HANOVER – Back-to-back meetings of the South Shore Tech School Committee and School Building Committee on Wednesday, March 20 updated the ballot timing and reviewed the process for selecting a project construction manager.
During the School Committee’s regular meeting, Superintendent/Direction Dr, Thomas J. Hickey noted Town Meeting season was approaching rapidly for the district as Abington holds its Town Meeting on Monday, April 1 and Scituate’s is on Monday, April 8.
Hickey said his evaluation goals for the year include cyber security, the MSBA process and students receiving third party licenses.
Hickey said he planned to convene with town clerks in district communities on April 24.
“At that meeting, my hope is to get updated feedback from them.” he said, noting he has already received one request to consider moving a January vote to closer to spring 2025. “I asked if that meant something like March or April, the answer was, ‘yes.’ … so we are anywhere from 10 to 12 months from the voters of our district rendering a decision.”
Saturday, March 1 or Saturday, March 8, 2025 are both possible election dates, he said.
“We may see some of our communities, which has nothing to do with us, decide that on the same day to have a separate ballot, ask the sequence of A1) Do you support the vote project? And A2) are you willing to pay for it through a debt exclusion? … That way town financial teams would know where they stand.”
“How do we inform our communities?” Mahoney asked.
Carlson said that, aside from the usual marketing materials such as the use of a website and flyers, talking to people is the best avenue.
“To date, we’ve been trying to go to public meetings and things like that,” Carlson said. “Over the summer, there’s farmer’s markets … having conversations with people, I think will be an important part. … Nobody can advocate for the project, but we can provide facts.”
“What can we do to convince the state [that] the cost of vocational education is a lot more than a traditional regular high school?” Salvucci asked.
Franceschi said a recent project by Tri-County saw discussion of the need to get more vocational representation on the MSBA board.
The Building Committee, on which most of the School Committee also serves, heard a project update from the Construction, according to Manager Jennifer Carlson of LeftField. The Building Committee also voted to appoint OPM representative Carlson, architect representative Carl Franceschi of DRA and awarding authority representatives Hickey and School Committee members Robert Mahoney and Robert Mello to the at-risk prequalification and selection committees.
The state requires those representatives to serve on the committee approving the project moving forward with the procurement process, which the inspector general has approved.
The selection committee reviews the statement of qualifications to decide which are qualified to move on to the next round, conduct interviews and, ultimately votes to award the construction manager’s contract.
Abington School Commitee member Mahoney, of SST Dean of Students Robert Mello, who holds an unrestricted construction supervisors license, were selected based on their construction experience, said Chair Robert Heywood who represents Hanover.
“This is a process that’s based on the qualifications, but we do have to see the price before we do the final ranking,” Carlson said.
The aim is to have the process complete for the SBC to approve the construction manager by May 23.
The construction manager feasibility pre-con fee range, which gets the project through schematic design, is between $55,000 to $65,000 from the $305,565 in remaining uncommitted funds.
Whitman committee representative Dan Salvucci asked when town votes on the new school project would begin.
Bringing them back to the matter of the schematic design, Franceschi noted that, while they are not there yet, they “don’t have to wait around” to take the project to the next level.
“The basic goal of this phase is to describe the scope, the schedule and the budget so by the time we submit again to the state, those three areas are well-defined and everyone is willing to live with it because it really becomes a contract,” he said.
Now that the specific site of the new building is better known, DRA’s engineers can go back to make boring and test kits in more specific locations to know what the soils and ground water is like.
“It’s pretty important information from a design point of view,” Franchesci said.
A traffic engineer will also be more closely studying the traffic flow past the school.
“So basically, we’ll be refining the design,” he said. “There’ll certainly be fine-tuning.”
Mahoney asked when the committee would see a “drop-dead date” when they learn MSBA numbers.
Carlson said the budget is part of the schematic design submission delivered to the MSBA in August and, two weeks later, the whole schematic package, which the MSBA will have two months to provide the numbers. Officially, the date would be around Oct. 30.

The Whitman-Hanson School committee voted 9-1 on Wednesday, March 20, after impassioned arguments on both sides of the fiscal 2025 budget issue – both in the public comment periods and among themselves – to support the level-service budget of $63,590,845 budget unveiled on Feb. 1.
The figure can be lowered if state adjusts Chapter 70 funds for inflation before Town Meeting. The Committee voted 9-1 against reconsidering the first vote, which would have not allowed them to change the figure later on as they expressed uncertainty about what the effect of such a vote would really be.
A vote to use excess and deficiency to lower assessments can be made at any time before Town Meeting.
The Committee unanimously voted to approve a debt assessment of $251,903 covering the high school and HVAC debt for Hanson and debt assessment of $623,531 the high school debt and a bond anticipation note for the new middle school for Whitman.
The proposed fiscal 2025 budget represents a 4.7 percent ($3,105,687) spending increase because of cost increases, according to Superintendent of Schools Jeff Szymaniak, who said in February that, if accepted as presented, the budget would set assessment increases as 11.03 percent ($19,695,553) for Whitman and 10.20 percent ($15,325,369) for Hanson. Both assessment figures were cerified as well, by 9-1 votes. Member Fred Small was the dissenting vote in all of them.
The figures were brought before the Committee to start discussion about where and how the budget may be cut. But for Committee member David Forth, there was nothing to discuss, and everything for students to lose [see related story below].
Made atfter a motion by Hanson Committee member Glen DiGravio, the vote now leaves the issue in the hands of the voters.
“We’re here to tonight to push this thing forward because we have to,” he said. “We’ve got to go forward.”
He said, personally, he favored the level-service budget moving on to Town Meeting and the community would vote on it.
“It’s their money,” he said. “We’re like a poorly run business that, without an infusion of cash, we’re going under.”
Whitman Town Administrator Mary Beth Carter, in response to a question from Szymaniak, said even with a 5-percent earmark for the school budget, they plan to use $500,000 from free cash to balance the town budget.
“I’m almost there at level, using that with drastic reductions, of course, to what was requested [by town departments],” she said.
