It’s that time of year, again when the Mass. Association of School Committees (MASC) seeks support of resolutions regarding educational issues at its annual conference.
As there are often some controversial topics on that list, this year is no different, as the W-H School Committee voted on Wednesday, Oct. 11 to support higher fines for passing school buses and changes to the MCAS test, while expressing concern about a requirement for a diversity coordinator and rejecting a safe gun storage education plan as outside a school committee’s responsibility.
The recommendation calling on the General Court to enact legislation to give cities and towns the ability to install digital detection monitoring systems on school buses in the interest of pursuing fines against drivers who pass stopped school buses as well as legislation raising those fines.
The fines are intended to be a “significant schedule of fines” as a penalty for the violations either witnessed by a police officer or recorded by a digital video monitor. The equipment would be a district expense.
Right now, the fine is $200.
“Is there a way the [expected] $41.8 million in tickets could be sent back to us?” Member Glen DiGravio asked. “That would be fantastic. It would pay for itself.”
Member Fred Small said the legislature was speaking about that possibility.
“If this came through in legislation, I’m sure there would be grant funding for safety and security from the governor’s office so that all buses would have that,” Szymaniak said.
The MASC has also recommend all districts appoint a Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) coordinator to work toward anti-racism is only putting a title to a person, Superintendent of Schools Jeff Szymaniak said. The MASC is recommending that all districts adopt the position at its annual conference this month.
“We have that person in place,” he said. “If it has to be a certain, specific title, that makes me a little anxious.”
They hired Director of Equity and MTSS Nicole Semas-Schneeweis
School Committee on Wednesday, Oct. 11, but Szymaniak expressed concern that, he would have to rename the position and take away other responsibilities.
Committee member David Forth, who will represent the W-H School Committee at the MASC asked for guidance as to what questions he should ask.
“You can get up and speak and tell why we voted that way or what our question is,” Chair Beth Stafford said.
DiGravio asked if the resolution would make the position mandatory for school districts that don’t already have it and if there are districts that don’t have such a position now.
“These are just recommendations,” Stafford said.
Stafford asked the committee for meeting norms they wished to suggest for discussion and possible adoption. They will be revisited at the next meeting, when a full committee could attend. Member Steve Bois was absent from the meeting.
The review of MCAS results is also up for a change as the MCAS seeks a more consensus-building wider approach to an evaluation system with “meaningful input from legitimate stakeholders,” investigating the extent of bias in the testing and seeking an immediate moratorium on the MCAS test while an alternative method is developed.
Stafford reminded the School Committee that the MTA is sponsoring a petition to put the issue on a ballot.
“The devil we know is better than the devil we don’t know,” said committee member Hillary Kniffen, who teaches sophomore English. “It’s not going away, they’re talking about replacing it with something else. … I worry about this.”
MTA is working to remove the MCAS a graduation requirement.
DiGravio asked for clarification about what the resolution means by “high-stakes” and “bias.” The stakes are that students must pass it to graduate.
Bias, on the other hand, pertains to cultural bias in the wording of questions, especially for students who come from another country, and problematic accommodations for students with learning differences.
“It is a flawed test, to say the least,” Kniffen said.
“I have always been against it being a graduation requirement because I have a grandson who has Down Syndrome,” Stafford said. “He’ll never be able to pass that and not being able to do a portfolio [demonstrating his learning progress], why can’t he get a diploma?”
She said he would receive a certificate of attendance instead.
“Not good enough,” DiGravio said.
Both Kniffen and Stafford said they have never taught to the test.
Another bias is that students attending private schools do not have to take the MCAS to graduate.
Szymaniak said research has never support the efficacy of high-stakes tests. The committee endorsed the three resolutions and voted on several others.
Vice Chair Chris Scriven said the committee members should “all remember that they’re one of 10. We best serve our committee and our constituents when we act as a committee,” he said.
Member David Forth said communication and collaboration are important. Members do not always see things eye-to-eye, but the two approaches have helped reach an understanding of each other that benefits teamwork.
Member Hillary Kniffen said that once action has been taken on a vote, members should support the official position of the School Committee. It is a norm she has found in researching several other such outlines of norms across the state.
“The time to discuss our viewpoints [on a specific issue] … to have those conversations with people in the community and send emails, is prior to when that public hearing and vote is going to be taking place, not after,” she said.
Stafford said she wants to see the committee come to meetings with an open mind, members should think before they speak, treat one another as professionals and have a suggestion for every complaint.
Public Comment, again focused on the proposed Whitman Middle School project with Finance Committee member Rosemary Connolly spoke about an agenda item dealing with public presentations, noting there are locations available for them at libraries, the WHCA public access channel.
“I want the public to understand that school committees have very complex jobs,” she said. “School committee budgets are separate from municipal budgets – not just regionals, but also in regular towns and cities – because they have to adhere to strict laws and procedures.”
