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W-H school panel looks ahead to budget

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The Whitman-Hanson School Committee will hear the district’s fiscal 2022 budget proposal at its Feb. 24 meeting.

“We’re going to be focused on regression and making sure we can implement services for kids next year so they can make sure that, if they have regressed, they can catch up,” Superintendent of Schools Jeffrey Szymaniak said. “We are going to present a budget, and let you marinate on the budget.”

Follow up meetings will then focus on getting more and more information out to the community as to where those dollars have gone.

Implementation of major new programs will not be considered, rather the district is looking to determine a benchmark of where students are academically when they return to school.

Szymaniak reminded the committee that enrollment is down and 90 students are now being home-schooled. He wants to determine the thought process of how some of those students might return to school.

Director of Business and Finance John Tuffy reported to the School Committee on Wednesday, Jan. 13, that there is some good revenue news in the offing.

Finalized state figures indicate that accounts in Chapter 70 aid and transportation and interest earnings can be bolstered with money out of money out of the federal Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief (ESSER) Grant.

“The good news is we’re halfway through the year and we don’t have to cut budgets because of deficits in our original revenue projections,” Tuffy said. “The other good news has to do with the CARES Act.”

The funds were intended to run out Dec. 30 if delivery of items or beneficial use of services as well as an invoice, reimbursement would not be possible.

But, the original CARES Act running through Plymouth County is now running until next December, as it has been extended.

The committee also reviewed and accepted revisions to the strategic plan pertaining to outcomes for this year, which could change with a return to school on what can feasibly done in that time, returning to a calendar approach next year.

“This is an important document because it is the roadmap to where our district is going, and it’s certainly going to lead into our budget, which is important because … essentially our budget should align with our strategic plan,” said Committee member Dawn Byers.

She questioned the rationale for removing universal full-day kindergarten from the plan.

Assistant Superintendent George Ferro said that change was largely due to COVID-19.

“What we’re trying to say is, ‘What is tangible, what is doable, what can we move forward on?’” Ferro said. “It’s still in the plan, it’s not in the outcome.”

Byers and member David Forth made a motion to table a vote until the kindergarten plan could be included, after Ferro explained it had simply been unintentionally omitted during document formatting. Byers’ motion was changed to one amending the strategic plan to include universal full-day kindergarten.

Szymaniak also said he felt the need to comment on the Capitol insurrection that was “all over the news” in the week between Jan. 6 and the School Committee meeting.

“I know some of my colleagues have made public statements about what happened in Washington,” he said. “What we did as a school community, is I messaged to [the committee] and administrators what the recommendations were from the National Association of School Psychologists.”

W-H School Phsychologist Wendy Price, on a sabbatical this year, is president of the association.

Teachers tried to remain apolitical, but to talk to students and answer those who had questions.

“Our teachers took this as an opportunity to have discussions with their kids, nonthreatening discussions, to really see where they were at,” Szymaniak said. “We try to provide parents with information to have discussions with their kids — politics aside.”

Vice Chairman Christopher Scriven read a prepared statement in which he argued the committee to address the situation, as it is a democratically elected group charged with overseeing public education in the community.

“As we are all aware, public education is one of the fundamental institutions of our democratic society which requires factual information to function effectively,” Scriven said. “Given that misinformation has been employed in a violent attempt to undermine our democratic process, I believe it is our responsibility to ensure our district’s response is, and has been, factual and clear.”

He said it was an opportunity to present a core aspect of the mission statement to educate students with facts and support teachers in doing so, and that the committee condemn anyone found to have participated in the “seditious and treasonous actions against our democracy, leading up to and on that fateful day.”

The committee unanimously approved of that motion.

Member Hillary Kniffen thanked Scriven for the statement as an educator who teaches sophomores and juniors in another school district.

