HANOVER — So, how did you spend your summer vacation?

For 140 middle school students who said summer school, it wasn’t all remedial work. In fact, for students in the eight member towns of the South Shore Tech district, it was quite the opposite.

For the second year, students in grades six to eight attending SST’s Vocational Summer Discovery program, the focus was squarely on the future.

Vocational Director Keith Boyle said the program was started as a way to recruit and reach out to younger students in an effort to make them aware of what the school offers — and for the second year in a row it also sold out.

A lot of the repeat students used it as an opportunity to explore a different program this year, he said, adding that, while it is not designed to give a student a “leg up” in the freshman exploratory weeks it gives them a better idea what some different programs at the school offers.

“We start with our member towns, but we have expanded to out-of-district based off available seats,” he said. “This year, we had quite a successful program — we offered eight vocational trades.”

The only four of the 12 trades taught at the school that were not included in the summer program were allied health, manufacturing, cosmetology and electrical. Students did explore automotive, computer information technology, culinary arts, design/visual communications, horticulture/landscape construction, HVAC/refrigeration and metal fabrication/welding.

“I don’t think they knew what they wanted to do [as a high school course of study], but I think there was interest,” Boyle said. “I think it was an exploration to match up with their hobby or maybe their dad is an electrician and it was a way to get the student kind of involved in the trade to see, ‘Is this what I want to do?’”

Each day involved a project they could take home, according to Boyle.

For students who love to cook, for example, they had a week where could work in a commercial kitchen with chefs. They cook and they bring food home with them every day.

While it doesn’t drive the schools curriculum, it does incorporate the exploratory portion of the school’s traditional freshman year program, tailored for younger students.

“But they all did small projects that they could take home,” Boyle said. The carpentry program had campers making small birdhouses for their backyards, automotive program made small racecars.

“The goal of the program was, the students are building something,” he said. “The students are using their hands. They might be using some minor tools with supervision, but they’re taking home a project at the end to show their parents and to show folks that, ‘This is what I built, his is what I made.’”

In a small way, it can also inform the school about what incoming students may want to study.

Automotive, for example is a field that is changing rapidly as car makers begin moving to EVs — especially in light of a California’s recent decision to ban the sale of gasoline-powered cars by 2035.

“That will come to fruition in a lot of vocational schools that have gone through renovations and have built their automotive program to house EV shops,” said Boyle. “A lot of that is because the power needs just means that this building might not have the capacity for it. If we renovated the building or added the capacity, now’s the time to put in the EV, electrical — all those components.”

SST is one of the schools now working with the Massachusetts School Building Authority (MSBA) on a renovation and expansion plan, in which the MSBA has asked the school to outline possible future program changes or offerings.

Between the electronic and battery components of EVs, that could also mean cross-instruction between automotive, electronics, IT and science programs.

Grants are also helping drive what’s coming ahead at the school Boyle said. A $500,000 Mass. Skills Capital Grant will be used to purchase industry-standard equipment for the HVAC and advanced manufacturing programs.

“Those dollars will specifically go toward new stat-of-the-art equipment, where we will replace or purchase new equipment based off the frameworks so our students are training and gaining experience on the high-tech equipment to make them successful in the industry once they leave here,” he said.

That equipment includes lathes, milling machines, boilers, tankless water heaters, home energy trainers and more.

Another grant involves the Commonwealth Corporation, in the form of a $640,000 Career Technical Initiative Grant to launch adult evening after school programs.

“We’re kind of changing our building from being a 7:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. and sports to a 7:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. school and then 3:30 to 8:30 p.m. adult education facility,” Boyle said. “They will go through a 250-hour automotive course with the goal being [for example] to be employed in the industry.”

The career changing programs in automotive, carpentry, manufacturing and HVAC, among others will be aimed a career-changing for under- and unemployed adults and veterans.

“Not every program we offer here could be offered in that specific program at night,” he said. “But that specific program is a no-cost program.”

A typical adult night school course for other people looking to upgrade skills or change careers while employed carries a tuition cost.

WHITMAN —  A small vanilla jar candle with a label advising the observer to be kind sits next to a bright and cheerful arrangement of silk flowers and a framed photo of his family on the Rev. W. Scott Wasdin’s desk. 

A standing fan quietly agitated the cooler, albeit still humid air as he spoke of his journey to Whitman and hopes for his tenure as pastor to the First Congregational Church of Whitman.

