area, is very impressive,” said Selectman Dan Salvucci.

“What I like about this firm is that they are kind of local and they’ve got a finger on the pulse of the South Shore and how things operate here,” Bezanson agreed, before asking how long the average search process takes.

Lynch said they have brought it down from 16 to 14 weeks, but have done it in as little as 11 weeks. They take a couple of weeks to talk to Selectmen and department heads to learn about a community, before writing up a mission statement about the community and what it looks like to match with the ideal candidate.

“We want to find you the ideal candidate, so we want to know what you want,” Lynch said. Then they spend about four weeks doing active recruiting and advertising, then screening candidates to present finalists to the board.

“We’ll probably have a Supreme Court justice before you guys are finished,” Kowalski quipped.

Selectman Justin Evans asked if, having done so many searches in the same area, the firm has seen a lot of repeat candidates on their lists. Lynch said that they do, but that they also bring in new candidates.

Mercier said his firm has been in the business for more than 30 years, with a “long reach” in New England, recently finishing jobs in Vermont, Maine and Rhode Island as well as “a ton” in Massachusetts.

“We have chosen, during this COVID time, lots of communities that are just out of our reach,” he said. “We have nothing on our plate right now. You would be our committed community.”

MRI, according to Stapscynski also represents a lot of town administration experience under their belts.

“We’ve sat in the chair you are looking to fill,” Stapscynski said.

Mercier also said their firm places a lot of importance on talking to Selectmen to determine a community’s needs.

MRI’s procedure takes about three months, including written responses to questions applicants have been asked to answer.

Selectmen asked Assistant Town Administrator Lisa Green to absent herself from their deliberations before voting to select Paradigm.

“Really [the decision will come down to] preference, but I don’t know how we could go wrong either way,” Evans said.

“Both companies are outstanding,” Salvucci said, noting his preference went toward Paradigm. “The towns that they did were more like Whitman. … They’re more in tune to our type of community.”

Kowalski preferred the interstate experience of MRI.

“They were a lot more pointed in the description of our issues and our environment than I expected them to be,” he said.

Bezason leaned toward Kowalski’s view, pointing to Paradigm’s clients as akin to “the usual suspects.”

Selectman Randy LaMattina said the profile document Paradigm did on Kingston was impressive, but also harbored some concern about the depth of the talent pool. It was not a big enough concern, however, for him to vote against Paradigm.

Lynam said he is familiar with both organizations and respects both of them.

Hanson board holds engineering hearing

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HANSON — The Board of Selectmen on Tuesday, Sept. 22 continued a hearing with Impressed LLC to 6 p.m., Tuesday, Oct. 13 for its request for a special permit under the Zoning Bylaw for a marijuana cultivation, product manufacturing and site improvements at 15 Commercial Way.

A public hearing on the matter was held — socially distanced — at the Hanson Middle School auditorium.

Town Counsel Kate Fedeoroff said the permit process is not the typical purview of Selectmen except for the context of marijuana, what the business will look like and the effect it might have on the town.

A peer review of engineering specs, hired by the town but paid for by the applicant, has also been done on the technical aspects of plans presented by Impressed LLC’s engineer and reviewed at the hearing.

Licensed civil engineer Kevin Solli spoke on behalf of the plan his firm has drawn up for his company Solli Engineering, joined by Casey Burch. Jeff Silcox of Hallam-ICS represented one of the town-hired peer review firms.

Dan Denisi spoke about the site plan and Dennis Colwell talked about technical elements for the building.

“I just wanted to make sure you guys were responsive to these findings,” Selectman Laura FitzGerald-Kemmett said. “The big thing we kept hearing come up was the odor. … We just need some assurances in the mechanical review [that] you guys are going to address.”

Silcox said applicable codes were looked at first at state and local regulations, the international mechanical code and any specific town bylaws that apply.

For odor control, differential pressure control, air purification units using ultraviolet light and ozone, and carbon-filtering or exhaust make up a three-tier system.

Impressed LLC’s Ralph Greenburg said a detailed maintenance plan will be drawn up for upkeep of those processes.

FitzGerald-Kemmett also asked about concerns expressed about groundwater contamination, but Silcox said his firm was not charged with that issue. A second firm, not present at the meeting, was charged with that.

