BROCKTON – About a year and a half of redirecting ambulances, using backup ambulances as much as their main vehicle, paying overtime to ambulance crews and a loss of some flexibility in where patients could be transported, eased a bit on Tuesday, Aug. 13 as Signature Healthcare Brockton Hospital reopened some parts of the building, including the emergency room.
“The opening of Brockton Hospital is fantastic,” said Whitman Fire Chief Timothy Clancy, who was traveling for a fire chiefs’ conference in Texas Tuesday. “Not only for the hospital itself to get back in operation after the fire, but, really, it’ll be beneficial to the communities in the area.”
“We’re jumping for joy,” Hanson Fire Chief Robert O’Brien Jr. said Tuesday afternoon, noting it has reopened at 7 a.m. that day. “It has been a huge strain on our system.”
He credited the Brockton Hospital staff for working to help ease the burden on fire departments.
It had not been unheard of that Hanson ambulances were taking 45 minutes to 1.5 hours to get a patient back home as well.
Once an ambulance arrives at a hospital, it’s been taking over an hour for them to get back in town. And ambulance crews have also been responding to another call from the hospitals or a neighboring community, he said.
As a result, Hanson’s Ambulance runs as much as the first ambulance and Whitman has seen a similar increase in demand and transport times.
Clancy said it allows people to get back into a routine if they’ve preferred Brockton Hospital for a long time or their doctors are there.
“I hope the reopening means some of the overall crowding of the emergency rooms is eased and people can get seen in a timely manner,” he said.
Overall, 48 percent of Hanon’s call volume has been second calls while the primary ambulance has been on the road since the fire in February 2023.
“Problem-wise, it’s been multitudes of things,” he said. “Let’s start with Norwood. Norwood hospital being closed a couple of years ago due to the flooding, impacted Good Samaritan,” O’Brien said. “And, with Brockton Hospital shutting down, we do have patients that could go to Good Sam, but then Good Sam’s wait times became even longer and South Shore Hospital over the years, with Quincy Hospital shutting down and [Carney Hospital] shutting down, South Shore Hospital got inundated with people as did B.I. Plymouth.”
Call volume for Hanson Fire, due to South Sore and B.I. Plymouth, the two main hospitals they send patients to going to, as a result of the Brockton Hospital.
“We are doing the best we can to accommodate a patient’s request, but there’s a whole bunch of factors that go into that,” said O’Brien.
Brockton is also Hanson Fire Department’s medical control hospital, with all the paramedics working with Dr. Daniel Muse.
“I will say, he has been phenomenal from the first day they were closed all the way through,” O’Brien said. “He has still maintained our continuing education, and has kept us apprised of everything the whole time.”
After the unfortunate building fire in February 2023, we have been replacing the Hospital’s infrastructure and worked tirelessly to enhance and revamp our facilities,” said Hillary Lovell, manager, marketing provider and community relations spokesperson for Signature Healthcare Brockton Hospital.”
“Signature Healthcare Brockton Hospital has provided safe, quality healthcare to the community for the past 125 years, and we are dedicated to continuing this legacy for another 125 years and beyond President & CEO, Robert Haffey stated. He is eagerly anticipating the reopening of Brockton
Hospital. He aims to ensure a safer, more welcoming, and notably more patient-centric environment.
A a new Outpatient Surgical facility, designed to be more convenient and accessible for same-day surgical patients, will provide ease of access to care and allowing patients to recover in the comfort of their homes.
While some facilities at the hospital – the Maternity Unit (no labor and delivery), Pediatric Unit and Behavioral Health Unit are still closed.
A newly improved main lobby that offers a more comforting and welcoming environment for all.
An updated Emergency Department that now includes a new 12-unit behavioral health triage unit, ensuring better, and more private care for behavioral health patients.
Other newly-reopened departments are: installation of a new 1.5-megawatt solar array will offset the hospital’s daily electrical power use and contribute to reducing its carbon footprint; the acquisition of two new state-of-the-art Cardiac Catheterization machines to upgrade and enhance the Cardiac Catheterization Lab technology.

WHITMAN – The Select Board has approved a new policy for a tax veterans’ abatement program approved at the May 2024 annual Town Meeting.
Town Administrator Mary Beth Carter has been discussing a Veteran Citizen Property Tax Write-Off program with Veterans’ Services Officer Shannon Burke and Assessor Wendy Jones, to help veterans work off a portion of their property taxes.
“It’s similar in a lot of ways to the senior work-off program,” Carter said during the Tuesday, July 23 Select Board meeting.
She said Burke has written the program policy so the program will be limited to no more than five veterans per program year, but could be further limited by the availability of staff to provide proper supervision.
“The VSO will see who’s interested, check with departments, see who has a need for a volunteer, similar to the COA [Council on Aging],” Carter said. “They will be able to make the minimum wage up to the cap.”
She reminded the Board that the program was approved at the May 2024 Town meeting, to the policy is just to go along with that.”
