WHITMAN — When 14-year-old Mason Giove returned home from two months at Children’s Hospital for brain cancer surgery, and a subsequent stint at Spaulding Rehabilitation Hospital, his family was aware a police escort was in the works — but the procession that wound from the Whitman Police Station to their Beaver Street home Friday, Nov. 30 was a surprise.

“It’s pretty amazing,” Mason said of the welcome.

“I think it just all came together really quick, like overnight,” his father Mark Giove said, noting that some of their friends are police officers. “I imagine everyone [looking on in town] was wondering, ‘What the heck is going on?’ It caught us off guard, too.”

Mark Giove said he was told to stop by the Police Station for an escort home. He envisioned one or two cruisers, perhaps. The escort had started in Weymouth with a motorcycle officer, but along the way, more and more began to fall in line.

The Gioves were not expecting what Mark Giove termed the “hero’s welcome” Mason received on Friday, as that escort included Whitman and Plymouth County BCI and Whitman Fire Department vehicles while dozens of community members lined the sidewalk along Whitman Park to cheer for him. Purple and yellow balloons — yellow is symbolic for the fight against pediatric cancer — were placed along the park.

“The community has been very, very supportive of us,” Mark Giove said Saturday, Dec. 1 as his four children, including twins Louden and Lawson and daughter Mattea, enjoyed a pajama morning on the living room sofa. Laura Giove is a stay-at-home mom.
It’s been amazing,” Mark Giove said. “We’ve had people cooking meals for us — they set up a meal train website and people just went online and started to pick dates.”

Every Tuesday, Wednesday and Sunday, meals have been left in a cooler in front of a blue and yellow sign that reads: “Mason’s Army” on the Giove’s front steps.

Mason has been battling a “low-grade brain tumor” for almost 14 years. A freshman at WHRHS, Mason has attended Whitman public schools the whole time.

“It’s always been taken care of with chemotherapy … and kind of keep it at bay and we monitor it with MRIs and everything has always been like that for all this time,” said Mark Giove, an orthopedic surgical nurse at BID Plymouth. “Unfortunately, recently it grew a cyst in his brain stem area.”

He said the community support has made the last couple of months easier.

“We haven’t been together as a family in two months,” Mark Giove said. Mason said being in the hospital for that period was frustrating.

“For about three weeks, every day he’s been saying, ‘I want to go home,” Mark Giove said. Mason had been due to come home from Spaulding on Nov. 7, but the return of symptoms required additional surgery.

Selectmen lauded the outpouring of support in the community.

“The display this town put out for him” was overwhelming, Selectman Randy LaMattina said with a catch in his voice at Tuesday’s meeing. “I want to thank every member of this town … I want to thank the police and fire and sheriff’s departments and every town organization that brought this warrior home — and he really is a warrior.”

LaMattina said the town’s coming togther in support of Mason was equally as impressive as his courage.

HANSON — Selectmen on Tuesday, Nov. 27 voted to retain the services of Mead, Talerman & Costa MTC of Millis as general town counsel, but opted to end 14 years of work with labor counsel Norris, Murray & Peloquin LLC of Norwood.

The board unanimously voted to contract with Clifford & Kenny LLP of Pembroke for labor counsel services as of Jan. 1, 2019, with current attorney Leo Peloquin completing current work and transitioning all other projects to Clifford & Kenny.

Peloquin’s performance in the divisive investigation into rental and operational practices as Camp Kiwanee two years ago was a major factor in the decision for some Selectmen. Others cited the division of labor used by Clifford & Kenny — one partner dealing with fire department contracts and the other specializing in police contracts.

Also interviewing for both general and labor counsel positions were Murphy, Hesse, Toomey & Lehane MHTL of Quincy and Brooks & DeRensis of Boston.

Selectman Laura FitzGerald-Kemmett initially questioned the intent of the discussion.

“There is no agenda on that,” said Selectmen Chairman Kenny Mitchell. “We can pick two finalists [for each service] and come back to another meeting and have them come back. If there’s a consensus on who we want to pick, we can pick them and we don’t have to have them come back.”

He noted that the process had been initiated to review the services provided by both current firms and to see if the town was “getting the best bang for the buck.”

