Behind a first-place finish from Senior Captain Samantha Coletti and juniors Alexandra Santos, Lily Nolan and Olivia Morse in the Sprint Medley Relay, the Panthers finished 12th in the Sunday, May 1 Division 2 Relay Meet at Marshfield High School.  Coletti (1,200) combined with junior Lily Perkins and senior captains Jill O’Leary (800) and Abbie Newman (mile) to take fourth place in the distance medley.  Santos, Perkins and senior Olivia Reed took fifth place in the long jump.

The girls’ track & field team improved to 2-1 with a 99-28 win over Quincy at home on Tuesday, May 3. Junior Alexandra Santos with wins in the long jump (16′) and the 100 dash (12.4), along with a second-place finish in the 400 (62.5), and freshman Dorothy Donohue with wins in the 100 hurdles (17.5) and triple jump (31′ 5″) and a second place in the High Jump (4′ 4″) led the way. Other double winners included Senior Captain Samantha Coletti in the 400 (60.1) and 400 hurdles (69.0) and sophomore Julia Cosgrave in the 2 mile (13:38) and discus (48′ 10″.)

The boys’ track team dropped its meet to Plymouth North 94-42 Thursday, April 28. Whitman-Hanson winners were: Matt Evans in the shot put (second in discus), Riley Holland in the discus (second in shot put), Pat Duffey at 800 meters (third in discus and the mile) Dan Cashman had a great day placing second in the high jump, triple jump and was third in the 100.

Whitman-Hanson bounced back Tuesday, May 3, beating Quincy 89-47 as eight W-H boys won events on the way to their first victory of the season.

Winners for W-H were: Shane Walsh in the 100, Bryce Pulkinen in the mile, Billy Martell in the 400, Hurdles Josh Prevetti at 100 hurdles, Pat Duffey in the 800, Lucas Muscoso at two miles, Brian Edwards in the high jump and Dan Vanemringe in the triple jump.

The girls’ track team traveled to Silver Lake High School Thursday April 28, losing to Plymouth North High School by a score of 96-40.  Senior Captain Samantha Coletti won both the 400 meter hurdles (1:06.8) and 800 meters (2:20) in the losing effort, while Plymouth North standouts Jordan Callahan and Jackie Sullivan led the Plymouth North squad. W-H’s Alexandra Santos was also impressive winning the 100 meter sprint (12.6) and taking second place in both the 200 (26.9) and long jump (16′ 1″.)

WHITMAN — The Board of Selectmen during its Tuesday, April 19 meeting discussed the future of passport services at Town Hall — a program that could end up doomed by its popularity.

Several years ago, Whitman joined several other communities in the “labor-intensive” task of aiding residents through the passport application process, according to Town Administrator Frank Lynam.

“We accept the applications, we scrutinize the information, we witness their signing and then we send it into the State Department for investigation and issuance,” Lynam said. “It involves a bit of time with the people applying, particularly when you have a family and, most particularly, when you have a large family.”

Passport work was done out of the Town Clerk’s office until the State Department determined in 2011 that it was an inherent conflict to have the office issuing birth certificates to help in issuing passports, at which time the job was handed off to the Treasurer-Collector’s office with that office’s “enthusiasm and support,” Lynam noted.

“It seems, since that time, to have grown a bit,” he said. Two employees plus the manager in both offices serve the public at the collector’s window, causing crowded conditions during passport hours. Lynam and Treasurer Mary Beth Carter have, therefore, been discussing if another department could pick up the service.

“My recommendation, unless we have another place to send this, is to discontinue the service,” Lynam said.

Carter said more than 600 passports were processed last year over 7.5 hours a week on Tuesday evenings and Wednesday and Thursday mornings, taking 15-20 minutes to complete each application. On one Tuesday evening, 24 applications were processed. The State Department estimates applications will increase over the next two years.

So far this year the town has taken in $13,025 for applications and $4,160 for photos — a total of $17,185. Last fiscal year, the total revenue from passports was $19,270. Postage costs came in at $6.45 per application package.

“A large amount of the passport applications we process are for non-Whitman residents,” she said. “Due to the volume of traffic at the collector’s office … it had become burdensome to also continue the passport function.”

