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You are here: Home / Archives for More News Right

New scoreboard approved by School Committee

June 28, 2018 By Tracy F. Seelye, Express Editor

It will take some advertising sponsorships and fundraising by the athletics department to fund it, but the School Committee on Wednesday, June 20 approved the negotiation of a lease agreement for a new scoreboard for W-H’s Dennis M. O’Brien Field.

A $25,000 donation from the J.J. Frisoli Foundation has provided the down payment for the Daktronics scoreboard, estimated to cost about $100,000, with the remaining amount to be raised by the athletics department. Neither the district nor towns of Whitman and Hanson will be liable for the costs.

Athletics Director Bob Rodgers had initially suggested asking the towns to contribute to the cost as a capital project, but both the School Committee and Superintendent of Schools Dr. Ruth Gilbert-Whitner advised against that amid tight budget circumstances.

“I think, overall, this is a fantastic project and I’m 100-percent in support of it,” School Committee member Christopher Howard said. “My only concern is the obligation of the district. I know it’s tough, but we’ve had a lot of financial pressures on us, and where we’re spending money. That’s where I say I’m leaning more toward a pause, do the math, put some money into it, but really try to raise the money to the point where we actually have the money to purchase it.”

Gilbert-Whitner expressed the concern that a funding request to the towns, in addition to all the other capital requests the district has, might not go over well.

“This is nothing [the towns] have ever seen on a capital matrix,” she said. “So, I think I’d be much more comfortable as well with the idea that the athletics department would be responsible.”

With Rodgers’ pledge to raise the additional $75,000, the School Committee unanimously supported the purchase. He had also pointed out that the athletics department transferred $40,000 to the general school budget to help meet district needs for fiscal 2019.

“It will not come out of the school budget at all,” Rodgers said, explain that the purchase order had to be submitted before the end of the week in order to have the scoreboard in place by the fall. “It will be through the fundraising via panels that are on the board and fundraising during the different events.”

The other option was to spend $4,000 to $5,000 to repair the current scoreboard to get it through the next year and make the purchase to have a new scoreboard in place for the following year. Replacing it with the exact same kind of scoreboard as the broken one would cost about $20,000 but would limit the ways it could be used he said.

The Daktronics scoreboard will be purchased from a local company, Scoreboard Enterprises in Mansfield. It is not the same as the one Rodgers described at the June 13 meeting, but has a larger video screen 8.5 feet high by 16 feet wide and has a life-expectancy of about 15 to 20 years with a five-year warranty. The broken board is 13 years old.

It provides six places for sponsoring advertisers that Rodgers expects will bring in “at least $60,000 in revenue.” Additional ads would be sold for display on the video screen.

“I think that, over the long term, we’re going to be able to make this a revenue-generator for us, and maybe bring in some money to the athletics program for uniforms we currently don’t fund,” Rodgers said.

He added that Daktronics screens have been “revenue-makers” at schools across the country.

“This is a real advertising investment for a company,” he said. “They’ll have 1,000 people at a football game on a Friday night that will be going someplace for dinner after the game and [a restaurant] could have a special on that screen that everybody is going to see. They’ll want to advertise.”

The school administration will establish advertising policy and the School Committee will set the rates.

One advertiser has already given verbal commitment to a sponsorship and a few others have expressed interest with some parents a agreeing to help sell ads. Facility Director Ernest Sandland has agreed to have his crews putting the beams up and pulling wires as part of the prep work involved in moving the scoreboard to the right for better visibility.

“I’m willing to commit to do what I have to do to make this work for our kids,” he said.

At the earlier meeting only one bid had been received, with a few more presenting bids since then.

“The one that I was going to go with actually doesn’t play live video unless you go with a huge upgrade to it,” he said. “We have 10 teams alone at W-H that will use this scoreboard in addition to all the youth teams. I think it’s a good investment.”

The screen will also allow the school to conduct programs such as a movie night recently suggested by students, and will permit moving the sound system to that end of the field for better reception and hearing by the crowds.

Filed Under: More News Right, News

A first for Hanson Fire

June 21, 2018 By Tracy F. Seelye, Express Editor

HANSON — The Board of Selectmen welcomed the town’s first female fire officer Tuesday, June 19 with the official swearing-in of Lt. Sherilyn Mullin, who has been working in that capacity since May 8.

After the ceremony, Selectmen approved a marijuana application process designed to protect the town until a bylaw article on recreational cannabis can be voted on at next May’s annual Town Meeting and Town Election.

Lt. Mullin fills the vacancy created when Dept. Chief Robert O’Brien was promoted to that rank.

Under the department’s collective bargaining agreement, the promotion process requires that applicants score 70 percent or higher on a written exam, followed by an assessment center involving exercises in a fire problem and a structured interview.

