The School Committee on Wednesday, April 28 unanimously approved a outlined a settlement agreement with the town of Whitman to pay water and sewer bills at the high school, which have been the source of concern since it was discovered that the bills have been in error for 14 years.

School district legal counsel Matt Feeney outlined the agreement that the district pay $185,826 over three years to resolve the dispute.

Whitman DPW notified the school district in May 2019 that multiple water and sewer readings and billing errors for the high school had been detected.

Meters were read incorrectly beginning in October 2005 and were repeated until Feb. 25, 2019, resulting in an under billing of about $307,000, School Committee Chairman Bob Hayes reminded the committee.

The Whitman DPW apologized for the error and any inconvenience it caused, but maintained water and sewer services for the high school.

Only WHRHS facilities were involved in the billing errors.

The School Department worked with Feeney and the town of Whitman to “determine what the district realistically owed” on a six-year statute of limitations, Hayes said.

The result was a mutually agreed-upon $185,826.46 to be paid in equal installments of $61,942.16 over three years, beginning in fiscal 2022.

Business Manager John Tuffy said a payment plan has not been determined yet, but a $61,000 forecasted in state aid or a transfer from excess and deficiency look like the most likely funding avenues.

“There is no intention to modify the budget, at least that I’ve heard of, and send a new assessments out for the towns,” Tuffy said.

COVID update

Superintendent of Schools Jeffrey Szymaniak presented a brief COVID update, noting all students returned to class on April 5 and Department of Elementary and Secondary Education Commissioner Jeffrey Riley issued a May 17 date for all high school students to report back to in-person class.

“For us, if we hadn’t made that move it would have been within six or seven days, but they’ve been in school since April 5 and things have gone pretty well,” he said.

Middle schools were supposed to reopen by April 28, and in W-H have been back since April 5 as well.

Contact tracing presents a new situation, Szymaniak said. DESE and the state Department of Health and Human Services has issued new guidelines which involves close contacts exposed to COVID-19-positive people in the classroom or on the bus. Those wearing masks do not have to quarantine unless they were within three feet of the person testing positive for 15 minutes or more during a 24-hour period. The order does not apply if such contact occurred outside the classroom or bus.

“This new guidance will drastically decrease the amount of quarantines within our district,” Szymaniak said. “This will help us keep kids in school. … It will be parents’ choice whether they qauarantine their child. Our directive from DESE is to notify families.”

The district is also receiving eight pallets of persona protective equipment (PPE) — masks, hand sanitizer, gowns, stethoscopes, etc. — after the state ended up with a surplus it offered to schools, and will pay interested school districts to pick it up.

“We should be in a good spot come September,” he said.

MCAS and winter school

Because juniors who missed the MCAS last spring during the COVID shutdown, are eligible to take the exam to qualify for Adams Scholarships, the district is over the number of students they can test with the current number of proctors. Testing will take place May 6 and 7 and May 10 and 11.

Principal Dr. Christopher Jones said a “reverse half-day schedule” is being used to work around the issue. Buses will run at the usual times and students not taking the tests, who cannot get a ride at a later time can ride the bus.

MCAS testing ends at 10:15 a.m. and all students taking the test will proceed to classes after the exams. Distancing will also have to be provided for the 354 students — 288 sophomores and 66 juniors — taking the MCAS.

Winter school, which moved summer school classes to the winter season, saw a 76-percent success rate, Jones said, meaning 40 out of 52 moved out of winter school with passing grades.

“The important part was a decent number of them were seniors at risk,” Jones said. “They were at risk of not graduating.”

For the graduation ceremony at 6 p.m., on Friday, June 4 (rain date June 5), enough seats will be put out on the field used for four members of each graduates’ family at proper social distance. Other family members may use the standing room area at social distance.

Szymaniak said all those attending must sign in to permit contact tracing, if necessary.

“It’s not going to be a free-for-all,” he said.