Right now, the salary cap is $1,500. While the COA has recently increased its tax abatement program salary cap, [the veterans’] program is written that way, without a specific dollar amount.
“It just says, ‘Up to the limit,’” Carter said of the salary listed. And there is no specific age requirement that one has to meet with funds coming out of the real estate and personal equity line of the budget each year – just as the funding for the senior abatement program does.
“The only differences are there is no age limit of veterans and you have to meet the status of a veteran, based off the federal definition of what a veteran is” she said.
“It will open it up, too, because we have a lot of younger veterans who could use the help, and they’re looking. This is a way for them two work for the town and get a financial break from the taxes.”
They are trying to open up the process because they are not eligible for the senior work off.
Select Board member Laura Howe asked about the reason for limiting the program to five participants.
“We’ll start with the five and see what the future brings,” Vice Chair Daniel Savucci said.
Resident Bob Kimball of Auburnville Way asked what would happen if there were, say, 10 applicants for the five spots.
“How do we give the veteran that needs it the most, the ability to [participate]?,” he asked. “Do we give it to people who have Purple Hearts? Do we have people with a disability? We want to make sure that the right veteran gets it.”
Burke said all applicants … will be put in the right order, according to the most need,” noting that, if they are receiving another exemption, they would go on the list below someone receiving no exemptions and “could really use the program.”
“We’re trying to get as many veterans as much help as we can,” she said. “Obviously, our most needy are going to go at the top and the ones that can wait a year or so are going to go toward the bottom. It’s going to depend on who applies and where they are.”
Select Board member Shawn Kain asked if, during the implementation of the program, the board could be updated on it to determine how much demand there is for it.
In other business, the board was updated on work done under a grant from the CPC and Massachusetts Historical Commission (MHC) and the next steps to conduct a survey to assess and document some 140 selected architectural and cultural resources in town ahead of the 2025 celebrations of Whitman’s 150th anniversary. Th inventory will be presented to the town as part of that observance.
“The properties are ones that have not been previously surveyed, but can be considered endangered in Whitman,” said Mary Joyce, who thanked Carter and Assistant Town Clerk Kathleen Keefe and the town’s IT team for helping “moving some things forward that were stuck.”
Survey results will be submitted to the MHC for nomination to the National Register of Historic Places and provide an article for the 2024 warrant to provide the town with a demolition delay bylaw, providing plaques to properties indicating historic significance of Whitman.
Joyce also said the Commission will establish community resources for the schools and interested members of the public and have already been asked by the architectural firm working on the new Whitman Middle School for some historical items to show within that building.
Key milestones met include: participation in a MHC workshop; submission of a single audit in June; finalization of a scope of work with the MHC, which was approved in late July; development and drafting of an requests for quotes now in final review with the MHC with execution of the contract between now and 2025 left to achieve.
Select Board members agreed to Joyce’s suggestion of providing a periodic update on the project’s progress.

HANOVER – South Shore Tech’s new building project remains on schedule for its October meeting with the Massachusetts School Building Authority (MSBA) Board of Directors.
“To do that, it requires an August submission,” said Kevin Sullivan, of owner project management firm LeftField. “We are currently working with the cost estimators,” he told the SST School and Building committees on Wednesday, July 24.Kevin Sullivan, of owner project management firm LeftField,
This week – on Tuesday, July 30, three cost estimates were being reviewed to “make sure we have the most accurate and up-to-date budget information before we present to the MSBA,” said Sullivan, who was feeling under the weather and not wanting to get anyone else sick, attended the meeting virtually. He said the updated construction budget being submitted to the MSBA in mid-August will include a full schematic design to the MSBA by Aug. 29. that hasn’t changed.”
Superintendent/Director Thomas J. Hickey said the district is looking at Aug. 7 and Aug. 21 for meeting dates, in order to deliver on the information needed, as part of the MSBA submission.
Sullivan also reported that the feasibility study’s budget, with no major changes over the past month is maintaining a committed amount of 79 percent with the expended amount at 63 percent, up from 58 percent last month, based on the most recent invoices.
There is $410,228 in uncommitted funds and “upwards of $200,000” in anticipated extra services/reimbursables. Sullivan said the latter pays out to sub-consultants, site testing and other expenses for this stage of the budget.
“We believe we are still on track for that,” he said.
“The Aug. 7 meeting will be a deeper dive, as we’ll hear back on the reconciliation numbers from those three sets of cost estimates that the team is working on,” Hickey said. “Two weeks later, when the team has completed schematic design documents, we’ll reconvene to have them support that.”
The meeting on Aug. 21 will meet the Aug. 29 deadline for filing the final schematic design report to the MSBA.
“Those will be the two anchor dates for August,” Hickey said.
Addressing School Committee business, the panel – which acts as both committees, welcomed Joseph Zambello of Marshfield to his first meeting since that town joined the district.
Hickey also reviewed some language changes to the district’s Regional Agreement.