Citing the collector’s office main function as dealing with inquiries and receiving payment from Whitman residents.

“My plan is for the Treasurer-Collector’s office to remain as a passport facility through the end of the calendar year,” Carter said. “I was hoping we’d be able to find another department willing to take over this function, as we did back in 2011.”

If that is possible, she would like to begin the transition in July, with the present five passport agents serving as assistants and backup through the end of the calendar year, when the Treasurer-Collector’s office certifications expire.

Qualifications are basic — scanning applications,  asking questions, witnessing signatures and administering an oath — the issue, Lynam said, is the time involved.

In Brockton, the post office conducts the application process, while in East Bridgewater it is done by the veterans’ services office by appointment only, Carter said. Whitman post office does not offer the service, which can only be conducted by a government office.

Selectman Scott Lambiase suggested a member of the clerk’s staff might be separated out to handle passports.

Overdose crisis

In other business, Police Chief Scott Benton urged residents to heed the messages imparted in the April 11 “If I Only Knew,” program sponsored by Whitman-Hanson WILL to help curb the overdose problem.

“It’s choices,” he said, during his monthly report to selectmen. “There are people who don’t want to say anything because they don’t want to be ‘ratting out’ your kid. Well, you know what? Rat them out.”

“Save a life,” agreed Selectmen Vice-chairman Dan Salvucci, conducting the meeting in Chairman Carl Kowalski’s absence.

“There are a lot of great kids out there, but this is something that we’re dealing with and something to be aware of,” Benton said.

Benton reported that his department has received 3,753 calls for service between Jan. 1 and April 10 — compared to 2,895 during the same period last year.

There have been 118 arrests, criminal complaints and protective custodies during that same period and 11 drug overdoses, two fatal. There were 12 overdoses during that period last year.

“We were doing pretty good in January,” Benton said. “We had our Whitman-Hanson WILL presentation last week [April 11] and, right after the presentation, we had three overdoses that evening — one fatal.”

Another of the overdoses that night, overdosed again Wednesday, April 13.

“It’s sad, but it illustrates, certainly, that this is a problem that we’re facing and that we’re going to continue to tackle,” Benton said. “You have to show compassion. … When you come off of heroin, you get sick and people don’t want to get sick, so they’re on the heroin, too, in addition to the addiction itself.”

He said the epidemic is a situation where the adage, “There, but for the grace of God go I,” applies.

“I don’t know anybody that isn’t touched in one way or another by this,” Benton said, noting some people ask him why so many resources are invested in repeat overdose cases. “What would you give to hug your child again? That’s as simple as I can put it. If you look at it that way, with that empathy, you understand that you’ll do anything — so if we save them 100 times, we save them 100 times, that’s the way it goes.”

Through the WEB Task Force, Benton said there is a county-wide effort to establish and maintain a database of available beds in treatment facilities to which officers can connect through their cruisers.

“This will lead to us being able to give that information and be able to offer help and followup,” he said.

Whitman and Hanson police and fire officials have been working with WHRHS officials on crisis planning.

This year, the main goal of principals’ school improvement plans — at all grade levels in all seven district schools — is all-day kindergarten, one of the 20 elements of the Student Success budget for fiscal 2017.

The School Committee voted 9-0 to accept the plans. Member Alexandra Taylor was absent.

Consultant Lori Likis, who has been working with the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education (DESE) to help schools develop district plans, introduced the plan presentations during the W-H School Committee’s Wednesday, April 13 meeting.

“The intention here is to offer something that is helpful to districts, rather than another mandatory requirement,” Likis said. “You’re developing a district plan and using that to drive all of the other systems in your district. So it drives your budget, your evaluation system, educator roles and school improvement plans.”

The three pillars of W-H’s Planning for Success/School Improvement Plans are those outlined when the Student Success budget was unveiled in February — Every Child, Every Day: Healthy Body/Healthy Mind; a cohesive pre-K through grade 12 system of teaching and safe and secure schools.

“We’ve done strategic planning before, and I just never felt convinced that the plan really spoke for W-H or that it wasn’t really impacting improvement,” said Superintendent of Schools Dr. Ruth Gilbert-Whitner.