Hanson Town Administrator Lisa Green said that, even with a 5.85-percent assessment, her town is almost $1 million in deficit.
“Our free cash is at $1.4 million,” she said. “We would basically need to use most of that. Anything higher than that pretty much is going to wipe out all our free cash and gives us nothing for capital until October. … Regardless of what the schools do, we’re at a deficit on all of those figures [Szymaniak spoke of as assessment formulas], which may mean staff [cuts] on our end, as well.”
Whitman Select Board member Shawn Kain said all three boards are bare-boned and super-efficient, so there is little room for cuts.
“The best thing we can do is get on the same page and move forward together so we can get past this in a way that the community will accept,” he said.
Select Board member Justin Evans said Whitman’s new growth for fiscal 2025 is looking to be $250,000. New growth plus Prop 2 ½ is $1.2 million the current year.
Before the budget discussion a handful of Whitman officials said the 5.58 percent assessment was within a comfortable margin of the 5 percent their Select Board budget line items.
Szymaniak began the budget discussion with a review of where the assessment proposals were left the previous week.
Noting that the level-service budget presented Feb, 2 “didn’t go over well with our communities,” and following cuts proposed the previous week, both towns are earmarking the schools at about a 5 percent assessment increase, which he said presents “ a real challenge to our district budget.”
He thanked both town administrators for providing the district with the budget numbers they are dealing with.
“We might not agree where we’re at right now, but I appreciate the transparency of having some numbers to work with,” Szymaniak said. “I presented the Committee some options for what that would look like if we come down from 5.13 percent.”
He reviewed those options at Wednesday’s meeting, all the way down to a 5.8-percent assessment increase – including the unemployment numbers, which kick in with the new fiscal year on July 1, included in the personnel reductions. If a teacher does not have a position by June 30, the district must begin paying them unemployment compensation until they are called back or secure another job at equal pay to what they are now receiving at W-H.
“We learned that through COVID,” he said. The district was forced to pink-slip 62 people during the fiscal 2021 budget process because that budget – being worked out during the height of the pandemic was fraught with uncertainty. Most returned or found gainful employment elsewhere.
Szymaniak went over his recommendations in the event cuts are necessary, before the Committee discussed them.
To reach the assessments the towns can afford without an override, the district is 5 percent, they have said to Szymaniak and in public meetings.
“My recommendation – if we have to – if this Committee has to move away from the 5.13 percent assessment … I still recommend potentially using one-time funds, using circuit-breaker funds and not replacing five retirements and non-renewals for a total of five positions cut,” he said. That would mean a total cut of $910,500 and make the overall budget – not the assessment – a 4.04 percent increase. It would assess Whitman $19,135,687 (a 7.8 percent increase) and Hanson $14,974,786 (a 7.68 percent increase).
Deeper cuts are “where it gets a little bit uncomfortable” for running the schools effectively and carrying the additional 40-percent cost in the salaries of each person pink-slipped because of the cost of unemployment benefits to the district.
“I had told the Committee, and I shared with the district today, where cuts could come from,” Szymaniak said. “The only place I could take cuts from … I’m looking at Conley, Indian Head [elementary schools], Hanson Middle School, Whitman Middle School at the grade levels. You can probably assume that some of the retirements are coming from the high school because they are getting cuts, as well.”
The cuts could increase class sizes.
Szymaniak said the district has worked hard to serve its students, especially in kindergarten through grade five, which now average classes of 20 pupils and under, and grades six to eight, where classes average 20 to 22. In the high school, classes average between 22 to 25 students.
The cuts would bring the average for every elementary and middle school class to 25 with “hopefully no move-ins.”
He said he had a question from a community member about whether studies have been done on optimal class size.
“Yes, a lot before 2019,” he said. “Nobody’s really talking about that now because kids are different.”
Twenty-five students in a high school class used to be manageable, and while it is still doable now, it’s different, Szymaniak said. That same number, 25, in an elementary classroom was once considered a bit large, but manageable. Today, 20-pupil classrooms are considered challenging.
The district has interventionists, but Assistant Superintendent George Ferro mentioned last week that, where they are progressing and educating all kids, there will be a restructuring of how that happens if there are 25 students in a classroom.
Cuts to bring the assessment increase down to 4.04 percent, if the Committee supported it, would not really affect kindergarten to grade eight students, but high school students somewhat, but he said he gets really nervous about adequately serving students once they go below that percentage for cuts.
“Cutting five positions in the district isn’t awesome,” Szymaniak said. “There are retirements and non-renewals that we could probably get by [with]. It won’t be a tremendous increase in class size; however services will be lost. It’s not level-serviced.”
Excess and deficiency, which is revenue, of which the district is also using $250,000 to support the budget, he reminded the committee.
Szymaniak then listed the effects of each subsequent single percent cut from the assessment increase below 5 percent.
Bringing Whitman’s assessment down to $18,917,397 (6.84 percent assessment) and Hanson’s to $14,838,025 (6.85 percent assessment) would mean layoffs or terminations for seven employees.
The next layer, with total proposed cuts – including use of excess and deficiency and circuit-breaker – reduces the budget by $1,208,700. If the district has to get closer to the 5-percent mark, and Szymaniak’s calculations did not get that far – they went as far as 5.58 percent – because “I stopped there,” he said.
That layer of cuts eliminates an additional 8.5 staff members, but reduces Whitman’s assessment to $18,655,450 (a 5.58 assessment increase) and Hanson’s would be $14,673,972 (5.85 percent assessment). Total reductions in this scenario still puts the W-H school budget at a 2.9 percent overall increase over last year with $1,570,800 – or 20 professional staff member positions – in proposed cuts including the use of excess and deficiency revenues and circuit-breaker funds.
While paraprofessionals are professional staff as well, Szymaniak said he has not looked to making cuts there as yet.
“These are not retirements, these are people,” Szymaniak said, referring to the unemployment implications of those positions.
Committee member Dawn Byers asked Szymaniak if he could tell them what positions are involved with the five retiring staff members.
