WHITMAN — The Board of Selectmen on Tuesday, July 20 discussed the need to set up a meeting on Aug. 24 with the town’s consultant on strategic planning.

Town Administrator Lincoln Heineman had emailed Selectmen ahead of the July 20 meeting, indicating consultant Ann Donner would like input from the board.

“What she requested was the board’s sense of the ‘long-term primary strategic initiative over the next five years,’” Heineman said.

“Frankly, I think she’s been given a lot of information already,” Selectmen Chairman Dr. Carl Kowalski. “I hope she’s been given our community survey we did two years ago. I hope that she’s been given the report of the override budgetary committee that [Selectman Randy LaMattina] ran. I know she’s been given the report of the Capital Planning Committee. There’s a lot of material we have that she should have had by now. She should have it.”

Heineman said Donner has been forwarded the constituent survey, job classification information, Housing Production Plan that has not yet been adopted by Town Meeting, the most recent Town Report, the most recent (through fiscal 2022) budget and the most recent capital plan.

He said he would like to see some progress made by the Aug. 24, meeting, noting she has already set up meetings with department heads.

“It’s a good start,” he said. “Strategic planning is important — it takes some energy, it takes some time,” Kowalski said, noting he had done quite a bit of it at Massasoit.

He said he also looks forward to some discussions similar to those recently undertaken by the School Committee in recent weeks.

LaMattina also said the town has been specific that the schools should be involved in strategic planning discussions.

Heineman also reviewed the MGL 40R and 40S provisions.

Local zoning, specifically density and whether it includes affordable units was reviewed.

“In one law, it’s built around a transit-oriented area — in our case a commuter rail operation,” Heineman said. “It’s certainly a complicated topic that govern this.”

He explained that the state Legislature had passed, and the governor recently signed, a bill called the MBTA Communities Act, which requires communities that have a transit station to have a particular zone within a half-mile of the station with a zoning ordinance providing one reasonably-sized district where multi-family housing is permitted as a right. Each such district must have at least 15 units per acre.

The state’s Department of Communities and Development is tasked with implementing regulations that govern the issue.

“They haven’t done this,” he said. “We not know yet when they will do that. We do not know yet when they will do that, but we do know that, at some point, they will have to, according to this new law.”

Noncompliance with the new zoning regulation would render a community ineligible for three different types of state grants MASSWorks, the Housing Choice initiative and the Local Capital Projects Fund. None of the zoning areas within the Commuter Rail zone in Whitman currently allow that kind of population density.

“This is the stick vs. the carrot,” Heineman said. “The carrot, that has previously existed for 40 years is MGL 40R, 40S and that allows … for increased density either/or and around the commuter rail station or, in our case, around our downtown business district.”

Density bonuses would be available to the town for creating more housing in the business district if the town is preapproved by the state for its plan.

Selectman Randy LaMattina said he would prefer to see something from the Planning Board on the issue before he considers any action on the proposal. Kowalski agreed that such a request made sense.

Selectmen also discussed redesigning the town website to make it more user-friendly.

“People are constantly complaining on Facebook on issues like that,” Selectman Dan Salvucci said of information residents request about notification on changes to trash schedules and the like.

“I personally don’t want people going to Facebook for answers about the town,” LaMattina. “They should be able to go to the town website to get their answer.”

Tony Reis is the new man in charge of the Whitman-Hanson Regional High boys’ soccer team.

Reis takes over for Dave Leahy, who stepped down after four seasons due to a work commitment.

Reis, who works for the Upper Cape Regional Vocational School, spent six seasons as Upper Cape’s head coach. His teams won three league titles and qualified for the MIAA tournament six years in a row.

Reis played his high school ball at Taunton High.

“Coach Reis has a passion and love for the game of soccer,” said W-H athletic director Bob Rodgers. “His success speaks for itself, but his view of the role of athletics in a student’s life is what excites me about having him joining our staff.”
Reis also owns a soccer academy down the Cape.

