Right now, the Whitman-Hanson Regional School District still does not have a budget, Superintendent of Schools Jeff Szymaniak said at the School Committee’s meeting on Wednesday, June 5.
He also responded to a rumor “floating around” – as well as the question of what happens if there is still no budget after Hanson’s special Town Meeting at 6:30 p.m., Monday, June 17.
“That’s a reality in our district, if we don’t have a budget by June 30, we now have to make some modifications, he said.
If the district has to report failure to reach a budget agreement by the new fiscal year on July 1, the Commissioner of Education will put the district on a 1/12 budget based on last year’s fiscal 2014 budget – at either the exact amount or over it.
“When the district went through the scenario in 2020, it was the exact amount for the month of July and, realistically for the School District, the month of July is not a fiscal crunch for us because our teachers are paid before they leave [in a fiscal ’24 scenario],” Szymaniak said. The next large pay period, under a fiscal 2024 budget is not until August.
But because it is about a $2.5 million deficit, Szymaniak must make sure, in the absence of a budget to prepare for the worst.
That means, if the district is still without a budget by August or September, he said he has to make sure the district has a plan to reduce the budget by $2.5 million – which is teachers.
“But, as I have reminded, if I have to Pink Slip, or RIF [Reduction in Force] teachers, I have to come up with 40 percent of their unemployment costs as of the day they are RIF’ed. So I have to look at the long game, and be prepared for a no-budget into August, September, October, November into December. In December, if I still don’t have a budget, the commissioner will give us a budget.”
That spending plan will be taken out of the towns’ hands and says, ‘This is your budget for the year,’” he said, as school starts up again in September.
“Looking at the numbers, he said [Whitman Finance Committee member Kathleen] Ottina was a little short on the number of RIFs that we’ll have to give out,], Szymaniak said. [See story page 11] The teachers’ contract says Reduction in Force letters should be out by May 30, if possible, and no later than June 30. Teachers leave for the summer on June 13 and Town Meeting is June 17.
“To try to avoid mass anxiety, because I’m optimistic that we’re going to pass a budget, because the School Committee has affirmed a budget without cuts,” he said. “We already know that.”
He said he has already crunched numbers and would try to get that information out to the staff by this week. The district had already posted six positions he’s wanted to fill from retirements and other such departures.
“But I’m not going to hire anybody if I don’t have a budget, so that reduces the RIF letters by six,” he said. A second tier of 26 WHEA members two central office and three district employees would receive RIFs because he has to come up with $3.3 million in cuts to cover the $2.5 million that might be real on a 1/12 budget, because of unemployment costs.
In that number, he took $540,000 [which is not set in stone, he stressed], asking the School Committee to not support varsity and sub-varsity sports and extracurriculars, which cost the district $538,000.
“That’s seven, eight or nine teachers that I don’t want to RIF at this point,” he said. “This is all hypothetical unless we don’t have a budget. But it could be real in August, if we don’t.”
He said he would not make the cuts unless the district ends up without a budget on June 17.
“It’s imperative for parents … to go to the meeting and talk,” he said. “I’m not telling you how to vote. Go to the meeting, at least and hear.”
If there is no budget by the end of the June 17 meeting, Szymaniak and Assistant Superintendent George Ferro will be sending out Reduction in Force letters on the morning of Tuesday, June 18.
“I don’t know where they are coming from,” he said, “But they are coming from classrooms, they’re coming from related arts, and it’s our first- and second-year staff members, or people that might even be a little bit more [veteran] if they’re a district-wide employee.”
Only staff in state-mandated roles would be safe from cuts.
Communicating cuts
“I’m trying to be as honest with the committee as possible, without [causing] as much fear to our staff members, but this is a reality if we push into late August,” he said.
Whitman has already voted an assessment and would not have to act again unless the committee decided to increase the assessment. If a super-Town Meeting, a session with both communities, is required, a majority vote would pass a budget, which could be in place as early as mid-July.
“July, I can cover money, but if we go into the middle of August because the towns voted the budget down, the commissioner takes over and then it could come back to the School Committee again,” Szymaniak said. “We keep doing that until we have a budget, or until the commissioner says, ‘You’re not where you should be,’ and he just assesses a budget to the regional school district.”
By law the commissioner’s options are to increase what was asked for by the committee.
Committee member Glen DiGravio said he is concerned about how badly a 1/12 budget could affect the students.
