HANOVER — The South Shore Tech School Committee set assessments for member communities during it’s Thursday, Feb. 18 meeting.

Superintendent-Director Dr. Thomas J. Hickey has met with finance committees in Hanson and Rockland in recent weeks, and Selectmen and the Advisory Committee in Scituate and Abington’s Finance Committee this week.

The fiscal 2022 budget of $14.6 million is being assessed to the towns as follows: Abington, $1,280,575; Cohasset,  $126,594; Hanover, $882,861; Hanson, $1,228,077; Norwell, $420,095; Rockland $1,824,264; Scituate, $574,126 and Whitman, $1,651,348. Total assessments make up $7,987,941 of the budget.

“Borrowing too much money too quickly is not something that is going to work in an annual budget,” said Hickey. “On the other hand, not taking on any debt will really restrict our schools’ ability to modernize.”

MSBA will also be asked for more funding. No action regarding borrowing would take place until fiscal 2023. Hickey plans a video presentation for posting on the district website on the issue.

“This allows us to go to our towns once for what we think are our priority items at this time, and then be able to plan accordingly,” Hickey said. No vote has been taken yet, because once a vote occurs, it starts a 60-day clock ticking as it is required to go before town meetings, which are strung between early April and late May. An official vote is not anticipated until late March.

Hickey also reported the district is coming closer to a debt authorization approval at the School Committee level. The amount is expected to be $18,960,537 – with almost $990,000 in electrical labor stripped out as work that SST students and instructors could undertake over a period of years to basically redo a lot of the wiring in the 1962 portion of the building, Hickey said.

“We have been in the process of negotiating with our sending communities and the feedback has been constructive, it has been clarifying what we are trying to do,” Hickey said, “We arrived at this number by looking at the projects that our engineering firms helped us develop and prioritize as part of the 2018 facilities master plan.”

Projects accomplished since 2018 have been removed and costs for remaining projects have been calculated with a 4-percent inflation factor going forward to fiscal 2023.

“In talking to our town administrator, he’s been saying that we take care of our schools too well and that’s been hurting us with MSBA,” said Whitman School Committee member Dan Salvucci. “If we saw an issue — which we don’t do — and let it go, they’ll approve [us], but that’s not the type of district we are.”

“One thing we can’t stop is age,” Hickey said.

HANSON — Location, location, location — it’s the phrase one often hears as the key consideration in real estate purchases. Residents of Spring Street in Hanson argue that location is the main problem with a 40-unit 40B housing development proposed by developer William Cushing, who is also chairman of the Zoning Board of Appeals.

Lawn signs protesting that Spring Street is “Not the right spot!” for a 40B development point to water and traffic concerns, among others, rather than the nature of a 40B development as reasons for the opposition. Residents have almost uniformly placed the signs along the roadway citing the busy street and its close proximity to the capped landfill as key concerns.

Another group of residents, however, calling themselves the Spring Association, however, points to Hanson’s “dire need” for affordable housing in expressing their support for the project.

“I certainly was not prepared for the public outcry,” Selectman Wes Blauss said at the Tuesday, Feb. 2 Selectmen’s meeting, noting he is unaware of the history of the proposal. “That surprised me. … I’m not against the concept, but I’m not really sure if Spring Street is the best place for all these units.”

Selectman Laura FitzGerald-Kemmett said Monday, Feb. 7, that residents’ concerns have not fallen on deaf ears.

“We have absolutely heard the concerns that have been expressed by all the abutters, neighbors and others, and we take those concerns extremely seriously,” she said. “We will do whatever we’re able to do — within the law — to make sure that, if that project moves forward, it moves forward in a way that is complimentary to that neighborhood, does not infringe upon abutters’ rights, and is consistent with the regulations. That’s really all we can do.”

Selectmen voted to authorize Town Administrator John Stanbrook to draft a letter to the Mass. Housing Finance Authority to outline the flaws seen in the project proposal, which Town Counsel Jay Talerman said is not out of the ordinary for such projects. Stanbrook’s letter, based on an outline he read during the meeting, was sent on Thursday, Feb. 4 describing the project and raising concerns about housing diversity; its proximity to Commuter Rail and impact on traffic; walkability and open space; proximity to a capped landfill and the former munitions area; water, septic and public safety issues; wetland and environmental impacts and compliance with town bylaws and payment of all owed fees and taxes.