“Thursday [Jan. 7] was a really challenging day for exactly points Chris spoke to,” she said. “I think that a lot of educators are walking on eggshells, for lack of a better term. … We’re not supposed to teach them how to think, we’re supposed to teach them to think.”

Member Fred Small replied he did not think anyone could have said that better, that teachers’ role is to teach critical thinking skills without telling students how to think about an issue.

“Violence in any way shape or form, such as what we all witnessed … I don’t think has any place in our democracy at this time,” he said. “It was horrible.”

Member Chris Howard addressed parents and others watching the meeting.

“I cringe when we’re leaving it up to educators to have some of these conversations,” he said. “So, if you are listening, I think when things like this happen, it’s an opportunity to grab your kids [and] have a conversation.”

Byers added that, because it may not be the last situation like it, asked if there were professional development programs to support teachers.

Ferro said a Simple K-12 professional development program scheduled Feb. 3 will help weave in inclusion and diversity.

Szymaniak said, in light of situations he has encountered, asked the committee to remember, they are a district-wide committee and not a school-based committee, so specific curriculum requests should be made through the chairman.

He also reminded members who wish to attend a PTO or School Council meeting do so as a parent and not a School Committee member so they do not end up intimidating people or leaving the impression they are speaking as a committee member.

Hanson sees sobering numbers

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HANSON — The Board of Selectmen got a glimpse of preliminary fiscal 2022 budget numbers on Tuesday, Jan. 13 — and the picture they paint is not a positive one.

“We’re a little early in the process because this is one of the hardest things we’re going to have to overcome in the next several months,” Selectmen Kenny Mitchell said. “I don’t think it’s a big secret, but we have a shortfall in our up-and-coming budget.”

During the brief budget discussion, Mitchell said the issue would be coming up regularly at Selectmen meetings this winter.

Outside of some numbers not in yet, Selectmen are looking at a shortfall of  “around $2 million,” according to Town Administrator John Stanbrook.

Mitchell said his goal is to were to go over the options available to make up the shortfall and, if that is not possible, what town services would be affected.

“I think it’s more of a moderate assumption list of things that could happen,” Stanbrook said. “I think it could get worse, I think it could get worse … but it’s using pretty much every dollar that we have available.”

Saying the town just doesn’t have that kind of money available, Stanbrook said.

Before Thanksgiving, Mitchell and Stanbrook met with Town Accountant Todd Hassett and Finance Committee Chairman Kevin Sullivan and Selectman Matt Dyer on the budget. They met again Friday, Jan. 8.

Hassett said the town is looking toward about $108,000 in tax revenue from newly construction, noting it is still early for state aid numbers to be available, but most of the major lines have been level-funded.

“The state is still very challenged financially,” he said adding the town is looking for the state to approve a level-funded budget by the end of the month.

Local receipts, usually producing about $2 million from motor vehicle excise tax, will not produce a revenue forecast until the first payments come in later this month or in February to permit comparison to past years.

“In terms of a lot of other revenues, a lot of them are running well to our budget, but we’re not seeing a lot of excess,” Hassett said. “We’ve put about $700,000 into this year’s budget with one-time sources.”

Both the transfer station ($107,000) and recreation ($86,000) operations have been subsidized in past budgets and the operating budget was subsidized by $450,000 in free cash at the annual Town Meeting.

In the next year’s budget, the town is expecting to be using about $200,000 in free cash to fund HVAC work at Hanson Middle School. The five-year debt was approved when the town was in a better financial position.

The town has also received about $3 million in capital requests from town departments and the regional school district in a budget that “leaves very little for the town’s capital plan.”

“It’s unlikely that we will be able to move forward with many of these,” Hassett said. “I’m not sure how that will ripple trough over the next few years.”

Return to remote learning

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Parents and students in the Whitman-Hanson and South Shore Tech school districts moved to remote plans through Jan. 19 as COVID-19 positivity rates in their member communities have increased over the holidays.