She also said school committees have to meet student achievement and reasonable cost goals to present to their towns.
“That’s a big ball to carry in a [relatively] short meeting,” she said, and they are provided with a lot of vetted information from sources including the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education. “To have a public entity come in and introduce something, could end up being political theater and it could be an abuse of the public trust that we swear to uphold.”
Connolly explained that Whitman’s Finance Committee and Select Board have each run into such situations unintentionally after allowing the public to come in to make presentations.
The Finance Committee had identified a weakness in busing and brought it to the schools about January 2022. Two citizens then came forward with a solution, presented as fact in a public meeting of both boards she said. The public thought the information was true, but Connolly said it was determined to be fraud in a meeting with DESE.
The problem identified by the Finance Committee still has not been solved, but “all of this theater had the public believing that it had been fixed,” and has caused political mistrust. Connolly said the people who put the “solution” forward have been looked on as experts and she fears the “face would be given” to the problem again.
Select Board member Justin Evans of Candlewick Lane, spoke to the decision the committee faces in the decision to borrow for the Whitman Middle School project: level debt vs. level principal.
“The way the town has always borrowed for projects has been by level principal, that way you take a premium the first year and the payments decline each year after that,” he said, noting there are other projects on the horizon. “That lets the town build other capital projects in over the 30 years it’s taking that debt out.”
Select Board member Shawn Kain of Forest Street spoke again about the public comment period.
“I don’t know why this is such an important issue to me,” he said, noting that he has been reflecting on why that is, but the closest thing he said he could come up with is that members of the public could come to a meeting and share. “I believe it’s very important that people can actively participate in that process,” he said of the way people used to be permitted to also speak during debate of issues before votes are taken.

HANSON – Representatives from the federal EPA and Mass. Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) met with the Select Board and other Hanson officials on Tuesday, Sept. 26 to discuss the newest phase of the site cleanup at the National Fireworks location in Hanover, that includes Factory Pond which borders an area of Hanson.
“As we all know, the Fireworks site has been a topic of discussion in the town of Hanson for many years,” Town Administrator Lisa Green said. “Just recently the cleanup … has entered into a significant new territory, which has brought to our attention the need to pay attention to this cleanup.”
Funds for the cleanup, which have been in trust through the Mass. Contingency Plan, are drying up and “it’s been discovered over time that more funding is required to continue cleanup of the site,” Green said.
The EPA and DEP officials were in Hanson to talk about the site and possible further action, condition of the site will be once the trust money does run out until additional funding is obtained.
“I also want to recognize that, certainly this is not the first time we’ve paid attention to this, because I want to be sure we give credit to our Conservation Commission, to our health agent and I know you’ve been on calls and we’ve had outside counsel we’ve hired,” Select Board Chair Laura FitzGerald-Kemmett said. “So, there’s been a lot of labor behind the scenes. … There hasn’t been a decision that we’ve been asked to make until now.”
Mandy Liao of the EPA made a presentation updating the board on the cleanup [the full hearing can be viewed on the WHCA-TV YouTube channel]. Diane Baxter and Cathy Kiley of the DEP Bureau of Waste Site Cleanup also attended the meeting. Kiley has worked on the Fireworks site cleanup for several years, and noted they have held monthly meetings which Hanson has been involved in on the progress of the site cleanup.
“First of thing I want to say is there has been no contaminants from the site found in public water supply, or in private wells near the site,” Baxter said.
Representatives of the EPA Remediation Branch and Community Involvement Office and Town Counsel for the project, Michael Campanelli attended either in-person or remotely.
DEP reviewed the site history, funding, risks and completed and ongoing work at the site while the EPA representatives discussed the Superfund and National Priorities List (NPL) process as well as outreach and community engagement. EPA/DEP and town meetings with towns began in June 2023 in Pembroke and Hanover and with Hanson in July. A joint meeting with all three towns took place July 17 followed by hybrid meetings such as the Sept. 26 session with the Select Board.
“MassDEP and the towns have been working toward the same goal for many years – and that’s to get the site cleaned up,” Baxter noted, reminding attendees that the former National Fireworks site contains mercury, lead, organic solvents and propellants and explosives used in the manufacture of munitions for the government and commercial pyrotechnics between 1907 and 1970.
“A tremendous amount of work has been done over the years to identify areas of soil and sediment contamination as well as surface water and groundwater contamination,” Baxter said. Unexploded ordnance has also been addressed at the site where munitions and explosives have been found in the soil and in Factory Pond.
Risks that have been found for people are from direct contact with contaminated soil and sediment, which are being addressed temporarily by restricting access; from ingestion of contaminants found in fish (for people as well as fish-eating birds and wildlife); and from people accessing the southern portion of the site, including Factory Pond.
Steps toward
Superfund
Between 2017 and August 2023, more than 190,000 munitions (35,510 pounds or 17.75 tons) have been removed from the site, of which 21,080 items (11 percent) contained explosives destroyed on site by Mass. State Police.