“A lot of these things are going to be checked off during that [ZBA] phase,” Cushing told Selectmen Feb. 2. “Every unit is going to be consistently spread out and not close to the landfill.”

He also said he has water access through Glenwood Place and is planning to pay to get it to the site.

“It’s not a complete plan, but I would call it a really good concept,” Cushing said. “At this time, to talk about storm water and other issues, is preliminary.”

Many of the issues citied in Stanbrook’s letter were raised by Spring Street residents opposed to the development.

Residents Chad Tobias and Chris Costello walked the back yard of abutter Jane Downie’s 500 Spring St. backyard with this reporter on Saturday, Feb. 6 to discuss the issue. Downie did not join the meeting out of concern for COVID precautions.

“This is not a feasible location for that type of development,” Costello said. He and Tobias said they wanted to see the impact of two other 40B developments in the works at Phillips Street and Liberty Street impact the town before others are approved.

The capped landfill overlooks her backyard.

Like residents, FitzGerald-Kemmett said no one on the Board of Selectmen is against affordable housing.

“I think people need to understand the difference between affordable housing and low-income,” she said. “I’m not saying we’re against low-income, either, but there’s a huge difference.”

Residents are more concerned with how the 40-unit plan suddenly came before the Board of Selectmen after it had been approved for eight units with no 40B component.

“When this project first came up in 2017, neighbors had concerns, Tobias said. “This was all trees before. Now, you can see the landfill — you couldn’t before.”

He also said the Factory Pond supersite cleanup effort is also nearby, making groundwater pollution a concern, but high water table and runoff from the landfill, where fill has raised the landscape by about five feet is a bigger concern for many neighbors, according to Tobias and Costello.

Anyone in the neighborhood with a basement knows the problem.

“My pump may run two months straight,” Tobias said. “If I turn it off, I get water buildup in my basement. …When he was going to do this development in 2017, that was one of our concerns.”

“Water seepage into our basement isn’t as bad, but our neighbor are pumping 24/7,” Costello said. “Their pump is going nonstop.”

Tobias said he had to buy a second pump to keep up with wetter times.

He said Downie has had to replace doors and other parts of her home because a drainage culvert directs water onto her property.

Reached by phone on Monday, Downie said, aside from flooding in her backyard, two of her doors had been damaged when fill was being dumped on the site to raise the ground level.

“Every time they dropped truckloads of dirt, they dumped it, and my house shook,” she said. Six months ago she had to have her doors realigned and pipes below her mobile home had been shaken out of place and she has to have more work done to repair that problem.

The project initially called for 20-house development, but has since doubled to 40 houses, 10 set aside as affordable units under the state’s 40B provision. In 2017, it had first been reduced to 12 houses and then eight on the 12-acre parcel, for which it was approved.

Tobias said his house sits on three-quarters of an acre, which limits him to a two- to three-bedroom house under the town’s septic regulations.

“How does the math for 40 houses on 12 acres for septic systems add up?” he said.

Traffic congestion is also a concern, especially at the Spring Street/Route 50 intersection. The impact of additional students in Hanson schools is another concern the neighbors have, Tobias said.

“We’re not against 40B,” he said. “I’m concerned about the groundwater.” Most of the Spring Street residents are on Rockland’s municipal water for that reason — something that has been denied to the development.

“They told him they would feed one house,” Tobias said, noting that the development does not have the required 20-foot easement on Glennwood Place.

Water demand was also a concern.

Tobias looked up average Hanson water use on Archive Boston’s website — the average Hanson resident uses 50 gallons per day. With eight houses with 3.5 people, would require about 42,000 gallons of water which must go somewhere, and 210,000 gallons for 40 houses per month in addition to existing groundwater.

The residents also point to a conflict of interest. Cushing is chairman of the ZBA, an appointed rather than elected position.

“How can you develop in the same town you are on the board for?” Tobias said.

