By Linda Ibbitson Hurd
Special to The Express
I have many memories of my mother and an overall pride in her accomplishments as a woman and as our mother. After her high school graduation, she worked as a long-distance telephone operator in Burlington, Vt., where she grew up. During WWII, Treasure Island, Calif., needed long distance operators and Mom signed up, holding the rank of Petty Officer First Class while serving in the WAVES. Dad was in the Seabees when they met at Treasure Island.
When the war ended, they were married in the Hanson Baptist Church and by the time I was born, they had a house on Elm Street where my three siblings and I were raised along with mom’s dog, a dalmatian named Dietz they got while on their honeymoon. 
Mom was a Methodist and after she married Dad she joined the Baptist church in Hanson that he belonged to. She taught Sunday school when I was little and also when my siblings were young. It was nice having her there with us. She got involved with the church and groups within the church that were helpful to others and to the community.
When I was in my teens and began to lose interest in church, Mom talked me into joining BYF; Baptist Youth Fellowship at our church. It was a group of friends and peers I had grown up with in Sunday school. I’m glad I listened to her; I learned so much from the minister who ran it, Rev. Gil McCurdy and Rae Usher, the woman who helped him. He knew how to listen, hear, talk to and deal with young people and the things he pointed out to us made us think and to be more aware of how to keep ourselves safe out in the world. 
The first thing I became aware of about Mom when I was very small was her love for animals. One of my first memories was her finding abandoned baby bunnies in our back yard near the field behind our house. She asked dad if he would make a cage strong enough to keep away other animals, which he did. Mom fed the bunnies with a glass doll bottle I had that was made exactly like real baby bottles, only much smaller. She taught me how to feed them so I could help. When they were old enough, Mom always found good homes for them. 
Mom was as good with us as she was with the animals. When I was 6 and my sister Penny was 3, Mom was 6 months along with our brother, David. One day we went to Martha Brine’s farm stand to buy a watermelon. Penny was a plump little kid and loved to eat. She reached for a small piece of watermelon covered with seeds and was about to stuff the whole thing in her mouth when Martha took it away, telling her she needed the seeds to grow more watermelons. Penny just stared at her. Later that night, mom was cutting watermelon slices and bit into one with seeds and grabbed a cup of water to swallow it down. Penny started crying, the crying turned to sobbing. Mom asked her why she was crying and Penny kept pointing to mom’s tummy.
“I told you there’s a baby in there,” mom said.
“NO!!! Watermelon!” Penny sobbed, holding out her plump little hand full of seeds. Mom calmed her down, but whenever we had watermelon that summer, she collected the seeds and threw them away until David was born that August and then she could see he was a baby and not a watermelon. 
Three years after our brother David was born, our sister Barbara was born on his birthday. We still celebrate them together. As we got older mom tried to get us kids to call her “Mother.” We all looked at each other but didn’t say anything. When that didn’t work she tried “Mom.” She gave up when the only thing that worked was “Ma.”
It’s never changed. It was nice having a stay-at-home mom but as we got older, she ventured out and started working again. I was proud of the things she did. She got her Class 3 license to drive a school bus. Some years later she took a job as dispatcher for the Hanson Police. When she’d been there a few years Brockton Hospital hired her to be their switchboard operator. She stayed there until her retirement. 
Mom wasn’t much over five feet tall and had a nice figure. One December near Christmas when I was about 12, mom asked me and Penny, who was then 9, to keep an eye on the kids and the supper that was baking in the oven; she had one last errand to run at the five and dime store, J.J. Newberry’s in Whitman. About an hour later when she came back grinning from ear to ear, her arms full of packages, Dad was coming in the back door. They met in the dining room where I was, kissed and she rushed into their bedroom to put the bags away.
When she came back out still grinning, Dad started to smile, asking her what was going on. She broke into full laughter, trying to calm down to tell us. When David and Barb heard her laughing, they came into the dining room to listen.
“Well, when I was at Newberry’s and finished my shopping, I was walking towards the cash register line to pay and a big rat ran out in front of me and when I screamed, all my bags flew into the air and fell onto the cash register belt. I jumped and a man beside me caught me and I was in his arms screaming and then laughing when I realized I jumped into his arms and then he was laughing!
We were all laughing except Barb who kept asking, “What is a rat?”
“Why didn’t you bring him home to supper?” Dad kidded her. “He wished me a Merry Christmas and I thanked him for catching me and he said he was glad to be of service.” 
Growing up in Vermont, Mom had been an avid skier and before they were married, so had Dad. They both loved the outdoors and, in their 50s, they began to research how to create a small wildlife preserve. There was a spacious field between our backyard and the brook beyond. Dad was a bulldozer and heavy equipment operator and with a dozer and an excavator he was able to push the shale and dirt uphill towards the back side of the brook. By the time he was done, the brook was dead center, fifteen to eighteen feet deep which hit natural Springs that created its own water source.
My brother Dave stocked the pond with bluegills, perch, shiners, horn pout and more. There were all kinds of migrating birds that came to the pond at different times of the year, many returning annually such as great blue heron, wild mallard ducks and a kind of sandpiper with markings called a solitary sandpiper that always came alone.
Dad got Mom an inflatable boat to row around the pond. She gave all our kids rides in it at different times, which they loved. Dad built a small dock to make the preserve complete. It was a dream come true for Mom and the first Mother’s Day after the preserve was created was a celebration for our whole family. 
 

School Committee Chair Beth Stafford shared with the School Committee on Wednesday, April 9, an email she received on behalf of the committee from the Hanson Select Board, asking respectfully that the committee reconsider the FY 26 operating assessment for Hanson voted by the committee on March 19.
While the board maintains a willingness to work cooperatively with the School Committee to find a solution that best serves students and educators, they stressed their position also requires they keep in mind the community’s financial position and asks that the school budget be reconsidered.
