As surrounding towns of Abington, Rockland and Bridgewater-Raynham have had to return to fully remote learning due to COVID-19 spikes in their communities, Superintendent of Schools Jeffrey Szymaniak is working to keep W-H on it’s hybrid plan

“Honestly and truly we’re kind of hanging on by our fingertips and toes right now to try and stay in school,” Szymaniak reported to the School Committee during its Wednesday, Dec. 16 meeting. “Last week, the numbers were pretty high, we’ve leveled off a little bit.”

Members Christopher Scriven and Fred Small attended the meeting via phone. Small has been doing so for a few months and Scriven was ill.

Another member David Forth was absent, and quarantining after a possible exposure to the coronavirus.

There were 29 positive students from Dec. 9 to 16, according to Szymaniak — 20 of those became positive while in quarantine as many of the positive cases are among siblings. Seven staff members tested positive during that same period.

There were 142 students and 21 staff were in various stages of illness between Dec. 1 and 16. Many of those have tested out and completed quarantine.

Lead Nurse Lisa Tobin is required to report the number of student in a building the past seven days, but the district tracks the students who have already been in quarantine. There have been no teacher-to-student transmissions, Szymaniak said.

The district was shut down for snow removal during the Thursday, Dec. 17 storm so students in the Friday cohort could be at school before the planned switch to all-remote on Dec. 21 and 22 as a dry-run to see how it will work if needed later.

Szymaniak said he has spoken with both boards of health and reported that officials in Whitman and Hanson are concerned with social interactions over Christmas break.

Assistant Superintendent George Ferro reported W-H is among the 68 percent of Massachusetts schools meeting 35-hour time-on-learning standards during hybrid learning.

“We are fine for all the models we are using,” he said.

Athletic Director Bob Rodgers said there has not been a single transmission of COVID through sports participation so far this year. Parents will be allowed to attend home games, but because of crowd restrictions all Patriot League games will be streamed online.

Szymaniak said he has met with the Whitman Finance Committee and that the fiscal 2022 budget picture is still unclear.

“We don’t have direction from the Commonwealth yet, from the governor’s office to the Board of Education to the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education,” he said. “We’re all hanging out there in limbo.”

He said he is not the only superintendent with that frustration.

Szymaniak also told the FinCom the district does not plan to complicate things financially by adding, or adding back, programs.

“I don’t feel it’s the time,” he said. “We still don’t know what school is going to look like next year.”

Neither a new no-cost all-day kindergarten program or a return of middle school foreign language is planned for the coming year.

Transportation issues are also unclear.

Giving back

WHRHS Principal Dr. Christopher Jones presented the proceeds of the National Honor Society’s 11th annual Miles for Meals 5K and one-mile walk. The event, held virtually on Oct. 31 this year, raised $2,190 through Go Fund Me as participants were encouraged to walk/run the event in costume and share photos on social media.

“This is another wonderful thing that happens here at Whitman-Hanson,” Hayes said, suggesting that more advance publicity of such and event could help raise more donations.

“That’s a teacher and a group, during COVID, coming together and thinking outside the box to make sure we’re still taking care of our community. You’re seeing that in every school. They’re doing things differently.”

The WHRHS Key Club has also just completed a toy drive.

“There’s a lot of giving going on, a lot of charity,” Jones said. “The creativity that’s going on for people to get around the traditional face-to-face type of things is fantastic to see, and shows the spirit of giving that these kids have — and the type of community service that they’re displaying — isn’t just something for show.”

Committee member Dawn Byers also commended the WHRHS Panther’s Den store, which has converted its holiday sales to online shopping.

She and Jones stressed the effort is led by the Visual Merchandising students.

“The class set that up and set up a website to do virtual merchandising instead of out of the store and now they have curbside pickup,” he said.

WHITMAN — Fire Chief Timothy Grenno expressed concern to the Board of Selectmen on Tuesday, Dec. 15 about “the perfect storm brewing” around the impact of a firefighter’s job-related injury and the overall impact of COVID-19 on the department’s budget.