Meanwhile, Massachusetts has reached the “severe outbreak” status for the first during the pandemic on Monday, Jan. 11,  according to data tracking nonprofit COVID Act Now.

In Whitman-Hanson, high school students were the only ones in the district moved to remote learning on Jan. 8 with a return to hybrid learning planned on Tuesday, Jan. 19, Superintendent of Schools Jeffrey Szymaniak announced in an email to parents that was also posted on the district website. Another post on Tuesday announced the school’s cohort B would return to a hybrid schedule Jan. 14.

“Teachers and students will follow the remote schedule that was used on Dec. 21 and 22,” Szymaniak said. “During this time of remote learning, we are also postponing all athletic practices and contests.”

Szymaniak said the district has taken all the steps necessary to reduce the chance of this situation occurring.

“We continue to adhere to DPH and DESE protocols, and while we have seen a significant increase in the number of cases in our town and within the school community, there have only been a few select cases that we determined to have been transmitted in the school community,” he said. “Nonetheless, the numbers documented are concerning and out of caution, I feel this is the correct step to take for the health and safety of our students and staff.”

SST Superintendent-Director Dr. Thomas J. Hickey said the vocational high school is making a “slight adjustment” for the students on the academic week for the 14-day post-vacation window.

“I anticipate a return to a regular hybrid schedule during the week of Jan. 19,” Hickey said, noting he had advised parents on Facebook.

On Friday, Jan. 8, Gov. Baker said the Commonwealth will make weekly COVID-19 pool testing available to all schools and districts within the next month. The method is aimed at providing more safeguards to stop the spread of COVID while also giving school officials more knowledge about what is happening in buildings every day, he said.

Pool testing permits the review of up to 20 swabs at a time, state officials said. Salem, Watertown and Medford districts have already begun using pool testing with encouraging results, according to DESE Commissioner Jeff Riley.

“This is something people have been working on for months,” Baker said. “The data around this is clear, that in-person learning is essential to kids’ education, developmental and emotional well-being, and we’ve shown we can control the spread of the virus in classrooms when the right steps are in place.”

Detailed guidelines for the state’s approach were developed in June 2020 by medical experts and endorsed by the Mass. Chapter of the American Academy of Pediatrics to support safe, in-person learning for all students. The commonwealth has also invested more than $1 billion to cover COVID-related expenses for schools, Baker said.

“Children, and especially high-needs children, have borne the brunt of this terrible virus as their lives, routines and educations have been upended,” Baker said.

Student achievement

Students and parents across the country, meanwhile, have begun turning to social media to lament about educational setbacks in remote and hybrid learning models, which Hickey admits is a concern.

“It is a challenge,” Hickey said. “But we’re meeting the challenge by teachers being very patient and flexible, and administratively and with our guidance staff, we’re also trying to provide some wrap-around support.”

Toward that end, SST is holding what they are calling a Saturday School on Jan. 16 to provide in-person help to catch up, if needed, in a socially distanced setting. Teachers also meet remotely with students for extra help during before and after school hours.

While SST’s in-person start times are staggered, starting at 9 a.m. on academic days, which permits teachers to meet with students between 7:40 a.m. and 9, to see a specific teacher or report to the lecture hall on remote days if they require some structure and routine even if they do not need extra help.

“We are in regular contact with all of the kids, whether they’re fully remote, or otherwise,” Hickey said.

Meanwhile, Hickey said SST is working on scheduling models for next year that will take every contingency into consideration.

“For us, one of the biggest indicators that I’ll be looking for is will the state and public health officials relax the transportation guidelnes,” he said. “If I can’t put more than 23 kids on a bus, I will be forced to continue the staggered schedule that we have.”

That and easing the social distancing regulations for lunches would be needed to allow a return to a “normal” schedule, according to Hickey.

“We will continue our partnership with the boards of health in Whitman and Hanson and monitor the cases for a safe return to school,” Szymaniak stated. “If you have any questions, please feel free to contact my office at 781-618-7412.”