Town Administrator Michael McCue said he had tailored the agenda item to permit the board to proceed in whatever manner they wished.

“I got a little concerned after the last meeting that the board may have felt I put too many constraints on the process,” he said. “I want the board to make its decision on how it wants to move forward.”

“This is important and I would love a unanimous vote,” said Selectman Wes Blauss. “I don’t want to string someone along if, in the end, minds are made up.”

For that reason, while Mitchell had argued for Peloquin’s firm, he voted for Clifford & Kenny as labor counsel in the end.

“I’m speaking for our current labor counsel,” he said. “Leo’s got the track record … he’s dealt with over 300 employee cases over the past 14 years and had only four go to litigation. … He’s won all four.”

Mitchell said Peloquin has always worked in the town’s best interests and has 33 years’ experience.

“The system wasn’t broken, but we wanted to test the waters to make sure the system wasn’t broken,” he said. “I don’t think Leo is the best-liked person in the town of Hanson, I don’t think he gets many Christmas cards from employees in the town … but I think we have to make the best decision for the town and put personal differences and personal opinions aside.”

He asked for McCue’s opinion on the choice because he deals with labor counsel most directly.

He said he is comfortable with the town’s current law firms for both general and labor counsel and it made sense to him to stay with the firms.

FitzGerald-Kemmett agreed with the points Mitchell made, but liked other firms’ use of a database of contract costs in the region that the town could use for comparison.

“Leo’s done [the job], but he hasn’t done it with the precision I would like to see,” she said. “I’d like to see some more preparation for some of those conversations that we’ve had. … If we retain him I’d want him to improve upon providing that information well in advance of those discussions.”

She also noted that while he has not been a popular figure, “He was asked to do a job.”

Selectman Jim Hickey said Clifford & Kenny’s division of work on contract negotiations appealed to him, as well that the firm would have Selectmen driving the process.

“He said any negotiations start with us,” Hickey said of a follow-up phone call he had with John Clifford. “Any negotiations that we did [since he joined the board] or contracts that we were going to sign, we got Friday at noontime on the agenda [with Peloquin]. Maybe that’s just me and it’s my fault because I never asked, but I didn’t know.”

Selectman Matt Dyer expressed concern that, while Peloquin knows the town, he is concerned about the firm’s plans for expansion and noted that Selectmen still have not been debriefed about the Camp Kiwanee issue.

“I feel I’m out of the loop on that, I don’t know exactly where we are,” Dyer said. “I don’t really know how to judge his work when I don’t know the ins and outs of the past.”

Dyer said he was impressed with the Clifford & Kenny approach for dividing contract work, use of comparison databases and a better client/staff ratio.

Mitchell did not like the two different attorneys for police and fire contract approach. McCue agreed that he would prefer working with a single attorney, but he would agree to talk to Clifford & Kenny as to which would be the lead attorney.

Blauss said the issue that sold him was the responses gleaned from FitzGerald-Kemmett’s question to the interviewing firms on their elective office experience.

Clifford & Kenny; Mead, Talerman; Brooks & DeRensis all have partners and/or associates with experience working for communities “on the other side of the desk” during contract negotiations.

“I taught for almost half a century and I was on boards and commissions in town and I think that gives you a huge perspective on things,” Blauss said.

Selectmen asked for a transition period to permit Clifford & Kenny to receive information on pending work with all new work going immediately to them as of Jan. 1.

General counsel

Mitchell led the praise for Mead, Talerman attorney, Katherine Feodoroff, who has been Hanson’s lead attorney for the past couple of years. The firm’s RFP indicated Talerman would remain lead counsel with Feodoroff acting as immediate backup. But others did express concern that the reverse has been true lately.

Mitchell said Feodoroff proved “extremely knowledgeable [and] led us in the right direction” on the issue of marijuana control bylaws for the town.

“I had anticipated, going into this, that I wouldn’t want to change general counsel, but then when we met with Brooks & DeRensis and they started talking about the depth and breadth of what they have there I was thinking to myself — not about Kate — but have we at least been somewhat taken for granted?” said FitzGerald-Kemmett before she ultimately voted to keep the firm. “Kate has become the person. But Jay [Talerman] was the person we signed up with.”

