A pedestrian was struck and killed by a motor vehicle in Hanson, Plymouth County District Attorney Timothy J. Cruz and Hanson Police Chief Michael Miksch have announced.
At approximately 6:08 p.m. Tuesday, Dec, 3, Hanson Police received a 911 call for a report of a car versus pedestrian crash in the area of 22 Main St. Hanson Police and emergency personnel responded and located the female victim lying on the roadway with obvious trauma to her lower extremities. Hanson EMS was in the process of transporting the victim to a designated landing zone to meet a Medflight helicopter when the victim’s condition changed. She was then taken by ambulance to South Shore Hospital where she was pronounced deceased. She has been identified as 76-year-old Donna Mark of Pembroke.
Hanson Police contacted the Massachusetts State Police Detective Unit assigned to the Plymouth County District Attorney’s Office, and an investigation commenced.
Preliminarily, it appears that Mark was attempting to cross the roadway, when a motorist driving east stopped to allow her to pass.
Mark traveled north across the eastbound lane and walked in front of a white Honda CRV which then struck Mark. The female operator of the white Honda CRV stopped at the scene.
The investigation is ongoing at this time.
Hanson Police officials said the State Police are the investigative lead agency. A call for an update to DA Cruz’s office had not been returned as of press time.

WHITMAN – The Select Board on Tuesday, Nov. 12, heard updates on the school assessment and town budget from board member Shawn Kain, who sought feedback on his proposal to use a portion of the meals tax revenue to help fund that assessment.
“I don’t think it’’s the ideal situation, obviously, but the hold-harmless situation makes things less ideal,” Kain said. “It’s a better situation and more predictable and controlled. That is where I’m leaning.
The town’s budget projections – and formal budget process – begin in December.
“It’s important to emphasize that the School Committee has the authority to set the assessment, I don’t want to send the wrong message about that,” Kain said at the meeting, which was attended by Superintendent of Schools Szymaniak, noting the board should work to improve communication and improve the budget process with the school district. “We should inform the committee about what we can afford and show them the details about that decision, so they can make an informed decision during the budget cycle.”
Transparency and directness are also important to foster budgetary cooperation, Kain said in his budget presentation.
Kain then presented his suggestion for a compromise.
“Don’t get me wrong,” he said. “I still believe in using the revenue-based formula so that, if the School District currently makes up 44 percent of the budget, then it seems fair that they should receive 44 percent of any new revenue.”
That would make it easier to compute and understand budget decisions. The bottom line is that, while fair, it still doesn’t give the district what it needs to maintain level services, which they would not support.
“We could dig our heels in and move forward in a negative way, or we can try to find a compromise,” he said. “So that’s what I’ve been working on.”
While the district remains in the hold-harmless situation, they need additional funds to retain level services, but the town also cannot afford to take funds from other departments in order to do that.
The town currently uses the local meals tax in a negative way, using it to contribute to the OPEB (other post-employment benefits) liability, instead of funding the operating budget.
OPEB liability is a key factor in the calculations of town’s financial rating, but, while being careful, Kain suggested something the town can do is use the revenue formula to calculate what Whitman can afford to pay the district. While the district is still in the hold-harmless Whitman should designate the meals tax as an additional revenue source for them.
“The OPEB liability, in turn, would go into the queue with the capital items and such, to be funded by free cash,” he said. “We would likely make the argument that the OPEB contribution should be at the top of the list, but, ultimately, the decision will be up to Town Meeting.”
Last year’s school assessment increased by 5 percent, with the meals tax revenue bringing in about 6 percent. He asked for the board’s feedback on his proposal.
Board member Justin Evans expressed concern over deviating on the meals tax/OPEB payment arrangement.
“My thought had always been, once we fully fund our pension obligations to Plymouth County, maybe we can kick some of that effort over to the OPEB liabilities, thinking that even half of what we contribute in a year would be huge burden off of us, and that might be a time to consider breaking away from our pattern of $140,000 a year of the meals tax to OPEB,” he said. “Before that, it risks getting to the point where, maybe Town Meeting doesn’t go for it, and it risks our bond rating.”