The Committee voted for Stafford to prepare a response to the Hanson Select Board, respectfully decline their request.
“We understand that crafting a budget to meet the educational needs of our students is no small task, and we appreciate the work and careful thought that has gone into the process,” the letter reads. “However, as stewards of the overall town budget, it is our responsibility to ensure that all funding priorities are balanced in a way that supports not only the needs of our schools, but also the broader needs of the community.”
The letter suggests there are “areas where adjustments could be made to better align with the town’s financial capabilities.”
Stafford said she had not responded to the letter because it is not her decision alone.
“This is up to you, also,” she told committee members, but said she was going to speak to something that “wasn’t going to be very nicely accepted.”
“I do not find that a select board can tell where adjustments could be made to better align [with town finances],” she said. “That’s not our job. Our job is to take care of the students and what’s best for the schools. I don’t know how that could tell us that there are things we could do better – I just had a really big problem with that statement.”
Stafford said the committee should discuss and take a vote on the letter’s suggestions.
She noted that Whitman is already beginning to hold public information forums starting this week on the $2 million one-year override its select board voted on April 1. Hanson’s Select Board is also planning public information forums.
Whitman has scheduled such informational forums for: Wednesday, April 16 at 7 p.m. at Town Hall; Wednesday, April 23 at 10 a.m. at the Council on Aging [Senior Center]; and Thursday, May 1 at 6 p.m., most likely at the Whitman Public Library.
Hanson’s forum dates are: Tuesday, April 22 at 6:30 p.m., at Hanson Middle School; Thursday, April 24 at 9 a.m., Hanson Senior Center and Wednesday, April 30 at Hanson Middle School.
“This is pretty late in coming to make any changes, if we deem [them] necessary,” Stafford said, as she invited “short and sweet” comments from her committee members.
Rosemary Connolly said that Superintendent of Schools Jeff Szymaniak and the committee had put forward a five-year plan and proper business in the town is to look at that plan and budget.
“We know that other departments have grown and we know a lot of our services over the years have depleted,” she said. “I have to point to a lack of planning on the part of the town’s level to not plan for the budget that was presented in 2022.”
As a former member of Whitman’s Finance Committee, she said she could speak to departments in that perios of time that were doubled and “inflated costs” of offices around the select board.
“Both towns were told they needed overrides to meet standard services,” she said.
Kara Moser, who represents Hanson, said she is philosphically a collaborative person, but she has serious concerns about the timing of the Hanson Select Board’s communication.
“We have had open, public budget discussions as a committee, and I do not recall seeing a representative from Hanson here,” she said. “I have seen representatives from Whitman here on multiple occasions. … It feels really difficult, when as a committee, we have spent a significant amount of time, when administration has spent a significant amount of time, when our financial people have spent a significant amount of time, putting together a budget that doesn’t add anything [and] that is transparent as I think it can be … doesn’t feel collaborative in nature.”
She also expressed concern that if the School Committee holds its ground as she thinks it should, that would be used to scapegoat the committee and the school district as being responsible for “whatever else transpires in town.”
It’s unfair, but it’s an historic trend, she said.
Committee Vice Chair Hillary Kniffen, also of Hanson, honed in on the phrases “areas of adjustments” and “lower the assessment” to make sure education of students remains strong.
“In English class, I would tell my students that’s an oxymoron.” she said.
Kniffen also pointed to Whitman Select Board member Shawn Kain’s past comment that the FY ‘26 budget is not an educationally sound budget.
She also quoted other Whitman officials who cited the main reason for budgetary increases – higher health insurance costs, for one – with no discussion on how to lower it.
Whitman’s Finance Committee had several questions about the district budget, too.
“But at no point did they ask us to lower our assessment,” Kniffen said. “It’s insulting to receive this letter right now, when we, as a committee, voted 9-1 to support this budget, and the nine who did all said why we support this budget.”
“We’re damaging the lives of people,” Steve Bois said. “I mention that because this has been one heck of a whirlwind of a month – of a year – and we’re trying our best to keep stability within our classrooms, and giving the best that we can,” he said. “We learn a lot about how we give the best because of the people we have. … I’m probably not going have my job in a culture that just built me up and surrounded me with love and consideration and I don’t want that to happen to our students. … There’s more than money. It’s caring and fostering and just achieving for them.”
Member Dawn Byers said 43 percent of the revenue that pays teacher salaries is not going up at all.
“That’s state aid.” She said. “That’s other revenue. … That’s why the town of Hanson’s assessment, being 25 percent – and Whitman’s being 32 percent of the budget – is getting the assessment it is.”
She asked town officials to help the school district fight for more state aid.
“If we ask people to sacrifice, we need to show sacrifice, she added,” quoting Whitman Select Board member Shawn Kain “I appreciate the letter from the Hanson Select Board,” she said. “At the same time, I think that letter is poignant because it sounds like a negotiation.”
She also quoted Hanson Finance Committee Chair Kevin Sullivan’s March 11 remark about the school budgets of the recent past: “We never really had to worry about it, because we were always able to negotiate down.”
During her 10 years of following the School Committee, Byers said she never saw a negotiation.
“So, where did that negotiation down happen?” she asked. “I know where I saw it, among former [group of] 10 School Committee member who would reduce the school budget, and that’s where we sacrificed in the past.”
She said that, if the committee agrees to go lower, next year they’ll ask the committee to do it again.
“There’s no low that’s too low, as we’ve learned, for these towns,” Byers said, making a motion that the superintendent shall provide the committee with a monthly report of all notifications of student applications to Chapter 74 non-resident student tuition programs outside of the W-H school district.
She stressed her motion was not meant to prevent students from going to other programs, it’s to have an awareness of the financial impact on the Whitman-Hanson Regional School District. The Committee unanimously voted to support the motion.