“Security will always be in place,” said Colwell, noting that a generator will provide backup power in the event of outages. He also said other security precautions are being used to safeguard deliveries and wastewater.

The site takes up about 1.79 acres in the town’s commercial-industrial zoning district. An extension to the rear of the building purchased by the company will replace the current loading dock with an extension of the building and traffic access to the property will be reduced by changing the current 90-foot curb cut to about 50 feet. New paving will be done at both the front and rear to satisfy parking requirements for the facility.

The existing septic system, originally designed to accommodate a school, will be retained.

Colwell said vertical farming units would be used inside the building for cultivation. The head house and supporting services will be located in the existing building with security provisions. Manufacturing will include trim, extraction, drying and packaging.

“Generally speaking, the flow and the pattern, everything is kind of occurring within the building, so you really don’t see much going on outside,” Colwell said.

Since there is no retail space, parking will be provided only for people going there to work. Some light demolition of the building and small plumbing changes were all that was necessary to make accommodation for the manufacturing aspect of the business, according to Colwell. The building itself and roof must also be updated to meet building code.

In other business, Selectmen voted to execute a union contract with the firefighters’ union and voted on whether to make recommendations to special Town Meeting warrant articles.

Whitman Selectmen cast votes of confidence

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WHITMAN — The Board of Selectmen voted to back Board of Health decisions about COVID-19 regulations concerning food service and public gatherings as well as authorizing the purchase of ionizing devices to clean air circulating through HVAC systems in town buildings.

At the same time, Town Administrator Frank Lynam offered to discuss meat raffles with health officials and VFW representatives, and the board tabled the issue of motorcycle poker runs vs. rolling “political rallies” to its next meeting.

Selectmen also voted unanimously to extend temporary alcohol licenses under which bars may operate during the pandemic within the governor’s limitations. The licenses expire at the end of the month.

Health regulations

“The problems we have been facing recently have been compounded by a couple of events that have occurred,” Lynam said. “It has been a difficult time for every business that’s operating today under COVID. Most everybody is working with us — although they’re very frustrated about it. …  But, at the same time, the Board of Health is really the deciding factor on what can and can’t be done under COVID.”

VFW Manager Al Rainey had sought permission from the Board of Health to hold a meat raffle, as has been allowed in Abington. Whitman health officials ruled against the request and Rainey brought the request before the Board of Selectmen.

“We’re following the guidelines,” Rainey said. “It’s an entertainment piece that were giving for outside and inside dining.”

He said the VFW is allotted 99 spaces for dining, arguing it is not an “outside event.”

Staff walks among diners showing the packages of meat up for raffle.

He accepted the health board’s ruling against his request until he noticed that Abington was allowing meat raffles, and asked again to determine if state rules had changed.

“The town has a vested interest in not seeing COVID blow up here,” Lynam said. “Wherever they’re getting crowds, wherever they’re getting a lot of people moving around and doing things, they’re getting infections.”

He argued having people walk around, selling tickets and taking money is a “high-risk operation.”

“I don’t disagree with you,” Rainey said. “Money is one of the dirtiest things around.”

“The why would you want to do it?” Lynam said.

He said they are a business that follows the guidelines, but does not have the capability to accept credit cards.

“Where is the level playing field between the two towns?” Rainey said.

“I don’t care what Abington does, Al,” Lynam said. But he did offer to set up a meeting with the health board and VFW to discuss the matter further. The VFW agreed to aide by any decision the Board of Health makes.

Selectman Randy LaMattina said Abington and Whitman are two different fields and the board has to support the Board of Health. He also said the cross-contamination posed by handling money between tables was a concern.

Selectmen Chairman Dr. Carl Kowalski agreed with LaMattina.

“I don’t question the Board of Health,” Kowalski said. “They know what’s going on in town and they take this seriously.”

Selectman Dan Salvucci said he trusts that the Board of Health does take things seriously, “but it’s not six months ago.”

Kowalski took issue with that characterization.

“It’s not six months ago, no,” he said. “We’re about to hit into late fall/early winter, and if you think things are going to get better — magically — then, you’re dreaming.”

“I’m hoping so,” Salvucci said.