He said there is still a place to enter the conversation, looking at the proportional Chapter 70 that would have gone to either town had Whitman and Hanson not become a region and consider that such revenue would probably mean 65 percent-range of what revenue would go to the district.
“I like where you’re going, I just don’t like that approach,” he said.
“It’s definitely something I’m not thrilled about,” Kain said, noting he had discussed it with Town Administrator Mary Beth Carter. “It kind of hurts, it’s part of the compromise that I think we’re making.”
He said he agreed the town’s financial rating should not be risked
“Shawn and I have been very honest in both sides of this,” Carter said. “I understand that this would be until [the schools] were out of hold-harmless.” But she referred to a recent phone call with rating services, who were “thrilled” with seeing the town make a dedicated source of funds to secure a solid bond rating.
“I would not want to see that $140,000 not going in,” she said, indicating she would want to reach out and get more information about whether free cash would be an accepted source of funds.
“I do worry about our Moody’s ratings,” she said. “Yet I understand that we’re looking at anything and everything for a creative way [to meet the financial obligations]. It’s if we knew, for sure that free cash could go to this and replace the funding source.”
The Plymouth County liability had been scheduled to be paid by 2029, but was pushed out another year, she said in response to a question from Vice Chair Dan Salvucci.
“They may be looking to push it out another year,” Carter said. “We though we saw light at the end of the tunnel, but, already, that has changed … it’s not freeing up as fast as we thought it was.”
Salvucci said he looks at free cash as one-time money.
“You never know how much free cash you’re going to have,” he said.
Carter had indicated an initial wish to boost Plymouth County payments as the revenue from the meals tax began to rise, but it was decided that, at $140,000, the town is at least getting the difference.
Salvucci urged using that revenue for capital costs instead of the assessment.
“The alternative is we go into Town Meeting or the budget process at odds,” Kain said. “This is just a way for us to compute what we can afford early in the budget season and communicate that openly to the school district and the School Committee so they can make a more informed decision.”

WHITMAN – The Select Board accepted a recommendation from the Camp Alice Carlton Committee to approach Rockland with the proposal to purchase part of the land on that side of the town line.
Assistant Town Administrator Kathleen Keefe updated the Board on the committee’s proposel at its Tuesday, Nov. 12 meeting. Keefe also serves as chair of the Camp Alice Carlton Committee, which has met several times over the past year.
“Initially, our goal was to have something to put forth to the [Select Board] before the last Town Meeting in May,” she said. “However, that did not happen.”
But she said the committee did vote during its last meeting this summer to recommend the Select Board that they entertain the possibility of selling the land within Rockland to the town of Rockland – with stipulation.
That stipulation would require the town of Rockland agreeing to permanently protect the 30 acres with a conservation restriction, and 10 acres on the Whitman side of the town line. Rockland would obtain an appraisal, come up with an offer, and the two select boards would negotiate a sales agreement.
The Nov. 12 meeting was the first step in that process, but entering the process does not signal the town is bound to it, Keefe said.
“There would be meetings all along the way,” she said.
Town Administrator Mary Beth Carter said any sale would have to go before Town Meeting.
Keefe said the committee has also consulted with town counsel Peter Sumners on the logistics of adhering to any procurement laws that may apply toward the sale of land.
“There is land in Rockland that is already under a conservation restriction, and it’s comparable to the size of the Whitman parcel,” she said.
Representatives from Wildlands Trust and the Rockland Open Space Committee have attended the committee’s meetings and expressed an interest in buying the land from Whitman, with the intention of keeping it as an open and conservation-type use, according to Keefe.