Grenno asked for the board’s discretion and advice on how they wished him to proceed with the budgeting issue, as he forecast that he is looking at another $40,000 to $50,000 in costs if the injured firefighter is out as long as doctors have suggested.

“It’s only going to get worse,” he predicted. “Over the last several years, we’ve trimmed our budgets, and trimmed our budgets to maintain what we can maintain.”

The firefighter may require surgery and will be out three to four months, Grenno said. One of the budget lines cut has been on the Injured on Duty (IOD) line.

Typically funded at $50,000 per year, it was funded at $20,000 for the current fiscal year and is now at -$1,534.

“I don’t have the budget money to continue to cover that person, which would result in me running short,” Grenno said. “We’re in the middle of a major pandemic — my guys are seeing COVID cases and suspected COVID cases everyday.”

The COVID ambulance has made 59 runs already, he said, noting the department runs six-person shifts generally because of the demand for service.

Board Chairman Dan Salvucci if there was any way funds could be transferred into the IOD account at the Wednesday, Jan. 27 special Town Meeting.

Interim Town Administrator Lisa Green said she has passed the issue to the town accountant so he could look at some different line items where money could be transferred. She expected a report by Wednesday, Dec. 16 and that he had already suggested the streetlights and non-mandated busing lines as possible sources. Articles will be added to the special Town Meeting warrant, Green said.

Grenno also expressed concern that the CARES Act funding source dries up Dec. 30 unless it is extended. The department has spent $48,000 in COVID-related overtime to date.

“If, on Dec. 31, I have a shift exposed and I have to quarantine guys for seven days or whatever, one shift is a little over $7,100, two shifts is $15,000, and that’s me,” he said, adding he was not sure about the Police Department’s overtime numbers. “If I start to lose people I don’t have the money to back-fill those shifts.”

He added that the fall COVID issues are “magnified by 300” over levels seen in the spring.

“My big concern is, next week is Christmas, and then we have New Years, and no one is sure what is going to go on after that, and if I lose a shift, we’re facing big problems,” Grenno said. “We don’t know what COVID is going to do to us this winter.”

He said the Board of Health also asked him to speak about their budget problems. One of the board’s temps is paid with CARES Act money and, if they don’t receive continued funding after Dec. 30, it will be “extremely difficult” to perform COVID recording and contact tracing.

Green said, unfortunately she sees no change coming in federal financial policy until the new administration takes office.

Selectman Randy LaMattina advocated developing a COVID line at the special Town Meeting to prevent continuing needs for transferring funds.

“I would hate to make a decision right now, that we’re going to decide that our Fire Department is going to ride short-shift during a pandemic,” LaMattina said. “That’s a Town Meeting decision.”

Salvucci agreed, saying left-over funds after the pandemic can be used to back-fill other accounts.

Green was asked to discuss such a line item on the special Town Meeting.

Vaccine update

Grenno also offered more details about the town’s drive-through vaccination plans for Whitman Middle School, starting with the Phase 3 round of vaccines. The vaccinations would be for Whitman residents only, he said explaining that the Mass Dept. of Public Health as said each community will receive its own supply of vaccine.

He said the state reached out about an updated plan about a month ago because they do not want indoor vaccine operations.

“The plan has been updated and we’re good to go,” Grenno said. “We’re about to sign off on an agreement with Brockton Hospital, which is going to store the vaccine for us. … Everything is still up in the air on the vaccination program.”

He noted that DPH has not yet firmed up its dispersal plans outside of health care providers.

Pfizer’s vaccine must be stored at -86 F and can only be out of the freezer for two hours, limiting the number of doses available at a time and slowing the process, according to Grenno.

Johnson & Johnson is nearing the release of a vaccine that does not require storage at freezing temperatures.

“There’s a lot up in the air,” Grenno said. “Logistically, we’re set — we’re ready to go — if they came out tomorrow and said, ‘We want you to vaccinate your senior population in town, then we could do that, but I don’t expect to see that until probably late April or early May.”

Whitman already has 34 nurse volunteers signed up to administer the vaccine and firefighters are now in talks about their role. Whitman Fire has purchased 400 rapid tests and has contracted with Professional Ambulance in Cambridge to help with testing procedures and testing of town employees could begin next week, should any become exposed to COVID-19 and develop signs and symptoms.