The seven principals provided three plan overviews, based on the elementary, middle and high school levels.

“Our goals are the same,” said Maquan Principal Donna Murphy. “There was something very heartwarming — and I’m going to steal some of the thunder from our middle school and high school principals — the very first goal for pillar one is the implementing of all-day kindergarten for all students across the district.”

She said it spoke to the importance of all-day kindergarten as a foundation for a good education on a level playing field. She also reiterated the importance of the added full-time social workers to improve social-emotional health.

Duval Principal Julie McKillop said extension and development of the elementary math and science curriculum is a key component of pillar two, the cohesive pre-K through grade 12 system of teaching.

Indian Head Principal Elaine White spoke of safe and secure schools in the elementary grades. Staff training in safety protocols will continue while audio communication technology, especially in areas like school gyms and cafeterias where it is lacking, is improved and new perimeter cameras are being looked at. Conley Principal Karen Downey was unable to attend due to a death in her family.

Middle school principals William Tranter and George Ferro outlined how the three pillars will be implemented at that level.

“We did spend a lot of time working together to align our school improvement plans across the district,” Tranter said of the seven administrators. “We all feel [all-day kindergarten] is an essential piece as students move up in the school system. … If you don’t get it early, it’s very difficult to catch up at the middle or high school level.”

Tranter and Ferro have been working together toward ensuring an equal middle school experience, no matter which town a student lives in, and agreed that more support is needed for guidance and school adjustment staffs. Like their elementary counterparts, math and science are key pillar two concerns in the middle schools.

“Safety and security is first and foremost,” Tranter said. “If kids don’t feel safe and secure, they’re not going to learn.”

At the high school, Principal Jeffrey Szymaniak said he had never enjoyed the school improvement plan process in the past.

“This year, because of the new process, it kind of means something,” he said. “It was exhilarating.”

He said he values the potential benefit of all-day kindergarten for high school freshmen eight years from now. He also said that, while school choice has helped him add programs at the high school, the Student Success budget will permit a lot more training for addressing the social-emotional challenges of the 2016 student.

Continuing the transition room is a key program as well as programs to ease stress.

The new semester schedule means more textbooks are needed, where teachers were able to juggle distribution on a trimester schedule. Szymaniak also wants to offer more detailed math, science and English electives as well as certificate programs for CNA, pharmacy tech, medical coding or animal sciences, for example.

“Teaching changes every year,” he said. “It changes with every class. …  Whatever group of kids you have coming in the doors, you have to adapt.”

Szymaniak also said he is working to improve the experience level of front-door security personnel as well as designing a better traffic flow for the fall.

New Principal

In other business, Assistant Superintendent for Human Resources, Safety and Security Patrick Dillon announced that Duval School Assistant Principal Dr. Elizabeth Wilcox has been appointed principal at Maquan School in the fall. Murphy is retiring this spring.

“I had the privilege to work with about 20 stakeholders who took this task very seriously,” Dillon said of the process that narrowed a field of more than 40 applicants to six for interviews and two finalists. “It was not an easy task for either one of the finalists.”

He said he viewed the integrity of the process as vital.

“She absolutely earned this opportunity,” he said of Wilcox.

“I’m absolutely thrilled,” she said. “I’ve been part of the W-H community for 14 years.”

Wilcox began as a grade two classroom teacher and as a reading specialist as well as assistant principal at Duval.

“I am sad to leave Duval … but I am very excited to go to Maquan and to be part of that community,” she said.

HANSON — A major weekend water main break to a six-inch pipe, which went unreported for an estimated three hours, caused black water to appear in sinks and toilets in some parts of town through Tuesday.

Selectman Don Howard, who is also a water commissioner in town reported at Tuesday’s Board of Selectmen’s meeting that people were confused about how to get the dark-colored water out of their system.

He said the next water bill will include a slip of paper outlining the proper procedures for any future incidents.

“If there is dark water in your house, don’t run it in the house and try to get rid of it,” he said. “If you have dark water … use an outside [connection] to drain the water off closest to where the meter runs into the house, therefore it doesn’t get all through the house.”

Howard said a lot of people were running indoor faucets to clear the water, and that was incorrect.