A Look back at 2020

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Any attempt to recount the top stories of the past year seems to have its roots in five letters — COVIDThe COVID-19 pandemic took over in so many areas of daily life after mid-March that it’s sometimes difficult to recall a time it wasn’t a constant preoccupation.

But the year opened — and closed — with communities choosing new town administrators. In Hanson, Selectmen welcomed new Town Administrator John Stanbrook on board in January, replacing Michael McCue who had been removed by the board the previous summer.

“He comes to us with impeccable credentials and years of diverse municipal experience and skills, which we know will serve us in good stead,” then-Chairman of the board of Selectmen Laura FitzGerald-Kemmett said.

Whitman ended the year by selecting Hanover Finance Director Lincoln Heineman — as Selectmen prioritized the town’s financial outlook — to serve as Whitman’s new town administrator.

Heineman and Assistant Town Administrator Lisa Green were placed in nomination for the vote during discussion, prior to which Green excused herself from the Zoom meeting.

The board also voted to begin contract negotiations with Heineman.

Four finalists had been interviewed by Paradigm Consulting representative Bernard Lynch and the board during a lengthy session on Friday, Dec. 18, also conducted remotely.

Also interviewed were Millville Town Administrator Peter Caruso and Shirley Town Administrator Michael McGovern.

“To me, it was clear by the interview process and the paper résumés that, in my opinion, there was somebody who stood out to me,” Selectmen Randy LaMattina said of Heineman. “It was talking about fiscal policy, forecasting, models — where will we be in five and 10 years — and not only talking about these things, but having first-hand knowledge, actually participating in the development of these things, not just a seat at the table where you watched it happen.”

The towns were also busy from the start of 2020 dealing with the continuing debate over how towns should be assessed for the W-H Regional School District budget — an issue which preoccupied residents nearly as much as did COVID.

And there were presidential, state and local elections and a reckoning with systemic racism in the form of marches in both towns to protest the death of Gorge Floyd under the knee of a Minneapolis, Minn., police officer, among other fatal encounters between Black Americans and police across the country.

Town halls, libraries, senior centers and any activities that could attract more than 25 people were canceled or rescheduled in light of a March state of standard procedure in Whitman and Hanson, until summer when Hanson returned to in-person meetings with masks and social distancing protocols in place. Whitman boards continued to meet remotely, however.

By late December, Gov. Baker had to reinstate controls on gatherings of 10 persons or more until Jan.10, 2021. Hanson Selectmen Chairman Kenny Mitchell, therefore suspended meetings until Jan. 12.

Schools turned to remote learning within days of Gov. Baker’s initial order, sending ChromeBooks home with students who needed them, as well as to-go meals for children on free and reduced lunch programs.

By the start of the 2020-21 school year, the district — as well as South Shore Tech — had developed hybrid plans in which pupils were rotated through school buildings and ridership was limited on school buses.

For those students, however, the lost extra-curricular activities and annual milestones such as a lost state final basketball game, proms and graduations, were what will be remembered.

The Massachusetts Interscholastic Athletic Association canceled the state finals as W-H was scheduled to play Taconic in the Division 2 state final last Saturday. It was the program’s first-ever state final berth. As a result of the cancellation, W-H and Taconic

were named co-state champions.

The last day of school became a drive-by affair as teacher and staff stood socially distanced outside schools as rising students were driven by to wave and receive tokens from teachers.

On June 27, SST seniors, received their diplomas on a touch-free basis during a drive-in ceremony at the Marshfield Fairgrounds, a precursor of some national political rallies in late summer and the fall.

W-H’s graduation was delayed until July 31, and, even then, some students’ exposure to coronavirus forced a change from a socially distanced in-person graduation to a drive-up ceremony.

