WHITMAN — The Fire Department’s newest acquisition is a state-of-the-art ambulance that not only improves patient care and data transmission to hospitals, but can also help prevent back injuries for responding firefighter/EMTs.

It also saves money toward eventual replacement, as the “box” containing patient care equipment can be removed and placed on a new chassis, cutting the cost of any new LifeLine vehicle by almost half. It is the third LifeLine ambulance, which are built by Specialty Vehicles.

Chief Timothy Grenno said Monday the ambulance, already in service, replaces a 2000 Wheelcoach vehicle, which will now be auctioned off  — most likely as scrap after a lot of hard miles.

“It was no longer a viable piece of equipment for an ambulance,” he said of the decommissioned vehicle.

The new $265,000 ambulance was paid for from the ambulance reserve account revenue, including $80,000 from an appropriation approved at the 2016 Town Meeting for the deposit on the order.

“That’s the same account we purchase all of our equipment out of, so nothing comes out of tax dollars,” Grenno said. “Although the up-front cost is expensive, the attraction to these ambulances is that Specialty Vehicles has a tremendous remount process.”

The expensive part of any ambulance is the boxy body containing patient care equipment. In 10 years, when the new ambulance is ready to be refurbished, not only will the box be transferred to a new chassis, but the box will also be refurbished and updated.

The first such ambulance bought by the Whitman Fire Department is a 2009 vehicle, up for refurbishment in two to three years.

That process is expected to cost between $150,000 and $180,000.

“You have to put the money out first to get the quality ambulance and, after that, you have the option to ‘refurb,’ as long as the box stays in good shape and it’s not beat up,” Grenno said. “That’s all about demand on the vehicle. As our calls increase, the demand on the ambulance is increased.”

Call volume to the department for medical emergencies has steadily increased since 1965. The new ambulance also addresses the increasing technology demands of patient care, Grenno said.

The state requires a patient care report for all patients carried in ambulances, which must be transmitted to hospitals wirelessly. “It’s everything that we do — it’s an electronic report of how the patient presents, what we do for treatment, medications we give them and everything else,” he said. “It’s made our response more efficient.”

The new vehicle comes with Wi-Fi to make that possible. Air cards used with the older ambulance were unreliable and subject to malfunction or failure.

A bridge program between the computer-aided dispatch system and the AmbuPro patient care reporting system the department uses provides an automatically feeds all the needed information about a call to first responders and saves time — which saves lives.

Gurneys have also changed over the years, from those requiring manual raising and lowering and lifting into the ambulance to a fully automated gurney that eliminates a lot of that lifting and helps prevent back injuries.

Grenno said the loading system on the new ambulance helps prevent that kind of injury, with push-button controls that adjusts gurney height and loading onto the vehicle.

“Everybody that started in EMS prior to battery-operated and non-lifting stretchers has back injuries,” he said. “If you have somebody that has a back injury then the minimum amount of time that they are going to be out if it’s a significant back injury is six months. Generally, it’s close to a year.”

Beyond insurance costs connected to such injuries, it can cost thousands of dollars in overtime to cover that shift.

“We don’t want our guys to get hurt,” Grenno said. “We try to buy equipment that makes their job safer.”

A liquid ride suspension system also provides a smoother, more stable ride than air ride systems that were susceptible to wear and tended to waiver back and forth “like a cruise ship.”

WHITMAN — Final costs, and the timing of bills, for a new DPW plow truck raised some concerns during the Feb. 28 Board of Selectmen’s meeting.

The town of Whitman recently acquired a truck for snow and ice removal, for which the $136,000 price tag has been accounted, but Selectmen expressed concern this week over an additional $25,000 for the plow mechanism that had not been accounted for after the initial purchase.

“The superintendent believed the plow would come in while there was still funds in the account, as a result of timing the bills came in after we entered into deficit spending,” said Town Administrator Frank Lynam.

“I was concerned this purchase was being made out of a budget appropriation rather than a capital article,” Lynam said. “Any purchase of that nature should be treated as a capital purchase and should be funded outside of the normal budget process.”

Selectman Daniel Salvucci argued that the town bears some responsibility for the discrepancy.