FitzGerald-Kemmett questioned whether the board wanted a single firm to represent both general and labor counsel duties, or to keep them separate. She preferred separate firms.

“The reason for that is I like to have the agility that, if things go south with the relationship, we don’t have to start all over again with both disciplines,” she said. “It’s worked out pretty well so far and it’s good if you have a matter that might cross over into both [areas].”

Blauss was also grappling with the decision between Mead, Talerman and Brooks & DeRensis before ultimately deciding to keep the former. Hickey expressed a preference for Talerman, Mead noting the smooth transition between attorneys.

“I didn’t realize it had happened when it happened. It was such a smooth transition that I don’t think anybody noticed,” Hickey said. He also liked the way Feodoroff is able to explain difficult legal precepts in plain language. Dyer agreed.

What would an elementary student mean if they went home and told their parents, “We had a stay put today?”

It might bring to mind an active shooter incident, but it could also have been something as basic as keeping students in classrooms because a student was sick in a hallway.

“Right now, our parents don’t know that,” Superintendent Jeffrey Szymaniak told the School Committee on Wednesday, Nov. 14.   

The School Committee received a draft proposal for an elementary-level safety presentation being developed by Whitman School Resource Officer Kevin Harrington.

The work followed a symposium Harrington and Szymaniak recently attended at Stonehill College.

“I asked him to put something together for our elementary kids,” Szymaniak said of the draft currently being reviewed by school principals. “Kevin was looking at this through the lens of a school resource officer and DARE officer and I wanted some input from school principals to make sure it was adequate for our preK to [grade] five students.”

Szymaniak plans to make a formal presentation to the committee at its December meeting and at a parent night he will conduct with Harrington and Hanson Resource Officer William Frazier before it is implemented in January or February.

“Parents want to know what is being talked about with students for safety and security,” he said. “The other piece is our common language — of lockdown, stay put, shelter in place — so that everybody in the district knows common language.”

School Committee Chairman Bob Hayes said he has heard different parents tell their children to do different things. One would instruct their child to run if an emergency cropped up in school, while another would tell their child to listen to their teachers.

“I think it’s fantastic for children to be on the same page as each other, their teacher and their parents,” Committee member Fred Small said. “I would think it would be a wonderful thing to have not one parents’ night, but to put the parents through the actual training that their child was going to be receiving.”

Cell tower

The committee approved, 7-1, Hanson Town Administrator Michael McCue’s request to move forward with the process of placing a cell tower on Hanson Middle School property. Member Christopher Scriven voted no and members Robert Trotta and Steven Bois were absent.

Hanson voters at Town Meeting have already approved a zoning bylaw change to permit cell tower development on public property and town officials have identified a wooded area at the northeast corner of the HMS property as a prime location for a cell tower.

The project more than likely must go back before the Hanson ZBA for variance because it is within 50 feet of an abutter and the Conservation Commission because of nearby wetlands.

Project Manager Sean Mahoney of SAI Communications LLC also attended the Nov. 14 meeting to brief School Committee members on the proposal. Three competitive bids had been received and SAI was deemed to be most advantageous to Hanson, with the potential to bring in about $270,000 in pad lease revenues over the first 10 years, plus about $75,000 in the 25-percent contribution per unit on the tower.

After 10 years, that comes to about $350,000.

“This particular project isn’t solely about revenues, it’s about safety, it’s about communication,” McCue said, citing storms last March that made it difficult for families to reach their loved ones in town because landlines were down and the town continues to have large cell service dead zones. Fire and police communication units would also be hosted on the tower at no cost and the tower’s signal range is planned to be from 2.5 to 3 miles in order to close gaps with other cell service.

Turning blue for the red and black

Several School Committee members, and district administrators, have already signed up to be “Freezin’ for a Reason” on Sunday, Jan. 27 as they take part in the inaugural Hanson PTO Polar Plunge at Cranberry Cove in Hanson. The inclement weather date is Sunday, Feb. 3.