Faster test results could reduce quarantine times and lower overtime costs, according to Grenno.

HANSON — The Board of Selectmen on Tuesday, Dec. 8 voted to approve revised language in the solicitation of quotes for a de-regionalization feasibility study.

The board asked Town Administrator John Stanbrook to obtain three quotes for the work.

“I’m trying to get some feedback on what you think,” Stanbrook said. “Do you want me to include more [specifications], do you want me to take things out? It’s pretty much discussion time.”

Selectman Wes Blauss said the proposal looked good to him, but said he was curious about how three bids could be found.

Requirements that bidders demonstrate proof of work on prior school de-regionalization studies — including work on five in the last five years, and a list of three districts served in the Commonwealth — were also questioned by Selectman Laura FitzGerald-Kemmett.

“I’m just not really sure that many people have done de-regionalization studies,” she said. “I just didn’t want to hamstring ourselves. Clearly, we want somebody to demonstrate that they’ve done this before … but I would ask maybe asking the board to maybe put a little bit of flexible language in there so we don’t hamstring ourselves and don’t end up with nobody applying.”

Selectman Matt Dyer suggested amending the wording to reflect that preference would be given to firms demonstrating such a track record, rather than requiring it of all applicants. The board agreed.

Bids would be opened with the aim of awarding a contract on Jan. 8, 2021. A preliminary report for any contracted firm would be due by May 1, which raised questions about whether that provides sufficient time for a final report by June 30.

“We don’t want to extend the date and then have someone say, ‘Great, we’ve got seven months, we can take our time with this,” Selectmen Chairman Kenny Mitchell said. “We want to create a sense of urgency with this.”

Mitchell said any need for deadline extensions could involve an application process of its own.

Selectman Jim Hickey reminded the board that voters would have to be fully informed of the results by Town Meeting.

Selectmen also approved an Eagle Scout project proposed by Troop 68 Scout T.J. Woodward to improve parking and develop a trail at Poor Brook Meadow nature trail, property the town acquired through Community Preservation fund and has not done much with, according to FitzGerald-Kemmett.

“It’s pretty much an undeveloped area,” Woodward agreed.

The land, near Hanson Grain, has a partially developed trail. Woodward proposed to square up the parking area, clean everything up, placing a trail kiosk in a designated location, and develop a one to 1.5-mile trail for the area, pinpointing nature and historic features along the loop trail.

Woodward, a carpentry student at South Shore Tech, plans to build the kiosk there.

“People really haven’t been able to enjoy the property, so this is fabulous,” FitzGerald-Kemmett said, asking about how the trail will traverse wet areas.

Woodward said it was very dry during walk-throughs, but said it is apparent there are potentially wet areas.

“We’re trying to go around most of them, but if I have to — based on where the trail is routed — we’ll put up to three land bridges to go over those areas,” he said.

Fundraising will center on bottle and can drives and monetary donations.

WHITMAN — Whitman-Hanson Middle School will be set up as a COVID-19 vaccination center, according to a report on WBZ-TV Channel 4 Wednesday, Dec. 2. Volunteers are being sought to help staff the station and people will be receiving robocalls notifying them of when it is their turn to get the shot.

Fire Chief Timothy Grenno said the desigation was made during the H1N1 epidemic several years ago under a request from the Department of Public Health. About a month ago the DPH asked for modifications to the plans to make them drive-through.

“The Middle School has always been our spot,” he said. “They want us to be ready and be prepared, so that’s what we did and we sent out a press release for nurse volunters to help us staff it, and we’re getting a pretty good response.”

Access and traffic flow as well as remote learning days work well with the state’s requirements, according to Grenno.

Whitman is currently back in the red zone with 62 positives out of 1,228 tests (a 5.5 positivity rate) and Hanson has 33 positives out of 789 (a 4.18 positivity rate) for the week of Nov. 19-26.

Whitman cleared one of it’s three clusters last week, with two remaining, including one at Christo’s, which will remain closed until Dec. 11.