“We’ve been working on a series of language changes to our Regional Agreement, working with the Department of Education, in order to adjust how we calculate our debt share in [it],” he said.
Since a series of member towns are holding fall special town meetings, he said he would likely come back to the committee in early August to obtain the School Committee’s approval.
“There is not a lot that has been substantively changed,” he said. “It’s taken a long time to get loops of feedback from the Department of Education.”
Hickey is, however, having one with state school officials this week and another early the following week.
The goals include changing the debt share calculation by amendment to a rolling/adjustable average as well as a four-year rolling average instead of a fixed rate to improve debt loads for towns on large-debt projects such as a new school.
“The intention here is to square off this important matter before a building project vote is taken,” noted in a presentation on the Regional Appointment process. “The intention here is to change the language, to change this approach. … In a way, Marshfield entered the district under its new rules.” he said.
The genesis of the language change idea came from Whitman, which is already facing building projects for a nee middle school and DPW facility.
“I think it’s a good idea,” Hickey said. “Whether this project passes or not, this is an improvement on our Regional Agreement.”
Hanson’s special Town Meeting on Oct. 7 is the first to go to a vote on the change.

By Linda Ibbitson Hurd
Special to the Express
When we were growing up in Hanson there was a cozy little house, across the street from our Elm Street home, owned by my Grandfather Ibbitson. He and my grandmother had lived there until they moved their expanding family directly across the street into a big blue shingled house.
The little house had a nice living room, a kitchen, bath and two bedrooms with a small upstairs room that overlooked the big front lawn. The living room led to an enclosed porch which was across the front of the house and had many windows. Inside the porch was what looked like a long built-in bench that was actually storage for toys and an assortment of other things such as blankets, towels and clothing. The house and yard were care of by a man who owned it back then and my grandparents had a key as some of their things were kept in the storage bench until the owner could find a tenant.
On summer evenings my grandmother could be seen sitting in her Adirondack lawn chair in the front yard of the little house with her teenagers, my aunts, Sally and Sam and two of my uncles, Richard and George. My sister Penny and I were allowed to go over and some of the neighborhood kids would end up there as well along with friends of our aunts and uncles. The gathering usually evolved into a fun fest for the kids. 
We’d lay on the ground looking up at the clouds, watching them change shape while we called out what they looked like. When we got restless or bored, we’d pluck the stems off the narrow leaved plantain weeds with the little black heads on them that looked like raisins and curl the stems upwards to snap off the little black tops at each other while running around the yard. Inevitably one of the kids would end up falling or crying if they got snapped and Gramma would put a stop to it. 
Richard and George would start swinging us around and we’d laugh and scream until they set us down and we’d stumble around from being so dizzy; we always went back for more. Sally and Sam would go into the porch and come out with a couple of blankets. We all took turns laying down in the blankets while our uncles, aunts and their friends, Rita and Loraine who were sisters, helped by picking up either end of the blankets that now looked like hammocks with a kid in them and they swung us back and forth into the air while we giggled and shrieked with delight. Gram approved, commenting it was safer than swinging kids around any other way. 
Aunt Sally was very good at doing and teaching us handstands. She and Sam and their friends also showed us how to do cartwheels. When we played games like Red Light or Simon Says, some of the dogs and barn cats liked to join in. When we tried Leapfrog one time, Gram put her foot down making it clear it wasn’t allowed on her watch. 
To the far right of the front lawn was a Lilac grove where my siblings and I played as did our aunts and uncles before us. It magically transformed into anything we wanted it to be. In the spring it was fragrant and beautifully dressed in its white blossoms. Further out in the yard beyond the Lilacs was a small pond. Around its edge were Pussy Willows in early spring and also the home of Cattails that both Gram and my mom loved putting in vases. We made a few rafts out of barrels and boards and had fun floating around on them pretending we were pirates until they sank. It wasn’t too deep of a pond, we always landed on our feet and were careful of the turtles and frogs. 
We watched many a sunset from the lawn of this house and when it got dark, the Lilac grove and the woods beyond became enchanted with fireflies. We knew once it got dark it wouldn’t be long before our parents would call us in. Sometimes my dad would come over and Penny and I would get to stay until the moon came out. When dad was there he and Gram would sing an old song I came to love called, “The Old Lamplighter” That would prompt more singing and we’d all join in. Two favorites were “K-k-k-Katy” and “Oh Suzannah”. 
The little house is still there and I’m happy to say a family member lives in it. I may not frequent it like I did growing up but the memories of those simpler times and what we did for fun stay with me. I still love watching the clouds, a sunrise, sunset, fireflies and the magic of a full moon. It brings back those simpler times and the faces and voices of my Grandparents and all my Aunts and Uncles.  

WHITMAN – In a special joint meeting of the Select Board and the Finance Committee, held virtually, on Tuesday, July 9, the two boards approved line-item transfers totaling $2,453.82 for fiscal 2025. Select Board Chair Dr. Carl Kowalski was unable to attend.