One by one, members of the senior class and family members who could fit in a single vehicle drove up to the school’s front entrance. They picked up their diploma from a low table and approached the spirit rock where they posed for individual photos with Principal Dr. Christopher Jones, Superintendent of Schools Jeffrey Szymaniak and School Committee Chairman Bob Hayes.

But there was good to be found, even amid the COVID pandemic. Police drive-by birthday greetings for kids, notes of encouragement left in Whitman Park and literal signs of support for community food pantries helped buoy spirits.

On Sunday, April 19, a steady parade of vehicles stopped in front of the LaMattina house on Whitman’s River Birch Circle all morning. They stopped long enough for Randy LaMattina or his wife Michelle to load something in the back before driving away. Residents were taking delivery of 18X24 Whitman Strong lawn signs, designed by 14-year-old Claire LaMattina to benefit the Whitman Food Pantry. She raised more than $15,000 in the project.

Things were less harmonious on the town and school budget front. A project grappled with since the fall of 2019, drawn out even further by pandemic-induced delays in town election and town meeting schedules. Town meeting quorums were reduced and sessions were held outdoors — an arrangement that also had to work around limited time windows around darkness and mosquito activity.

In Hanson, a $800,000 Proposition 2 ½ override failed by a vote of 1,121 against to 712 in favor during the June town election. Opponents argued the School Committee did not have the necessary two-thirds vote to post the article in the first place.

Financial decisions by both towns and the school district, to trim where possible and, a compromise formula helped both towns pass budgets, including school spending at midsummer town meetings.

“The budget is built on the assumption that we meet in the middle, in a transition from the current [school] budget method … to the statutory method, which is what most communities in Massachusetts that are regional are using,” Whitman Town Administrator Frank Lynam said in July.

Whitman voters unanimously approved the assessment compromise for the school budget before moving on to the school budget during an outdoor Town Meeting in the blistering heat at WHRHS ball fields Monday, July 27. The $15,367,392 school assessment line item in the Article 2 budget was also approved unanimously. Hanson voters also approved the amendment to the Regional Agreement governing the assessment formula, two days later to fall into line with the vote taken by Whitman. They also approved the Selectmen’s recommended school budget 434-83 and the budget as a whole, based on the Selectmen’s recommended budget of $11,214,177 — at Town Moderator Sean Kealy’s motion — after the assessment article passed.

SEMLEC mourns search/rescue officer

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TAUNTON — The Southeastern Massachusetts Law Enforcement Council (SEMLEC) joins the entire emergency responder community in mourning the death of Taunton Police Officer John Borges, who died Dec. 24 at age 49 after battling COVID-19.

Somerset Police Chief George McNeil, the control chief and head of the SEMLEC Search and Rescue Unit (SAR) recalled Officer Borges as the “glue” that held the team together and one of the region’s preeminent experts on search techniques.

“Officer Borges worked the midnight to 8 a.m. shift, and when there was an active search for missing person, he would regularly stay past his shift and continue to work, on his own time. He didn’t even put in for overtime,” Chief McNeil said. “I have been a police officer for 34 years, and I learned new things every time I worked with Officer Borges. He was excellent at his job — the job of finding lost people.”

Officer Borges was one of the founding members of SEMLEC SAR in 2003 and remained on the team through multiple control chiefs and leadership charges in Southern Massachusetts. He possessed a wealth of knowledge on missing persons cases. He was a search and rescue instructor who trained other first responders in the region, including state officials and first responders around the nation. He was also an expert and instruction in Incident Command Systems (ICS).

Chief McNeil recalled a case from 2009 in which a man went missing during a particularly cold night. There was a language barrier with the man’s family, as they only spoke Portuguese. Officer Borges was fluent in Portuguese and was able to bridge the communications gap with the family, an essential task that helped lead rescuers in the right direction. They found the man and reunited him with his family.

“We were involved in many searches together, and when SEMLEC deployed for a search and rescue mission, the people of South Eastern Massachusetts could count on Officer Borges to be there, coordinating the effort to find a loved one,” Chief McNeil said. “He made our communities safer.”