Lynam noted a motorcycle event held over the weekend at the VFW, which drew estimates of about 600 motorcylists, in no way permitted social distancing when the maximum outdoor crowd limit if 50 people, or eight per 1,000 square feet.

“That stuff can’t continue and, I think if they heard it from the board rather than me or [Fire Chief Timothy] Grenno, or [Health Agent] Alexis Andrews, they might have a better understanding of it’s the direction we have to go in,” Lynam said.

Police Chief Timothy Hanlon also attended the virtual meeting to discuss events that require police presence and traffic control, that discussion was later tabled for further consideration.

A request for an upcoming poker run prompted the discussion.

Sunday’s America Backs the Blue run had started as a fundraiser for the Michael Chesna family but then turned into a political statement, Hanlon said.

“Our problems are two-fold,” he said. “The gathering that occurred Sunday was way over the [social distancing] limits, so you have to balance the right to assemble against any COVID-related issues such as not wearing masks, not social distancing and having a gathering over a certain number of people,” he said. The Police Department likes to be able to help charities with traffic control free of charge, but he noted it adds to the budget burden.

Hanlon said he would like to see a permitting process to help the department know what to expect, as some of the motorcycle runs sometimes come with no advance notice.

Grenno said the Board of Health had taken a strong line of no motorcycle runs because of the social distancing guidelines and concerns.

Air filters

Lynam said he and Grenno met with WHRSD officials last week to discuss the systems, which generate ion waves that attach to the coronavirus in the air and kills it, as well as airborne bacteria.

“These things have been going gangbusters for the last 90 days,” Lynam said, noting W-H spent $160,000 installing the devices in the schools.

Grenno has received a proposal to install the devices in all town buildings for about $40,000, reimbursable through the Plymouth County COVID funds. They would be placed in HVAC vents — three or four would be required in some buildings — to help create a healthier environment and monitoring the air quality.

“It kills strep, it kills TB, it kills COVID,” Grenno said. “It kills all kinds of common, known viruses and bacteria out there.”

He advocated installation in all town buildings not only for better air quality, but for peace of mind, as well.

The manufacturer also sells the devices for home use, saying the only negative feedback they had received was from a man who could no longer smell his bacon and eggs cooking in the morning.

“It works that good,” Grenno said, adding that the schools also report a noticeable difference in air quality. “It’s just a freshness throughout the building.”

The devices have a 20-year life expectancy and reduce the frequency in which air filters need to be changed. Some filter grades are so thick, they also tend to burn out HVAC system motors.

Whitman sees a new increase in COVID cases

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WHITMAN — The town of Whitman and the Whitman Board of Health report that the Town of Whitman has seen a rise in positive COVID-19 cases recently, and are urging the community to follow COVID-19 prevention guidance.

According to data shared by the Massachusetts Department of Public Health on Wednesday, there have been 12 confirmed positive cases of the virus in Whitman over the past two weeks.

“We urge all Whitman residents and those visiting our town to remain vigilant in their fight against COVID-19,” Fire Chief and Emergency Management Director Timothy Grenno said. “We thank everyone who has continued to take the virus seriously by practicing social distancing, wearing a face covering and not gathering in large groups. If we all do our part we can ensure that the number of positive cases stays as low as possible.”

Gov. Charlie Baker, in response to a statewide rise in positive cases, implemented several efforts and stricter guidelines, which went into effect Tuesday, Aug. 11. These included a reduction in the maximum number of people permitted at outdoor gatherings on both public and private property from 100 to 50 and a requirement that people wear face coverings whenever more than 10 people from different households gather.

Baker’s announcement reinforces an earlier order issued in May, which requires everyone, exempting children under the age of two or those with an underlying health condition, to wear a mask in public when maintaining social distancing, a minimum of six feet from others, is not feasible.

Indoor gatherings remain limited to groups of 25 or fewer people under Gov. Baker’s increased restrictions.

Restaurants have also been barred from selling alcoholic beverages for on-site consumption unless accompanied by a food order in an effort to ensure bars remain closed.

Fines or cease and desist orders may be issued by local or state public safety officials in the event hosts violate the limit on the number of people permitted at a gathering or the face covering order.