“Their plan for the land is exactly in line with the wishes of the Camp Alice Carlton Committee, and the folks who actually did deed the land to the town,” she said. “So, I guess the next step would be for the Select Board, if they so-choose, is to send a letter to the town of Rockland, expressing an interest in perhaps selling the land.”
After a good deal of discussion, the Select Board approved sending a letter to Rockland, which Keefe said would be ready for them to take further action on at the Tuesday, Nov. 26 meeting.
Select Board member Shawn Kain initially said, while noting he appreciated all the work the committee has done, and that it was helpful for them to do all the due diligence required but said he still does not feel comfortable selling off land.
“I know that there’s a small financial benefit, and I do really appreciate that it would be in the conservation land, that’s very important.” he said. “It still doesn’t feel quite right to sell off land that Whitman owns. I feel like we can take it upon ourselves to make sure it stays in conservation … I feel that the only difference is we keep control of that land, and it stays within Whitman’s property.”
Keefe reminded the board that still leaves 10 acres within Whitman’s side of the town line. Walking trails could lead into the Rockland conservation land and “sort of connect the towns.”
“Well, that sounds great to me,” Kain said.
Committee member John Galvin of High Street said they had a lot of conversations about developing that land as walking trails.
“The farm that Rockland has over there already has extensive trails,” he said, noting the committee had toured the property on both sides of the town line, but the Whitman side is overgrown and difficult to access, and the committee has discussed using proceeds of the sale to develop trails.
“The walking trails – that would be huge – and I’d strongly recommend that we go ahead and consider opening the discussions with Rockland and to get it done,” Galvin said, adding that the committee’s vote was unanimous.
“For all of us to be unanimous on it was quite a feat, I would say,” he said.
Select Board member Laura Howe agreed with Keefe and Galvin, especially about the condition of access to the property.
“I couldn’t get my horse through there 20 years ago, so it’s more than you think, taking it on,” she said. “I think their plan is amazing. It’s the best plan I can think of for that area, which is very near to my heart as it is to many people’s.”
Select Board member Justin Evans reported he has spoken to Rockland’s Open Space Committee a couple of years before the process they were discussing was established.
“They kind of laid out their vision for the green belt up along the border where they have McCarthy Farm would have, ideally, acquired the Camp Alice Carlton land – I think there’s a chunk of privately owned land, by a Whitman resident – in the same area that they’d like to acquire and basically work up toward Summer street,” he said. “This is part of a larger vision Rockland’s trying to develop that I think we could help support and maintain for Whitman residents using our 10 acres.”
Vice Chair Dan Salvucci asked which town would be doing the trail reclamation work after a sale.
Keefe suggested the towns could work together on contiguous trails, but Salvucci was concerned about the cost of that work.
“It’s not done cheap,” he said.
Keefe said both towns could use their Community Development funds on their own side of the town line.
Kain asked if Whitman could attain the same goal of creating a green belt without selling land to Rockland.
“Sure, we could, but it’s going to cost us about $8,000 a year,” Galvin said. “Because that’s how much we have to pay for payment in lieu of taxes.”
Keefe added that she was unsure of any advantage to Whitman’s keeping the land, and estimated that Whitman has paid about $60,000 in those payments in lieu of taxes over the past 10 years.
“We can’t do anything with Whitman’s finances because it’s Rockland’s town,” Galvin said. “This is achieving what everybody wants.”

HANSON – Select Board on Tuesday, Oct. 29 accepted an updated concept for permitting commercial-industrial building at ) West Washington, provided it goes through; and it is is sold, with the price need to be more than, but at least close to a state grant of nearly $100,000 for reviewing the site, as well as adhering to zoning restrictions on the site.
Board member Joe Weeks moved to sell the property, following a presentation updating the project, contingent on the land-use boards approving it in their respective committees.
The board voted 4-0 to accept the motion. Vice Chair Ann Rein was absent.
Town Planner Antonio Defrias updated the board on the 0 West Washington St., (town map 67, lot 17-14), which is adjacent to the locations of the Water Department and the town’s industrial Park.