“The Finance Committee is meeting jointly with the Select Board tonight, because our agendas are identical,” said Chair Kathleen Ottina. FinCom member Mike Andrews was unable to attend.
The first, was a transfer of $1,000 from Line Item 35 – Medical/life insurance, town match, to Line Item 32 – recording secretary.
“We’ve had a change in the recording secretaries recently,” said Town Administrator Mary Beth Carter. “We’ve had a couple of new recording secretaries just getting used to the format, but the line was over by $711.59 when I put this request in, so I did request $1.000. I’m showing right now that it’s up to about $780. Anything we don’t use in this line, we’ll simply wash back to free cash.”
Both boards approved the transfer unanimously.
The boards then OK’d a transfer of $582.88 from Line Item 35 – Medical/life insurance, town match, to Line item 2 – PILOT fund.
“This amount is the exact amount we need to complete the title for payment in lieu of taxes for Whitman land that is located in Rockland,” Carter said. “We get this bill each and every year.”
Last year’s bill was $4,800.39 and this year, the bill came in at $6,582.88, we budgeted $6,000.”
Finance Committee member Al Cafferty asked what the town’s overall intentions are with that property.
Carter said it was land put forward to Town Meeting in 2023, known as the Camp Alice Carlton land. A committee was formed and met several times this year to determine whether it would be in the town’s best interests to lease, sell or keep the land as-is. While no consensus was reached, the town is now engaging in an open space and recreation plan and a member of that committee was to be placed on the new steering committee formed to examine all the town’s open space and recreation facilities.
“The last time the town updated its open space and recreation plan and open space was 2004,” she said.
Cafferty said he was very interested in serving on that committee.
“I’d love to do that,” he said. Both boards approved the transfer unanimously.
The two boards then voted to transfer $210 Building Inspector, town match, to Line item 17 – Assistant Building Inspector Salary and to transfer $120 to
Carter explained the $210 represents seven inspections done by the assistant building commissioner while the building inspector was on vacation or otherwise unable to do them, which ran $30 over the budget line.
Two emergency inspections of $60 each for electrical inspections. Select Board member Justin Evans asked if both transfers were from expense lines under the building Department’s budget.
“Wouldn’t the consolidated budget have served that?” he asked. “I’m just not sure if emergency response is a salary or expense line.”
Select Board Vice Chair Dan Salvucci said it appeared to be salary if it allowed the inspectors to go out and do it.
“We are allowed to do that,” he said. “We are not increasing their per-hour wage.”
Carter concurred.
Both transfers were unanimously approved.
A request to transfer $500 to from Line item 16 – All Other Services to Line item 16 – Expenses.
Carter said that Fire Chief Timothy Clancy was originally going to request $5,000, but he had some Emergency Management money he hadn’t used and was able to get that down to just $500 from the expense line.
“His expense line ran over for a few reasons, and they’re basically related to the expense lines for the town-owned sprinklers and fire alarm maintence, which was over $5,037.76, and ambulance billing, which was over by $7,943.86” Carter said. “That was directly related to the Brockton Hospital closure as ambulance billing is higher. Of course, we’ll see that in the fees we collect for the more runs that they’ve done.”
The transfer is needed to close out the year. Both boards unanimously approved that transfer, as well.
“The chief called me this morning and gave me a detailed explanation of the request, which made perfect sense to me,” Ottina said. “I appreciated the phone call and I appreciated the open line of communication.”
The final transfer concerned a request from the assessors to move $40.94 from Line Item 5 – Clerical to Line Item 5 – Expenses. There had been a formula error in the spread sheet, Carter said. Both boards also approved that transfer unanimously.

HANSON – The Select Board on Tuesday, June 25 reviewed goals for themselves and Town Administrator Lisa Green for fiscal 2025, suggesting updates and edits which they wanted to see ready for further discussion at the board’s July 23 meeting.
Green’s work, along with Administrative Assistant Lynn McDowell is a “good start,” Chair Laura FitzGerald-Kemmett said, noting there is still some prioritizing and editing to do.
Those goals include the areas of governance: union negotiations, Town Meeting communication plans, coordination with other boards they appoint on priorities, modernizing and standardizing of human resources processes and policies. They also aim to revise and amend town policies and bylaws, to ensure they are clear, concise and consistent, prepare a handbook for town boards and committee volunteers, holding monthly inspectors’ meetings to streamline application processes for permit applications, identifying goals of town departments and reviewing progress with the town administrator at the beginning and end of the fiscal year, as well as the recruitment for and direction of the Recreation Commission, to coordinate with other committees.
The goals also would have the board update the town’s master plan.
Budgeting goals include the continued preparation of reimbursement requests for federal CARES Act and ARPA funds through the Plymouth County Commissioners, development of a “robust unified town-wide communications plan,” and follow through on existing grants while exploring other grant opportunities.