He said he was given a gallon jug of pitch-black water that settled clear in a matter of one day, leaving only a small amount of black particles in the bottom of the plastic jug.

“It’s manganese and iron, basically,” he said. “But it was so fine that it completely blackend the gallon jug.”

Howard said the direction of water flow forced the dark particles through the systems.

Water pressure dropped so low that people on High Street and the Whitman end of Whitman Street had no water at all.

“We faced it and took care of it and hopefully all the citizens of Hanson will be happy now that they’ve got clean water,” Howard said.

He said that, as of Tuesday afternoon, the only area still experiencing discolored water was on High Street, with three hydrants still open and running to clear the water, with the aim of it being cleared by 8 p.m.

Whitman Hanson WILL is hosting “If I Only Knew,” an evening of awareness and education aimed at curbing destructive decisions by young people at 6:30 p.m., Monday, April 11 in the Dr. John F. McEwan Performing Arts Center at WHRHS. The program s co-sponsored by the Brockton Area Opioid Abuse Prevention Collaborative.

The main presentation will be “Taylor’s Message,” by Kathi Meyer.

Kathi’s life changed on one October morning in 2008 when she was informed that her 17-year-old daughter Taylor had drowned in only two feet of swampy water due to underage drinking and poor choices.

A panel discussion follows featuring Stacey Lynch of CASTLE, High Point Treatment Center; Whitman Police Chief Scott Benton and Hanson Police Officer Bill Frazier; Mary Cunningham, a young adult in recovery and Ryan Morgan, principal of Independence Academy, a recovery high school.

Audience members will have the opportunity to ask the panelists questions following their presentation. Resource information will also be available. For more information visit Whitmanhansonwill.org.

Next school year will mark the beginning of a change in class schedules under the program of studies and how some diplomas are earned at Whitman-Hanson Regional High School.

The School Committee has approved the proposals by Principal Jeffrey Szymaniak, which change the high school schedule from a trimester to a full-year semester system and implements a “Diploma B” program for approved students struggling academically.

“It’s a solid program,” he told the committee on March 16 about the schedule change. “But it’s a change in our program of studies this year that directly affects the Class of 2020, indirectly affects the Class of 2017 for next year, and ’18 and ’19 — and there’s a grandfather clause.”

Students sign up for seven or eight classes, but only five meet each day. The full complement of classes meets within seven-day rotations. Seminar returns to the schedule every afternoon, as does the senior’s end-of-day period for Community Service Learning internships and senior privileges.

He explained that students in the latter two classes have already earned up to 36 credits.

“It’s just a little bit of a tweak, not taking away any rigor in our classes, giving kids the opportunity to have one teacher in a core subject for the entire year,” Szymaniak said.

Courses will no longer be valued at two credits per trimester, they will be four credits per full-year course and two credits per semester, Szymaniak explained to the School Committee. The current trimester system requires106 credits for graduation, but that will change to 96 credits for the class of 2020.

“Balancing that out, looking at all the other schools in the area — and I look at Duxbury, Silver Lake, East Bridgewater, Scituate — keeping in line with them, we’ve moved to four credits for a full-year course and two credits for a semester and 96 credits to graduate,” he said. “If I’m a diligent student and I take seven classes … I can even fail a class here and there and still make our graduation requirements.”

The schedule change has had its critics among some students and parents. Two underclassmen, requesting their names be withheld, recently contacted the Express about their concerns, including the number of classes required, confusion about a rotating class schedule and weekend AP classes. The latter has been a fact of life already, according to Szymaniak, who would like to see them return. He cited day-long AP seminars that have been attended by W-H students all over the South Shore, and expressed a wish to have the staffing to offer them here.

“We’re no different than anybody else as far as class time,” Szymaniak said. “Teachers have to instruct in a different way — they’re still going to cover content, but they’re not going to have as many hours in a day to do that.”

The class rotation thereby closely mirrors a college class schedule.

“Next year’s juniors and seniors will have experienced two schedule changes in the past two years,” one sophomore said. “There have been two petitions to have the schedule just stay how it is, both of which gained quite a lot of signatures, but the principal paid them absolutely no mind.”

Szymaniak said this week that the petitions had been withdrawn by student organizers after he met with them before he had a look at the documents, and he explained that the previous change, which suspended seminar period was necessary following the reduction of five teachers following budget cuts.

