The School Committee, on Wednesday, Dec. 22 decided to table a suggestion that the district contribute to the cost, as a gesture of support, of an independent audit planned by both Whitman and Hanson officials. 

The School Committee plans to revisit the issue at it’s Wednesday, Jan. 12 meeting.

Committee members expressed concern about the funding needed and the added workload on an already taxed financial crew at the main office.

 “From my perspective, I think I would encourage both towns to do the audit,” School Committee Chairman Christopher Howard said.

He updated the committee, reporting that both select boards have seen discussion on their plans for independent audits of the school district’s financial operations.

He said Business Manager John Stanbrook has already identified things that the district could improve on.

“I’d really like to show support for the towns in doing that audit, because one of two things is going to happen,” Howard said. “Either we’re going to get an audit and it’s going to show that there isn’t any additional items to look at, or we’re going to flush all this out – as John is presently doing – and identify things that are going to make us better or things that we need to improve.”

As a gesture of good faith, he encouraged the school panel to take on one third of the cost, with excess and deficiency as the funding source. He said the audits should, indeed, be done independently and the School Committee should get the results.

Committeee member Steve Bois said he liked the idea of paying one-third of the cost, not so anyone could think they are trying to have an impact on the audit, but to relieve some of the impact on the towns.

“We all come together in the end, and I think this is the same type of thing,” Bois said. “We all come together and we’re pulling in all of our resources, they’re pooling all their resources – we’re just going to know.”

School Committee member Dawn Byers was also concerned about the perception of the committee’s motives in paying one-third of the audit cost.

“I wholeheartedly welcome the audit and open doors,” she said. “I think it will restore public confidence in our community because there have been so many questions over the past couple of years.”

Byers, who works in the accounting field, said an audit is going to be a tremendous amount of work.

Howard said he views it as a consulting opportunity from which the district can learn something as the towns are looking to review financial operations and some of the issues that have been uncovered over the past few years. 

Byers also noted there are several kinds of audits and suggested that it might be an idea to determine the type of audit intended.
“We’re trying to get by the surprises of, we have an assessment issue, what John has uncovered in terms of how we’re doing circuit breaker, other things that we can identify,” Howard said. “Let’s get them all flushed out now.”

Assistant Superintendent George Ferro said they also have to think of the effect of all the work now being done by the 4.5 people in the business and HR departments.

“When this happens, it is going to be a massive undertaking, one that we will participate in, but I think I would be remiss if I didn’t speak on behalf of the people who work tirelessly everyday for this budget, do their best … come to work and so this is going to take place, which is fine,” Ferro said. “But I do think we need to reflect on is there the human capacity in that department to do whatever audit somebody else wants and still perform the job that we have to.”

Howard said he thought about that before he broached to topic with Superintendent of Schools Jeff Szymaniak before the meeting.

“It starts with the understanding of what needs to be done,” he said.

Szymaniak said he fully supports the audit, as well.

“Tell me what we’re doing right, tell me what we’re doing wrong,” he said. “A fresh set of eyes always helps us grow. … I can’t fix it if I don’t know it’s broken.”

School Committee member Beth Stafford also expressed concern over the additional work being put on fewer people in the district’s main office.

“I’m having mixed emotions about the whole thing because of the fact of putting more work on our already busy personnel,” she said.

Howard said the committee could delay a decision until the Jan. 12 meeting if members wanted to think about it more, which they decided to do.

The School Committee also approved a job description, based largely on one recently approved in Marshfield, for a bilingual family liaison position.

“In 2010 I would never have thought we’d have a need for a bilingual family liaison – we had nine students in-district that were classified as EL, now we’re in the 90s and we could be up to 130, depending on their classification of where they’re at in their fluidity in the English language,” Szymaniak said. “I don’t know if this person’s out there.”

Starting as a part-time post, Szymaniak said one of the reasons it is needed is that there are students in the district recently arrived from Brazil and this is their first New England winter and students are coming to school not dressed for the weather.

“The culture of students in Brazil is a little more rough-and-tumble than American students,” he said, noting that playground games are leading to misunderstandings. “The students are getting into trouble because there’s nobody to explain to a parent, necessarily, what it’s like to be in Whitman or Hanson or Massachusetts.” 