The committee also began discussion of a proposed policy for therapy dogs in district schools. Szymanaiak said it was going to be worked on over the summer to present a well-thought-out plan.

A gender identity policy is also being looked at in an effort to see if current school policies are adequate.

Grants from the School Nutrition Foundation will not only ensure that the W-H Food Service Department continues to provide healthy meals kids like, they will help ease the pressure on towns’ capital matrixes as equipment ages and breaks down.

The SNF’s grant supplied the district with $20,000 Hobard Equipment Grant enabled the district to purchase an industrial mixer for large-batch recipes and deli slicer — used mainly at the high school.

“It would [otherwise] be part of the capital plan or it would come out of our fund, if we had any money in our fund,” Doucette said.

Once awarded, the recipient will work with an ITW/FEG representative to determine what best suits their school district’s needs.

New to her position, Doucette hopes to improve the kitchen facilities in Whitman-Hanson, including replacement of an aging stand mixer and adding a food slicer at the elementary school to offer fresh, daily deli sandwiches while saving on staff time and energy. Doucette also explained that various pieces of equipment are no longer functional, including a commercial steamer, food warmer and a wooden prep area that must be replaced with stainless steel.

“We have like a Subway sandwich line at the high school,” she said. “I’m not sure how that may or may not work here because the kids are so little.”

The schools provide both hot and cold lunch options every day.

Grant applications required information on the average daily participation in lunch programs, how many are on free and reduced lunch plans, whether a district had already received an equipment grant in the past.

School meal programs operate on extremely tight budgets, funded by cafeteria sales and reimbursements for meals served. With revenue declines due to COVID-19 school closures and the shift between distance learning and hybrid models, many school meal programs lack critical funds to purchase necessary equipment and supplies or cover transportation, temporary staffing and other costs associated with current COVID-19 feeding programs.

It is not the only grant the Food Services Department has received of late. Another grant of almost $24,000 through the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education (DESE) helped replace refrigerated chests for milk, which the district had been renting for nearly $5,000 per month.

“I applied for the Project Bread COVID-19 Rapid Response Grant in the spring of 2020 for equipment to provide bagged meals at the beginning of the pandemic.  We received $3,291.66 for a large portable milk cooler to keep the bagged meals safe for curbside pickup,” she said. “I applied for Dairy on the Go Grant in January 2021 for equipment to serve Hot Chocolate Milk at the high school.  We received $940.00 for a Chocolady (Bain Marie Dispenser).  We hope that having this hot option along with our cold milk will increase our students milk consumption.  We are going to be giving out free samples on Thursday and Friday.”

She applied for the School Nutrition Equipment Assistance Grant in January 2021 for new milk coolers for the district.  The district received $23,646.00 for 10 large portable milk coolers.  It had been been leasing the milk coolers from our milk distributor.

 “Not only does it eliminate a cost, it provides new equipment,” she said. “Basically all I was doing was trying to find money.”

Another milk chest was obtained from Project Bread.

“This grant will save us approximately $5,000 per year in leasing fees and also provide enough milk coolers for all of our schools for many years to come,” she said.

As students are coming back to school, the need is definitely there, said Food Services Director Nadine Doucette.

The Biden Administration is also funding lunch programs across the country so that all student lunches are free through June 2022.

“They’re all free now, so it’s just going to continue,” Doucette said. “I emailed every family that is on full remote still [so they know, as well]. We still do curbside pickup for all families that are full remote. We’ve seen that number drop dramatically, now that the kids are here full time.”

The School Committee has reduced the proposed fiscal 2022 budget by $775,000, lowering assessments to the towns, as well.

The committee voted 7-2-1 on Wednesday, April 14 — with members Dawn Byers and David Forth voting against and Steve Bois abstaining — to rescind the March 17 vote. He then moved that they set the fiscal 2022 school district, and setting it to $56,797, 579.40 — a 2.6 percent increase of the budget. Hanson’s assessment would be $12,646,117.72 and Whitman’s would be $16,104,903.22.