W-H finished the shortened 2020 campaign with a 6-7 record.

The School Committee met to discuss strategic plan working groups at its Wednesday, June 23 meeting.

“Basically, we’re just going to go around, one-by-one and we’re going to share some ideas,” said Chairman Christopher Howard. “These ideas are meant to be broad areas of focus … we’ll come back [this] week, after we’ve let those ideas soak in and everybody’s had the opportunity to think about that.”

The goal is to ultimately vote on some of the ideas on a rank-choice basis to narrow the list to three ideas, which would be discussed over the summer — through to mid-August — doing a “deep dive.”

Mike Jones, who was away with his family, and Fred Small, who was seeing to a personal family matter, did not attend the meeting.

Steve Bois kicked things off by suggesting “lets get things done that we want to get done,” specifically full-day kindergarten and a return of foreign languages to middle school curricula, if not the elementary grades, as well.

“If this is what’s working for other districts — for places across the country — let’s just do it,” Bois said, noting he has always considered Massachusetts schools to be among, if not the nation’s best. “It’s probably not only to our benefit, but obviously, to the kids’ benefit.”

Michelle Bourgelas agreed with Bois on the language issue, noting that high school students have had the option of taking AP Spanish and earning the opportunity to pass on taking a language requirement in college. Because middle schoolers do not now take a language, the AP option is not available in high school so they will have to take language requirements in college.

Tracking student achievement in elementary grades is important, said Hillary Kniffen, but she asked what is being done to track it in grades six through 12.

Dawn Byers spoke of the need to analyze and address the funding decline, which began in 2009 during the Great Recession.

“My big-picture is district-wide, and it ties into kindergarten, but it’s combining grade levels,” she said. “My thought process is, it helps with equitable class sizes, if you combine all second-graders in Whitman, perhaps, in one school … it allows the teachers to collaborate and evens out the class sizes.”

She said she hoped the list would not be shelved until next year once a particular goal is selected as the primary goal for the year.

“It is going to be a multi-year plan,” Howard said.

Christopher Scriven said his decision behind his running for a seat on the School Committee, to begin with, was to affect change on the culture of the district.

“There’s been a lot going on, so I haven’t pushed hard for that, but I’ve been around long enough — I’ve worked in the district, I’ve seen enough things where … I think we could do better in areas, particularly the ‘average kid,’” Scriven said, stressing he is a “big fan of W-H.”

He said the emphasis on deliverables makes it hard to measure, but he wants kids to feel comfortable in school.

Dan Cullity said all-day kindergarten must be done. W-H is one of only about a dozen districts in the state to not have a full-day kindergarten program, as many districts that do are already shifting attention to full-day pre-K.

“We already missed the boat on that,” he said. “It’s going to be forced down our throats.”

David Forth suggested modernizing tech infrastructure as well as expansion to foreign language to the elementary level.

Small submitted written ideas pointing to full-day kindergarten as a primary goal, and Jones advocated for a deeper dive into facilities and capital goals. Howard, too advocated for early childhood education.

The full discussion can be streamed on the WHCA-TV YouTube channel.

Other ideas mentioned included social-emotional needs of children, uniform start time appropriate for all students, possible class size caps and early college credit classes targeting first-generation college students.

Superintendent of Schools Jeffrey Szymaniak said the leadership team’s goals included continuing with the one-to-one technology initiative, a robust K-8 arts program — which could include languages and/or a life-skills program.

“If we’re doing what’s best for kids, then what do they need?” Assistant Superintendent George Ferro said of an arts/life skills program. “I could contend that I would rather take coding than Spanish, because I’ll take Spanish when I get to college. … What do we owe students in this time frame to make them successful for all aspects of their life?”

Howard said students may not be excited about learning the material needed to pass an MCAS test, but they want to learn.

BRIDGEWATER — The W.E.B. Major Crimes and Drug Task Force, consisting of the Whitman, West Bridgewater, East Bridgewater, Bridgewater and Bridgewater State University Police Departments, reports that two men were arrested on multiple drug charges this week.