“I won’t say that at this point, because it’s retirements and non-renewals and replacements of those folks,” he said. “I know who my retirements are and they are retirements in elementary and high school.”
“But, is it a classroom teacher?” Byers asked, noting they could be a school nurse or other staff position.
“They’re all classroom teachers,” Szymaniak said. “I need to have that flexibility in who I need to replace based on who I need next year. I’m looking at five professional positions who are going to be lowest next year.”
“They’re not just retirements, some of them are non-renewals, which some of those people don’t know that yet, so we can’t say their names,” said Chair Beth Stafford. “We can’t say the position because they’ve not been notified.”
She said part of the problem is that some information won’t be available until April 1 or later from people returning who might not want to return from maternity leave or other long-term leave.
“We have to set this at this time,” she said. “Things can change, but we don’t know that and that’s an issue.”
“I’m not trying to be shady, if that’s a word,” Szymaniak said. “I have retirements, and there are some retirements I’m going to fill and there are some retirements I’’m not going to fill. It’s just going to depend on enrollments and what numbers look like as we roll them out and scheduling with each building next year.”
Elizabeth Dagnall, of School Street in Whitman, said she understood the position the school district is in as it tries to balance the budget without crippling an already tight spending plan.
“It’s a gross understatement to say that this budgeting stuff is complex, difficult, [but] the district is making strides that are beginning to have positive impact on each and every student,” she said. “It is imperative to focus on the need for programs like foreign language at the middle school, robotics … as well as keeping the interventions that are currently in place and working.”
She added that above all, it is crucial to work to move the district forward.
“I’m painfully aware that our financial landscape cannot be repaired overnight, nor can town-wide budgeting shortfalls be repaired solely by cutting education or pushing the narrative that investing in our students is problematic while all other spending is justified,” Dagnall said, asking that the committee support a budget that does not cut programs and continues to move the school district forward.
She also took issue with “terminology of a ‘school override’ at a Town Meeting to fix a problem that is not only residing within the school system.”
Whitman Select Board members Justin Evans and Shawn Kain also addressed the budget issue during the public forum.
Evans spoke of last year’s meeting between the two select boards and the School Committee to discuss the use of one-time funding to balance last year’s budget, in which they “agreed to do something different this year.”
“And I think that you have,” he said, noting that, so far Szymaniak has met with both town administrators several times in “productive meetings” since last summer.
Evans also noted during the committee’s budget hearing a couple of weeks ago that Whitman was projecting about $1.2 million in new revenue.
“What I don’t think I said was that, if you assess anything above that number, the FinCom has to balance the budget,” he said. “We have to present a balanced budget to Town Meeting for the town to vote on.”
That budget will show cuts to other departments.
“In that scenario, in all likelihood, I think the selectmen would present an alternative budget alongside, that would show a different number for the schools,” Evans said. “If that happens [we’d] likely want to work with you to present an override that would make up that difference, but we’re in a time crunch.”
The process for presenting an override to the towns would require the Select Board to vote 35 days before an election, which would mean April 12 is the deadline for such a vote.
“To avoid an override and live within Proposition 2 1/2 is going to take cuts from everyone, including Hanson’s town government as well,” he said. “If you think you can live with those cuts, assess a number close to the 5 percent that the towns have both said that they can deal with. If you can’t live with those cuts, it sets the budget higher but let’s set a meeting very soon between the three boards to work out a plan to fund it – likely with an override.”
Kain reminded the Committee of Assistant Superintendent George Ferro using the phrase “moral imperative” when discussing the reasoning behind the use of one-time funds to balance the budget.
“I agree with him,” said Kain, who is also an educator. “I am in the classroom and I do know what it’s like to work with kids who struggled through the pandemic.”
Some of his students are also struggling with the loss of either of – or both – their parents in the opioid epidemic.
“But the question I’d ask you to consider tonight is how to raise those funds,” Kain said, arguing that the best way to accomplish that is to work with the leadership of both towns to coordinate an override for anything above a 5 percent assessment increase.

It’s so much more than playing sports – or the score in the record books.
W-H students participating in the Special Olympics gave a presentation on the program to the School Committee on Wednesday, Feb. 13. The students earned a bronze medal in basketball (with a record of 6-2) and are now in the midst of floor hockey competition.
During the presentation, the team’s Inclusion ambassador, Eli, said Special Olympics was important for her mental health and social inclusion after students on her old, traditional sports teams had forced her to quit mainstream school sports.
A Hanson resident, Eli plays basketball, floor hockey, track and field, swimming, softball, soccer and flag football.
“I like being a part of Special Olympics because I get to meet new friends that become like family to me,” she said. “I get to play sports and have a chance in them since traditional sports are more difficult for me.”
She had tried traditional school sports but said coaches did not want disabled youths on their teams “because they thought it was not going to help the team in any way.
But Eli said her mom insisted she play, so she did.
“It was difficult to understand the rules and [disabled] athletes were not allowed any accommodations,” she said. “My teammates at the time told me I should just quit and they didn’t want anyone different on the team. That had affected my mental health badly and so, I quit sports, which was a difficult choice to make, since playing sports is how to help my mental health and social skills and try and make new friends,”
Eli said sports help her physically, too.
She joined Special Olympics in 2021 and gained more confidence, which helps her grow as a person.
Special memories from her Special Olympics participation include winning gold for softball, playing at Gillette Stadium and dropping the puck for a Northeastern University men’s hockey team.
“I am really proud of myself for becoming an inclusion ambassador for SOMA (the Special Olympics of Massachusetts) and want to have more people become aware of the Special Olympics so people with disabilities can be given the opportunity to participate in sports [which can] help them grow as a person in many positive ways.”
The basketball team’s Coach Leo said it was the first time the Whitman Panthers participated in that game.
“But we had a great year,” said, noting they collaborated with W-H basketball coaches Bob Rodgers and Tony Costa and their players for drills and practice games with the Whitman Panthers.
George Coffey, who recently retired from Special Olympics, said the towns of Whitman and Hanson have been so supportive of the local organization for about 25 years.