“We’re looking for volunteers right now who want to step up and be a big help,” Interim Town Administrator Lisa Green told the station. The centers will operate in the same manner as drive-through testing sites do now.

Gov. Charlie Baker said, in accordance with CDC guidelines, the focus will first be on high-risk individuals such as health care workers, nursing home staffs and first responders. Those shots could be available as early as next week and it could take until March to inoculate health care workers, according to the report, with the general population not able to receive it until spring.

COVID is also causing some changes to the upcoming special Town Meeting in January.

The Board of Selectmen on Tuesday, Dec. 1, voted to change the special Town Meeting quorum from the usual 150 to 25 due to the COVID-19 pandemic, and hold it in the Performing Arts Center at WHRHS.

“Under the new regulations that the governor announced back in early November, there was a question of whether public settings fell under the new ‘no more than 10 indoors’ [regulation],” said Green. She said it appeared that public government meetings appeared to still cap off at 25 people.

Gov. Baker’s COVID regulations allow towns to reduce town meeting quorums to as low as 10 percent of what town bylaws otherwise require.  Green, however, expressed concern about the effect such a drastic cut would have on important business such as the sewer force main replacement, especially in view of the fact that the Selectmen, Finance Committee and DPW Commissioners would also have to attend.

She advocated placing any reduction at no lower than 25, although she noted that East Bridgewater has eliminated their quorum requirement.

Town Clerk Dawn Varley would have to submit any reduction request to the Attorney General’s office for approval within 10 days.

Town Moderator Michael Seele said he had no objection to the reduction request, but asked what the procedure would be if more than 100 showed up.

“It doesn’t seem likely that we’d get 100 people, but you never know,” Seele said.

Chairman Dan Salvucci said the gymnasium is not likely to be available due to school activities, but Green said it would be free for an early evening session on a Saturday.

Selectman Justin Evans said technical link-ups to other rooms could help if a larger turnout occurred. Right now, Wednesday evenings, Jan. 6, 13, 20 or 27 are now being considered for scheduling. The town has until Dec. 23 to schedule a specific Town Meeting date.

Selectman Randy LaMattina favored pushing it to Jan. 27 out of concern over the recent up-tick in COVID-19 cases in town.

“Sixty days seems like an eternity considering what’s going on with COVID,” he said.

Salvucci questioned whether a four-article Town Meeting warrant required the presence of town counsel, since besides the force main, there are only unpaid bills to be voted. Town counsel is only available on Wednesday evenings during the week, but can also attend a Saturday session. Both he and Evans expressed concern about giving the DPW enough time to bid out the project in the spring.

Selectmen also discussed the burgeoning problem towns and school districts are seeing in fraudulent unemployment claims related to COVID-19. The board approved Green’s request to contract with Unemployment Tax Management Corp., to help keep up with the work.

“We’ve been inundated,” Green said. “They’re coming in in droves, and I was finding that trying to keep up with the numerous requests and paperwork required … I couldn’t keep up with it.”

The state can levy fines if paperwork is processed late. Towns have three days to deal with the notices. Green reached out to East Bridgewater for advice and was told they used UTM, which is also working with Abington and the W-H School District, among other entities being similarly victimized by the fraud. The corporation handles all paperwork (online), appeals, protests, other legal activity and auditing involved in the process. The service would cost Whitman $695 per quarter, Green said.

“For everything that they’re going to provide, it’s really something I strongly recommend that we do,” she said.

The School Committee on Wednesday, Nov. 18 supported the school district’s hybrid learning format in the face of what Superintendent of Schools Jeffrey Szymaniak termed confusion over Gov. Baker’s change of school reopening policy.

The committee agreed to wait until after the December break to make any decision about remote learning based on what data Szymaniak can amass on the potential impact of the proposed changes in that time.

The district will be reactivating its COVID team, as well, to look at the realistic feasibility of bringing students back to school full-time.

Baker urged a move to all in-person education “if feasible” for districts in lower-risk communities moved Szymaniak to ask the Committee to support the hybrid model. He noted some parents have already been abusive over the phone with district staff.

