Deciding how to instruct students at home — and salvaging what is left of the milestones for the Class of 2020 when, and if, school returns — is the challenge facing school superintendents right now.

Gov. Charlie Baker and the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education announced last week that schools would not reopen before May 4.

“So far, we’ve been doing a deep-clean in the district, which will be completed on April 4, the original return date from the closure,” W-H Superintendent of Schools Jeffrey Szymaniak told the School Committee on Wednesday, March 25. Conley, Indian Head, Hanson Middle and Whitman Middle schools have been cleaned and closed down, with Duval and the High School set to be cleaned and shuttered by April 4. Access will be limited to Facilities Department personnel after each school is closed.

The cleaning cost the district $100,000, which Szymaniak expects may have to come from the district’s excess and deficiency account, which is intended for emergency expenses. [See budget story, this page]

District employees are being paid as if they are working through April 7, but Szymaniak said that could change for come employees depending on DESE’s directive. He stressed that he is following teachers and the inventive ways the are serving students at home through several social media pages.

“Our teachers are really working diligently at home, I see them, what they’re doing, on social media,” he said. “I’m seeing a lot of engagement with kids — creative ideas.”

Teachers are leaning on the project-based learning that DESE has been advocating.

School Committee member Dan Cullity asked how the closure will affect student learning, to which Szymaniak replied that he was looking for direction from DESE, since the original instructions on March 13 was for enrichment and connection with students, but no new learning or grading through April 7.

Home learning

Remote learning recommendations, released by DESE [doe.mass.edu] on March 25, include four guiding principals: the safety and well-being of students and staff is the top priority; the COVID-19 crisis disproportionately affects vulnerable students; the need to maintain connections between students and staff is paramount.; and that remote learning is not synonymous with online learning.

“I have MCAS, I have graduation still on the table,” Szymaniak said. “That hasn’t been voted out by the Legislature yet.”

Szymaniak said the district still plans on holding a graduation ceremony and work out proms and other end-of-the-year activities so that students now struggling at home have something to look forward to when and if school is returns to session.

“Whenever it is, we’re going to hold a graduation ceremony,” he said. “I don’t know what the graduation ceremony will look like if we still can’t meet with more than 25 people in a room … but we’re going to figure it our for those kids because we need positive and we need something to look forward to.”

South Shore Tech Superintendent-Director Dr. Thomas J. Hickey also expressed the hope that schools would be able to lift the restrictions on size of gatherings.

“Our prom is late this year,” Hickey said. “It just happens to be in late May within a week of graduation. … All of those signature senior events are just all up in the air.”

For most schools, a May 4 return to school is within two weeks of the slated graduation date, Hickey added.

Eighth-grade trip cancellations were due to decisions made by national tour companies, Szymaniak stressed.

Commissioner Jeffrey C. Riley’s revised guidance on remote learning is focusing on what is required vs. what is voluntary, or enrichment learning projects.

“What I think is going to become apparent by the middle of next week, is you will probably begin to see school districts come out with revised guidance and expectations on what they want kids to actually do,” Hickey said on Saturday. “I kids … or families think right now that this logging in and doing work remotely is voluntary, is that going to change?”

The teachers’ unions and school committee associations have both signed off on documents stating that while kids’ mental heath and safety are paramount, there is also a need to figure out ways at the local level concerning what remote learning looks like, Hickey said.

“It’s an important conversation, but it is complicated in terms of you’ve got to design a system … we’ve just got to make accomodations for families,” he said. “It’s one thing to say you’ve got a functioning computer at home, but if you’ve got three kids all of whom need to log in, now the question is are there enough devices?”    

Hickey said educators are creating a new normal.

“As of right now, [the W-H technology department] has fielded 4,000 calls to their help desk since we went out of school — for service, for Chromebooks, for kids, with parents asking for help and with teachers asking for help,” Szymaniak said. There have been 150 requests for student Chromebooks, which he was issuing Friday, March 27.

The process for that involved a “drive-by pickup” in the high school’s bus loop to ensure social distancing for community members and staff.

Hickey said SST, too, is loaning out devices for students to use at home when the need arises.

The next step is to check in with administrators and teachers to determine that students are logging in or contacting teachers. There is a plan for SST guidance staff to reach out to families if there is a concern.

“So we just have a sense for how everybody is doing, that’s really the foundation to it all.” Hickey said of the plans.

Szymaniak said the social-emotional well-being of students and their parents is paramount at this point.