“Where I’ve been the most surprised for the support we’ve received, is – I don’t think you people know how many of the students have been assistant coaches on our teams.” he said. “They just show up and they’re really good.”
One such student, Isabel Baker, who graduated last year and is studying special education in Vermont because of her involvement with the Special Olympics here, is in the process of being hired as an intern at the Vermont Special Olympics organization.
He also noted former W-H special education teacher John Odom, who would switch schools whenever Coffey’s son, Jimmy, changed schools, to help him.
“John is now in the Hall of Fame with Special Olympics and I’m going to guess that no one on the School Committee or the school community is aware of that,” Coffey said. “John is one of my heroes because of this … everything he did was for the kids. He got nothing personally out of it, other than getting tired.”
Chair Beth Stafford confirmed that none of the committee had known about Odom’s Hall of Fame induction.
“We’re very proud to have the Best Buddies program up at the high school, and now we have it at the two middle schools,” Stafford said.
“I want to thank you very much for instilling in these kids the desire to become involved,” Coffey said.
School Committee member Dawn Byers asked what age students have to be to join Special Olympics and how interested families may reach out to join.
Coffey said the Panthers are a senior division program for students, but they can join the program age 6 to learn about the sports and go through pysical conditioning before they can play on a team or in an individual event. The age breakdown for teams is similar to that of a youth soccer program, he said.
The Panthers are 22 and up and was started specifically for former W-H students who had aged out of school programs.
“We’ve got some old people playing,” he joked.
“The more we do for you, the better it is for all of us – and I think it’s great for us, too,” said Committee member Fred Small, adding that he would like to see them come to meetings more often. “Let us share in your glory.”
Coffey went him one better.
The last Special Olympics floor hockey games worldwide will be played on Sunday, April 7.
“I think it would be great if, on the following week … the School Committee came down and played a game of floor hockey against our athletes,” he said.
Eli said she was aware there is unified track at the high school, but said she would like to see uniform sports in all seasons.
“Quite possibly it could be put in a league and we could go against other schools,” she said. “I just want to give more people an opportunity, not just track and field.”

By Tatylor Fruzetti
Express corrwspondent
Many Massachusetts communities will be faced with a decision by the end of the year – whether or not to follow the 2021 law to implement zoning for multi-family housing for communities that have commuter rail stations or are adjacent to them.
According to the mass.gov website, the new law requires MBTA communities to “have at least one zoning district of reasonable size in which multi-family housing is permitted as of right.”
The law is intended to address the housing crisis in Massachusetts and approximately 177 communities are subject to the MBTA Communities Law according to the state’s website.
The Multi-Family Zoning Requirement also calls for these housing communities to have a minimum gross density of 15 units per acre, the housing must be no more than 0.5 miles from a commuter rail station, subway station, etc., and no age restrictions.
Communities that benefit from the MBTA, and communities adjacent to MBTA communities, are being told that they must adopt the new zoning changes by Dec. 31, 2024 or else they will no longer be eligible for funds from the Housing Choice Initiative, the Local Capital Projects Fund, or the MassWorks infrastructure program.
Additionally, towns that fail to comply with the zoning changes may be subjected to civil enforcement per the state’s website.
On Feb. 14 2024, the Town of Milton held a special election to vote on the issue and ultimately overturned the MBTA Communities Multi-Family Overlay District which originally passed at a special town meeting on Dec. 11 2023.
The vote took Milton out of compliance with the state law, resulting in Attorney General Andrea Joy Campbell filing suit against the town of Milton on Feb. 27, according to a press release from the Office of the Attorney General.
“The MBTA Communities Law was enacted to address our region-wide need for housing, and compliance with it is mandatory,” said Campbell in the press release.
“Hanson is going to continue to move forward with creating the zoning for the MBTA requirement until a judgment of the Court directs otherwise,” said Hanson Town Administrator Lisa Green. “Something to understand is that we are simply creating the zoning, not the housing.”
Green said that Town Meeting will be provided with all the facts and will vote on the zoning changes.
“There must be an understanding that all towns are subject to legal action by the state for not complying with the legislation,” said Green. “The residents who attend Town Meeting and vote on the article will have to decide whether they prefer spending taxpayer dollars on legal fees to defend the town against a suit by the Attorney General’s Office and lose thousands of dollars in grants, or simply vote to create the zoning and benefit from the thousands of dollars of grants.”
Mary Beth Carter, Whitman’s Town Administrator, said the town is planning to put this proposed zoning by-law amendment on the May 6, 2024 Annual Town Meeting warrant. “I found it surprising, however Milton’s decision not to comply with this mandate has no influence on what will be decided in Whitman,” she told The Express. “Once the by-law is accepted, that may bring forth housing projects that up until now would not have been possible.”
According to Halifax Town Administrator Cody Haddad, the Zoning Bylaw Review Committee is looking to find a solution that would have a minimal impact on the town, but also allow for the town to be compliant with the MBTA Zoning Requirement.
“The situation in Milton, in my eyes, only further affirms that the state will continue to make this requirement a priority and towns that do not comply, will be penalized,” said Haddad. “We are cognizant of the state’s concern regarding the housing crisis facing Massachusetts, but we are also aware of what the Halifax community desires for their town.”
Haddad said that the Zoning Bylaw Review Committee will likely present their findings at the Fall Town Meeting.
“This topic can be controversial to many residents who are concerned that the zoning requirements could change the look and feel of a community, and impact several town services, including schools,” said Kingston Town Administrator Keith Hickey. “I am not sure of the reasons why Milton voted the zoning down but will be looking into why the sentiment of the voters was, if Kingston can learn from what occurred in Milton, we will do that.”
Hickey said that he plans to present the initial recommendations of Kingston’s MBTA subcommittee to the Selectmen at their meeting on March 12.
“Once the MBTA overlay district is finalized staff will have several informational meetings, website postings and informational tv shows on PACTV to introduce and discuss what is being proposed,” said Hickey.
Hickey said that the vote on the MBTA overlay district will be at the Fall Town Meeting.
