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Hanson digs in on assessment

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HANSON — Selectmen voted on Tuesday, Oct 1 to stand by the current alternative school funding method for calculating the upcoming fiscal 2021 budget, and to send a letter to W-H Superintendent of Schools Jeffrey Szymaniak requesting information outlining how Hanson’s share of the regional school budget is calculated.

The vote came following an outline of the events surrounding the issue and leading up to a vote by Whitman Selectmen on Tuesday, Sept. 24 to support only the statutory funding method preferred by the state Department of Elementary and Secondary Education (DESE).

“I guess I look at things a little bit differently than maybe others do,” said Hanson Selectmen Chairman Laura FitzGerald-Kemmett. “There’s been a lot of rhetoric that I don’t intend to engage in — I don’t think it’s productive, in fact I think it’s counterproductive — it’s very difficult to get together with people and negotiate when you’ve got people hurling insults.”

She outlined a background of the funding issue, going back to 1991 when the present regional agreement was approved, basing funding on student population. Usually a 60-percent share for Whitman and 40 percent for Hanson.

“Historically, and without incident, that methodology has been used to assess the towns,” FitzGerald-Kemmett said.

Two years ago, the region opted to revise the regional agreement to update it reflecting schools that have closed or been built since 1991.

“Unbeknownst to anyone in Hanson, language was added to the revised regional agreement that changed the assessment method to be a statutory method,” FitzGerald-Kemmett said. “Under that assessment method, Whitman would pay less than it is currently paying, and Hanson would pay more as a result of the criteria used to measure wealth in a community.”

She noted that Whitman has still not executed the revised agreement and, while Hanson has done so, Selectmen have placed an article on the Oct. 7 Town Meeting warrant to rescind that previous Town Meeting vote as not being to Hanson’s advantage.

Whitman finances

The Whitman Budget Override Evaluation Committee, established to review that town’s financial crisis, “discovered what they thought was an inequity in the way the towns were being assessed and insisted the towns use the statutory method,” FitzGerald-Kemmett stated. During a visit to Hanson Selectmen recently Szymaniak estimated that shift would transfer about $1 million in assessment from Whitman to Hanson.

She also mentioned the 24-member regional agreement committee proposed by the School Committee on Sept. 18.

“We agreed to be part of discussions as a show of good faith,” FitzGerald-Kemmett said, even while they did not commit to renegotiating the agreement. “Now we find ourselves in a position where the Whitman Board of Selectmen have effectively let us know they’re not interested in opening up a dialog. Their actions have made it clear that, despite what the school’s attorneys have said, and despite what our counsel has said, that they’re going to bulldoze through and insist upon the statutory method being used for assessments. Well, here in Hanson, we make decisions based on facts, on data and on the law.”

However, Whitman Selectman Randy LaMattina, on Tuesday night, and School Committee member Fred Small, on Wednesday, said school counsel has amended their position on the funding formula question since the Wednesday, Sept. 18 School Committee meeting.

“I can understand people disagreeing, and them having a different point of view over in Hanson than maybe we have in Whitman — and that’s cool,” Small said. “She conveniently made the point, ‘our attorney, along with the school’s attorney feels that the only method is the agreement method.’ That’s not true.”

FitzGerald-Kemmett took issue with Small’s charge.

“Although some members of the School Committee and the District may have received information regarding the assessment methodology from DESE and from the school’s attorney subsequent to the Sept. 18 WHRSD School Committee Meeting, nobody from the Hanson Board of Selectmen or their office was made privy to that information until Oct. 3 when the School Committee Chair shared it with me.” FitzGerald-Kemmett stated Friday. “If the information had been made available to us, it would have been part of our discussion and would have helped inform our decisions. For Mr. Small to suggest otherwise is preposterous and dangerously close to slander. Further, it does nothing to help move this discussion forward in a civil and cooperative way. “

Change of opinion

LaMattina had emailed Small a couple of questions to submit to DESE Regional Governance Director Christine Lynch after the Sept. 18 meeting, asking if both methods of assessment must be publicly discussed at a School Committee meeting prior to setting a budget and if the 1991 agreement, listing the alternative method handcuffs a regional school committee.

“In her email back to me, Christine’s very specific where she also states that she’s contacted our attorney,” Small said. “The man misspoke.”