“If it goes in, we’ve got a problem,” Szymaniak said. “Because as people start leaving, it becomes problematic.” He said he is looking at options that are least impactful to the staff.
Information on the staff cuts is being supplied to the Hanson Select Board for their information and to distribute to voters.
“People need to know that,” DiGravio said. “These kids matter, and they don’t get a vote, either.”
DiGravio also asked if athletics could be cut completely, which Szymaniak said was possible, although he doesn’t want to have to.
“But it’s an option – people need to know that, too.” DiGravio said.
“This is not a reduction of the school district’s budget,” Szymaniak said, “I’m just won’t have a budget, so I can’t, as the superintendent, say, ‘I’m going to cut eight classroom teachers and have a football team.’ … It’s not a scare tactic.”
Member Dawn Byers said she wants to make clear what Hanson’s assessment will be – $14,974,735 – noting that if the motion at Hanson’s special Town Meeting is the number is to approve the amount presented at the May 6 Town Meeting, that is not the number the School Committee voted.
“It’s important to know what number is being voted on,” she said, noting that the School Committee made the number workable.
Member Fred Small moved that Szymaniak write a letter to Hanson officials clarifying the exact amounts to be included on the warrant and to get back to him in a timely manner.
Szymaniak vs
the rumor mill
As for the rumor – one of the questions he was asked at that meeting were about hiring 31 people with one-time money – was something he said needed to be clarified.
He met with the Hanson Select Board last month, and while they did not agree on a few things, an understanding of transportation reimbursement, of special education reimbursement costs, came up.
“I wasn’t planning on talking,” he said, but Town Administrator Lisa Green raised the opportunity to ask him questions. Hires with the use of ARPA funds was also raised at the meeting.
“Just because we have in and outs, doesn’t mean I’m adding positions,” he said. “Teachers have been in and out since 2021 – maternities, resignations, non-renewals, retirements – positions that have been created are the additional ones, but even through those additions, I’ve subtracted other ones.”
Over the course of the Elementary and Secondary School Relief (ESSER) Act, which Szymaniak said was a godsend in some respects, the funds became a curse as well.
“You’re handed a lot of money with specifications around it, how do you spend it without making it the fiscal cliff that we’ve spoken to?” he said. “And I knew, if I went home and turned back $2.5 million to the state or the fed because I couldn’t spend it, this committee or the members of the town would say, ‘You had $2.5 million to spend and you didn’t spend it?’ ‘:How can you do that?’”
He argued that the school district made really effective, efficient decisions to benefit the students. Some of those decisions were in the line of interventionists and English-language learning support.
Since 2021, the district began by hiring four interventionists, but that only had an impact of 2.5 positions funded in the budget, because they reallocated people within the district to fill those positions, he explained. An elementary education coordinator was added and has since left, with the district refurbishing the position as salary to a human resource director, which the school district has needed for years. At the same time the elementary ed coordinator position was reconfigured into a Multi-Tiered System of Supports (MTSS) and equity.
Five building-level math interventionists were also hired.
“A lot of these folks were teachers, who went into these roles, so we hired teachers on top of that,” he said. “That’s not a plus-10, that’s a plus-five.”
Another nurse was hired to address real needs, especially pre- and post- COVID, especially in the preschool and high school. There had been only one nurse at the high school and a nurse that had been promised after the closing of the Maquan School had never been hired.
A district-wide family liaison was also hired and has been a valuable member of the administrative team with the growing student population who speak another language. Six English-language staff members – both teachers and tutors – to ensure the schools are providing the increased English-language learners that is required by law.
Szymaniak referred to the English-language learning program to quash an accompanying rumor.
“We do not house migrants in Whitman,” he said. “These are our students. They live in our communities, they are not coming in from the state. It’s not from the governor. These are our students. People have asked, because I’ve seen it on social media,”
He said the population of non-English-speaking students has grown incrementally since 2021.
“We need to service students by law, and it’s the right thing to do.”
Committee member Rosemary Connolly stressed that Szymaniak had 15 positions he legally had to full in the district, but he had done so with only 11 additional positions.
“I think that’s pretty remarkable,” she said. “You, essentially, worked your numbers quite well.”
Hanson Committee member Kara Moser also pointed out that, when pink slips go out to staff is it is needed to balance the budget, it will not include the newer hires if they are among the state mandated positions in the schools.
