The Department of Elementary and Secondary Education (DESE) and school legal counsel have determined the educational opportunities for fifth-graders in the W-H district meet minimum guidelines for equity.
Referring to previous discussions on the legality of inequities tied to educational opportunities of fifth-graders, since they attend the middle school in Hanson and the elementary schools in Whitman, Superintendent of Schools Jeff Szymaniak said on Wednesday, March 15, that he spoke with DESE officials as well as district legal counsel about the issue during the week.
The committee will likely revisit the issue on another agenda after the civil rights concern still remained for at least one committee member.
Counsel Andrew Waugh, who found “nothing in chapter law that what we’re doing is illegal,” recommended the calls to DESE, Szymaniak said at the Wednesday, March 15 meeting.
Heather Montalto, a problem resolution team specialist with DESE, and Ann Marie Stronach an administrator, who both said the district meets minimum requirement for the equity of instruction.
“I do want to stress this is the minimum requirement,” Szymaniak said. “That’s where we’re at right now.”
Stronach said it’s up to a school committee as to whether or not schedules are changed within a district.
“I just wanted to report back that we’re not doing anything illegal … but it is up to the school committee’s purview to change the schedules of the schools. That’s what we do,” he said.
Member Hillary Kniffen noted that the district actually exceeds the minimum time on learning requirements of 900 minutes for middle schools and 990 for high schools.
“The issue ant the topic that I brought forward wasn’t necessarily, ‘Can you ask DESE if we’re meeting regulations?’” member Dawn Byers said. “It was that there’s a Civil Rights Act of 1964, so I think the question really needed to be, ‘Are we violating a human being’s civil rights by not providing the same educational opportunity?’”
She said the district policy manual includes an equal educational opportunity policy (J-b), which references the Civil Rights Act of 1964.
Agreeing with that point, Whitman Finance Committee member Rosemary Connolly said the 10-percent disparity in educational time afforded to Whitman students is a deficit worth $1.4 million taxpayers were charged, but school students did not have access to, suggesting that federal educational officials be called because “there are rules to Title 1 grants.”
“You can’t create inequities because of the way the regional agreement is written,” Connolly said. “Sometimes, it’s how you ask questions that gets you the right answer.”
Member Fred Small asked for the name of the DESE attorney Byers had said she spoke with on the issue as well as the date and time of that conversation.
“When I called DESE, they referred me to attorney George Hale, and when I explained the situation, his response was this is a school committee problem,” Byers said adding that she informed him that she is a school committee member and feels it is a problem. She said he did some quick research while she was on the phone and gave her the number for the Boston office of the Civil Rights Division, saying that someone could file a lawsuit.
Chair Christopher Howard said his recollection was that a concern was voiced from DESE that the district was doing something illegal, Szymaniak follwed up with DESE and they said that was not the case.
“Correct,” Szymaniak said.
“If there’s subsequent concerns, I’m sure they could be shared with the superintendent and he’ll look into it, but that was what was said last week,” Howard said. “Certainly, that could be done. … We could chase this in all different directions. Lawsuits can happen all the time for a whole host of reasons, that’s just the nature of the American legal system.”
Member Glen DiGravio argued that what’s happened shouldn’t matter.
“What we’re going to do should matter,” he said, adding that a solution would be to find some way to get the two schools aligned.

WHITMAN – The town will be seeing an “extremely lean” budget – at a 5-percent school assessment – according to town officials. The budget approved by the School Committee approved last week would mean another $560,351 will have to be cut.
“If we do that, I feel that we’re looking, without a doubt, at layoffs on police, fire, DPW, Town Hall,” she said. “I just don’t know where … in this budget there is not an extra $560,351 to skim off this.
While it still needs “tweaking,” Carter said the budget is balanced at this point, with more articles yet to be voted, but that all but $316.25 of the town’s free cash has been used at this point, Carter reported.
Not all town officials see such a dire picture, but agreed more work needs to be done.
“It’s clear that the number they submitted, given the current levy that we have, is not going to work,” said Select Board member Shawn Kain, who also serves on the Budget Subcommittee, but he disagrees with the School Committee and district are making decisions solely through the lens of being an advocate for students. While admirable, he said he has to balance that with his role of being an advocate for all departments.
“The vibe I got the other night was, [the schools] are willing to come in high again and go back and forth for a couple of weeks,” he said. “It’s the old game that, we’ve played over the years that I’m hoping we can move away from.”
Kain, who is also an educator, said the subcommittee was not there to make decisions, but to do due diligence so the town’s financial team could be more informed about the decisions they make.
He argued that the best option, until the town knows with certainty that hold-harmless might end next year, the town should stick to the policy it has put in place, calculating the yearly increase of 5 percent.
“I’m looking at more slow, incremental, positive change,” he said. “No drastic, big change and I think that’s what the policy is allowing us to do.”
Not all members of the Select Board took such a negative view, however.