Lynch also clarified methodology in which the school’s attorney was not well-versed.

“It does not limit the School Committee to only present the method defined in the agreement, the School Committee may choose to use either method,” Small said Lynch’s explanation stated. “They know that, but Laura Kemmett refused to even state that last night.”

He said the information from Lynch will come out at the next School Committee meeting on Wednesday, Oct. 9.

Small also pointed out that, should a budget go to a super town meeting, the statutory method is the only method that can be used. To describe it otherwise is a “big disservice to the residents of Hanson, to all the parents of the Whitman-Hanson Regional School District.”

The Education Reform Act of 1993 abolished anything a district has spelled out in another agreement, Small said. An agreement/alternative method did not even exist until 1996.

FitzGerald-Kemmett also said she had spoken with Whitman Selectmen Chairman Dr. Carl Kowalski several weeks ago, at which time “we agreed that the path forward would probably be for us to lay all the numbers on the line and have a civil dialog. Apparently, others did not get that memo.” Kowalski was not present at the Sept. 24 Whitman Selectmen’s meeting.

“It was before we had a lot of information and other viewpoints,” Kowalski said of the cinversation with FitzGerald-Kemmett. “That’s probably not inaccurate. I don’t foresee Whitman looking backwards and trying to reclaim money that we didn’t receive but we should have, but what we should do is look forward.”

Kowalski said he was the one who asked for the assessment funding item be placed on the Sept. 24 Selectmen agenda and had urged Town Administrator Frank Lynam to bring the issue to some kind of a vote with the intent that Selectmen should be asking the School Committee to use the statutory agreement.

“Immediately after the meeting, I texted all the members and told them, ‘good job,’” Kowalski said Wednesday morning. “They looked at everything rationally and were very clear.”

Whitman resident Shawn Kain, who had urged Whitman Selectmen not to back Hanson officials into a corner at the Sept. 24 meeting, attended Hanson’s meeting, as well.

“There are good people out there who want to have that conversation,” said Selectman Matt Dyer, gesturing toward Kain­­­­­­­­­­. “Having a conversation doesn’t hurt.”

Hanson letter

The letter Selectmen approved is designed to obtain information aimed at allowing the town to fully explore its options, which include de-regionalization of K-8 schools, renegotiating the regional agreement, litigating, etc., FitzGerald-Kemmett said.

“The Hanson Board of Selectmen stands by the current alternative school funding method for calculating the upcoming 2021 fiscal year budget,” the letter drafted by interim Town Administrator Meredith Marini concluded. “The Board further believes this information will provide a better understanding of the cost per community.”

The letter seeks the following information from Szymaniak:

• A breakdown of costs for each district school, including utilities, insurance and maintenance;

• The number of all employees in each school, their salaries and benefits costs;

• The number of students in each school, including special ed students and the town where they live;

• Transportation costs; and

• A detailed explanation of the savings from the closing of the Maquan School, indicating if, and where the staff was relocated.

FitzGerald-Kemmett said the town is aware that enrollment in Hanson schools is declining rapidly and that there are two schools in Hanson to Whitman’s three, and that “a disproportionate amount of special education costs — perhaps as much as 86 percent — are attributable to Whitman.”

“Given all that, I am hard-pressed to see how any objective person could reasonably believe that Hanson needs to pay more,” she said. “Nevertheless, we will take a look at the data, and we will take a look at the law and the facts.”

She also took exception to attempts to portray Hanson as a wealthier town trying to take advantage of Chapter 70 funding meant for Whitman.

“Here in Hanson, we also have folks living at, or below, the poverty level,” FitzGerald-Kemmett said, noting her experience as a food pantry volunteer and board member. “In addition, here in Hanson, we have a lot of multi-generational households, which statistically looks like a high per-household income unless you drill down to see that there are four, five or six adults living in a house.”

Hanson is not a wealthy community, she said.

“We are a community living within our means and with our financial house in order,” FitzGerald-Kemmett she said.

“If they’re complaining about the way that Hanson’s valued, it’s not that anybody’s taking away money,” Small said. “The state’s not giving them money. Their beef is with the DOR (Department of Revenue) and the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, not with Whitman.”

Story updated on Friday, Oct. 4.

Ban has vaping shops reeling

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Eric Van Riper looked around the empty shelves of his Hanson store, Vapor Image, at 1000 Main St., where only a small display of sweatshirts, T-shirts and hats remained on display this week.