“A lot of the point of cluster housing is also to be near public transport,” he said. The MBTA station is five miles away. “Even if you are talking about proximity to public transportation, this is not a good location.”

Residents are also advocating “an immediate review of the Zoning Board of Appeals,” of which Cushing is chairman. They see the appointed board as one populated with developers who “all seem to have similar projects in the works that seem to only be benefitting themselves, not the town of Hanson.”

Cushing has not yet responded to a request for further comment.

“All appointed board members are special employees of the town of Hanson (special employees), they are allowed to submit an application in front of their board as long as they don’t participate,” a member of the Spring Association has said, declining to give their name.

HANOVER — South Shore Tech Superintendent-Director Dr. Thomas J. Hickey provided a budget update on Wednesday, Jan. 27, in light of the effect of the updated governor’s budget on the district’s fiscal 2022 spending plan.

The overall budget reflected a 1.89-percent increase from the current budget, according to Hickey, who said the governor’s package provides insight on how assessments to member towns will be affected.

The School Committee held its public hearing on the fiscal 2022 budget, with no comments received from the public.

“The ink is not even dry,” Hickey said of the governor’s budget package.

Assessments break down — with the assumption of nearly level-funded Chapter 70 funding, regional transportation and a stabilization transfer for the district’s bus lease as anticipated revenue — as: Abington lower by $3,552 to $1,286,561; Cohasset lower by $17,648 to $127,071; Hanover increased by $158,280 to $886,330; Hanson increased  $98,371 to $1,233,791; Norwell increased $49,569 to $521,660; Rockland increased $125 to $1,833,991; Scituate lower by $14,647 to $576,166 and Whitman increased by $36,855 to $1,660,531.

“Overall, we’re looking for $8,026,101 from our local towns,” Treasurer and Secretary James Coughlin said, explaining that the budget is based on towns’ minimum local contribution as calculated by the state. He explained that town assessments have been going down in previous years because of a large enrollment of non-resident students, while resident town enrollment was lower. Tuition for non-resident students is set by the state.

That trend is reversed this year.

“The towns that are getting the hardest hit, Hanover and Hanson, had the biggest increase in students,” he said.

Hickey said he has reached out to all member communities to set up budget meetings in mid-February or March.

Hickey also sought debt authorization for capital projects to address needs in the facilities master plan that are beyond what students can do, or can be fit into the fiscal 2022 budget, and smaller projects that can be phased into future capital budgets if the district does not receive MSBA funding.

“Window projects, which is the signature capital item in this year’s proposed budget — something that’s in the facilities master plan — we would expect to cover the costs for that as part of a fiscal ’22 expenditure,” he said. “The rationale that we will be bringing to our towns [is] … that we’re now at the point that there are capital projects we simply cannot sustain within the capital budget.”

The window project is $760,000 of an $895,000 capital budget.

“We all feel, on some level, the math just wouldn’t work if all of a sudden we tried to shoehorn in $2 million of capital in one year to do a roof or do something with fire suppression,” Hickey said. Funding for renovation and expansion could also be included in the debt authorization to meet needs for extra space for larger shops, and to do so whether or not the district received MSBA funds. The project list can be reevaluated if state funding is received.

Hickey also said SST is one of 30 schools, of 71 applying for MSBA funding for school building or renovation projects to be selected for review and to supply more information on their proposal.

He cautioned, however, that it does not necessarily signal that the district will receive funding this year.

“They go out of their way to make it clear that, the fact that they would like to talk to us in a little more depth, does not mean that we’re going to be getting a note in a few months saying, ‘You’re invited into the program,’” he said. Hickey had been invited to a meeting because SST had not been invited to provide the information for a few years.

Hickey also said SST’s admissions process is late this year, because area communities’ schools started a little late for eighth-graders considering a vocational education this year. Mid-year report cards, therefore are coming out later.

The town of Hanson is seeking volunteers who may be interested in volunteering at a COVID-19 vaccination site.

