WHITMAN — Being identical twins often means you have to share a birthday cake.

However, on Saturday, Jan. 12, as twin brothers Kyle and Brandon O’Brien, 18,  of Whitman earned their pins as Eagle Scouts there were two giant cakes – one for each of them.

The notion was a quirky one that twin Brandon laughed at as he mingled with other fellow Eagle Scouts, friends and family, all who attended in support of their greatest achievement.

The teens, who attend Whitman-Hanson and are three-season athletes, maintain good grades and now have earned Scouting’s highest rank of Eagle Scout.

They spend a lot of time together but also are autonomous of one another. They will be sharing the stage once again as they graduate this June from Whitman-Hanson.

A picture is worth a thousand words and the memories came flooding back in a collage of photographs documenting the boys growing up during their scouting years.

“One cool thing — coming here for the court of honor — is seeing a bunch of the pictures of us over the years from (as far back) as Cub Scouts as well,” Brandon said. “It’s nice to see friends who have come back. Our friend Matt O’Brien is here. Seeing the fun stuff we did when we were younger.”

The O’Briens will be leaders in the troop continuing the tradition of giving back, they are planning on mentoring as they age out of the Scouts at age 18.

Whitman Selectman Vice Chairman Dan Salvucci was present for the pinning ceremony, offering compliments to the teens’ success in the irjourney of becoming Eagle Scouts.  He also has an adult set of twins  — one who became an Eagle Scout. He is now a firefighter paramedic in the town of Natick.

“Being an Eagle Scout will set a tone in your life where other people will look at you and they will know that you will follow through on any project that you start. It is very rewarding to be that type of person,” Salvucci said.

Scout Master Jim Dwyer was host of the occasion presenting the boys with honored certificates, reciting their pledge, and stating their attainment as Eagle Scout, which is the highest achievement or rank within Boy Scouts of America.

Kyle called it a great day in regard to the celebration and finalizing of their Eagle Scout honor.

They balance music, grades, and finishing their six-year journey of Scouting seeing the completion through to top honors.

The management of time had its challenges but the conclusion was well worth it, he added.

They have siblings: a fellow scout and younger brother Aiden, 15, Owen, 20, and youngest sister Katie, 12.

College is the next step, with Brandon looking at a career in electrical technology and Kyle looking at programs in sports medicine. Although neither teen is fully committed to a specific college yet, their future seems bright, indeed.

The final project for attainting Eagle Scout was done at the East Bridgewater Public Library. The O’Briens finished painting the youth room and also made a bench for adults.

The parents have been instrumental as these boys earned their Eagle Scout, Dwyer said.

With great pride mom Carrie O’Brien pinned her sons with their Eagle Badges and received a pin herself. Dad Sean O’Brien also received a pin from each son. They presented their mom with flowers at the culmination of the Scouts meeting.

“The boys also achieved an additional honor for earning badges above and beyond what they needed. They received a bronze palm as well on their pins,” said Dwyer.

The teens also pinned and acknowledged mentors Dave Nawrocki and Jonathan White assistant scout masters as adults who shaped and motivated their journeys as Scouts.

The event was followed by a light meal, refreshments and two cakes meant to be shared with those who have seen the young men through their passage into adulthood and achievement top honor as Eagle Scouts.

Director’s resignation raises Selectmen’s questions

HANSON — The Board of Selectmen and Recreation Commission are working to determine the future direction of the commission going forward with the start of a new year.

Town Administrator Mike McCue, in December, announced to Selectmen that Recreation Director Joshua Wolf has resigned from the post, effective Dec. 31.

“We’re working on a transition,” McCue said. “If there’s a good time for this to happen, this is an optimal time, since it’s a slow time.”

Selectman Matt Dyer will be directly involved in the process, since the Board had voted to place him in the Recreation liaison position. He indicated that the Recreation Commission preferred a town-wide mission.

“We’ll take a look to see do we move forward as things are now or are there things that we want to shift and change?” McCue said.

He also said he was glad to see a willingness to change direction on Recreation as a town-wide mission, instead of solely on Camp Kiwanee as has happened over the last several years.

Selectman Wes Blauss had pointed out — and Administrative Assistant Merry Marini has confirmed —that over the last several years there had been an addition of responsibility to the commission rather than the exclusion of town-wide recreation.

“I have been talking for quite some time about redefining what the Recreation Commission does to handle everything in town,” McCue said. “I think now that we need to brush off what was always there — it’s not something that’s going to happen overnight.”

That authority has always been there, but for a lot of different reasons attention had been drawn more toward Kiwanee, he explained.

“I think [McCue] just called it ‘mission drift,’” Blauss agreed. A Cranberry Cove Management Committee had been formed in the 1940s to oversee the beach area and in 1972 the Recreation Commission was formed to do town-wide recreation. In 1979 the town bought the Camp and the Camp Kiwanee Management Committee was formed with three committees at work on their own projects by that time.

“There came a point when the Camp Kiwanee Committee and the Cranberry Cove Committee were at each others’ throats over drainage and Recreation was sort of withering,” Blauss recalled. “The executive secretary said … we’re going to combine them all into Recreation.”

The only changes since have been the reduction in commission membership from nine to seven.

“Recreation has never been about Camp Kiwanee, but I do think … it’s drifted over the last 10 years and more attention was on the camp … and everything sort of drifted,” he said. “I don’t think the mission needs to change, I just think we need to remember it was a town-wide thing.”

That was good news to the ears of Selectman Laura FitzGerald-Kemmett and Dyer, who described a meeting a few weeks before where Recreation Commission members had said they were focusing on the Camp because that was what they had been told to do, despite wanting to do town-wide projects.

The position of Town Planner, meanwhile, is being redefined as primarily town planning and support of the Planning Board and ZBA has been supported by the Planning Board, McCue reported.