These items, and his CBD oils, are all that exists of his business after Gov. Charlie Baker ordered a four-month ban on the sale of all vaping products in Massachusetts.

“It’s definitely restricted us from selling 95-percent of our inventory,” Van Riper said Monday. “We do some CBD sales, so we’re keeping the store open for that, and we’re finding that some municipalities are actually restricting vape shops from closing because they need to maintain their tobacco licenses.”

Vapor Image does not carry tobacco products.

“We’re kind of in between a rock and a hard place in that regard,” he said. “I think the writing is on the wall, I think, on a state and federal level, they want vaping gone.”

Health agents across Massachusetts, fanned out last week, armed with flyers explaining that the state had ordered a four-month ban on vaping sales, to be posted in public places in their stores. The packet included a letter outlining the ban on flavored and non-flavored vaping products, it’s immediate implementation and the penalties for violation — including fines and seizure of products; the order from the Commissioner of Public Health; the governor’s proclamation and a notice to place in the business.

Seen as the strongest effort against e-cigarettes across the country, Baker’s ban applies to both tobacco and marijuana vaping products, and is intended to allow a federal officials and medical experts to investigate the cause of an increase in illnesses tied to the devices.

“There have been so many pulmonary diseases — damage — across the country in people who vape,” Hanson Board of Health Chairman Arlene Dias said. “It’s not one particular product that they’re using, so they are trying to find out why it’s causing such significant pulmonary damage.

“I visited 11 places in Hanson that were listed as selling tobacco as part of their permit and to have them sign that they had received the information we got from the state,” Dias said. She said a couple of stores on the list did not have any kind of tobacco products.

“Everyone signed that they are aware of what the law is and that they cannot display or sell any kind of vaping products,” she said. “Most of the places in Hanson are combined, they have tobacco products and vaping and might have had a smaller inventory of vaping products,” she said.

Only one business in town, Vapor Image, sells vaping products nearly exclusively.

“I don’t know what other products they sell, but everybody else sells cigarettes,” Dias said. “I was really surprised at how many places we had in town.”

Van Riper said it has always been part of his company’s mission statement to get people away from using tobacco.

“We are vape-centric,” he said. “That’s something that I won’t waver on, but you can expect more smoke shop-centric items here just to kind of fill out the gaps in the interim.”

Van Riper said he is “planning for all eventualities” and trying to ride the situation out. He said he has fielded dozens of calls from consumers, some with existing lung conditions, who have experienced a lot of relief since making the switch to vaping and depended on his business.

“They don’t have a viable alternative,” he said, his voice breaking.

Elaine Williams, administrative assistant for the Whitman Board of Health, said her department sent out the order Wednesday, Sept. 25.

She said the state order pertains only to vaping products.

“I think the governor — I saw him on the news — and he had said they had considered those kind of situations, but the health [considerations] were more important at this point,” Williams said. She indicated there are no shops in Whitman that sell vaping products exclusively.

“I believe all the adult shops that we have in Whitman sell tobacco product, as well,” Williams said.

A Whitman Board of Health meeting held Tuesday, Oct. 1 was not slated to discuss pending revisions to tobacco sales regulations, according to Williams.

“I don’t know if they are going to continue to do anything because of what’s happened [with the vaping moratorium], if they are going to wait until January to see what happens with what the state’s going to do or not,” she said.

According to published reports, Danvers vape shop Vapor Zone filed a lawsuit Thursday, Sept. 26 in Suffolk Superior Court seeking to stop the ban at the state level, while a group of three shops in the state is preparing a federal lawsuit to halt the ban.

Van Riper said he is not involved in any lawsuits at the moment, but is rather standing behind the state trade organization, Vapor Technology Association (VTA).

“Not only is it an investment for me, but it’s been a passion of mine and we’re just celebrating five years,” Van Riper said. “We’ve dodged a lot of bullets and faced a lot of adversity. I think everyone kind of expected something like this, but to have it happen so abruptly, to me that’s just overreach of authority and to me it just reeks of corruption.”

He pointed to “a lot of the same politicians” that have campaigns funded by big tobacco and big pharma.