Marlon Teixeira, 31, of Bridgewater, was charged with: Trafficking Fentanyl Over 200 grams; Trafficking Cocaine Over 100 grams; Trafficking Percocet; Unlawful Possession of a Firearm; Unlawful Possession of Ammunition. Additionally, Djestiny Andrade-Fonseca, 20, Brockton, was charged with:  Unlawful Distribution of a Class A Drug (Fentanyl) and Unlawful Distribution of a Class A Drug (Fentanyl).

As a result of the investigation, the State Police assigned to the Plymouth County DA’s office Narcotics Unit sought and obtained a search warrant for an apartment on High Street in Bridgewater (Teixeira’s residence). The warrant was executed on Sunday, June 13.
Teixeira was located in a camper in the rear of the property. State Police found approximately one kilogram of fentanyl inside the camper and a 9mm Glock firearm with a high-capacity magazine. State Police also seized an additional 523 grams of fentanyl, 249 grams of Percocet, 125 grams of cocaine and $142,193 in cash.
As a result, Teixeira was placed under arrest and arraigned in Brockton District Court Monday, June 21.

During the investigation, Andrade-Fonseca was also located inside the camper and was identified as an alleged runner for Teixeira. He will be arraigned in Brockton District Court at a later date.

“These arrests were the result of several weeks of investigation on behalf of multiple local and state agencies, and we are fortunate to have been able to take large quantities of drugs off the streets without incident,” East Bridgewater Police Chief Paul O’Brien said.

The investigation is ongoing.

These are allegations. All suspects are considered innocent until proven guilty in a court of law.

HANSON — The Board of Selectmen on Tuesday, June 15 approved a new round of negotiations on the marijuana facility host community agreement (HCA) based on the new venture into delivery service.

Impressed LLC has approached the town to expand its cannabis growing and manufacturing operation to include delivery service. The Cannabis Control Commission issues two different types of delivery license — courier and operator.

Couriers are allowed to pick up product from an existing licensed facility for delivery elsewhere, while an operator license can pick up, store and re-label the marijuana for resale.

“This [business] has the storage build in because it’s an existing facility,” said Town Counsel Kate Feodoroff. The town would receive 3 percent in community impact payments and 3 percent from sales tax.

“They’ve asked us to negotiate another HCA, or an amendment to an HCA to authorize me I will then go ahead and do so,” she said.

Town Administrator Lisa Green added that owner Ralph Greenberg is willing to give Selectmen a tour of the facility, needing only a request for a day and time.

Tours can be either individual or in groups, but Feodoroff cautioned against deliberation if a group of three or more tour together, or it would be in violation of the Open Meeting Law.

Selectmen also asked Feodoroff to weigh in on policy regarding it’s opening process for opening Cranberry Cove each year.

Selectmen Chairman Matt Dyer stressed he understood the decision to open Cranberry Cove in advance of the recent heat wave was done with good intentions, but noted there has been a “breakdown in communications for a couple of years now,” that needed to be addressed.

“Opening up the cove is a lot more than saying, ‘The Cove is open. Enjoy,’” Dyer said. “There’s a lot of safety aspects behind it.”

He advocated a sign-off process that stipulates the Recreation Commission has made such a decision after talking to police and fire officials, had the building inspector check the docks and from the Health Department regarding water testing. He also advocated that Selectmen be notified.

Selectman Laura FitzGerald-Kemmett noted there had been some concern expressed about the lack of lifeguards so early in the season.

Recreation Commission Chairman Diane Cohen said she liked the idea of a department head signoff process.

Recreaction
vacancies

During the process of the board’s annual vote to appoint members of various town committees, Recreation Commission member Juvelyn Hartwig read a statement criticizing divisions on that panel as she removed her name from consideration for reappointment.

“It has been a rewarding experience — well, most of it,” said Hartwig, who has served on the Recreation Commission for two years. “It’s also inspired me to become more involved in our town.”