“This is an item that is not the vendor’s fault — it’s our responsibility — for the vendor to suffer the loss of the sale because someone jumped the gun is wrong,” he said.

Selectmen suggested the situation was likely an oversight by the superintendent and that there was no malice in the deficit spending.

“They were probably looking to purchase a truck at no cost to the taxpayers, out of Chapter 90 money, and the plow at minimal cost because it’s out of the snow and ice that was appropriated at the town meeting, but that’s just a backdoor way of spending,” Salvucci said.

Salvucci said he believed that this should be something that is discussed at town meeting and to allow taxpayers to vote.

The board seemed unsettled by the way the money was being spent, but concluded they did not have much of an option when it came to passing this issue due to the purchase having already taken place.

Paul Street

The citizens of Paul Street, located off of South Avenue, have presented a petition to the town to officially consider the street a public way.

“There is a citizen’s petition to accept Paul Street as a public way and to expend the funds necessary to bring the street up to road acceptance standards,” Lynam said.

Paul Street was initially a private road for a single home, and was approved to be developed as a private way that was not to be built to town standards, according to Lynam.

“I’m waiting for actual estimates for that work, but we anticipate that it’s going to be in the $300,000 to $350,000 range,” Lynam said. “If we vote for this, there will be no Chapter 90 work done in the town of Whitman next year.”

Since the initial planning of the street, multiple new homes have been built there. The original owner of the property is also no longer located there, leaving the new residents on a road in “really bad condition.”

“You can’t plow and them you can’t fix them because they are not municipal roads,” Lynam said. “It is illegal to use town funds to maintain a private road.”

Since this is a citizens’ petition, it must be submitted to town meeting next year.

“The voters at the town meeting will have to decide if they want the town to spend a large amount of money to accept this street,” Lynam said.

Electronic Voting

Electronic Voting Committee Chairman Mike Seele provided a report on his panel’s research into to possibly  using the devices for town meetings. He gathered information from various local towns to determine whether or not this would be useful for Whitman.

The technology would be a remote with a few buttons signaling “Yes” or “No” so that attendees could have their voices heard during meetings when questions or issues arose. It is similar to a technology used in colleges to ask large classes questions and immediately discuss the responses.

“We found that, for the most part, representative town meetings were using this technology as a way to enhance accountability to the representatives” Seele said. “A handful of towns using open town meetings format that we have, they have a history of consistently contentious town meetings that went on for a while.”

A few towns in this area rejected this issue due to cost.

“The cost is 15,000 to 16,000 for 300 handsets,” Seele said. “It’s impossible to determine how many of these you need in advance.”

Seele also added that renting is an option but this would cost $1,700 per meeting for 300 handsets.

“One central fundamental issue that we thought was important was privacy versus accountability; people know where their neighbors stand on any given issue,” Seele said. “We also heard account that people have felt intimidated at town meetings, this was really impossible to find out if this was a real problem.”

This technology allows people to remain anonymous rather than continuing the traditional standing vote.

One initial thought on this issue was that voter attendance would increase if this technology was implemented. However, some towns did not see a notable change since adding the electronic voting. Attendance did not increase and voting projections were not different than expected.

HANSON — A farm animal perished during a barn fire at 96 Main St. on Thursday, Feb., 16 at approximately 7:30 p.m. There were no injuries to people, however, as Hanson firefighters responded to multiple 911 calls, Chief Jerome Thompson stated in a press release.

A 30-by-20-foot building was fully involved when the first arriving firefighters reached the property.

Due to the large amount of contents in the structure, extensive overhaul was required, said Thompson.

Hanson Fire Department was assisted at the scene by Pembroke Fire Department and Hanover Fire Department provided station coverage. Fire damage was limited to the building of origin.

Early estimate on damages for the building and contents is approximately $25,000. The fire does not appear suspicious however it is currently under investigation by the Hanson fire department.

There were no injuries to citizens or firefighters during this incident, but unfortunately one confirmed livestock perished as a result of the blaze.

The property is owned by John Ripley. He was currently unavailable for comment.

On a local Facebook page called Hanson Ma, Connect several members reported the Ripley family was thankful for the offers of assistances from others in the farming community, however they had extra housing for their animals and were OK.