“Hanson is going to continue to move forward with creating the zoning for the MBTA requirement until a judgment of the Court directs otherwise,” said Hanson Town Administrator Lisa Green. “Something to understand is that we are simply creating the zoning, not the housing.”
Green said that Town Meeting will be provided with all the facts and will vote on the zoning changes.
“There must be an understanding that all towns are subject to legal action by the state for not complying with the legislation,” said Green. “The residents who attend Town Meeting and vote on the article will have to decide whether they prefer spending taxpayer dollars on legal fees to defend the town against a suit by the Attorney General’s Office and lose thousands of dollars in grants, or simply vote to create the zoning and benefit from the thousands of dollars of grants.”
Plympton Town Administrator Elizabeth Dennehy said that Plympton has received a technical assistant grant award which it has used to acquire the services of Southeastern Regional Planning and Economic Devellopment District (SPREDD) who will assist the Town with drafting a zoning overlay-type district that will be in compliance with the Commonwealth’s guidelines. Once drafted, this would go through the normal process for review and potential adoption of the zoning bylaw edits. Dennehy said she doesn’t expect a vote will take place until the May 2025 Annual Town Meeting.

WHITMAN – While the nation seems to grow further divided with each passing day, a group of Whitman residents have looked to area towns for an idea aimed at bringing residents together.
It’s called the Whitman Freedom Team (WFT), and perhaps the holiday season is the best time to explore it.
Former teacher and principal Thomas Evans, and School Committee member Steve Bois are heading up the project, based on similar efforts in Natick and Scituate. There is no limit foreseen regarding the number of people who might choose to become involved, to aid in drawing on expertise specific to a situation.
Evans pointed to the fact that he and Bois are on opposite ends of the political spectrum.
“He’s a very dear friend of mine, he’s very fair, and that’s what I want,” he said. “I don’t want people to agree with me, I want people to tell me what the problem is, define it and then go to reconciliation.”
Select Board Chair Dr. Carl Kowalski said both Bois’ and Evans’ involvement speak well of the program.
“My attitude about finance committees changed when Steve became the chair of the Finance Committee,” Kowalski said. “And you, Tom, absolutely best principal I have ever seen.”
“You don’t know any others,” Evans said.
“I know a few,” Kowalski said. “To have you as the headpin on this will work out perfectly and I’m looking forward to working with you.”
The freedom team mission: “to preserve freedom through unity in the community,” according to Scituate’s website scituatefreedom.org.
“This is something that is going to take a while to germinate and to become official,” Evans said in his first public opportunity to discuss the program and its aims. “It’s something I’ve been working on since last March after watching a TEDXNatic talk on the program presented by Jamele Adams. TED Talks are influential videos from expert speakers on education, business, science, tech and creativity. The X in the program’s title denotes it is an independently organized TED event. A former dean of students at Brandeis University Adams is the first Director of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion for the Scituate School District in Scituate.
He gave the TED talk in Natick, dedicated to inspiring others to “be L.I.T.” – as love, inclusion and trust are keys to bringing communities together.
“We’re going to do it,” Evans said. “The more we talk about things and the more that we talk about how our country is, is moving toward being as good as we can be. We can help with that.”
Evans said Adams was not only passionate about the idea of Freedom Teams, but was also willing to help people form teams in their own communities. When no intervention is needed, they discuss ways to improve their communities.
“That’s why I’m here tonight, because of my friend, Jamele Adams,” Evams said, noting that Adams, of Franklin, has been very supportive of his efforts to form a team in Whitman. “My hope is that those who might be interested in helping in making the WFT a reality will give me a call and then we’ll go from there.”
While he supplied the Select Board with some information on what a freedom team is, he began his remarks on Tuesday, Dec. 5 by stressing what it is not.
“It’s not political,” Evans said. “It’s not partisan and it’s not a law-enforcement agency. The WFT is made up of Whitman volunteers and is based on the 10-point communal engagement model that roots pillars of the community, and people central in the community as a team dedicated to love, inclusion and trust. It might sound corny, but that’s what we’re about.”
While not a law-enforcement agency, Evans said the key to the team’s success will be the police chief, a person trained in what is lawful and whose expertise the team would defer to in such matters.
Chief Timothy Hanlon, for example, has advised that should the WFT set up a hotline number as Scituate has, it cannot be affiliated with the police department because of town liability issues.
Town Administrator Mary Beth Carter and Superintendent of Schools Jeff Szymaniak have also had helpful discussions with the team, Evans said.
“The superintendent … has offered us support,” Evans said noting issues often come to the attention of freedom teams through the schools. “He has allowed [Director of Equity and MTSS] Dr. Nicole Semas-Schneeweis … to speak with students who are interested in getting involved.”
Parents, a lawyer, clergy, and local political officials (including three Select Board members) are involved. Evans said he is working to include a social media expert, a mental health clinician trained in trauma and multicultural lenses and a transformational justice facilitator.
“We hope that more people will learn about this will learn about it, respond to it and come forward,” he said. “Tonight is just the beginning. There’s still much more to do before the Whitman Freedom Team becomes a reality, but rest assured, it will happen.”
The WFT is also working to organize as a 501 (c)3 non profit, which will allow it to stay independent of the town, raise funds to finance some of its goals and programs.
Select Board member Shawn Kain, who does similar work professionally, urged caution in dealing with people in crisis, even as he supported the effort.
“Point well taken,” Evans said, noting that members of any organization should know their limits.
Police chiefs in Franklin and Natick have been supportive of their communities’ freedom teams and the positive impact they have seen from the teams’ work.
“The Freedom Team assists in helping our community heal when needed, and will join the network of the freedom teams, of which Whitman will be number eight,” Evans said. “It exists to listen and facilitate discussions for individuals and groups, encouraging people to be ‘up-standers,’ not by-standers in interrupting racism, bigotry and prejudice wherever it’s encountered, preserving freedom through unity and a commitment to gaining new understanding in the community.”
Those goals have been adopted from the teams in Scituate and Natick.