She has also been a Rotarian for 15 years in the town, where she has lived for 18 years.

“I am saddened that I have to show you this poster of my accomplishments tonight as a Recreation Commission member,” she said as two girls held up posters listing her works. “I am disappointed, to say the least, to see a pattern of behavior, and response to that behavior, from citizens in our town government.”

She said that, while Hanson is a diverse community, volunteers and appointed officials are not supported well by town government and some individuals.

“To think that my associations with civic and nonprofit relationships have been questioned as self-dealing or some financial interest is insulting and alarming,” she said. “Reappointing me, I know, is causing some of you a great deal of distress.”

After speaking with legal counsel, Hartwig said she felt she would have more impact as a volunteer or private citizen than as an appointed official. She is founding a group called Hanson Families for Change toward that end.

“I hope everyone realizes how sad that is,” she said. “Just because it’s what has been, it doesn’t mean that it can’t be changed.”

Dyer thanked her for everything she has done for the town.

Later in the meeting, Selectmen voted to appoint Audrey Flanagan and Franklin Milisi to the Recreation Commission following a brief interview with each of them, as well as candidate Nathaniel Mastico.

“We had several applicants for these vacancies,” Dyer said.

Dyer recused himself from Flanagan’s interview because she served as his campaign manager. Selectman Jim Hickey, who worked with Flanagan on girls’ softball said he would not recuse himself.

“I think in a small town such as us, when you work with someone over an amount of time and they make you successful or you make them successful, the success is there,” he said.

Hickey said he reviewed the situation with both town counsel and Town Clerk Elizabeth Sloan and was told there was no conflict of interest.

Flanagan said she has more than 20 years of experience with Hanson Recreation and has served on the Commission for several years in the past.

Flanagan is currently chairman of the Hanson 200th Anniversary Committee, that had planned several events that had to be cancelled last year because of COVID.

“We’re still hoping to salvage some of the year,” she said. “We’re talking about a couple of smaller events to end the year and try to put some closure to the 200th.”

She said her goals include increasing subsidies for Recreation programs through booking weddings and events and to work with the CPC to seek grants to renovate the caretaker’s house as an office and museum as well as returning family camping weekends and the theater program.

Milisi said he wants to see process changes in various revenue streams at the camp to help it financially. He works in the financial technology field and has experience in the restaurant business and has some suggestions for improving the kitchen to help make it more viable for catering.

His acknowledgement of some of his pro-override political work in town drew a question from Hickey on whether he had advocated funding the schools over other departments at this year’s Town Meeting.

“I believe that the transfer station is an excessive capital cost to this town and it wasn’t presented in that way,” Milisi said. “But there was no point in time when I said fund the school and cut the Police Department or anything like that. … That is unacceptable.”

He also provided a list of ideas for events for children, as well as adults — such as dance nights — that can bring the entire community to Camp Kiwanee.

WHITMAN — In a split vote Tuesday, June 8 Selectmen dismissed a complaint against the terrier-American bully mix, with no further action required The 3-2 vote saw Selectmen Chairman Dr. Carl Kowalski and Selectmen Brian Bezanson voting against dismissal.

An official determination will be issued in writing within a week and announced publically at a subsequent meeting.

The vote following an often-emotional dog hearing Tuesday, June 8 during a meeting in the Town Hall Auditorium.

Town Counsel Peter Sumners said a dangerous dog is considered to be one that has attacked a domestic animal and a nuisance dog is one that has done so in the past or that creates a disturbance by excessive barking.

Selectmen decided the dog in question met neither definition.

“No quarter shall be issued,” he said, quoting the law regarding penalties for dangerous dog — it must be removed from a community, but laws cannot be breed-specific. There are specific exceptions to the definitions and potential remedies.

Muzzles or banishment are required by dangerous dog provisions, but there is room for flexibility with a nuisance designation. Sumners said he does not believe the town is liable if it happens again.