COVID and its effects on communities — and his own family — are a frequent reference point as he spoke to the Express this month about his new post.

“For my entire life, even going back to my teen years, growing up in a small-town church — it’s a community,” he says. “That just drives me and serves me and I think that’s what illuminates a light for all of us, in the best of times and the worst of times.”

Like the jar candle, which he lights when he prays with parishioners seeking spiritual guidance, his family lights his life, and is the reason this son of the South is embracing life in a small New England town.

“We moved here in December 2020,” Wasdin said of his family, whom he refers to as his “home team” of his wife of 12 years, Crystal and four children — Josh, Zander, Matthew and Emma — the oldest of which is in “early middle school.”

Born in Bremen, Ga., he majored in religion at Shorter University, a Baptist college in Rome, Ga., and his earned masters from the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Louisville, Ky., where he studied educational administration. Most of his career has been in private education or church work.

This is the first opportunity of his adult years to just focus on the congregational part of his vocation, Wasdin says.

“We need to think of ways that literally has us look at our neighbors and say, ‘How can we feed your souls?” he said of his bridge-building mission. “What can we do program-wise and just being a listening ear and a shoulder to cry on to help our community be healed and breathe and live?”

The ultimate goal is for the church to serve as a lighthouse for whatever one’s needs are.

The family, who have lived in communities all through their native South, most recently lived in Virginia for the last seven years, where Wasdin was headmaster of  the private school, Southampton Academy, Courtland, Va., and a part-time minister. He and Crystal have lived in Chattanooga, Tenn., as well as communities in Georgia, Virginia and out in Elk Grove, Calif.

“Really part of the draw that drew us up here, aside from the spiritual dynamic and this great community and our love for New England … the harmony and synergy between education and medical just seems to work better for us here,” he said. “Our daughter seems to be far healthier [through] her occupational therapy, and her day-to-day just seems much better.”

They started their nationwide search for a church located in a school district where the children could thrive, narrowing it down to California, Massachusetts, Michigan and Wisconsin before the dialog with First Congregational “built the bridge to lead us here,” he said.

Emma is non-verbal autistic and suffered the effects of remote learning during COVID, he said. While Virginia public schools do a fine job, but when the schools were closed the services they had for their daughter, while fine, were insufficient for her needs. 

“Our daughter was in a dangerous, self-injuring free-fall,” Wasdin said. “Everything that we tried to do just wasn’t working.”

That’s when he started communicating with the search committee at First Congregational and let his school know it was time for him to move on.

“All the dots connected together and in the course of about six months of Zooms and dialog as COVID was roaring on, we accepted the call and moved up here just before Christmas in 2020,” he said.

Since moving to Whitman, he stops in for a cup of java and conversation with folks at Restoration Coffee regularly and he and his wife have lunch or dinner at McGuiggan’s or another eatery on a given Monday or Tuesday.

“It’s just getting to know people where they are and what a church should be post-COVID,” Wasdin said, noting that some churches are seeing attendance declines following the pandemic. “We’ve got to be highly strategic in how we care for people, that we connect the dots to their homes, their families, their lives and not be judgmental or sarcastic in terms of where they are.”

Family is what brought him to this church and community, and family is the atmosphere he wants to cultivate for the church.

While he works to introduce himself to his new church and community, Wasdin said he has tremendous respect for the church’s history, adding it was a “little bit of a blank slate” because his predecessor had been away for nearly three years.

“The church had been in interim for many years,” he said. “I had enjoyed the dialog with the interim minister that they had, but in terms of programming, what was intriguing to me was the possibility to do music in a way that would refresh people coming out of COVID and re-engaging with the church.”

The church has also been open to new programs and initiatives, and being a bit entrepreneurial by nature, Wasdin saw it as a good ecclesiastical opportunity.

One such program, on probably the first and fourth Thursday evening each month, a midweek worship service has been added to the church calendar.

The evenings in the fellowship hall feature a very contemporary style of music.

“It’s very casual,” he said. “It’s come as you are.”

The Wasdins prepare a meal and decaffeinated coffee for the service. But if parishioners want to make him feel at home by bringing a baked good or covered dish, there’s no need to brush up on recipes for fried okra or peach cobbler. Anything that someone puts their heart and soul into is appreciated.

“It makes us feel like we’re going back to the roots of the New Testament Church, where everything centered around a meal in terms of the worship,” he said. “But it’s also a way that, we feel, like we’re serving beyond pastoral counseling.”