Munitions removal is expected to be completed by October 2024.
As a result of a bankruptcy settlement, DEP received about $73.84 million in trust for the cleanup, according to Kiley. There is about $10.31 million left after investigation and response activities, and work that has been authorized, but not yet billed. Predicted costs for completing the required environmental remediation is estimated to be more than $200 million.
“As a result of this, the [DEP] requested EPA involvement to consider an option for cleaning up the site and how we might be able to proceed [through the Superfund NPL process],” Kiley said.
The Superfund allows the EPA to clean up a contaminated site and force responsible parties to either do that work or reimburse the EPA-led cleanup work, according to Laou. The NPL is a list of sites the EPA determines require a more detailed investigation, which can determine whether long-term threats to human health and the environment exist. Only NPL sites are eligible for Superfund resources.
“Right now, we are conducting a site reassessment to review the data that has been collected between 2012 … and now,” Liao said. “We want to determine what data gaps are there and what available reports that DEP produced.”
If EPA pursues an NPL listing, they will conduct an expanded site inspection, develop a Hazard Ranking System (HRS), obtain a letter of concurrence from the governor, which takes about a year, and propose the site to NPL. A 60-day comment period follows that.
FitzGerald-Kemmett asked what happens if a property owner refuses to give permission to access their land for the EPA site assessment.
“We’ll try to work around it, but we have attorneys that will work with the property owners to help them better understand the process and why their cooperation is need for us to help clean up the site,” Liao said, noting their presence was to make sure the town agreed to participate in the process. While letters of endorsement are welcome, they are not required.
Select Board member Ann Rein asked how long it would take to resume the cleanup.
“We would need to first list the site on the NPL list to even get the resources to start cleanup,” Liao said.
“The only reason I’m asking is I’ve been, as a person, following this for many, many years. Decades,” Rein said. “So, to think we’re just now at the point where we’re going to go this route – it should have been done a long time ago. That’s why I’m a little impatient that it’s going to go.”
She added that she has heard the $200 million estimated as necessary for environmental remediation by EPA representatives, was closer to $400 million.
“We knew it was going to be more than $200 million, but we don’t know what the amount is going to be,” Kiley said. “One would think [EPA] was going to do their own investigation, their own character of the full nature of contamination [but] we were making estimations of funds with the limited information we have, knowing that … it’s well beyond what we had in the trust fund.”
FitzGerald-Kemmett asked what specifically was involved under those figures. Kiley said previous figures were in regard to remuneration above Factory Pond Dam as well as removal of unexploded ordnance, but she was uncertain if that referred to if the dams were removed.
Water issues
Rein and FitzGerald-Kemmett said those plans involved damming the Drinkwater River, draining and dredging it to remove contaminated soil.
“We’ve had somebody since come and talk about it to a point past Factory Pond Dam,” FitzGerald-Kemmett said.
Kiley recalled there was permitting in place to consider different options including how to best address that contamination.
“Going forward, those numbers could very well change in terms of how EPA decision is in terms of how they further refine, get a lot more data,” she said.
FitzGerald-Kemmett also asked, should the area become a Superfund site, what happens if the price tag does go above $200 million?
“I’ll say Hanson has not been treated as a full partner from the beginning in this process and that’s a universally held opinion by the citizens of Hanson,” she said, adding they want some say in the way EPA is addressing the issue in the town for their citizens.
Depending on when they finish the site reassessment to review the data that has been collected between 2012, the timeline for completing the work depends, in part, on how quickly they can get started as a Superfund site, Liao said. Worst-case scenario, that could be “a couple of years.”
While Hanson wants to get on the NPL list for being considered a Superfund, Select Board Vice Chair Joe Weeks asked what happens if another town doesn’t want it on the list?
Baxter said that while letters of support to the governor are not necessary, they are helpful as the DEP works to convince the governor it is the right thing to do.
“One of my worries is that squeakier wheels trying to get it off the list will prevail, and I’m just curious what the process is …so our voice is weighted as much as a larger community might.” Weeks said, seeking assurance that Hanson’s voice will receive as much weight as a larger community.
“It isn’t veto power, per se, from any one town,” Baxter said. “It’s just a matter of whether the governor agrees that it’s the right thing to proceed. We hope to have support with the three communities, obviously.”
“We are too,” Weeks said.
“This site has always had one town that did not want to have anything done about it,” Rein said. “That town is going to have to get over it, because it’s time.”
Liao said that community involvement staff will also determine if more joint meetings with the towns are wanted after they meet with Pembroke this month.
Conservation Agent Phil Clemons stressed the importance of recognizing that the site does not follow political boundaries.
“It is a watershed which is somewhat extensive and really very prominent in terms of its quality and its value to, not just the immediate towns in this region, but to the state and New England – and you can go as far as you like…” he said. “Our part of this region has been under-studied.”