COVID-19 prevention tips from the Massachusetts Department of Public Health include:

• Remember that an infected individual can spread COVID-19 before they have symptoms, which is why social distancing, maintaining a minimum of six feet from others, is critical.

Those who must go out are urged to:

• Avoid gathering in groups

• Maintain six feet from people outside your household

• Do not shake hands or hug

• Wash your hands often

• Those who are at a high risk for COVID-19, including those over the age of 65 and with underlying health conditions, are advised to stay home and avoid non-essential tasks and errands.

• Wear a mask in indoor and outdoor spaces where social distancing from people outside your household is not possible. This does not apply to those under the age of two and with underlying health conditions.

Face coverings should:

• Cover the nose and mouth

• Fit snugly and comfortably against the side of the face

• Be secured with either ties or ear loops

• Permit breathing without difficulty

• Be able to be washed and machine

• Whitman officials encourage everyone to stay informed regarding COVID-19. The following websites are recommended for the most updated information:

• Town website: whitman-ma.gov.

• Whitman’s COVID-19 Resources and Information website: https://whitmancovid19.com/

Massachusetts Department of Public Health: www.mass.gov/covid-19

Massachusetts 2-1-1 general COVID-19 information: Click here or dial 2-1-1 (24/7)

Sign up for the Massachusetts COVID-19 Text Message Notification System to receive important updates: text “COVIDMA” to 888-777

United States Centers for Disease Control and Prevention: cdc.gov.

‘Not regular,’ but smooth open at SST

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HANOVER — The silver lining of communications has brightened the dark cloud of dealing with the coronavirus as a new school year begins at South Shore Tech, officials say.

Superintendent Dr. Thomas J. Hickey and his administrators provided a report on the district’s first “regular, not-so-regular” first day of school during the Wednesday, Sept. 16 meeting of the region’s School Committee.

“We were always great at communicating with our parents and families, but we have really raised that over this time,” Principal Mark Aubrey said. “We have the Cadillac version of hybrid learning right now.”

Parents are communicated with regularly via Zoom meeting and school administration, teaching, transportation, paraprofessional, custodial staff have worked all summer to ensure the successful start to the school year, Aubrey said.

School Committee Chairman Robert Heywood of Hanover spoke of a note he received from the parents of an incoming freshman.

“[They] are blown away by the openness — the information highway you have developed — they said it took 90 percent of the anxiety away from sending their child to a new school,” Heywood said.

Whitman committee member Dan Salvucci said he knows a 2003 SST alum whose son now attends the school.

“He is really impressed” with the communication with parents, Salvucci said.

Students had a full in-building orientation day and another day of remote instruction beginning Monday, Sept. 14 for two grades each day. The hybrid model began Wednesday.

There were seven days of staff training, including all new COVID protocols and procedures as well as an opportunity for staff to work on the development of digital content.

“We’re no longer in that emergency scramble situation that everybody in the  country was, at least in the Northeast was [in March],” Hickey said. “In a 10-day period, most of our students are in the building seven days out of 10, most students go to shop every day and all students come to school two days out of five for their academic week.”

The model permits officials to maximize use of the school building, with bus drivers able to follow a staggered schedule with upperclassmen coming into school on shop weeks from 7:40 a.m. to 1 p.m. Everyone else attends class from 9:05 a.m. to 2:25 p.m. Buses are cleaned between runs.

Students eat lunch at their desks, which are spaced six-feet apart. All students may have free lunch and breakfast, with three menu options available for each meal, through the end of the year, if they want it, as well.

Students may also take breakfast and lunch home the day before remote learning days, as well.

Flu shots were rolled out for students, as well. Only the name of the insurance is required. No ID numbers or money is required.

All school bathrooms are monitored by QR codes which track when students leave a classroom and enter/and leave lavatories.

Fewer than 25 students in total are on remote learning plans, according to Assistant Principal Sandra Baldner, of which only “a handful” are fully remote — taking even shop instruction at home, taking a regular school day, at home. Students attending class at the school are required to wear a mask at all times, and behavior during remote instruction days is graded.

Hanson lowers quorum for TM

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HANSON — The Board of Selectmen, on Tuesday, Sept. 15 voted to lower the quorum required for the 10 a.m., Saturday, Oct. 3 rain-or-shine date for the fall special Town Meeting at the high school football field.