HANSON — The Board of Selectmen has voted to authorize Town Administrator Michael McCue to present his fiscal 2018 budget recommendations to the Board of Finance.

The Feb. 7 vote followed a brief discussion of the recommendations’ highlights.

McCue’s recommended total of all town budgets is currently at $24,638,156 — 5.09 percent higher than the current $23,441,725 fiscal 2017 budget. Department requests total $27,714,638 — or 5.43 percent over the current budget.

McCue said he will set up a meeting with School Committee Chairman Bob Hayes at the Tuesday, Feb. 28 on the school budget request. He also plans to have further conversations with other department heads regarding their requests.

“Dependent upon the final amount voted for the schools and, also, dependent upon the final budget voted on by the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, we may still make some minor adjustments and we may be able to address some of the requests from the other departments,” McCue said. “At this point, we’ve made the judgment to level fund.”

No salary increases are currently included in the budget.

The Fire Department budget line includes $20,000 in realized overtime adjustments over the last few years as well as a change in hospitals’ procedures, which now require departments to pay for expendable equipment once provided at no cost. The training line item is also up a bit due to the number of recent new hires at the Fire Department.

The Highway Department budget has also increased $60,000 to more realistically reflect repairs required over the last couple of years, McCue said.

‘It doesn’t necessarily mean that $60,000 will be spent, but it is more reflective of the trends of spending over the last few years,” McCue said.

The Police Department budget has decreased slightly.

The Recreation Commission budget has been increased by about $28,000 for supplies and projects, also based on trends over the last few years, according to McCue, who added those funds would come from retained earnings.

“As we move forward with some things at the camp, we realize it’s going to cost a little more,” he said.

McCue also replaced an engineering line in the Selectmen/Town Administrator’s account for $5,000 in order to undertake certain minor projects that require a professional engineer. It is an account he has used in other towns where he has worked.

A new utility contract, which costs $90,000, rather than the $84,000 under the last contract reflects that rate increase of that line to $124,750.

Debt has increased, including the cost of razing the Plymouth County Hospital as other debts are decreasing. The town has also been advised to prepare for a 25-percent spike in health insurance costs, while McCue and the town accountant are working to try to limit the increase.

“It did come as quite a surprise,” said McCue, noting the increase was 15 percent last year.

A new contract at the Water Department increases its salary line by $50,000, McCue said. An increase from $281,465 to $406,495 in the Water Department debt service account is due to the cost of cleaning the water tank.

Animal control

In other business, the board delayed a vote on the appointment of Pembroke Animal Control Officer William Hart in a regional capacity, pending finalization of an inter-municipal agreement with Pembroke. Hart’s appointment would be effective through March 31, 2018.

Pembroke’s town counsel is still reviewing the draft agreement, McCue said. He has proposed, among other provisions in the contract, that salary payment be based on population as the former regional agreement with Abington and Whitman had stipulated.

The board had the option of approving the contract last week, but members opted to wait until Pembroke’s final decision.

Highway site

Selectman Bill Scott, during his update on the work of the Highway Building Committee, reported that contamination at the site on the former Lite Control property has been cleared out, contrary to rumors he has heard around town.

“The site that the town is receiving is a clean site outside the buffer zones for conservation,” he said, noting that project costs estimated at between $4 million and $4.5 million, are not expected to run higher and would include cleanup.

“There are currently about 100 DEP sites in Hanson — that one being one of them,” he said.

School choice has again been approved for the 2017-18 school year at Whitman-Hanson Regional High School, despite a lengthy debate on whether the program puts local student-athletes at a disadvantage.

Principal Jeffrey Szymaniak advocated maintaining 20 school choice slots for the incoming freshman class, 10 sophomores and to keep space open for any current student who moves out of district. This is the fourth year of W-H’s participation in the program.

“The program has grown and, in my opinion, is successful both for our students and financially,” Szymaniak said. “I think kids come here for athletics, I think kids come here for academics, I would love to say kids come here for band — they don’t yet, but I’m getting there. I have a student who’s doing band and chorus who’s a school choice student.”

He said the funds brought in through school choice have funded the hiring of seven teachers at the high school, added programs and lowered some class sizes.