“But, as I think we’ve seen, subdivisions and things that the Planning Board needs to deal with sometimes peak and valley,” he said, noting he had initially proposed a new position of community development director to support Planning and Appeals. “However, in those slower times, the responsibilities would shift to grant-writing and economic development.”

But creating the new position would have required a Town Meeting vote, meaning a longer process, so McCue argued that rolling the extra development responsibilities into the current job description made more sense. Making the position full time is possible because of extra funds voted at special Town Meeting into the salary line.

It will now pertain to the interim Planner, but the position will also be posted to allow anyone with the needed experience to apply for the post. The Selectmen were asked, in their role as the Personnel Board, to amend the job description last month.

Rec Commission eyes increases for weddings, beach passes

HANSON — The Recreation Commission is again faced with the need to replace a Recreation Director with the resignation last month of Joshua Wolf. The commission, which met in the library of the camp’s Needles Lodge Monday, Jan. 7, also discussed potential increases in lodge rentals and beach passes for the coming year.

Chairman Diane Cohen said she would be meeting with Town Administrator Michael McCue the next day [Tuesday, Jan. 8] to discuss future plans for the director’s position.

Commission members did opt to take no action toward further consideration of a proposal from former member Rachel Gross, who works in the event-planning industry. While some had doubts about Gross’ time commitment, Cohen and Selectmen Matt Dyer, who serves as the board’s liaison to the Recreation Commission, urged that the decision be limited to what McCue and Dyer termed “sketchy optics” of a former Recreation Commission member presenting a proposal that could benefit a company they own.

McCue does not recommend going that route, Dyer said.

“It’s almost like we’re vendoring out the Rec director’s job,” commission member Brian Smith said. “Can we do that?”

Member Brian Fruzetti had questioned Gross’ follow-through and noted that some of her proposals were “similar to other Recreation programs in other local towns” or had previously been discussed by Hanson’s Recreation Commission.

Cohen said Gross, a single parent, had been “very torn” about her decision to leave the Recreation Commission and said that had little to do with her proposal.

“Is this a route we want to go, whether it’s with Rachel or anybody else is really the matter at hand, I’d say,” Cohen argued.

Fruzetti said the proposal was akin to privatizing the recreation programs and had been raised a long time ago.

“It didn’t turn out to be very good,” he said.

Cohen disagreed with that characterization.

“To me, it’s more of a, ‘What can we get going here, who can we make connections with?’ [scenario],” she said. “I view it as someone to get us started and us maintaining once the [three- to six-month] contract is up.”

But Cohen appreciated the other members’ concerns.

“Before you go off and privatize, I would recommend that the commission hold one or two events per month just to hold yourselves over until you get another Recreation Director,” Dyer said.

While the Recreation Commission agreed to hold off on a vote about increasing wedding fees at this time, they did voice support for increasing fees for weddings in the lodge and beach passes for 2020.

Fee action delay

Both were tabled and are planned to be on the agenda for the commission’s next meeting at 6 p.m., Monday, Jan. 28 at Needles Lodge.

“I think it’s time to go up on everything,” Fruzetti said. But Dyer urged caution on beach fees.

Smith argued the Recreation Commission is “taking a beating” at the Cove and are not even breaking even.

“The Cove is always going to be in the red because it’s supposed to be offset by things at the lodge,” Dyer said. “That’s how we set up the business plan for the Cove. You guys can change that business plan if you want, but I would highly advise against it because this is a service you provide the public, it is not a revenue center.”

It is also the nature of providing a public service.

“You guys are in the business or providing a service,” Dyer said. “We lose money on the schools, we loose money on the police and we lose money on fire services. You are just as equal as any other government department. We’re here to provide service, we’re not here to make money off residents.”

He said that, while it is OK to charge a fee to keep afloat, the Recreation commission should look to wedding fees to support other programs.

Beach passes

Beach Director Emma Mousette outlined the beach pass proposal.

She and Cohen had discussed creating an individual season pass in addition to family passes because they had been approached by residents requesting single passes. Day passes would stay at $5 per person.

Individual senior passes — senior citizen rates kick in at age 65 — would be $30 per person and $50 for other individuals age 16 and over. Non-resident individual passes would be $60.

In-town family passes would increase in price by $5, bringing them to $85 each. A $5 increase for non-resident passes would move the cost up to $155 for the season.

“That’s basically to cover minimum wage going up,” Mousette said. “We sold a lot of day passes last year — more than we’ve ever sold — and I do not see that happening again if we increase it by $5.”

The increases, as well as the unpopular “adult swim” periods are necessary to fund lifeguard minimum wages as well as providing required break times to ensure public safety, according to Mousette.

“The guard needs a break for 15 minutes every hour by law, so they can rest, recharge and rehydrate so they can come back and be attentive to the water,” she said. “The Cove has used adult swim rather than a rotating guard because it saves money since you’re not paying a fourth guard.”

The law requires that at least two guards on duty at one time.

Dyer also said an increase in day pass prices would increase the need to keep cash at the gate for change and would create the need for a secure place to keep that extra cash after the bank closes at 5 p.m.

“When you run out of ones, whose going to bring in ones?” he said. “If you go up to $10 for an entry, it’s way too much.”

Adult swim saves money, Dyer said.

Lockers, also requested by beach-goers last year were not approved because the commission did not want to be responsible for overnight storage or chasing down residents at the end of the season to have them clear out their lockers.

Wedding fees

Wedding fee increases will be steeper, if the commission approves Cohen’s recommendation.

Cohen was seeking a $500 — or 10-percent increase — for weddings. She sited needed repairs in the kitchen and pending minimum wage increases as driving forces behind the suggestion. Utility costs are also increasing.