According to the Officer Down Memorial Page, nearly 180 police officers have died of COVID-19 in the U.S. this year. These are people who cannot abide by stay at home advisories and cannot always be socially distant.

SEMLEC is a mutual aid consortium comprised of resources from the police departments of 30 cities and towns. We respond when requested by a chief of police to assist with search and rescue, special events, or major crimes. We also draw on some of the most talented police officers in the region to form the SEMLEC SWAT Team, which deploys when needed to save lives and protect the citizens of southeastern Massachusetts. Members are all sworn police officers from one of the 30 member communities. Our units respond only when called by one of the 30 chiefs of police in our region.

First steps towards FY 2022

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HANOVER — South Shore Tech officials have unveiled a $14,682,668 fiscal 2022 budget — and increase of $276,477, or 1.89 percent — representing a higher level of in-district enrollment along with a reduction in non-resident tuition, which will otherwise lead to a revenue shortfall of nearly $150,00.

No changes, meanwhile are projected in regional transportation reimbursement.

The district’s School Committee heard Superintendent-Director Dr. Thomas J. Hickey’s fiscal 2022 budget presentation during its Wednesday, Dec. 16 meeting. SST uses a zero-based budgeting process to create spending plans. The final budget figures are not expected before the Wednesday, Jan. 27 meeting — the day Gov. Charlie Baker releases his budget. The budget certification vote has been slated for Wednesday, Feb.17.

Principal Mark Aubrey said there have been 206 applications an increase for the towns of Abington and Hanover and flat in all other towns except Hanson, where they are lower. The school usually sees about 300 applications at about this time, but because of COVID, Aubrey said the admissions officer has not been able to get into schools.

Assessments, based on minimum local contributions, capital, transportation and other costs above the minimum local contributions as well as debt service are calculated into the local assessments.

“The department heads did a wonderful job prioritizing and knowing this is a lean year that we would expect on the state level, and also on the local level as dollars are spread through educational and non-educational departments in each of our towns,” Hickey said.

The school district continues to control costs by long-range planning, use of grants to cover costs for technical equipment and personnel, industry donations and in-house talent.

Whitman School Committee member Dan Salvucci asked if COVID costs would continue to be included in the 2022 budget.

“One of the grants we have does have a longer [COVID-related] shelf life, which is good news,” Hickey said. “That has been on my mind, but I think by-and-large with the additional personnel and resources we have, I’m not adding substantial dollars for COVID expenses.”

He began with a celebration of accomplishments over fiscal 2021.

“Normally, I would have a long, bulleted list, [but] I can summarize it here in an obvious way, that from March 13 — almost a year, now — we have learned so much about teaching and learning in a pandemic,” Hickey said. “I couldn’t be happier with the efforts that our kids and our families and our staff are making.”

Looking to the future and goals for “the other side” of the pandemic, Hickey said the plan is to focus on pre-COVID priorities, some of which have been impacted by COVID-19:

• focusing on high-needs and economically disadvantaged subgroups who need to score proficient on MCAS;

• expanding social emotional learning initiatives while reconnecting with the school community;

focusing on larger capital projects in the facilities master plan and submitting a statement of interest to MSBA; while

• improving attendance and participation in the school’s breakfast program.

Hickey also envisions some teaching and support personnel additions, including an English language learner instructor, horticulture aide and part-time nurse support. These additions are expected to cost $76,660.

Capital requests in the budget include $35,000 for parking space expansion, $760,00 for a window and roof replacement project and $100,000 for partial design funds for master plan projects.

Whitman sets TA queries

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WHITMAN — The Board of Selectmen are scheduled to spend the bulk of the day Friday, Dec. 18 interviewing candidates for town administrator.

Former Town Administrator Frank Lynam retired in mid-October, with Assistant Town Administrator Lisa Green named to serve in an interim capacity during the process of selecting his successor. Green is also one of the candidates being interviewed.