Another student pointed to the confusion from the class rotation as his main concern, and Szymaniak conceded there would be some confusion at the outset.

“I’ll concede they did some things right,” the student said. “My biggest concern would be that [classes rotate] every day, which would be fine if there weren’t two classes dropping throughout the week.”

“It’s going to be a little confusing at first,” Szymaniak said Monday. “But it’s something that’s familiar [in other schools] on the South Shore.”

He noted students have just registered for next year’s classes under the new schedule, so there has been no concrete feedback from them or parents as yet.

“I think parents want continuity,” he said. “They want their kids to have a teacher that they know for all year.”

Diploma B approved

The School Committee also approved a Diploma B designation for students who are approved for it.

“I’m an advocate for all kids in our school,” Szymaniak said, noting the district offers a Community Evening School, based on credits, with a separate graduation ceremony. “What I see now is a core group of kids — probably 15 to 20 per grade — that are not college-bound, that are not tech-bound, they want to go in the military, they want to work, they want to go to Massasoit. Our Diploma A has requirements that some of these students find really challenging to pass, foreign language in particular.”

He stressed that the Diploma B designation is in no way a form of tracking students, but is based on a program in Hull. Szymaniak altered the program for W-H, requiring 92 credits to graduate compared to the 82 to 86 credits Hull High School requires for a Diploma B. The additional credits W-H requires would be in elective courses.

Students would be no different from other WHRHS students at regular commencement ceremonies and all diplomas look alike, but transcripts would carry the Diploma B designation.

It is not meant as an easy out, however, Szymaniak cautioned. Four years of English, three years of math, science and social studies, and attempt at foreign language and other credits will be required.

“Every eighth-grader entering the high school is a Diploma A student,” he said. “At the end of freshman year — sometimes sophomore year — things happen.”

At that time, Szymaniak will meet with at-risk students and their parents to discuss goals and solutions. If, at the end of sophomore year a student is still in grade recovery, Diploma B will be discussed as an option.

“Everything’s fluid,” Szymaniak said, explaining that Diploma B   students could always switch back over to Diploma A. “Some of my students go to CES and then transfer back in.”

Why does the W-H Regional School District need social workers?

School Committee Chairman Bob Hayes said it’s a question he frequently hears.

“We have seen over time an increase in the number of low-income students and students who qualify for free and reduced lunch,” said Superintendent of Schools Dr. Ruth Gilbert-Whitner. “We’ve seen increased numbers of students from families that are not functioning in ways that really support students. Students are coming to school with issues and problems that 20 to 25 years ago we would have never thought possible.”

Principals from all seven W-H schools gave emotional testimony to the pain they see among children and adolescents in all economic levels in their schools whose needs are not being met.

They have had to find help for middle schoolers who cut themselves, suicidal students, children in custody of grandparents and students on the autism spectrum or who are dealing with crippling anxiety and depression ­­­­­— all while providing a quality education.

North River Collaborative has funded “very part-time” social workers for the elementary schools to share — and those principals lauded their work and dedication — but Gilbert-Whitner said more needs to be done.

Duval Principal Julie McKillop said her school has 16 pupils who have changed custody since June.

“Those children need to be supported throughout their day,” McKillop said. “That doesn’t shut off for those kids at 9 o’clock when the school day starts, and then start back up at 3 o’clock.”

School psychologists — there is one per school — are busy special ed testing, adjustment counseling and helping with social work, she said.

Conleey Principal Karen Downey noted her school is “into double digits with children who are DCF-involved” and counseling cases are increasing.

“I know you hear a lot about the opioid crisis,” Downey said. “That starts with these kids we can’t reach.”

At Hanson Middle School, Principal William Tranta said the problem goes beyond kids involved with DCF or the free and reduced lunch program.

“This is about all kids,” he said. “We’re seeing, in the middle schools, the results of the elementary schools not having the mental health support. … It’s about the social-emotional health of our students, not about what their income level is.”

Whitman Middle School Principal George Ferro agreed, but said the situation presents an opportunity to take action rather than being reactive.