“If people philosophically disagree with an added position on this list, voting it down is not eliminating that position,” she said.
Byers asked about the title interventionist.
“That’s sort of a modern-day tutor – a reading tutor/specialist, a math tutor/specialist, is that correct?” she asked.
Szymaniak said they are certified teachers. Before 2018 the district had reading specialists, they are now called interventionists, and added math to that service.
“People hear this new term and they wonder if this is just a result of COVID again, so we’re not in COVID anymore, so we don’t need this,” Byers said. “We’re now presenting an educational budget that includes what we should have had, pre-COVID.”
Szymaniak said it is sometimes difficult to fulfill state mandates, especially when they are unfunded, but credited the School Committee and the towns with helping to support district curriculum, such as all-day kindergarten, that should have been offered about 15 years ago.
Back on the topic of added district staff, he said the two high school music teachers who retired last year have been replaced by three – all funded by the salaries of the retired teachers. An afterschool coordinator hire was grant-funded.
Also, an occupational therapist was hired to aid all district students in need of the services that had been contracted out.
“Really, It’s a total of 18 new positions,” he said.
In fiscal 2025, the district has lost seven positions – including former facilities director Ernest Sandland, who retired, and a groundskeeper and was not hired – make a total of 11 new positions brought on district-wide, “all of whom are benefitting our students and that’s what you approved and are supporting going into this fiscal non-budget, right now, in the town of Hanson,” Szymaniak said.
“There might have been 31 – there might have been 40 people that have revolved through the district since 2012 – paraprofessionals are fluid,” Szymaniak said. “Special education paraprofessionals, I don’t count because [if] I have a student that needs a one-to-one, that’s an add, we don’t have a choice for that.”
He also hired a preschool teacher because the class for autism spectrum disorder (ASD) room was “busting at the seams” with pupils.
“That’s not a wish, that’s a need,” he said.
The state gave the district three rounds of ESSER money since 2021.
“We knew there was going to be a cliff [and] we worked in our office to try to massage the budget as best we could to make sure there wasn’t a $2.5 million end date, like some districts,” Szymaniak said, mentioning that they knew they would come up with a deficit this year, as they have.
Chair Beth Stafford said the number of “new hires” had started out at 35.
“We saw the result of doing this,” she said noting that district test scores are now “even better than before COVID. That’s our job here, the improvement of the kids.”
Vice Chair Hillary Kniffen said an error on the DESE website has people drawing incorrect class size information, as the site includes all personnel, with a degree in education to arrive at that number.
“If you are not in education – this is going to sound bad – but, you can’t go on the DESE website and think they know what information they’re trying to get across,” she said.
Szymaniak pointed to politics.
“If you actually showed 30:1 ratios in a school district, people would be all over the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education for more state funding for schools,” he said.

WHITMAN – South Shore Tech Superintendent-Director Dr. Thomas J. Hickey briefed the Select Board on Tuesday, June 5, 2024 on the status of the new building plan and proposed amendment to the vocational school district’s regional agreement.
“It’s been a few months since December, when we had a public forum in this same room,” Hickey said, noting he would also discuss admissions. “Enrollment does support a lot of the conversation about … debt share, when it comes to a school building project, and also make mention that we are continuing to work on a regional agreement amendment that will also have a connection to the building project.”
The full presentation can be seen on the Whitman-Hanson Community Access TV YouTube channel, and on rebroadcast of the Select Board meeting on their cable channel.
Right now, the district is talking with the Dept. of Elementary and Secondary Education (DESE) – Chris Lynch and Michelle Griffin – working on language that would adjust the part of the regional agreement dealing with debt apportionment. It is now a fixed share based on whenever a debt is authorized.
“We’re looking to move it to a four-year rolling average, which would allow changes in debt share based in changes in enrollment, with not a lot of volatility,” Hickey said.
Select Board member Shawn Kain asked if Hickey was confident that would be the case.
“I’m confident that DESE would be onboard with it,” Hickey replied, saying he has heard “virtually nothing” in terms of obstacles to it.
“Whitman is in a very vulnerable situation,” said Kain who indicated he was glad to hear about the amendment. “That would be not a deal-breaker for me, but I would have a hard time supporting the project if the regional agreement wasn’t amended.”