“We want to get our kids back in, but I also want to make sure they’re safe when they’re here and our teachers are safe,” Szymaniak said, noting Baker must determine if remote instruction will be offered at all next year.

“The biggest thing that we’re talking about is feasibility,” Assistant Superintendent George Ferro said. “That’s the question that’s out there in society right now.”

To meet the governor’s urging, evidence is needed that social distancing of less than six feet in school and on buses, is needed, according to Szymaniak.

Ferro noted that the district bus capacity is now 24 students on a 72-passenger bus.

“Their seat is still theirs,” Ferro said in response to Committee member Michael Jones’ question of what to do about families who sign a child up for bus transportation at the start of the school year, but don’t use it. “Whether they take it or not, as a regional school district, we really don’t have a say.”

Ferro said the district may also anticipate a shortage of drivers if COVID causes more illness and assigned seating makes contact tracing easier if a student falls ill.

Committee member Christopher Howard agreed with Szymaniak and Ferro’s approach, but said parents who have changed their mind about sending their child to school on the bus should advise the school district as soon as possible so their child’s seat can be reassigned.

Committee member Dan Cullity said the governor is “way off on this.” While Cullity favors full-time in-person school it is not feasible nor is it logisitically or financially possible right now.

“The governor’s own words were: Every district is going to be different,” Committee member Fred Small agreed. Small pointed to New York City’s announcement that all schools went to remote Nov. 18 this week after a 3 percent positivity rate in COVID tests. Hanson’s is 2.78 percent and Whitman is at 4.71 percent.

There are things at school — like hand-washing reinforcement and easier contact tracing — that is keeping kids safe, said Committee member Hillary Kniffen, who is a teacher, but students are also in the groove of a routine with hybrid instruction right now.

Placing desks at closer than six feet would require the purchase and daily cleaning of Plexiglas dividers and safety must be taken into account, placing accurate contact tracing at risk.

“I like Gov. Baker and I’ve agreed with a lot of what he’s done, but to give a blanket statement that’s going to direct what we do is a challenge for me,” Szymaniak said. “The safety piece for me is huge. The mixed message around three and six feet, educationally … that doesn’t sync when you’re trying to teach a child safety protocols.”

Logistics also present a problem for a district with 13 trailers stuffed with furniture cleared from rooms to accommodate Baker’s six-feet guideline. Facilities Director Ernest Sandland has estimated it would take 1,000 man hours to switch back.

Thanksgiving

Szymaniak also outlined the school district’s holiday travel policy.

Students and staff who planned travel over Thanksgiving to non-low-risk states “and I don’t know if there are any anymore in the country,” must quarantine for 14 days or provide a negative COVIS-19 test administered 72 hours before arrival back in Massachusetts before being allowed to return to school, Szymaniak reported. School Committee member Fred Small participated in the meeting remotely via telephone.

The test must be an FDA/EU-approved molecular PCR test, rather than a rapid test. The alternative is to obtain the test after returning to Massachusetts and quarantining until after obtaining a negative result.

One staff member recently ran into a complication with travel when New York was removed from the low-risk state list over the Nov. 14-15 weekend.

“I anticipate some people traveling,” Szymaniak said. “I anticipate some issues after Thanksgiving.”

He said that, while some districts are mandating quarantines, W-H is not doing so, but rather is hoping people respect the guidelines.

“I hope people are smart,” he said, noting a discussion with students on the issue led to his being asked to remind the public that little kids must still wear masks for dance or karate classes and other activities outside school.

“The second [message] was there are parties going on in Whitman and Hanson,” Szymaniak said. “There are large social gatherings at people’s homes with parents that they are allowed to have. ‘Can you please tell them to knock it off.’”

Students asked him to remind people to be smart about COVID because they want to come to school.

Large social gatherings in Scituate and Cohasset have led to schools returning to all-remote learning for two weeks.

Szymaniak reported there are three students now quarantining in the district and four had tested positive between Nov. 4 and 18.

There were 65 students in “various stages of quarantine” during those two weeks. And two staff members were positive during that period, with one still under quarantine.