The reduction of $775,000 from the March 17 budget was proposed to come from federal funds.

The new budget figure was passed, 8-2 with Byers and Forth voting no. The new assessments were passed by identical votes, after a vote rejected Byers’ proposal to table the issue for a legal opinion on procedure.

“I think the budget we put forth through the School Committee supports the mission of our school, supports what we need for our kids for next year,’ Superintendent of Schools Jeffrey Szymaniak said April 6. “But I also feel it’s my job as the CEO and CFO, so to speak, of the district to say I’m going to be sitting on a little over $2 million of federal stimulus money.”

While he said he doesn’t have a specific number yet, but has been told it is more than two times the $1 million in ESSER II COVID funds.

The revised plan presented by Szymaniak at the April 6 meeting that failed to pass by a 8-1-1 vote.

Committee member Christopher Scriven, who had been absent on  April 6 made the three motions covering the revised budget total and assessments to each town.

“To be honest, it sounds somewhat scripted,” Byers said of Scriven’s motion, adding that she hadn’t seen an agenda before Monday. “Somebody on the committee knew that budget discussion was coming up last Thursday. That’s concerning to me.”

Member Fred Small said he had planned to bring it up, since the budget has been on the agenda at every meeting.

“We don’t have an approved budget, how on earth would it not be mentioned?” said member Mike Jones, attending remotely.

“We have an approved budget,” said Byers and Bois, who had been on opposite sides of the April 6 vote.

“Since I’ve been on the committee we’ve changed the budget repeatedly,” member Christopher Howard said, noting he was trying to figure out what they could do without arguing what they should do.

“I don’t know what the hurry is to reduce the budget to balance a town’s municipal budget,” Byers said.

She made a motion to call legal counsel to get a recommendation on the propriety of Scriven’s motion, as it had originally been an amendment — taken back and changed to a motion to rescind after at least three guides to parliamentary procedure had been consulted.

“We’re just getting tied in the pretzel of how can we have the conversation about the budget because that’s just what we’ve always done,” Howard said when a second motion by Byers to table the budget vote was added to the discussion. “I don’t think we should ever be caught up in the technicalities and not being able to have a conversation about where we’re at and what we’re looking to do.”

Byers argued for tabling the budget vote for legal advice because “reducing the budget and using one-time funds is a patchwork solution.”

Committee member Fred Small asked where the money was supposed to come from.

“It’s great to get on a soapbox, and it’s great to say, ‘Hey, we need more money…’ was there some things that happened years back? Yes. But we can’t go back in time. … We need to deal with realities today.”

“The town should not be cutting an approved budget by using the ESSER funding to kind of cover the spread,” said Brendan Griffin of Temple Street in Whitman, speaking during the public comment period of the meeting. “That funding should be treated as the supplement it is, and spent on pandemic-related expenses and support for both known and unknown needs that the kids will undoubtedly face.”

He said using it to cover special education teachers seems a bit off-base and a little reckless.

Scriven said it is time to look at things from a team perspective.

Byers said she appreciated the long-term team approach.

Business Manager John Tuffy said the fiscal 2021 budget was 73-percent expended by the end of March, compared with 76 percent at the same point in fiscal 2020. He also mentioned a rash of fraudulent unemployment claims, dealt with by many districts victimized by online scammers during the early days of the pandemic, are being worked out by the state and refunds are starting to come back to the district, but that the numbers are still “a little squishy” right now.

Reopening update

“These past few days, I’ve been feeling a mix of emotions,” said junior Anna Flynn, who serves as the student government representative to the School Committee, during her regular student update. “I’ve been happy, yet fearful. I’ve been excited, yet dreadful.”

She said it is difficult to concentrate on schoolwork while “cramped into” classrooms with classmates not seen in a year, and dreading being or faced with being called to the nurse’s office “any second.”