Superintendent Jeffrey Szymaniak, Assistant Superintendent George Ferro and WHRHS Principal Dr. Christopher Jones have agreed to take the fundraising plunge as have School Committee Hayes and Hanson members Mike Jones and Christopher Howard. Member Robert O’Brien Jr., as Hanson’s deputy fire chief, will be working the event to ensure there is a hole in the ice in which to plunge, as well as for safety.

Prior registration for plunge participation is $30 with each participant asked to raise a minimum of $35 in pledges. Hayes also pledged to treat whoever raises the most money to dinner, including their spouse and children, to a “Johnny Macaroni-type” restaurant.

All those signing up must sign a waiver in order to participate.

Volunteers are also needed to coordinate on the day of the plunge for those a bit leery of jumping into the water in midwinter.

It is now known by many names — Veterans Day in the United States, Armistice Day in France and Remembrance Day in the United Kingdom and Commonwealth Nations — but no matter what they call, it nations around the world paid tribute to their fallen on the centennial of the armistice that ended World War I at 11 a.m., Sunday, Nov. 11.

At the 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month in 1918 the armistice went into effect to stop four years of unfathomable bloodshed in Europe and in the Atlantic. Although the armistice ended the fighting, it was prolonged three times until the Treaty of Versailles, which was signed on June 28, 1919, took effect on Jan. 10, 1920.

Locally, Hanson planned to join in the Bells of Peace remembrance to mark the centennial. The bells at St. Joseph the Worker Church was among churches around the nation tolling its bells 21 times at 11 a.m., local time. Town Halls, schools, clock towers, fire engines, and fire with a bell were also encouraged by the Mass. Department of Veterans Services to participate in this program.

The Tri-Town Veterans Day Parade, in Abington this year, gathered bands, officials, floats, color guards and — most importantly veterans’ groups — from Abington, Rockland and Whitman to thank veterans and commemorate the centennial.

Hanson also took a moment on Thursday, Nov. 8 to treat its senior veterans to breakfast and present them with certificates honoring their service. The event, catered by the Olde Hitching Post and sponsored by the Friends of the Senior Center, also features musical tributes by the center’s chorus the Swingin’ Singers.

State Rep. Josh Cutler, D-Duxbury, pitched in to dish out the French toast before he read the Veterans Day proclamation from Gov. Charlie Baker during the ceremony hosted by Hanson Veterans Services Director Timothy White.

“Our office is here to help as well,” Cutler said after White had outlined his office hours. “We hope you’ll consider us a resource if you need any assistance in any way, but certainly with veterans’ benefits.”

American Legion Chaplain Ernest Jutras offered an opening prayer for the program and Town Administrator Michael McCue offered a short speech.

“We beseech you to usher into our world of confusion and doubt, peace and tranquility, which alone can come from [God],” Jutras prayed.

McCue quoted Athenian Gen. Thucydides who lived from 460 to 400 BC: “The secret of happiness is freedom, and the secret of freedom, courage.”

“The courage described in that quote is and was the courage shown by every man and woman to don the uniform of the United States military,” McCue said.  “That courage is honored today and over this weekend, not by the Veterans’ Day auto sales and department store discounts, but by gatherings such as these across the nation. It is actually that courage that allows us in a free America to indulge in, what I feel, are the trivialities of this weekend.

“Today, here, is what counts on Veterans Day,” McCue continued. “I am proud to have been invited to participate in this and past events in Hanson, especially since I am only a beneficiary of this courage and not one that displayed it. Thank you all for your service.”

McCue extended apologies from Selectmen who were either traveling or working and unable to attend.

White also attended a breakfast for veterans and their families on Sunday, Nov. 11 at the Hanson American Legion. Prior to that he worked at Fern Hill Cemetery to change out veteran’s grave flags for the flags that are in poor shape.

August Silva, assisted White and Cutler in presenting certificates to his fellow veterans.