Since the start of the school year, 22 students and three staff members have tested positive for COVID-19, Szymaniak said. There were a total of 122 students and 36 staff who had to be quarantined at some point, due to close contact with others testing positive or awaiting test results. Staff quarantines included pre-travel quarantines and those awaiting test results.

“Kids want to be in school,” Szymaniak. “I’m just asking people to do the right thing.”

There are already 521 students in remote learning by parental choice throughout the district, which averages between $2,500 and $5,000 per pupil if the district had to pay for the program.

“My concern is more parents are going to choose to move to remote, if we move to an in-person model, and we won’t be able to afford that,” Szymaniak said. There are 3,583 students who attend classes on in-person days within school buildings now, along with 38 out-of-district students.

Last year there were 33 home school students in Whitman and Hanson. In 2021 there are 96 signed up.

“I’m hoping some parents see, as we turn the corner, if we’ve contained [COVID] in our hybrid model,” he said. “There’s no student-to-student contact in terms of positive cases in the school yet.”

Szymaniak said he is hopeful the hybrid model has helped with that. Cases in the district have centered on a youth hockey cluster and a birthday party involving remote students or parents had tested positive.

HANSON — The Hanson De-Regionalization Feasibility Committee has voted to disband because its mission to investigate the possibility of dissolving the Whitman-Hanson Regional School District is beyond its capacity.

The Board of Selectmen heard the decision as part of an update on the committee’s work during its Tuesday, Nov. 17 meeting at which they authorized Town Administrator John Stanbrook to explore the cost of hiring a consulting firm to take over the work.

“While we have very skilled, passionate and dedicated people on this committee that have been working tirelessly, the intricacies of a valid feasibility study are beyond our varied skill set, especially when acquiring the necessary data has become difficult and, at times, impossible,” committee member Kim McCoy read from a letter from the panel, which has been meeting since Sept. 23.

The committee has recommended that Selectmen hire an unbiased consulting firm that would have more authority to obtain the information needed to make a legally, fiscally and educationally informed decision.

“After facing multiple roadblocks in obtaining the necessary documents to prepare financial reports and other analysis, and after analyzing the level of detail in the East Brookfield feasibility study — which is a 27-page document — it’s become apparent that our volunteer, part-time, citizen group is not equipped for a task of this complexity,” McCoy read from the letter. “There are too many components that have to be considered in order to make an informed recommendation about de-regionalization for a group such as ours.”

The committee has “reviewed various documents and brainstormed ideas of what information and documents we would need” to fulfill its mission of making a data-driven decision on whether it makes sense for Hanson to split from the district.

They acquired some documents from the district, but the information was not complete enough to form a “full picture,” of the cost of educating Hanson students within the district according to McCoy.

The committee was also unable to obtain Pembroke’s feasibility study involved in successful de-regionalization efforts. It was able to obtain that paperwork from East Brookfield, however.

“Please know the committee is not making this recommendation lightly and without a heavy heart,” McCoy read.

The committee also pointed to the audit of the school district Hanson and Whitman have funded as a source of important information, but Selectman Laura FitzGerald-Kemmett questioned how much information from it would be useful and how much a consulting firm would cost the town.

Selectmen Jim Hickey said he would approach Stanbrook to issue either an RFP or obtain at lease three bids. Hickey was the Selectmen’s representative on the De-Regionalization Feasibility Committee.

“These people [on the committee] are dedicated and we’re trying, but the last two times that it actually worked was in East Brookfield and in Pembroke, and they both had [consulting] firms that did this,” Hickey said, estimating the cost of the entire process would run in the millions of dollars. “For seven people, no matter how dedicated they are and how much time they put in, we just can’t give it what it deserves.”

FitzGerald-Kemmett said the decision makes sense because the volunteers have full-time jobs and lives, suggesting the consulting firm could work with the de-regionalization committee.­­­­

“Know we know what we don’t know,” she said.

McCoy reported that the Pembroke consulting firm is no longer in business, but the firm East Brookfield used is and the committee has reviewed its website.

“You guys still may be needed if we’re ever able to hire a firm,” Selectmen Chairman Kenny Mitchell said.

Hickey said the approval process is too far away after that to venture any guesses.