If you are a doctor, nurse or EMT and you are interested, please email the Hanson Board of Health at Tcocio@hanson-ma.gov with your name, telephone number and e-mail address. Your name will be added to a list of volunteers. If vaccine becomes available to be distributed to residents you will be contacted to verify licensing and provided additional information.

The School Committee on Wednesday, Jan. 13, heard a lengthy COVID update from Superintendent of Schools Jeffrey Szymaniak, reflecting 41 positive tests among students, seven staff members and two coaches since school resumed after the holiday break.

There have been 35 staff members and 163 students — including both varsity and JV girl’s basketball teams, the girls’ varsity hockey team, the Hanson’s grade seven and eight girls’ travel basketball team and eighth-grade boys’ travel basketball teams — under quarantine.

Four district special education classrooms have also had to be quarantined.

“We are not seeing positive transmission, necessarily, within our student body,” Szymaniak said. “We have occasional cases of kids being exposed and then with close contacts, even through an extracurricular activity [or] an athletic activity, but not necessarily in our classrooms.”

The subseparate special ed classes were the exception. Szymaniak said the high school had been placed on full remote this month because of a shortage of substitutes to cover for teachers who were ill, quarantined, for other medical appointments or on long-term leave.

Sarah Wall, a Whitman resident and mother of 9-year-old twin boys and 7-year-old twin girls who attend Conley School and was hired during the past school year as a substitute teacher, spoke to the committee during the public forum about the lack of substitutes. She had been an elementary-grade teacher in Newton schools for several years.

Wall said she believes that low wages for substitutes is at the root of why there is a shortage. As she spoke, she was receiving a call to sub, she told the committee, noting that higher wages would lead to a larger more qualified pool of substitutes.

Szymaniak said the district’s goal has been to avoid full remote days as much as possible since August.

Students have been voicing concerns about the technical difficulties and distractions of hybrid learning.

“Coming from a student point of view, hybrid learning is very difficult,” student representative Anna Flynn told the Committee. “It is challenging to stay focused and understand material when there is so many distractions.”

Among the distractions students face are WiFi cut-outs, family members also at home, cell phones and electronic devices. She said her peers have told her that fully remote days are less stressful because everyone is online and teachers are focused on everyone at once in front of them on the computer screen.

“The longer lunch on all-remote days helps students stay focused when they go back to academic classes,” she said. “It has been widely known throughout the student body [has given] negative feedback on the topic of going back to school [on a hybrid schedule Jan. 14] many feel we should be fully remote for a longer period of time due to the concerns about the COVID-19 virus.”

Athletic Director Bob Rodgers admitted that the sports program has faced its struggles during the winter season.

“We’ve advocated that the Patriot League allow our teams to practice, but not play games, and move our games to the Feb. 22 Fall II season,” Rodgers said. He had hopes it could be done at least for the girls because there would be no other sports conflict, and argued the abrupt cancellation of games was upsetting to students.

“I’m a big advocate of the Patriot League bubble,” he said. “I don’t anticipate that we’ll play outside the bubble, however there are some teams in our league — because there are so many teams shut down.”

W-H shuts a team down if even one positive case is found and other team members are asked to get tested, Rodgers said, but other schools have other protocols.

Szymaniak said school officials have also been learning about the pool testing being advocated by the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education (DESE). His concerns include the number of people needed to administer the program and he is not certain if W-H will use it. Another concern is whether the communities are large enough to make pool testing an accurate tool.

Szymaniak is also concerned with another message sent by pool tests.

“What we don’t want to do is say, ‘There might be a test for you to come to school and test — we have a pool test — go to school if you have symptoms, and they’ll take care of you,’” he said. “Our parents have been doing an awesome job of contacting the school [when their children have symptoms] and it’s worked out relatively well.”

Staffing has been the main issue when asymptomatic students or staff receive positive tests following close contact with people outside school.

Like Whitman, which is buying rapid tests for staff only at this point, through the fire department for town employees, Szymaniak is looking into costs.

“That’s probably what we are going to do,” he said.

Pool tests are intended for both students and staff, which raises a question about manpower for conducting them.

If a person in the pool tests positive, a backup antigen test would be conducted, but if an additional test is needed due to no positive tests in an antigen follow-up to a positive result in a pool test, Szymaniak is not certain who would have to foot that bill.