School choice allows students to attend schools in other districts for their education, which brings a stipend of money — usually about $5,000 per student — to the receiving district. For fiscal 2018 that would mean an additional $260,000 in the high school’s portion of the budget, less about $70,000 for out-of-district special needs placements, for net gain of about $190,000.

W-H students who leave the district — 16 of the 40 now taking part in school choice — during their high school years are also permitted to continue attending until graduation under the program.

“The other part of that is, we’ve added some diversity to our school with students — from Weymouth, Brockton, East Bridgewater, Middleboro, Rockland, Abington — all in the adjoining areas that are a benefit to our students,” Szymaniak said. “Parents who sent their students here for school choice are committed to the school.”

On Wednesday, Feb. 1, the committee voted 5-2, with Chairman Bob Hayes abstaining, to maintain school choice participation. Members Christopher Howard and Michael Jones voted against the proposal with Stephen Bois, Daniel Cullity, Fred Small, Alexandra Taylor and Robert Trotta voting in favor. Members Kevin Lynam and Robert O’Brien were not present.

“Since we’ve gone to school choice, with the financial resources we have, we’ve been able to focus more on K-8 education because the high school has been able to separate some of its own revenue,” said Superintendent of Schools Dr. Ruth Gilbert-Whitner, noting it helped address class-size problems at the elementary level. “It does allow some focused funding. … Without school choice money, the high school program will definitely suffer, because that’s a significant revenue source.”

Team cuts

But, some of the committee members who cast supporting votes also expressed concerns on the athletics issue. Cullity explained the committee has received calls from several residents alleging that out-of-town athletes are recruited to attend W-H under the school choice program.

Both Szymaniak and Athletic Director Bob Rodgers emphatically denied the accusation, explaining it is against MIAA rules and is something the school’s coaches would not do on ethical grounds.

Rodgers said news reporters, the MIAA and the school choice students have vetted the soccer program’s rule compliance. The only member of the girls’ soccer team approached by its head coach David Floeck about coming to W-H was his own daughter.

“He’s been at W-H for a very long time and is a man of his word,” Rodgers said. “It’s disappointing [to hear the rumor] because W-H has had a lot of success before school choice and would continue to have it if the vote tonight was different. This decision should not be made because of athletics.”

“I have to trust my number two,” Szymaniak said of Floeck, who is the assistant principal as well as the girls’ soccer coach. “He’s a good man and said, ‘Absolutely not. I would never put you,’ meaning me, ‘in that situation.’ … Any time a program I successful, people look to tear it down.”

Szymaniak noted that Floeck was Coach of the Year in 2008 and 2009 — and had All-American players on the team — before school choice was adopted by W-H.

“We run a good program and we run it clean,” he said.

Szymaniak did say that W-H teachers who live in other districts tell people they know that they should send their kids to W-H, but that no athletic recruiting is being done.

Rodgers and Szymaniak said there are school choice athletes on four W-H teams, and that there have been some local students cut from the girl’s soccer team in favor of school choice students.

“When I accept a student, they become a Panther,” Szymaniak said.

Rodgers said there are now 14 school choice students, four in multiple sports, participating in W-H athletics, with only six taking part in a cut sport — girls’ soccer — in which only two girls were cut from varsity to JV. In most cases, they fill out rosters with vacancies, such as fall and winter JV cheerleading. There were also no cuts made in gymnastics and varsity cheerleading.

“Most students come here for academic reasons, but there’s no question the girls’ soccer team is one of the best in the state,” Rodgers said. “When girls [who play soccer] are not happy with their home district, they look to W-H.”

Taylor Kofton, an All-American soccer player on the girls’ team, is a school choice player from Norton. Her national team coach advised her to find a Division 1 high school team so she would be eligible to go to a Division1 college. Norton is a Division 3 school and W-H is Division 1.

“I’m concerned that the word is out to come to W-H to play soccer,” said Trotta, who has never been a strong supporter of school choice. He asked if Rodgers could prepare a report before the issue comes back before the committee next year on whether, indeed, school choice has an effect on local students’ participation in sports. Rodgers agreed to prepare such a report.