Dyer said the commission could look at two different business plans for weddings — a higher cost for more luxury weddings apart from the regular prices or set a lower rate to bring in a larger number of weddings. But the camp is already booked from April through to the beginning of November.

Dyer also suggested a peak and off-season price breakdown. Currently the lodge is not booked for winter weddings.

Commission member John Zucco recommended researching similar venues in the region before going ahead with any increases.

“One of the draws to having a wedding at Camp Kiwanee is you get to be outside,” Cohen said.

Members said there are people who plan outdoor weddings in the winter for photos in the snow.

“Another piece to the puzzle in figuring out your rates will be your baseline operating costs,” Dyer said.

Cohen said they would seek McCue’s recommendation, but still preferred a 10-percent fee increase, although she would consider a seasonal price breakdown before voting on the issue.

“Some money is better than none,” she said.

Express staff reports

With the start of a new year, we take a last look back at 2018 with our picks for the top 10 local news stories of the year.

Whitman’s financial concerns took an early place on the front burner, remaining there for the year and into the foreseeable future as town officials seek answers to the problem.

The Whitman Board of Selectmen began 2018 expressing a measure of support for a suggested long-range budget planning strategy to identify municipal priorities and revenue sources on Tuesday, Jan. 9.

Former Finance Committee member Shawn Kain presented his proposal for a five-year plan at the meeting, and, as the year progressed a long-range capital needs plan was also begun by that committee.

“It’s not a bad idea to look at things from a different viewpoint and come up with a plan,” Selectmen Chairman Dr. Carl Kowalski said in January 2018. “Before you set up goals and objectives, what you have to have is a consideration of what you value as a town … what kind of town do we want to be?”

Talks on the fiscal 2020 budget began in earnest after the June annual Town Election.

By year’s end a Community Assessment Survey, was being conducted with the assistance of Bridgewater State University in an effort to determine the answer to Kowalski’s question,  was expected to be ready for presentation to Selectmen and the public this month.

The W-H School budget being a big portion of the budget concern, received some long-range aid from Hanson’s decision at a February special Town Meeting to close Maquan School in an effort to save money. In April, Whitman Selectmen met with the Finance Committee to review what Town Administrator Frank Lynam called “what-if” scenarios. Tax receipts, benefitting a bit from a 50-cent per thousand increase solves the part of problem for the current fiscal year, but concerns about the Fiscal 2020 school budget, to be unveiled in February 2018, persist. Lynam said the town will take a “serious look” at the $381,357 cost of non-mandated busing, including trimming the town’s subsidy or instituting a user fee.

Lynam and Selectman Scott Lambiase reported to the Board of Selectmen Tuesday, Nov. 20 on progress with the fiscal 2020 budget. Lynam said he has begun receiving departmental budget proposals including 3-percent and 6-percent budget cuts, to help forecast the effects if such cuts are needed as the town addressed the current levy limit and town financial obligations.

The School Department, too, got down to work on a 2020 budget early, providing an early glimpse of its $53.4 level-service budget in December and outlining costs involved in operating each of the district’s schools. The official rollout, expected to be up $2.9 million for level services, comes next month.

2. Marijuana bylaws

Whitman voters in a special Town Meeting March 12, moved forward a protective zoning bylaw prohibiting all types of non-medical marijuana establishments in town by an 81 percent to 19-percent margin. The issue had to then pass a special Town Election Saturday, March 17 — during which residents voted nearly two-to-one in favor of a protective zoning bylaw banning all forms of recreational marijuana sales in Whitman. The vote was 543 supporting the bylaw and 307 against the ban with 850 registered voters casting ballots.

Hanson also tackled the difficult task of deciding on marijuana control bylaws, with voters grudgingly approving a zoning bylaw governing marijuana sales in town at the May Town Meeting, with an eye toward future amendments and/or a referendum and also approved a 3-percent sales tax on marijuana products. Marijuana establishment bylaws were required after state voters opted to legalize recreational use in 2016, but former Selectman David Soper wanted to know how Hanson failed to be among 189 communities restricting it or the 25 communities that otherwise regulate it.

A Planning Board-supported effort to pass a moratorium on marijuana establishments was defeated at Hanson Town Meeting, and Hanson was among the state communities voting yes to recreational marijuana in 2016, selectmen pointed out.

In June, Hanson Selectmen approved the placement of a local-control retail marijuana bylaw, banning the sale of cannabis, before October’s special Town Meeting as well as a referendum ballot.

Selectmen declined to share their own personal opinions on the issue as irrelevant. Voters at that special Town Meeting Monday, Oct. 1 narrowly approved an article amending the General Bylaws in order to prohibit the retail sale of recreational cannabis products, but failed to achieve the two-thirds majority required by a second article to amend the town’s Zoning Bylaws.

Both would appear on a Nov. 6 town ballot, but the zoning question is effectively moot — leaving the town to depend on a bylaw approved in May restricting retail marijuana businesses to an overlay district with frontage on Route 27/ Main Street and Franklin Street.

On Nov. 6, Hanson narrowly voted to support two town ballot questions — 2,641 Yes to 2,354 No on Question 1 and 2,630 Yes to 2,357 No on Question 2 — that prohibit retail cannabis businesses in town.

3. Diehl challenges Warren

Proclaiming it “our moment” and staking out the theme that U.S. Sen. Elizabeth Warren “has let us down,” state Rep. Geoffrey Diehl greeted supporters at the Whitman VFW Tuesday, Sept. 5 as he basked in his Republican primary win.

His margin of victory was 54.8 percent of the vote compared to 27 percent for John Kingston and 18.1 percent for Beth Lindstrom.

“While Warren has spent the last six years building a national political profile for herself, I’ve been fighting for you, and most importantly, listening to you,” Diehl said.