He hopes to find more ways to connect back to people.

“Coming out of COVID … all of us were battered by the isolation and the inability to have meetings and visit with people and to break bread and have cups of coffee,” Wasdin said. “We’re really trying to visualize as a church [how to do that].”

A regular breakfast with the men’s group is being considered and the women’s group has begun meeting again, having lunches and teas. This fall, he hopes a program for mothers of infants and preschoolers will be ready to start. 

“My roots being a Southerner and a cooperative Baptist most of my career, fellowship for me is a time to come together for dialog, for light bites — coffee, lemonade — more of a networking, friendship making and community moment,” he said.

Sunday mornings remain a very traditional service, however, with the church organ taking a primary musical role, but as autumn nears he wants to change up the musical seasoning a bit with the addition of a little praise and worship music.

“I’ve gotten through that first six months of getting to know the church, their likes and dislikes – their tastes and all – so that my vision is being articulated to our church board, our deacon, our leadership, and everyone seems incredibly supportive, but also realistic,” he said.

He also, keeping in mind that Massachusetts is a very Catholic state, looks forward to building some interfaith bridges.

“I also want our vision to be distinctive,” he said. “To say, ‘It doesn’t matter if you were raised Catholic, or Methodist, or Baptist, or any of those … we want our church to be a place where you walk in, that you feel welcome, that you feel relaxed, where you can be yourself.”

He also wants the congregation to have a voice in church. Literally. From singing, to responsive readings, he wants people to feel they are welcome to take part.

With his four children attending Whitman public schools, Wasdin also wants to introduce himself to the schools as a parent interested in school programs as much as someone who welcomes residents into this church.

“Just to let them know that the lights are on, that we’re here and to let them know about programs that we have,” he said, noting he is also interested in volunteering at the schools. “As a private school administrator for most of the last 25 years, most of the time I’ve had a whistle and a basketball in my hand, coaching to some degree.”

His aim is not to proselytize, but to let people know he’s more than a person “locked in an office, writing a sermon.”

“I may speak with a Southern drawl, but we feel very much like we want to be in this community for many years to come,” he said. “Volunteering and finding ways to serve beyond the church just seems very logical.”

HANSON — The Old Hitching Post restaurant, once featured on celebrity chef Gordon Ramsay’s “Kitchen Nightmares” reality TV show in 2012 — and a popular gathering and dining destination in town since opening in the 1950s — is changing hands.

Owners Andrea and Sprio Garnavos officially bought the restaurant from her father Tom Kessaris in 2014. Kessaris bought the business in 2005. Now they are selling it to Lori and Jason Cook of Pembroke, who also have a strong business legacy in Hanson and the area. The Cooks plan to keep the Hitching Post name.

“It’s been a really good 17 strong years,” Garnavos said. “It’s been home to us. We’ve made so many friends. I thank the community — Hanson, all the surrounding towns — we’ve had a really good run, and these two are going to have a great run.”

The Select Board, on Tuesday, Aug. 9 approved an application to transfer the on-premises restaurant and alcoholic beverages license from the Old Hitching Post, 48 Spring St., to Jason Cook said the situation in which Garnavos is parting with the restaurant — all employees are staying — made the smooth transition possible.

Garnavos said the restaurant is in the process of being sold to the Cooks, which Garnavos expected to be complete within 10 days. The Cooks are the joint owners of Somewhere Else Tavern in Pembroke. Lori Cook owns the Fork in the Road Deli in Bryantville.

“Andrea is excited to hand over the reins to us because she things we are a really good fit for it, and we feel the same way,” said Jason Cook, who will manage the Hitching Post. “We’re excited to take over and be more of a part of Hanson.

“What she has set up for us is just a fluid transition, because she’s already done the homework and we’re grateful,” Lori Cook said. “We probably wouldn’t have undertaken it if it wasn’t for her.”

“Amazing,” Jason Cook added.

“I’m so happy for you guys,” Garnavos said. “We’re all so happy we’re together.”

“Let’s go have a drink,” Lori Cook said as they exchanged compliments after the board had voted.

“You’ve gotten back what you’ve put out there, and these guys have, too,” Select Board Chair Laura FitzGerald-Kemmett. “It’s a love-fest with you guys and it’s great.”