“With Marshfield’s inaugural class of 29 students, that’s about 4 percent, so I’m going to project to you that even if this [number of students] were to remain fixed, which I don’t think it will, every community’s share will adjust down,” Hickey said. “If we factor in a declining enrollment on top of bringing on a ninth community, we should see some relief for communities that feel like they’re at a high water mark for enrollment.”
Whitman’s position
He said there are 43 Whitman students graduating in the Class of 2024, with 31 in the incoming freshman class out of 70 applicants from the town. Whitman’s initial allotment if 20 new applicants and 11 from the school’s waiting list, Hickey explained, with a projection that the high demand will remain even as the town’s lower enrollment share continues over the next three years due to new seats provided to other towns such as Marshfield, which is in the process of joining the SST district and the size of the current school building.
“We have very strong demand from the community,” he said of the 70 applications this year. “Whitman is apportioned a number of seats based on the size of their eighth-grade population – and they fill those in a nanosecond – and then there are other seats from communities that don’t use all their seats.”
Historically, the waiting list consists of Whitman, Rockland and Abington students. Debt-share is tied to enrollment. So, without a revision of the regional agreement, Whitman would stay at about 25 percent, and would be responsible for that share of debt, but that debt level would decrease with a rolling admission, Whitman’s share could drop to, perhaps, 12 percent, decreasing the town’s debt.
“I would be saying the same thing if I were speaking to folks in Rockland, or in Abington, or Hanson, as well,” he said of the other large sending communities.
“Oct. 1 reports, as you well know are the official reports,” Hickey said. “Things can change, but I think we’re in the infield of the ballpark in terms of making a projection.”
He said the fiscal 2026 budget, in regard to just the operating assessment, the general track record for the district has been that, absent a large capital budget, a decrease in enrollment generally means a decrease in the operating assessment.
“I support the project,” Kain said. “I think this is badly needed, I think you do a very good job, I love the numbers. I do have a concern about the regional agreement, but it seems its being taken care of – but this is a big nut to take one.”
MSBA project
The preferred new construction option carries an estimated total cost of $283 million with the current estimated MSBA reimbursement at $107 million with the member towns dividing the remaining $176 million apportioned by enrollment. If that is rejected the estimated total cost for renovation, including major code upgrades is at $110 million with no funding from MSBA.
“I’m very careful to point out that [in the renovation option] this is not something that’s going to happen immediately,” Hickey said, noting that officials have heard the code upgrade warnings before in other school projects. “We’re still talking millions, we’re still talking who can fit these costs under the levy limit.”
He is expecting firmer numbers by August.
“The school roof is not going to fall in if this project fails,” he said. “I’m not going to advertise doom and gloom fait acompli, it’s going to be changed. But I do want to map out a five-to-seven-year sequence where, if either path were to happen, where would we be in 2030?”
The district is now in the middle of the schematic design phase, looking at a deadline of mid-August for the project team to finalize it for submission to the Massachusetts School Building Authority (MSBA) by the end of that month. The district envisions being before the MSBA board for their approval on Oct. 30.
“That will be the first day that we can say, without qualification or an asterisk, that, ‘This is the project budget. This is how much the grant is,’” he said. But, by August they should able to closely estimate the project cost. Over the summer, any written updates Hickey said he could provide would involve adjustments to the schematic design.
After the MSBA, the district will be preparing for a Jan. 25, 2025 district-wide ballot question, in which two-thirds of the member towns – six of the nine – would have to vote to support the project for it to move ahead.
“A separate matter that each community will have to take up would be how the project gets funded, if it is approved,” Hickey said. For most communities that would involve a debt exclusion.
Deeper design work would then be done.
Kain asked about any push-back on the ballot question, to which Hickey said he has heard no negative feedback.
“Everybody’s enrollment changes at some point, and with an adjustment in enrollment, it affects operating assessments,” he said, adding that the age of the building, constructed in 1960, the language of the regional agreement was drafted just to build the school in the first place. It had already been amended twice in the last seven years alone.
Hickey said he was not aiming for a school building that makes the cover of Architectural Digest.
“We don’t want people paying a lot of money for a cardboard box, we want something efficient,” he said. “If we’re going to put money into this, it’s got to be into the specialized educational spaces. It’s a very simple design, easy for supervision.”
Town Administrator Mary Beth Carter pointed to Gov. Maura Healey’s Empowerment Act, which could extend borrowing on such projects out to 40 years.