Conservation Commission Chair Frank Schellenger said, while the EPA wanted the meeting, in order to obtain Hanson’s support, it is very important that Hanson residents participate in that. He said more residents should be informed and that there are at least four towns downstream that are potentially impacted by the site and cleanup effort.
“The water and sediment issue has to be addressed,” he said. “The only way to do that is with the EPA and the NPL.”
Fire Chief Robert O’Brien said information about site contaminants has not trickled down to public safety officials unless Health Agent Gil Amado brought it back from his meetings, since he became chief.
FitzGerald-Kemmett asked if the EPA would be willing to hold a public information meeting.
“We’ll get better feedback if we have an educated public and if we give people an opportunity to ger educated, I think we’ll all be the better for that,” she said. Both the EPA and DEP representatives agreed.
Former Select Board member Matt Dyer, who works with the MWRA, said that agency would be meeting the week of Oct. 2 to further discuss the project. FitzGerald-Kemmett asked Green to add a page to the town Facebook page dedicated to the Fireworks site as a way to further inform the public.

WHITMAN – Police officer Kevin Harrington officially became Sgt. Kevin Harrington, during a promotion ceremony held at the Tuesday, Sept. 26 Select Board meeting, with his mother and his wife pinning on his new badge.
Vice Chair Dan Salvucci presided in the absence of Chair Dr. Carl Kowalski. Member Justin Evans attended virtually.
The board had voted at its previous meeting to approve Harrington’s promotion. He was administered the oath of office by Town Clerk Dawn Varley before his mother Marilyn, who attended with his dad Edward and wife Windy pinned on his sergeant’s badge.
“Oh, can I stab him?” Marilyn Harrington joked.
“Oh, go for it!” Salvucci laughed. “If you stick him, we have the service dog here.”
Harrington is the handler for the department’s therapy dog, Nola.
State Rep. Alyson Sullivan-Almeida, R-Abington, presented him with a citation from the General Court and congratulated him on his “well-deserved” promotion.
“I know the community is going to benefit from you being a sergeant in this community that you love,” she said. “I think your post on Facebook choked me up a little bit – it could be hormones, though.”
Sullivan-Almeida had given birth to her first child recently.
In other public safety business, Fire Chief Timothy Clancy reported to the board about an unsolicited letter received in the mail by the fire department, from Donna Callahan including a gift of $5,000 in the name of her parents, James and Betty Geary, who had been Winter Street residents of Whitman and thanking the department for taking care of her parents in their later years.
“We reached out to her, and you can see the amount of money there, to make sure this is what she was looking for and what she wanted,” Clancy said. “She said she just wanted to help the fire department in any way [she could].”
After discussing it with Town Administrator Mary Beth Carter, he said it was decided that the best use of the funds was to place the money in the gift account.
“We thank her very much for her generous donation,” Clancy said.
Callaghan also gave $30,019.99 in her mother’s name to the Whitman Council on Aging.
“Her mother had actually left that to the COA,” Carter said. “She really enjoyed attending the Council on Aging – playing cards, bingo, taking chair yoga were some of her favorites – and they were just very pleased to see this money go to the Council on Aging.”
“That’s an exceptional amount,” Salvucci said.

Superintendent of Schools Jeff Szymaniak gave high marks to the opening of school on Thursday, Aug. 31, despite some “blips in the road with busing,” thanking public safety personnel for participating in what has become their tradition of meeting incoming students at the schools for high-fives and smiles.
“The positivity from our emergency service workers is outstanding and I can’t thank them enough,” he reported to the School Committee at its Wednesday, Sept. 13 meeting.
New guidelines for buses went into effect this school year, and the Safety Committee met on Sept. 1 to review “each and every concern,” Szymaniak said, noting that panel meets annually.
“When parents have concerns around transportation, we gather the Safety Committee,” Szymaniak said. “It always includes public safety [officials], but this year, it included the superintendent, assistant superintendent, our building-level principals, the chair of the School Committee, and our two school resource officers, as well as our transportation director, her assistant and two members from First Student.”
Every complaint or busing issue was reviewed, Szymaniak repeated, changing or modifying some guidelines and not others. Both he and Transportation Director Karen Villanueva followed the buses around town to ensure the stops were safe.
“I ventured out and took some videos of some of the major concerns and I will be taking a couple of concerns back to the safety team,” Szymaniak said. He anticipated meeting with the Safety Committee again on Friday, Sept. 15 to make modifications based on his observations. “I have two public safety officers who travel the road, and we take it from an educational perspective, from a bus perspective and they take it from a safety perspective, and when they make recommendations or say that those stops are safe, we as a committee have to go on what they say.”
Szymaniak stipulated that some people are not happy with the decisions made, but he said he will review what he feels “might be debatable with the safety team.”