Veterans and surviving family members receiving certificates of service were: Harold Davis, William Walsh, the widow of Dominic Paradiso Sr., Ed Gronlund, Carol Tavares in memory of her brother Belmiro Tavares Jr. [killed in action, Vietnam], Lisa Wirth in memory of her brother Joseph W. Wirth [killed in action, Vietnam],  Ernest Jutras, Thomas Butler, George Copeland, John Banusiewicz, Ted  Coakley, Ed Weldon, Wayne Seer, James Richards, Robert White, Al Supple, James Stewart, Emery Maddocks, Dave King, Bob Kendrigan, Thomas Anderson, Larry Mills, John Barboza, Clarence Walker, Mark Morrocco, Angelo D’Agostino, Frank Mazzelli, Sam Hammond, Donald Howard, Joseph Marsden, Paul Finch, Bill O’Brien, Peter Travaline, Doug Squires, Allen Comeau, Blakie Bean and Robert Buckley.

ABINGTON – The exuberance at the home of Alyson Sullivan’s parents could hardly be contained. Shortly after 9 p.m., she and about 75 supporters received news that she had bested her opponent, former Abington selectman Alex Bezanson, in the race for the 7th Plymouth District State Representative 10,225 to 8,079. The 30-year-old will follow in the footsteps of her father, Michael, who held the same seat during the early 1990s.

“Thank you to everyone that helped with my campaign over the last two years,” Bezanson posted on Facebook, congratulating Sullivan. “Unfortunately it didn’t go our way.”

Sullivan, a young, enthusiastic paralegal and final-year law student talked quickly as she moved from guest to guest, freely giving out hugs for their support.

When asked how she would succeed as a Republican among so many Democrats on Beacon Hill, she said that she is an independent voice and does not see that as an impediment. “I’ll work with others,” she added.

She says her top priorities are Chapter 70 money for schools, Chapter 90 money for infrastructure and fighting the opioid crisis.

“I’ve had cousins who’ve lost their lives to opioids,” she said. She says she’ll partner with local law enforcement to go after drug dealers. “I want less and less people to get addicted in the first place,” she added.

Her plans are admittedly ambitious, but she says she can handle working as a legislator by day and going to law school at night.

Her campaign manager, Alex Hagerty, himself a rising star in local republican politics, sitting on the Abington Board of Health, described some of the campaign work that had “made it all happen.”

He described a grassroots effort to maintain the 7th District for Republicans that saw Geoff Diehl not seek re-election to the State House and lose his race for Massachusetts senator against incument Elizabeth Warren.

“She’ll have to fill the shoes of Diehl,” said Hagerty, who said the campaign wished Diehl the best of luck in his next endeavors and that they were disappointed in his loss

But, “Abington, Whitman and East Bridgewater could not have elected a better state representative,” he said.

BROCKTON – The owner of the former JJ’s pub, Patricia Harrison, 59, and her longtime boyfriend Wayne Cummings, 49, were arraigned on arson charges in the fire that destroyed the former bar at 16 Liberty Street, Hanson, last July, along with Alfred Russo, 75, who was previously accused of setting the fire.

Russo, Harrison and Cummings, all of Bourne, pleaded not guilty to the charges. Russo faces one count of burning of a dwelling and two counts of arson causing injuries to firefighters while Harrison and Cummings face one count each of burning of a dwelling.

The three appeared at Plymouth Superior Court at Brockton Friday, Oct. 26 before Judge Robert C. Cosgrove.

The assistant district attorney, Alex Zane, presented over 130 exhibits to the three defense attorneys, saying that they represented the culmination of a very long grand jury investigation. Russo is a friend of Harrison and Cummings, say police reports.

Russo, a retired Boston firefighter, was arrested last August, while Harrison and Cummings were arraigned on “direct indictments,” meaning that the matter never went to District Court, just before the grand jury. Now that the matter is in the Superior Court, the District Court proceedings are obviated.

According to the ADA, most troubling to him was the alleged fact that all three were in “precarious financial situations” – Harrison stood to gain $250,000 in insurance payouts–and were illegally consuming prescription drugs and heavily consuming alcohol, leading the judge to order all three to remain drug and alcohol free while awaiting trial.

Russo already had this condition imposed, and while Cosgrave kept it in place for him, the judge did remove the condition that he wear a GPS ankle bracelet that was used in an exclusionary manner to keep him away from the crime scene.

Harrison, according to Zane, was taking Vicodin, a narcotic pain killer, before being called as a witness before the grand jury and was asked not to take the stand because her demeanor had changed so much after consuming the pills, which she said were for an old car accident.