Meanwhile, the race to fill the state representative seat Diehl is vacating was an all-Abington contest as former Selectman Alex Bezanson staved off a challenge from Whitman union advocate Kevin Higgins to face Plymouth County DA’s office victim advocate Alyson Sullivan for the Nov. 6 general election.

The door to the U.S. Senate may have closed on Diehl in November, but the former state representative says he is now searching for his window to the next opportunity.

Statewide, Warren held a 60-36 margin of victory over Diehl based on unofficial results with Independent Shiva Ayyadurai taking about 3 percent of the votes cast. Locally, the picture was a mirror image for Warren and Diehl, as the Whitman Republican took his hometown of Whitman by a 3,888 to 2,641 margin of 6,776 votes cast. Hanson voters went for Diehl by a larger margin — 3,104 to 1,909 for Warren.

“We left no stone unturned,” Diehl said to supporters Nov. 6. “And I know I gave it my all, but I also know that you gave it your all.” He quoted a 19th-Century philosopher’s dictum that, “If you learn from a loss, you really haven’t lost.” Diehl said he was very glad to have the chance to debate Warren and talk about the issues.

Sullivan was elected to fill Diehl’s seat in November.

4. Rehab release bill

In August, Massachusetts took another “step in the right direction” in the fight against the opioid addiction epidemic with the success of legislation to keep families apprised of early releases from rehab commitments.

Its success is largely due to one family’s resolve to save another family from the pain of losing a loved one to an overdose.

“You have to stay persistent,” former Hanson Selectman David Soper said. “That’s what this story is all about persistence and luck and good people.”

Soper is the uncle of over-dose victim Stephen Berry, who became addicted to opioids after oxycontin was prescribed for him to deal with pain following a dirt bike accident.

An amendment to the state’s Section 35 involuntary commitment law — requiring that a family member/petitioner is notified of any early release from the program sponsored by Rep. Josh Cutler, D-Duxbury, and state Sen. Viriato DeMacedo, R-Plymouth, has been included in the opioid bill that Gov. Charlie Baker later signed.

For Soper, the news came as a bittersweet victory after months of work toward saving another family from his own anguish.

“As you can imagine David was very passionate about making sure that this doesn’t happen to another family like happened to them,” DeMacedo said Monday, Aug. 6. “I’m honored to have participated in a small way in getting this amendment passed so this won’t happen to another family.”

Soper credited DeMacedo, Josh Cutler, D-Duxbury, and Cruz for their work in support of the change, particularly DeMacedo after the bill had previously died in House Committee.

5. JJ’s Pub fire

A three-alarm fire at the vacant JJ’s Pub on Thursday, July 5 was deemed suspicious by state and local public safety officials. Firefighters from several area communities assisted Hanson Fire Department in battling a three-alarm fire in a vacant building. No injuries were reported, but two firefighters were transported to the hospital for treatment of heat-related illness.

National Grid shut off power to the area to permit firefighters to safely work. Nearly 200 customers were affected by the shut-off.

Alfred Russo, 75, was arrested in late August on arson charges in the burning of the abandoned J.J’s Pub, 16 Liberty Street, in Hanson, and later indicted along with two new co-conspirators, Patricia Harrison, 59, and Wayne Cummings, 49, all of Buzzards Bay.

According to a statement by District Attorney Timothy Cruz, Russo was indicted on one count of burning of a dwelling and two counts of arson causing injuries to a firefighter. Harrison and Cummings were each indicted on one count of burning of a building.

The Plymouth County Grand Jury returned the indictments on Friday, Sept. 28. By November, Hanson officials were losing patience with the continuing presence of the pile of debris left from the fire.

6. Cable Access/FCC

Proposed FCC rule changes to preempt local government from regulating or imposing fees related to noncable services provided by cable companies, among other provisions, have raised alarm among both local access providers and town officials.

The changes would allow cable operators to treat funding for cable-related costs as “in-kind” donations, allowing them to deduct an undefined amount from monies that traditionally have gone to community media. This rule change would eliminate a major source of funding from WHCA and could result in community media centers closing their doors in every community across the country.

“I think it’s very shortsighted,” said Whitman Hanson Community Access TV Executive Director Eric Dresser.

“What we do here — and what access centers across the state do — is hyper-local, and it’s essential,” WHCATV Access Operations Coordinator Kevin Tocci says. “It is your source if you want to know what’s going on with local government … we provide video on demand on YouTube.”

Local public, educational and government (PEG) access programming is funded by franchising through the local community’s issuing authority — generally the board of selectmen — with a rate paid to cover the “burden of taking up space on [utility] poles” via the cable portion of the cable company’s income.

Both select boards and town administrators in Whitman and Hanson have filed letters with the FCC against the proposal. Both trade organizations to which WHCA-TV belongs — MassAccess, and the Alliance for Community Media on the federal level have also filed lengthy comments against the proposal, citing several legal precedents.

The deadline for that filing was midnight, Thursday, Nov. 15. The deadline for reply comments was midnight, Friday, Dec. 14.

Those comments would likely be limited to responses  to previously filed comments.

7. March storms

The month really did roar in like a lion in 2018 with three major winter storms in 10 days. Historic winter storm Riley battered the region for 72 hours beginning March 2, and brought a new word — bombogenisis, a meteorological term for intense strengthening — into daily conversation. Winds were recorded as high as 70 mph, and higher closer to the shoreline. Whitman Fire Chief Timothy Grenno had cautioned ahead of the storm that damaged and unhealthy trees could fall during the storm.

Hanson police and fire responded to an urgent tree-down call with three cars trapped with their occupants still inside at 680 Liberty St., just before 7 p.m. Friday near Gorwin Drive.