“This feels like a workable budget,” said Select Board member Justin Evans, who noted this is his sixth budget process. “The town has dialed back all of the department requests to level service with free cash. … I think it would not be unreasonable to ask the department to take a look and to the same.”
Evans said the current financial climate in town feels more like fiscal 2019 and 2021, than the 2020 budget when deep cuts were needed. He added this year’s budget could work if everyone worked together.
After a week of number Town Administrator Mary Beth Carter informed the Select Board, in a joint meeting with the Finance Committee on Tuesday, March 21, that with a 5-percent assessment from the schools, which they had calculated for, the town was “not close” to a balanced budget for the coming year.
“I went line-by-line with [Town Accountant Ken Lytle and interim Town Administrator Frank Lynam] and cut everything that we could possibly cut without hurting the departments,” she said. “We used the free cash that we had available for the articles.”
There were also a couple of warrant articles that have been removed and the town now plans to use ARPA funds to fund.
The budget does include 2.5percent salary increases already negotiated with the unions, as well as for department heads unless they have contracts, which might have different salary agreements.
The joint meeting was attended by several town department heads, held a sobering discussion of the municipal budget for FY 2024.
Police Chief Timothy Hanlon and Fire Chief Timothy Clancy each made presentations to the two boards during the Select Board meeting. [See page 3]
“I think we’re in a better place than we were last year,” said Finance Chair Rick Anderson, noting that they have been meeting with all departments – a process that is still ongoing. Anderson said the FinCom has been concerned from the start about the sustainability of the budget, and recognized the Budget Subcommittee for its work.
“It’s not easy to separate the wants and the needs, but I really think they did an exemplary job taking the budget submissions that were provided by the town departments and coming up with some middle ground,” he said.
Select Board Chair Randy LaMattina said there was no intention when it was formed, to have the Budget Subcommittee draft the town’s budget, but that it was designed to help develop a budget and clarify points when needed.
“That budget that you’ve all received shows some pretty key points, that diligence has been done, that budgets have been scraped to try to make this within our levy,” he said. “This is a budget created by a professional financial team.”
LaMattina said another key issue is revenue analysis.
“I don’t think you’ll see any fictitious numbers in our revenue,” he said in the first of many references during the meeting to Finance member Kathleen Ottina’s comment at the March 15 School Committee meeting that preliminary town budget figures represented “fictitious numbers,” because the town’s projections have been stable, except where the town has had to “push it a little bit more” to barely accommodate everyone.
“To basically stand up in that meeting and draw a line in the sand between departments, the town and the schools … I was just in shock,” he, criticizing Ottina’s standing to make her comments to the School Committee as a representative of the Finance Committee.
Ottina explained that she realized immediately that she had unintentionally used the wrong word, meaning to say “preliminary.”
“There’s nothing fictitious about them,” she said. “We’ve been living with these numbers every Tuesday night for the past three months, but I do believe some of these figures are preliminary.”
Anderson said Ottina was representing the Finance Committee at the meeting and, as such presents her opinions as the liaison to the committee, but there are eight other members of the Finance Committee which is still preliminarily evaluating that budget.
She said town departments should mirror the schools and present higher budgets to the Finance Committee, so decisions can be made on those needs.
LaMattina argued that the School Committee is vastly different, in that they certify a budget.
“Our department heads simply make an ask as a presentation of where they’re looking to go in the future,” he said. “[The Select Board] has the ability to tell our department heads, ‘You will not get that this year.’ We do not have that same luxury with the schools.”
Vice Chair Dan Salvucci recalled a meeting held a few years ago in which department heads had “cut their budgets to the extreme,” noting the cuts had almost been dangerous – especially where police and fire services were concerned.
“I don’t ever want to see that happen again,” he said. “I will not support a budget that the town has to cut so deeply that we lose people. That’s not what we’re here for.”
Salvucci mentioned that the fire department incurs added costs and ambulance availability for having to transport patients to hospitals further away because Brockton Hospital is temporarily closed due to recent fire damage.
“The revenue is the revenue, and I think that’s a piece that has been sadly overlooked this year,” LaMattina said. “Sadly.”

HANSON – The Hanson Select Board, on Tuesday, March 7, held a strategic planning session with other boards and department heads at Camp Kiwanee.
The goal, according to Select Board Chair Laura FitzGerald-Kemmett, was to review the results of last year’s initial brainstorming session to avoid having that work wasted by tucking it on a shelf and forgetting it.
The meeting broke up into groups to discuss where progress had been made and where it is still needed.
“We want to come out of tonight with some solid action steps,” FitzGerald-Kemmett said. “We don’t want to be just talking in circles.”
The areas in which goals were being discussed were:
• Public facilities for improvement to meet the needs of citizens and town departments;
• Public programming and recreation to develop programs and opportunities for citizens of all ages;
• Economic development to mitigate tax increases while providing first-class services to Hanson citizens;
• Citizen engagement to build participation in town government by filling volunteer positions and increasing Town Meeting attendance; and
• Town administration to make town employment more attractive to qualified candidates.