The interviews will be broadcast on Whitman-Hanson Community Access TV — no online streaming will be available — starting at 9:45 a.m. with Millville Town Administrator Peter Caruso. Green interviews at 10:45 a.m. with Hanover Finance Director Lincoln Heineman at 1 p.m. and Shirley Town Administrator Michael McGovern at 2 p.m.

The Board of Selectmen contracted with Community Paradigm Associates of Plymouth on Sept. 22 to conduct a search for the town’s new town administrator. The vote was 4-1, with Selectman Brian Bezanson voting for Municipal Resources Inc., (MRI), of Meredith, N.H.

Paradigm’s Bernard Lynch said his firm is the most active recruiting firm in the state with more than 50 town administrator searches to its credit. Recent area searches have included Pembroke, Plympton, East Bridgewater, Lakeville and Rockland. They are also currently working with Kingston.

“We know the region very well, we know the manager world very well,” said Lynch who has served as a town administrator for 30 years and Petrin has done so for nearly 40 years in Massachusetts. They generally get pools of 30 to 40 candidates.

“The list of towns [they serve], basically in our area, is very impressive,” said Selectman Dan Salvucci.

Whitman vets salute Pearl Harbor Day

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WHITMAN — Usually, Marine Corps veteran Jim Murphy can be found each December placing holiday wreaths on the graves of fallen servicemen and women at Arlington National Cemetery.

This year, however, the response to the COVID-19 pandemic has limited access to the cemetery to military personnel to perform that honor as America marks the 79th anniversary of the Japanese attack on the United States military forces at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, leading to America’s entry into World War II.

Instead, Murphy attended a brief ceremony at the Whitman American Legion Post 22 in Whitman.

While the ceremony lasted only about five minutes, the solemn occasion was just as heart-felt for participants as if it had been a parade had taken place.

Color guards and honor guards from the Legion and Whitman VFW posts rendered salute to the fallen, while prayers were offered, “Taps” was played and a ceremonial rifle volley was fired.

Post Commander Walter Aylward offered a brief speech and participants then attended a breakfast reception inside the Post.

During the attack on Dec. 7, 1941, 2,403 service members and civilians who were killed during the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941. A further 1,178 people were injured in the attack, which permanently sank two U.S. Navy battleships (the USS Arizona and the USS Utah) and destroyed 188 aircraft, according to the National Park Service website.

This years Pearl Harbor Day Commemoration’s theme, “Above and Beyond the Call,” represents a milestone of its own, as the first Dec. 7 commemoration to follow the nationwide commemoration of the 75th anniversary of the end of WWII.

Decking park for DFS

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WHITMAN — With COVID-19 taking a toll on social interaction as well as public health, traditional fundraising projects by organizations like Dollars for Scholars, which depend in large part, on in-person events, collections, have taken a hit.

“Every year we raise a lot of money for the seniors in Whitman and Hanson through fundraising and door-to-door,” DFS member Michelle LaMattina told Selectmen on Oct. 20 before their vote to support the project. “Obviously, this year it’s going to be very tough to fundraise because of COVID, so we’ve been trying to come up with some new ideas.”

LaMattina, whose daughter Claire raised about $17,000 for the Whitman Food Pantry “remotely” through a Whitman Strong yard sign effort, thought up a way to raise funds in a similar manner while celebrating the holiday season.

“We’re trying to make something exciting for the town to look forward to,” said. DFS volunteer Michelle LaMattina.

A Holiday Tree Lighting event begins from 5 p.m. to 8 p.m., Friday, Dec. 4 to Sunday, Dec. 6 and again from 5 p.m. to 8 p.m., Friday, Dec. 11 to Sunday, Dec. 13. Masks and social distancing are required and the public is asked to stay outside the gated area of the baseball field where the trees are set up except for display times.