Whitman was dispatched to 130 calls Friday, March 2 through Tuesday night, 90 percent of them storm-related, said Grenno, who estimated the Police Department responded to between 150 and 160 calls in that period. Trees had fallen on several homes in Whitman.

Hanson Fire/Rescue responded to 162 storm-related calls from 7 p.m., Friday through 7 p.m. Monday. They were also involved in assisting with 20 medical calls, offered EMS support two times and received EMS support on mutual aid for three calls.

8. Fire promotions

In May, Hanson Fire Deputy Chief Robert O’Brien Jr., was officially sworn in at the Tuesday, May 1 meeting of the Board of Selectmen. Fire Chief Jerome Thompson Jr., noted that former Chief Peter Huska, who gave both he and O’Brien their start on the department, was in attendance. The deputy chief position had been vacant for several years, Thompson said, adding that call volume has increased in recent years. O’Brien has been working as deputy chief since March 5.

Before a hall filled with family, friends, Whitman officials and dozens of fellow fire chiefs, Whitman Fire Chief Timothy Grenno was sworn in as president of the Fire Chiefs’ Association of Massachusetts (FCAM) during ceremonies at Bridgewater State Univerity on Tuesday, May 15.

Grenno pledged to work closely with the firefighters’ union as well as state officials to ensure firefighters’ safety and well-being.

After taking his oath, administered by Lt. Gov. Karyn Polito, Grenno noted the date coincided with Peace Officer

“At the end of the day, we are all the fire service,” he said. “We may disagree at times on the fundamentals of some things, but in the end our mission creed is the same: To see that everybody goes home at the end of their shifts.”

He also pledged to work to restore funding for training, mental health services for stress-related issues such as PTSD, fire safety programs to educate the public and for legislation to provide protection from and treatment for work-related cancers.

The Hanson Board of Selectmen welcomed the town’s first female fire officer Tuesday, June 19 with the official swearing-in of Lt. Sherilyn Mullin, who has been working in that capacity since May 8. Lt. Mullin fills the vacancy created when Deputy Chief O’Brien was promoted to that rank.

9. Szymaniak takes the helm at W-H

Former Superintendent of Schools Dr. Ruth Gilbert-Whitner announced her planned retirement early enough to give the School Committee time to find the right successor. The committee’s interviews with the three superintendent finalists, selected by a screening subcommittee, were held Thursday, Feb. 15, 2018 in open session at the W-H library. A search panel had been formed in January, consisting of about a dozen people, including School Committee members, school council members, principals and parents.

The finalists were: Sharon Schools Assistant Superintendent for Information Systems and Administration John M. Marcus, a North Easton resident; Lincoln (R.I.) High School Principal Kevin J. McNamara of Greenville, R.I.; and WHRHS Principal Jeffrey Szymaniak of Pembroke.

Szymaniak was the School Committee’s unanimous choice to become the school district’s new superintendent after final interviews were conducted in a special meeting Thursday, Feb. 15.

“The search committee put a tremendous amount of time into winnowing down what started out as a 19-candidate pool of people,” said by School Committee Chairman Bob Hayes in thanking them for their work to kick-off the interviews. “We had a great mix of teachers, union people, principals, a student, School Committee members, parents at-large and they put a lot of time in.”

With the retirement of former Superintendent of Schools Dr. Ruth Gilbert-Whitner at the end of June, the selection of then-WHRHS Principal Jeffrey Szymaniak to succeed her, the hiring of then-Whitman Middle School Principal George Ferro to fill the vacant Assistant Superintendent position and the departure of two elementary school principals for new jobs, meant three new principals, and new assistant principals at WMS and Hanson’s Indian Head School. Former Assistant Principal Michael Grable was appointed principal of the school in June.

At South Shore Tech, retiring principal Margaret Dutch was succeeded by Assistant Principal Mark Aubrey.

10. Hanson’s 200th party plans

Next year, the South Shore will have a lot to celebrate.

Plymouth will be observing 400 years since the arrival of the Pilgrims in the New World. Closer to home, Hanson will also be celebrating anniversary in 2020 — the bicentennial of the town’s founding — and plans are already under way.

Joshua Singer, of Edward Jones Investments, who chairs the Hanson Business Network and is a member of the Hanson 200 Committee, recently updated the Board of Selectmen on the committee’s work and offered a glimpse of the coming celebration. He said they will keep the board, and town, updated as definitive dates and plans are set.

“We are currently very much in the planning stage,” Singer told Selectmen on Tuesday, April 3. “We are starting our actual calendar of events for the 200th anniversary. We’re focusing on three key areas right now.”

Those areas of focus are fundraising for events; promotion and planning. A logo design contest will be used as a way to include Hanson student artists in the planning at both the middle school and high school.

WHITMAN — The Board of Selectmen on Tuesday, Dec. 18, voted to increase inspectional services fees for the first time 2010, and heard an update on the town’s textile recycling program.

“The electrical permit fees have not been increased substantially at all, and they’re far under what other communities are getting,” Building Inspector Bob Curran said. “We adjusted that so it’s more equal.”

Right now, the electrical permit fee for a single-family home is $140 while most towns charge more than $400, according to Curran. Building permit fees, with the increase, went from $10 per $1,000 to $12 per $1,000, with Selectmen’s approval and commercial fees went from $12 per $1,000 to $15 per $1,000.

“Basically, we went from a $40 minimum to a $50 minimum,” he said. “We did check with other communities and this is in line with what they’re getting. … I think we need this to run the department effectively.”

Selectman Scott Lambiase asked if Curran had done an analysis on the increase in revenues the fee hikes could create for the town next year.

Town Administrator Frank Lynam said that has not been done yet, but it could be, once it is known what types of permits have been issued.

“There are some significant increases here in the base permits,” Lynam said. “The assumptions here are that the fee results are from where they are calculated to be a permit fee …  the other fees are kind of incidental and aren’t going to make a big difference.”