The Planning Department had received a Mass. Development One-Stop Grant of $98,826 last year to review the seven-acre town-owned site. Mass. Development has a list of “in-house doctors,” vetted engineering companies that work with the state who look at the site – a resource area, a wetlands – and what impacts that DeFrias explained.
“The state enters into an agreement with BHB, which then looks at the site and the resource area, wetlands and what impacts that has for the site and what could this site yield as far as buildings or a building,” he said. “So we’’re working with BHB. They’ve been out there and done some survey work, re-established the wetlands line.”
Based on that resource area, BHB has come up with some concepts.
Zoned in a commercial-industrial district, which requires 44,000 square feet, and a “good portion of the lot,” falls within the Zone 2 well protection district,” DeFrias said.
In any case, the town requires that 39,800 square feet be upland – 90 percent of that lot size – in order to build on the lot.
“When it comes to business or industrial, it cannot be a manufacturer that processes, stores or disposes of hazardous waste,” DeFrias said of the Zone B Wetlands protection district.
“Any type of thing going forward here is going to require a site plan, which goes to the Zoning Board of Appeals,” he said. The minimum lot frontage is 200 feet with side and back setbacks of at least 25 feet and a maximum lot coverage of 60 percent – including buildings, parking and service area – and maximum building coverage of 15 percent.
Under the town-own laws there is a 15-foot no-disturb, single-family home buffer between homes and commercial-industrial structures and a 95-foot no-disturb area required between paved areas and asphalt and the wetlands.
BHB has done some survey work and reestablished the water protection line.
“What BHB is going to do for Hanson is look at this site and look at the resource area – also known as wetlands – and what impacts that has to the site and what could this site yield as far as a building or buildings,” DeFrias said. “There is a water main that goes through that site, so there wouldn’t be anything as far as structures that can be built on top of that.”
Considering the site’s setback of 95 feet, the site’s buildable envelope is about 1.6 acres out of those 7 acres on the site, according to DeFrias.
A 50-foot setback would increase the buildable envelope to 2.33 acres, but the Conservation Commission would have to approve that.
“Based on that BHB came up with two concepts,” DeFrias said.
The first compliance option would be in compliance with the building lot coverage, all the set backs, parking spaces, leaving room for a 25,000 square-foot building.
“That’s not insignificant,” said Select Board Chair Laura FitzGerald-Kemmett.
“This is the main concept,” DeFrias said. “The next step is looking for a blessing, in essence, from the Select Board, because we want to continue to move forward to come up with some preliminary plans.”
“Excellent work,” FitzGerald-Kemmett said. “If you will recall, one of the things we had discussed was what town-owned property do we have that we might be able to sell or lease for some additional revenue and what can we do to incentivize businesses to locate to Hanson? This kind of does that, really.”

By Tracy F. Seelye, Express editor
[email protected]
HANSON – Changes to Cannabis Control Commission (CCC) requirements for contract consideration that will affect host community agreements (HCAs) are doing so in a way that has some town officials again protesting that the state is overreaching its authority.
For now, however, the town is working with its town counsel to determine a set of actionable items to complete, with deadlines to help them comply with the new regulation requirements.
“I think having counsel assist us will be a big help.” said Town Planner Antonio DeFrias as he and Town Counsel Liz Lydon met with the Select Board on Tuesday, Oct. 29 to discuss those changes.
“It shouldn’t be a heavy lift,” Lydon said as Board Chair Laura FitzGerald-Kemmett balked at the cost of legal fees in the face of Hanson’s financial situation and she wanted the board to have time to think about and process the information presented.
“This has been going on for, roughly, about a year, so I’ve worked with counsel … to stay up to date and keep Hanson in compliance,” DeFrias said as he passes the microphone to Lydon to explain the nuances of the changes, how they affect Hanson and what, if anything, the town needs to do remain in compliance with the law.