“One of the loudest cries that we heard was about communicating with citizens and engaging citizens and, of course, that got back to our website and how we do things,” FitzGerald-Kemmett said, introducing Town Administrator Lisa Green, who described the Select Board’s contracting of Capital Strategic Solutions to assist with that civic engagement effort.
“They have revamped and redesigned how [we] post things,” she said of examples the consultant has posted on social media. “So far, we’ve heard very god feedback.”
They’ve only been at work on the project for about three or four weeks, Green said, but what town officials have seen is excellent.
The Economic Development Committee is also hard at work. Town Planner Antonio DeFrias outlined the group’s economic manual. Completed a few months ago, it provides a step-by-step handbook for the steps new businesses coming into town need to get inspections done before opening and other information.
The facilities group’s discussion yielded a monthly follow-up schedule of meetings to identify all current and future public facilities to discover, among other things, the exact use of the facilities and how they fit into the capital matrix and whether they have ancillary support groups or foundation. Archiving and publishing the information is another goal.
Under Recreation, one of the goals is to return to a Recreation Committee, in place of the Camp Kiwanee Commission. It’s five members would serve one-year terms to establish policies and procedures and establish a business plan to help make it self-sufficient and to create a revolving account to support the programs and prevent using it as an enterprise fund. An events calendar is one way of publicizing programs.
Economic Development requires a huge partnership between land use groups and the EDC, according to that working group, and should start on the MBTA Communities 40R overlay and extending the flexible overlay further down Main Street, as that is their area of focus. Zoning bylaws should also be reviewed in an effort to make the town more business friendly, while reconvening the EDC.
Capital Strategic solutions’ help with improving the website Citizen engagement is a key, but getting town representatives out to holding both hours at events like Hanson Days and other town events. A discussion of sign bylaws so an electronic message board could be placed at Town Hall was also considered.
Town administration’s mission to take care of Town Hall staff, needs a human resources position – an HR generalist working out of the Select Board office, working with the town administrator. One suggestion was to use funds such as the cannabis impact fees, meals tax and tax title properties could be used for that salary. A clear, concise and easy to understand employee handbook was also recommended.

School Committee chair Christopher Howard wrapped up the Wednesday, March 1 meeting by announcing his resignation, effective following the Monday, May1 Hanson Town Meeting.
“I’ve personally reached a point of disappointment and frustration to where it’s time for me to step off the committee,” he said, adding that he would be delivering a letter to Hanson Town Clerk Elizabeth Sloan the next day. “It’s seven years, it’s time. I think it’s important to stay with the committee through Town Meeting, we have a lot of work to do between now and then.”
He added that he wanted to give the town a chance to prepare – placing someone on the ballot – for the Town Election and give Hanson voters the opportunity to weigh in.
Committee members expressed surprise at the announcement and, while Howard discouraged professional euologes, Vice Chair Christopher Scriven said he intended to thank Howard for his time and service.
“I’m going to say out loud that the transition from the last regime, let’s say, has been drastic,” Scriven said. “We’ve been more aggressive, we’ve been more transparent, we’ve been more open to feedback from the public, we’ve worked collaboratively in a better manner and we owe you a debt of gratitude.”
“It’s a committee of 10,” Howard said. “We’ve got a lot of work to do between now and then.”
Committee member Beth Stafford attended the meeting remotely via phone and member Steven Bois was absent.
The committee also heard a budget update, as new Cherry Sheet figures became available from the state since the Feb. 22 meeting.
District Business Manager John Stanbrook said school choice and charter schools are the two figures hitting the expense side of the fiscal 2024 budget.
“Those were general fund Cherry Sheet charges, state aid charges,” Stanbrook said, noting he had placed $200,000 as a place holder for school choise on Feb. 15, and it ended up being $208,962 – or an $8,962 increase to the budget. He had calculated $950,000 for district-wide charter schools, but Cherry Sheet figures put it at $1.19 million, up more than $240,000.
Under revenue changes, Chapter 70 funds went down by an estimated $18,000, while charter school reimbursement went up $40,000. He had caluclated regional transportation reimbursement at 90 percent when it was actually adding up to 87 percent. An error in carrying over non-mandated busing costs for both towns has also been corrected, at $8,000.
Operating budget changes – as a result of Gov. Maura Healey releasing her budget numbers March 1 for minimum local contribution also had minimum local contributions down slightly, while student enrollment rose a bit.
Hanson student count went from 1,344 to 1,390 and from 2,068 in Whitman to 2,180 for assessment percentages that shifted from 39.39 percent to 38.94 percent for Hanson and 60.61 percent to 61.06 percent for Whitman.
Hanson’s operating assessment would now be a 6.47-percent increase
Whitman’s would be a 7.70-percent increase on a $60,484,108.69 budget, which is a $249,276 increase.