“We just want to get a price on what it’s going to cost,” he said. “These guys are champing at the bit just to get answers.”

WHITMAN — COVID restrictions on public gatherings have motivated Whitman officials to consider lowering town meeting quorum during their Tuesday, Nov. 10 meeting.

Hanson had done the same for its special Town Meeting in October, lowering their quorum to 25 voters who met physically distanced in the gymnasium.

“Due to COVID, we would like to follow what other towns have done,” said interim Town Administrator Lisa Green. “We were hoping to pull something together and have this for December, however, [according to Chapter 92 of the Special Act of 2020 centering on COVID] in order to consider adjusting the special Town Meeting quorum … Selectmen need to publish seven days before the vote or when the discussion takes place, of adjusting the quorum.”

The Town Clerk must also report the adjusted quorum vote to the Attorney General, who must approve it.

Selectmen will be discussing an adjustment to the special Town Meeting quorum at the Dec. 1, meeting. Town Moderator, Michael Seele will be consulted and with his approval will prescribe the number of voters necessary to constitute a quorum for the special Town Meeting to be held in January 2021 regarding the DPW force main project, according to Green.

Under its by-law, Whitman requires 150 voters for a Special Town Meeting.  The Governor’s March 10 declaration of a state emergency allows a town to act “by a vote of its Board of Selectmen to lower a quorum that is less than the number that would be required by law, town by-law or town charter. The number of voters necessary to constitute a quorum shall not be less than 10 percent of the number that would otherwise be required,” Green stated.

“Where the governor just lowered the COVID restrictions and the number of people you want in a room, I don’t think we should move forward with 150 people for a special Town Meeting,” said Selectman Justin Evans. “I don’t think there’s much more to discuss than that.”

That guideline is currently no more than 10 people within a space and the town is not certain that includes town meetings, according to Green. No motions by Selectmen were required.

During her COVID update, Green noted that as of Nov. 10 there were 15 new positive cases in Whitman. The week before there were 39.

“We are still designated as high-risk, still in the red,” she said. She also reported hearing at a regional meeting that Brockton has 463 new cases as of Nov. 10 with a total of 5,615 and 306 deaths.

“Right now, the virus is running rampant in Brockton,” Green said. “The positive tests are now in the 20-to-40-year-old age groups … the deaths are in the 76 to 90 range.”

The spike among younger people is attributed to parties and a failure to take it seriously.

“Fortunately, it’s not spilling over to Whitman,” she said.

In other business, power outages related to traffic lights at routes 14 and 18 were discussed during a joint meeting between Selectmen and the DPW commissioners.

Parks and Highways Superintendent Bruce Martin said outages have been frequent and, on occasion, of long duration and asked for a letter from Selectmen and/or the DPW commissioners to MassDOT requesting some kind of back up system at that intersection.

Salvucci asked, and Green agreed, for a letter from the town to that effect, which Selectmen and the commissioners can all sign onto.

“The last outage, I believe, was approximately 12 hours,” he said.

MassDOT was contacted in the middle of the night for assistance and could offer none, he added. All the DPW could do was place stop signs on traffic barrels and illuminate the intersection with a light tower in an adjacent parking lot.

“[It was] very unsafe with high speeds going north and southbound on Route 18,” Martin said. “It’s just not a very good situation.”

The DPW reached out to MassDOT engineer currently working on the project the next day to ask if battery backups were available to automatically make the lights flash red.

“We were told there currently wasn’t anything like that in service in the state and that was pretty much the end of it,” Martin said of the state highway intersection that is not maintained or controlled by the town DPW. “We plan on continuing on doing what we have to do to make it a safe as possible during these frequent power outages up there.”

There are systems powered by either batteries or solar, available, according to Commissioner Kevin Cleary.

There are currently 31 students and staff in quarantine for COVID-19 by either Whitman, Hanson health boards, or the boards of health where teachers live, but no decision is being made right now on the future of hybrid learning.

There have been 12 positive student cases and one positive in the district so far, Superintendent of Schools Jeffrey Szymaniak reported to the School Committee at the Wednesday, Oct. 21 meeting.