Flynn said her fellow students are exhausted, and she expressed heartbreak that there is no junior prom this year, and that traditions such as homecoming and rally had been canceled.

“I’ve never seen my classmates so anxious and burned out in my entire school career,” she said, noting that they are also nervous about the reduced social distancing guidelines in a school full of people.

She said she and several of her classmates have decided to switch to full remote for the remainder of the school year.

“We decided to take the safe route, rather than risk being in close contact and catching the COVID-19 virus,” she said. But she added that she was “exhilarated” by how serious W-H is taking the close contact situation.

“Even though it can be a very stressful process, I’m glad to have my school take proper precautions and try their best to prevent the spread of the virus during the transition of returning to school full time.”

There were no changes made to the fiscal 2022 school budget and assessments at the School Committee meeting on Wednesday, March 7, despite a proposal from  Superintendent of Schools Jeffrey Szymaniak that would trim the budget by three quarters of a million dollars.

The measures failed by a vote of 6-1-1 with member Dawn Byers voting no and Chairman Bob Hayes abstaining. Member Chris Scriven was absent.

Hayes said Monday the budget would be discussed again at a meeting on Wednesday, April 14. Budget votes must make up two thirds of the 10 total members, whether they are present or not.

“I can’t believe I’m sitting in this chair saying, ‘Maybe the School Committee can reduce my budget,’ because I’ve always fought to increase the budget,” Szymaniak said, noting that Whitman is still calculating a budget and Hanson would be looking at an override “no matter what.”

“I don’t think it would sit well for me to not share an idea of how to reduce our budget and have it potentially, if we don’t reduce it, fail at town meeting,” he said. “I feel very comfortable being able to do this.”

Szymaniak proposed using the funds over those three years to balance the remediation and intervention programs, some special education programs and Chromebooks — totaling $775,000 for a proposed budget of $56,797,579.40 — a 2.6 percent increase of the budget. Hanson’s assessment would be $12,646,117.72 and Whitman’s would be $16,104,903.22.

The new round of federal stimulus money can’t be used to pay teachers, but may be used for remediation of COVID-related expenses.

Without helping the towns, he could be faced with pink-slipping people and the goal this year is to avoid that.

Chairman Bob Hayes reported that legal counsel has opined that, once a budget is set, the figure cannot be increased — only decreased — as Hayes had described at the last meeting.

“The reason for it, is the budget has to be presented to the towns 45 days before Town Meeting,” he said. “That gives the town the opportunity to set their budget.”

The school budget makes up a larger portion of town budgets than other departments.

“There’s nothing that says at Town Meeting a budget line can’t be increased,” he said. “But it can also be decreased.”

Szymaniak said he has received a written copy of the opinion, and would share it with the committee.

He also noted Hanson’s move to place an override on the Town Meeting warrant and will hold a forum on the issue April 20.

“I think the budget we put forth through the School Committee supports the mission of our school, supports what we need for our kids for next year,’ Szymaniak said. “But I also feel it’s my job as the CEO and CFO, so to speak, of the district to say I’m going to be sitting on a little over $2 million of federal stimulus money.”

While he said he doesn’t have a specific number yet, but has been told it is more than two times the $1 million in ESSER II COVID funds.

“We will get this money, it’s just a matter of when,” he said. “I don’t feel comfortable not giving you an opportunity to potentially reduce the operating budget to assist our two communities, when they’ve asked for some assistance in the district budget.”

He prepared information for the committee to use to reduce the budget, to give the towns a strictly level-serviced budget.

The Committee opted to reopen the budget discussion to do that.

The $2.1 million to $2.2 million in ESSER III funds must go over three fiscal years, Szymaniak said. It would not be prudent to use $2 million in one year, and he didn’t know if the state or federal governments would allow that in any case.

“We are not going to cut any services,” Szymaniak said. “We’re just reallocating who’s going to pay for the services — and the good people of the federal government are going to pay for the services.”

He said he would not make the suggestion if he didn’t think it would be successful.