Seven members of the Hanson Fire Department participated in the promotion process, according to Chief Jerome Thompson Jr.

“Although we only had one position available, I believe that those members in our department benefitted by taking the time to study the materials and prepare themselves for the process,” he said. “She has been a great addition to our command staff. Lt. Mullin will be the first female fire officer to serve the town of Hanson.”

A native of Abington and a 2006 graduate of Abington High School, Mullin holds a bachelor’s degree from Bridgewater State University in 2010. She then trained in EMS and became a paramedic and was hired as a full-time Hanson firefighter/paramedic in 2015. Mullin is a graduate of Mass. Firefighting Academy Class No. 234.

Her fiancé Sean Malley pinned on her badge after Town Clerk Elizabeth Sloan administered the oath of office to Mullin.

Marijuana policy

Town Counsel Katherine Feodoroff briefed Selectmen on the cannabis policy and bylaw process before the board voted 5-0 to approve the policy.

Selectman Laura FitzGerald-Kemmett asked about how the policy protects the town.

“If people vote yes [on the Town Meeting warrant] then it will go to ballot,” FitzGerald-Kemmett said. “However, in the interim, we’re talking about having something in place just in case someone comes forward. We don’t want to be left out in the cold without having something that we at least can manage the process until we get to Town Meeting.”

The new article — proposed after this year’s Town Meeting approved a zoning bylaw to allow siting of all recreational marijuana establishments within certain areas of town — would seek to ban retail marijuana sales.

Selectman Jim Hickey asked for simpler language on the ballot question so residents better understand how to vote their opinions.

The article, Feodoroff said, makes it clear an affirmative vote is required at both Town Meeting and on the election ballot, but agreed the ballot language can be difficult to understand.

“To me, it could be confusing to a voter because if all someone is thinking is, ‘I do not want marijuana in Hanson,’ they’re going to vote no,” Hickey said. “But [a no vote] is actually confirming a vote to have marijuana in Hanson. Can that question be simplified?”

Feodoroff said legislation requires the text of the bylaw on the ballot, but said the style of the question and its summary can be changed for clarity.

“You’re asking if the town wants this bylaw,” she said. “You want to make sure everyone votes and their vote is then counted in way they expect it to be counted.”

Procedure outlined

Feodoroff outlined the procedures applicants would be required to follow under the policy.

“What you want to do, because it’s not necessarily spelled out in the law, what the order should be in terms of local approvals, so you want to create a policy like this,” Feodoroff said. “That’s for every type of establishment, including your retailers, your cultivators, your manufacturers and your testing facilities, because all of them are required by law to execute a host community agreement.”

Such an agreement must be executed by would-be businesses before they can even apply to the Cannabis Control Commission (CCC) for a license to operate.

The agreement requires submission of a letter of intent to Selectmen identifying the type of special permit sought, with copies sent to the Police Department. Applicants must then hold a community outreach meeting in accordance with state regulations and broadcast by local cable access TV.

Applicants must obtain a special permit from the Board of Selectmen and site plan approval, providing Selectmen with a synopsis of the community meeting, copies of the special permit/site plan vote and draft application of intent and supporting documents. They must also present a proposed draft of a host community agreement, which Feodoroff said town counsel can help with.

local impact

“One of the impacts that you’re going to find is the Board of Health is going to have to ramp up because they are now the inspection agency,” Feodoroff said. “Where, with medical [marijuana] it was under DPH and not the purview of the Board of Health, so we’re going to have to do training — we’re going to have to think about staffing, depending on the number of establishments that are planning on siting in Hanson.”

Police will also require additional training, she said.

The town can lock in a dollar amount in fees, rather than a 3-percent tax over the sales tax, but Feodoroff said the town should not do so at this time, because the 3-percent figure could represent a higher amount.

“When you have a general bylaw in place, there’s no grandfathering [of existing businesses], unlike zoning bylaws, which have a grandfather component,” Feodoroff said. “But what we have proposed for this Town Meeting is both a general and a zoning bylaw.”

She said Attorney General Maura Healy has recommended both kinds of bylaws to avoid cases where general bylaws were invalidated because courts saw a failure of proper procedure to pass them. Zoning bylaws require a two-thirds majority to pass after protectionary procedures.

“If both measures pass and aren’t challenged or are challenged and not properly defended, there’s no grandfathering,” Feodoroff said. “So it is complicated and there are risks in this kind of interim period.”

Filed Under: More News Right, News

CES grads take different path

June 14, 2018 By Tracy F. Seelye, Express Editor

The harder one has to fight for something, the more it generally means to achieve it.