Textile recycling

Assistant Town Administrator Lisa Green, meanwhile, updated the board on the town’s new textile recycling program through trash hauler Waste Management. The program kicked off Dec. 3 and collected 697 pounds of textiles in the first week — at one cent per pound, that brought $6.97 back to the town.

She defended the program against public comments received to the effect that it was intended to deter donations of used clothing to charities.

“Some folks felt we didn’t communicate enough with them regarding this program,” she said. “A lot of comments were made regarding peoples’ feelings about this program, that it’s something put in place as a mandatory program, that it forces people to not donate to the charities they continue to support.”

That is not the case, Green insisted.

“That is a rumor that I would like to stress is not true at all,” she said, noting it is offered through Simply Recycling to Waste Management customers as a way of reducing the tonnage of unusable textiles that end up in the waste stream.

“They are not expected to recycle things in the pink bags [sent to their homes] that they would ordinarily donate,” Green said. “These pink bags are mainly for items that they would not donate. If they would normally throw it away, we would hope they would throw them away in these pink bags and not with their trash.”

Selectmen Chairman Dr. Carl Kowalski suggested leisure suits — ubiquitous questionable fashion icon of the 1970s — fit that category.

Green said damaged shoes, used and soiled pillows and blankets would more likely fit the description.

“I was a little disappointed to hear someone make the comment that they got their post card and their pink bags and they ‘threw it right in the trash where it belongs,’” Green said. “The ultimate goal of this is to get the weight out of our trash.”

Landfills charge towns by the tonnage to take solid waste from towns.

“If we get our textiles out of our trash, that lightens up our load,” she said. “The fees won’t go down, but they won’t go up, either, and that’s basically our goal.”

Simply Recycling sorts the textiles, sending “gently used” items to consignment shops for resale, lesser quality but useable items will be sold on the international market and unusable textiles will be recycled to raw materials.

Green said she puts out a couple of bags a week, mainly with her son’s outgrown baseball belts, socks, shirts  and hats, old shoes and old blankets or ripped towels.

“I suddenly have room in my closets,” she said.

Abington, Middleboro and Taunton also take part in the program.

Selectman Brian Bezanson also pointed out that many roadside clothing recycling bins are run by private enterprises, not the charities people assume them to be.

Green encouraged anyone with questions about the program to call her office at 781-618-9701.

WHITMAN — Selectmen will ask state DEP case manager Kathryn Carvalho to attend a meeting in January for advice on town liability regarding the abandoned former BFI (Business Forms Inc.) building at 602 Bedford St.

“In accordance with Chapter 116 of the Building Code, I think we should do something to protect that building,” advised Building Inspector Robert Curran at the Tuesday, Dec. 18 meeting of the Board of Selectmen. “In the interest of public safety, we have an issue.”

Curran recommended either heating the building, winterize the sprinkler system or turn the existing sprinkler system into an air, or dry system. But he warned it could be expensive and the Building Department has no funds to do anything with it.

“We don’t even know if the heat works, it’s been shut off,” said Town Administrator Frank Lynam, noting that town counsel has ruled the town is not allowed to deficit-spend to provide for the building, and there is a question of what the town can do with a building it does not own.

Selectmen were not willing to assume liability for the building, nor the cost of cleaning the site, which is contaminated.

“This is not a road the town wants to remotely go down until I was 110-percent sure that we would have zero liability on the site,” said Selectman Randy LaMattina. “I would say stay out of it.”

Selectman Scott Lamibiase suggesting condemning the building.

“I vote we put a big red ‘X’ on it, you guys stay out of there when it does catch on fire,” he said to Fire Chief Timothy Grenno.

The property was owned by Décor Novelties until its sole stock holder died 12 years ago, according to Lynam. A tenant worked out of the building, and payed the taxes, until June when he dropped off the keys and a hand-written note that he was leaving.

“We have no ownership rights to the building,” Lynam said, noting that the town does not wish to incur liability for the 42,000-square-foot site, which had been a print shop for years and is contaminated. He said the worst-case scenario if the building is left as is would be that the sprinklers would freeze and burst, the Fire Department would shut the water service down, place a red “X” sign on it, perform exterior operations only and “it sits there for 20 years.”

LaMattina researched the site on the DEP website and found that the site contains chlorinated solvents, PCBs, metals, oil and gas.

“It’s slightly shy of being a Superfund site,” he said, reporting that the cleanup cost was estimated at about $400,000 in 1995. “I don’t know why the town would even remotely involve ourselves with that piece of property.”

Lynam said the stockholder’s heirs have stated they want nothing to do with the property, either.

“Right now, we have this building sitting there,” Lynam said. “The electricity’s on, the heat is off and it’s sprinkled.”

Curran was asked to assess the property, which he did on Nov. 2, and report to the Board of Selectmen. He found that the sprinkler system is active and the water is still on at the building, but there is no heat.

A lawyer with an association to the deceased owner was contacted, hoping that it would “flush somebody out that would help us do something to this building to protect it,” Curran said.

No response was received and Curran conducted a second inspection, in relation to Chapter 143 Sec. 8, along with a Fire Department official and an engineer with no interests on either side of the issue on Wednesday, Dec. 5.

“The building is empty,” Curran said. “It’s broom-clean, it’s in fairly decent shape, the sprinkler system is on and if we don’t do something, the sprinkler system will fail.”

Curran said he does not recommend shutting down the sprinkler system, nor does Grenno.

But Grenno did suggest the option of letting the sprinkler system freeze and then condemn the building in the spring, letting it remain empty.