While Evans said he is not looking to be the only person making decisions in the team but he has suggested the motto: “Find a Way,” in memory of the late J.P. Drier, a young man who had so much to give to our community. The former W-H student athlete died from complications of Type 1 diabetes in July.
“The mission of the Whitman Freedom Team is to preserve freedom through unity in the community,” he said. The team will meet monthly, usually via Zoom, to explore ways of offering dialog in support of individuals and the entire community in the goal of moving beyond tolerance to celebrate and share the community’s diversity.
“We’re beginning to change, and we need to change,” he said. “We can be different, but we can also work together.”
Evans said he was advised by the seven other freedom teams in eastern Massachusetts – including Natick (where the first team was started in 2016), Hingham, Frankin. Hopkinton and Scituate – to adopt some of their organizational frameworks and goals. rather than trying to reinvent the wheel.
“Once we’ve formed officially, the members will decide what the wording should be, but this is where we’re starting” he said.
When a report of hate, bias-motivated threats, harassment or violence related to race, color, sex, gender, gender or sexual identity, age, ethnicity, national origin, religion, disability or class, is received by the team it will offer a safe, private and respectful place to discuss such an incident, using a transformative justice model.
“We respond to violence without creating more violence,” Evans said. “We are trying to be healing – having parties come together, be educated and de-escalate situations.”

HANOVER – The Building Committee is advocating new construction, instead of renovating and adding on to South Shore Tech, the panel decided at its meeting on Thursday, Feb. 15. The Committee voted to remove the so-called add/reno option from consideration.
The new construction option the Committee favors is known as Option 2.0 –the district’s share would be $174 million if designed for 805 students or $176 million for 900 students – with the enrollment capacity to be further discussed at the Thursday, Feb, 22 meeting.
Broken down by towns for preliminary comparison only, Whitman taxpayers by Fiscal 2029 would see a cost of $559.53 on the average home each year for an 805-student school and $564.23 on a 900-student school. The monthy impact could be either $46.63 or $47.02. In Hanson, the fiscal 2029 taxpayer impact could be $399.90 or $404.90 per $1,000 depending on the building size – or between $33.33 and $33.74. The MSBA official reimbursement won’t be available until this August.
The estimates are based on a level principal payment (which is more costly up front) using 3.75 percent interest and do not include the share of the debt that Marshfield, which begins contributing in 2026, will take on over the life of the note. 
The school committee is developing a regional agreement amendment for Fall town meeting consideration that would make debt share adjustable over a four-year rolling average to reflect changes in student enrollment over time.
Option 2.0 would look no different than the current school building, but would be built behind it so instruction would not be interrupted.
Owner Project Manager Jen Carlson of Left Field attended remotely to update the committee on costs of the various design options.
“We were going to take a little closer look at the risk of the add/reno option and try to put a cost on two of the major factors that we think are a concern,” Carlson said of underslab plumbing and for modular classrooms as that work is done.
The work would bump the estimated cost to $272.5 million for the total project budget, with the Massachusetts School Building Authority (MSBA) reimbursement now estimated at $106.5 million and the district’s estimated share at $172 million for a school with 805 students.
The add/reno was rejected for two reasons – the high cost of modular construction at $20 million, which the MSBA does not reimburse and a 52-month construction window and the disruption it could cost to student instruction.  “[The Add/Reno] was seen by the building committee as very challenging to have an active construction zone, near an occupied school on a small site.” Superintendent-Director Dr. Thomas J. Hickey said this week.  “Also, the considerable amount of costs that are not reimbursable brought the costs very close to the new construction estimates.”
The MSBA does not reimburse for modular classrooms, so the total new budget cost of $81 million – for an estimated project budget of $110 million – would be the district’s responsibility.
Whitman Committee member Dan Salvucci said he did not favor an addition/renovation plan.
“I’ve seen that done in my town in the past and, for the amount of money we spend, you don’t get 50 years out of it,” he said. “When you do an add/reno and you have to [join] the old section with the new and you get them together, for some reason there’s always issues with water leaks and damage and mold.”
Hanson member Robert Mello voiced similar concerns.
“There’s a lot of unknown things that aren’t or may not be repaired,” he said. “I initially think of things like the plumbing system, whether it’s in the ground or in the walls that currently exist, that we don’t really have good access to and are 60 years old.”
Mello said that, for a little bit more money, they would have the “security of knowing we’re not going to have any major issues for some time.”
Cohasset member George Cooney added that the lack of MSBA funding and disruption caused by an add/reno to the school routine is concerning.
“If you could build a separate structure and everybody does business as usual [during construction], I think that’s a win,” he said. “Yes, money is always tight, but when you look at expenses and potential hidden ones, the add/reno could actually turn up being more money than going new.”
Principal Sandra Baldner said a new school would better enable the school to maintain a moslty regular function. She said it could rob an entire generation of SST students of the educational experience they deserve.
Chair Robert Mahoney also noted that, at a timeline of five years, the add/reno would take more time than new construction.
“It’s a bad idea,” said Norwell member Dustin Reardon of the add/reno plan. “We can’t do a disservice to these students who are fighting so hard to come here.”
“I haven’t heard one positive reason to go add/reno,” said Hanover member Robert Heywood.
Salvucci and Reardon both voiced concerns about enrollment capacity of a new school.
Citing the need to discuss it as a School Committee and to keep in mind that Marshfield is joining the district – and Pembroke is signaling and interest to do the same – Salvucci said he did not want to have to turn away Whitman students who might want to attend SST.
“I’m really split between 805 and 900,” he said. “I wouldn’t go any lower than that.”
Reardon agreed that enrollment is the biggest issue.
“That’s where we’re going to be deciding what makes financial sense,” he said.
The project has been carrying over $1 million in advance, but an a$3.5 million has been added to the carry-over for the renovation plan because of the need for plumbing under the slab.
“This is not just a cosmetic fix,” Carlson had said of the plumbing situation. “It’s a very invasive plumbing activity, it requires lot of planning to avoid undermining the footing of the existing building. … There’s a lot of risk involved with this work.”