“I don’t really like the thought of going out 40 years, but on these huge projects it would make a big difference,” she said.
“If that weren’t on the books at the time that we’re making this move, I would hope that we could advocate for it – that the legislation would reflect our ability to readjust for it,” Hickey said. “It’s definitely on my radar.”

HANOVER – South Shore Tech School Committee honored its Parents Association during the Wednesday, May 22 School Committee meeting, for their “exceptional commitment to SST programs every school year.”
“It is with great pleasure that we recognize their outstanding contributions and to express our gratitude for their unwavering support for all things South Shore Tech,” said Principal Sandra Baldner. “Their tireless efforts and dedication have made significant impacts the success of our students and their well-being.”
She was joined by Erin Venuti, who spoke for the group and Cynthia Ortiz, Karen Burgio and Jessica Franceschini, both of Hanson and Leigh Gilcoine joined her at the meeting. The Parents’ Association works to make the school a positive and inclusive environment for both students and parents.
Venuti’s daughter is graduating this year, so she is stepping down from the Parents’ Association, but has been asked to serve as parent liaison with the School Building Committee.
Throughout the school year, the association puts in “endless hours of volunteer work,” advocacy of positive communication throughout SST, resourcefulness and collaborations with all members of the school community, according to Baldner.
“Their ability to bring people together and work toward common goals has been invaluable,” she said. “Their unwavering support and commitment have made a significant difference in the lives of our students and in the overall success of our school.”
Baldner said they could often be seen “lugging SST gear” from car to car and event to event, rain or shine, year after year. She also said she values the association as a working mom because he work at SST does not give her the time to volunteer with her children’s vocational school program.
Acting Parents’ Association President Erin Venuti offered some highlights of the current members time volunteering for SST students and programs.
Venuti said she joined when she heard Hickey speak of no fees for sports or athletics and giving every student a chance to participate.
“I don’t know if he realizes the impact that those particular things, and funding those opportunities really do have on our student body,” she said. “Through the course of that, I ended up here.”
Venuti said her running joke is that it’s like [The Eagle’s hit] ‘Hotel California’ – you can check in, but you can never leave.” To demonstrate how that is true for her, she said she is transitioning to her new department, to work with Hickey as a parent liaison on the new School Building Committee.
“This has been one of our most successful years,” she said, underscoring Baldner’s comments. “One of the most important things we looked at was bringing back an in-person community event.”
That led to member Cynthia Ortiz suggesting and given free rein on what became one of the most successful fundraisers ever – a singo event at Players Restaurant in Auburn. This year, there were a couple more – signature T-shirts for sale to support mental health awareness and suicide prevention at the annual car show. This year’s first-edition T-shirt sales brought in more than $4,000 from the sale for mental health and suicide prevention programs.
Students in the Graphic arts shop design them and teachers vote on which one to produce each year.
“That was one of my main aims to leave the school with, because it was very important and a very passionate project of mine,” she said.
Among the uses funds raised by the association are a monthly teacher appreciation coffee and pastry event and new sideline chairs provided for the gym for the use of volleyball and basketball games. They also purchased a new camera for the Graphics Department to use for producing the yearbook. They also continue the annual awards program to help support any student going on to higher education, or for specialized tools needed for their trades.
“But we wanted things that could transition into a new building,” Venuti said. “We don’t want to spend money on something that’s not going to stay. The sideline chairs can transition to the gym and really did make the kids feel special and people know, when they come to the gym, they are at South Shore Tech. They know our colors. They know our logo.”
The association is also bringing back the Class events, starting with the Class of 2024 – sponsoring the lawn signs given free of charge to the families of each graduating senior, bottled water for graduations in hot weather, shop cords for cap and gown ensembles, senior breakfast and senior lunch, the annual students’ civics project and leaving each sports team with a kick-start to help them fund raise. Smaller requests often come in from school administration for which the association tries to help as well as a $500 donation to SkillsUSA.
“The outgoing graduates lost a lot to COVID,” she said. “These were things we all agreed we need to bring back to make sure they feel they are leaving school on a positive note and not just leaving.”
She concluded by reminding the meeting that the Parents’ Association is “not a one-man-band.”
“It is all of us, together,” she said. “There are no titles. We’re all equal – we all talk the same, we all express the same. … We are all involved in the community, we are all selling the same story, the positive community atmosphere.”