The regulations were amended within the past year or so, according to Lydon.
“We knew that [changes were coming, but we weren’t sure to the extent, because the statute changed first, then the regulations were issued about a year ago,” she said. “The statute was unclear about what the regulations would state and how restrictive they would be.”
Town counsel then began the process of trying to renegotiate the HCAs. Only to find there were still uncertainties.
“The regulations actually went beyond what we had anticipated for restrictions on HCAs,” Lydon said. “They came up with a model HCA, they changed the whole payment structure around community impact fees, so that you could no longer charge a percentage of sales … and it has to be based on documented costs over the prior year.”
Any HCAs already negotiated, once their term expires, they would have to comply with the model agreement, or very close to it, according to Lydon, who added there is briefing case law to the effect that it’s not final because it hasn’t been appealed to the Supreme Judicial Court.
“But it’s created more uncertainty in the law because it says that the regulations are not retroactive to existing agreements,” she said. “That means all the agreements that are in place now should still be valid, however that doesn’t help with the uncertainty around payments under the existing agreement, because you still have to have documented costs related to the impacts of [an establishment].”
That boils down to: all of the existing host agreements have to be renegotiated, with fees based on documented costs and only cover impacts directly caused by a facility.
“We kind of knew that they were going to lean in this direction,” Select Board Chair Laura FitzGerald-Kemmett said. “It wasn’t as if they took a sharp left and nobody knew. … The CCC kept saying, ‘You better document,’ and, ‘It needs to be real costs.’”
She asked if Hanson had looked at when its agreement expires and what would need to be taken into consideration in negotiating a new one.
“We’ll need to very closely mirror whatever that model agreement is,” she said.
Lydon said she didn’t have that information at hand, so FitzGerald-Kemmett asked that the firm circle back to the board with it.
But Lydon said the CCC would notify the town when the agreement does expire at which time the establishment would reach out to town counsel.
“I have plenty of models that we can use,” she said.
“At the risk of stating the obvious, to me, it’s super-frustrating that we were sold a bill of goods,” FitzGerald-Kemmett said. “The rules have changed mid-stream … with, as far as I can tell, very little ability for voters, or the people impacted, or the towns impacted, to even influence what ended up happening. … It’s really disappointing to see the state take that approach.”
Other board members agreed.
FitzGerald-Kemmett said that, without the community impact fee they agreed to she doubted that agreement would have been possible.
Lydon said the agreements are still discretionary with case law as well as the aspect that towns can elect not to continue relations with a marijuana establishment if it is not in the town’s best interests.
“I have not seen that happen yet, but it is an option,” she said.
Lydon added that another piece of the regulation is that there is now a requirement for a social equity policy in place, requiring prioritize consideration of social equity applications from historically disenfranchised groups such as minority-owned businesses, or those seeking permits who are persons who were impacted by the war on drugs (including arrests for marijuana) or others who might fall under the label of an historically disenfranchised group.
The policies must include streamlining the application process, providing all the materials and information needed on the town’s website, including permitting requirements and a contact person and all applications must be easily accessible and an application process for a new HCA must be made available and transparent with decisions posted as well as how many establishments exist in a town and how many are social equity applicants.
“That should have been done already, under the law,” Lydon said. “But they are not enforcing [the policy requirement] it until May. Once the policy is in place, you’ll have to move forward to implementing the policy.”
There are three options:

• adopt a bylaw to exclusively permit social equity businesses for three years or until the exlusivity goal has been met;
• adopt the model bylaw ordinance created by the Commission to permit social equity businesses; and the easiest option, which does not require a Town Meeting vote;
• create a local approval process, which is required by the regulations anyway for equity applicants, that is administered on a one-to-one basis with a general applicant.
  “This is a lot to unpack, but what I’m hearing you say is we’re getting no more money, but we’re being asked to do a lot more regarding this type of business,” FitzGerald-Kemmett said.