Glen DiGravio of Hanson asked if anyone knew of any other department in either town that was, or was planning to, lower their assessment – or budget – to the town.
“We’re the only one being asked?” he said. “That’s what I’d like to know.”
Szymaniak said he received a document from the Hanson PTO, outlining what all town departments are asking for fiscal 2026.
“Nothing new,” he said. “I have not heard from Chief O’Brien or Chief Misch to that question.”
Hanson Fire is seeking under $400,000 more to add more firefighters.
“I’m in a situation where I’m a taxpayer and a father of a student here, so both sides make perfect sense to me,” he said. “It’s hard to decide and I don’t think anyone’s attacking anyone. I think everyone wants the best for students, but everyone’s situation is different and money matters.”
Hanson Select Board member Ed Heal said his board has asked all departments to tighten their budgets as much as possible.
“Our constituents are going to come [to Town Meeting] and say, ‘Why,’” he said. “And the why is what I want to know.” He said, if the problem is state funding, most people don’t know about that.
Szymaniak said a list of frequently asked questions (FAQs) will be put out for public reference, but stressed thzt exploding special education costs and charter school costs are involved in the funding problem.

By Tracy F. Seelye, Express editor
[email protected]
HANSON – The Select Board, it seems, feels they have said enough.
On Tuesday, April 8, the board voted to place the article for a Proposition 2 ½ override – currently numbered as Article 6 on the warrant – on the Town Meeting warrant, but declined to vote on whether to recommend it. Instead they are deferring the article to the will of Town Meeting voters.
“I know you guys are going to say to defer [to Town Meeting], but the problem we ran into the last time we said to defer, was people at Town Meeting are saying, ‘Does the Select Board recommend this?’” said Chair Laura FitzGerald-Kemmett. “And, if we don’t recommend it, then what the heck is it doing in the Town Meeting warrant, proposed by the Select Board?”
“I still want to defer to Town Meeting,” Vice Chair Ann Rein said.
“You’re deferring anyway, because the vote is [up to] Town Meeting,” FitzGerald-Kemmett replied. “So, what they want to know is, do we support the override, and if we don’t then we shouldn’t have a damn article in here.”
Rein said she would rater look at the issue from a different point of view.
“I support the placing in the warrant, of this article for them to vote on it,” Rein said.
Board member Joe Weeks agreed with Rein.
“I agree with Ann 110 percent,” Weeks said.
“Fine,” FitzGerald-Kemmett said. “Then [vote to] place and defer.”
“Defer with the understanding that I’m recommending that we place it,” Rein said. “I have said this a million times, it’s up to the Town Meeting. That’s all there is to it.”
It was only one of several warrant articles up for place and recommend, or not, on the meeting’s agenda, but the board also discussed holding informational public forums about the warrant in the weeks leading up to the May 5 annual and special Town Meetings.
Town Administrator Lisa Green, during a separate discussion about the language of the override question being placed on the warrant – and the Town Election ballot for the May 17 annual Town Election.
“There is some confusion that this override is only for the schools,” Green said. “In the last sentence it does say both towns and schools, there’s some confusion on how it’s read. Town Counsel did suggest you modify the language to specifically point out that the override is the cost of operating the schools, police department, fire department and other town departments for the fiscal year.”
She said a language change would make it clear that it is an operational override for town services as well as the schools.
The board voted to rescind the original text of the article and to approve language to ask for the $3 million override from real estate and personal property taxes for the “purposes of providing for the general administrative cost of operating the schools, police … [and] fire and other town departments for fiscal 2026.
The Select board also voted to hold public forums with public safety chiefs, Town Administrator Lisa Green and, perhaps a representative of the School Committee or the school district during April so people could ask questions.
“This isn’t meant to be throwing tomatoes at people, or getting combative with people,” FitzGerald-Kemmett said. “It’s meant for people to sincerely ask earnest questions that the have, about ‘How did we get here; what are we doing about it; what’s the proposal on the table.’”
Green said Hanson Middle School is available during April vacation – April 21 to 25.
“They said. Normally, they don’t allow use of the buildings [during vacation weeks], but the would allow the town to use the Hanson Middle School that week, apart from 21st, which is a holiday,” she said, noting that she when school buildings might be useable on other days.
“I think you just need to set the dates and then, whoever will come, will come,” FitzGerald-Kemmett said.
Hanson Public Forum dates have not yet been firmed up, but FitzGerald-Kemmett said April 22 would be a good night to schedule a forum at Hanson Middle.
Select Board member Ed Heal suggested a different night of the week should be considered for later meetings to accommodate people who might be busy on Tuesday, April 22.
Green suggested Wednesday, April 30 for another presentation as well as a Thursday morning event at a site such as the Senior Center perhaps April 24, working around program times.
Whitman has also scheduled such informational forums at:

• April 16 at 7 p.m. at Town Hall;
• April 23 at 10 a.m. at the Council on Aging [Senior Center]; and
• May 1 at 6 p.m., most likely at the Whitman Public Library.
  FitzGerald-Kemmett said the balance of audiences and times of day was a good idea so Whitman could reach a broad audience he might be willing and able to draw a better cross-section of residents.
  “I’m all for open communications debates on the floor and whatever,” Weeks said, but he suggested drafting an outline for how this is going to be might be value.
  FitzGerald-Kemmett said the frequency of the meeting dates and times does need to be address.
  “Basically, it’s really an educational service – with Green facilitating, perhaps with an assist from Town Moderator Sean Kealy or former School Committee Chair Bob Hayes.
  “I just think it’s important to think of stuff like that,” Weeks said. “If it’s an educational forum with an agenda of how we’re going to do it, I think the more structured this can be, the better, because I’m assuming that the point of this is to get information out – and I don’t think you want it to go sideways with other things that could happen that would prevent us from getting as much information out as possible.”