When another closer look at logistics and things that needed to happen on-site and within the building for an add/reno would mean doubling the amount of modular classrooms needed to be brought onto the site.
“We had been carrying just under $10 million for that, so we added another $10 million,” she said. “Typically, to get into this level of detail, the construction manager, once we bring them on board, would be able to get into this level of detail, which is why this cost was not identified in the earlier estimates.”
Code concerns
Code updates for an add/reno project would also affect costs and could eat into the useable space already existing for teaching and learning.
The scope of this updates include: adding sprinklers to the original building; a full ADA accessibility upgrade; a major HVAC upgrade and replacement of all non-compliant plumbing and replacement of all electrical infrastructure. Not included are new finished beyond patching where electrical and plumbing work had to be done, nor for new furniture, technology or equipment. Site upgrades would likewise not be included.
“Because of the reuse of the existing building in this option, we really don’t think you could go much beyond 5-percent enrollment growth for the add/reno option,” Carlson said.
The add/reno budget estimate was calculated on the assumption that the district would be done on the same timeline as the add/reno.
The existing building is appraised at $26.4 million. Work over $8.7 million, or 30 percent of the appraised value – within a three-year timeframe would trigger the need to fully address ADA accessibility.
“There are other thresholds that do apply, depending on what work is being done, that may trigger the need for the full scope of the code upgrade to be done in one shot if this option becomes a reality,” Carlson said.
“There actually may be less space available,” Carl Franchesci of architectural firm DRA said in light of the fact that no future enrollment growth could be accommodates under an add/reno option. “Educational space could actually be reduced slightly.”
Hickey asked for a breakdown on the increased number of modular classrooms, seeking information on whether they are for classrooms or specialized space because certain shops might be included in the renovation.
“I think it really had to do with looking at the phasing,” Franchesci said. “The way that option wraps around the gym creates a construction zone, that at first we did not include the [five or six] science labs as part of the first phase.”
He said the phasing could have them consumed by the adjacent construction zone.

HANSON – A renewed effort at a Right-to-Farm Bylaw and the proper uses of remaining ARPA funds were the focus of Select Board discussion Tuesday, Feb. 6 as the board considers the articles they are advancing for the annual Town Meeting warrant.
The board voted to allocate the remaining $1,092,514 in ARPA funds for repairs to a culvert and the purchase of a new ambulance. Another reallocation of $150,000 in unused ARPA funds from the treasury was approved for the warrant to front an applicaton for another library grant as well as another $50,000 for pond maintenance article, both of which will go to Town Meeting in May.
A vote on a Right-to-Farm Bylaw – the town’s second attempt to adopt one, will come once the language is ironed out.
“Right-to-Farm is one of the articles,” Chair Laura FitzGerald-Kemmett said. “We’ve never discussed it in-depth, but I think everybody is pretty familiar with what it is.”
She noted that a resident approached the Select Board with a citizen’s petition.
“We [told them] you don’t really need a citizen’s petition,” FitzGerald-Kemmett said. “We’re more than glad to entertain, as a board, bringing it back to the town. It didn’t pass the first time, but I think really it got kind of torpedoed unnecessarily, and maybe there wasn’t good information about what that Right-to-Farm Bylaw would mean.”
She said the board hoped to glean some “good information and clarity” around what it really means, but that sometimes one or two people at Town Meeting who are very persuasive – and that’s what happened at that particular Town Meeting.
“They started using examples of some bad situations on farms, or around town, that had happened and sort of extrapolated that this would happen more often if we had the Right-to-Farm – which was actually not accurate,” FitzGerald-Kemmett said.
Town Administrator Lisa Green said her office is researching Right to Farm language in other communities for a proposed Select Board warrant article.
“It turns out that towns that have adopted Right-to-Farm have been able to add in some language that provides their own restrictions,” Green said. “We’re jus gathering some articles from other towns to see what information’s been put in each and then we’ll … put something together to present to the board as we get closer to looking at articles.”
Resident Michael Flemming said the problem proponents had the last time was that the Right-to-Farm language was really written for larger dairy farms, and there are not a lot of those in Hanson. Relating it to smaller properties opened the door to other issues.
“If you’re looking into language that’s going to be added, I don’t know what can be added to include smaller home farms,” he said. The previous bylaw would have required five acres, of which the house could take up an acre.
“Ultimately, it would only affect three places in town,” Flemming said, noting that making it clear it is trying to help out people who want to have a backyard farm, might remove some of the stigma of what transpired the last time the issue came up.
“It’s why they moved here in the first place,” he said. “This town is a farming community.”
Select Board member Ann Rein, who had been active in the effort to pass a Right-to-Farm Bylaw and in the work to establish an Agricultural Commission at the time, said it is really a matter of educating people.
She had been called to deal with compaints about roosters, and when she explained to the homeowners with too many of them about the problem, they were cooperative when they realized it – and then took care of the situation.
“There are people who get mad about the roosters, and then there are people who love hearing the roosters,” she said. “It’s funny.”
She advocated for a return of the Agricultural Commission to facilitate proper animal husbandry.
“I don’t know you can do much with a bylaw that’s going to fix that,” Rein said, adding that real estate values had been another concern. “People have actually found that a Right-to-Farm bylaws in a town actually bring real estate values up.”
Determining which articles could be funded with Plymouth County ARPA money, which must be spent by Dec. 31, 2016, was also discussed.
A culvert repair on Pratt Place, an ambulance, pond management and a library project are all seeking part of the $1.9 million remaining.
Green noted that the $1.542 million in Plymouth County-administered ARPA funds are very restrictive as to how it can be used. The Pratt Place culvert and ambulance are two projects that are eligible for that money, Green said.
In 2021, the town had received a quote of $1.25 million for the culvert repair or replacement. A $450,000 pricetag [leaving $1,092,514 for the culvert project] is the way lot of towns are using their last remaining ARPA funds to purchase ambulances.
Green “highly suggested” the funds be used for the culvert.
A memo on how the town wants to use the ARPA funds would be due to Plymouth County by March 1 and a timeline by April 1 Green said.