  Lydon said the 3 percent fee still applies if Hanson allowed retail facilities in town, something Town Meeting did not approve.
  “I don’t see that floating,” FitzGerald-Kemmett said. “We’ve tried that several times and we’ve gotten a very strong message on that.”
  She did not see any incentive for the town to agree to what she called an unfunded mandate to comply with the new policy requirement.
  “My thought is, we just do what we’ve done up until this point, and take it to Town Meeting for option one or two and see if the town wants to do anything with them,” said Board member Joe Weeks. “The town really needs to have a say in this.”
  FitzGerald-Kemmett had more questions about what Town Meeting would be asked to decide.
  “We don’t need to make that decision tonight,” she said. “It seems like a lot for a little town like ours, with very few resources, to take on.”
  Lydon said, while there is assistance to applicants, there is no real assistance to towns and there is a lot of turnover going on at the CCC, which creates difficulties.
  FitzGerald-Kemmett asked if the town could opt against allowing more facilities in town at all, because they lack the infrastructure to work with it effectively, and Lydon said it could be limited to the one license Hanson has already approved.
  “If someone applied, it’s still at your discretion if you want to award another HCA,” Lydon said. “That is in the Select Board’s hands.” But another way to comply is to draft a social equity business policy first.
  Lacking a policy, the town could be subject to fines if an applicant reported the town to the CCC.
  She said there are other area towns who have complied, that Hanson can refer to for policy language,
  “This is extremely concerning to me,” said Board member Ed Heal. “This sounds like a huge, huge, huge, slippery slope. We’re in the middle of an MBTA slippery slope, and it’s like, ‘Wow, they’re going to make us approve permits …’”
  FitzGerald-Kemmett broke in to explain that the policy is required only if the town allows more permits.
  “We don’t know what Town Meeting will decide,” Weeks repeated.
  “This is the state going above and beyond yet again, forcing us to do something,” Heal said, later adding, “A white male cannot start a…”
  “Well, maybe let’s not get quite…” FitzGerald-Kemmett said. But Lydon said a white male could if he had ever been arrested on marijuana charges.
  “But that’s the person that gets the business,” Heal said to Weeks. “Somebody like me or you or even you,” he said, gesturing to FitzGerald-Kemmett, “wouldn’t be able to start a marijuana business.”
  “Well, I’m a woman,” she said.
  “To put it in a nutshell, you have the policy in place, but once you have it in place, it doesn’t mean that you have to allow any more [businesses],” DeFrias said.

The School Committee, on Wednesday, Oct. 8 accepted Superintendent of Schools Jeff Szymaniak’s goals in the district over the next two years. The change from a one-year plan of goals better fits the team approach the district’s administrative department follows, Szymaniak explained.
There are four standards for the goals – instructional leadership, management operations, community engagement and professional culture.
Under the curriculum objective of instructional leadership, promoting the learning and growth of all students and the success of all staffs by cultivating a shared vision that makes teaching and learning the central focus of schooling. Toward that goal, Szymaniak described the aim of a comprehensive, innovative and culturally responsive curriculum that fosters adaptable students who have the foundational skills they can universally apply in an ever-changing world, he said.
“In a nutshell, we’re going to be forming a rubric of how we do walk-throughs for our leadership team,” he said, which creates a standard that can be used to provide teacher coaching in the classrooms. “Right now, we don’t have that, so we’re going to work through that.”
Each principal, assistant principal and department chair informally goes through and does that now, but Szymaniak’s goal is to have a collaborative approach to do it.
The management and operations goal is to ensure the success of all students and staff by providing a safe, efficient and effective learning environment with resources devoted to appropriate curriculum, staffing and scheduling.
“Over the next couple of years overseeing the MSBA project for the new Whitman Middle School and working with members of the building committee about making thoughtful decisions about design, materials and construction, continue to evaluate human capital across the district to ensure fiscal responsibility and efficiency while maintaining appropriately tiered support for systems,” he said, boiling it down to: the building ground-breaking will be in March 2025 with the plan to open the doors to students in September 2026.