Principals have asked for the service for that reason and others, such as the recent uptick in parents who don’t speak English and the increasing diversity of the district.

“I assume this is going to be a full-time job,” Szymaniak said but he wants to pilot it on a part-time basis.

“The biggest issue is the outreach when new students are identified,” said Ferro, who added that the need for additional staff will also be looked at because the district is “running thin.” 

“This is just the link back to the family to make them comfortable,” he said.

Budgeting to pay for the position is the next step, Szymaniak said.

A dress code change would allow students to wear “multiple types of headgear without restriction” except for obscene and profane language was also approved.

Principal Dr. Christopher Jones said the change started with allowing students to wear do-rags, bonnets and other headcoverings of that type and is expanding to include baseball caps in the interest of having an equitable policy.

Byers congratulated Jones for bringing the change forward and voiced her approval for it.

“My concern is still going back to the original dress code policy that we have,” she said. Part of the handbook guidelines are not enforceable because the district does not have a policy per se, she said.

The policy committee is looking at the dress code in their work this year.

“As we became a more diverse community, it came to our attention that some students were wearing do-rags in school and were sent down [to the office for discipline] for violating the handbook for having headcoverings,” he said. “In speaking to and listening to those students and then educating ourselves … we came to the conclusion that we needed to do something about it as far as allowing them to wear do-rags.”

He said enforcing policy can be tricky because violations have to be proven to cause a disturbance to the educational environment.

Several surrounding districts either allow hats and sweatshirt hoods, or still have dress codes prohibiting the headgear, but look the other way. Jones said that rather that have an unenforced dress code, it should be revised. W-H will not be permitting hoods at this time.

Student safety and COVID were addressed by district officials during the W-H Regional School Committee meeting on Wednesday, Dec. 22. Both have been the subject of concern among the high school’s student body in recent days, according to student representative Anna Flynn,

“We’ve had some serious issues around student safety the past couple of weeks,” said Superintendent of Schools Jeffrey Szymaniak, noting the Monday, Dec. 6 indirect threat to schools on the South Shore posted on the social media site Snapchat. A police investigation narrowed any credible threats to Brockton and Taunton high schools.

“Whitman-Hanson was not on this alleged Snapchat,” Szymaniak said, noting he also received an email from the Brockton High principal concerning an increase of safety. “We have an outstanding relationship with our school resource officers and our police departments, and they brought a police presence to the high school, which was nice.”

He said that presence “wasn’t huge, so cruisers were not evident everywhere” – it was, rather, very discreet – but there were officers on campus as students arrived. Principal Dr. Christopher Jones was away dealing with a family issue in Connecticut and Szymaniak was home with COVID and communicating by phone with the district and public safety officials.

“Later that morning, [Assistant Superintendent George] Ferro was in charge, with [Assistant Principal David] Floeck, running a tight ship,” Szymaniak said. “Later, I got a call – and this is important – some students took a photograph off of Snapchat or Instagram, of another student who was playing airsoft (a team game similar to paintball) in the summer, and he was dressed in full cammo. They put a tag under it ‘Don’t come to school today.’”

The student in the photo had nothing to do with it, Szymaniak stressed.

The students who were involved, while very compliant and cooperative, were nonetheless “consequenced” with police and the high school office.

The juvenile justice system now has those students in process, Szymaniak said.

“The young man in the picture was being harassed a little bit and people were afraid of him,” Szymaniak said, noting a second email had to be sent out emphasizing that “he didn’t do anything wrong.”

Another national TikTok threat was known about by school officials, but police were not brought in. Szymaniak stressed that resource officers see and hear what’s going on.

“However, it’s causing some anxiety for students,” he said. A lot of students sought dismissal on Monday, Dec. 6 and he said he didn’t blame them. He met with Whitman and Hanson public safety personnel Dec. 20 to discuss what the school does already to address such situations and they will be reviewing ALICE protocols and retraining all teachers in the emergency response system during January.

Szymaniak said he will also hold a public forum as soon as the police chiefs can coordinate their calendars “somewhere between January and February break.

