HANSON — Town officials are looking into options for going ahead with public hearings delayed by the coronavirus pandemic.

Town Counsel Kate Feodoroff said she has received several calls from the Zoning Board of Appeals as well as various other boards and commissions about the public hearings that have been delayed. Hanson is further hampered by its technology limitations, as virtual meetings must allow for public participation — not just listening in or watching from home.

“They have to, in real time, be able to ask questions and voice their concerns and positions,” Feodoroff said.

As a result, Hanson’s list of delayed public hearings is long, Feodoroff said, with some of them some near to a conclusion. One was already decided, but a public session was required to ratify the written conclusion.

She raised the issue with Hanson Health Agent Gil Amado and emailed the state Department of Public Health, which said they viewed the meetings as not an essential service, and still governed by the state’s 10-person limit for public gatherings. Gov. Charlie Baker’s most recent order did not address public hearings by municipalities, instead covering the legislative process — town meetings — Feodoroff said.

Regular Board of Selectmen meetings are considered executive board meetings and do not come under the order permitting in-person meetings unless it is an emergency.

Her email to the DPH epidemiologist argued the hearings were an essential service, which is interfering with other critical services such as construction and development.

The DPH deferred to Amado as the local health agent.

After discussing the issue with Amado and Town Administrator John Stanbrook to develop two options: hold hearings outside or at a school.

Outside meetings held at night raise problems from mosquitos, heat and other weather conditions and adequate lighting.

Amado said he would contact WHRSD Facilities Director Ernest Sandland about the possibility of using the Hanson Middle School to ensure social distancing of hearing participants.

Selectman Laura FitzGerald-Kemmett said she was “mystified” be the problem as Planner Deb Pettey had applied for a Zoom account that provides functionality to display documents on the screen.

“Planning just had a meeting last week using it,” FitzGerald-Kemmett. “It may be that people do not know how to use it … I understand there is a learning curve.”

She said she was also concerned about whether using the school facilities would incur COVID-related cleaning costs after the hearings.

“I like this plan, I just think that there’s another option, and it should be fully explored before incurring any costs to have meetings at the schools,” FitzGerald-Kemmett said.

Feodoroff said the Zoom purchase was news to her and that she has worked meetings that way, saying they work well. Amado had not heard about it, either.

Selectman Matt Dyer asked if the concerns Feodoroff raised about outdoor hearings applied to the town’s plan to hold its annual Town Meeting outside.

“There are actually no right answers,” she said. “I’ve been to two town meetings that were inside and, I have to say there were some hairy moments, because the town meetings are well-attended — better attended than in other years, for whatever reason.”

At one of those meetings, some people either refused to wear a mask or stay in mask-free areas, she said.

“I’m not opposed to an outdoor town meeting,” Feodoroff said. “I think it’s a better solution, although it does come with risks.”

She was discussing the matter with Town Moderator Sean Kealy

The School Committee on Monday, June 29 discussed the current budget picture under a 1/12 budget.

Superintendent of Schools Jeffrey Szymaniak clarified that the 6-4 vote in December was to provide him and Assistant Superintendent George Ferro with a method of assessment to bring to the communities in February.

The schools began working within a 1/12 budget on Wednesday, July 1 — using fiscal ’21 cherry sheet numbers — puts the operating budget for Hanson, under the state-required statutory method, at $11,397,219.16 and for Whitman, it would be $14,259,517.84.

The Hanson’s overall assessment under a 1/12 budget, with $350,000 in excess and deficiency and another $700,000 in circuit breaker money, would be $11,156,979.16 and Whitman’s would be $13,899,757.84.

Using fiscal 2020 numbers, with no E&D funds, overall assessment under a 1/12 budget would be $11,374,413.46 and Whitman’s would be $14,392,243.54. If the commissioner allows the district to use E&D, circuit breaker and cherry sheet funds, Hanson’s would be $11,134,173.46 and Whitman’s would be $14,032,483.54.

The fiscal ’21 budget sent to the communities was $55,320,238 and the compromise assessment was $11,745,020.21 for Hanson and $16,206,216.79 — using E&D and circuit breaker funds.

Szymaniak still wants to use those numbers at town meetings.

“It was a non-binding vote,” Szymaniak said of the 6-4 vote. “The only binding vote can be a two-thirds majority of the … School Committee on the vote and the assessment methodology.”

He stressed that the 9-1 vote was not statutory and was not an agreement, it was an amendment to the agreement put forth in May to both communities for the fiscal 2021 budget. Both communities, in turn, have to approve the method of assessment at both town meetings.

Szymaniak said Christine Lynch of the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education (DESE) told him there was nothing illegal about that vote.