“It’s bittersweet,” said Select Board member Joe Weeks said to Garnavos. “You’re an amazing family legacy, so it’s really sad to see you go, but I’m really enthusiastic about a great transfer.”

Lori Cook said financing has been approved for the purchase, but there are a “few more pieces” to finalize in the transaction.

“We are happy to go back to the Hitching Post, I worked there many years ago,” Lori said. “This will be a new endeavor for Jason, but we’re Hanson residents and we’re excited about this new branch in our tree.”

FitzGerald-Kemmett said the Cooks and Garnavos have been great community partners through their businesses already both in Hanson and in Pembroke.

“I’m just thrilled that the business is going to continue, that we have [new] owners who are responsible and have had a long record in other communities and within our own community, of doing business,” she said. “We welcome you as business owners to Hanson. We’re thrilled about it.”

FitzGerald-Kemmett said she received an email from the Conservation Agent, seeking to ensure that the board lets the new owners know they have to maintain an occupied residential apartment on the Hitching Post site in accordance with the original ZBA approval of the restaurant. The Conservation Commission also has a perpetual condition that the catch basin at the end of the parking area has to be cleaned once a year, reporting the completion of that to the commission.

He also noted the commission has not yet received a certificate of compliance for the septic repair at the location “and it would behoove the owners to record it.”

“I’m just passing that on,” FitzGerald-Kemmett said. Garnavos said that certificate of compliance has already been recorded, prompting FitzGerald-Kemmett to suggest they loop back to make sure the Board of Health and the Conservation agent now have that information.

Lori Cook has owned A Fork in the Road since 2005, surviving both the great recession that began in 2008 as well as the COVID pandemic.

“That was interesting, but we made lots of friends in the community that way,” she said of doing business amid the recession. “We all helped each other, that’s part of the business structure in our company.”

She also owns Somewhere Else Tavern on Route 27 with Jason, who has owned AB Tent Rental, in business for 35 years, and his mother has lived in Hanson for more than 40 years.

“We’re always happy to be involved in anything that’s going on in the town,” he said. “The fire department, the police department are always welcome at Lori’s place or our place for lunch.”

He has supported the DARE program with free tents for the last few years.

“We always like to help and be part of,” he said noting the new venture will be a little different as he takes on a management role at the Hitching Post.

Starting as a small coffee shop in the 1950’s, the Hitching Post has grown, after many renovations and expansions, to a full service restaurant and tavern. 

https://www.restaurantji.com/ma/pembroke/somewhere-else-tavern-/

BROCKTON — First year student-athlete Bryce Evans racked up some more hardware following the conclusion of the 2022 Massasoit baseball season, earning NJCAA All-American Third Team honors recently announced by the national office. 

The Hull native became the first Massasoit baseball student-athlete to earn NJCAA All-American accolades since pitch Jake Stearns was selected back in 2016. He also becomes just the 31st Massasoit baseball student-athlete to earn the accolade in program history. 

For the season, Evans, a catcher, also earned NJCAA Region 21 First Team honors. 

In his first year with the Warriors, Evans hit an impressive .463, ranking 11th nationally in batting average and posted percentage of .511 on-base and .752 slugging, also among the NJCAA national leaders.  

In conference play, Evans was even better, posting an eye popping .641 batting average, .681 on-base percentage and 1.231 slugging percentage for the year. He led Massasoit in hits (56), runs (38), doubles (15), homers (4), extra-base hits (23), batting average, on-base percentage and slugging for the season. 

WHITMAN — We all see the effects of global inflation stemming from the economic strains of the pandemic — now imagine trying to cope with those increased costs while you have to pay for gas for those extra trips into Boston on top of medical costs, when your child has cancer.

Cops for Kids With Cancer, a 501 (c) 3 organization helping parents in just such circumstances, knows what families are going through and provide financial gifts to families facing the sometimes crippling financial effects of their child’s cancer diagnosis.

Some of the group’s members have been there themselves.

MCPCA Director of Law Enforcement Chief Thomas Grenham is one of them. Serving on the Board of Directors, he is a retired state trooper and the proud father of a now healthy and lovely teenaged daughter, who was diagnosed with leukemia as a small child. 

He brought comfort to a the Eagan family of Whitman last month in the form of a $5,000 check from Cops For Kids With Cancer, and a swag bag of gifts for their son Jared, who was diagnosed on Oct. 26, 2021 with T-cell lymphoblastic leukemia – a very aggressive cancer.