Additional modifications may be made to some stops when it snows, he said. “Even on sidewalks, if we’ve had heavy snow, we’ve had special bus pickups where parents can drop off their kids in certain areas for [safer] bus pickups,” he said.
During the course of the winter, buses will also stop to pick up students who are walking in the snow.
“I’m confident with the safety team’s decisions, although I looked at something today and I’m going to bring something back to the safety team,” he said. “I think we’re in a good spot with times. I haven’t heard many complaints about times in my travels.”
Szymaniak did hear, on a hot day, that it was hot on the buses and some drivers had the windows up, but a parent clarified on social media that the windows were not up and that someone was reposting incorrect information they had seen or heard.
Parents are encouraged to call the Transportation office at 781-618-7491 from 6:15 a.m. to 4 p.m., when the office is staffed.
“When the last bus is done, I have somebody on the phone,” he said.
School Committee member Hillary Kniffen noted that there is still a problem with motorists passing stopped buses, as email traffic has shown that to be a concern or something people have seen happen.
“Is there a way that we can get more police presence – more visual public safety out in the morning on these routed [such as routes 14, 18, 27 and 58] roads?” she asked. “People who live in these towns aren’t the ones we’re worried about.”
She suggested a safety sign such as those used in work zones might be something to remind people of the safety issues because the bus stops are new this year.
Assistant Superintendent George Ferro said it’s usually the overlap of the night shift officers to the day shift where police presence is not as available for school bus safety as they could be.
“We can ask them to be on those high-visibility roads because it is new for everybody,” he said.
“Nobody’s going to be happy with all the solutions,” Chair Beth Stafford said.
Committee member Fred Small brought up stop sign cameras as a possible deterrent, but he also said speed indicator signs also come equipped with cameras that transmit via cellular signal back to the police stations so they know when someone is speeding.
“You’d almost think they’d know when someone is going around a bus,” he said. “As far as I’m concerned, I’d love to see a police presence and I hope they throw the book at anyone who goes around a school bus like that.”
“We all know this is happening,” Stafford said. “It’s an ongoing situation. It’s awful.”
Szymaniak said the district’s legislators have reported that regional transportation reimbursement, meanwhile, has been level-funded for the third year at 79.5 percent, but Committee member Fred Small took issue with that.
“It’s time to dig up the votes,” Small said.
With an extra $2 million infused in regional transportation, Szymaniak said Rep. Josh Cutler, D-Duxbury, calculated that W-H could expect a reimbursement rate of between 85 and 90 percent this coming year.
Business Manager John Stanbrook said Cherry sheet figures show revenues up $620,825 over last year and assessments are up by $308,444 for a total increase of $3122,381 – or 1.25 percent.
However, the district receive $21.799 on revenue and an additional assessment of $220,000 over what was voted – down $242,391, “which is almost the entire amount of regional transportation,” he said. “We overbudgeted actual costs … and the reimbursements will be at what the commonwealth decides to give us.”

HANOVER — As South Shore Tech plans its addition/renovation – or possibly new construction – the regional vocational high school has already expanded its membership once, with the addition of Marshfield, and is hearing of potential interest from another town that could raise the membership roster to 10 in time.
The aim is for a ribbon cutting somewhere in the 2028-29 school year, but there are some issues to be solved in the meantime.
It’s happening at a time when school officials are looking at new ways to serve students who wish to attend, but are wait-listed, and the Biden Administration is boosting vocational education as a road to the middle class that does not require a traditional college degree.
“Part of what we’re factoring in is there’s a great demand for kids to come here,” Superintendent-Director Dr. Thomas J. Hickey said Friday, Sept. 8. “We do well with the kids who want to come here. … We know the state would support a larger enrollment.”
It’s very early in their exploration, but Pembroke has formed a regional planning committee to explore vocational education options, and have toured SST as part of that process.
Right now, Pembroke students would only be able to attend as sophomores or higher, if there is space. The average waiting list stands at about 75 students each year, which is also expected to increase with the addition of Marshfield.
“With a new facility, we intend it would be open to adults [as it is now],” Hickey said, noting he was speaking of more than the adult night-school students looking to update their skills. “I’m talking about a future where, if you didn’t come to South Shore as a rising ninth-grader, there’s a place for you as well.”
Giving community college-bound students in the member towns’ other high schools a dose of technical training while still attending their current school is his goal.
“Imagine a program, where we had a kid in grade 12, come from a traditional high school, where they designed his or her schedule to … get half their senior year credits there, then come over to [SST] and go into one of a few programs and start to get some basic skills training, if we were trying to make it during the day,” Hickey said. “We are not going to be able to build a school that’s going to eliminate our waiting list, no matter what we build.”
It’s a plan that doesn’t have to wait for the new building, either, he explained.
“With the state grants we’re getting, we are right now able to open these doors to current seniors,” he said. “I don’t have the fine print, but that’s something they’ve adjusted slightly.”
He would like to pilot it with one school district to start off in able to determine interest.