For the 14 graduates of the W-H Community Evening School’s Class of 2018 that certainly seemed to be the case as they crossed the stage at the Dr. John F. McEwan Performing Arts Center Thursday, May 31 to receive their diplomas. Acknowledging the pride their families take in the accomplishment, many selected parents to hand them those diplomas. For others, CES Director William Glynn or English teacher Keryn Cordo did the honors and Charles Sampson-Williams asked his U.S. Air Force recruiter Sgt. David LaPlant to do the honors.

The evening was also a moment of proud passage for W-H Principl Jeffrey Szymaniak and Superintendent of Schools Dr. Ruth Gilbert-Whitner.

Szymaniak, who will take the post of superintendent on July 1, got his start teaching alternative education students in Plymouth, moving on to teach five subjects in one classroom “to some angry freshmen in Abington” and U.S. history in a non-traditional day program in Scituate.

Gilbert-Whitner, who is retiring after 24 years with the W-H Regional School District has been dedicated to the “Every Child Every Day” mantra as superintendent.

“Evening School graduation is very special to me,” Szymaniak told he graduates. “In 2000 — the year many of you were born — my principal allowed me to create my own program.”

That full-time, non-traditional day program helped students who needed an alternative pathway to a diploma.

“I totally get it that traditional high school isn’t easy for some of you, and sometimes not a good fit for anyone,” he said. “That’s why you, the students on stage tonight, are very special to all of us and me.”

He said that, while the path to a diploma hasn’t always been easy for them, their parents or guardians, and each student’s grit got them through.

We are all very proud of you, each and every one of you,” Szymaniak said, taking the liberty to speak for their families and teachers. “You did it. You made it and no one can ever take that away from you.”

Gilbert-Whitner, who noted that her 50th class reunion would be held on Saturday, June 2 and added she would be 117 when the Class of 2018 celebrated their 50th reunion.

She said that, when she sat in their place and listened to graduation speakers, “It was very evident that I didn’t know what I didn’t know.”

That included becoming a school superintendent, or that any woman could achieve that and that she had learned that four key attributes become valuable as one goes through life. By using their head to ask questions, think things through and keep learning; their heart to show empathy and seek understanding; their heads to do the hard work required and their gut to trust their instincts and believe in themselves.

Then, as usual at CES graduations, Glynn stole the show, so to speak, with an irreverent take on graduation advice.

“I’m going to ramble about three things,” he said. “First thing, be you — be honest as you can about you, be the finest version of you as you can.”

Secondly, he advised them to work hard.

“The world is full of people who think avoiding hard work is the way to go. These people — wait for it — are fools,” he said. “Third thing: altruism.”

Glynn asked the graduates to live a life of doing things for other people, expecting nothing in return.

“How can we make our mark in the world? Altruism,” he said. “If you can do [all three] and do it with a little bit of style and flair, I think everything else will take care of itself.”

School Committee Chairman Bob Hayes spoke to the class, as he did with the rest of the W-H graduates, the following night, about the importance of life-long learning — as well as putting down the smart phones once in awhile to interact directly with others.

“Every single day you need to learn something about life, it’s the most important thing you’ll do,” he said. “When you have discussions with other people, you learn many, many things and find the world is rich with experiences — but you have to ask for it.”

Graduates were: Justin E. Cole, Samuell A. Delgado, Alec J. Denver, Regan H. Goode, Lucas M. Goss, Laura A. Hardy, Zachary E. Hunter, Travis C. Lawrence, Brittaney A. Milley, Kyle R. Perkins, Amelia R. Quintero, Hailey M. Ralph, Charles A. Sampson-Williams and Matthew R. Wilson.

Filed Under: More News Right

Hanson Selectmen to give voters say on cannabis

June 7, 2018 By Tracy F. Seelye, Express Editor

HANSON — The Board of Selectmen has approved the placement of a local-control retail marijuana bylaw, banning the sale of cannabis, before October’s special Town Meeting as well as a referendum ballot.

Discussing the issue only among themselves without accepting questions or comments from the public, the board agreed 5-0 that the state’s Chapter 94G provisions for the two-step process would best permit residents to have a say on the issue.

Selectmen also declined to share their own personal opinions on the issue as irrelevant.

“I’m not even going to share that because it doesn’t really matter,” said Selectmen Chairman Kenny Mitchell, supporting the Town Meeting warrant article. “I got voted in to make the right decision for the town of Hanson. I personally think that it should be left up to the voters.”

Selectman Laura FitzGerald-Kemmett, who asked for the issue to be placed on the board’s agenda, agreed with Mitchell.

“We’re here to do the will of the people,” she said. “I don’t think it matters what each one of us individually think and I’m not here to argue for or against the moral merits because the state has decided that it’s legal.”

She said she did not anticipate, nor endorse “continually” bringing the issue back before the board.

“Move forward,” Selectman Wes Blauss said in support of the article.