School Committee member Dawn Byers said using the ESSER III funds for operating expenses “doesn’t make any sense to me at all.”

A Mass. Assoc. of School Committee program she participated in offered advice on ESSER III — plan accordingly, communicate wisely with your communities and discuss it among committees to “prepare for the cliff” in 2024 when it won’t be there any more.

She specifically expressed concern about using it for special education or Chromebooks, which will need replacing again.

Committee member Fred Small said Hanson is in a difficult place this year and anything the committee can do to help would be in everyone’s self-interest so the School Committee can go on to do long-term planning.

School reopening

Szymaniak reported on the Monday, April 5 school reopening that if he were to assign a grade to the day’s experience it would be a B+ to an A-.

He said there were a “couple little hiccoughs here and there with transportation” between buses running late and traffic patterns a little off at certain schools.

“The best thing was getting into elementary classrooms,” he said, noting he managed to pop into the classes at most schools. “The teachers were ready to go, the kids were ready to go and I saw a lot of happy eyes.”

Tents have been pitched at the high school and inspected on Tuesday to allow students to eat lunch outside and space apart as well as for some classes to be held outdoors.

There was also a challenge with desks ordered for Whitman Middle School.

“Nothing is ever easy, but we got it done,” he said.

The desks the town of Whitman helped the district order with COVID funds are on back-order, according to Assistant Superintendent George Ferro, and will be delivered the first week of May. In the meantime, desks were obtained from Sacred Heart School, which is in the process of downsizing. Another 150 desks were borrowed from Stonehill.

Ferro said the desks will be kept when they are delivered in May because it is not known when Stonehill would need theirs back and there could still be social distancing protocols in place for September.

“The not-so-great part about opening is I have three positive [COVID] cases at the high school right now from a social interaction last week,” Szymaniak said. “In turn, I have 34 close contacts [in quarantine] out of that social interaction.”

There are four positive cases and seven close contacts at Whitman Middle.

“Nothing has been transmitted through school,” he said.

The DPH contact tracing guidelines have not changed, despite social distances have closed to three feet, which has upset some parents. But Szymaniak defended school nurses who were doing their jobs.

“To get mad at my nurses, to yell at my nurses, to threaten or to have us have to call the police on you, is not appropriate,” he said, noting it had happened that day.

Superintendents are calling DESE to ask them to work with DPH to adjust the distances involved in the contact tracing protocols.

There have been some behavior problems due to the social-emotional challenges of the past year.

After 18 years of public service, School Committee Chairman Bob Hayes is sitting this one out.

Hayes opted against taking out nomination papers for the May 15 Annual Town Election in Hanson. Michelle Bourgelas and Daniel Strautman, meanwhile are running for seats on the School Committee representing Hanson.

Whitman, too, is seeing competition for School Committee seats on May 15 as incumbent Vice Chairman Christopher Scriven and member Fred Small will appear on the ballot with William Haran of 61 Meadow Lane and Heather Clough of 154 Beulah St.

For Hayes, it’s simply time to do something else.

“Eighteen years is a long time and it’s time for me to move on,” Hayes said Tuesday, adding he has no plans at the current time to stay involved in town politics. “I’m not ruling out anything in the future, but currently, no. … I have no regrets and I encourage people to volunteer for elective offices.”

He added that he appreciated the support he has received from Hanson voters over the years, and wishes the school district great things in the future.

“I’ve just been there a long, long time,” he said. “Am I going to miss it? Probably.”

There is also competition for Selectmen seats as Hanson Selectman Matt Dyer will appear on the ballot along with Joseph Weeks and Whitman Selectman Vice Chairman Daniel Salvucci will face off against Finance Committee member Rosemary Connolly.

Whitman voters are also being asked to select two Library Trustees from three candidates: Katherine Getchell, incumbent Michael Ganshirt and Wendy Cope. Two candidates are vying for a seat on the Whitman Housing Authority for a five-year term: Theresa Lynskey and Kimberly Blanchard-Bobulis.