In the meantime, the district must analyze who’s going to be moving over to the new building, as far as fifth-grade is concerned, other staffing needs they might have, and examining the pre-school space crunch, while keeping an eye on the budget without losing progress in making instructional gains for W-H students, he said.
The third goal is to promoting the learning standards for students and the success of staff through partnerships with family and community organizations and other stakeholders to improve the school district, aiming to provide a welcoming and affirming school environment that removes barriers so students, staff and families feel valued and have a sense of belonging.
“It’s my job to make sure that I have a collaborative dialog with community members and sharing the good things we do in our district, to then educate the taxpayers who support our projects to support our budget and making sure I clarify questions they may have and dispel rumors that might come up through social media or other avenues,” Szymaniak said. “To make sure the taxpayers, and parents know what’s going on in our schools.”
The fourth goal is to ensure the success of all students by nurturing a school culture of reflective practice high expectations and continual learning for staff.
“This is getting challenging in 2024,” he said. “[But] staff recruitment and retention, creating an environment that is diverse and engaging to attract, develop and retain highly qualified staff” to increase diversity, equity and inclusion practices to achieve the goal.
Partnerships with colleges and universities to identify and develop potential teachers while they are still in high school.
“I think it’s out there that we’re only going to hire based on race and religion,” Szymaniak said. “I think I did see that on social media. That’s not really true. My goal in this is to try to bring the best candidate forward to W-H, but make us a diverse community where people who are of diverse backgrounds apply.”
He said there are not a lot of people with diverse backgrounds applying to W-H right now and he wants to stress the district is diverse, with students of all different backgrounds.
That welcoming school culture helps in retaining those teachers.
“It’s not always about the money,” he said.
The board approved the goals for the next two years.
Bilingual literacy
The Assistant Superintendent for Equity and Compliance Dr. Nicole Semas-Schneeweis and District Family Liaison for Multi-lingual Learners Felicia Barboza provided the Committee with an update on the inaugural year of the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education (DESE) Seal of Biliteracy program and W-H’s participation in it.
Two letters have gone out from the district about the seal to families and students which describes the criteria for earning the seal, she said.
Barboza is a former W-H student, a current social work graduate student, and “my right hand in working with and for our multi-lingual learner families,” Semas-Schneeweis said.
“Felicia was pivotal in helping me get the seal for W-H, so I’ve asked her to share this information with you this evening,” she said.
Greeting the Committee in both English and Portugese, Barboza then explained that the Seal of Biliteracy is presented to high school graduates who obtain proficiency in both English and another world language by graduation.
“It’s a credential that’s recognized by colleges and employers and is a skill,” she said. “For our students, this means getting more opportunities, chances of getting higher-paid jobs, and also, credits for college.”
The program recognizes English language learners who master it as a second language as well as students for whom English is their first language and who become proficient in a second world language. Of 68 English-speaking students who study Spanish taking the assessment test for foreign language proficiency, Semas-Schneeweis said they were well pleased to have 12 students within one domain of proficiency. But there was one of those 12 who earned the Seal of Biliteracy.
“The hardest domain for world language proficiency is speaking and it’s where we’ve noticed that the greatest area of need is,” Semas-Schneeweis said.
Semas-Schneeweis and Barboza also co-manage the English Learner Parent Advisory Council (ELPAC) to work with families in the community – and they are seeking a parent or guardian to work with who will become the ELPAC’s president. They have also conducted a survey on what the families feel is most valuable to them on times and avenues for meeting with them.
Barboza said there are 245 families helped by the multi-lingual learners office.
Stafford also extended thanks from Whitman Food Bank’s Lauren Kelly for Barboza’s help in helping the food bank communicate with and aid the community’s families.
“She wants to work with you even more then you already are,” Stafford said.