“Both SROs are actively going to work on a video, using our students, to show our students what should be done in a crisis,” he said. “It’s outstanding, because you can see kids in your own building doing things in a worse-case scenario.”

Age-appropriate instruction for all students K-12 will take place in January through April, as well.

“We don’t want to scare students, we just want them to know what to do in case of an emergency,” Szymaniak said. “COVID has put down a blanket of ‘Let’s deal with COVID.’ Well, these issues are happening as well, so we want to make sure our staff and students are prepared.”

Ferro said that, pre-COVID, W-H was on track to be recognized as an ALICE National School.

“In doing so, we had a contract with ALICE for professional development,” Ferro said. Every teacher would have at the beginning of the school year, three weeks to take a self-guided video program to obtain certification. The next step would be tabletop exercises and “things of that nature,” he said. The video is being updated and will be used as part of the on-boarding process for all new employees, including substitute teachers.

COVID protocols

“We did take a stop because of COVID, and now it’s time to bring that back.”

Where COVID itself is concerned, last week 17 high school students and two staff members tested positive, along with seven Whitman Middle School Students and four staff members; two students and one staff member at Hanson Middle School; eight students and one staff member at Duval; 10 students at Conley and seven students at Indian Head schools; one student and one staff member at the preschool have tested positive for COVID.

“It’s escalating – you’re seeing it on the news,” Szymaniak said.

An Education Commissioner’s meeting Dec. 22 discussed a number of issues, including the mask requirement, which the commissioner was slated to lift Jan. 15, has not yet been changed.

“He said he’ll have some information in the next five to eight days, depending on where things go,” Szymaniak said, noting his whole family had been ill with COVID, all with different levels of symptoms. Both he and his wife and their son are fully vaccinated and his daughter had one shot when they became ill.

“The protocols we use with DESE are verbatim,” he said. “Our school nurses know more about COVID than most DPHs.”

While Szymaniak said he understands parental frustration that the rules for vaccinated vs. unvaccinated students don’t make sense, he argued to the Commissioner that schools should be allowed to test close contacts from home. The Commissioner has so far said no, as they are looking at data.

“How many students do we have here [like his son], asymptomatic, close contact with dad or mom,” he asked. “Nobody’s doing anything wrong. We’re following the protocols.”

South Shore superintendents have drafted a letter to the commissioner asking for the leeway to change testing protocols.

“Things have changed with vaccination statuses, things have changed with medications, things are now changing with quarantines,” he said. “This is a fluid situation, I’ll brief you on the fifth as we go forward.”

In the meantime, parents of students who test positive over Christmas break should contact Lead Nurse Lisa Tobin about the process for them to follow.

The flu is also going through school districts, Szymaniak said.

The Whitman-Hanson Regional High boys’ basketball team is back on track. 

After its 35-game winning streak was snapped by Scituate in its season opener, the Panthers shook off a slow start against Silver Lake and rolled past the Lakers for a 75-47 home victory on Friday, Oct. 17. 

“As soon as the guys started to get in the flow and run the floor a little bit better, I think we keyed off our defense,” said W-H head coach Bob Rodgers. “It’s good for them to get their first win. It’s a young team — most of these guys haven’t played varsity before — so it’s nice to get a W.”

W-H trailed 7-1 midway through the opening frame and then entered junior Cole Champignie. The junior (11 points) knocked down one of his three first-quarter triples and ignited a 31-0 Panthers run in the process.

“He’s really been one of the kids I’ve been most happy with here in the early going of the season,” Rodgers said. “He doesn’t just shoot it, but he’s pretty long, he hits the glass well. He’s somebody who is really working his way into the rotation.”

Senior Malcom Alcorn-Crowder was a force in the middle with 12 points and 15 rebounds, while senior captain Ryan Vallancourt netted 15 points in the win. 

In other highlights:

Girls’ basketball (2-0) is off to a 2-0 start. Mike Costa’s team opened its revenge tour with a 49-39 win over Scituate on Tuesday, Dec. 14. The Panthers turned it up on the defensive end, holding the Sailors scoreless in the first quarter. On offense, senior captains Abby Martin (13 points) and Lauren Dunn (12 points) and junior Caitlin Leahy (10 points) all scored in double figures. … On Friday, senior captain Meg Stone pumped in 15 points off the bench to lead W-H past Silver Lake, 59-22. 