“I believe the will of the people will really be voiced,” agreed Selectman Matt Dyer.

“It’s up to the people,” Selectman Jim Hickey said.

They rejected claims they had heard around town that it was a ploy to give proponents “a second bite of the apple.”

Selectmen plan to hold an informational forum on the issue before the special Town Meeting to permit residents to ask questions and/or comment on the issue.

 “This is on the agenda because the Board of Selectmen wanted to talk about this and make a decision whether or not we wanted to move forward regarding retail marijuana shops,” said Mitchell. “This started in November 2016 [when] we had a state-wide vote … whether or not we wanted to legalize marijuana. The town of Hanson said yes. It was a slim margin, but we said yes.”

The next year Town Meeting rejected a moratorium measure sought by the Planning Board, based on an East Bridgewater measure designed to provide towns more time to obtain more information before further action was taken.

“We were very surprised that it did not pass, that people did not want to at least take some time to be thoughtful and study it,” said FitzGerald-Kemmett. “I think that a lot of people, when it was voted on at the state level, were voting on it conceptually. … ‘Am I OK with it in the state of Massachusetts?’ They weren’t necessarily aware … now you need a two-step process [to keep it out of town].”

In July 2017, Gov. Charlie Baker developed a process for towns that voted yes on the 2016 ballot to opt out of permitting retail shops within their borders.

“If a town voted no on marijuana [in 2016] all they had to do was go to a Town Meeting vote to ban retail shops,” Mitchell said. “If a town voted yes, then there is a two-step process.”

A local-control bylaw would have to go before Town Meeting, and if approved there, to a referendum.

“The two votes that we’ve had are totally different than we’re discussing tonight,” Mitchell said.

In other business, the board approved a request by the Education Committee to place information, as well as a request for donations, on the tax bill in an effort to spur donations.

“There’s a misconception bout what the Hanson Education Fund is and we’re hoping to alleviate some of that and have people understand what it is,” said Chairman Gary Banuk. The fund has been on the tax bill as a donation option since 1993.

Response has not been good of late, with last year averaging about $150 per quarter in total donations.

“That’s not really a lot to help the students of Hanson,” Banuk said, noting that funds had been donated to purchase Chromebooks for Hanson schools last year. It is not limited to primary or secondary school pupils. Residents of Hanson with educational expenses are welcome to apply for funding, including for college or other vocational education costs such as books.

Selectmen also discussed their goals for the year, most of which are ongoing projects. But Blauss requested the addition of a plastic bag ban and Dyer asked if polystyrene beverage cups could be added to that list.

“We can look around at the process that other towns have already worked at to do this,” Blauss said. “I also don’t want to scare our businesses, either, by going at it so fast that they don’t have time to adjust.”

Town Administrator Michael McCue said that issue, conceivably could go before the October Town Meeting, providing a grace period until the start of next fiscal year before implementation in order to give local businesses time to make accommodation.

Filed Under: More News Right Tagged With: Hanson

Eye doctor envisions his retirement

May 31, 2018 By Stephanie Spyropoulos, Express Correspondent

WHITMAN — Dr. George Leavitt III, 80, has always welcomed his patients to the optometric practice which has been in his family for 100 years with a sign in the entry way: “The doctor is in please be seated.”

In June, the business will close with his retirement.

He laughed when he realized that, all these years, most families who come in often don’t sit. The younger patients run for the toy box in the warm, sunlit front room. School aged children sometimes bring books and work on homework while they wait, he added.

Leavitt has recently informed his patients many whom had seen his father Dr. George Leavitt Jr., that he will move on to retirement with his wife of more than 35 years, Barbara.

He recalls several families who have been patients for four generations with the practice. He also has several patients who are in their 90s and still “going strong.”

Dr. George Leavitt III has seen advances in trends and types of materials used in contact lenses going from very hard lenses to paper thin, soft lenses. He expressed his continued amazement that contact lenses can be so thin and still have a proper prescription.

The biggest change to the profession he has seen in his career was in the early 1970s.

“In the 1970s optometry passed a diagnostic pharmaceutical bill in Massachusetts at which time optometrists were allowed to use diagnostic eye drops in the anterior segment of the eye,” he said. Using drops allowed for diagnosis of glaucoma, high pressure in the eye, abrasions and other eye diseases.

Reminiscing about his business’ history in Whitman Leavitt said his father George Leavitt Jr. came from a time when advertising was not used. Leavitt and his wife viewed timeworn brochures recalling that his grandfather’s generation was word of mouth and small town connections allowed for patient contact and reliable care.

The office is in the lower level of their home where the bustle of traffic passes by a prime location. They often heard the whistles blow at the old shoe factory when lunch began and the foot traffic was heavier back in the day, he said.