“It’s really just exciting the public, because the gun owners are starting to take notice, too, who say ‘They’ve been trying to take our liberties for a while,’” Van Riper said. “The implications and the precedent this sets is damning for anyone. We are seeing a lot of public outrage, whether they have a horse in the race or not.”

State law affords the governor authority to declare a public health emergency and to order that officials move to “insure the continuation of essential public health services.”

Dias said the Massachusetts order carries the potential for an extension beyond the four months.

California and Rhode Island officials are also said to be advising people to stop vaping immediately.

Dias said that, while companies claim their products are not marketed to youths under the age of 18, “a ton of kids are having access, even though they’re not supposed to, they’re still getting it, they’re still using it.”

She also said kids are not simply using the liquids manufactured for use in vaping products, they are also using THC — the narcotic agent in marijuana — into the vapes.

“It really was aimed at younger people,” Dias said of the fruit and bubblegum flavors sold.

Van Riper said he is encouraging his customers to contact Gov. Baker’s office to say that, as vapers and voters, they oppose the ban and talk about things that vapor has done to improve their health and that the freedom to choose flavors has affected your experience.

“Using flavors as a scapegoat is — I’m an adult, I like chocolate chip cookies just as much as I like a good tobacco flavor every now and then,” he said. “Removing that flexibility to choose would severely inhibit the industry.”

Whitman amends town vacation policy

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WHITMAN — The Board of Selectmen has voted to approve a town-wide vacation policy for municipal public employees. Employees may now carry over no more than nine vacation days, and is affected by collective bargaining agreements already in place.

Any days over the nine not used within a fiscal year will be forfeited.

Town Administrator Frank Lynam said during discussion on the issue Tuesday, Sept. 24. He said the new policy is not meant to affect people’s right to vacation time, but to encourage them to use it instead of carrying it over year after year.

“One of the issues that we’re addressing in the updated policy is the carry-over of vacation over the last few years,” said Lynam. “We have had financially significant payouts for accrued and unused vacation.”

The 4-0 vote — Selectmen Chairman Dr. Kowalski was absent from the meeting — came after months of discussion in executive session, because the policy included compensation issues that needed to be negotiated, according to Lynam.

“The nine days that we settled on is not arbitrary, it was the maximum vacation rollover in a collective bargaining agreement,” Selectman Justin Evans said.

Lynam said the new policy will mean meetings with “a couple of people who have far in excess of the nine days that will be permitted” under the new policy in an effort to help them use the time rather than lose it.

Lynam said that, in connection with the new policy, a vacation accrual line item will be in the next budget cycle to recognize the remaining vacation time liabilities.

In past years, he noted the town has had to pay out amounts exceeding the appropriation for the current and future plan. Lynam said the issue has been brought before the board a number of times.

“I’ve always felt, working 43 years at the same company that I worked for, that vacation time is very important and needs to be used,” said Selectman Vice Chairman Dan Salvucci. “You need to be able to divorce your mind from the job, rest your mind, get a vacation, enjoy your family — whatever it takes.”

He said not taking vacation time to roll over vacation pay is not the right thing to do for a person’s mental health.

“You need to take the time,” he said. “They need to understand that vacation time is there for a purpose and it’s there to relax your mind so that, when you come back, you can do a better job.”

New leadership for Whitman Police

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WHITMAN — After presiding over the swearing-in of a new police chief, deputy chief and police sergeant, Selectmen on Tuesday, Sept. 24 voted 4-0 to support only a statutory-based assessment formula for calculating school budgets.

“This isn’t a way to pick Hanson’s pockets,” said Selectman Randy LaMattina before the 4-0 vote. “This is a way that we should have known about. … I’m not saying anyone is wrong. I don’t know why that is, but I do know we have to fix it.” Selectmen Chairman Dr. Carl Kowalski was absent.

But first, there was the matter of promoting three WPD officials to new leadership positions within the department.

Whitman Town Hall Auditorium was filled with family members, friends and colleagues of Police Chief Timothy Hanlon, Deputy Chief Joseph Bombardier and Sgt. Patrick Burtt-Henderson as they were sworn in by Town Clerk Dawn Varley.

New badges were pinned on by Hanlon’s wife Lori; Bombardier’s wife Kim, as his father Paul looked on; and Burtt-Henderson’s wife Chrissie, who was accompanied by his dad Dave.