Selectmen voted to reduce the quorum required under a state act regarding municipal governance during the COVID-19 emergency from 100 to 50. Selectmen voted to schedule the special Town Meeting and then voted not to hold an annual Town Meeting as required by town bylaw.

“We’re not talking about an override,” Selectman Laura FitzGerald-Kemmett said about the quorum, noting she expected to hear complaints from people about a small number of people making decisions for the whole town. “Most of these articles are primarily housekeeping.”

“We’ll take as many people as want to go,” Selectmen Chairman Kenny Mitchell said, noting he’d like to see as many as 300 to 400 people attend.

Town counsel Kate Feodoroff said the special act had been required because of the June 30 deadline for annual town meetings planned for the purpose of setting an annual budget. Otherwise, under Ch. 3 Sec. 9, communities are free to schedule town meetings as they wish.

“The further trick in Hanson is you have a bylaw which annually sets the special town meeting,” she said. “We call that the fall special town meeting, but because its set by bylaw, it’s actually an annual town meeting.”

By specifically setting the session as a special Town Meeting, it can he held any time. However, the annual Town Meeting designation usually applies when bylaw articles are up for discussion. This fall, the articles are exclusively financial, which are permitted at a special Town Meeting.

Feodoroff, therefore, recommended not holding an annual fall Town Meeting — instead, to schedule a special Town Meeting in October.

“If we put this off, we’re just going to have so much work to do in the spring,” said Mitchell. “I really hate this COVID kind of dictating what we’re doing, and I truly believe that, in the spring, we’re still going to have to social distance and we’re still going to have to adhere to a lot of the stuff that we have to today.”

Town Clerk Elizabeth Sloan said her office would work with the Selectmen on whatever day they select for the October special Town Meeting.

“I’m just worried, if you have it on the Saturday, if it is pouring — I know you said rain or shine — how is that going to work?” she asked.

Mitchell explained that the board was going to look into leasing a tent in the event of rain, but argued that advising residents to bring rain gear as well as masks would help. He also pointed to the short warrant of only 18 or 19 articles as conducive to a shorter meeting. As of right now, no rain date is planned.

“I’m really getting a whole visual here on people with umbrellas trying to be recognized,” said Selectman Laura FitzGerald-Kemmett, noting that cooler temperatures would also have to be contended with during an outdoor meeting on an October morning. “Microphones, electronics, the seats getting wet, elderly people and access — I mean, it just sounds like a nightmare.”

Mitchell said he didn’t favor delaying the Town Meeting, suggesting it could be moved inside in the event of rain.

Both FitzGerald-Kemmett and Sloan favored that option, but Sloan noted it would have to be set up with the school.

FitzGerald-Kemmett said using the gym would provide more flexibility in keeping to the Oct. 3 date, while maintaining social distancing.

Back to school amid anxiety

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With the first day of school during a pandemic ahead of them on Tuesday, Sept. 15, school officials recognized there is still “tremendous anxiety” among students, parents, administrators and staff about what it’s going to look like.

An average classroom will have between 11 and 15 desks with creative signs posted to “help kids along the way to acclimate them to what our new normal is right now,” said Superintendent of Schools Jeffrey Szymaniak to School Committee members during the Wednesday, Sept. 9 meeting.

“We set out to do something we thought was impossible, and we’re pretty damn close to being there,” Szymaniak said. “We have a good game plan. Principals and teachers are implementing that game plan.”

He said teachers were excited to be coming back to the classroom and hopes students share that excitement. Szymaniak also held a parent-school nurses Zoom call on Thursday, Sept. 10 to answer parents’ health-related questions. Class lists were released Sept. 9.

There will be 386 students on a fully remote learning plan and home-schooling requests went up to nearly 90 students from the 17 learning that way last school year.

Szymaniak said most of the home school requests came with the caveat that it was not a commentary on the school district, but a reflection of things going on at home with child care requirements and those parents can’t wait to send their children back to school the following year.

While transportation has been a challenge with only 23 students on a bus, Szymaniak said they were ready to go.