“If you attach it to incentives like day credit for the high school or an internship is baked into it … and some externships, I feel an obligation,” Hickey said. “Regional voke-techs are not going to sustain the regional economy, there’s going to have be [other] kids not coming to regional vokes, who want and will end up being the future economic drivers in a lot of these industries who don’t get outsourced. We have to be the hub of that in this area.”
While it doesn’t guarantee a job after graduation, it instills confidence and focused direction in students who need it.
Pembroke also has to be willing to join a region beginning a building project that does not yet have a price tag. Marshfield was willing to join under those conditions.
“It’s basically a pay-as-you go number,” Hickey said, with the understanding that, after five years SST would revisit the number of Marshfield students, divided by the total enrollment with the resulting percentage representing their share of the cost.
“We should hopefully have a design project, a voter-approved project and be nearing the end of construction,” he said. “We will know, hopefully in early 2025 if this project is going to be supported by the voters.”
To get there, a preferred design must be decided by this December. Another six months will be spent on the final package, to be submitted in June 2024, and they anticipate final MSBA approval next August.
“I would say we are about a year behind Whitman,” Hickey said.
Then they would have to negotiate a fair amount for Pembroke to come in and support a new building to divide that cost by 10. Right now, it’s a pie with nine slices based on enrollment.
“We’re going to need a lot of information from a lot of smart people,” before a design is selected. he said. “We’ve got three designs [for new construction options] that all follow roughly the same design.”
Their architectural firm the district is working with, Drummey Rosane Anderson Inc. [DRA], has worked with them before and know the district’s needs.
“We worked with DRA five years ago, when we were trying to become a candidate for this program, and they helped us do some visioning, so some of these ideas – especially the addition/renovation ideas – are similar to what we’ve seen a little while ago,” Hickey said. “I think what’s going to come of these options is some feedback … maybe it will generate an additional option, or maybe they’ll take an existing option and modify it.”
When Marshfield freshmen walk through the doors for the 2024-25 school year, Hickey said he anticipates that their share of the student body at around 18 or 19 percent – or about 30 students – affecting the other eight communities “a little bit.”
“We have historically had a couple of towns not us their allotments,” he said. Norwell and Scituate are allotted space based on the size of the grade eight class, but by mid-winter there are usually left-over seats.
“There probably won’t be many leftover seats because we’ve got six communities that are filling their slots,” he said. “We’ll have to see how many Marshfield kids come.”
But at the moment, Pembroke has not even made a specific request.

HANSON – Sometimes the wheels of government turn slowly, other times it just seems that way.
The Select Board held a layout hearing for Alden Way, Gray Lane and Stringer Lane Tuesday, Sept. 5 as a protocol step before the Oct. 2 special Town Meeting. Working to fill the time before starting the hearing scheduled for 6:15 p.m., became a demonstration of the adage that time is an illusion.
“What can we talk about?” Chair Laura FitzGerald-Kemmett asked.
“Committee updates?” Vice Chair Joe Weeks said.
“We could do Committee updates,” she said. “That’s a great idea, Mr. Weeks, did you have any?”
“No,” he said.
“Oh, OK, you’re just being controversial,” she joked.
Once underway, the hearing lasted about five minutes.
“We’ve already done this,” FitzGerald-Kemmett said of the process ahead of the May Town Meeting when the article was passed but ran into some clerical issues. “But it’s required anytime we have this type of an article.”
Once open, it became apparent that even the citizen’s petition article sponsors had no questions remaining. After reading the article, FitzGerald-Kemmett was met with silence when she asked for public comment.
“This is new for us, too, and we hope that we never have to have another second layout hearing for anything like this,” she said. “We’ll just give it a couple of respectful minutes because it’s a hearing.”
To help fill in the time, Weeks read out the motion.
“Well done, sir,” FitzGerald-Kemmett said.
“I used to be afraid to read [aloud] in elementary school,” Weeks said.
“Well, you seem to have gotten over that impediment,” she replied. “We’re proud of you.”
After a pause, board member Ed Heal asked if they were going to vote on it.
“We are going to vote on it,” FitzGerald-Kemmett said. “Did you know some show tunes? We need to fill a little bit of time.”
Weeks reiterated that the issue was something the town had already voted on at the last Town Meeting, but clerical errors had resulted, and the board wanted to make sure it was done correctly so the people get what they asked the board to do, which was accepting the streets.
“It’s really more of a housekeeping issue,” he said. “I think we all support it, and we’re going to support it at the October Town Meeting.”
FitzGerald-Kemmett then determined they had stretched the time as long as they could, with no questions or concerns brought forward and called for the vote. The board unanimously approved the article.
Slated for a 6:15 p.m. start, FitzGerald-Kemmett had found it tough going to fill the time before the hearing began. After ticking off appointments and resignations, and an event approval, she asked what else might be addressed in the five minutes remaining.