Boys’ hockey (1-1) rebounded from an season-opening loss to Duxbury and edged Plymouth South, 3-2, in overtime on Saturday, Dec. 18. Sophomore Luke Tropeano (two goals) potted the winner with just under a minute to go in the extra frame. Junior Matt Solari had the other goal. 

Wrestling (3-1) dropped a 48-27 decision to Oliver Ames on Wednesday, Dec. 15. Winners for the Panthers were: freshman Charlie Lussier (106 pounds via forfeit), sophomore Graham McInnis (120; 13-6), sophomore Austin Gamber (126 via pin in :30), freshman Cooper Lussier (152 via pin in :45) and senior captain Rocco Ruffini (220 via pin in :28). … On Saturday, W-H placed second in the Sandwich Early Bird tournament. The Panthers had four champions on the day. Charlie Lussier ran the table with four pins, senior Joe Boss (113) had three pins, Gamber also had three points and junior Maddox Colclough (226) had three pins of his own. 

HANOVER — South Shore Tech is fortunate to have very good partners in the W-H school district in terms of ensuring that students select their best path through high school, according to Superintendent-Director Dr. Thomas J. Hickey.

“All middle school students should know of career technical education,” Hickey said.

The Department of Elementary and Secondary Education recently updated its regulations on school admissions, Hickey explained recently. SST, meanwhile is an over-subscribed school with a waiting list, and has success in being a school students in it’s sending towns want to attend, with 80 percent of its student population coming from Whitman, Hanson, Abington and Rockland. 

“A lot of attention has been given to vocational schools and school committees updating their admissions policies, which now we will be required to do on an annual basis,” he said.                                                              “Part of the regulations also address, slightly, the important issue of access to students in sending towns.”

While Hickey recognizes the financial impact of vocational schools — because dollars follow students – he views access as a fairness-equity issue.

“You can’t make a decision about something you don’t know about,” he said, noting that the state’s main emphasis is for vocational schools that don’t have that kind of access.

Whitman representative to the SST School Committee Dan Salvucci reported to the panel on the topic Nov. 17, when he attended a DESE Vocational/Technical admissions regulations workshop earlier this year during which a Division 8 session discussed being able to get the message of vocational education to the state’s middle schools.

Salvucci said he planned to talk about it at that the Mass. Association of School Committees/Mass. Association of School Superintendents’ joint conference.

“There’s still a lot of areas that will not allow vocational teachers [or other representatives] to go into their schools and have a class session to explain to the [students] in the middle schools, what vocational school is all about and if it’s something that they want to try,” he said. The talk was part of a broader discussion of admissions.

“We’re a public school,” Hickey said of the public vocational school created in 1960 by a vote of town meetings in the eight member communities. “We are a second public high school, paid for, in large part by local tax dollars.”

So, how do students decide between vocational education and a regular high school? Hickey said student tours of buildings has generally been a dependable tool.

“Our desired access routine would be something like our admissions counselor goes to the middle schools in our district and makes a presentation to all eighth-graders,” Hickey said. That is followed by a tour, or site visit, as a school field trip with adequate chaperones and parental permission slips. The lengthy building tours would then be followed by a community open house on a weekend, to help keep parents involved in the process, Hickey noted.

“The emphasis at the state level is to try to make sure that we’re able to provide information to every eligible student in our district, and — if they don’t have an interest — we’re not arm-twisting,” he said.

Some of the concern has roots in the COVID-19 pandemic.

“I think right now, there’s no question in my mind that these new regulations, layered on with COVID concerns, have turned everything upside down,” Hickey said. “I am confident that COVID, hopefully, in the rearview mirror soon, we’ll be able to re-engage with students.”

SST has even had to change the way it conducts that annual open house. This year, there was none of the usual marketing — no lawn signs, no news releases — instead they leaned heavily on social media and mailed information to sending towns. Students and parents then had to register for a 10-minute window for a visit to begin. They would then have an hour to tour the school when they arrived. Staff members keeping count to ensure the maximum number of people to safe levels.