“Right now Highway is using some metal plates to make that road passable,” she said. “That culvert is in dire condition and, since I’ve been here, people have been saying that it is in dire condition and could collapse.”
When FitzGerald-Kemmett noted that approving both projects could put the town over what is available, Green said there is a possibility that the county could be approached for more funds, but they would have to obtain Town Meeting backing before asking Plymouth County for additional funds.
“We are also chasing some grant funds that could potentially help us with Pratt Place,” she said, but she cautioned that, when the town has applied for grants in the past it has been turned down every single time. “The culvert’s either too long, too short, not wide enough – there’s always been something that disqualifies that culvert frombeing eligible for grants.”
While there are only four houses on Pratt Place, Green noted that, should the road collapse, there would be no way for those residens to access Winter Street.
“I understand that it’s a safety issue, but what I’m struggling with is we’re never again going to have this type of money to move the needle on other things,” FitzGerald-Kemmett said. “The grant funding is not a sure thing.”
“I think we’ve done a lot of marvelous stuff with ARPA money,” Rein said, noting that waiting for other funds while risking a road collapse was risky. “I think this is a worthy thing to spend it on.”
Vice Chair Joe Weeks said he is confident Green has done the due dilligence on the Pratt Place culvert and the restrictions on the remaining ARPA funds.
The library’s article for $200,000 in ARPA funds for an HVAC system was approved at October Town Meeting, but maintenance work has since been done on it to gain three more years of operation, freeing up the $200,000 for other projects, Green said. The library is applying for a grant due in May, meanwhile, that would require the town to front the funding.
“If we don’t get the grant, we won’t spend the money,” Library Director Karen Stolfer said, noting the grant notification would not be issued until October 2025. The $150,000 needs to be authorized, but need not be sitting in a separate account for the application to go forward. That would leave $50,000 from the October Town Meeting to apply to the pond management project.
“If you want to know if you’ve got support for a new library, I think you nee to do it as a free cash item,” FitzGerald-Kemmett said. She feared people would not pay attention to it again if it comes out of ARPA funds.

HANSON – Camp Kiwanee is working to restore and return a camp store, to sell snacks and drinks, and possibly town and/or Kiwanee merchandise beginning next summer.
Camp Kiwanee Commission Chair Frank Milisi and Town Aministrator Lisa Green will also work on determining the legal ramifications of selling merchandise at the store as the board voted to support the project with that caveat at its Tuesday, Jan. 23 meeting. The board approved a motion to approve the store once the questions cleared up.
The location is an elongated strcuture between the lodge and the camp fire house, Milisi said.
“We have [the] budget to fix it up as a store,” Milisi said. “We have the idea of selling pre-packaged snacks there during the summertime and also stuff for camping – wood, mosquito repellant – [and] we have the idea of selling some Camp Kiwanee merchandise up there – sweatshirts, hats, some of the bumper stickers that the hikers throw on their stuff.”
The commission is also discussing the option of having the store open when weddings are booked at the camp.
He said that, while it would not be full-fledged this year, it would be used for small things during when Cranberry Cove opens up, including the sale of passes.
“It’ll bring some revenue into the camp,” he said. “We’re working with the Board of Health already to get their blessing on going ahead and doing that.”
They have also spoken with the building inspector and contacted a contractor to do any structural improvements needed, including any necessary electrical upgrades for putting in refrigerators.
“We’re excited for it and kind of want the Select Board’s blessing to move ahead with that,” he said. He also said he was not sure if a business license was necessary.
Chair Laura FitzGerald-Kemmett raised the need to look into regulations that may pertain to the sale of town and/or camp merchandise.
“You’re going to need to talk about the town selling merchandise,” she suggested. “We don’t want to run afoul. … You may need a friends group.”
Milisi said he knows other towns with shacks at beach areas that do sell things, but he did not know the specifics of their arrangements.
“I’m sure we can get there,” FitzGerald-Kemmett said. “You’re just going to have to be thoughtful and make sure we don’t have any pitfalls.”
Lakeville shelter
The board voted to approve and sign the annual partnership agreement with the Lakeville Animal Shelter to house dogs taken in by the Hanson animal control officer. This year, includes an assessment fee of $250 to help fund improvements to the shelter as required following inspections by the Mass. Department of Agricultural Resources.
“Basically, this is an agreement to get us through the next year,” said Town Administrator Lisa Green noting the assessment would be paid out of the animal control budget line. “This will hold us over until we’re able to, hopefully, open up our own shelter.”
Green said the town had not been assessed a fee in prior years. Dog owners pay a $25 per day boarding fee when they retrieve their dogs from the Lakeville shelter. A $20 drop-off fee had not been billed to the town, Green said, in response to a question from Weeks about language in the agreement. She said it is unclear whether the animal control officer has been paying that out-of-pocket.
“He has not come to us for reimbursement,” she said.
“He also said he hasn’t been dropping a lot of dogs off there,” FitzGerald-Kemmett said. “He said he’s essentially been our shelter.”
Weeks said he asked because the Lakeville Shelter’s fee structure opens up opportunities for Hanson to explore, such as a $50 late fee, immunization fees and “a lot more than just $250.”
“It doesn’t spell out necessarily who pays what, but … there are opportunities here where we can kind of adopt some of this stuff and apply it to ours, if we don’t already have some of this.”
Board member Ed Heal also suggested that more information be obtained about the fees and who is expected to pay them.
“It would be good to have some numbers,” he said. “How many dogs are we sending to Lakeville in the past five years and how long are they there for and who’s paying the fees. Do we have anything [on that]?”
Weeks said even if Hanson Animal Control Officer Joe Kenney is paying the fees out of his own pocket, “I still don’t feel right about that.”
“Whether he’s paying it, or he’s keeping the animal, neither of these options are long-term sustainable,” FitzGerald-Kemmett agreed.
Weeks said that, going forward, there should be some kind of an escape clause to prevent the town being billed for being absolved of financial responsibility of Lakeville does not send a bill in a timely manner.