They should also plan to explore new ways to increase revenue, according to the goals plan, soliciting ideas from employees and citizens, examining ambulance billing collections, green communities grants, sale of remaining tax title properties and consideration of an increase in local meals taxes to 1 percent.
Where economic development is concerned, the goals include drafting an outdoor dining with alcohol policy, LED streetlight conversion, and support of the economic development of Main Street.
“Some of these are a little loose,” said FitzGerald-Kemmett. “I think we need to tighten them up a bit, I get where you’re going, but I think we need to be a little bit more specific.”
There were also recommendations from Green that the board improve communication with stakeholders by developing a user-friendly website, holding quarterly meetings with the Finance Committee chair, WHRSD and Select Board representatives, improving the workplace environment through employee engagement as well as continuing to improve information sharing with the public in order to increase attendance at town meetings and membership on public boards and committees.
Goals for town-wide improvements include a digital record system, meet with senior center and library about meeting each of their needs through the current library with improvements or a development plan for the Maquan property as well as monitoring the long-term recreational use of Hanson’s ponds and a complete comprehensive building needs assessment and hosting visioning sessions and explore how recreation programs are managed, as well as continuing strategic planning retreats at Camp Kiwanee.
“I think we have a little cleaning up on this to do,” FitzGerald-Kemmett said. “It’s a good start, but it’s everything and the kitchen sink, so we’ve got to prioritize and, maybe, winnow this down a little bit.”
Member Joe Weeks, for example, said he is really passionate about establishing policies and procedures.
“It’s not jumping out at me and I don’t want it to get lost,” he said. “I don’t know where it sits on that.”
FitzGerald-Kemmett asked McDowell to add development of personnel policies and procedures manual to the town administrator’s goals.
“It’s not ‘speak now or forever hold your peace,’ this is the first pass at it,” FitzGerald-Kemmett said. “There’s a little bit of redundancy – the wording could be tightened up a little bit.”
Vice Chair Ann Rein volunteered to work with McDowell on that.
“We just have to rearrange some stuff,” Rein said, adding that work should be done by the Tuesday, July 23 meeting.

Right now, the Whitman-Hanson Regional School District still does not have a budget, Superintendent of Schools Jeff Szymaniak said at the School Committee’s meeting on Wednesday, June 5.
He also responded to a rumor “floating around” – as well as the question of what happens if there is still no budget after Hanson’s special Town Meeting at 6:30 p.m., Monday, June 17.
“That’s a reality in our district, if we don’t have a budget by June 30, we now have to make some modifications, he said.
If the district has to report failure to reach a budget agreement by the new fiscal year on July 1, the Commissioner of Education will put the district on a 1/12 budget based on last year’s fiscal 2014 budget – at either the exact amount or over it.
“When the district went through the scenario in 2020, it was the exact amount for the month of July and, realistically for the School District, the month of July is not a fiscal crunch for us because our teachers are paid before they leave [in a fiscal ’24 scenario],” Szymaniak said. The next large pay period, under a fiscal 2024 budget is not until August.
But because it is about a $2.5 million deficit, Szymaniak must make sure, in the absence of a budget to prepare for the worst.
That means, if the district is still without a budget by August or September, he said he has to make sure the district has a plan to reduce the budget by $2.5 million – which is teachers.
“But, as I have reminded, if I have to Pink Slip, or RIF [Reduction in Force] teachers, I have to come up with 40 percent of their unemployment costs as of the day they are RIF’ed. So I have to look at the long game, and be prepared for a no-budget into August, September, October, November into December. In December, if I still don’t have a budget, the commissioner will give us a budget.”
That spending plan will be taken out of the towns’ hands and says, ‘This is your budget for the year,’” he said, as school starts up again in September.
“Looking at the numbers, he said [Whitman Finance Committee member Kathleen] Ottina was a little short on the number of RIFs that we’ll have to give out,], Szymaniak said. [See story page 11] The teachers’ contract says Reduction in Force letters should be out by May 30, if possible, and no later than June 30. Teachers leave for the summer on June 13 and Town Meeting is June 17.
“To try to avoid mass anxiety, because I’m optimistic that we’re going to pass a budget, because the School Committee has affirmed a budget without cuts,” he said. “We already know that.”
He said he has already crunched numbers and would try to get that information out to the staff by this week. The district had already posted six positions he’s wanted to fill from retirements and other such departures.
“But I’m not going to hire anybody if I don’t have a budget, so that reduces the RIF letters by six,” he said. A second tier of 26 WHEA members two central office and three district employees would receive RIFs because he has to come up with $3.3 million in cuts to cover the $2.5 million that might be real on a 1/12 budget, because of unemployment costs.
In that number, he took $540,000 [which is not set in stone, he stressed], asking the School Committee to not support varsity and sub-varsity sports and extracurriculars, which cost the district $538,000.
“That’s seven, eight or nine teachers that I don’t want to RIF at this point,” he said. “This is all hypothetical unless we don’t have a budget. But it could be real in August, if we don’t.”