Jones, who opposes school choice as a revenue source, wondered how many Whitman and Hanson students were reluctant to even try out against the student-athletes coming here through the program.

“How many come through school choice to play sports is irrelevant,” Taylor argued. “I think we do a huge disservice to our district and our children if we cut school choice because that’s too much revenue.”

“Our obligation is to our towns’ pupils,” Small said, adding he would not like to see a Whitman or Hanson student forced to go to the back of the line on a sport. “That being said, is it the greater good by accepting school choice?”

He thought a report from Rodgers would be helpful for next year’s decision and voted yes.

At least one person in the audience was not completely persuaded.

“As a parent, if my child was a child who was cut I’d be here screaming and hollering if a kid from another town got to play his position,” retired teacher, and Hanson resident Margaret Westfield said.

Rodgers said for three of the six school choice girls’ soccer players, sports was not the main reason they came to W-H, noting their parents had citied academic, staffing or building quality concerns in their home districts.

fact of life

Gilbert-Whitner also said school choice is not her favorite program, but said surrounding communities offer it, and attracts W-H students away.

“We are charged to find more revenue and it’s one source of revenue that’s there,” she said. “It’s a fact of life in Massachusetts until it changes.”

Szymaniak also said school choice helps maintain student population at a time of decreasing enrollment from Whitman and Hanson. He would like to maintain a high school population of 1,200, but is “well below that” now. An enrollment drop at the high school could also force league and division level changes for the athletic program, which would affect all WHRHS students, he argued.

School choice has not affected students’ ability to get into an AP class at W-H, other than in regard to course times, Szymaniak said.

School choice applications must include academic, discipline and MCAS records.

WHITMAN — While he sees it as a problem that’s not going away anytime soon, Police Chief Scott Benton has reported a slight improvement in the number of opioid overdoses in 2016 compared to the year before.

Benton reported to Selectmen on Tuesday, Jan. 24, that there were three fatal overdoses out of 41 in 2016, compared to seven fatalities out of 49 overdoses in 2015.

“Any stride that you can make in a positive way in that arena is a good thing,” he said. “The old saying goes you save one life …. Well, we saved more than one life compared to the year before.”

Overall call volume increased by 616 over the course of the year in 2016, with arrests, complaints and protective custodies about the same as in 2015. Traffic enforcement citations increased by about 300.

“I want to thank you for doing a comparison between last year and this year,” said Selectmen Chairman Dr. Carl Kowalski. “It helps to get things in perspective.”

Kowalski, who is also a member of the Whitman-Hanson Will anti-opioid effort, said he was glad to see some improvement from one year to the next.

“As you say it well, it’s not an eye-dropping change, but it’s a change,” he said.

“In the right direction, that’s for sure,” Benton agreed. “Now there’s a more comprehensive attack on the follow-ups and the reporting of overdoses in a more timely fashion.”

Lt. Daniel Connolly files overdose reports with East Bridgewater Police Chief Scott Allen, as part of the WEA drug task force, which are then followed up — a process the used to take up to two weeks. Now, those reports are filed within the hour and follow-ups with the families of overdose victims happen within a day.

Selectman Brian Bezanson said he was disappointed to hear that Gov. Charlie Baker was cutting the opioid enforcement effort by about $1.9 million in his budget proposal.

“It bothered me,” he said. “For me, it’s not the place to be cutting right now.”

“My only comment would be any cuts in that area … if anything, I’d want to hear we’re putting more money into it because any money to any of those components is vital,” Benton said. “That’s sad.”

Bezanson, however, lauded the Legislature for the proposals to fine-tune the recreational marijuana regulations since the success of ballot Question 4 last November.

“It’s cutting back the amount that folks can grow at home and when [the law] can roll out,” he said. “It’s going to be pushed way back.”

Benton said the Mass. Police Chiefs have been lobbying on behalf of the changes.

“This thing got passed and there was nobody thinking — on the recreational component — of what the ramifications were,” Benton said. He stressed medical grow facilities, such as the one Whitman Selectmen just voted to support, are regulated. “It’s your neighbor, that can grow 12 plants but is growing 36 and decides to extract it with butane and blows your house up and their house — that’s where the problem is going to come from.”