Pre-K, kindergarten tuition

The Committee approved Szymaniak’s recommendation to suspend pre-K and kindergarten tuition payments for full-day pupils, and allocate for some prorated reimbursements for the time students are out, based on the closures since March 16. Three of those days are being calculated as snow days. The district is not paying for transportation during the closure.

“I don’t necessarily feel it’s equitable for parents to be paying for service for preschool or kindergarten when their teachers aren’t there,” Szymaniak said. “That will directly affect our budget, and I’m crossing my fingers that we wouldn’t have to go to excess and deficiency to balance our budget because we will be saving some money in either transportation or utilities … but that’s unknown to me.”

Additionally, through a new partnership between DESE and WGBH, educational resources will be posted on the department’s website, and middle and high school students can access WGBH and WGBY educational programming on WGBH and WGBY on the WORLD channel from noon to 5 p.m.

“Food service has been outstanding over the past two weeks,” he said. “We are delivering our meals [via deliveries of boxes of food to the homes of students on free and reduced lunch plans] at a two-week interval.” There are 46 families — with a total of 93 students among them — receiving that assistance.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) has approved DESE’s request to waive the requirement that school meal sites must be located in areas where at least 50 percent of school lunch program participants are eligible for free and reduced-price meals. Therefore, all school districts that are distributing meals during school closures related to COVID-19 and are focusing the distribution of these meals to children and teens in need of them are now eligible for USDA reimbursement. Further details will be released later this week.

Teachers have been directed to contact their students to maintain connection and communicate enrichment activities for the students to do at home. Speaking before Riley’s March 26 directives, Szymaniak anticipated more directives for teachers and parents.

“I’m very wary of overwhelming an already-overwhelmed household,” said Szymaniak, who has two elementary-grade children at home himself. “Speaking from experience, this is new. … My wife and I are educators and we’re both still struggling to get them on a routine of school work and academics.”

He said he could only imagine how other parents, working from home, or who have lost their job are trying to accomplish that task with material that may be new to their children.

“I have a concern about equity as far as delivery of services to our special education students and for our ELL (English Language Learner) students [are concerned],” he said, asking for patience from parents as teachers and administrators confront a new situation.

Hickey also noted students with IEPs are being given particular attention at his school, as well. He said paraprofessionals, as well as staff teachers, will be deployed to support students who need that extra assistance or direct instruction.

Among the issues they are looking at is the potential strain on device accessibility of parents and more than one child trying to use computers at home.

“If students are in that situation, they can still get a device from us,” Szymaniak said.

WHITMAN — The Board of Selectmen Tuesday, March 24, opted to delay any decision on whether the May 4 annual Town Meeting would be rescheduled until it meets again, via Zoom online conferencing app, on Tuesday, April 7 or April 21.

All other town boards are already using Zoom to conduct meetings. Hanson boards have moved to teleconferencing as well. WHCA TV will continue to broadcast recordings of the public meetings.

Town Administrator Frank Lynam and Selectmen Vice Chairman Daniel Salvucci were the only officials attending the meeting in person, with Chairman Dr. Carl Kowalski and Selectmen Brian Bezanson, Justin Evans and Randy LaMattina attending via telephone.

The town by-laws call for the annual Town Meeting to be held on the first Monday in May and the Town Election on the third Saturday in May.

Lynam noted that Hanson Selectmen have vote to change their Town Meeting to June 15.

“I have discussed our schedule with the chair of the Finance Committee and, individually, with a couple of selectmen as well as some department heads,” Lynam said. “I believe that the town of Whitman is able to meet the May 4 schedule.”

He said the board’s decision would have to be based, in part, on whether they felt it was necessary since Hanson changed its schedule.

“I would think the only thing that would get in the way of a May 4 meeting or a May 16 election is the coronavirus pandemic,” Kowalski said.

Lynam noted that the town of Southwick held it’s Town Meeting that very night — in a parking lot, suggesting that residents car-pool, park behind a school and meet in an athletic field.

“And so, flash the lights once for yea and twice for nay?” Kowalski quipped.

“I guess there’s options other than the usual Town Meeting, but we don’t know now what’s going to happen on May 4,” Lynam said. “We don’t know that we’ll be ready from the social standpoint to meet of not, but one of the features that are being offered … is the ability of the Board of Selectmen to reduce quorum in order to hold meetings.”