The hearing stemmed from a March 2 complaint filed by Walter Aylward and his daughter, Marie, of 650 South Ave., concerning a terrier mixed-breed dog named Loretta, owned by Casey Mahoney of 50 Perry Ave. The delay in holding a hearing was due to an attempt to resolve the issue, in cooperation with Animal Control Officer Joe Kenney, without a formal hearing, according to Selectmen Chairman Dr. Carl Kowalski but the Aylwards decided in April that they wished to pursue a dangerous dog hearing.

The Aylwards alleged that Loretta lunged at their dog — named Buttercup — pulling the dog walker toward their fence, where it bit Buttercup, damaging their dog’s jaw. Buttercup was in a fenced-in yard.

The only sidewalk on that stretch of South Avenue passes in front of the Aylward’s home.

Kowalski said he felt bad about the situation because, while something had obviously happened to the Aylward’s dog, it was a one-time incident.

“My inclination is not to call Loretta a dangerous dog based upon one incident,” he said, basing his reaction on Kenney’s report.

Kenney told Selectmen this was the first incident concerning Loretta and there have been no incidents since March 2.

“It was definitely an unfortunate incident, but it was a dog-on-dog thing and neither was off-leash,” he said. “In a typical situation, we would just do a quarantine and followed those steps.”

Kenney said he usually also recommends that people change walking routes to put minds at ease.

“I think a lot of this situation had to do with the person handling the dog,” he said. “If it was [the dog walker’s] own dog, it might have been a very different scenario, they might have picked up on signs from the dog differently.”

Loretta is a 45-50-pound dog, a terrier and American bully mix. Buttercup is a 15-pound Shi-Tzu.

Walter Aylward said he was out in his yard with his two dogs, who were sitting together by the fence, and he saw the dog walker “struggling” with Loretta.

“No one barked at anybody,” he said. “My dog didn’t bark, that dog didn’t bark, and the next thing you know I saw the dog fly — and the woman with it — right across the sidewalk right into the chain link fence.”

He described his dog as that it’s face was hanging off. Aylward said an emergency vet told him the dog’s injury was life-threatening.

Kenney said, in his opinion, both dogs were likely barking at each other and Buttercup stuck her muzzle through a link in the fence, giving Loretta the chance to grab her lower jaw.

“That dog is dangerous,” he said of Aylwards. “It’s tasted blood and it’ll do it again.”

Marie Aylward said they have lived in their home — with dogs in a fenced-in yard — for 37 years without incident.

Walter Aylward said he is not asking to have the dog euthanized, but wants it muzzled at all times or moved out of town.

Casey Mahoney has been a resident for 10 years and is a board member of DFS and volunteers at the Animal Protection Center of Southeastern Mass. shelter in Brockton. She adopted Loretta from the MSPCA in Haverhill in 2014.

“Loretta has only shown love toward all of us, never aggression,” Mahoney said, noting she had walked the dog herself before taking a job in Boston and needing a dog-walker during the day.

She found Crystal Power, who has a few years of experience walking all sizes of dogs, on a posting on the Whitman Pride Facebook page. She had been walking Loretta for three or four months before the incident happened.

As part of the pandemic protocols Mahoney required of the walker, the dog was to be taken across the street if another dog was encountered. She found no evidence of blood on her dog and was not aware of any injury to the Aylwards’ dog.

“I was devastated,” she said of learning about Buttercup’s injury.

“On my walks to the train station over the years, I had numerous conversations with the Aylwards and said hello to their dogs. But on many of the walks with Loretta, when their dogs have been outside — and even inside — I have avoided walking by their home because of [their dog’s] continuous barking at Loretta and I.”

When she asked Kenney for suggestions about what to do, he told her she was already doing it by continuing to avoid walking by the Aylward’s house to have a more peaceful walk. Mahoney said she visited the Aylwards, apologizing and offering to help with vet bills, but learned they had hired an attorney and the financial portion of the case is now in the hands of her insurance company.