“Hopefully we would be able to return to some more normal open house recruitment,” he said.SST has also secured a grant, along with the towns of Rockland and Abington to address English-learner recruitment amid a growing population in the area, and to increase equity in recruitment, if they are interested in SST or not. 

WHITMAN — Vincenzo Lirosi, 22, of Whitman is being remembered by family and friends as a fun-loving person who had been active in youth sports while growing up. 

A Gofundme account set up to pay for funeral costs and services for the University of New Hampshire student who was found dead in a marshy area of Durham, N.H., Sunday after he had been reported missing the night before. Lirosi had attended Whitman schools and was a 2018 graduate of Whitman-Hanson Regional High School.

The fundraiser, with an initial goal of $5,000 — set up by his brother Giovanni — had raised $48,505 and more than 1,700 donations by Monday afternoon.

“My son is a Wildcat,” one woman wrote, referring to the UNH mascot. “I cannot imagine your pain at this time.”

“Vinny was a wonderful boy and he will be missed dearly,” another woman wrote.

“Wildcats stick together,” a man wrote on the Gofundme page. Others noted that, while they did not know Lirosi, they wanted to help his family and were sending their prayers.

“He meant a lot to so many people and me and my mom really appreciate everything you guys are doing to help us out during this tough time,” Giovanni, who goes by Gio, wrote on the Gofundme site. “All of this support is way beyond me and my mum’s wildest expectations. I literally cannot express how much this means to us and all of our family and friends.”

“He was a great kid,” Whitman Police Deputy Chief Joseph Bombardier said Monday. “His mother is a great gal, and Gio, his brother, is a good kid. They lost his father years ago, so it’s been tough on the family.”

Bombardier had coached Vincenzo Liorsi in Whitman Youth Football.

New Hampshire police said a path through the wooded area near where Vincenzo, or Vinny to his family, was a shortcut to Lirosi’s residence, according to a report on Boston 25 News Monday. He had been out drinking with friends and did not have a phone or ID with him, according to published reports.

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. 

A Dollars for Scholars representative will be in the Community Room of the Whitman Public Library from 10 a.m. to noon on Saturday, Dec. 4, and in Training Room of the Hanson Police Station from 10 a.m. to noon on Sunday, Dec. 5, to answer any questions. Orders may be placed at those times. All gift cards ordered are expected to be delivered by Dec. 11. 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, contact Mike Ganshirt at 781-252-9683 or visitWhitmanAndHanson.DollarsforScholars.org.

HANSON — Hanson Selectmen Vice Chairman Kenny Mitchell has paid a $5,00 civil penalty for violation of the state’s conflict of interest law, according to the State Ethics Commission Executive Director David A. Wilson.

Mitchell was fined for “authorizing town payments to the tree service company he privately worked for, representing his private employer in a matter involving the town and acting as a selectman to advance a proposal to remove trees on town land while knowing his private employer would likely be hired to do the work,” according to a press release from the commission.

In a prepared statement,, Mitchell said: “On Nov. 12, 2021, in order to immediately end complaints made about me to the Commonwealth of Massachusetts State Ethics Commission, I executed a ‘disposition agreement’ and paid a fine. I did so because I recognized that it would not be in the best interests of my family or the Town of Hanson to allow the proceedings to drag on. I fully recognize that I must be very careful to not allow my position as Selectman to conflict in any way with my position as General Manager of Newcomb’s Tree Services, LLC, or for there to even be an appearance of a possible conflict. I would like to thank the many residents of the Town and my family for supporting me throughout this process.”

Neither Selectmen Chairman Matt Dyer, not Town Administrator Lisa Green would comment on the fine.

A selectman since 2014, Mitchell is the general manager of Newcomb’s Tree Services LLC. The commission alleged that, from 2016 through 2019, Mitchell, as a selectman, signed 23 warrants authorizing town payments to Newcomb’s for tree cutting and removal. 