Ballot lineups are as follows:

Hanson

• Selectman:  Joseph Weeks and Matthew Dyer

• Assessor:  Kathleen Keefe

• Library Trustee:  Linda Wall and Corinne Cafardo

•Board of Health:  Arlene Dias

• Constable:  Steven Lyons

• Water Commissioner:  Denis O’Connell and William Garvey

• WHRSD:  Michelle Bourgelas and Daniel Strautman

• Housing Authority:  Daniel Pardo

• Planning Board: Joseph Campbell

Whitman

• Selectman: Daniel Salvucci and Rosemary Connolly

• Assessor: Heidi Hosmer

• Library Trustee (one year): Margaret McEwan

• Library Trustee (five years): Katherine Getchell, Michael Ganshirt, Wendy Cope

• Board of Health (three years): Danielle Clancy

• Board of Health (one year): Brandon Griffin

• WHRSD: William Haran, Fred Small, Christopher Scriven, Heather Cope

• Housing Authority: Theresa Lynskey; Kimerly Blanchard-Bobulis

• Town Clerk: Dawn Varley

• Planning Board (five years): Elaine Bergeron, Brandon Griffin, Wayne Andrews

• Department of Public Works Commissioner (three years): No candidates

HANSON — Town Meeting may be asked to vote on a zoning bylaw amendment to the current cannabis bylaw to permit two different delivery options for customers outside of town. A two-third vote would be required at Town Meeting, with no ballot question needed.

The move could double the revenue the town is already going to see from the community impact agreement with manufacturing business Impressed LLC.

The Board of Selectmen voted 4-1, with Selectman Jim Hickey dissenting, on Tuesday, March 16, to approve referring the matter to the Planning Board for a hearing to determine whether they could come up with a zoning bylaw amendment for the Town Meeting.

Town Counsel Kate Feodoroff briefed Selectmen about a proposal to permit retain cannabis delivery to residents outside Hanson.

“Delivery has two components,” she said. “There are two separate licensures, now, from the [Cannabis Control Commission] CCC — one is called the Courier License and one is called the Delivery Operator License,” Feodoroff said. “The difference between those is very significant.”

She stressed the service is different than a marijuana retailer as defined in the regulations, because it is not a storefront business. A facility will be required for the delivery operator service, however, because drivers will have to wear body cameras and be tracked by GPS, among other security measures that will have to be monitored, as well as storing it in the facility at times.

Delivery Operator licenses are going to be rolling out soon from the CCC as they begin to accept applications at the beginning of April, according to Feodoroff.

“If you want to react to that and try to capture some of that market, now’s the time to do it,” she said. The option would avoid the prospect of a lot of brick-and-mortar retail traffic at the Impressed LLC site, because much of the business would be done online with professional delivery companies delivering the product.

The financial benefit to the town would be “much more significant” than for the manufacturing business alone.

Couriers are services that pick up marijuana orders from retailers for delivery to consumers at their house — providing only the transportation. Delivery operators can pick up marijuana from any cannabis establishment – cultivators, manufacturers and retailers — in any form, and can re-label the product as their own.

“They buy the marijuana, make it their own product, and deliver it and sell it to the consumer,” she explained. “If you were to allow it in Hanson, you would get both local retail sales tax — 3 percent — and in addition to the 3 percent the town will see from community impact fee payments. The courier is less of a significant business.”

School Committee

Noting that Superintendent of Schools Jeffrey Szymaniak and “a good portion of the School Committee” was attending the virtual Board of Selectmen’s meeting over GoToMeeting, Selectmen Chairman Kenny Mitchell welcomed them to provide an overview of the budget process.

Szymaniak noted that the committee would be voting to certify a budget for fiscal 2022 at the next evening’s meeting.

“I’m looking for an increase of $2,252,341 — or a 4 percent increase — in the school budget,” Szymaniak said. “That’s what I call a Level Service-plus Budget.”