“I’m sad about what has happened, not only because Buttercup was injured, but because a relationship was lost between myself and the Aylwards,” she said. Loretta has helped her cope with some bleak emotional times during the pandemic.

Mahoney told Selectmen, through tears, that she does not think her dog should be muzzled as she is not a dangerous dog or a nuisance.

Power said the incident, which took place on Feb. 10, had never shown any signs of aggression to her or others, and was only walking on the sidewalks because of the safety challenges posed by snow and trash barrels along the roadside.

She said that both the Aylward’s dogs barked at Loretta, but that the dogs’ behavior was more of a “meet and greet.” She felt that Buttercup was nibbling at her, but there was no way Loretta could bite back through the fence.

“No party witnessed the incident at hand 100 percent,” Power said, but there was no blood on the white dog’s face. Loretta never barked or growled, she maintained.

Selectman Dan Salvucci said, in his experience, a dog is like an extra doorbell and he found it hard to believe that neither dog barked.

“We need to make sure this never happens again,” Selectman Brian Bezanson said, advocating a muzzle when the dog is being walked.

HANOVER  — South Shore Tech was granted a return to school waiver following a site visit from officials with the Department of Elementaty and Secondary Eduation (DESE), according to Superintendent-Director Dr. Thomas J. Hickey reported to the South Shore Tech on School Committee on Wednesday, May 19.

The waiver is only good through the end of the school year.

“We can continue as we are for the remainder of this school year, which can now be very easily interpreted as kids are in school eight days out of 10,” he said. “They’re in every shop day and they’re in three days a week out of five for their academic week.”

Hickey said the school will push the limits where there is the space to do so.

Starting May 24, students were returning to class for full days of instruction, no longer having staggered starts in the morning.

When seniors sign out, Hickey said freshmen will be in school for a full day everyday because there is adequate capacity in the building without the seniors in the building.

“Our plan … [is] we will have a schedule that will look a lot more like a normal year,” Hickey said. “We’re planning for September with the assumption that there’s still some sort of distancing between kids — three-foot distancing.”

The school will then be open without additional modifications needed for the 2021-22 school year.

“It’ll be nice to see some of the hallmarks of a normal school year,” he said.

Hickey said he expects that indoor mask-wearing requirements will continue for the remainder of this school year, but for outside activities including shops, gym class and sports teams will no longer be included under the mask rules.

The outdoor mask guidelines have not been clear on whether they apply to adults, he said however.

Masks will not be required at graduations, according to the state, Hickey said, but unvaccinated people will still be encouraged to wear them.

Final guidelines for the June 5 graduation ceremony was being relayed to parents as soon as possible.

The Parent Advisory Council has asked for a breakdown of grading philosophy for the school as part of the school improvement plan, approved by the School Committee May 19, which already grades academic achievement and work ethics separately, Principal Mark Aubrey said.

Providing more information on school rules and improving communication are other goals.

“We do a really, really strong job communicating with our families about what is going on, what they can expect from us, but I had a number of [freshman] parents who, obviously, went through a different year this year,” Aubrey said. “They were able to pinpoint some things they felt we needed to work on, which I felt was good for us to hear.”

Continued Zoom meetings, which they see as beneficial to families who can’t attend meeting otherwise. Cooperative education, which is seeing the best year so far, according to Aubrey, is explained well to students, but parents have asked for a separate informational meetings.

Assistant Principal Sandra Baldner said 135 students took part in the coop program with 120 earning a combined $140,000 so far in 35,000 hours of employment.

Parents have also asked for a career pathway with the guidance department, whether students are planning higher education, the military or a path into the workplace.

Freshman Andrea Fernandez has suggested a student saving program to help plan for the high cost of yearbooks, prom expenses and other graduation-related costs when they become seniors.

“There’s a lot of money that goes out of the house in that two months,” Aubrey said.

Some parents have also suggested that union sponsorships be sought to help defray costs of the student service learning trip.