Hanlon had been appointed as chief by an Aug. 6 vote of the Board of Selectmen, subject to negotiation of a contract. They voted Tuesday to approve that contract and his appointment before Varley, who called her duty a great honor, swore him in.

Each ceremony was followed by warm and enthusiastic applause.

Selectmen had also voted to appoint Bombardier as deputy chief on Aug. 6, also subject to negotiation of a contract, approving his contract and appointment Tuesday.

“Joe and I went to school together,” Varley said before administering his oath. “He’s a year older than me,” she joked, adding, “Joe was always wiser. I’m very, very proud to be swearing you in.”

Burtt-Henderson took his oath of office after Selectmen voted to approve his contract and appointment. His initial appointment, too, had been voted Aug. 6, subject to negotiation of a contract.

Following the promotional ceremonies, Selectmen reconvened in their meeting room to address the balance of their agenda.

The board adjourned before addressing whether to appoint two members to a new regional agreement committee. The School Committee voted to form the panel renegotiating the assessment formula [see related story, page one]. That committee must wait until after Hanson Town Meeting voters decide on an Oct. 7 warrant article on revoking a past vote in support of a revised regional agreement. Whitman Selectmen meet next on Tuesday, Oct. 8.

Town Administrator Frank Lynam reported to the board that he and Selectman Randy LaMattina, who chairs the town’s Budget Override Evaluation Committee, have spent a great deal of time working on the issue and communicating with the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education. LaMattina has also been talking with Superintendent of Schools Jeffrey Szymaniak and School Committee members.

“The district can follow an existing agreement that specifies the way to assess each town for its share of the operating budget, or you can use the statutory method, which from DESE is the preferred method,” Lynam said. “The method that the state intends for regions to use is the statutory method.”

That formula calculates the financial ability of each member town in a district, establishes what the aid for each town will be as the starting point under the statutory formula created as part of the Education Reform Act in 1993. The 1991 agreement calculates assessments based on student population — of which 59.88 percent are from Whitman — under the alternative formula.

“Over the years, we have continued to assess each town based solely on student count,” Lynam said. “It’s not the intent of the statute or the regulations promulgated by DESE.”

He said no matter what formula is selected, it will not change the system, but it will affect the share of the budget borne by each town.

LaMattina said Education Reform set up a situation in which a school district could choose a formula.

“What they said is not incorrect,” he said. “Yes, there is an alternative method. Is that a legal method? Yes, it is. The argument that Whitman is saying is that there are two methods annually … The state actually recommends and puts it in place that makes it impossible not to use the statutory method. It is actually a fallback method when, and if, you ever got to a super town meeting.”

LaMattina said that is because it is the most equitable way to produce a budget for a school district.

“It is a self-correcting method,” he said. “It is adjusted constantly … based on economic factors.”

School Committee member Fred Small helped Whitman officials work through the superintendent’s office to write a letter to DESE seeking clarification on the scope of the 1991 agreement.

“The 1991 agreement does not limit the School Committee to only present the method defined in the agreement,” wrote DESE Director of Regional Governance Christine Lynch. “The School Committee may choose either method.”

LaMattina said town officials have to do what is ethically, legally and morally right for the people of Whitman and their children.

“When you look at what we’re paying over what the state says our minimum contribution should be — we’re $3.7 million over what the state says our minimum contribution should be — and that’s just one factor, then we need to do something or we will not be able to maintain services to where they should be,” he said.

Lynam said there are about 20 financial criteria on which the local contribution is calculated, based on economic conditions in a town, including value of property and median family income, among others.

“The kids that need this aid should get it,” LaMattina said. “That’s what we’re talking about.”

Selectman Brian Bezanson agreed that the board has a fiduciary responsibility to residents to do what is in their best interest. Selectman Dan Salvucci confirmed that South Shore Tech has used the statutory method since1995.

LaMattina said it has less to do with the regional agreement than with equity, as it is an option “open to any town.”

“Every region has had to go through this since the memo in 2007, if not before,” said Selectmen Justin Evans.

Lynch had told him Whitman is, in fact, “a little late to the game with this,” LaMattina said. She also told him “it’s very clear you may have a fight ahead of you, because it’s a one-on-one battle,” he recounted.

Whitman resident Shawn Kain, while agreeing that the statutory method is the way to go, based on the research and methodology, but said he has concerns about the time frame. He cautioned a vote at this time could be viewed in Hanson as an aggressive act.