He said he would not make the cuts unless the district ends up without a budget on June 17.
“It’s imperative for parents … to go to the meeting and talk,” he said. “I’m not telling you how to vote. Go to the meeting, at least and hear.”
If there is no budget by the end of the June 17 meeting, Szymaniak and Assistant Superintendent George Ferro will be sending out Reduction in Force letters on the morning of Tuesday, June 18.
“I don’t know where they are coming from,” he said, “But they are coming from classrooms, they’re coming from related arts, and it’s our first- and second-year staff members, or people that might even be a little bit more [veteran] if they’re a district-wide employee.”
Only staff in state-mandated roles would be safe from cuts.
Communicating cuts
“I’m trying to be as honest with the committee as possible, without [causing] as much fear to our staff members, but this is a reality if we push into late August,” he said.
Whitman has already voted an assessment and would not have to act again unless the committee decided to increase the assessment. If a super-Town Meeting, a session with both communities, is required, a majority vote would pass a budget, which could be in place as early as mid-July.
“July, I can cover money, but if we go into the middle of August because the towns voted the budget down, the commissioner takes over and then it could come back to the School Committee again,” Szymaniak said. “We keep doing that until we have a budget, or until the commissioner says, ‘You’re not where you should be,’ and he just assesses a budget to the regional school district.”
By law the commissioner’s options are to increase what was asked for by the committee.
Committee member Glen DiGravio said he is concerned about how badly a 1/12 budget could affect the students.
“If it goes in, we’ve got a problem,” Szymaniak said. “Because as people start leaving, it becomes problematic.” He said he is looking at options that are least impactful to the staff.
Information on the staff cuts is being supplied to the Hanson Select Board for their information and to distribute to voters.
“People need to know that,” DiGravio said. “These kids matter, and they don’t get a vote, either.”
DiGravio also asked if athletics could be cut completely, which Szymaniak said was possible, although he doesn’t want to have to.
“But it’s an option – people need to know that, too.” DiGravio said.
“This is not a reduction of the school district’s budget,” Szymaniak said, “I’m just won’t have a budget, so I can’t, as the superintendent, say, ‘I’m going to cut eight classroom teachers and have a football team.’ … It’s not a scare tactic.”
Member Dawn Byers said she wants to make clear what Hanson’s assessment will be – $14,974,735 – noting that if the motion at Hanson’s special Town Meeting is the number is to approve the amount presented at the May 6 Town Meeting, that is not the number the School Committee voted.
“It’s important to know what number is being voted on,” she said, noting that the School Committee made the number workable.
Member Fred Small moved that Szymaniak write a letter to Hanson officials clarifying the exact amounts to be included on the warrant and to get back to him in a timely manner.
Szymaniak vs
the rumor mill
As for the rumor – one of the questions he was asked at that meeting were about hiring 31 people with one-time money – was something he said needed to be clarified.
He met with the Hanson Select Board last month, and while they did not agree on a few things, an understanding of transportation reimbursement, of special education reimbursement costs, came up.
“I wasn’t planning on talking,” he said, but Town Administrator Lisa Green raised the opportunity to ask him questions. Hires with the use of ARPA funds was also raised at the meeting.
“Just because we have in and outs, doesn’t mean I’m adding positions,” he said. “Teachers have been in and out since 2021 – maternities, resignations, non-renewals, retirements – positions that have been created are the additional ones, but even through those additions, I’ve subtracted other ones.”
Over the course of the Elementary and Secondary School Relief (ESSER) Act, which Szymaniak said was a godsend in some respects, the funds became a curse as well.
“You’re handed a lot of money with specifications around it, how do you spend it without making it the fiscal cliff that we’ve spoken to?” he said. “And I knew, if I went home and turned back $2.5 million to the state or the fed because I couldn’t spend it, this committee or the members of the town would say, ‘You had $2.5 million to spend and you didn’t spend it?’ ‘:How can you do that?’”
He argued that the school district made really effective, efficient decisions to benefit the students. Some of those decisions were in the line of interventionists and English-language learning support.
Since 2021, the district began by hiring four interventionists, but that only had an impact of 2.5 positions funded in the budget, because they reallocated people within the district to fill those positions, he explained. An elementary education coordinator was added and has since left, with the district refurbishing the position as salary to a human resource director, which the school district has needed for years. At the same time the elementary ed coordinator position was reconfigured into a Multi-Tiered System of Supports (MTSS) and equity.
Five building-level math interventionists were also hired.
“A lot of these folks were teachers, who went into these roles, so we hired teachers on top of that,” he said. “That’s not a plus-10, that’s a plus-five.”
Another nurse was hired to address real needs, especially pre- and post- COVID, especially in the preschool and high school. There had been only one nurse at the high school and a nurse that had been promised after the closing of the Maquan School had never been hired.