A ballot question in the annual Town Election would be the most direct way to address the retail marijuana issue, the chief said.

Benton also reported receiving a bulletin on a Colorado Supreme Court ruling regarding a medical marijuana case in which the court ruled that police may not return confiscated marijuana to a person who was found not guilty on drug trafficking charges. Colorado’s appeal was based on such a move being a violation of federal law.

“The court ruled that the federal Controlled Substances Act prohibits the distribution of marijuana, with limited exceptions,” Benton reported. “So, they found that the police department would be violating that [act] by giving it back.”

The chief also said he received a lot of positive feedback about the increased foot patrols in the center during the holiday shopping season.

Whitman police officers also held a “Stuff the Cruiser” event to benefit the Whitman Area Toy Drive — and filled three vehicles. The Department also took part in the active shooter drill at WHRHS on Dec. 27.

“Any time we can train together and learn together is a good thing,” Benton said.

HANSON — As staff and patrons continue coming to grips with the loss of late Library Director Nancy Cappellini, work is underway to keep the facility running smoothly and name a successor.

“I think right now people are still in a state of shock,” Library Foundation Chairman Jennifer Hickey said last week. “I give the staff a lot of credit for putting on a brave face and for working through very difficult circumstances. … You find out what people are made of — and these are good people.”

At the same time, Hickey said the sooner the director’s position is filled on a permanent basis, the better it will be for the facility’s role as a resource for residents.

Selectmen voted Jan. 10 to appoint interim Library Director Karen Stolfer as the Library’s Records Officer. The board’s Wage and Personnel Subcommittee met Tuesday, Jan. 24 to review and approve an updated library director job description. [See page 5.]

“We’ve been working since [Cappellini’s] death to update the job description, because the last time we updated the job description was 2004,” Hickey said. “It’s a lot more technology and programming that has to be done.”

In the past, librarians concentrated mainly on book weeding, acquisition and storage, Hickey said, but that now there is a great deal of programs on all the different devices upon which patrons obtain information in addition to books.

“We had to make the job description match how quickly times have changed,” she said, noting that Town Administrator Michael McCue has been a valuable resource on the protocol of what steps the Foundation must take in the process. “We wanted to make sure we are dotting our ‘i’s’ and crossing our ‘t’s’.”

Stolfer has indicated she is considering applying for the permanent director’s position, but said her first priorities have been the fiscal 2018 library budget and planning February school vacation activities.

“I’m trying to get a sense of whether it’s a good fit [on a permanent basis].” Stolfer said. “Hopefully this will give me an idea of whether I want to try for this official position.”

She admits she is filling some big shoes while she also continues her role as reference librarian and teaching computer classes.

“It’s been tough, but it’s been exciting at the same time,” Stolfer said. “I’ve been trying to get things figured out and putting a budget together … it’s been a lot of work. It’s a learning curve.”

A 13-year library employee, this is the first department budget she’s had to compile.

Hickey said the budget process is an area in which Stolfer’s reference expertise is coming in handy as she pieces information together.

“No one dies at a good time, but this is the budget time,” Hickey said. “I believe we’re already in an extension.”

The first draft had been due Dec. 31 — a time when the staff was still processing Cappellini’s Dec. 22 funeral and patrons’ grief.

Stolfer also said plans for February vacation plans are underway. Kate Godwin is again offering yoga classes as well as a paint class. A children’s sewing class will also be offered.

The job posting will be done through Town Hall, offered first to internal staff for the first two weeks. Stolfer graduated with her MLS in 2005 from Simmons College and started working at the Hanson Public library in September of 2003. A master’s degree in library science is a primary qualification for the job.

“It’s beautiful how it worked, that she already has the qualification,” Hickey said. “I think Karen is going to keep the ship running in the right direction. She’s been doing a very good job under what I consider to be not great circumstances.”

“Karen was the first person Nancy hired,” the library’s Technical Services/Systems Director Antonia Leverone told McCue. “I remember still being the Acting Director when Nancy and I interviewed Karen. … She was a patron as a school kid before she went to Wheaton. Since she came into the reference position she has been a tremendous asset to the library with her computer and reference skills [as well as her] friendly way with the patrons. The staff all think very highly of her, both professionally and as a colleague.”