“Expecting that Hanson could make that jump in one year, is a difficult expectation,” Kain said. “Absorbing $1 million in one year would be difficult.”

He advocated working together to hash out disagreements between the two towns to help stay on good terms with Hanson while the problem is discussed.

Salvucci, while understanding the argument said Whitman has already cut municipal department budgets twice for the fiscal 2020 budget.

“I think the department heads took the bull by the horns and did what they had to do to give the schools what they needed and cut their own budgets,” Salvucci said. “It may be Hanson’s time to do that.”

Evans said he had initially leaned in Kain’s direction, but the rate of Whitman’s assessment increases coupled with Hanson’s student population decline coupled with increasing home values mean the situation is getting worse.

“The longer we delay the deadline, the more difficult it will become.” Evans said.

Small said that, regardless of the funding formula used, the school budget’s bottom line will not change. Budget Override Evaluation Committee member Chris George said the statutory method will be the most equitable way to cut up the school budget.

“I know there are some School Committee members [who] I don’t know where they stand,” George said. “I can tell you, as a citizen, if you’re a School Committee member and you’re considering not voting for the statutory method, you’ve got to think long and hard, because — it’s not a threat, it’s a promise — I’m coming for you with a whole bunch of other residents. We’ve given away $3.9 million since 2015. It’s only going to continue to get worse if we don’t fix it now.”

Evans said adopting the statutory method now helps Hanson by giving them more time to prepare for budget decisions before May town meetings.

“We’re being proactive here,” Bezanson agreed. “We’ve already jumped in with [LaMattina’s] committee. We’re working on the next year, trying to figure out how we’re going to do this. With this we have a clear vision as to how we can approach the next year. … For us not to do this, is suicide for us.”

Officials seek source of funding woes

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The W-H School Committee, dismayed at the absence of a representative from the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education (DESE) at the Wednesday, Sept. 18 public hearing on the regional assessment method quizzed a school district attorney on the legal points surrounding the issue.

Hanson School Committee member Christopher Howard observed that the amended regional agreement’s funding formula seems to contradict the alternative/agreement method traditionally used by the district, and asked which takes precedence — the state’s new assessment regulation or the binding regional agreement.

School district lawyer Kevin Bresnahan said the existing regional agreement “does reflect an appropriate and allowable alternative assessment under the law and under the regulations,” as well as annual approval of a school budget constituting approval of the method. In any year that a budget is not approved by both towns and a district-wide meeting is needed, the regulations dictate that “the statutory method is the only can be used in that circumstance.”

“I would not be confident advising the committee that you could take a vote, given your existing regional agreement, to utilize the statutory method to calculate your initial budget without confirming that with [the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education] DESE,” Bresnahan said. He argued the committee could not put forth a statutory budget under the current terms of the regional agreement.

Bresnahan said “unanimous approval of the towns” means that all towns in a district must approve it, rather than a town meeting vote total.

“We can talk about changing that, but we need to follow that,” Howard said of the alternative funding method currently used.
Hanson Selectmen Chairman Laura FitzGerald-Kemmett spoke for her board, stating that the assessment formula has always been per-pupil within the regional agreement.

She also confirmed the regional agreement revocation article is on the Oct. 7 warrant as an effort to neutralize the issue and give people a chance to be thoughtful.

“We really did not comprehend — and I mean to the person — the change that was being made to the agreement and it fell upon the Board of Selectmen to do what we felt was right, to rescind the original vote … until such time as a different agreement is struct,” FitzGerald-Kemmett said. “We stand ready to do what is in the best interests of the citizens of Hanson. We look to the School Committee to make a decision about what your next move is going to be.”

She said any participation required from selectmen, the board is ready to help. “Throwing hand grenades over the wall at each other” is not going to help improve education.

“We have an answer about what’s happened in the past, the question is what do we do going forward,” said Whitman School Committee member Christopher Scriven. He arugued that, unless the regional agreement is changed, the statutory method should be used as DESE regulations stipulate, going forward.

Whitman Budget Override Evaluation Committee member Chris George noted that the handbook Finance Committees in both towns follow outlines that assessment calculations for regional district member towns should be calculated on a statutory basis, noting that the SJC has affirmed that education assessment methodology in the DESE regulation supersedes any individual regional school agreement. Districts may opt for an alternative formula, but it must be approved by member communities each year.