A district-wide family liaison was also hired and has been a valuable member of the administrative team with the growing student population who speak another language. Six English-language staff members – both teachers and tutors – to ensure the schools are providing the increased English-language learners that is required by law.
Szymaniak referred to the English-language learning program to quash an accompanying rumor.
“We do not house migrants in Whitman,” he said. “These are our students. They live in our communities, they are not coming in from the state. It’s not from the governor. These are our students. People have asked, because I’ve seen it on social media,”
He said the population of non-English-speaking students has grown incrementally since 2021.
“We need to service students by law, and it’s the right thing to do.”
Committee member Rosemary Connolly stressed that Szymaniak had 15 positions he legally had to full in the district, but he had done so with only 11 additional positions.
“I think that’s pretty remarkable,” she said. “You, essentially, worked your numbers quite well.”
Hanson Committee member Kara Moser also pointed out that, when pink slips go out to staff is it is needed to balance the budget, it will not include the newer hires if they are among the state mandated positions in the schools.
“If people philosophically disagree with an added position on this list, voting it down is not eliminating that position,” she said.
Byers asked about the title interventionist.
“That’s sort of a modern-day tutor – a reading tutor/specialist, a math tutor/specialist, is that correct?” she asked.
Szymaniak said they are certified teachers. Before 2018 the district had reading specialists, they are now called interventionists, and added math to that service.
“People hear this new term and they wonder if this is just a result of COVID again, so we’re not in COVID anymore, so we don’t need this,” Byers said. “We’re now presenting an educational budget that includes what we should have had, pre-COVID.”
Szymaniak said it is sometimes difficult to fulfill state mandates, especially when they are unfunded, but credited the School Committee and the towns with helping to support district curriculum, such as all-day kindergarten, that should have been offered about 15 years ago.
Back on the topic of added district staff, he said the two high school music teachers who retired last year have been replaced by three – all funded by the salaries of the retired teachers. An afterschool coordinator hire was grant-funded.
Also, an occupational therapist was hired to aid all district students in need of the services that had been contracted out.
“Really, It’s a total of 18 new positions,” he said.
In fiscal 2025, the district has lost seven positions – including former facilities director Ernest Sandland, who retired, and a groundskeeper and was not hired – make a total of 11 new positions brought on district-wide, “all of whom are benefitting our students and that’s what you approved and are supporting going into this fiscal non-budget, right now, in the town of Hanson,” Szymaniak said.
“There might have been 31 – there might have been 40 people that have revolved through the district since 2012 – paraprofessionals are fluid,” Szymaniak said. “Special education paraprofessionals, I don’t count because [if] I have a student that needs a one-to-one, that’s an add, we don’t have a choice for that.”
He also hired a preschool teacher because the class for autism spectrum disorder (ASD) room was “busting at the seams” with pupils.
“That’s not a wish, that’s a need,” he said.
The state gave the district three rounds of ESSER money since 2021.
“We knew there was going to be a cliff [and] we worked in our office to try to massage the budget as best we could to make sure there wasn’t a $2.5 million end date, like some districts,” Szymaniak said, mentioning that they knew they would come up with a deficit this year, as they have.
Chair Beth Stafford said the number of “new hires” had started out at 35.
“We saw the result of doing this,” she said noting that district test scores are now “even better than before COVID. That’s our job here, the improvement of the kids.”
Vice Chair Hillary Kniffen said an error on the DESE website has people drawing incorrect class size information, as the site includes all personnel, with a degree in education to arrive at that number.
“If you are not in education – this is going to sound bad – but, you can’t go on the DESE website and think they know what information they’re trying to get across,” she said.
Szymaniak pointed to politics.
“If you actually showed 30:1 ratios in a school district, people would be all over the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education for more state funding for schools,” he said.

WHITMAN – South Shore Tech Superintendent-Director Dr. Thomas J. Hickey briefed the Select Board on Tuesday, June 5, 2024 on the status of the new building plan and proposed amendment to the vocational school district’s regional agreement.
“It’s been a few months since December, when we had a public forum in this same room,” Hickey said, noting he would also discuss admissions. “Enrollment does support a lot of the conversation about … debt share, when it comes to a school building project, and also make mention that we are continuing to work on a regional agreement amendment that will also have a connection to the building project.”
The full presentation can be seen on the Whitman-Hanson Community Access TV YouTube channel, and on rebroadcast of the Select Board meeting on their cable channel.
Right now, the district is talking with the Dept. of Elementary and Secondary Education (DESE) – Chris Lynch and Michelle Griffin – working on language that would adjust the part of the regional agreement dealing with debt apportionment. It is now a fixed share based on whenever a debt is authorized.
“We’re looking to move it to a four-year rolling average, which would allow changes in debt share based in changes in enrollment, with not a lot of volatility,” Hickey said.
Select Board member Shawn Kain asked if Hickey was confident that would be the case.
“I’m confident that DESE would be onboard with it,” Hickey replied, saying he has heard “virtually nothing” in terms of obstacles to it.