The overall budget is up 3.41 percent over last year as of now, he said.
Superintendent of Schools Jeff Szymaniak said an update on hold harmless, which is decreased significantly, would be available Wednesday, March 8 after the budget subcommittee addresses it on Monday, March 6.
“The Cherry Sheet does reflect some change to hold harmless,” he said, noting Stanbrook was pretty accurate in his estimates.
While it has been cut to $500,000 because of the addition of universal free all-day kindergarten and low-income student costs into the foundation budget.
“That, for us is a benefit, really – going forward, not in FY ‘24,,” Szymaniak said. “We haven’t got much state aid in Chapter 70 because we’ve been at a $3.6 million or a $4.6 million hold harmless rate over the past couple of years. … Moving forward, hopefully, we will join the ranks of our next door neighbor Abington, getting $1.2 million in State Aid, Bridgewater-Raynham $3.2 million in State Aid in the future to help the towns out.”
A larger kindergarten enrollment because of full-day kindergarten, low income levels and the larger English learning population counts for the district in State Aid calculations and help get the district out of the hold harmless situation.
Committee member Dawn Byers said the larger enrollment didn’t exactly mean 150 more kids were added to the district.
“It’s a formula with the foundation enrollment where, a kindergarten student the prior year, was actually only counted as a half a student for enrollment numbers,” she said, explaining that the state looks at half-day kindergarten pupils that way for calculations. “Now they’re counted, enrollment-wise, as a full person.”
Stanbrook said the district’s 2022 excess and deficiency numbers have not yet been certified by the Department of Revenue, but he expects that information will be available by next week.
In other business, the district’s transportation department included the extra buses needed to realign the school start times between the elementary schools within the scenarios Szymaniak had presented the previous week, he announced, recommending using E&D to offset the cost.
“If we choose to not align the elementary schools, I have to go back to the financials about non-mandated busing,” he said.
While he wasn’t looking for a vote, Szymaniak said he was seeking three “asks” – to consider start times that give school-aged children more time at home; to align elementary schools to permit coordinated professional development with faculty and to add time to the school day.
Parents have been asking about the intent behind a longer school day, which he said could allow social-emotional learning as well as more instruction time. Some also noted that, as a financial decision, it is isn’t done, “where are we?”
Committee member Fred Small said he did not see how a decision could be made until all the information is available.
“I don’t know how you become Solomon and satisfy everybody at the same time, but without having all the information so we can make an informed decision, I just don’t think we can,” he said.
Vice Chair Christopher Scriven said finding the right decision is worth taking the time.
Committee member Beth Stafford said she felt very strongly that the elementary school starts would have to be aligned if the district is going to change start times.
Howard said the shortened Hanson bus trips can’t be sacrificed in the attempt to align start times.
“They’re separate, but they’re linked, and I’m sorry if it’s confusing,” Assistant Superintendent George Ferro, noting it makes it harder to leave the meeting without guidance from the committee.
“What I’m hearing is you need more information and this isn’t happening in the next two weeks,” Szymaniak said.
Byers had questioned the legality – from an equity standpoint – of treating fifth-graders as middle schoolers in one town and elementary students in another, which makes it hard for teachers to collaborate for the benefit of their students.
“I think people are concerned about the equity and the life experience,” Szymaniak said, noting that he would have to consult with district counsel on the question of legality. “That was a decision that was made in 2018, and I would have hoped it was run by counsel because, again, the committee made this decision then, aligning the schools.”
Szymaniak was not superintendent at that time.
“We can consult counsel on that,” he said.
“I do know that a parent called DESE to ask about inequity in the district and DESE’s answer was, ‘Do you have a parent who’s an attorney in the district? They may want to file a lawsuit,’” Byers said, admitting that she did not know what statute would cover it. “That’s all I’m saying.”
She said, referring to data-driven decisions, that a 7:05 a.m. start time is also not healthy and asked what is involved in the $1.7 million line item as far as the bus routes cost is concerned.
Scriven asked for a scheduled commitment going forward, if the committee was not taking action at this time.
“I just want to rest assured that we’re going to chart a course, so to speak,” he said, including a suggestion that all students be bused.
Szymaniak said that, too, was something that could be done.
“I think we need a plan,” Howard agreed. “We started this conversation in the fall last year. Here we are today [and] we need a thoughtful plan. And, if that thoughtful plan is we need a third-party consultant, sobeit. … We need a clearly articulate and defined plan – without the pressure of this budget cycle.”

WHITMAN – Now that Whitman has a new town administrator in Mary Beth Carter, the work begins on finding an assistant administrator.
“Now that we have a town administrator, I think we need to move to get the assistant in place sooner, rather than later,” Select Board Chair Randy LaMattina said at the Tuesday, Feb. 21 meeting.
He suggested a small committee, consisting of a couple of selectmen, a department head and Carter, undertake the screening interviews after the job is posted
Vice Chair Dan Salvucci asked if the board was interested in looking at an assistant administrator or going with a previous suggestion of changing plans and hiring a human resource officer.