Zane also alleged that Russo had joked, “What’s the big deal?” and “I better get a passport,” when confronted with the allegations.

In a previous interview with the Express, Russo blamed the fire on “spontaneous combustion” and noted that his presence there on the date of the fire, which he freely admits, was a “bad coincidence.”

Russo’s Falmouth- and Taunton-based attorney, Drew Segadelli, said in a phone interview with the Express that there are other possible people that could have burnt down the building, including a “firebug,” common slang for an arsonist, who was investigated, and he says not held, at the time of the JJ’s pub arson.

The alleged serial arsonist Segadelli is apparently referring to, Mark Sargent, who investigators say committed many arsons, including one at this building, was held on $100,000 bail and ordered to home confinement and to wear a GPS bracelet if he posted bail. Sargent, according to court personnel, was being held without bail at the time of the fire, as he still is, although Segadelli suggests Sargent as an alternative to Russo in the case of the arson.

“I think that’s kind of jaw-dropping,” said Segadelli, referring to Sargent not being investigated in this case.

“Who knows the real truth? None of us were there, we just defend our people,” said Segadelli.

Maybe it’s not even an arson at all, he suggested. “They’ve got to exclude all other possibilities…to prove this is an arson,” he said.

Segadelli emphasized Russo’s age, disability and length of service with the Boston Fire Department in terms of his defense.

The fire, according to Hanson Fire Chief Jerome Thompson, III, reached nearly four alarms and totally destroyed the abandoned commercial property adjacent to the intersections of Liberty Street and East and West Washington Streets.

It sent two firefighters to the hospital, Lt. Sherilyn Mullin and Timothy Royer, who both sustained heat-related injuries and had to miss some work due to these injuries, stated court documents, and an Express photographer also was treated at a hospital due to injuries sustained in the course of her work.

The fire took some time to extinguish, due to the full involvement of the structure, according to a previous statement from the district attorney, and many towns and the state responded or provided station coverage for Hanson during the incident, according to Thompson, putting many lives at risk.

The chief has been outspoken at times, in the media and on Twitter, about this fire and especially about Russo’s release. He was present in court along with several Hanson firefighters, but did not wish to comment on the removal of Russo’s GPS bracelet.

Video surveillance from Dandel Construction Corporation was used to identify “a party” park a vehicle on the side of the abandoned building, enter through a door and remain inside for nearly eight minutes, according to reports.

The party then exits, enters a vehicle and drives away. About six minutes after the party exits the structure, smoke is visible venting from the roof, it continues. Less than nine minutes later, fire is visible out of a side window.

Police and prosecutors allege this party was Russo.

When investigators went to meet Russo at his home in Bourne two weeks after the incident, police say he, “spontaneously stated that he was driving his Jeep in Hanson on the day of the fire.”

Russo stated that he had been in Hanson on the day of the fire for a cookout at Cummings’ sister’s house but didn’t end up attending because he didn’t feel well, according to the report.

He freely admitted to driving to the JJ’s Pub property, purportedly to move a generator, but said he never went inside, according to police.

They are next scheduled for a pre-trial conference in Plymouth Superior Court at Plymouth on Dec. 20 at 2 p.m.

A Halifax man faces charges in connection with a rollover crash in Hanson Tuesday night that caused serious, but non-life threatening injuries to his passenger and himself.

At approximately 8:30 p.m., Oct. 23, Hanson Police received numerous 911 calls reporting  a motor vehicle crash in the area of 863 Monponsett Street (Route 58). Upon arrival the officers found that a 2014 Chevrolet Cruz had struck a utility pole and rolled over.   The vehicle was traveling south when it crossed the northbound lane striking the pole and rolling over.    

The vehicle sustained extensive damage in the crash. A small fire was extinguished by a passerby prior to the first responders’ arrival. Hanson and Halifax Fire also responded. The road was closed for a short time and National Grid restored power.

The operator, Brian Alden, 36, of Halifax and his passenger Kelly Doherty, 31, of Halifax both sustained serious but non-life threatening injuries in the crash.

Doherty was transported to South Shore Hospital by Halifax Fire.   Alden initially refused treatment and was taken into custody.   Alden was charged with OUI liquor second offense, OUI liquor with serious bodily injury, operating after revocation of license, operating to endanger, and marked lanes violations.