Level services are augmented by returning a science teacher that was cut in 2018-19 and focusing on intervention from learning regression during COVID, three more special education programs and more funds for Chromebooks and technological support for the devices, which have been leaned on heavily during COVID.

South Shore Tech Superintendent-Director Dr. Thomas J. Hickey also met with Selectmen to review a debt authorization article going before Town Meeting as well as the school’s fiscal 2022 budget, which is up by 1.89 percent, with Hanson’s share of $1,228,077 is going up $92,657 or by 8.167 percent. There are four more students attending the school this year, in addition to cost increases.

COVID relief ESSER II grant funding will allow towns to offset some of the minimum local contributions, and could reduce Hanson’s cost by about $24,000.

Memorial Day

Selectmen also voted to designate Hanson as a Purple Heart Community at the urging of Veterans’ Agent Timothy White, and heard his recommendation for another low-key Memorial Day observance this year due to the continued concern over COVID-19.

White said he has been working with the Halifax VFW commander to learn more about the Purple Heart Community designation.

Rockland, where White also serves as Veterans’ Agent is also a Purple Heart Community, recognizing Aug. 7 — the date in 1782 when the decoration was established as the nation’s first honor for soldiers by George Washington — as Purple Heart Day.

A draft proclamation would be signed off on by Selectmen and forwarded to the Military Order of the Purple Heart, which would then present the town with an official proclamation.

Selectman Laura FitzGerald-Kemmett thanked White for his work and said the designation was “absolutely the right thing to do.”

White said he generally starts planning Memorial Day at least two months in advance.

“Last year was very difficult and this year is going to match last year in that difficult nature,” he said. “I’m not sure what the governor’s restrictions will be as we move forward … there’s information about variants and there’s still a lot of concern.”

Hanover has also announced they will not have a parade this year. Like Hanson did in 2020, Hanover will only conduct a simple ceremony for broadcast on Memorial Day.

Rockland’s Veterans’ Ally Council has also indicated that town will not have a parade, either.

“I was going to proceed with it in mind that, most likely, there’s not going to be a parade,” he said.

Mitchell said he would go along with whatever White decided.

“Whatever you think, and whatever you need from this board to support you, on anything you decide for Memorial Day is fine with me,” Mitchell said.

“You obviously don’t want to put a vulnerable population of veterans in harm’s way by trying to celebrate them,” FitzGerald-Kemmett said, noting last year’s ceremony was “quite lovely.”

WHITMAN — The Board of Selectmen on Tuesday, March 9  were briefed on an $18.9 million capital article — of which, Whitman’s share would be 24.75 percent — being presented to the eight member towns of the South Shore Tech school district this spring.

W-H Superintendent Jeffrey Szymaniak plans to attend the Selectmen’s next meeting to discuss that school district’s budget.

Town Administrator Lincoln Heieneman is planning to have the annul Town Meeting on Saturday, May 3, possibly either outside at Memorial Field or at the high school, but also reported that Town Hall custodian Todd Decouto has volunteered to figure out, with six feet of social distancing, how many people could be accommodated inside Town Hall.

Acting Chairman Dan Salvucci returned the gavel to Chairman Dr. Carl Kowalski to start the meeting. Kowalski had taken a leave from the post due to health concerns.

Salvucci returned to his role as vice chairman.

“Dan, I want to thank you a lot for taking care of me for that time when I felt like I couldn’t fulfill all the duties of chair because of  COVID and it’s relationship to my health,” Kowalski said.

“Well, welcome back,” Salvucci said.

A full slate of articles is expected to be voted on later this month.

“We’ve been talking for several years about the need to maintain the building that we have, and I know that starts with the support of our eight communities through the annual budgeting process,” said SST Superintendent-Director Dr. Thomas J. Hickey and along with District Treasurer James Coughlin, who presented an overview of the debt authorization article sought at Town Meeting.