“I think we’re going to go back to the ATA,” LaMattina said. “But, I guess we should probably discuss that.”
Salvucci agreed that an assistant administrator would be the best option.
“When down the road, it’s time to retire, it’s part of your job to teach the person – that is, your assistant – to be able to take over, if that’s our choice,” he said. “I’m always one for promoting from within.”
But he suggested “extending the position” to include other things such as grant-writing and in this day and age, a human resource officer can be very important.
“I’m wondering if a person can do both,” he said.
LaMattina said grant-writing and human resources were included in the desired skill set of the original ATA position.
“I think the job, combined with the town administrator job is complex and is multi-layered,” Select Board member Shaw Kain said. “I have full faith in [Carter’s] leadership, that for me, I’m primarily going to be leaning on your recommendation – your skill set, the skill set that’s necessary to do the job.”
He said that identifying the person who can work best with Carter is the recommendation he’s looking for in an ATA.
Select Board member Justin Evans, who served on the last two selection committees, said the HR director/grant writer position didn’t draw quite the same pool of applicants as an ATA.
“At least my experience over the last year and a half doing this, we got a bigger candidate pool when we put it out as an ATA even though it was larger skill sets we were looking for,” he said.
Evans and Selectman Dr. Carl Kowalski volunteered to serve again on a search committee as did Fire Chief Timothy, along with Carter.
Salvucci asked if administrative assistant Laurie O’Brien should also sit in on interviews since she would work closely with the new ATA.
“I don’t like the idea of somebody working under somebody hiring them – their potential boss,” LaMattina said.
Kowalski said he wanted to hear Carter’s preference for the search.
“This is going to be your crew,” he said.
“I was thinking of an assistant town administrator that would have grant-writing [skills],” she said. “I would like to see grant-writing and procurement as well as to help me with the other duties that I have, as well, on my plate, and some human resource work, as well.”
She said the town had done that in the past.
Carter will compose and post the job description and salary range for the board to review and vote on at its next meeting. The committee will review the applications and chose some candidates to interview with an eye toward recommending, through Carter to the board, for final interviews.
COVID update
In other business, Clancy, in his regular COVID-19 update, said that as of Feb. 21, there had been an additional 41 cases in Whitman out of 313 tests conducted – for a positivity rate of just over 13 percent.
“It’s only gone up four people from the previous week,” he said. “We seem to remain constant in that area. We haven’t had any significant spikes, but we have been climbing.”
He said the COVID team is monitoring the situation closely and will advise the Select Board if anything drastic changes.
Civil Service list
Deputy Police Chief Joseph Bombadier received the board’s approval to call for a Civil Service appointment list for two new department hires.
The potential hirees have served in part-time roles at the department since 2017 – Robert Hoey is a 13-year as a supervisor at Massasoit Community College as well. Patrick Hickey has been working for the department as a reserve officer, filling in shifts.
“They’re both great candidates,” Bombardier said. “They both meet all the criteria and we’re asking for you to move forward with the process. … They’re the only reserve officers we have left and, after they’re gone off the list, we don’t anticipate ever having reserve officers come back because there’s no mechanism in place anymore because of the post commission. There’s no part-time academy.”
Comfort dog
The Select Board also voted to accept the Police Department’s proposal for a community resource dog.
“This is a project we’ve been contemplating over the last couple of years,” Bombardier said. “We think there’s some value in having a community resource/comfort dog.”
He said the move is growing in popularity among police departments for its value in addressing the need for communication with some communities, such as autistic people. Hanson has had one for about a year, and Plymouth and Hanover just obtained comfort dogs.
Whitman is working with the same company that Hanson did – Golden Opportunities for Independence (GOFI), of Walpole – which provides the dogs, provide training (a two-year process) and takes care of initial medical expenses for the dog.
Bombardier said a resident has approached the department about donating some money toward the project, a $5,000 donation that would cover about 25 percent of the cost, and the Plymouth County DA’s office has grants the town could apply for to help further defray costs.
“They have assured us we will be at the top of the list for an upcoming grant [$5,000], if we so choose,” he said. The other half of the cost would need to come from fundraising, but Bombardier said other departments have said the public is more than willing to donate.
The dogs live with their handling officers and retrofitting cruisers is less expensive than police dogs, which must be in running vehicles for the air conditioning when they are not working. Comfort dogs are only in the vehicles long enough for transport.
Police Chief Timothy Hanlon wants to award the handler’s role through a bid process with criteria officers need to meet in order to apply.

The wheels on the bus may go round and round, but budget dollars are needed to grease the wheels, and the question school district and town officials are grappling with is where those dollars will come from and how they will be spent.
The School Committee, discussed transportation costs, school start times and the effect changes might have on the budget during its on Wednesday, Feb. 15 meeting. No decisions have made on the issue yet, as the governor’s budget is not expected until March 1. Incoming governors receive extra time in which to compile their inaugural spending plan.