“We’re very early on right now,” mom Charyn Eagan said. “We still have a year and five months of treatment to go.”

It’s a form of cancer that requires a long-term treatment plan, she said, because it’s a blood cancer and it likes to “hide out” in different spots in the body. Early on, the amount of cancer Jared had and missing the threshold for continuing with one course of treatment including an additional round of intense chemotherapy, required him to stay in-patient at Children’s, so he has not been able to be in school since his diagnosis, according to Charyn. 

The extent of his fatigue from the cancer has meant even remote classes to keep up with school were not feasible.

“We pretty much missed this whole year,” Charyn said. “I have to be grateful that we got through this phase, things are looking good [and] he’s responding really well to treatment.”

But, for months they’ve had to contend with the nausea, fatigue, neuropathy, which has left him unable to walk at times.

“Still, you’d never know he was sick, because he’s an outgoing, spunky kid,” she said.

What does the Cops for Kids with Cancer donation mean for the family?

“My, god,” Charyn said. “Relief. I can’t even tell you how much we’ve been suffering – not financially suffering, but it’s been tough.”

Jared, 13, is a fan of fishing who has caught some sizeable bass in Hobart’s Pond, 

“I have a picture [from when] someone caught a 10.5-pound large-mouth bass,” he said, noting that the fisherman let it go so another angler could have a crack at it.

“He has these tackle boxes with all this colorful stuff in there and he knows what they’re all for, what they all are,” his mom said.

His dad Angelo said Walmart in Abington has given Jared fishing equipment, as well.

“It’s really good, because he goes fishing and some kids don’t even have gear, so they’ll use his stuff,” Charyn said.

The community has also been supportive.

“I already knew Whitman was a great place to live,” she said. But I felt that in my heart and soul when this happened to us.”

Charyn and Angelo both grew up in Boston, but have been slowly heading away from the city, where they both still work. Angelo works for the Air Force and Charyn is an engineer. They built a house in Whitman and say it was the best decision they ever made.

The checks, funded largely through the organization’s participation in the Boston Marathon as an annual fundraiser, as well as community fundraisers, police department project and individual website donations, helps families in any way they need it.

“With support from police departments like Whitman and others and we’re able to help families,” said Grenham, who has been on the board of directors for four years. “My daughter had leukemia as a kid and she’s 19 now and in college.”

Those costs could be non-covered treatment or medications, travel and parking for hospital stays, eating away from home, babysitters, possible home alterations — whatever they need — especially when one parent has to quit work to be available for their child at all times.

Every month the charity divides $40,000 between eight families. The $5,000 they each receive comes with no strings attached.

“You do what you want with it, whatever makes your life easier,” Grenham said. “It’s our pleasure to help you.”

“You’ve definitely made an impact on our life and I can’t thank you enough,” MOM said. “It’s awesome, but it’s kind of sad at the same time that you have to do this for families. … The only thing we can do is give back.”

Jared’s sister Gabby, who will be a senior at WHRHS in the fall, isthinking about Bridgewater State for college, but is unsure what she wants to study.

“She doesn’t need to know,” her dad said, adding there’s plenty of time for her to figure that out..

The charity, which started out in 2002 as a golf rivalry between a Boston Police team and one from Ireland’s Garda Siochana, or national police service. They decided the event should raise funds to donate to a local hospital to help children with cancer. It is now run by a 20-plus person volunteer Board of Directors, mostly active and retired police officers and friends of law enforcement.

While the funds initially went entirely to children’s oncology units at MGH and the Floating Hospital for Children at Tufts Medical Center, a portion of the funds they raise now goes directly to families.

“We can all help,” the website copsforkidswithcancer.org states. “Our donations have, for example, saved a family from eviction, helped pay down overwhelming bills and paid to repair the only vehicle used to travel back and forth to the hospital. The situations are heartbreaking and all too real.”

Less than a month after her inspirational graduation speech earned her a standing ovation, W-H Class of 2022 Valedictorian April Keyes appeared at the State House for recognition at a formal legislative session of the House and Senate last week.

Keyes, who has a speech impediment, which causes her to stutter, earned a standing ovation at the June 3 commencement ceremony. She is also a talented athlete who was captain of her track and field team and a member of the National Honor Society. 