“As of this week, we have 35 students coming out of quarantine and they all — or a large majority — were in a hockey cluster,” he said. “We’ve had zero transmission within the district. Our kids are abiding by the rules that we’ve set forward with the boards of health, with the Mass. Department of Public Health. We’re doing the right things.”

Szymaniak stressed there have been zero transmissions within the school district, and voiced frustration about color-coded risk assessments for communities issued by the (DPH).

He said he would look to the boards of health to make recommendations on whether or not students should stay in school if both towns in the district end up in the red zone.

“It’s not going to be a lone decision on my part,” Szymaniak said. “If they close us, it’s their decision.
He stressed he does not think a decision will be made without input from the regional school district. He is also concerned about the impact of surrounding districts — where some of W-H’s teachers reside — going to remote learning and their own children have no place to go while they are teaching here.

Szymaniak said he has conferred with area superintendents and all are now of the mind that schools are not affected as they are cleaner and safer than they have ever been.

There is a remote plan set to go if it is needed, however, he said.

“The concern I have is the state map,” he said. “We know Hanson went into the red last week, Whitman was in yellow last week.” Based on numbers reported after Columbus Day weekend, Szymaniak anticipates Whitman will also soon be in the red.

“What does that mean?” Szymaniak said, noting he issued a letter to parents and staff last week saying that just because the towns are in the red, doesn’t mean school will be interrupted.

Gov. Baker’s guidance of going to remote after three weeks in the red, has been followed by a contradictory message from the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education that decisions should be based on internal data — not just on whether a town is in the red area.

“Right now, we have one week in the red in Hanson and we are a district,” he said, explaining that, if Hanson stays in the red it is almost like Whitman students are also in the red. “We’re not going to say to the Whitman kids, ‘Come to school,’ and the Hanson kids stay home.”

Szymaniak said lead nurse Lisa Tobin is practically working around the clock, even taking calls from parents at home during weekends.

“I’ve got to give praise to both boards of health,” Szymaniak said. “They are working their tails off with us.” Health officials have been calling the school, if necessary, in terms of contact tracing.

“If you’re six feet apart and you’re wearing a mask it is safe and parents and families need to know that,” said School Committee member Hillary Kniffen, who is also a teacher. She said 12 cases in a district student population of 3,800 students,  the risk is minimal.

In other business before the School Committee, school principals were afforded the opportunity to update the committee on what students are doing and what education looks like in a “COVID world” at their respective buildings.

“The most important part of our opening really has been that the kids are so excited, so happy to be there and we are, as well,” Conley Elementary Principal Karen Downey said, noting the special distancing and cleaning efforts under way to keep students and staff safe. “Kids are having individual supplies, as opposed to shared supplies, we’re cleaning the seats and the work areas in between [classroom changes] during travel time between classes.”

There are seating charts in all classrooms and special areas such as the lunchroom, and Chromebooks are cleaned and inspected by an industrial hygienist twice a week.

Indian Head interim Principal Gary Pelletier added that students are provided scheduled mask breaks and there are assigned seats on the bus and cafeteria.

Eucationally, he lauded the alignment of curriculum in all elementary buildings. New software, technology glitches and Chromebook capacity are among the challenges teachers are seeing.

Hanson Middle School Principal William Tranter notes that teachers rotate and students stay in classrooms all day — including lunch.

“None of us ever took the class, ‘How to Teach in a Pandemic,’” Tranter said. “Every day, we get a little bit better. We learn something, we figure it out, we make changes, and it gets a little bit better every day.”

Szymaniak said there have been no detentions or disciplinary issues at the middle schools.

“I think kids want to be here,” he said.

High School Principal Dr. Christopher Jones credited teachers, staff and students for making a flexible educational approach that is more focused on relationships with maximized learning with teachers, and constant communication a success.

Students at home are paired with students in the classroom to improve cohesion. All floors, except the main floor have one-way foot traffic.

They are struggling in terms of teacher workload and school culture, however.

Remote schooling principal Michael Grable reported that, “It’s been an interesting ride, so far.”

There are 316 students in kindergarten through grade eight in the remote program, learning at home full time, taught by nine teachers and five paraprofessionals.