School Committee Chair Christopher Howard noted at the Wednesday, Feb. 15 meeting, that the conversation was a continuance of summer discussions and Superintendent of Schools Jeff Szymaniak’s goals for the year, as they heard a presentation on how both issues effect the district budget.
“Tonight is all about trying to share a little bit of a plan, or a potential plan for how the district looks at transportation, which would include start times, as well as how we transport both mandated and non-mandated students,” Howard said.
He explained he had received several emails concerning a vote on school start times that evening, which did not take place, but stressed it had never been included on the meeting’s agenda.
“That may happen,” he said, explaining committee members could always make a motion during the meeting. “But it’s a transportation update in the superintendent’s presentation.”
Committee member Dawn Byers argued the emails could have been a reaction to a previous budget presentation centering on three transportation and start times scenarios the committee might consider.
Szymaniak said some numbers included in the original presentation and discussion about start times had been incorrect.
“We have adjusted those in the budget package we’ll be talking about later,” he said. “This is, by no means, the be-all-end-all.”
The presentation inclusion of language from regional agreements (1991 and 2018); School Committee transportation policies; MGL CH. 72 S.7A; current transportation procedures; inconsistencies in the procedures; options and recommendations and how start times effect transportation.
“We are under the ’91 agreement, but I think it’s important that I clarify what was in the 2018 agreement that we voted and has been taken back in being passed over in Whitman,” Szymaniak said.
The 1991 text of the Regional Agreement requires the district to provide student transportation with the cost apportioned to Whitman and Hanson as an operating cost, with the committee determining each year whether the district will fund non-mandated busing. In 2018, the agreement was revised to define which students come under non-mandated busing, requiring the School Committee to subtract transportation reimbursement from cost to the district, with the remaining cost apportioned to the towns based on student population.
He said if the Committee makes any changes moving forward in this fiscal year, it would have to change policies governing bus scheduling and routing, walkers and riders, the school bus safety program and student conduct on buses.
Among the inconsistencies in busing policies, all Hanson students qualify for a bus ride to school, but Whitman students do not; Whitman’s school route maps are outdated; Non-mandated bus zones differ from state guidelines and Whitman uses crossing guards but Hanson does not.
Options to consider include busing all kindergarten students; discontinue busing all students living within 1.5 miles of a school, regardless of grade level; allow Hanson to continue its current busing all students policy; allow Whitman to bus students according to the state guidelines of between .75 and 1.5 miles of a school; change the walking distance to agree with the state guidelines; and busing all students living within 1.5 miles from a school.
“If we bus all kids, Whitman numbers go up $28,000 and Hanson numbers are actually reduced [at about $46,000],” Szymaniak said. “These are different numbers, but I think it’s clearer and it buses all our kids and we don’t have to worry about “routed” roads, we don’t have to worry about sex offenders, we don’t have to worry about using crossing guards
Szymaniak’s recommendations were to bus all kids.
The district is currently budgeted to spend $1,671,748.24 on mandated busing and $264,041.76 for non-mandated busing. The split between the two towns for mandated busing is 60.6 percent – or $1,013,246.61 – for Whitman and 39.9 percent – or $658,506.63 for Hanson. The cost for non-mandated busing is divided by town as Whitman paying $211,270.41 and Hanson contributing $52,671.35.
Reducing the non-mandated radius for busing to a half-mile or less radius from a school would mean only 94 students in the entire district would be affected, Szymaniak said. The total cost for Whitman would be an additional $7,593.07 over fiscal 2023. For Hanson’s nine students the added cost would be $964.42.
That number increases to about 935 students if the radius is expanded to 1.5 miles, which would mean an additional $221,268 for Whitman and $45,447 for Hanson.
“That’s almost a break-even of where we’re at for total non-mandated busing for this year,” he said.
The number of kindergarten students is unavailable right now. He argued that towns would be “financially OK.”
“It’s not a huge increase,” he said. “It’s much better than what we used to send the towns when we did the per-pupil piece. This is all based on mileage and it works out for our district costs.”
Committee member Fred Small asked what the cost difference would be to bus all Whitman students.
“It seems like it would be negligible,” he said.
“It would be,” Szymaniak said. The estimate is that would cost $17,000 more then the $211,000 it is anticipated to cost Whitman for the proposal.
“To me, it’s a win-win if the town can save money and we can provide transportation [to all our students],” Small said.
Committee member Dawn Byers asked for clarification between the two busing scenarios for Whitman.
Szymaniak said the difference was between grade levels included in the options and whether the non-mandated busing limit is a half-mile from a school or all students are bused.
“My recommendation is we bus all kids,” Szymaniak said.
She also indicated a precise number of buses and ridership that are included in the $1.769 million to First Student would clarify that no buses are being added.
The division of cost within the Regional Agreement surrounding mandated busing also concerned her.