Member Ann Rein mentioned the town’s website has an Economic Development link that FitzGerald-Kemmett had not been aware of, but she took the opportunity to announce the Hanson Business Network “really, really, really are not accepting anybody else [as a vendor] for Hanson Day.”
She’s extended it before, but the space is “maxed out” and cannot accommodate any more.
There will be 60 participants sponsoring booths at the Saturday, Sept 16 event, including Tick Races by Plymouth County Entomogist Blake Dinius to draw attention to the need to be aware of Lyme Disease and other tick-borne diseases. The event is from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m., on the Town Hall Green. The Rain Date is Sept. 23.
Several food trucks will also be on hand.
“Essentially, no healthy food choices will be available, but you can come there, knowing that and plan accordingly,” FitzGerald-Kemmett quipped. “Does anybody else have any committee updates? …

The School Committee on Wednesday, Aug. 23 heard some welcome news about the Whitman Middle School project and a Seal on Bi-Literacy program and a time on learning grant worth $1 million over five years Whitman Middle School.
Committee members David Forth and Hillary Kniffen were absent and Glen DiGravio attended remotely.
Director of Equity and MTSS, Dr. Nicole Semas-Schneeweis and district Family Liaison for Multi-lingual Learners Felicia Barboza introduced the Bi-Literacy program discussion and what it means for students.
Barboza made some introductory comments in Portuguese, noting that, while it may have been surprising to hear her do that, it is one experience that many of the district’s multi-lingual learners have when they come to school every day when teachers, staff and other students speak to them in English.
She translated her Portuguese remarks, saying her name, title, and her background as a one-time WHRSD student. She said she was there to discuss bi-literacy.
“Regardless of the challenges of many of our multi-lingual learners face, they still rise up to the challenges many of them are presented with,” Barboza said, noting many are proficient in English by the time that they leave WHRHS. “We want to be able to honor them and award them for how much they have achieved by [attaining] proficiency in English.”
Being a multi-lingual learner is an asset and a huge part of the reason why she has the job she does, is because of her capability in speaking two languages. When Barboza was a student, the Seal of Bi-Literacy was not available, but was an opportunity she said she would have loved to have.
Unlike many of her students, English was her first language and Portuguese her second language which she started learning at age 7, while her students are learning English as a second language.
“Our hope is that by offering this distinction, it will encourage students to pursue a second language, while also maintain their proficiency in their first language,” she said.
Semas-Schneeweis said the Mass. Seal of Bi-Literacy recognized high school graduates who attain proficiency in English and one other world language by graduation.
“It is a credential that is recognized by both colleges and employers as a skill,” she said, noting that WHRSD now joins more than 170 other districts in the Commonwealth offering the seal and also recognizes the English language achievement of students who speak another language first.
Committee member Dawn Byers asked if they could predict how many years of a second language English-first students would need to study to attain the seal.
Semas-Schneeweis said it would be offered to seniors in the spring to give them the best opportunity as the program was piloted with juniors last year, but ideally, they would like to see some sort of world language program returned to the middle schools to help with the achievement.
Going into next year, the seal will be part of the senior-year curriculum, she said. It was piloted with the juniors because it was not something the seniors were expecting this spring – it was only something extra being asked of them.
Time on learning grant
Assistant Superintendent George Ferro announced the district has received a 21st Century CCLC grant of $214,000 to fund an additional learning time program for the Whitman Middle School for the next five years. Of that, $154,000 will fund programs during the school year and $60,000 for summer programs.
The total value of the grant over the five-year period is more than $1 million.
“As you know we’ve had what’s called an additional learning time grant at the high school for years, where we are able to offer [support to] students from eighth grade, coming into ninth grade who are identified [as] needing extra support,” he said “They have a summer program here, they earn some credits here and then during the course of the school year, students who are either identified, or self-identify, as having some academic or social-emotional needs … we always offer four days a week an after-school program.”
Ferro said late bus transportation offered to those students is a highlight of the program with no budgetary impact.
That type of enrichment will now be offered at WMS through the federal competitive grant offered through the state.
WHRHS Math teacher Christopher Szkutak, who has run the high school enrichment program, applied for the grant to bring the program to the Whitman Middle School, where a separate site coordinator will be appointed with Szkutak in charge of all 21st Century remedial and after-school learning.
Ferro said there are no funds at this time, through the grant, for elementary grades. The high school program also offers credits, called floating credits, to participating students.
“There was a decision made, with Chris Szkutak in looking at our numbers and in talking to the middle school principals, that at this point in time due to the needs of the Whitman Middle School – you can only go for one school at a time – we chose Whitman Middle,” he said. When the application period opens again next spring, they would apply focused on Hanson Middle School, according to Ferro.
The committee unanimously voted to support Committee member Fred Small’s motion to send Szkutak a letter crediting and thanking him for his initiative and efforts. Byers added her thanks and stressed that, for working parents like her, the transportation piece of the grant was invaluable.