The practice has moved slightly since its inception in 1914 with his grandfather Dr. George Leavitt at its first location of 25 South Avenue, moving to 12 South Avenue then to the current location across from the post office at 8 Laurel St., in 1969.

Some of his patients became friends, like Harry Monk who has since passed away. A talented craftsman he would hand-carve water birds out of driftwood and deliver them to Leavitt whenever he thought a thank-you was in order, Leavitt recalls.

A collection of birds was unintentional, laughed Leavitt but came about as other patients added to it with unique fowl carvings and collectibles over the years. Recently a young patient had counted the figures, which totaled over 60 sculptures.

Leavitt who decided there was a beach house waiting for their enjoyment and relaxation will be wrapping up loose ends and closing his doors in June.

Perhaps the driftwood will inspire him, too

Filed Under: More News Right Tagged With: Whitman

SSVT celebrates student excellence

May 24, 2018 By Tracy F. Seelye, Express Editor

HANOVER — Whitman senior Rosa Gachia has big plans for her future, but the Allied Health student who intends to become a surgeon has already compiled an impressive résumé at South Shore Regional Vocational Technical School — and just added the biggest achievement of all.

The SSVT School Committee on Wednesday, May 16 announced that Gachia, daughter of Kenneth Njuguna and Teresia Kariuki, is valedictorian for the Class of 2018.

She will attend Bridgewater State University in the fall and was also accepted at Simmons College and Xavier University in Cincinnati, Ohio. Gachia is also a member of the National Honor Society, a SkillsUSA participant, a peer mentor, student body president and student representative to the School Committee.

Hanover seniors Cole Hoadley, Mikaela Drake and Gachia, were also honored as students of the month for February, April and May respectively. Drake was also honored as the school’s Vocational Student of the Year.

“It’s an honor to have students such as this at South Shore Vo-Tech,” School Committee Chairman Robert Molla said, adding the committee’s congratulations.

“These are truly three of our finest students,” said Assistant Principal Sandra Baldner. “The students of the month are always spectacular. She asked each student to talk about what they consider to be the highlight of their SSVT experience.

“She really is the face of South Shore,” Baldner said of Gachia. “She represents a work ethic, a spirit and a kindness that we would like all students to embody.”

Gachia singled out meeting new friends from the eight member towns at SSVT as her highlight of attending the school.

“I never would have gotten to meet Mikaela or Cole if I went to Whitman-Hanson,” she said.

“She worked hard while having all that fun,” Baldner added.

Automotive student Drake, who Baldner described as a “dynamic, talented and gifted academic student” has also been named the school’s Outstanding Vocational Student of the Year.

“I think the most memorable moment was getting accepted into Automotive Technology Shop because I remember that, in freshman year, there were a lot of people that wanted it and I wasn’t sure if I would get my first choice of shop,” she said.

Drake will attend Worcester Polytechnic Institute in September.

A Metal Fabrication/Welding student, Hoadley was selected for his exemplary work ethic and for his efforts on behalf of the student ambassador’s program.

“Without Cole, there really wouldn’t be a student ambassador’s program,” Baldner said.

While Hoadley said there had been many highlights for him over the past four years, he found the SkillsUSA program especially rewarding.

“I’ve been part of tons of different conferences for them to leaderships to three district competitions and two state competitions,” he said. “It’s an unbelievable experience.”

He plans to attend Massasoit Community College while staying in his trade and working full time.

In other business, Superintendent-Director Thomas Hickey announced that Assistant Principal Mark Aubrey has been hired to be the next school principal. Principal Margaret Dutch is retiring at the end of the school year.

Horticulture teacher at Upper Cape Tech Keith Boyle has been hired as one of two vocational coordinators at SSVT. Interviews are still being conducted for the second position.

Non-resident tuition rate of $17,266 for fiscal 2019 was accepted by the School Committee.

Filed Under: More News Right Tagged With: South Shore Vo-Tech

Giving quality coffee a break

May 17, 2018 By Stephanie Spyropoulos, Express Correspondent

WHITMAN —  The relocated Bostonian Barber Shop and Restoration Coffee offers customers a pristine shared space where they can sip a fresh brew while waiting for a crew (cut) — or just stop on for a quality caffeine fix for the train ride to work.

On Tuesday, May 8, owner Matt Wood officially opened Restoration Coffee at 401 South Avenue — serving only organic products with espresso drinks, lattes, mocha, tea, and of course coffee.

The Bostonian Barber has tripled their workspace with natural light and a comfy lounge area for clients. The entire setting is modern and clean with a rustic mix of brick, white tiling and ship lap wood.

Matt Wood and Eric Zaitz owner of Bostonian Barber began working seven days a week starting last January gutting and redesigning and rebuilding with a nook set up for his coffee vision.

“It is the freshest cup of coffee you will ever have,” he said of his java menu.