“We did the best we could with the challenges we had,” he said, noting there have been several cohort and resulting transportation changes to meet parent requests, but not all were possible because of social distancing requirements in classrooms and on buses.

WHEA President Kevin Kavka thanked the committee for approving the district’s memorandum of understanding with the teachers’ union regarding the hybrid learning plans to keep staff and students safe for the coming school year.

Parents can find more information on hybrid and remote instruction on the school district website or by calling school principals.

Szymaniak has asked for information from local boards of health if employers in either town see positive COVID cases among their employees in an effort to obtain guidance on what schools should do.

“I will over-step to make sure kids are safe rather than under-step,” Szymaniak said.

Based on a survey of 95 district teachers who live outside of Whitman and Hanson, he also asked the committee to open school buildings to the children of teachers who work in the district, hiring paraprofessionals to supervise them.

“I call it remote care, not actual instruction,” Szymaniak said, noting the paraprofessionals would have to be hired.

for public use.

“It would be nice to be able to do it,” said School Committee member Christopher Howard. “From what you’ve described, I certainly have some concerns that are not financial.”

Howard said having an extra child in a classroom, just looking at a computer screen all day — apart from what other pupils are doing — would be a distraction. Szymaniak explained the additional students would be located in the library and will continue to investigate the data and report back to the committee at its next meeting.

School Committee member echoed Howard concerns as well as what would be done with students in that population should they contract COVID-19.

Soldier’s sacrifice honored

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WHITMAN — After 77 years, Army Pvt. Robert A. Lonergan came home — if only in spirit — as a memorial marker was unveiled at his family’s former home at 44 Broad St.

Lonergan, who lies in a U.S. military cemetery in Tunis, Tunisia where he was killed during the North Africa campaign when he stepped on a landmine. He had joined the Army at age 39, over the age for the draft and an employee of the NY, NH & New Haven RR.

“He [would have] enjoyed a deferment from the military service,” said Whitman Veterans Services Agent Thomas McCarthy during a dedication ceremony Saturday, Sept. 12Lonergan served for nine months before his death, serving with the 47th Infantry/9th Div., that landed in Safi Morocco in November 1942.

Lonergan was killed on the last day of the North African Campaign and was buried in the North Africa American Cemetery in Carthage, Tunisia along with 2,840 other Americans killed in that theater of operations.

He was Whitman’s first casualty of World War II. He was awarded the Purple Heart posthumously.

U.S. Rep. Stephen Lynch presented Lonergan’s nephew, Patrick Huntington, with a flag flown over the U.S. Capitol in Pvt. Lonergan’s honor.

“He didn’t have to go,” Lynch said to the small crowd of residents and town officials present. Selectmen Dan Salvucci, Justin Evans, Randy LaMattina and Brian Bezanson; Town Administrator Frank Lynam, state Sen. Mike Brady, D-Brockton, and state Rep. Alison Sullivan, R-Abington were among the officials present.

“There’s loyalty in the simple act of remembrance … especially during times like now, when there’s so much division in the country,” Lynch said. “It’s important at times like this that we come together for this purpose.”

Lynch, who chairs the House National Security Committee has been to Tunis and laid a wreath on the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier there.

“It is probably the most beautiful military cemetery in the world,” he said, noting the grounds are meticulously cared for and local office workers frequent the spot.

He also noted there are a large number of Massachusetts natives, many who served in the Merchant Marine, who are buried there.

“So Robert A. Lonergan is in very good company,” Lynch said. “But it is very important for us to keep faith with the spirit in which he enlisted. He stood up for our country at a time when it was desperately needed.”

“No memorial was ever done, so we thought it would be a good thing,” Huntington said after a ceremonial salute and the playing of “Taps” and “Echo,” by members of the Post 22 Sons of the American Legion honor guard. The family had asked that the marker be placed.

“He had a deferment, if he wanted to, and was also offered the opportunity to stay in the United States because of his age, and he turned that down,” Huntington said.

Lonergan’s parents Delia and Patrick immigrated to the United States from Ireland.

“Their first son gave his life for their adopted country,” Huntington said.

His brother Edward and Francis also served in the armed services during WWII. There were nine children in the Lonergan family. The family lived in the house until his last sister died in 2008.