Coughlin said Hickey has applied for grants whenever they become available, bringing the district more than $3 million in vocational equipment over the past half-dozen years.

“We’ve got to continue to listen to our communities and see what the state of the union is, in terms of the local economy,” Hickey said. “If we’re not going to get a budget passed going into fiscal ’28, despite our great idea of having a five-year phase and because of an economic issue, we have to be mindful of that.”

Enrollment from Whitman is unchanged at SST from fiscal 2021, Hickey noted, and the budget presented this year has no debt in it.

“Nothing that I speak about tonight has any impact on the fiscal ’22 budget,” he said. “We’re looking at an assessment increase of about 1.7 percent — or a little over $27,000.”

Of that assessment of $1.65 million, $221,550 is set aside for capital projects, with some ESSER II [COVID relief grant] money available for some of that, according to Hickey. He said he thinks some of the assessment increase could be absorbed by ESSER II funds.

“We’ve been a very patient and annual applicant to the Mass. School Building Authority since 2015, telling a story about an aging building — a well-maintained, aging building — and the need for more space,” Hickey said.

The SST School Committee, meanwhile will delay a vote on the article until late March or early April, because their vote would “start the 60-day clock ticking” to take into consideration Scituate’s April Town Meeting through to early May when most district towns hold their meetings.

South Shore is awaiting to hear word, following the MSBA’s April board meeting about whether they would be invited to participate this go-round. In the meantime, he said, there are capital projects the district cannot justify or afford to bring to member towns in one budget cycle.

A window project of about $700,000 for fiscal 2022 is expected to be the last big capital project that could be absorbed within one annual budget cycle, according to Hickey.

Borrowing for bigger projects would be phased in over a six-year period using a combination of interest-only bond anticipation notes and bonding.

Recent capital requests have been largely about infrastructure, and while this proposal won’t be entirely that way, Hickey foresees that a good portion of future capital lines will be transferred over to debt service under this proposal.

“We have the responsibility of bringing a single number that includes capital and operating expenses [to town meetings],” Hickey said of the plan, which stemmed from a master facilities plan created by an engineering plan.

There will also be annual capital costs for materials supporting the vocational programs at the school.

“Unlike debt, capital is a rolling three-year average, so that 24.75 percent could certainly change,” Hickey said.

“I think Tom has presented a budget that is outstanding as far as a capital budget,” Salvucci said. “We’re looking at an entire building that is almost 60 years old, and now we’re looking to do the part that was built in 1992 that’s going on 30 years.”

Salvucci said the district may have maintained the buildings too well, as MSBA’s criteria is concerned.

Selectman Randy LaMattina asked about the scope of the SST application to MSBA.

“The scope of what has been submitted to MSBA is broader than what you’re seeing here,” Hickey said, noting expansion for future enrollment increases will be focused in trades with the strongest industry and student demand.

“Money’s going to be tight for sure, and to have such a good plan in place, the Whitman citizens are going to have their ability to make judgments based on this presentation,” Selectman Brian Bezanson said.

COVID update

Whitman has improved to the yellow, rather than the red zone for rate of positive cases, according to Heieneman.

The town has received some doses, with 21 people vaccinated at their homes who are elderly and/or homebound, and another 81 were vaccinated during a clinic at the K of C.

The town is also working with the Housing Authority to obtain vaccinations for elderly residents.

HANSON — When Massachusetts entered COVID lockdown last March, a great many people could not wait until barber shops and hair salons reopened to regain control of their messy mops.

Will McArthur of Cohasset had other plans for his longer locks.

He grew his hair long during the shutdown of Hanson’s Modern Barber Shop, according to employee Joan O’Brien.

“He then decided to see how long he could grow it,” she said.  “During this time he decided it would be a great idea to raffle off his haircut and donate the money to the Hanson Food Pantry. He was able to raise $850 for them.”

He returned to the shop last week to get a stylish cut to top off the effort.

— By Tracy F. Seelye