“We’re taking kids from every walk of life, from every piece of life, from every socio-economic group, but it’s incumbent upon us as educators to take them where they’re at, give them the skills that they need to succeed not only in first grade, fifth grade, ninth grade, but for the rest off their life,” he said.

Unaddressed  problems grow bigger as students move to higher grades, educators said.

“I’m the end game,” said High School Principal Jeffrey Szymaniak. “I see the results of what we haven’t supported.”

After six years at WHRHS, he said he can see there is a gap of students who hadn’t had basic needs met in the elementary and middle schools.

“I know last year we spent a lot of time talking about the transition room we built [at WHRHS] specifically for students coming out of hospitals and psychiatric hospitals back into the building,” said Administrator of Special Education and Pupil Personnel Services Dr. John Quealy. “I just wonder how many of those kids would have been prevented [from needing that] if we had social workers at the elementary level.”

School committee member Susan McSweeney said social workers allow teachers to focus on teaching.

Indian Head Principal Elaine White said depression and anxiety is a problem for a lot of kids, some needing hospitalization.

“All of those services we lost, I think we’re reaping the problems now, because here we have kids in high school who are unable to function,” she said.

When the W-H Regional School Committee votes to set the fiscal 2017 assessments — as they were slated to do on Thursday, March 17 — there may be no budget cuts recommended.

The committee continued its conversation about funding the budget Wednesday, March 9 and, while no votes were taken that night, the mood of members was evident from discussion: cuts and large transfers from the $1,365,310 in excess and deficiency are not popular choices.

There is a $1.4 million shortfall in a level-services budget proposed for fiscal 2017, and committee members are concerned about the wisdom of using too much from that one-time money.

“We need it all,” said School Committee Chairman Bob Hayes of the Student Success plan. “I don’t think anybody on this committee wants to take anything out of that Student Success budget.”

No one disagreed with him.

“We need every single item,” Superintendent of Schools Dr. Ruth Gilbert-Whitner said. “It’s hard to say which piece you could cut and then the other piece doesn’t fall apart. Truth be told, we need more than $3 million.”

She noted the Student Success plan was the product of a lot of work by staff, leadership and parents.

“I’m not in favor of cutting a penny from the Student Success budget,” said committee member Fred Small, who had cautioned against tapping into excess and deficiency. “We need that and everything that’s in there. … What our needs are — those are our needs and those aren’t changing, no matter what the dollar amounts are.”

The district is allowed to put up to 5 percent of its operating budget into the excess and deficiency line to cover emergency expenses for which a regional district is responsible. It currently has 2.88 percent in the account.

Every year, transfers are made from excess and deficiency to help balance the budget, but officials said it is getting harder to replenish what is taken out. In fiscal 2016, $750,000 in excess and deficiency funds were used to fund the budget. Over the course of the school year $643,000 was replenished largely due to insurance and energy savings. A new budgeting software also limits over-budgeting.

School committee and district representatives have already met with finance committees in both towns where it was indicated a 3-perecent assessment increase was manageable, but probably not more, reported Hayes.

“They [Whitman] are not sure if it could be 4 or 5 percent, but they’re pretty sure they could handle 3,” he said. “At this particular point they don’t have any idea, either,  because they’re [still crunching numbers].”

Hayes said Hanson painted a similar picture.

If $750,000 were transferred from excess and deficiency to return school librarians and help close the budget gap, there would still be a $1 million shortfall that would take a 5-percent assessment increase to close, Hayes said of the level-service budget. It would take an additional 15 percent to raise the additional $3 million involved in the Student Success plan.

“Both towns are saying it’s probably going to have to go to an override” to fund the Student Success proposal, according to Hayes. “Neither town has the amount of funding to fund it without going to an override.”

He also said the presence of concerned residents at the meeting with Whitman’s Finance Committee did not go unnoticed.

“They were thrilled to have some people come, because finance committees are often  in meeting rooms where nobody shows up,” he said.

Whitman resident Shawn Kain again spoke in favor of the Student Success plan at the school committee.

“I think the override is just,” Kain said. “I think when we go to the people of the towns I think we can, in a very fair and honest way say, ‘It’s reasonable for us to support the override.’”