Committee member Hillary Kniffen said cost considerations are not compatible with equal access issues surrounding public education.

“Testing is important and it shouldn’t be [that if] you can pay for it, you can get it,” she said.

Szymaniak suggested the Committee send a letter to state officials expressing that concern.

Member Dan Cullity asked about the vaccination plan, but Szymaniak said the state has provided no guidance about teachers yet, but unofficially “on the street” he has heard it may be February or March. It appears, however, that school nurses have been moved up into the first responder category.

Szymaniak said the district is working on the plan for the eventual return to school this academic year if it is safe as well as the plan for returning to school in September.

“April 1 is not a date that is set in stone,” he said. “There’s a lot of what-ifs in there, a lot could change.”

The Town of Hanson and the Accu Reference Medical lab will host a COVID-19 drive-through testing clinic on Saturday, Dec. 19 and Sunday, Dec. 20 at the Hanson Middle School, 111 Liberty Street from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. each day.

Everyone (non-Hanson residents, also) are welcome to participate whether they have health insurance or not. All participants must be at least 1 year old.

There is no cost for those participants who are uninsured. The contractor is receiving money from the federal government to cover the costs of participants who are uninsured.

Please bring your health insurance card (if applicable) and a government picture identification card such as a driver’s license along with a completed registration form under the Board of Health tab at hanson-ma.gov. If you could make a copy of your license and health insurance card and bring it with the completed registration form it would expedite the process.

You do not need to have your physician sign the form.

All participants must remain in their vehicles at all times (this testing is available for drive-ups only; no walk-ins). All participants should leave adequate time to wait in line for testing and the length of the wait time depends on the number of participants. No appointments will be made.

The test will be the PCR (Polymerase Chain Reaction)/Molecular test (the nasal swab test). Results will be available within 48-72 hours. Results will be obtained by accessing Accu Reference Medical Lab patient portal at https://results.accureference.com/patientportal/index.html – If you do not have access to the web site, you can call 877-733-4522.

The Massachusetts Department of Public Health will be notified about all positive and negative test results. The Town will receive information about positive test results for residents of Hanson through the State’s MAVEN system.

HANSON — The Hanson Police Department and the Hanson Police Relief Association hosted its first ever ‘Stuff-A-Cruiser’ toy drive to benefit Toys for Tots Dec. 6 and will continue to house a Toys for Tots donation bin until Dec. 13 for those who could not make the stuff-a-cruiser event.

Bring new, unwrapped toys to the Hanson Police Headquarters, 775 Main St.

“We are excited to be able to host this toy drive in support of the Marine Toys for Tots mission of helping each and every child have a toy for the holidays,” Chief Miksch said. “With the ongoing pandemic, it is more important than ever to help out those less fortunate and in need. We encourage anyone who is able to help to attend the event on Dec. 6 or stop by the station and drop off their present in person.”

Whitman & Hanson Dollars for Scholars will be processing orders for gift cards this holiday season as part of its fall fundraising drive. Interested individuals will be able to order gift cards from over 300 nationwide merchants. DFS will receive a commission for selling the cards while the recipient will receive the full face value of the gift card.

Due to COVID-19, DFS will not be holding an “in person” drop off or pickup location. If you would like to place an order, please call Mike at 781-252-9683 or visit the DFS website for an order form and a list of participating merchants. Order packets will be dropped off at interested individuals’ homes. Completed orders will also be picked up or may be dropped off in the locked box outside Whitman Town Hall.

Orders should be submitted on or before Tuesday, Dec. 8. All gift cards ordered are expected to be delivered by Dec. 12. Payments should be in the form of a check or cash.

Currently, DFS places gift card orders every other month for its board members. Members use the gift cards as gifts for family or friends or toward everyday purchases such as groceries, gas, prescriptions, and restaurants.

Proceeds from the sale will benefit graduating high school seniors in the form of scholarships at the end of the school year. For more information on the gift card ordering program, please contact Mike Ganshirt at 781-252-9683 or visit WhitmanAndHanson.DollarsforScholars.org.