“This is a unique situation because, generally, we find out a property has been abandoned because the sprinkler system freezes and we get the fire alarm,” Grenno said. “This was brought to our attention after they dropped the keys off and said ‘We’re all done with it.’ In good conscience as fire chief, I’m not going to order a sprinkler system shut down inside a vacant warehouse.”

If an automatic fire alarm called the department there and the front door was found to be jimmied open with smoke visible, “we’re going in,” Grenno said. “The safest thing in my mind is the system is going to freeze and trip the fire alarm. We’re going to go up there, we’re going to shut the sprinkler system down and then [have the building boarded up] to arson standards and the building is going to sit there for 100 years.”

Budget update

Earlier in the meeting Lynam distributed to the board several budget-related reports concerning the town’s fund balances, recap forecast within the levy limit and local receipts as informational documents. He also provided models of formats for reporting revenue and appropriations with historical information being “backfilled” by the town accountant.

“This is the first part of what we hope will be a more clear and transparent budget publication for people to look at and understand,” he said of the format he borrowed from Brookline. “It’s a good start for us to help understand the process.”

Lynam said he is creating a level-funded budget that funds what the town is committed to do right now and, based on what it would look like “if we negotiated things differently.”

Selectman Brian Bezanson asked if the town was “taxing to the max.” Lynam said it was not because figures are not available on the excess levy, or taxing to the max, until a couple of days of the tax classification hearing in mid-October or later.

Another town meeting would be required to set that tax rate.

Selectmen also discussed the Wednesday, Dec. 12 School Committee meeting at which preliminary budget figures were reviewed [see story, this page].

“I have to say, the superintendent clearly has his heart and his head I the right place at the same time,” said Selectmen Chairman Dr. Carl Kowalski. “They informed us of the state, at this stage of the game, of the budget deliberations of the School Committee.”

As Kowalski spoke, Superintendent of Schools Jeffrey Szymaniak and members of the administration and School Committee were meeting with the Finance Committee.

Kowalski lauded the “totally open, totally transparent” approach Szymaniak is taking, including the plan to open every School Committee meeting for the remainder of the budget season with a discussion about the school budget.

“I was really impressedwith the superintendent’s attitude around the whole [thing],” he said. “He knows what they want to come up with is a budget that will somehow satisfy everyone — probably an impossible task, but that’s his goal.”

LaMattina, who also attended the School Committee meeting said the presentation was “one of the most detailed budgets we’ve seen so far this early’ from the school district.

“Things look hopeful and I think Mr. Szymaniak and [Assistant Superintendent George] Ferro are going to be on board with working with the town to produce something sustainable,” LaMattina said.

By Brooke Loring
WHRHS Student Intern

The WHRHS store, The Panther’s Den, has been doing extremely well during this holiday season. Teacher and overseer of the store, Brian Maiorino, says that a large part of the store’s success is because of the class connected to it.

Maiorino refers to Visual Merchandising, a class that has been available to students, at the high school, for two years now. Maiorino co-teaches the class alongside Visual Arts teacher Marcus Casey.

The class is the only co-taught general education class at the school, which combines retail and design.

“We are both creative, and like to think outside the box”, states Maiorino, “The perfect business partner has strengths that are your weaknesses, and weaknesses that are your strengths.” They both admit, however, that at times co-teaching can be difficult, “Finding common planning time for both of us is sometimes hard to do, and every assignment must be linked to one of our specific areas.”

Despite the difficulties, the class is very successful, and contains almost 50 students.

“We realized both of our classes (Photography II and Retail) were missing a hands-on approach”, said Maiorino. The store and the creation of the class, ultimately became the solution. The class is directly linked to the Panther’s Den, and allows students to design, select, and market products to the school community, “It is a very student-driven program”, states Maiorino. The class is currently working on a rewards program, and recently finished designing advertisements for new winter products.

“We are very fortunate to have an administration that supports us, and our ideas, to grow the related arts program in the school,” he said.

As a student of the class, this writer finds it interesting to see how important marketing strategies are for selling a product. I have also never experienced a class that is so much influenced by students. When we create designs of products and advertisements, the whole class votes on what we eventually choose, which allows everyone to be able to contribute. It is also cool to see the designs and advertisements we make around the school. Plus, being a part of the class has its perks, like a 10-percent discount.   

WHITMAN — The Whitman Area Toy Drive, along with Whitman Police, hosted a collaborative effort to  Stuff A Cruiser on Sunday, in honor of Sgt. Michael Chesna, a Weymouth police officer killed in the line of duty this year.

Toy Drive Co-organizer Donnie Westhaver shook his head in disbelief over the expansion and success of the annual event. He looked over the 50 plus rows of eight-foot tables and his eyes filled with tears.

“I could not have imagined this 18 years ago. We started with just two tables,” he said.

Jane Plasse co-organizer called the event a huge success.

“What an amazing day! We couldn’t ask for a better day except the weather,” she said. “The community was awesome bringing so many donations for the Whitman Area Toy Drive in honor of Sgt. Michael Chesna. I was so glad to have met his entire family. What a great tribute.”

Jason Ho of Needham came down to the event after seeing a flyer on Facebook.

“I have a full time job and I can afford to help others now,” he said. “It was something I saw that was shared through my car club. I wanted to make a donation.”

Santa was waiting to talk with the children as families dropped items off to stuff the cruiser. He asked many what they might like for Christmas. A joyful face of a child was clearly reason to smile as emotions surfaced for some of  the volunteers and family members of Sgt Chesna, who took photos and thanked those who donated.

Grace Eezepik, 2 1/2, of Whitman was learning about generosity in giving to others. In the rain she carried a toy donation wearing her raincoat, boots and a smirk.

She walked with purpose, dropped off her gift on the back of the police cruiser and promptly told Santa  she would talk to him from across the room but would not be taking a picture with him. Evoking laughter from the gathering of adults it was a stark reminder of why they do what they do each year — simply for the innocence of the children.