  “It is educational,” FitzGerald-Kemmett said.

The School Committee’s discussion of funding non-mandatory busing during an update on the work of Regional Agreement Committee during its meeting on Wednesday, March 26 reflected the financial divisions still evident in the district.
“We’re plugging through the Regional Agreement,” Superintendent of Schools Jeff Szymaniak reported to the School Committee. “We just took the 2018-2020 ‘bones,’ because it was really a good, solid document, and I did the updates on the statutory method. There was some issues around capital and leases of the new Whitman Middle School that we’re being able to pretty much iron out.”
However, the issue of transportation was brought up as a topic of discussion by the Whitman finance representative for the Regional Agreement Committee (RAC) to discuss, Szymaniak said.
“That [discussion] is around non-mandated transportation and costs,” he said. “The proposal is to take that non-mandated appropriation, which is not through the School Committee, but is an assessment assigned to the towns
No vote was taken during the meeting. Rather the discussion was aimed at providing feedback to take back to the Regional Agreement Committee, both Szymaniak and Chair Beth Stafford stressed.
“If we change the methodology, there will be a cost shift from one town to another – that’s all I’m going to say,” Szymaniak said.
But when Committee member Kara Moser asked what the cost shift would look like, Szymaniak said, “roughly, it’s about $50,000 shifting from Whitman to Hanson per year.”
The current non-mandated busing policy, bills both communities by pupil and mileage, Szymaniak explained before the discussion began.
Both communities transport via school buses, students living within a zone of a half-mile and a mile and a half of the school(s) they attend.
“We bill the towns per mileage and per pupil,” he repeated. “The proposal that was brought up is to change that protocol to actually billing the way we bill mandated transportation as reimbursable.”
It would take the non-mandated appropriation, which is an assessment assigned to the towns, voted on in a separate line item in the town budget, and not through the School Committee. The non-mandated busing assessment is now voted on as a separate line item in the town budgets within the town meeting warrants, to get it back to a 60-percent by 40-percent that would be part of the school district’s assessment to the communities and part of the overall budget he said.
“We’ve been back and forth on it,” Szymaniak said. “Both sides have some strong arguments, so the [RAC’s] decision was to go to the School Committee, go to the FinComs and go to the select boards before we get too deep into it get the vibe from the School Committee, [on] whether you want to shift it or not,” the superintendent said.
The Regional Agreement Committee, on which School Committee Vice Chair Hillary Kniffen serves as a representative from Hanson and member Rosemary Connolly represents Whitman, has been meeting for the past two years.
Select board members Justin Evans of Whitman and Laura FitzGerald-Kemmet of Hanson and finance committee members Steve Amico of Hanson and Kathy Ottina of Whitman also serve on the Regional Agreement Committee. Szymaniak, Assistant Superintendent George Ferro and district Business Manager Steven Marshall, also serve on the committee as nonvoting members.
Connolly, said that, even having been a member of Whitman’s Finance Committee in the past and researching some of the history involved in the issue, she had to wade into law books to understand some of the “statutory laws and application of aid.”
“This was one that stood out to me,” she said. “Our application here is unorthodox – it’s not something that other schools are doing, and I think we need to see this a little differently.”
She said anytime aid is viewed as something to benefit a town, as opposed to benefitting a purpose or a goal, collectively, of education, [but] as diversion of money outside of education, is a failure of understanding the aid.
Delving into the history of the issue, she said that when Whitman was given the option of splitting mandated and non-mandated busing, it was seen as an opportunity to do something different because of the differences in the two towns.
“Because Hanson doesn’t have sidewalks, they can’t take this out of their budget, or, if we wanted to keep it and Hanson decided to take it out then we can do something [else], but under MGL Ch. 71 Sec 16c, it actually says the district is responsible for busing all students when we busing within our contracts,” Connolly said. “That was something [on which] the citizens of Whitman were misled when this started.”
The purpose of the aid is so that the region ultimately uses the busing assessment to get the best overall cost and the way it’s being applied, loses a lot of opportunities for cost management, using district buildings in a diverse way and burdens one town more than the other.
“The improper application has created a diversion of money out of education, not one town over the other,” she said.
Committee member Steve Bois asked if that means some Hanson pupils could be sent to Duval School in Whitman, because it’s closer to their homes.
“It opens up the possibility of that,” Connolly said. “We’re going to work it out anyway, because we’re going to do what’s best for kids. … I’m saying let’s actually be a region and share this effort, cost, and everything else.”
Committee member Dawn Byers commiserated with the public who might find the entire issue confusing.
“I wish the RAC had actually voted to propose something, not necessarily to even vote on, but a suggestion,” she said, noting that she appreciated Szymaniak’s explanation of what their discussion was. “Without anything, really, in writing, I’m trying to formulate an opinion and a discussion to go back, but I want to have more concrete [information] in front of me.”
She noted that because of the differing assessment formulas at work, mandated busing is split roughly along the 60-40 percentage break as the operating assessment, while the non-mandated billing formula puts 82 percent of the cost on Whitman and 18 percent for Hanson.
Kniffen reminded the Committee the proposal was in the early discussion stages, seeking feedback on which to proceed.
“The idea has to fall away from towns to the best way to lower the overall cost of this service,” Connolly said.
Committee member Christopher Cloutman said they were apparently hearing two different questions – the first on how the cost had been distributed in the past vs how it should be, and are the buses most efficiently being used to provide the services to the town.
Stafford expressed a concern for the School Committee and how they deal with their budget, if the non-mandated busing cost gets rolled into the district’s operating budget.
“People will forget that that’s why we increased it,” she said. And, “being realistic,” she said she doesn’t see that Hanson would agree to it at all.