Wood uses a pour-over coffee method, which is manually poured coffee after grinding and measuring the beans for the perfect extraction. His beans are single origin from Central Africa and Guatemala.

So farm the mochas are popular with clients a double shot of espresso whole milk and chocolate similar to a latte but a bit sweeter as are the Dirty Matcha lattes — tea with a shot of espresso — also a well-regarded suggestion.

The brand Restoration Coffee for Wood came when he decided to find a rewarding career change and to “restore himself.”

His background in the industry cultivated from pure love of coffee and the quest for a product he could serve with pride. As a mechanic for BMW and Tesla for 15 years Wood is mechanically inclined, and constantly educates himself. He is also a talented photographer. He was shooting over 50 weddings a year, he said.

“Before that I have always wanted to own a coffee shop and I got the opportunity. I wanted to start out with something small when barbershop owner Eric Zaitz said he was moving to a bigger space,” said Wood.

Wood spends time prepping his dried beans in small containers each day. Speedwell Coffee is his local distributor in Plymouth where the beans are roasted.

All drinks are either brewed hot or poured over ice for a cold coffee. Wood grew up locally and resides in East Bridgewater. He lives with his wife Heather and two boys.

Every month Wood will have different single-origin beans, no blended beans like larger coffee chains. He will also have batch brew all year, of Columbian coffee for customers who like to keep their cup of Joe predictable.

Filed Under: More News Right

Teachers learning the sound of gunfire

May 3, 2018 By Tracy F. Seelye, Express Editor

In an active shooter incident the sound of gunfire is often mistaken for something else — fireworks generally.

Police chiefs in Whitman and Hanson have advised school officials that, statistically, teachers won’t react in an emergency for 45 seconds to a minute because they can’t identify the sound of gunfire for what it is right away.

“They think it might be a car, or something else,” Whitman-Hanson Regional High School Principal Jeffrey Szymaniak said.

Those seconds could be critical for saving lives.

With that in mind, Szymaniak began a training program in April, along with school resource officers from both towns’ police departments, to educate teachers and staff on how to know what they are hearing in an active shooter emergency.

“We have a safety team which incorporates three building principals, central office, the chiefs of both Whitman and Hanson police and fire and their deputies,” Szymaniak said. “[Police chiefs] Mike Miksch and Scott Benton said about two and a half months ago ‘one of the things we’d like to demonstrate is what the sound of a gun … and the smell of a gun is like.’”

There was some initial push-back from some concerned about the potential for triggering PTSD reactions in veterans and trauma survivors among the staff, but Szymaniak said those concerns were addressed and alternate training will be made available where needed.

“I have a few in my building that I’m working with myself,” Szymaniak said. “They don’t have to be in a group. We’re looking at other types of simulations. We don’t have one yet, but we’ll make sure the teachers have an avenue to have that training, so to speak, without having to sit in a classroom by themselves when we do the training.”

The idea is to help teachers react more quickly in the event that an active-shooter incident occurs.

“We’re not inflexible,” Szymaniak said. “But we have to talk about it. It’s 2018 and sometimes we have to talk about bad things that happen in schools and prepare.”

The exercises began at Whitman Middle and Duval Schools as well as Hanson’s Indian Head and Maquan schools before April vacation and continued on Tuesday, April 24 at Conley School and Thursday, May 3 at Hanson Middle School.

The high school training is diffused among other school buildings, Szymaniak said, because the training has to be done when school buildings are closed and there are too many after-hours events held at the high school.

“I’ve gotten great feedback from Indian Head and Maquan, good feedback from Duval,” he said. “Whitman Middle gave us the first feedback that you couldn’t really hear well.”

He said high school teachers who had expressed concern have spoken to him directly.

The safety team discussed and agreed with the suggestion and met with the Whitman Hanson Education Association teachers’ union representatives and asked for their advice on how the teachers should be advised of the exercises.

“Their expectation was their teachers went through the training,” he said. “Because one of the questions I had and [Whitman Middle School Principal] George Ferro had was what if a teacher has had a situation where they don’t want to be involved because of a PTSD or because of an emotional issue?”

Kevin Kavka and Beth Stafford of WHEA were asked to reach out to building principals in such cases so some other accommodation could be made.

Lessons have been learned along the way in the course of conducting the training. In Whitman, teachers congregated in the cafeteria and Whitman Police officer Kevin Harrington demonstrated the firing of an AR-15 rifle in the hall and different parts of the lobby.

“It didn’t work as well as we had hoped it would because there was a lot of echo,” Szymaniak said. “So, lessons learned already, in Hanson — [School resource officer] Billy Frazier and local FD and PD were there — we met with the teachers in the library and then we just dispersed them to their classrooms.”