The quorum for an annual Town Meeting is 50, but a quorum of 150 is needed for a special Town Meeting, Lynam said, advocating that some articles, that would take effect in the current fiscal year, be shifted from the special to the annual warrant to permit votes on them. Lynam said he is awaiting an opinion from Town Counsel on the proposal.

LaMattina advised a delay in deciding the Town Meeting date until the board’s next meeting to “see how this situation is playing out.”

Lynam said he wasn’t sure it was a decision that had to be made now, but wanted to raise the question for Selectmen to consider and to let everyone know that Hanson had changed it’s schedule. He said a decision on the Town Meeting date could be delayed until mid- to late April. The town needs to provide 20 days’ notice for a Town Election and seven days’ notice to post a Town Meeting date.

“Normally, we don’t utilize that time, but this is an extraordinary time,” Lynam said.

Evans raised a question about absentee voting, noting that current rules permit it only if one will be absent from the town on election day, has a religious obligation or an illness or disability that prevents them from going to the polls that day.

“Is there any movement on the state level to allow us to open that up?” Evans asked.

Lynam said there is also a provision already that people concerned about their health may cast an absentee ballot.

“I expect we’re going to see an extraordinary number of absentee ballots for the election,” Lynam said.

Transitions

In other business, Lynam announced the retirement plans of Council on Aging Director Barbara Garvey and Assistant Collector/Treasurer Michelle Hayes. Replacing Hayes, who retires April 30, is a priority hire, but the coronavirus could complicate the hiring process, Lynam said.

“The position she holds is critical, she is the assistant treasurer/collector,” he said, noting that Treasurer Mary Beth Carter wants to immediately begin to seek a replacement. “I’m a little concerned about trying to develop applicants with what’s going on today, but I also want to make sure we are responsive to Mary Beth’s concerns.”

Lynam plans to work with Carter over the next week or two in an effort to develop a process for beginning that search.

  

HANSON — Meeting an hour before the W-H School Committee on Thursday, March 12, a quorum of the Hanson Selectmen — Chairman Laura FitzGerald-Kemmett, Vice Chairman Kenny Mitchell and Jim Hickey — met with Finance Committee Chairman Kevin Sullivan for a discussion of the school budget.

“They’ve decided on the methodology of the budget, which thus far has been voted into by statutory [assessment], and tonight, they will be lowering the boom on the budget,” FitzGerald-Kemmett said. The School Committee, instead, put off that decision at least until this week.[See related story, page 1]

“This isn’t just a Hanson problem, it’s a school problem, it’s a district problem, it’s a Whitman problem and it’s a Hanson problem,” FitzGerald-Kemmett said. “This can’t be just Hanson solving this problem.”

She told School Committee Chairman Bob Hayes that, in the spirit of partnership, Hanson officials would appreciate the schools bringing their budget “as far down as you can.”

One question FitzGerald-Kemmett had centered on why $117,000 for technology upgrades that Hanson, as did Whitman, budget as a capital expense was also included in the school budget.

Town Administrator John Stanbrook broke the school budget options into three scenarios — the first, simply the required budget increases Hanson’s assessment by 21.49 percent; the second, which also adds $280,000 to return four elementary teachers cut last year, increases it by 22.58 percent or $2.3 million; if the town also had a level-service budget is a 3.5 percent increase on the town or $1.83 million.

Based on FY ’20 assessment values of $1.29 per thousand, the average annual tax increase for a single-family home [$334,368] would have been $457 if an override had been done last year. Scenario 2 would put the increase at between $630 and $640.

Sullivan said his committee has been working under the idea that the required budget, aimed at providing level-service spending to the schools for fiscal 2021, would be the number with which it would have to contend. Hanson would have to come up with $1.87 million under a statutory assessment formula.

The town is already about $300,000 in the hole with a 4.5 percent budget increase for the town.

“We’ve earmarked some places, already, where we believe the first round of cuts ought to go,” Sullivan said. “We’re looking at every and all options that are on the table.”

Among the scenarios the Finance Committee is considering is a 10-percent reduction across all town departments. With the exception of the library, the town had added back all the positions cut 10 years ago during the recession.

“Our goal is to get this number down to a reasonable level where we would have to present an override to the town,” Sullivan said. “No one likes that override word, but it’s a matter of how much can we cut out of the budget to get it down to a reasonable level?”

Mitchell agreed that the town needs to start thinking that way.

“The only way to get by this [next year] is to increase the tax rate,” Sullivan said.

A Finance Committee member since 2012, Sullivan said he has not seen a deficit close to being this large that the town has had to overcome.