“I really don’t know if this is the right time to do this,” she said. “We finally got how we divvy up between the towns and how we pay the correct way and there’s a lot of people who still have a problem with that. Maybe it shouldn’t be [done at] this time.”
Stafford reminded the Committee that the Regional Agreement is supposed to be reviewed every three years and there are other opportunities to address it.
Moser agreed with Stafford.
“I hear the Whitman perspective, but I lived and advocated through that 2020 Town Meeting on the lawn out here, where it took a yeoman’s effort to get Hanson on board with the statutory [assessment] method,” said Moser, who is a Hanson resident. “There is a lot of residual resentment, even though it may be well intended or not, but it hit people’s pocketbooks in a very big way, and I think it unfortunately eroded a little of that sese of mutual responsibility.”
Combined with the economic outlook, Moser said a change in non-mandated busing formulas, would be a hard sell at this time.
Connolly replied that resentments are not only present in Hanson, and Whitman has had major large financial bills for middle schools and other things that “any sort of recognition for partnership” must entail and that she cannot be responsible for misinformation provided the residents of Hanson in the past.
“There’s no easy way to do it that would be fair to both towns because we’ve got such a number discrepancies between student population and mileage,” said member Stephanie Blackman. “I do think this is something that’s worth looking at further, but I certainly don’t want to be asking people in either town to be paying more than they should be paying.”
Once RAC develops a consensus of opinion and gets the same from the School Committee, according to Szymaniak they are also asking for feedback from the select boards before a policy change is sent to the commissioner of education for approval before going before Town Meeting. The goal is currently to get on the commissioners calendar for May 2026.
Towns, but not regional school districts, could also opt to bill parents on a per-child basis for non-mandated busing it they so choose.

The School Committee on Wednesday, March 19 voted to approve the fiscal 2026 budget assessments for fiscal 2026. They also certified the FY ’26 budget [see story opposite]. It was the deadline date for the vote ahead of the May 5 town meetings.
Superintendent of Schools Jeff Szymaniak recommended that the committee affirm the assessment figures he provided in the February – a $66,306,276,19 level-service spending plan that is up $3,375,931.19 over the $ 62,530,345 budgeted in FY 25 – a total budget increase of 5.6 percent.
As of now, operational assessment totals are 61.12 percent or ($20.9 million, a 9.65 percent increase over last year) for Whitman, and 38.88 percent ($16.4 million, a 9.87 percent increase) for Hanson. Once a budget is certified, it can go down in dollars, but not up between that time and Select Board budget certifications – not up.
“I’m not asking the committee to bring this down at this point because, from the numbers provided by the two towns, there’s no budget outside of a potential override,” Szymaniak said. “So, I’m going to ask the committee to stay firm on the assessment that I provided to our budget hearing in February.”
“Those [municipal budget] numbers have not been shared with us yet,” he said. “I’m hoping to have those next week, but due to the law that says we have to set an assessment 45 days before Town Meeting, I don’t have those numbers for you and 45 days is tomorrow.”
He has met with finance committees and select boards from both towns, and planned another round of join finance committee/select board meeting in Whitman and in Hanson this week.
He said a productive meeting with the Whitman FinCom on Wednesday, March 12 yielded “some good questions from the chair, who shared those answers with the committee.”
“The [Whitman Finance] Committee has an idea of where the school budget is,” Szymaniak said, noting goals involved in five-year plans were fairly accurate in forecasting for fiscal ’26. “We knew this was going to be a difficult budget year and both towns have shared thoughts in writing, in the paper, out, vocally, that both towns are struggling financially and there will be a need or potential need for an override in both communities.”
Those overrides, he added, will not only fund the school budget, but also municipal services in both towns.
School Committee Dawn Byers, recalling four years ago when then-Chair Christopher Howard and the committee worked together in summer budget workshops to plan and set goals for the committee, including one with the Mass. Association of School Committees, which helped with the committee/superintendent relationship.
“It boils down to the ‘what and the how,’” Byers said. “The School Committee’s job is the ‘what,’ the does the ‘how,’” she quoted the message at the session. “We made some progress on class sizes and so-forth, but I feel for budget, in particular, there wasn’t as much dialog in advance over what the budget was going to include.”
While she said she was happy that it maintains programs, she said she wondered a bit if it might not be lopsided.
“Certainly, our spending should be fiscally responsible, but is it being spent with the greatest impact on student achievement?” she asked referencing are towns’ per-pupil expenditures.
W-H is at $17,000, including State Aid. East Bridgewater is $1,000 less per pupil, where they offer the world languages in middle school and robotics, for which she has long lobbied. Hanover is steady with W-H and also offer world languages in the middle school.
“We know it’s not in this budget, but I’m wondering how we are spending our money?” she said.
She also noted that the growth of South Shore Charter, which has a 400-student waiting list, Whitman and Hanson could lose another 25-30 students.
“How do we keep kids here?” she asked. “Career-tech education is the new CTE acronym for vocational schools [and] there are actually 43 programs approved by DESE for vocational – 43 programs. We know South Shore Tech has about 12 of those 43, and they are adding two.”
Weymouth Public Schools has 10 career-tech ed, and receives Chapter 74 vocational funding in their foundation budget, Silver Lake has seven, where they have 340 students enrolled in their vocational program within the public high school.
A foundation budget of a school with vocational students is $17,000, W-H’s foundation budget is $11,000 Byers noted.
“There’s state aid to be had,” she said. “We could have a Chapter 74 vocational program in this school.”
Byers listed several other area school districts offering Career-tech ed that brings in Chapter 74 funding in their high schools.
CTE has always been the main mission of vocational education, confirmed SST Superintendent-Director Dr. Thomas J. Hickey this week.
“She’s not wrong,” he said, adding it’s nothing new.