When Frazier and another officer walked through the hallways, shooting in different areas, the teachers found it more instructive.

“But they did say in some cases, ‘When you shot it off on the side of the building, and we were on this side, it sounded like somebody just dropped a bunch of books,” he said. “We’re just trying to get people sensory aware.”

The sulfur smell of gunpowder after a weapon is fired is also instructive, according to Szymaniak.

“Right away, you knew something was going on,” he said. “That’s the part of the training that we wanted people to engage in, not the fact that this could happen, but I’m trying to give you every tool we can to have you feel safe in your classrooms and be aware of situations.”

Szymaniak sent letters out to parents and staff ahead of the training to explain the reasons for it and how it would be undertaken, urging those with questions to contact him or building principals.

“I’ve had zero negative feedback,” he said. “Parents want it, too. They want to know what’s going on.”

School and public safety officials also plan in incorporating the exercise in next year’s Alert, Lockdown, Inform, Counter and Evaluate (ALICE).

“When we used to do ALICE training, Billy [Frazier] would be out in the hall yelling different things and it’s not as real,” Szymaniak said. “This will be a bit more.”

Students will not be involved in the training but the issue will be discussed with them.

 

Filed Under: More News Right

Hanson plans for bicentennial in 2020

April 5, 2018 By Tracy F. Seelye, Express Editor

HANSON – In two years, the South Shore will have a lot to celebrate. 

Plymouth will be observing 400 years since the arrival of the Pilgrims in the New World. Closer to home, Hanson will also be celebrating anniversary in 2020 – the bicentennial of the town’s founding — and plans are already under way.

Joshua Singer, of Edward Jones Investments, who chairs the Hanson Business Network and is a member of the Hanson 200 Committee, recently updated the Board of Selectmen on the committee’s work and offered a glimpse of the coming celebration. He said they will keep the board, and town, updated as definitive dates and plans are set.

“We are currently very much in the planning stage,” Singer said. “We are starting our actual calendar of events for the 200th anniversary. We’re focusing on three key areas right now.” Those areas of focus are fundraising for events; promotion and planning. A logo de- sign contest will be used as a way to include Hanson student artists in the planning at both the middle school and high school.

There is currently an open position on the Hanson 200 Committee and a subcommittee will be formed for those who don’t have the time for a monthly meeting commitment, but wish to take part in planning for specific events.

Singer said the Hanson committee is looking to work together with the committee planning Plymouth’s 400th anniversary celebration, perhaps to gain mention during events there as well as to borrow ideas.

“They’re so close, we might as well piggyback out of all the notoriety they’re going to get,” he said.

Among the events being considered for development in connection with the celebration is a kickoff event on Feb. 22, 2020, which is the anniversary of the actual date of Hanson’s founding in 1820. Singer said a gathering of the town’s founding families is also being looked at close to the founding date.

“We’re looking to get that declared as Hanson Day by the state,” Singer said. That would be accomplished by proclamations by the General Court.

A gala ball, town parade, a town tailgate party, concerts by local bands and choirs – specifically those at WHRHS – a fireman’s ball, fitness events, a family photo contest, geocaching, a carnival day and 200 days of paying it forward.

“In short, clear your social calendar for 2020,” said Selectman Laura FitzGerald-Kemmett, who also serves on the Hanson 200 Committee. She said the School District has also made a commitment to incorporate the bicentennial into the Hanson schools’ curricula. “Even if it’s just one day, where they talk about Hanson’s history and what kind of town it was.”

A July 4 celebration is also planned that year to mark the bicentennial.

“A carnival day would be terrific,” said Selectmen Chairman James McGahan, noting that he and Selectman Kenny Mitchell had tried to organize a carnival day more than a year ago and ran into challenges that prevented success. “That company [they tried to book] did make a contribution to school activities. So, if you guys can come through, the kids really need it.”

“You have to start now,” Mitchell said concerning booking a carnival company. “It’s all about the dates. They have dates that are already set for the next five years.” Singer said they would be aiming to schedule it as close to July 4 as possible, noting that July 4 itself may be difficult to book.

Fund-raising ideas include a themed ball, perhaps three – an 1800s themed event later this year, the 1900s in 2019 and the 2000s in 2020. A Hanson’s Got Talent competition is also being considered, to be perhaps staged at the Dr. John F. McEwan Performing Arts Center at WHRHS as well as potential Mr. Hanson and Mrs. Hanson pageants.

The Hanson 200 Committee began its work with $19,000 remaining from the 175th celebration and a recent allocation from Town Meeting. Donations are being accepted with details on that being posted on the town’s website at hanson-ma.gov.

A pop-up marketing opportunity for Hanson and 200th anniversary merchandise at the former Plymouth County Hospital site is also being considered. The committee is also working with the Final Plymouth County Hospital Reuse Committee to plan some sort of commemoration of the land as either a bicentennial park or incorporating the 200th anniversary into future plans there.