“Whitman is paying a substantially large cost of this transportation when we only have 43 percent of the riders,” she said comparing that with a traditional 60/40 split based on population or 43 percent of Whitman students actually riding the bus compared to 57 percent in Hanson.
Member Glen DiGravio asked if the aim of no walkers in Hanson applies to his son who is “right down the street” from the school he will attend next year.
“He can walk if he wants,” he said. “I see walkers all the time.”
“He can choose,” Szymaniak said, noting that the numbers include eligible riders.
“I’m trying to understand,” member Michelle Bourgelas said. “If we’re trying to get everyone to ride the bus, how are we not needing more buses?”
Szymaniak said the district has never told towns how to fund it by a percentage split between towns, instead using a per pupil basis, based on mileage.
“Whitman has always taken ownership of their [non-mandated] students, and Hanson has always taken care of theirs,” he said. “The Regional Agreement Subcommittee is talking about that busing language and is bringing it back to their boards.”
Whitman Select Board member Shawn Kain, who is also a teacher and parent, said he wants to see more students walking and fewer on the bus because it is healthy exercise and well as money-saving to walk – and exercise also helps social-emotional interaction between kids.
A parent who had attended a previous School Committee meeting because of the length of bus rides in Hanson and that effect on student’s behavior, said she has already noticed an improvement on the bus ride. It has gone from about an hour to a half-hour.
“There are less issues,” she said. “My children are home quicker because there isn’t an issue with bus drivers knowing where they’re supposed to go.”
She also said there is more consistency of drivers on the route.
Hanson Select Board member urged all boards and committees to make decisions with an eye toward 10 or 15 years down the road, when they may not be serving anymore.

WHITMAN – Facilities Manager Todd DeCouto asked the Select Board on Tuesday, Feb. 7 to consider hiring an additional full-time maintenance person for town buildings, as he described an stutter-step approach to the maintenance work in town during the years he has worked there while other town departments are experiencing custodial and maintenance needs as well.
“I can talk about how maintenance has started to warp since I started about 15 years ago to where we are today,” DeCouto said. “It’s been a big change.
His responsibilities when he began working for the town were to maintain Town Hall, including cleaning and snow removal. At that time, there were also part-time maintenance workers at the library, Police Station and the Council on Aging. After three years, those positions were eliminated, and the work combined under DeCouto’s job description.
A full-time maintenance person was hired about three years after that, which made his job a lot easier, he said, even as he still had responsibilities for some work in the other buildings.
“Then that dissolved and I went back to taking care of all the buildings,” he said.
An outside company was then hired for a couple of years, DeCouto outlined, as he remained the contact point for department heads.
“That dissolved, and then it fell on me, again,” he said about another three-year period during which he averaged about 60 hours per week, aided by a part-time associate on the weekends who helped with snow removal.
“Now, with the position that I’m in, the part-time maintenance associate went into the full-time union, but it’s a lot of buildings to cover for one person,” DeCouto said.
While the Police Department still has an outside company come in three days per week for the building that takes a minimum of 30 hours a week to clean and maintain, DeCouto said his job is still difficult.
“It’s definitely not a want, it’s an absolute need,” he said of his request for another worker. “I know money’s tight, but it’s definitely something we do need.”
He said a full-time hire at-will person could fill the need, as well, doing custodial work at the library – which is a 20-to 25-hour job – and the Senior Center is another 10- to 15-hour job.
“To be truthful with you, we probably need a full-time and another part-time, but, I know that’s not going to happen,” DeCouto said.
Vice Chair Dan Salvucci asked if there was anything in the library, police or senior center budgets from which funds could be used to fill the positions.
“If the Police Station is hiring outside, and we eliminate that and hire somebody for the town that would take care of the Police Station … does one offset the other?” he said. “I’m just asking.”
Police Chief Timothy Hanlon said part of the issue is control.
When they’ve needed DeCouto he’s been able to come in, but some of the outside vendors the department has used were also doing work at the DPW, Council on Aging, Library [and] no one was certain where they were or what they were doing, Hanlon said.
“When they came in a bare minimum and showed up, we were kind of thankful,” Hanlon said. After the pandemic the department determined they needed someone on a more permanent basis, which is what we did, and they’re working out fantastically, so I don’t want to change that as far as custodial service goes.”
Maintenance, on the other hand, is lacking, he said, saying that as the 11-year-old building ages, more maintenance needs will crop up. DeCouto said the station’s backup cooling system has failed a couple of times and needs to be replaced and the HVAC control systems need to be upgraded.
The town is barely keeping up with the needs of the library, Town Hall and senior center to “give them the attention they need – that they deserve.” DeCouto said.
Select Board member Justin Evans asked if the department’s outside cleaning service was CARES Act or ARPA-funded or built-in to the budget. Hanlon said the funds were built-in.
Fire Chief Timothy Clancy said his department has been “single-handedly” keeping DeCouto busy during that week, as well as ongoing projects.