Mitchell also suggested a mediator might help resolve the issue between the two towns.

“Well that is a controversial little theory, there, Mr. Mitchell, and I like it,” FitzGerald-Kemmett said.

FitzGerald-Kemmett said she was hoping the School Committee would recognize that the situation is not Hanson’s problem alone to solve. She said she personally does not favor an override, but that is a question for voters to decide.

The coronavirus may also have an impact, as FitzGerald-Kemmett said there has been some discussion of postponing town meetings. The Department of Elementary and Secondary Education (DESE) has already waived the 180-day school year requirement.

“The School Committee meeting tonight, if it wasn’t an important meeting, I probably would have canceled,” said Hayes, who attended the Selectmen’s meeting.

The driver in a fatal crash that killed four members of a Whitman family last month  will be charged with careless driving.

Dos Reis Laurindo is currently being held on a visa violation at the Glades County Jail, according to a prepared statement through Lieutenant Kim Montes Public Affairs Officer for the Florida Highway Patrol.

“Under Florida law, the strongest charge that could be made against him is a ticket issued for careless driving,”

The crash, which occurred on Florida SR-429, on February 18 of this year, killed Julie Smith, her daughter Scarlett Smith, 5, and her mother Josephine Fay, who were pronounced dead at the scene of the crash.  Smith’s son Jaxon Smith, 11, died at the hospital on the following day.

The family of eight was on vacation in Orlando, Fla. when they were involved in the fatal crash.

Dos Reis Laurindo, was behind the wheel of a  2016  Dodge Ram 3500 truck when he failed to slow down hitting the van the Smith’s were in causing it to flip on its side.

“The investigation included the actions of Dos Reis Laurindo at the time of the crash as well as his driver’s license status. The result of the crash investigation has determined that Dos Reis Laurindo was at fault for the collision,” said Montes in the prepared statement.

Dos Reis Laurindo was issued the ticket last week. Under Florida law there is a mandatory court appearance for the violation. He was taken into custody by federal law enforcement for a visa violation, on February 28.

The Florida Highway Patrol has been in contact with the families involved in this horrific crash and continues to send our condolences, as they recover, the statement read.

WHITMAN — The town of Whitman awakened with heavy hearts Wednesday as they learned that a local family has been involved in a fatal crash in Florida, claiming the lives of three family members.

Julie Smith, 41, and her mother — grandmother Josephine Fay of South Weymouth were both killed along with daughter Scarlett Smith, 5, of Whitman. All three were pronounced dead at the crash scene, according to reports.

The family was on February vacation in Orlando.

The fatal crash occurred Tuesday around 5:30 p.m. in Osceola County, Fla. The crash is actively under investigation, according to Florida Highway Patrol Public Affairs Officer Lt. Kim Montes, in a prepared statement.

The multiple vehicle collision occurred on the southbound side of Route 429. The van the family was in rolled over after it was struck from behind.

Shane Smith, 43, of Whitman along with the children’s maternal grandfather William Fay, 76, of South Weymouth were released from the hospital on Tuesday night.

Two other daughters, Shalie, 10,  and Scarlett’s twin sister Skylar, 5, were also released from the hospital.

Jaxon Smith, who is 11, remained in critical condition on life support Wednesday morning as of press time.

Additional support of state troopers and a victim advocate were assigned to the family, according to Montes.

More information, including comments from the Whitman Hanson School District and services for the community, were expected to be announced Wednesday afternoon.

W-H school officials outlined two possible budget packages — a required spending plan of $55,017,938 to provide level services and a $57,492,938 recommended plan that seeks to restore or add programs and teachers either cut or not included in fiscal 2020.

“Gone are the days of the worksheet with ‘this is the increase we want … and this is a 1 percent increase, this is a 2 percent increase on that sheet,’” said Superintendent of Schools Jeffrey Szymaniak. “We don’t do that sheet anymore with the statutory formula.”

Last year, cuts made to balance the budget put it below level service in terms of programs.

The budget presentation and hearing was held Wednesday, Feb. 5.

“There’s been quite a bit of conversation, dialog, emotion about the school budget and the method of assessment,” Szymaniak said about the process that began in August 2019. “Many people worked both publicly and behind the scenes to put together this presentation here, using the statutory method.”

He noted that officials in both towns’ administrative offices, select boards and finance committees have been meeting and discussing ways to make the fiscal 2021 budget work for the students of Whitman and Hanson.