The rest of the library staff have taken on extra hours to fill in for Stolfer’s reference and desk duties for the time being.

“We’ve been lucky to have had Nancy both as Children’s Librarian and Librarian,” Hickey said.

Cappellini had worked at the Hanson Public Library for about 17 years. “She’s been a welcoming face — people come here and it’s kind of a home away from home.”

The School Committee heard updates Wednesday, Jan. 11 on the three pillars of the district’s strategic plan adopted in September  — Healthy Bodies/Healthy Minds, Curriculum Instruction and Safe and Secure Schools — as the budget process begins.

“We felt we were in quite a good place in terms of meeting our goals,” said Superintendent of School Dr. Ruth-Gilbert-Whitner. “We have also looked at what are the financial implications of achieving these plans, and as we’ve developed the budget for FY ’18, we’ve prioritized, over time, what are the key items that we believe the district needs to have funded to be able to meet the goals of our strategic plan.”

Based on a level-service budget, which adds no new programs, the fiscal 2018 budget is expected to increase by $1.58 million based on the higher price on fixed costs such as salaries, health insurance, transportation and custodial services.

“It’s the same forecast we have every year — expenses exceed revenue and we’ve got to figure out how to make it work.”

No-cost full-day kindergarten, now estimated to cost about $400,000, is not included in the budget increase at this point.

Department officials gave presentations on the progress toward goals within their pillars.

Administrator of Special Education and Pupil Personnel Services Dr. John Quealy and Food Services Director Maureen MacKenzie talked about the Healthy Bodies/Healthy Minds goals.

“In a nutshell, the goal of Pillar I is to develop a learning environment that fosters social, emotional and academic growth for all of our students,” Quealy said, guided by a Wellness committee of representatives from each school and district officials.

One of the programs being planned is a spring Wellness Fair to include representatives from North River Collaborative, Whitman-Hanson Will and outside organizations in an effort to highlight services available to families. He is also working to expand mental health support services, such as are offered at the high school for students transitioning from hospitalization back to the classroom, to the middle schools.

MacKenzie reported the district is holding steady at 29 percent of students on free or reduced-price lunch programs. A pre-paid purchase system also protects privacy. She has also begun offering sound nutrition and exercise guidance through age-appropriate newsletters and menus students want.

“If our students are not mentally healthy, they are not going to be available to learning,” Gilbert-Whitner said.

Mathematics Curriculum Coordinator Brian Selig; History, Social Science Curriculum Coordinator Robert Davidson; Science Curriculum Coordinator Mark Stephansky and Language Arts Curriculum Coordinator Amy Hill spoke of progress being made under the Curriculum Instruction pillar.

Selig said the main goal is to provide equal access to a high-quality curriculum and the resources to support it, “regardless of what room, what building or which town they’re in” to ensure every student is career and college-ready.

In elementary grades, Davidson said that means to expand from the initial two grade levels from which the math and science programs began and creating new curricula in social studies and English language arts. Professional development for teachers is also vital.

“It’s easy to forget that elementary school teachers teach four academic subjects, and the content is no joke,” he said.

“I think you’re going to see that this is a game-changer in W-H,” Gilbert-Whitner said. “It creates a cohesive learning system — it also keeps a focus on what needs to be done.”

At the middle school level, Stephansky said developing a coherent and cohesive curriculum across the two towns is an important goal. That makes an easier transition to the high school where, Hill said, a whole new set of challenges comes before graduation, including state testing, SATs, PSATs, AP exams and courses.

The 16 new late-start days during the school calendar year have proven invaluable for teacher research, training and collaboration, she said.

security

Assistant Superintendent for Human Resources Dr. Patrick Dillon and Facilities Director Ernest Sandland addressed Safe and Secure Schools goals. A Dec. 27 active shooter drill at the high school for school officials and first responders was an important part of safeguarding schools.

“We have great passion in this area,” Dillon said, noting a district-wide Safety and Security Committee has been formed to work on developing safe practices. “There is an amazing partnership with our first responders.”

Dillon and Sandland are also touring the schools to solidify facilities and maintenance plans and will be modifying the entrances to both middle schools over the coming summer.