“The problem becomes, he’s only one person,” Clancy said. “I think Todd will agree, I can probably keep [him] busy 40-plus hours a week, just at my station.”
Chair Randy LaMattina asked DeCouto to put together a job description and salary ranges so the board could further discuss it at the next meeting. He said the market is tough for finding someone qualified to perform the maintenance work the town needs.
Interim Town Administrator Frank Lynam said the reality of the situation is that this is not a year to add [personnel].
“I can’t remember the last year that was a year to add,” he said. “But we’ll address the needs as best we can.”
“I just want to put it on the radar,” DeCouto said.
In other business, the board reached a consensus against supporting a request to place vending machines at Memorial Field to be used by teams that play there.
Lynam said he had some minor concerns centering on the installation of power and the potential for vandalism, which has been seen there from time to time. He reached out to DPW Parks and Highways Superintendent Bruce Martin for his opinion and he had similar concerns as well as the potential for empties being left strewn on the ground.
“I’m just not too sure it’s worth taking that step,” he said, noting most kids today bring their own reusable bottles of beverages to drink such as water or Gatoraid. “My observation is, it’s a solution looking for a problem. I rarely see kids unprepared for a couple hours of baseball.”
LaMattina said his concern was that the request was coming from a private vendor instead of one that would roll over funds into a town league. Lynam said his understanding was it would do that.
“It seems like a highly motivated guy who’s willing to do a lot of work to make something like this happen,” Select Board member Shawn Kain said. He said, while it doesn’t seem like exactly the right fit, with the right connection with an organization like WSBA, a solution could be reached.
Lynam said he has seen a lack of respect for facilities at Whitman Park.
“It’s sad,” he said. “I’m not adamantly opposed to it, I’m just not sure it’s a good idea.”
Hanlon said town security cameras can provide a limited view of the area.

HANSON – The Select Board on Tuesday, Jan. 31 reviewed the recent strategic planning session held at Camp Kiwanee with consultant Ann Donner of Ann Donner Consulting in West Newton.
A citizen’s survey had been conducted earlier last year to “lay the foundation” for the November session, according to Select Board chair Laura FitzGerald-Kemmett. Donner has also interviewed the Select Board members, department heads and other stakeholders in town to gauge opinions on plan priorities.
“This is not a document, or even an effort that’s set in stone,” FitzGerald-Kemmett said. “This is a placeholder and then it’s an organic document, going forward. We’re constantly going to be updating this to reflect where we’re at, but we need to start somewhere.”
Donner was brought in to determine where that somewhere would be.
She focused on the key strategic areas developed as part of the November session and a possible framework through which those goals could be achieved through the draft document.
The five areas identified were: public facilities; public programming and recreation; economic development; citizen engagement and town administration.
“These strategic priorities are very reasonable,” Donner said. “This grew from … the citizens’ survey and out of the discussions with the Select Board, with the Department Heads and reflect a synthesis of what can we do in response to the priorities we heard that people value.”
There are high-level initiatives identified for each goal, for example, a five-year matrix for facilities to understand the state of facilities so the Select Board can convene a summit to identify and prioritize public facilities while improving internal and public communications about the projects and the outcomes envisioned.
“For every goal or priority there are stakeholders,” she said. “It’s like asking ourselves who needs to be involved … to make these things happen?”
Resources needed to achieve initiatives in each goal area are also listed.
The Economic Development goal aims to initiate and promote economic development as a way of mitigating tax increases while providing first-class services to Hanson residents.
Increasing traffic through MBTA use was one of the preferred outcomes.
Hanson has also wanted to involve more people in town government by filling volunteer positions and boosting Town Meeting attendance by developing and publicizing a table of board and commission openings, a mentorship program for new members and other suggestions among others.
“The thinking outside the box was really evident in this conversation,” Donner said.
An HR department and retaining town employees are key goals of improving town administration.
A reporting schedule for the rest of the year are designed to keep residents informed and to gauge what is working and what is not working.
“I’m looking at all the great work that has been done and I’m saying we’ve got to get on with it here,” FitzGerald-Kemmett said. She said it was the first time in her six-year tenure that she saw a cross-section of town officials and departments gathering to discuss the town’s direction.
“We have made some progress,” she said of the hiring of Capital Strategic Solutions to improve communication with residents through the town website.
“We talk every meeting about tactical things we need to get done – and we get stuff done – but we’ve got to take it to the next level.”
Select Board member Ann Rein said a primary focus should be the table of board and committee vacancies.
Vice Chair Joe Weeks said that, once the town reaches 100-percent filled vacancies for boards and committees, they could look to making them more competitive and diverse in membership.
“Everyone here is on several different committees,” he said. “How do we diversify that and keep [membership] at 100 percent.”
Board member Ed Heal said it should be a line item on board agendas to keep the goals before the Selectmen.
FitzGerald-Kemmett asked Town Administrator Lisa Green to prioritize what she wanted to see as a next step.