Bus routes
While on the subject of transportation, Superintendent of Schools Jeff Szymaniak said some guidelines have been formed to help reduce the time students are spending on buses.
“It’s not door-to-door service, it’s a school bus,” Szymaniak said after parents complained when some children were on the bus between 45 and 50 minutes. He had called other area superintendents to see how they were dealing with any similar extended bus rides.
One modification would curtail the practice of buses entering cul de-sacs, in agreement with state guidelines, unless it is “really necessary,” he said noting that there could be a person in the area who should not be near children.
Elementary students would be asked to walk as much as .7 miles to a bus stop. Right now the furthest any student is walking is .61 miles. Middle and high school students would be walking up to one mile.
“Doing that changed some of the routes,” he said, noting Indian Head had some routes of about 28 to 42 minutes, now he said the longest ride for Indian Head students is 32 minutes and the shortest is 28. “The longest ride at Hanson Middle is 34 minutes,” he said. “The longest ride at Duval is 27 and the longest ride at Conley is 23 minutes.”
Szymanian said it should control dropping off at the end of the driveway.
“That’s the number one thing I seem to get phone calls about,” Small said.
“This is a change, but it’s a change for the good of all,” Szymaniak said, because ridership is tied to state reimbursement. The state requires buses to run at 75 percent of capacity.
The change would have no budgetary impact.
The School Committee’s discussion of meeting protocol and norms was postponed to the next committee meeting on Wednesday, Sept. 13.
“We would really like everybody to be present when we’re discussing the norms, because then everybody … would be in the game,” Stafford said.

HANSON – The October special Town Meeting ballot will include a space-saver article addressing a potential change in school transportation costs.” Town Administrator Lisa Green said.
The town will seek some guidance on the issue before its Tuesday, Aug. 29 meeting.
“We’re going to have to figure out transportation,” she said of the need to transport a student to Norfolk County Agricultural High School. “I need to fashion an article that’s going to provide that extra money. … This is going to cost the town about $54,000.”
Select Board Chair Laura FitzGerald-Kemmett asked if Green has checked with legal counsel as to whether the agreement in question with the school in question includes busing.
“Did I not read that there was an article for out-of-district busing thoroughly being contemplated by the legislative body?” FitzGerald-Kemmett asked.
Green said she didn’t know if it would happen in time, before the beginning of the school year on Aug. 30.
“I want to bring to the board’s attention a situation that came to light today,” Green said during the Tuesday, Aug. 15 meeting. “It has to do with transportation for a student.”
“That’s a lot of money,” FitzGerald-Kemmett said. Initially hesitant to entertain the issue, she asked if it pertained to the Town Meeting warrant.
“Information was brought to my attention today regarding additional money that we’re most likely going to have to expend on transportation per student,” Green said, explaining there had been an issue pertaining to the town having to pay transportation costs for one new student from one new location to the school.
“It was brought to my attention today that the situation continues” she said. It leaves the town in a situation of having to figure out student transportation and where the money is going to come from. She said she needed time to write the article that is aimed at proving that need while she works with the town accountant to prove the need for it.
“I did make a call to DESE (the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education),” regarding what we can do regarding the situation,” Green said. She was expecting a call back from them.”
Town Accountant Eric Kinsherf said that when the numbers become known they can be entered into the agricultural line item.
“I’m curious,” FitzGerald-Kemmett said. “I’m seeing a lot of money articles in the warrant, and I’m curious as to whether you think if we have the money to pay for all of these?”
Kinsherf said he didn’t at that time, as he is in the process of closing the books. He said he would know more when he got an initial look at free cash.
“It just struck me as a lot of money for an October Town Meeting,” FitzGerald-Kemmett said to the agreement of other board members.

Maquan Street
The town has receive some good financial news recently.
Green announced that, thanks to the efforts of Hanson’s state Rep. Josh Cutler, D-Duxbury, and state Sen. Michael Brady, D-Brockton, a fiscal 2024 budget earmark of $100,000 has been received to finance a subsurface enginering work on a water pipe below the road surface – which had delayed progress on the road work being funded through the MassDOT Transportation Improvement Project (TIP) program.
The subsurface work is required because of where the pipe, which supplies water to Abington and Rockland is located. Those communities were not interested in joining Hanson in having the engineering evaluation done, Green said.
“That was huge,” she said. “So a very big thank you to our legislators for helping us obtain this money.”
“Fortunately, our legislative partners stepped in and put in for an earmark of $100,000 and the governor just signed that budget, including the $100,000,” she said.
That engineering study can provide the town the green light to move forward on the $13 million road project funded by state grants.
A $90,000 grant,provided by the Mass. One Stop for Growth program and applied for by Planner Anthoney DeFrais, has been received by the town to begin engineering work on the pedestrian improvements at the Hanson Commuter Rail station on Main Street/Route 27.