“Whitman is in a very vulnerable situation,” said Kain who indicated he was glad to hear about the amendment. “That would be not a deal-breaker for me, but I would have a hard time supporting the project if the regional agreement wasn’t amended.”
“With Marshfield’s inaugural class of 29 students, that’s about 4 percent, so I’m going to project to you that even if this [number of students] were to remain fixed, which I don’t think it will, every community’s share will adjust down,” Hickey said. “If we factor in a declining enrollment on top of bringing on a ninth community, we should see some relief for communities that feel like they’re at a high water mark for enrollment.”
Whitman’s position
He said there are 43 Whitman students graduating in the Class of 2024, with 31 in the incoming freshman class out of 70 applicants from the town. Whitman’s initial allotment if 20 new applicants and 11 from the school’s waiting list, Hickey explained, with a projection that the high demand will remain even as the town’s lower enrollment share continues over the next three years due to new seats provided to other towns such as Marshfield, which is in the process of joining the SST district and the size of the current school building.
“We have very strong demand from the community,” he said of the 70 applications this year. “Whitman is apportioned a number of seats based on the size of their eighth-grade population – and they fill those in a nanosecond – and then there are other seats from communities that don’t use all their seats.”
Historically, the waiting list consists of Whitman, Rockland and Abington students. Debt-share is tied to enrollment. So, without a revision of the regional agreement, Whitman would stay at about 25 percent, and would be responsible for that share of debt, but that debt level would decrease with a rolling admission, Whitman’s share could drop to, perhaps, 12 percent, decreasing the town’s debt.
“I would be saying the same thing if I were speaking to folks in Rockland, or in Abington, or Hanson, as well,” he said of the other large sending communities.
“Oct. 1 reports, as you well know are the official reports,” Hickey said. “Things can change, but I think we’re in the infield of the ballpark in terms of making a projection.”
He said the fiscal 2026 budget, in regard to just the operating assessment, the general track record for the district has been that, absent a large capital budget, a decrease in enrollment generally means a decrease in the operating assessment.
“I support the project,” Kain said. “I think this is badly needed, I think you do a very good job, I love the numbers. I do have a concern about the regional agreement, but it seems its being taken care of – but this is a big nut to take one.”
MSBA project
The preferred new construction option carries an estimated total cost of $283 million with the current estimated MSBA reimbursement at $107 million with the member towns dividing the remaining $176 million apportioned by enrollment. If that is rejected the estimated total cost for renovation, including major code upgrades is at $110 million with no funding from MSBA.
“I’m very careful to point out that [in the renovation option] this is not something that’s going to happen immediately,” Hickey said, noting that officials have heard the code upgrade warnings before in other school projects. “We’re still talking millions, we’re still talking who can fit these costs under the levy limit.”
He is expecting firmer numbers by August.
“The school roof is not going to fall in if this project fails,” he said. “I’m not going to advertise doom and gloom fait acompli, it’s going to be changed. But I do want to map out a five-to-seven-year sequence where, if either path were to happen, where would we be in 2030?”
The district is now in the middle of the schematic design phase, looking at a deadline of mid-August for the project team to finalize it for submission to the Massachusetts School Building Authority (MSBA) by the end of that month. The district envisions being before the MSBA board for their approval on Oct. 30.
“That will be the first day that we can say, without qualification or an asterisk, that, ‘This is the project budget. This is how much the grant is,’” he said. But, by August they should able to closely estimate the project cost. Over the summer, any written updates Hickey said he could provide would involve adjustments to the schematic design.
After the MSBA, the district will be preparing for a Jan. 25, 2025 district-wide ballot question, in which two-thirds of the member towns – six of the nine – would have to vote to support the project for it to move ahead.
“A separate matter that each community will have to take up would be how the project gets funded, if it is approved,” Hickey said. For most communities that would involve a debt exclusion.
Deeper design work would then be done.
Kain asked about any push-back on the ballot question, to which Hickey said he has heard no negative feedback.
“Everybody’s enrollment changes at some point, and with an adjustment in enrollment, it affects operating assessments,” he said, adding that the age of the building, constructed in 1960, the language of the regional agreement was drafted just to build the school in the first place. It had already been amended twice in the last seven years alone.
Hickey said he was not aiming for a school building that makes the cover of Architectural Digest.
“We don’t want people paying a lot of money for a cardboard box, we want something efficient,” he said. “If we’re going to put money into this, it’s got to be into the specialized educational spaces. It’s a very simple design, easy for supervision.”
Town Administrator Mary Beth Carter pointed to Gov. Maura Healey’s Empowerment Act, which could extend borrowing on such projects out to 40 years.
“I don’t really like the thought of going out 40 years, but on these huge projects it would make a big difference,” she said.
“If that weren’t on the books at the time that we’re making this move, I would hope that we could advocate for it – that the legislation would reflect our ability to readjust for it,” Hickey said. “It’s definitely on my radar.”