He argued that, with the one-time virtualization debt exclusion going off the books this year, the average Whitman taxpayer would see a net effect of $250 tax increase on a $300,000 house if an override passes.

“The challenge is we still have to balance the budget, which is why we are where we are today,” said Gilbert-Whitner.

Hanson resident Christopher Howard reminded the committee that there were more items of concern in the Student Success plan than just returning the library program.

Teacher honored

In other business, the school committee congratulated high school faculty member Julie Giglia on receiving the Business Educator of the Year Award.

“This is a tremendous honor and we feel so pleased that it’s a W-H person who’s receiving this,” Gilbert-Whitner said.

Giglia outlined the “extensive” application process, noting the award wouldn’t be possible without support from her fellow business educators and school administrators.

She also gave a plug for the school’s inaugural Credit For Life Fair from 9 a.m. to noon, Friday, April 1. During the event, each senior is provided with a career and income scenario and must budget life expenses to balance out by the end of the session.

Computer update

The committee was also updated on the progress of the district’s computer virtualization project.

Funded by town meetings last year, virtualization project is on pace for completion sometime in June.

Virtualization replaces the individual hard drives of classroom computers by linking the monitor, keyboard and mouse to remotely accessible server. It also extends the life of desktop units with the best performance possible.

“It doesn’t get tired, it doesn’t get bogged down,” said district IT Director Chad Peters. “Every time someone logs in, it creates a virtual desktop for them.”

The network infrastructure and software was replaced last summer, followed by the upgrade of existing classroom computers in late fall and trained the first two groups of teachers by this month. The remaining teachers will be trained as upgrades continue through May. Upgrades of old computers will continue into June.

On Saturday, March 5 residents, recovering addicts, those who have suffered loss of a family member due to an addiction, community activists and law-enforcement officers gathered at Whitman-Hanson Regional High School to discuss the problems surrounding substance abuse and including the on-going opioid crisis in the state and country.

State Rep. Josh Cutler, D-Duxbury, was scheduled to speak but could not be present due to a family matter, according to forum organizers. His Legislative Aide Rick Branca spoke briefly on his behalf regarding the representative’s efforts in the legislature to tackle the issue, including advocating for a law tightening rules on opiate prescriptions, with versions passed by both the House and the Senate and currently in a conference committee for reconciliation.

Branca also spoke of graduating from Whitman-Hanson Regional High School not very long ago, and witnessing too many fellow classmates pass away from substance abuse disorders.

Following Branca, Brendon Curran, a former drug abuser in recovery told his story. Currently 39, he said that it took him 12 years of attempts to finally “get clean.”

Curran said that his problem began when he began smoking marijuana around the age of 13, and that despite not liking the high, marijuana eliminated negative thoughts he was having. But this quickly led him to other drugs.

“Less than a year later, I had a needle in my arm,” he said. By 14, Curran was using heroin and other I.V. drugs. He was also smoking crack. This led him to a string of serious life problems, including stints in jail.

Today Curran is sober, and putting his life back together. “Addiction doesn’t discriminate; it can happen to anybody,” he said.

He went on to describe his thoughts on solving addiction issues.

“Punitive measures don’t work,” Curran said. He believes that more vocational programs to teach useful skills to those in recovery would be helpful.

Everything lost

Another recovering substance abuser, 36-year-old Sean Merrill, who works as the Executive Assistance/Community Relations Liaison for Teen Challenge in Brockton, a faith-based recovery program for adults, described his story of addiction and recovery.

Merrill became an electrician at age 22, and was doing well in life, he said, including buying a house, getting married and having a daughter.

But by the age of 25, he and his younger brother began experimenting with opioid painkillers, which he stated led to him becoming “hooked, and losing everything, including his house, his wife, his electrical license and visitation rights to see his daughter.

In February 2011, Merrill’s younger brother died due to his addiction. This tragic event in Merrill’s life prompted him to get sober. After getting sober through a Christian recovery program, which he now works for, he and his wife got back together, and they now have two children.

“My son has his father back, my daughter has her father back, my wife has her husband back, and my mother has her son back,” he said.

Foundation in faith

Rich Barnes, 48, of Bridgewater spoke next. Also a former substance abuser in recovery, he said he started drinking at age 10.