“After watching her speech, our legislative delegation, including Rep. Alyson Sullivan [R-Abington], Sen. Mike Brady [D-Brockton] and myself, decided we wanted to recognize April for showing such determination and courage,” state Rep. Josh Cutler, D-Duxbury, said. “We invited her and her family to the State House to be recognized at a formal legislative session of the House and the Senate. We were also able to pay a visit to Gov. Baker’s office. 

It was truly a delight to get to know April and be able to thank for being a role model for all of us.” 

As a younger student, she often feared speaking out in class, or even raising her hand on account of her stutter, Keyes had noted in her speech. She joked that had her younger self known she’d be up at the podium giving this big speech, “I would have passed out!” she said.

And yet April overcame her fears to give a remarkable speech, talking openly about overcoming obstacles and being one’s true self. 

“As her principal recounted, April is not afraid to put herself in an uncomfortable place, challenge popular beliefs, make mistakes or miserably fail. She can navigate through those ups and downs with confidence and an understanding that with patience, effort and a positive attitude, anything is possible,” Cutler said.

“Thank you to WHRHS Superintendent of Schools Jeff Szymaniak and W-H Principal Dr. Christopher Jones for joining with us and helping to make this wonderful visit possible,” he said. “April will be attending Harvard this fall and no doubt will continue to do remarkable things!”

You may watch her graduation speech here:

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1dRd2lBqpdQDg1Vr3yvz5fat6QcoFWJ5e/view?fbclid=IwAR3Jr3AhS2T5XmZMkwBnCW8n2AG-OL-4tKGlJ8oq2hZ-vr-tpvBOFBR0vb8.

Szymaniak had announced the State House visit during a Wednesday, June 22 School Committee meeting.

On the evening when the School Committee was entering into an pre-meeting executive session Wednesday, June 22, Chair Christopher Howard offered residents who attended for a public comment period the opportunity to speak, even though it was not included on the posted agenda.

Stephanie Levesque of 113 Temple St., in Whitman, a former special educator who now works at Lesley University in Cambridge, with children in the school district, requested that a working group be established to consider the high school start time.

“It helps all of us work and serve the adolescents,” she said. “We know so much now, people in the community have already shared some research, some numbers, some data, so I know that’s a continuing conversation.”

While she echoed the data on adolescent brain development at sleep needs, she allowed that it wouldn’t be a simple fix.

“I think it’s a worthwhile endeavor that a working group could do a task analysis and look at carefully and see if we can come to a resolution to help balance what we know is best for children’s development and respond to the needs of the community,” she said.

Jessica Cook of 48 Hogg Memorial Drive spoke on the same topic.

“I also have children in the district, an incoming freshman and a little one over at the Conley,” she said, noting she is also a special educator in another district.

“I’m requesting that the School Committee choose to make this one of the topics they discuss over the summer during and their workshops,” Cook said. “When you look into it, all of the schools – all of the schools in our area – all of them [have later start times].”

She said Duxbury has an 8:20 a.m. Start time, Scituate starts the day at 8:15 and Quincy, the district where she works has a 7:45 a.m. Start time at the high school level. She noted that with the early W-H start time, some student-athletes are putting in 14-hour days before they start their homework.

“If we can buy them an hour, and it’s possible to look into … logistics, and I know that there’’s tons to go along with it, but I would just ask that you consider it.”

Superintendent of Schools Jeff Szymaniak said the key to changing start times is aligning all the schools.

“It’s not just the high school,” he said during a discussion with school administrators on possibile topics for strategic plan working group discussions. “It’s moving our elementaries to a similar start time – our three elementaries are different. Our middle schools are the same. All the principals agree that should be a focus for us next year.”

The executive session scheduled was to discuss strategy regarding collective bargaining or litigation and an open meeting could be detrimental to the committee’s position, regarding the WHEA Unit A teacher contract.

On returning to open session, the committee voted to ratify the Unit A contract.

WHEA representative Kevin Kafka thanked Superintendent of Schools Jeff Szymaniak for the opportunity to have open dialog during the negotiation process.

Howard said the contract will be posted on the district website for public access.

The committee also discussed topics to be included in it’s strategic plan workshops over the summer, including STEM and preparing students for the post-high school world in the 21st century, related arts, early childhood education initiative, diversity, social-emotional learning, substance abuse and student support, school start times, safety and security, professional licensing programs like CNA such as offered at South Shore Tech, early college courses, and combining some of the ideas where possible.  

The committee will discuss the list further at it’s July 6 meeting and welcomes public feedback.