Individuals, families, neighborhoods, clubs, organizations or companies to were able to sponsor a tree for $100. DFS provided the trees and lights, setting them up after Thanksgiving. Sign-up times were allotted to tree sponsors to come and decorate the tree to their liking, LaMattina said.

Monday’s wind-driven rain also delivered a blow to this new effort, setting the project back a bit, but the show must go on and — with organizers and volunteers working Tuesday to repair the damage.

Some, such as a Giving Tree featuring mittens and other wearables, had packaged them in zipper-close plastic bags. Others like the Fanilows of Hanson made certain their ode to Barry Manilow stayed decorated with wires. They wore red team T-shirts and Manilow face masks as they decorated their tree, situated next to a Charlie Brown Tree.

“He’s special,” said Jen Hickey or Manilow. “He’s not for everybody.”

“…And he wishes everyone a very Merry Christmas,” added Jean Dean.

Hickey said the DFS Committee gave each tree sponsor 90 minutes to do their decorating in small, distanced numbers.

“This was a great idea for fundraising,” one of the Fanilows said.

LaMattina said the response was overwhelming with 50 trees sold.

“If I had another 30, I could have sold them,” she said, noting people were calling her Saturday to ask about decorating a tree.

“Whether you want to drive around, if you want to get out of your car — but we will have DFS volunteers making sure there aren’t groups of people congregating,” LaMattina said.

Hanson again continues cannabis hearing

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HANSON — Impressed LLC’s proposal for a cannabis product manufacturing aspect of their cultivation business at the town’s industrial park took another step on Tuesday, Nov. 17.

A special permit hearing continued from Oct. 13 was held in a joint session between the Board of Selectmen and Zoning Board of Appeals, which, because of the number of people attending was held in the Hanson Middle School auditorium where acoustics, participants’ speaking through masks without using provided microphones and background noise made it difficult to hear for viewers.

The hearing, broadcast by Whitman-Hanson Community Access TV, concerned Impressed LLC’s application for a special permit for a marijuana cultivation and manufacturing business.

Project engineers reported on their responses to comments and questions from, town officials at the October hearing session, including information that a traffic study — not required by the application — has not been conducted.

Wastewater issues, odor mitigation, storm water retention, external security, parking and ease of truck access, as well as other concerns, were discussed by Selectmen and the engineering firm.

Selectmen Chairman Kenny Mitchell said he wanted to see an updated plan submitted to the ZBA before any final decision is made.

“We’re close,” Mitchell said. “You guys talked about a lot of stuff, and I personally want to see that updated plan.”

“It’s great that these plans appear to be compliant and he’s done a sanity check on them. … We want to make sure what we approve is actually what’s built and that the systems are the same,” Selectman Laura FitzGerald-Kemmett said agreeing that suggested plans need to be verified, especially in areas such as odor mitigation where the community would feel the impact. “Our responsibility is to the folks that live nearby, so that they’re not having to smell that 24/7.”

She advocated a peer reviewer, chosen by the town and paid for by the applicants to ensure that Mitchell agreed.

Selectman Matt Dyer suggested the board was getting “carried away” a little bit by demanding third-party review.

“Impressed LLC, in their best interests, want to make sure [an air purifying system] is installed properly, they want to hire professionals to do it. It’s kind of like having a Chevy mechanic trying to discover what’s going on in a Kia. Are they going to be able to say ‘with this piece of equipment, you activated this right or you activated this wrong.’”   

Mitchell said Dyer was entitled to his opinion, but maintained that odor is a “big factor in this.”

The company agreed to the peer review and the hearing was continued to Dec. 15.

Correction

The headline on the story about the de-regionalization committee in the Nov. 19 issue of the Whitman-Hanson Express [“Hanson de-regionalization panel votes to disband”] was inaccurate. The committee was not disbanded, but has temporarily suspended it’s work until a consultant can be hired to help with the study.