Also, in 2019, when a Town Meeting warrant article was proposed by the Hanson Recreation Commission for removal of trees at Camp Kiwanee — at an estimated cost of between $10,000 and $20,000 —Mitchell acted as a selectman to both move and vote to place the article on a special Town Meeting warrant. When another selectman made the motion for voting on the article at the special Town Meeting — at a cost of $25,000 — Mitchell seconded the motion, according to the Ethics Commission.

“At that time, Mitchell knew the town would likely hire Newcomb’s Tree Service to do the work,” the commission’s release stated. “Mitchell’s actions violated the conflict of interest law’s prohibition against municipal employees participating in matters in which they know they or their employer have a financial interest.”

The commission also found that Mitchell violated the conflict of interest law in 2016 and 2017.

The town had asked Newcomb’s to remove dead trees from a main road, which required access to private property. When the private property owner accused Newcomb’s workers of damaging a water line, the commission found that Mitchell represented his employer and the town as well.

“By doing so, Mitchell violated the conflict of interest law’s prohibition against public employees acting on behalf of someone other than the municipality in connection with a matter in which the municipality has a direct interest,” the release stated.

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. 

A Dollars for Scholars representative will be in the Community Room of the Whitman Public Library from 10 a.m. to noon on Saturday, Dec. 4, and in Training Room of the Hanson Police Station from 10 a.m. to noon on Sunday, Dec. 5, to answer any questions. Orders may be placed at those times. All gift cards ordered are expected to be delivered by Dec. 11. 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 www.WhitmanAndHanson.DollarsforScholars.org.

WHITMAN — The Board of Selectmen will soon have the opportunity to interview finalists in the search for a new assistant town administrator.

Town Administrator Lincoln Heineman reported on Tuesday, Nov. 9 that the search for applicants has so far generated 35 résumés, and the opening will be posted until Nov. 23.

Selectman Chairman Dr. Carl Kowalski, Selectman Justin Evans and Heineman will meet to review the applications to winnow the field for the subcommittee to agree on five or six people to interview. At that point Executive Assistant Laurie O’Brien would take part in process as an observer during the interviews with semi-finalists, as she would also be working closely with the person hired.

“I think including her in this is a great idea,” said Selectman Brian Bezanson. “It makes a lot of sense to have her in the loop on this.”

“You’re probably looking at January for the whole process to be done,” Kowalski said. 

The full board would interview the two or three finalists recommended by the subcommittee. Only finalists’ names would be made public.

COVID update

Heineman said he was heartened to see town has reached the 60 percent threshold on people fully vaccinated against COVID-19, according to Fire Chief Timothy Clancy’s weekly updates.

“The vaccination rate is going up slightly each week,” Heineman said. “A week ago the vaccine was approved for those ages 5 through 11, so obviously, there’s a lot of parents who are making that choice about whether or not to vaccinate their children.”

He also reported that OSHA issued its long-expected regulation on COVID Thursday, Nov. 4, but added that Massachusetts is “completely unique” in a law that references the agency’s rules but does not have a plan to apply them locally, according to town counsel on whether the regulation applies to municipalities here.

Counsel expects guidance from the state’s Executive Office of Labor and Workforce Development to help clarify the issue later on this week.

In the meantime, Clancy and the town’s clinical coordinator are working on scheduling booster clinics.

“Those are set up,” Heineman said. “Any resident of Whitman is welcome to go on our website, where [the information] is front and center, to sign up for a booster if they are already fully vaccinated.”

Boosters are administered six months after a person is considered fully vaccinated – two weeks after the second injection.

There are still slots open on Nov. 17 and 18 and there will be another session early in December.

Heineman also reported that he spoke with the president of the Southeastern Philharmonic Orchestra, for which Selectman have approved use of Town Hall Auditorium for a Dec. 5 holiday concert, as well as an April 24 concert. Both events are funded by the Whitman Cultural Council.

Selectmen voted to honor the request.

Similar to a recent concert by the Brockton Symphony, the SPO president requested that the audience be required to wear masks to attend.

“It’s a benefit to the community and if they’re policing their own requirements, I don’t see a problem,” Evans said.