He continued drinking until 17, when he progressed on to other drugs, such as cocaine, and by 22, he was smoking crack. “I loved it…[it] buried pain and negative thoughts.”

He married in 2000, but said that he was soon spending $10,000 a month on crack and cocaine. “My life was a negative vortex,” he said.

But as life continued with a new daughter, and he continued to struggle, he decided finally that enough was enough after a suicide attempt. “I missed the first 2 and a half years of my baby’s life due to addiction,” he said.

Now sober for 10 years, Barnes is writing a book with the working title of, “From Stealing to Healing,” and is an inspirational speaker and author of the website richfulthinking.com.

“Never, ever think that it’s not going to be your kid,” he said. “You don’t know what an addict looks like…addiction affects everyone.”

For Matthew

Mary Peckham, of Halifax, addressed her son’s death from addiction, in September 2012 at the age of 27. Matthew Peckham was a “normal kid from a normal family,” said his mother.

Peckham became involved in drugs in high school, and in a now all-too-familiar scenario, it involved other students trading, buying and selling pain medication prescribed for minor sports injuries or pulled wisdom teeth. Mary Peckham never noticed anything amiss.

The secrets began to come out, however, in April 2011, when Matthew Peckham was found overdosing on heroin on his bedroom floor. His drug dealer had sold him heroin that was cut — diluted to increase its weight and volume — with cement. He was brought back to life by first responders with the medicine Naloxone, commonly known by its brand name Narcan, which reverses the effects of an acute opioid overdose.

Peckham denied the drug use, even when in the hospital confronted with positive blood tests for heroin, due to embarrassment. Mary Peckham lost her son the next year.

Peckham strongly stated her belief that her son’s death could have been prevented. She had harsh words with regards to doctors who overprescribe pain medication, calling pain killers “heroin in pill form.”

As for pharmaceutical companies, she had this to add: “They are making money off the backs of our children.” She also faults expensive recovery programs and complex insurance issues that she feels contributed to the death of her son.

Peckham recently started a support group, Matthew’s Candle, for those who have lost a loved one due to an overdose, stating that she has experienced stigma in other grief or loss-support groups because of the cause of her son’s death. Matthew’s Candle meets in Hanson, and the group can be reached at matthewscandle922@gmail.com for more information.

There’s HOPE

Finally, Susan Silva, an East Bridgewater mother of a son in recovery, described the work she is doing with other local activists and local law-enforcement. She was inspired to take action spreading awareness because of the stigma her family went through on her son’s years-long path to sobriety

She described extended family turning against her family, her church turning against them, even neighbors wanting them, “removed from the neighborhood.”

“I know what it is like to feel stigma.”

She eventually teamed up with the East Bridgewater police, and led a coalition of local stake-holders with the goal of creating a model for law-enforcement and the community to help those suffering from addiction rather than send them to jail or prison.

The fruition of their efforts is the EB HOPE Outreach Center, a twice-monthly drop-in center open on the first and third Thursday of each month from 5 to 9 p.m. at the Community Covenant Church, 400 Pleasant Street, East Bridgewater. The center is open to the community at large, not exclusively residents of East Bridgewater.

The EB Hope Center can provide information about and access to a variety of services, including inpatient and outpatient detoxification programs, addiction recovery services, resources for family members (including training to administer Naloxone/Narcan and information on how to obtain the medication), and on-site mental health triage.

First responders

Although East Bridgewater police personnel are present as partners of the Center and as a resource, according to Police Chief John Cowan the presence is not intended to intimidate anyone or keep anyone needing help away. He stated the purpose of the program is to help substance abusers and their families, not arrest them.

East Bridgewater Detective Sgt. Scott Allen, a career drug-crimes detective himself involved with the center, summed it up this way: “I think we’ve realized that we can’t arrest our way out of this problem.”

The EB Hope Center can be reached at (504)-800-0942 or at www.ebhopes.net.

Nearly every speaker continuously made the point that addiction can affect anyone, anyone’s family, anyone’s child, anyone’s neighbor, anyone’s friend. Addiction does not discriminate, and the public needs to educate themselves on the issue of substance abuse, as addiction is often “hidden in plain sight,” according to those who have lived it.