Filed Under: More News Right Tagged With: Hanson

Whitman writer finds muse on old block

March 22, 2018 By Tracy F. Seelye, Express Editor

WHITMAN — Sometimes a safe corner can change your whole life.

Whitman artist and writer Russell DuPont has explored his world on canvas, through a camera lens and with poetry. Now he has turned his direction toward prose, and his lightly fictionalized memoir “King and Train,” the story of his youth on the tough streets of South Boston and Dorchester — available as an e-book through Amazon — is the result.

Names are changed and characters he has developed for the story are composites based on “a number of people” or invented to serve the story, according to DuPont.

“I try to keep the incidents, what actually occurred, as close to fact as possible,” he said of his writing process. “It’s sitting down [to write] and seeing where these characters take me.”

The title refers to the intersection of two streets in Dorchester where he and his friends would hang out “in what I consider one of the most significant periods of my life,” DuPont, who moved to Whitman in 1975, said in a recent interview.

“I grew up in the projects in South Boston, where every day I fought,” he said. “I had to fight — I wasn’t a member of a gang — the local gang was the Mustangs, and for some reason, I was targeted.”

One reason could have been that his girlfriend at the time was connected in some way to one of the gang members. His family moved to Train Street in Dorchester when his fights “reached a danger point.”

“I ran into a group of guys there who were just terrific guys,” he said of the corner at “King and Train.” The concept of fights and gangs was unheard of there and when the owner of the corner store, “a grouchy elderly woman who hated to see us around there,” sold it to two Armenian brothers, and the new owners allowed the guys to hang out there.

“In turn, we’d do things for them and clean up, and make sure there was no mess and no noise,” he said. “It was just the opposite of South Boston. I never had to look over my shoulder or around corners.”

The non-fiction piece published as “The Corner” in the poetry anthology, Streets of Echo, was expanded and fictionalized to become the novel, “King and Train.”

While DuPont says his poetry is based on observation of detail in a scene, his prose, both fiction and non-fiction is based on large incidents and experiences that have affected his life: including “canoe trips over dams and finding, up in Wisconsin, hearing my name in the middle of nowhere.”

One of his two non-fiction works, “Up in Wisconsin,” had brought him face-to-face with another Russell DuPont in a bar in a remote community on the Michigan border.

“We tossed that around for awhile,” he said. In fact checking for his story, he called a county office and was told “we have loads of DuPonts here, they all came down to log from Canada. She said the whole county is full of them.”

If he had it to over again, DuPont said he would still be moved to write the book, but would hold out for a book-publishing contract for “King and Train” as he is doing for a subsequent book, despite the time and effort agents and publishers now require.

“I feel like I rushed into Amazon [eBooks] too quickly,” he said. “I wish I had not been so anxious to get it out there.”

He just finished another novel titled “Waiting for the Turk,” which stems from an old football saying about the process of making cuts during training camp. It’s the kind of noir-ish detective story DuPont says he’s always wanted to write. Set in South Boston it’s about a former football player who reluctantly joins the Vermont-based detective agency started by his father, a retired Boston Police detective.

He has also started a sequel to “King and Train.”

DuPont has done four previous limited-edition, hand-made books — two of poetry and two non-fiction — as well as in Streets of Echo and in two issues of Boston Seniority, a magazine published by the city for its elder population. He has also been a freelance sportswriter for the Patriot-Ledger and has also reported for the Melrose Free Press and the Dorchester Community News, where much of his writing was columns on politics — particularly the Boston school busing issue which engulfed much of the ’70s.

“I started writing poetry in my late teens and had some published in local literary magazines,” he said. “I had my own magazine, The Albatross, back then and I was working both in journalism and [creative] writing.”

When his family began to include children, however, he found that carving out time to “lock myself in a little room after work” was difficult to fit into family obligations. That’s when he put down his literary pen and picked up a camera.

While he became a teacher in the Sharon School District to support his family, he eventually became interested in painting, and a grant from the school of the Boston Museum of Fine Arts helped him take a year off from teaching in 1993 to develop his talents in that genre.

“It was one of the most wonderful, productive years of my life,” he says. “When I was there, I decided this was it, as soon as my kids are gone, this is what I’m going to do.”

In 1990, he resigned his teaching job and obtained the first of a couple of different studio spaces, which included Rockland’s erstwhile Fourth Floor Artists, which he had helped found. In 2010, he returned to photography and about two years ago began working through Boston’s Elder Affairs office Memoir Project to hone his prose skills.

“That got me back into writing again regularly and I produced the piece for the anthology and pieces for the city of Boston,” he said.

Filed Under: More News Right, News

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