“Career-tech education, also known as vocational education, has been a valuable public school resource for decades,” Hickey said. “We don’t offer every vocational program that the state allows. I think students and their families are eager to have applied education that would lead to more direct-to-work options as kids graduate and get into their young adult years.”
He added that young people often need an economic leg-up in order to pay for post-secondary education and a vocational skill applied in the workplace can help.
Szymaniak said he has looked into Chapter 74 funding.
“We used to have a vocational [program],” said Committee Chair Beth Stafford. “We used to have wood shop, we used to have a metal shop – my son participated in that. Unfortunately, one of the reasons it was cancelled, actually, was not enough kids were participating.”
Byers clarified that the law prohibits W-H from competing with SST, because the towns are member communities. That is why she stressed there are 43 CTE programs that DESE recognizes, one of which is early childhood education, three business programs – including marketing, which Hickey had also mentioned as an excellent program for W-H.
“Some of them are not trades – construction, mechanical – that require a lot of space. They’re technology, they’re engineering, so I don’t think it’s going to require a lot of physical space or equipment. I would ask people to look at those 43 programs that are online at DESE.”
Stafford also suggested they examine how many programs W-H needs to adopt to earn Chapter 74 funds, or if some of the school’s programs would already qualify.
School Committee member Rosemary Connolly also noted that Chapter 74 also carries more aid for special education.
“I would love to establish some sort of vocational program here,” he said. “We’re limited on space right now.”
While every classroom is full, there might be some flexibility once the middle school is built and there is a decision from the committee to move the preschool out of the high school building.
“There’s a vacant lot in Whitman specifically designated for education,” Byers said. “If this committee wanted to vote for education, and ask the town of Whitman if we could use Park Avenue … they’re not doing anything else with that property.”
Both Vice Chair Hillary Kniffen and committee member Kara Moser stressed that vocational programs carry the need for extra staff that sometimes exacts cuts to other programs – Kniffen pointed to Pembroke’s once strong music program, caused problems for vocational pathways students interested in music because of the rigid vocational schedule.
“We just need to be careful when we’re making these decisions,” Kniffen said.
She teaches in Pembroke and said the school band, for example went from 200 students two or three years ago to nine this year because of the scheduling issue.
“We are looking long term,” Szymaniak said. “This is going to be a tight fiscal year. This is why we didn’t try to add multiple programs to this budget. My concern is going to be trying to pass a budget at Town Meeting where there’s not going to be an impact on student learning and we’re gearing up for a fight after tonight to go forward with both communities.
“I say ‘fight’ in a positive way to support our kids,” he said. He said the district’s business manager Stephen Marshall has already submitted assessments that are sustainable for the communities and will grow the schools if the overrides pass.
According to Byers’ research, Whitman’s town budget pays W-H $9,000 per pupil in addition to the school’s state aid from its Article 2 budget, another $11,000 per pupil goes to SST; $15,000 per pupil is paid to South Shore Charter; $28,000 per pupil to Bristol County Agricultural-Vocational and $29,000 per pupil to Norfolk County Agricultural-Vocational.
“When a town tries to say, ‘W-H, your costs are going up, they’re too much,’ we’re the cheapest deal out of all those public schools,” she said. “I’m glad this committee is not falling for the false narrative that the towns can’t afford the education budget we’re presenting.”
She said she has listened to Hickey state, when his committee certified their budget in February, that “the town financial teams are baking it into their budgets,” and that he didn’t flinch one bit with his School Committee members because he knows the assessment is going right to Town Meeting floor and the people will decide what they want to fund.
Finally, she asked about the bond rating, wanting to know if stabilization accounts are being funded as a senior adviser from Unibank recommended keep financial reserves above the 5 percent threshold crucial to maintain a strong bond rating.
Marshall said there is nothing in the budget that’s funding any stabilization funds.
“There’s not any stabilization funds that have been set up in the district,” he said. “There’s no funding in there right now for OPEB, either.”
Based on the answers to her questions, Byers said she would support the budget.
“I want to make sure we’re looking long-term, to the stability of this district and protecting that bond rating over all,” she said.

HANSON — The town has filed suit against the Commonwealth, arguing that the MBTA Community Act is an unfunded mandate.
Hanson Select Board issued a statement about lawsuit on March 6.
Contacted Monday, March 17. Select Board Chair Laura FitzGerald-Kemmett said the statement completely expressed the board’s objections to the MBTA Communities Act and that there was little to add.
“We know we’re in a minority,” FitzGerald-Kemmett said. “But we’re committed to doing the will of the people and that’s the message we got at Town Meeting.”
Hanson is the fifth community to file suit in a new legal fight against the transit hub housing law, joining Marshfield, Middleborough, Middleton and Wrentham in maintining that the MBTA Communities Act represents an unfunded mandate, following an opinion issued by Massachusetts Auditor Diana DiZoglio’s office to that point in February.
According to published reports Gov. Healey’s office said DiZoglio’s opinion has no weight and that the state has provided close to $8 million in funding to help communities rewrite their zoning. Her office also created a fund to help compliant communities support new construction, offering money to help pay for things like infrastructure improvements and land acquisition, according to a spokesman.
In January, the Supreme Judicial Court ruled that the state can in fact force communities to comply with the MBTA Communities Act, if the state rewrites the housing law’s regulations.
The following is the Hanson Select Board’s statement:
“Last Thursday, [March 6] the Town commenced legal action against the Commonwealth, seeking relief from enforcement of the so-called MBTA zoning law and also seeking release of vital grants that have been frozen by the State.
“The Town’s suit arises from a recent determination from the State Auditor that the MBTA zoning law constitutes an unfunded mandate. Under such determination, the Auditor, through its Division of Local Mandates, directed the Commonwealth’s housing agency, EOHLC, to provide the required information on the fiscal impact of the law.