“We affirmed the Brockton orchestra’s desire to have the audience wear masks,” Kowalski said. “I see this as giving this organization the same respect … it would also be in the interest of courtesy as a host.”

“I believe this is about choice, and they chose to ask,” Bezanson said. “If you want to go, wear a mask.” But he did not see the need, at this point, to extend that to April at this time.

Strategic plan

Mission, Vision and Values statements drafted at the Oct. 23 retreat meeting with town boards and citizens’ representatives were approved by a vote of 5-0. Heineman said that consultant Ann Donner had agreed that, if the board is ready to do so, it would make sense as the policy-making board of the town adopt the statements.

“The next steps, in speaking with her yesterday is to … firm up a little bit of the draft five-year strategic priority document and then to have a department head meeting to discuss the implementation of those initiative,” he said of a meeting he would have with Donner. “Obviously, we’re still moving toward having a draft prepared by her and ready in December and a final by the end of December.”

Selectman Randy LaMattina thanked all participants of the workshop.

“I thought it was a worthwhile exercise,” he said.

“It was a good day,” Kowalski agreed.

WHITMAN — The Board of Selectmen on Tuesday, Oct. 26 discussed the potential direction for a financial policy for the town.

Forest Street resident Shawn Kain had indicated that he would like to see some additional financial policies instituted for the town, according to Town Administrator Lincoln Heineman who said he appreciated the suggestion.

Selectmen asked Kain, who attended the meeting to sit in on discussion of the issue.

Heineman said the policies now followed are very good ones, but that he appreciated Kain’s bringing up the topic for further consideration and possible revision — the disposition of surplus property, in particular.

The town’s auditor has also recommended revising of the town’s federal awards and procurement policy.

“The current policies that we have are a cash receipt and petty cash handling policy, a fund-balance policy, an investment policy statement for investment funds and, as I mentioned, the disposition of surplus property,” Heineman said. “What Mr. Kain had been talking about having some policies dealing with the appropriate level of debt for the town and what an acceptable level of debt, in the policy view of the town, is.”

Heineman said Whitman does not have a lot of debt in comparison to other towns of its size and valuation in Massachusetts, and that many towns do not have an acceptable debt policy.

“We had a great conversation,” Kain said of his discussions with Heineman concerning the number of reasons why such a policy makes sense. “I think why this is important now … is that financial policy helps guide your spending and borrowing practices.”

These practices can affect bond ratings and set limits and signals the public that town leaders are making decisions that will maintain the town’s financial health and good standing.

“I think it’s relevant now because there are a couple of big projects on the horizon,” Kain said, noting that a new Whitman Middle School and DPW building could be on that list. “Immediately people get concerned [about] borrowing more money, another debt exclusion, that kind of thing, and I don’t think people have a good frame of reference of how much debt do we have currently on the books. Are we in good shape or are we not in good shape?”

A debt policy would provide a good frame some of the difficult financial decisions that may lie ahead, Kain said. Without it, making the arguments for needed projects when they crop up.

Heineman noted that a recommended debt level policy would effectively raise the town’s acceptable level of debt.

“Our level of debt is so low right now, as compared with similar communities, that effectively, if we … wanted a policy that laid out an acceptable level of debt — presumably somewhere around the average of like communities — then … we would be saying it was fine to have relatively significantly more debt than we do now.”

Selectman Justin Evans, a member of the budget working group in 2018, said that group drafted some financial policies, including a limit of excluded debt service costs at less than 12 percent of tax levy at all times, and that general fund debt service should be limited to 1 and 2.5 percent of general fund operating revenues.

“I don’t know if the board ever adopted those policies,” he said. “But that might be a place to start.”

Neither Kain nor Selectmen Chairman Dr. Carl Kowalski recalled that happening, either.

“We have to be careful and clear that the levels that we recommend have some data behind them,” Kowalski said.

Heineman reminded the board that Proposition 2 ½ limits debt to 5 percent of the total assessed value of property — whether residential personal property or industrial/commercial property – in a town.

“We’re nowhere near that,” he said.

Selectman Dan Salvucci noted that past practice was to keep in mind the conclusion of one bond before borrowing to do another project.