“To me it’s pretty clear,” he said. “The 1991 agreement is superseded by state law. The reason why? Because they changed the way they did state aid. Following the regional agreement as it’s stated does nothing except reallocate aid entitled to the residents of Whitman to the residents of Hanson — it’s that simple.”

Hanson resident Bruce Young said Chapter 71 governs regional school district budgets, which W-H has been following since 1991.

“What I find strange as a citizen and taxpayer is that DESE would make a ruling that, in spite of all these things, the majority town can hold out for a super-town meeting … and the town with the most voters can impose its will on the minority community,” Young said.

Whitman Finance Committee member Rosemary Connolly, said that last year no one knew what the statutory method was, and that voters in both towns thought the law was being followed when it wasn’t.

“Essentially, $1 million of welfare money was diverted over to Hanson, and that’s the truth of it,” she said. “It is state aid intended for poor students.”

Connolly said the alternative method is there for “compassion, not exploitation.”

Whitman resident Shawn Kain said that, if people in both towns dug their heels in, nothing will be solved.

“I think we need to find a compromise,” he said. “I think there could be a third way that would still be an alternative agreement, but could be a multi-year step one way or the other.”

Kain said neither community is in a position to absorb $1 million in their budgets.

“If people dig their heels in, it’s going to get ugly,” he said.

School Committee member Dawn Byers of Whitman, noted that South Shore Tech uses the statutory assessment formula and that DESE has that in mind for all regional districts.

“From my reading of the Education Reform Act, they want minimum local contribution to provide equity to all students,” she said. “They want all students to have the best opportunity to learn equal to their neighbor and all the neighboring towns and all the towns across Massachusetts.”

She said DESE recognizes different towns have different abilities to pay.

Small said Whitman is currently paying $3 million more than its minimum contribution, while Hanson is paying just to their minimum level.

Bresnahan said the 1991 agreement will have to stand until approved by both towns and approved by the commissioner of education.

“Clearly, there are considerations on both sides here that should be part of the discussion about whether the existing agreement should stay in place or be amended,” Bresnahan said. “I’m just trying to tell you how things stand now what the law requires and what has been allowed in the past.”

Superintendent of Schools Jeffrey Szymaniak said he would be calculating a budget based on the alternative method, because that is the formula in place.

“That’s where I feel our office did not provide accurate information for the committees and the selectmen to know there was another method,” he said. “People dropped the ball in our office and we are dealing with it.”

The situation has been distressing for School Committee members, as well.

“I can’t say this enough — I hate this entire conversation,” Howard said. “We’ve got to figure this out. I think everyone agrees, this is not going to move us forward as a district.”

He said a new regional agreement committee might be needed to do that. School Committee member Fred Small of Whitman agreed.

“We need to fix the problem and fix it fast,” Small said. “Our administration right now is spending way too much time worrying about this and taking its eye off the ball, which is educating kids.”

Szymaniak agreed.

“We haven’t done anything but this for almost a month and a half,” he said.

Whitman Finance Committee member David Codero commended Small for his comments, while disagreeing with one point on which Small had agreed with Young.

“Majority rule considered tyranny? There’s another word for it — it’s called democracy,” Codero said. “It’s a democratic procedure. For anyone to categorize it otherwise from the gallery? They’re wrong.”

Putting pop in his business

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WHITMAN —With a quick twist of the cap, the sound of a pop and fizz, 12-year-old Charles Giarratana of Whitman handed ice cold sodas to his customers who were feeling the unseasonable heat during the first weekend of Nessralla’s fall events.

Giarratana’s company, called Soda Pop Syndicate, is bottled and produced by Always Ask for Avery’s in New Britain, Conn.

He was in full swing  — with nearly 100 bottles sold as people attended the Corn Maze on Saturday, Sept. 21 in Halifax.

Giarratana is familiar with all the details and history of Avery’s distribution company as History’s, one of his top favorite subjects.

Waiting on his customers and engaging them over an old-fashioned soda, several teens that were on their second servings, changed flavors, collectively sipped and mid sentence sighed, “Wow! This is really good.”

Giarrantana is proud of each accomplishment that has placed him in business. He recently finished the process to gain his hawkers and peddlers license and informed his customers he is Food Safe certified for allergen awareness, which is required by the Board of Health.  He is also pleased with his decision to go with Avery’s.