“This isn’t the only piece of information that will be available to the community and the School Committee,” Szymaniak said of the PowerPoint printout and budget worksheets made available to the committee and audience members at the meeting.

“We are currently working on feedback we received last year concerning a history of our line items,” Szymaniak said. “That document will be available and I ask people to be patient.”

The required budget would represent an overall increase of 4.94 percent, or $2,592,200. The recommended budget would increase the bottom line by another 4.72 percent, or $2,475,000 — a total increase of 9.66 percent, or $5,067,200.

Local assessments for the required budget would mean $11,903,983 for Hanson, with $200,345 in non-mandated busing; $141,080 in capital/technology for Hanson school buildings and $292,252 for high school debt service. Whitman’s assessment would be $14,974,512, with $300,016 in non-mandated busing and $427,648 for high school debt service.

Local assessments for the recommended budget would mean $12,894,973 and $16,458,522.

“The recommended number includes everything that we are looking for as a regional school district now and in the next five years,” Szymaniak said.

Required expenses include salaries (52 percent or $29,693,543), pension costs, regular day transportation, custodial services, utilities, health insurance, trash, special education transportation and tuition, facilities and curriculum costs. Non-salary expenses, which make up 48 percent of the budget total $27,799,395. Of that figure, $5 million represents under-funded or unfunded mandates.

Per pupil costs of $12,740 put the district at 19th from the bottom in the state, compared to Abington at $13,461; Rockland at $15,567 and a state average of $15,952. The district has been as low as fifth from the bottom in past years.

Revenue sources, meanwhile, are $28,249,836 (51.03 percent) from assessments, $25,200,534 (45.52 percent) from net state aid, $1,313,976 (2.37 percent) from grants, $450,000 (.81 percent) in Circuit Breaker funds and $150,000 (.27 percent) from local receipts.

Programs included in the recommended budget are returning four teachers cut last year and an additional 10 teachers to return foreign language and reading services at the middle schools. It also includes new programs — a robotics program the BRYT medical transition program for students returning from mental or physical health hospitalization at the middle schools, expansion of special ed programs, as well as full-day kindergarten and adjustment of the school start time.

Szymaniak said some items on the recommended list, such as all-day kindergarten and a change in start times are not things he is looking to incorporate into the budget this year, but he also wants to outline programs and materials the district needs.

The high school also faces and issue about capital items reaching end of life, such as phone wiring, which has not been addressed once the school was built.

“When I say we are going on Amazon to fix things, we are,” Szymaniak said. “We’re at end of life for support.”

The governor’s budget came out two weeks ago, and District Business Manager John Tuffy is part time, which limits the time he could spend on those figures.

Tuffy explained how the state calculates the district’s foundation budget of $40,719,547 and required district contribution of $20,274,291.

He also went through the state-required steps toward calculating the statutory assessments. The budget figure, less reimbursement, aid and tuitions determine the net budget — $26,452,087 or a $52,357,657 budget and subtracts the required minimum local contribution — $9,328,114 for Hanson and $11,117,142 for Whitman — to determine the total to be assessed, $6,006,831. Divided by the towns’ enrollment percentages, Hanson’s assessment is $2,405,135.13 and Whitman’s is $3,601,831 plus non-mandated transportation costs, additional operations and debt service costs for totals of $12,104,327.84 for Hanson and $15,274,529.16 for Whitman.

“The hope was to show you the method that we have, give you the chance to think about it — certainly the finance committees and the town administrators — and the, perhaps, respond to questions from the towns or the school committee,” Tuffy said.

Szymaniak said all the budget information will be posted on the district’s website.

“What we really wanted to present was the here and now, what we’re looking for and [where] we’re looking to go in the next few years,” Szymaniak said.

Enrollments, meanwhile are decreasing — down from 4,104 in 2015 to a projected enrollment of 3,755 in 2021.

“Decreased enrollment means a decrease, potentially, in state aid,” Szymaniak said. “We’re fighting that battle of losing kids.”

He pointed to vocational schools for those programs as well as charter schools and school choice because of full-day kindergarten. Smaller families are also a factor, Szymaniak said.

Staff reductions in fiscal 2020 included 9.2 teaching positions, six paraprofessionals, one special ed out of district coordinator, three duty aides, a central office staff member and one person from facilities. Three elementary counselors were added, bringing the net staff reductions to 19.2.

Additionally, $590,000 was taken from excess and deficiency and $290,000 was cut from supplies to help balance the budget.