Westhaver described the Whitman Area Toy Drive as a one-stop-shopping event as families in need do get whatever they need in age appropriate toys, along with wrapping paper, tape and — if needed — even a Christmas tree.

There are approximately 10 people who assist with the toy drive at its busiest time but volunteers of up to twenty five people have come in from various groups to offer a hand.

The ages of 10-15 can be considered the tween-age in which gift cards are usually given, he said.

He also gently reminds givers that you cannot eat a toy. Often time someone would like to make a donation in the form of money- we do assist with providing a holiday meal gift card to the local a grocery store in some situations, he added.

“We have created a bond between Whitman Area Toy Drive the Chesna family along with Whitman police,” said Westhaver.

Cindy Chesna widow of Michael Chesna spoke about supporting the event in the future, according to organizers. She emphasized the family was really pleased about the upcoming collaboration of future events, Westhaver said.

The event tally was astounding after all of the collections were completed organizers counted 35 to 40 gallon trash  bags at maximum capacity of toys.

For information on assistance or donations for the Whitman Area Toy Drive Donnie Westhaver’s email is west151@aol.com or call 781-447-6883. Voice messages will be returned.

Jane Plasse can be contacted at jep6363@comcast.net along with her cell 781-953-0642.

The School Committee on Wednesday, Nov. 14 voted to request that Business Services Director Christine Suckow seek lower increases in annual costs for the bus and custodial services than are currently contracted over the next two years. She agreed to make the requests and come back with information in December.

“It’s in writing that we have the right to exercise these options,” School Committee member Fred Small said. “The question is, by what date do we have to exercise the options and isn’t it worth a phone call to say, ‘We’re looking into doing our own [transportation] perhaps, etc., would you consider doing something that we would lock in for two years. … It’s still the same contractual obligation, we’re just not tying our hands for that extra year.”

He had suggested earlier in the meeting, during a report on a recent Mass. Association School Committees conference, that the district might want to consider purchasing its own fleet of buses to save money in the long run.

“I’m just looking at it as is there any harm in asking,” Committee member Christopher Howard said. “What do we have to lose?”

Suckow reported that contract extensions put out to bid for optional years four and five of the First Student bus and SJ Services custodial contracts and four through six for Collegiate Press for copy center services during her report on the fiscal 2019 budget update.

First Student will increase by $60,128 for next year’s budget and another $41,630 for fiscal 2021, or 3.5 percent and 2.5 percent respectively. Suckow said the figures were brought in during November to enable her to plan for building the fiscal 2020 budget.

“Do we have to agree to do both years, or could we do one year at a time?” Small asked about the transportation increases. Sukow said it was a decision for the committee to make, but she suggested they adopt both years of the contract extension, especially with First Student, which has little competition.

Committee member Robert O’Brien Jr., said he did not object to voting on a two-year figure, but argued it didn’t hurt to seek a better percentage. When contracts were put out to bid, they were negotiated for three years with options for four and five.

A vote also requested that Suckow ask for a similar reduction involving the contract extension for SJ Services — which included  3 percent hike of $29,000 and a 2-percent increase of $29,000 for fiscal 2021.

The Collegiate Press contract, which does not include increases in the three-year extension, was approved without discussion.

Suckow also expressed concern that transportation and out-of-district placement costs for special education and mandated costs for homeless student transportation, which is already $2,950 in the red, will increase.

“The rest is pretty status quo,” she said of the budget. The federal homeless transportation reimbursement, which has been 30 percent, is sometimes not received until the year after it is spent, Suckow said.

Superintendent of Schools Jeffrey Szymaniak said the district is working to “brining the program in” with more services at the middle school level to help keep students in the district and control out-of-district placement costs.

“We might be spending money for next year’s budget to make money by keeping our kids here,” Szymaniak said, adding the district’s legal counsel has been consulted and had made a “stong recommendation to build a couple of programs” in language-based middle school programs that are now placed out. The expense would add a couple of teachers and paraprofessionals to work towards saving money in the future.

“We’re really looking at how we can be more effective and efficient,” Szymaniak said. “Our kids want to stay here and we want to keep them here.”

Small said inclusion is important.

“It’s nice that we save money, too, but keep our kids here,” he said.

MCAS results

“We’re like our peers,” Assistant Superintendent of Schools George Ferro said. “We are in the middle. … How do we get out of the middle?”

He indicated the district should not focus so much on what the state tests, but to look at the tools it provides educators in order to prepare students to succeed on the tests as well as out in the world.

“Our focus is clearly on learning and meeting standards … but we also have to make sure we’re giving our kids the playbook in which they’re going to have success,” he said. “We also need to embrace and change the lives of our elementary teachers.”

W-H schools arre among the 74 percent of individual schools in the state not requiring state assistance or intervention. The district also was part of the 90 percent of districts not requiring state assistance or intervention. It was also among the 53 percent of state districts that partially met every target for every school and student category.

The Department of Elementary and Secondary Education (DESE) has come up with a new accountability system in grades three to eight, according to Ferro.

New test results will be “exceeding expectations,” “meeting expectations,” “partially meeting expectations” or “not meeting expectations.”

He said it is important to note it is not just a change of names in the grading approach.

“The test that students take right now is much more rigorous, as far as the standards for reaching MCAS scores,” he said. “It is much more difficult, and they made it that way for certain factors. They valued readiness for the next grade level and consistent expectations across grades.”

Success is now based on student achievement, student educational growth rates, high school completion rates, English proficiency, chronic absenteeism and advanced course work.

“They’re trying to take a whole look for the district,” Ferro said. “Right now the state can look at every single teacher, every single student and every single time a teacher and a student interface at a data point.”

He said there are an average of 84,000 data points in a school year.