“To date, the Commonwealth has refused to do so and has emphatically declared that it will enforce the law, including the requirement that Hanson pass a complying zoning bylaw by July 14.
“Hanson voters overwhelmingly defeated an article concerning an MBTA zoning bylaw amendment, in large part due to a concern over unfunded obligations. Under the Act, the Town would be required to zone for a minimum of 750 multi-family units at a gross density of 15 units per acre across a minimum of 50 acres. This increase in density would require substantial investment in municipal infrastructure, including educational services.
 “The Hanson Select Board determined that the most practical and fiscally responsible way to compel the Commonwealth to provide the necessary financial impact information was to file suit in Superior Court. The legal action also seeks to relieve the Town from the duty of complying with the statute until the Commonwealth provides funding to cover the financial costs of compliance. Hanson has been joined by four other communities in bringing suit against the Commonwealth.
“The Select Board remains committed to obtaining important fiscal impact information on MBTA zoning compliance and believes that the Commonwealth’s financial analysis is necessary for voters to make an informed decision at Town Meeting on whether to adopt an MBTA Zoning bylaw.”

HANOVER – The South Shore Tech School Committee certified the school’s $16.9 million fiscal 2026 budget on Feb. 12, and spent most of February visiting town select boards and finance committees to review the spending plan. Those visits concluded on March 6.
Superintendent/Director Dr. Thomas J. Hickey noted that SST is obligated to certify a budget number at least 45 days before the earliest Town Meeting among its member towns, which is April 7 in Scituate.
The $16,944,649 budget figure was unanimously certified.
“By certifying the budget, the committee sets a ceiling,” he said. “The budget process is always moving forward and does not come to completion until we’ve secured at least six out of nine towns at spring annual town meetings.”
The certification allows no changes or amendments that would raise it.
SST is looking at the highest enrollment in school history with 685 students with more than 430 applications for the 180 freshmen seats next year.
Enrollment trends set the assessments to individual towns, with Whitman and Hanson, which have historically had among the largest enrollments, decreasing by six students in Hanson and 18 students in Whitman.
Based on the Chapter 70 formula, a three-year rolling average toward capital, transportation calculations, other costs and debt service as well as enrollment, down by 18 students next year, Whitman’s assessment will be $1,650,218 – a reduction of $143,109 from fiscal 2025 (1,793,327) –and with six fewer students next year, Hanson’s will be $1,042,487 – a reduction of $56,178 from fiscal 2025 ($1,098,635).
Chapter 70 aid increased by $51,648 and Regional Transportation Reimbursement is projected to increase by $185,281. The district will use $318,250 from the stabilization fund to cover the first year of debt for the building project.
Cost increases include $97,987 more in the Plymouth County Assessment and $173,819 more to fund health insurance. Additional bus routes and afternoon runs is expected to increase that expense by $72,000.
Reductions include a cut by $140,000 – to $90,000 for future vehicles.
More teaching positions will also be paid partially by grants:
An electrical teacher ($8,377 – 80 percent on the budget;
Horticulture teacher ($21,519, fully on the budget);
An English learner/special ed teacher ($34,383 – 76 percent on the budget) and a
Special education team chair ($33,654 – 51 percent on the budget).
A grant will also add $8,492 to increase time for a Culinary Arts aide.

BOSTON – State Rep. Kenneth P. Sweezey, R-Duxbury, has been appointed to several key House and Joint Committees for the 2025-2026 legislative session.
These assignments will allow him to continue to advocate for public safety, economic growth, and environmental responsibility—three issues critical to the communities of the 6th Plymouth District. Representative Sweezey, who has a background as a law enforcement forensic scientist, is particularly proud to serve on the Public Safety & Homeland Security Committee. His experience gives him firsthand insight into the challenges faced by law enforcement professionals, and he is committed to supporting policies that keep Massachusetts residents safe.
“My previous work in law enforcement was a lifelong dream of mine and a point of pride, and I am excited to continue that work on the Public Safety Committee,” said Sweezey. As the son of small business owners and a former member of the Hanson Economic Development Committee, Representative Sweezey looks forward to his role on the Economic Development & Emerging Technologies Committee.
“I look forward to fostering a more competitive business environment in Massachusetts—something that is lacking at times—by keeping our small businesses in the Commonwealth and in the 6th Plymouth District,” said Sweezey. As the Ranking Minority
Member on the Environment & Natural Resources Committee, Representative Sweezey will focus on protecting the coastal communities he represents, like Duxbury and Marshfield. Recognizing the importance of responsible environmental policy, he will work to balance conservation efforts with recreation, ensuring that both natural resources and local industries are preserved for future generations. Additionally, Sweezey has been appointed as the Ranking Minority Member on the Labor & Workforce Development Committee, where he will advocate for policies that support workers, promote fair labor practices, and encourage workforce competitiveness.
“I look forward to continuing the work that former Representative Cutler has done and hope that the Undersecretary will partner to serve the 6th Plymouth” Sweezey said. “I am honored to receive these committee assignments and grateful to House leadership for this opportunity. I look forward to building strong partnerships and advancing policies that benefit both my constituents in the 6th Plymouth District and the entire Commonwealth.”

Mandated services for special education students – and the future of federal funding and grants to pay for them as well as other programs offered by the school district – have become a source of concern for educators during the current budget season.
Superintendent of Schools Jeff Szymaniak on Wednesday, Feb. 12 outlined the budget pressures and concerns facing school districts during a period of uncertainty at the federal level.
“We’re presenting a budget here and I want people out there to know, we get money from the Department of Education in Washington, and it’s $1.4 million,” he said.
The school district receives $1.8 million in grants from both state and federal funding, not included in the budget. One of the revenue sources for the overall budget that concerns Szymaniak is federal grants. The IDEA 240 special education grant [a little over $1 million] and A 262 preschool grant carries $41,000.