Alden requested treatment later at the police station and was transported to Brockton Hospital. He was later transferred to Boston Medical for further treatment.

He was held on $1,000 bail and was expected to be arraigned Wednesday, Oct. 24 on the above chargers.   

School District IT Director Chad Peters outlined for the School Committee how student data security is ensured on Wednesday, Oct. 10.

Superintendent of Schools Jeffrey Szymaniak indicated that Whitman Police Chief Scott Benton had sent him and Assistant Superintendent George Ferro an FBI update on student data breaches and pirates holding student data for ransom — usually in the form of crypto-currency such as Bitcoin.

“I’m pretty secure with what we have, but I want you and the public to know your student data is secure here at W-H,” Szymaniak said.

Peters explained that data security starts with the switch three years ago to virtualization and the elimination of computers with individual drives.

“All of our data is actually in our data center,” he said. “None of the data actually resides on the individual devices.”

In addition, there are multiple layers of virus protections both on the dummy PCs and in administrative areas, but in the form of deep-scanning anti-virus protection on virtualization and on the firewall for network connections and Cloud storage facilities. Anomalies of large amounts of data traffic going in and going out of the network are checked.

Switchers, routers and wireless equipment is also monitored, Peters said, as well as email security. He said information and data servers are also encrypted and backed up so any hacks with the intent to hold data for ransom would be futile.

“From a user’s perspective [in school], we have restricted accounts where users have restricted rights,” Peters said. “When they log onto a computer or virtualization, they can’t just install things.”

It protects the system from potential viruses imported via USB sticks or other installed devices or programs.

Committee members asked what kind of instruction was offered students to help them protect themselves on the Internet.

“With a lot of things going on in society now, with data breaches … I think that’s going to be one of our initiatives,” Peters said. “We communicate a lot of that with our staff. In their computer classes they teach digital literacy and digital citizenship. … From our perspective, I think we have to push a lot of that more.”

Ferro said the district now has teachers and media center staff teaching those skills in a Common Sense Media program, as well as an educational liaison to technology on a stipend basis.

“When it comes to educating staff, that’s when we rely on the technology department,” he said.

During the meeting W-H seniors Dorothy Dimascio-Donahue and Kaitlyn Molito were recognized for having been honored by the Mass. Association of School Superintendents as the two top academic students at WHRHS.

“It’s not just in the classroom that they excel, it’s all over the place,” Szymaniak said. “They are true Panthers through-and-through — in student government, student activities, they study hard, they’re good citizens, and I think we should all be proud when they graduate this year, sending them off as ambassadors of WHRHS.”

The School Committee also welcomed interim Director of Student Services Lauren Mathisen, who has been an employee of the district for four years and an 18-year veteran educator. She started as a school psychologist and has worked at WHRHS as the special education coordinator for the last four years, focusing on inclusion and new programs on social-emotional health, including the program that helps students returning from either medical or psychiatric hospitalizations return to the classroom and school community.

In other business, Szymaniak reviewed — and the School Committee accepted — his goals for the 2018-19 school year, a process he said is one in which he is still learning some aspects of the job.

“I felt like putting ‘Survival’ this year wasn’t appropriate [to include],’ he quipped. “Some things that Ruth [Gilbert-Whitner] has left as legacy, I’ve pruned down the wording so I think they are manageable and user-friendly.”

Szymaniak’s goals, for which he outlined potential strategies,  include:

• Supporting student learning through a focus on support for the math program, English language learners, expansion of special education — with a focus on in-district programs that can best serve students while saving money for the district — and continuing efforts to provide free all-day kindergarten;

• Being visible throughout the district, with planned and un-planned visits to all schools during the week and meetings with teachers and student leaders;

• Improve and create open lines of communication in conjunction with the district’s focus on safety and security, which includes a planned ALICE training session for staff on Friday, Oct. 19 — an early release day, and grade-level safety training for students and parent meetings; and

• Development of a workable budget that will deliver services and create opportunities to prepare W-H students for higher education, the workforce and/or military service.

Member Christopher Howard asked how Szymaniak felt about the template over-all.