“It’s challenging to explain that,” he said. “But the only way a budget comes out of committee is two-thirds majority. This committee voted a two-thirds majority [for] the compromise, which was a combination of statutory and agreement, and you voted a budget. It was 9-1.”

Lynch confirmed that the committee did nothing wrong. Only 10 regional districts in the state are now using the agreement methods with DESE now requiring boards of selectmen to sign off on it when their towns approve it.

Given financial storm clouds they see on the horizon, committee members did not favor taking any more money out of excess and deficiency — which is needed for emergency expenses.

Business Manager John Tuffy said the commissioner of education will set a budget that represents an expenditure limit. It doesn’t tell what the funds can be spent on — just the total amount that can be spent based on the current fiscal 2020 budget.

Payroll adjustments will be needed because of the cost of salaries that won’t be met by the 1/12 budget, Szymaniak said. The law requires that, without a budget, all non-professional status teachers had to be sent a reduction in force letter until a budget is approved. The district sent out 117 RIF letters.

“We never said we were reducing 117 teachers,” said Committee Chairman Bob Hayes. “Hear me clearly, we never said that. We said we were reducing in force roughly 40 teachers and staff.”

“This wasn’t a bluff,” Szymaniak said. “That’s not a tactic I’m going to use.”

The disctrict has also been reduced in bond rating from a AA to AA- based on the low level of cash in excess and deficiency.

Szymaniak began his report to the committee by commenting on “vile” remarks about and photos of him posted on social media over the weekend.

“It’s First Amendment rights and I’m not going to tell people to not express themselves,” he said. “But I really wanted to thank the members of both communities who emailed me and Facebook messaged me [as] a show of support in the values and ethics that I put forward and the commitment that I have for the kids of both of these communities.”

Re-opening plans

The district is being asked by the state to formulate multiple re-opening plans — fully remote, a hybrid plan, full day with restrictions and home school. [See page 2].

The first day of school has been pushed back to Sept. 8 with teachers given a start date of Aug. 27 and 28 and three professional development days Sept. 1 to 3. Snow days will be used as remote learning days.

“Parent still aren’t sure of the difference between remote school and home school,” Szymaniak said.

To home school children, parents must submit a letter to the district asking permission to do so along with the curriculum they plan to use, while remote learning is the school’s teacher-driven distance learning program used this spring. Home-schooled children do not receive any school services.

Hybrid programs could, for example, bring students into school one week and teach remotely at home the next.

“It’s kind of nightmarish because we don’t know how many of our teachers are going to feel comfortable coming back to school to teach during COVID-19,” he said. “We don’t know how many students are going to be sent to school by their parents during this pandemic.”

Parents and teachers have been asked to complete a survey to glean that information. All plans must be submitted to DESE by mid-July.

Szymaniak said transportation arrangements are not yet decided.

“We don’t know how many of our staff are going to be returning,” he said. The prospect of laying off about two dozen teachers in the worst budget scenario “really challenges us.”

Measuring distances in actual classrooms, Szymaniak said it appears about 20 students can be fit into a high school classroom, but they have not yet done the elementary school. Class size — to be determined by the budget — will have an effect on that.

“We may not have enough staff,” he said. The district expected to hear the 1/12 budget number by June 30. A $250 per student stipend to cover PPE costs is also being worked on by the state. State Rep. Josh Cutler, D-Pembroke, is also working on funding of between $250,000 and $300,000 to beef up technology for remote learning.

Parents were asked to please return the survey to help make determinations on how the plans will be designed.

Szymaniak said the district is slowly working toward opening summer programs, but building use programs will not be allowed at the high school — except for district-run camps.

New faces

The W-H Regional School Committee welcomed its newest members, 19-year-old David Forth Jr., of Whitman, and Hillary Kniffen of Hanson — and congratulated returning incumbent member Steve Bois during the reorganizational meeting.

Szymaniak, presiding until a chairman was elected, also thanked Whitman’s Alexandria Taylor for her six years of service and Hanson’s Robert O’Brien Jr., for his nine years of work on the committee. Taylor was narrowly defeated in the Saturday, June 27 town elections and O’Brien opted not to seek re-election.

“It’s not an easy task, as those who have been here for many years know, but it is rewarding and you are here for the students,” Hayes said in his welcoming remarks to Kniffen and Forth.

“It’s great to see new faces on the committee,” Szymaniak said. “This is a great team to be on.”

The School District is still looking at a Friday, July 31 date for the Class of 2020 graduation ceremony, according to Superintendent of Schools Jeffrey Szymaniak.

“Right now, the location looks to be outside of the stadium on the JV baseball/softball fields,” he said. The location permits the construction of staging while keeping graduates physically distanced from each other.