“I’m just reading what I hear and what comes down from the state,” Szymaniak said. “We received something from our attorney that there’s no cause to be alarmed, but just be mindful.”
Vice Chair Hillary Kniffen also noted that the district is legally responsible for providing the services to students, and the state doesn’t give enough support.
“What we do here – we do a lot, and I can’t say enough about our teaching staff our support staff, our paraprofessionals – working really hard for our students during difficult times,” Szymaniak said. “People are uneasy about a lot of different things.”
A federal Title 1 Grant [$375,000], among the Title 1 through Title 4 non-competitive entitlement grants the district receives from the Department of Education, is passed to districts through Department of Elementary and Secondary Education (DESE).
“One of the things that is concerning, a little bit, is the federal grants. … There has been some talk that they’re going to eliminate the funding source from the fed,” he said. “It concerns me. Right now, it’s in the budget – it’s $1.4 million in our budget (the Title 1 and IDEA 240 grant funding). If it goes away, I don’t know where we’re coming up with those funds for our students That’s something we’ve had for forever.”
Grant 147/644 is a high school internship grant. Other grants promote safe and healthy learning, vacation acceleration academies, 21st Century grants, an innovation-career pathways grant and a 710 grant which reinforces education and student health.
Szymniak said that, if the district relies on grants, “And I think it’s pretty clear here, that we do,” either they end up moving staff around, cutting staff or not providing those programs.
“We pay teachers out of that,” he said. “Some of the 21st Century grants are those special programs after school for some of our students at-risk, so it’s not only the course of the school day.”
Member Rosemary Connolly asked if all federal funding is iffy.
Last week, a televised video of a White-House governor’s conference with the president, showed him threatening Maine Gov. Janet Mills with elimination of federal funding for her state if she refuses to comply with his executive order banning transgender women from competing in women’s sports.
“See you in court,” Mills replied.
Atop the W-H fiscal concerns are district-wide special education programs and services, he said.
“We start servicing our students at 3 years old,” Szymaniak said. “If a student qualifies in our preschool for special education or has qualified for special intervention services, prior to age 3, we have to support that student and those student need.”
That can mean everything from speech, some students are autistic, some are medically fragile, there’s a wide variety of special education needs begin at 3 years old, he noted.
There are autism support rooms, integrated classrooms where students receiving some special education services are in classrooms with students tuitioned in, like peers at the preschool level. A therapeutic learning center for emotional impairment is among elementary school services along with TLC program at both Conley and Duval, ASD programs, PACES (a program for developmental and intellectual disabilities) and a language-based program for students not necessarily fully integrated and in need of support.
At the middle school level, TLC (a program that helps students who have had prolonged absence due to illness or injury, return to the school routine), ASD, PACES and the language-based program.
“You can see, trickling up from age 3, if you need services, we are there to provide those services,” Szymaniak said.
PACES continues at the high school, allowing students to graduate out of the program and, if need be, attend the post-graduate program – servicing students from age 18 to 22.
There are also dual-certified teacher in special education-science as well as in history, English and math, in an academic learning center (ALC), for students who may need some support, but not necessarily a fully integrated program during their high school years.
The district also employs nine speech pathologists and two assistants. Three occupational therapists, one certified therapist assisting and four board-certified behavior analysts (down from five last year), who help students with behavioral issues in the classrooms. A contract service provider is available for students who need physical therapy.
An average of 19 students attending collaborative programs at area agencies such as North River Collaborative, costing $82,310 per student, which are not negotiable prices. The total cost of the collaboratives is $1.9 million.
There are 250 English learners are also enrolled this school year.
“The law says, and our district does, try to create an environment of least-restrictive classroom setting for our students,” Szymaniak said. What’s written in a student’s IEP (individual education plan) determines where a student will be placed. Being a member of the collaboratives saves the district about 15 percent on tuition.
The district also has a residential placement at a cost of nearly $430,000 per year. Circuit-breaker covers up to 75 percent of the coverage over that.
Another 18 students are enrolled in private, out-of-district placements.
“Private placement tuitions have gone up extensively post-COVID and we don’t really have control over that,” Szymaniak said. That total is about $2.8 million, about $160,000 per student, he said, noting the figure is lower than some other districts. An additional $2.3 million has been estimated to be the cost of transportation to those programs.
“That’s more expensive than Harvard,” member Glen DiGravio said. “That’s the greatest education in the world.”
“We actually have lower-than-average special ed costs,” Connolly said. “But it’s still expensive. One of the stressors that we want to look at, is what is the appropriate price tag to educate a child, and are the towns actually paying that appropriate price tag? … Sometimes we get into, ‘How do we get it cheaper?’ as opposed to what is the most effective education we could provide.”
The district plans to add an ASD program at the high school in either FY 2027 or 28, in an effort to provide services to middle schoolers aging out.
“We want to keep our kids home,” Szymaniak said. “We don’t want to send them somewhere – a residential placement or a residential or private school – one, because of cost; but, two, we want to keep them with like peers here in district,” he said.
The state is budgeting $1.3 million for those costs to W-H,” School Committee member Dawn Byers said.
Szymaniak said the district is not alone in the budgeting gap for special education, adding that schools are struggling to afford it.
“Our goal is to provide every student an opportunity to be successful in our district,” Superintendent of Schools Jeff Szymaniak. “The goal of this budget is to keep as-is – not to add more, because based on the data that we have … we’re doing a decent job.”
He said that, in his opinion, students get a pretty good education in a budget that, comparable to other districts, is lower.
Aside from illness, flu, RSV, noralvirus and COVID are all circulating again; changes in the media and other volatile components of society, Szymaniak assured the community that W-H students are “well taken care of both academically and socially.