“I don’t love it,” Szymaniak said. “I don’t love it at all, but here’s the thing … but this is what the committee has always gone to. Ours is more of leadership, of facilities, of a professional culture and then family. … It’s kind of a teacher template and our administrative template that everybody else uses in the district.”

Howard agreed that to start somewhere it is easier to start with what is already in place, but trying to measure success is the difficult work.

“I would encourage that we start here but, at some point we rework the template,” Howard said. Szymaniak and several other school committee members agreed. Member Fred Small suggested a simpler format including, goals, measurement indicators and evidence of attainment.

“I personally am not looking at this as a hard-fast, set-in-stone report card, so to speak,” Small said. “I look at a relationship [where] everyone’s working together for the common good. … It’s important to set a goal more important to say how you are going to achieve the goal and how it can be measured.”

WHITMAN — The Board of Selectmen, in a joint meeting with the Planning Board Tuesday, Sept. 24, interviewed two candidates for interim appointment to fill vacancies on that board.

Planning Board candidates Elaine Bergeron, Jerry Blumenthal and Adele Carew appeared at the joint session. The board is being sequentially reduced in membership, as voted at Town Meeting, to get down to a five-member board after the next election because of problems gaining a quorum in order to hold meetings.

One of the now-vacant positions disappears after next year because of the reduction of members. One of the two would then have to run to fill the seat that would be vacant.

Blumenthal had to leave the meeting, due to a family emergency, before the hearing, which was delayed due to an extended discussion during the public forum, could be opened. Town Administrator Frank Lynam said he is interested in serving on the Planning Board.

Selectmen Chairman Dr. Carl Kowalski suggested that because of Blumenthal’s early departure and the absence of a Planning Board member who wished to take part in the vote, the hearing could be continued to the Thursday, Sept. 16 meeting when he could be interviewed and a vote taken.

With five members, only three need to attend to achieve a quorum, mandatory to open mail and address bills, let alone talk to developers or others seeking to present plans to the board.

“What I’d like to do is, first and foremost … I’d like to have the definition changed so a majority of active board members, not sitting positions, would constitute a quorum, no less than three members,” said Chairman Eric Pretorius.

“Unfortunately, that would require a statutory action,” said Lynam. “It would require Home Rule legislation, because the quorums are established by law.”

To vote on membership, however, Lynam said only a majority of both boards would be necessary. Pretorius said no surveying experience is needed; one only has to be able to read through rules and regulations and ask questions.

Whitman native Bergeron served on the Finance Committee in the 1970s and has been a member of the Whitman-Hanson  Scholarship Foundation for almost 40 years as well as serving as an election worker. She is currently a senior vice president director of personal insurance, overseeing a staff of 60 both directly and indirectly, for a large insurance agency. Among her duties are figuring out what houses are worth and how they should be insured.

“I want to get back involved in the town,” she said. “I’m getting close to retirement, so I’ll have more time.

Selectman Dan Salvucci asked if she planned to run at the next election, but she did not have a definite plan for that, but intends to run.

“If I commit, I’ll commit,” she said.

Selectman Brian Bezanson, who has known Bergeron for many years, endorsed her and thanked her for stepping forward.

A 56-year Whitman resident, Carew is an Abington High graduate and has been a warden at Whitman polls for 45 years and is interested in some of the building in her Kenwood Drive neighborhood. She has also been a school volunteer.

If appointed, Carew said she would be willing to run for election “if the board felt I was adequate to do it.”

Bezanson also thanked her for her interest.

“We don’t get many volunteers for these boards and they’re not elected and certainly not paid, so any time we can get citizens to come forward, we really appreciate it,” he said.

Selectman Randy LaMattina said he has known Carew for a long time and she is someone who is committed to the town.

In other business, Selectman Scott Lambiase reported that he has reached out to several people regarding the budget working group that was slated to meet at 7 p.m., Monday Oct. 1 in the Selectmen’s meeting room at Town Hall. Agenda items were to include introductions and giving participants a “feel of what we’re here for, what we’re going to do,” important dates and milestones.

Lynam said the town would see a penultimate draft of the community assessment survey within a few days of the Sept. 24 Selectmen’s meeting.