“I also want to be careful talking about the two towns and what they can afford,” said School Committee member Dawn Beyers. “It also comes down to what they can afford.”

She said that 96 percent of the state’s kindergarten pupils attend full-day kindergarten, in Whitman 60 percent of kindergarten pupils attend a full-day program.

“We’re losing kids because of all-day kindergarten, and we lose them for the duration,” said School Committee Chairman Bob Hayes.

State grants offered to set up such programs ended in 2016.

“You have teachers in this district who are working hard day and night, weekend and night, because we don’t provide them as a school district with what they need, research-based in 2020 in order to teach students effectively, in my mind, as the assistant superintendent,” George Ferro said.

WHITMAN — Town Administrator Frank Lynam updated the Board of Selectmen about WHRSD audit process on Tuesday, Jan. 28, expressing concern about the emergence of a group that is, perhaps seeking to develop a method to de-regionalize the school district.

“I could not be more opposed to that concept,” Lynam said. “This audit would not have any relationship to that type of an analysis. We simply want to understand how the money comes in, how it’s allocated, what the growth factors are and see if we can project out.”

Selectmen Chairman Dr. Carl Kowalski agreed that getting the information the audit would supply is extremely important, but cautioned that no one should take it as an expression that the board favored de-regionalization.

“We’re still firm in our stand that the statutory should be used this year,” Kowalski said he told Hanson Selectmen Chairman Laura FitzGerald-Kemmett in a phone conversation. “We are also not in favor of de-regionalization.”

He said FitzGerald-Kemmett understands the situation and is trying to get through a difficult time in her town with some “dicey” input from some of the members of her town about the relationship between the towns.

Kowalski said he reminded her of the budget cycle a couple of years ago when Whitman thought it could only do 5 percent and his board’s “most fiscally conservative member,” Brian Bezanson said Whitman should just give the towns what they needed. Within the levy limit, using free cash, Whitman came up with about $800,000 to match what Whitman needed to match for the children.

“We are partly where we are today fiscally because of that move that we made,” Kowalski said. “Whitman has shown that it is interested in the health of the school system. It has shown it by making a sacrifice when it was hard to make it. That is a fact, and that ought to be clear.”

Since 2017, Whitman has sacrificed $3.3 million.

“We’re not asking for it back, we’re not assigning blame or responsibility for what happened,” Kowalski said. But it’s a thing that happened — and it hurts, quite frankly. It hurts to hear from a town we’ve partnered with for a long time that we are hard or we don’t care. We all know that we do. We’ve shown that we do.”

He thanked Selectman Randy LaMattina for getting on top of the issue a couple years ago and for getting the town in a position where the town can look forward with some clarity.

“There are some misguided, misinformed statements going on on social media right now that speaks on our current relationship and in our standings,” LaMattina said of the meetings he, Lynam and Selectman Justin Evans have had with Hanson town administrators, FitzGerald-Kemmett and Selectman Matt Dyer. “There has not been much progress, but there is no negativity and we are going to meet again.”

The group’s consensus is to wait until after the School Committee meeting Wednesday, Feb. 5 when the fiscal 2021 budget is presented.

Lynam said the audit is looking for information, but not to assign blame.

Both Lynam and Kowalski lauded the efforts of Superintendent of Schools Jeff Szymaniak to work through the crisis.

Lynam was slated to meet on Wednesday, Jan. 29 with budget managers to review and update submitted budgets to “hopefully bring forward a budget that will conform to the guidelines the board voted last week.”

In other business, Selectmen voted to approve seeking an exam for the open position of fire chief when Chief Timothy Grenno retires.

Lynam met with Civil Service representatives last week at a Mass. Municipal Association conference.

“As of this moment, we do not have an exam for fire chief,” Lynam said. “It’s important for the board to know that it reserves its rights in the event that we don’t have a timely opportunity for an exam, should we need one.”

The board may seek a written exam through HRD, or return to a previously discussed option of an assessment center. He recommended that a written exam be sought.

“It doesn’t mean that our current chief is going anywhere, it simply gives us a list from which to appoint in the event he does leave,” he said. “We should always have a standing list.”

Once the list is issued, it is good for two years.

Lynam announced that the town was notified on Friday, Jan. 24 that changes need to be made to the flood plain in order to continue the town’s participation in the National Flood Insurance Program. Selectmen approved sending the recommended bylaw change to the Planning Board for review and hearings.