“We’re looking at numbers of tickets per graduate and putting families in groups or blocks six feet apart from others,” he said. Only Principal Dr. Christopher Jones and student speakers will be on stage at proper distances. “But we will try to make is as elegant and as celebratory as we can for the Class of 2020.”

While the ceremony is expected to begin at 6 p.m., Szymaniak cautioned that it would be “pretty warm,” as it takes place in the middle of summer.

“We moved it from the football field so it wouldn’t absorb as much heat … the challenge right now is having enough power to power up our audio system,” he said.

Details on the event will be forthcoming as it is “a work in progress.”

School officials will also try to gradually reopen some summer school programs, including coach-sponsored youth sports clinics, school-related camps such as Science Camp are “on the block” and the YMCA program is going to use Duval, where the North River Collaborative will also use classrooms. Strict guidelines set up by the Mass. Department of Public Health will be followed.

“We thought it was important … to make sure we get some kids involved in some things this summer to get them re-acclimated socially with peers and have some fun since many summer camps are closed,” Szymaniak said. He is looking to mid-July or August to get camp programs going.

The state enters re-opening Phase 3 after Monday, July 4.

Szymaniak said the state safety protocols do not now require temperature checks, but all others, including distancing, masks and hand-washing will be observed.

“All the camps and clinics will be un by people that are accountable to us,” Szymaniak said about the potential for leasing the high school’s facilities to boost revenue flow. “I’m very hesitant — and I’m going to leave this up to the committee — to discuss and potentially vote on.”

He recommended not opening buildings for such use until after Labor Day and when school is back in session and new guidelines are known.

Personal protective equipment (PPE) for the new school year are estimated to be about $460 per student, or a $1.8 million expense as the district tries to plan for next year as a complete picture of state guidelines are not yet available.

“We won’t be able to control the folks who come into our performing arts center,” Szymaniak said. “We won’t be able to trace somebody if someone ends up getting sick at an event that we have.”

Committee member Fred Small suggested such a situation could leave the district open to liability, which Szymaniak said was exactly his concern and he is asking people who want to rent the facility to be patient.

Committee member Dan Cullity argued the district would not be in a position to make leasing worth the cost of maintaining cleanliness and that the district’s main concern should be getting students back to class.

The committee voted 9-0 to support Szymaniak’s recommendation to close the high school to outside groups until after school re-opens.

Szymaniak said parents and staff are being surveyed about their experience with remote learning this spring, to plan in case it is required for part of the next school year.

Hanson Committee member Mike Jones asked how town meetings would be affected, as both towns are looking at the high school for the sessions. Szymaniak said the gym can fit more than 300 socially-distanced people, with room for almost 125 more in the performing arts center — and that both towns can be accommodated for an outdoor event, as well, he said. Local attendees would also make contact tracing easier, according to Szymaniak.

Budget

A budget Q & A document, used as talking points at a recent meeting of the Whitman Finance Committee, is being posted on the district website to provide information for residents and officials to refer to going into town meetings, including staff reductions and resulting class sizes.

“I implore anybody, if you have any questions, to please contact the superintendent or administration — not for people to be sitting in a meeting and saying, ‘Well, the superintendent can do this …,’” Small said. “When, in fact, its not true, they don’t know what they are talking about and it’s very frustrating.”

The 10-page document is also the subject of an informational half-hour cable show on WHCA-TV hosted by School Committee Chairman Bob Hayes in conversation with Whitman member Christopher Scriven and Hanson member Christopher Howard.

“It’s a dangerous precedent to just float numbers out there when there are really other true numbers, that the true, hard facts come through at,” Hayes said.

“I will not respond to questions on social media,” Szymaniak said. “I will only respond by email or phone call.”

Committee member Dawn Byers urged the committee to keep their eyes on the education they are providing.

“Education should level the playing field, so our budget is something that we’re presenting to prepare kids to compete with our area kids,” she said, concerned about regression by the fall among children whose families can’t afford tutoring or other technology, educational or social-emotional assistance. She also noted years in which she sat in the audience at meetings watching services to children funded last.

“I watched as the leftovers of the municipal budget went to the school as if it was an insignificant piece of the town,” she said. “This district has been an excellent partner to both towns. This district has negotiated every year — unfortunately, some years, negotiating down and cutting the budget.”

She cautioned that excess and deficiency has to be used as a budget safety net and made a motion to meet with the Mass. Association of School Committees to set up a series of workshop to set goals for student achievement, establishing all-day kindergarten and budgetary goals for 2023.

The motion was not supported because other committee members argured, Szymaniak is already working on a strategic plan while the towns are stuggling to fund a level-service budget.