A tour and experience at the plant is what provided the light bulb moment that inspired him to make his own brand of sodas.

“Well, it didn’t intrigue me…” he said of regular brand named sodas. “But, when I went to Avery’s it was like -magical. It’s amazing. You can see them make the soda –the process. It is like something out of Willy Wonka.”

His top favorites are Lime (a sour flavor) blue raspberry, birch beer and the ever-favorite Orange Toxic Slime. He tastes his products and describes the flavors to consumers to fit their palate.

Charles handles most of the Soda Pop Syndicate on his own, with guidance from his father John, who is also a business owner.

This writer purchased a bottle of the nonsensically, hilarious name Dog Drool, a perfectly full-flavored orange lime soda, that was inspired under the children’s younger generation marketing aptly named Totally Gross Soda.

The soda names offered solace and comic relief as Giarratana briefly articulated his personal reasons for creating a new life path at such a young age.

Following incidents of verbal abuse in fourth and fifth grades, which became physically violent in middle school, his pain was clearly visible as he recounted the experiences.

He said running his own business, also built in to part of his homeschooling curriculum, have made his life “a more positive place.”

“I got a lot of hate for having long hair,” he said, escribing homophobic and antisemitic taunts, based on his appearance.

“It was pretty horrible and it escalated into violence,” he said.  “It was dumb” on my part to ask for help, he said, adding that he was later beat up by the classmates after going to his teacher to report the bullying and abuse.His parents opted for homeschooling.

W-H Superintendent of Schools Jeffrey Szymaniak declined to comment on Charles’ claims, as he was not superintendent at that time.

Charles, meanwhile is motivated to succees, partially to show others how to move past the retaliation, the part of bullying he called a “horrible cycle.”

“My main demographic is marketing to kids because these sodas (names) they are funny as hell,” he laughed. “They are really cool and kids like that stuff. Even if the parents don’t want to get it for the kids … they will beg. It’s insane.”

He also said it is ironic that most of his customers are the same age as the youngsters who bullied him.

He has been met with kindness from new-found friends, customers and other local businesses that encourage him, keep him engaged in what events are coming up and he said he is especially appreciative of Bostonian Loft and Restoration Coffee in Whitman. Positive opportunities are putting this humbly, intellectual young man in a better place.

He reads books on business from Donald Trumps’ “The Art of the Deal,” “The Lemonade Stand,” a book for entrepreneurs and currently, “Crush It,” by Gary Vaynerchuk.

Recently he attended a business event in New York for young entrepreneurs with speakers who motivated and enthralled him.

He expressed how grateful he feels that there are people who are helping him achieve his goals. He was impressed with the kindness of John Nessralla and the opportunity to set up his cart at their annual farm’s corn maze event, he said.

Check out the Nessralla Farm Corn Maze’s weekend events to find Giarratana and his savory sodas.

Panel to tackle funding formula

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The School Committee has voted to form a 24-person committee to renegotiate the school assessment method within the regional agreement. The panel can’t convene, however until after Hanson’s Oct. 7 special Town Meeting, which will address a new vote on the regional agreement.

The School Committee’s vote came at the conclusion of a public hearing on the issue at the Wednesday, Sept. 18 School Committee meeting. Two selectmen, two finance committee members, two citizens and three School Committee members from each town, along with town administrators as well as representatives from the Mass. Association of Regional Schools (MARS) and the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education (DESE) as non-voting members will make up the new committee.

Citizens interested in serving should contact the Superintendent’s office at 781-618-7000.

“Let’s sit down, sit around a table and work it out,” said member Fred Small, who suggested the formation of the committee. “Let’s work together and find a fair way to move forward.”

Small said his hope is that school administration would, in a “very short period of time” put together a budget showing the increase projections for the next five years, as well as educational priorities.

“Regardless of this situation, we still need to move forward,” Small said. “We’ve got to regain what we lost last year and then step forward from there.”

Former Superintendent of Schools Dr. Ruth Gilbert-Whitner and School Committee Chairman Bob Hayes, had noted before Gilbert-Whitner’s retirement, that the regional agreement was antiquated, Hayes said.

“It had schools that were not in the district any longer, such as [Whitman’s] Park Avenue School, which had been closed,” he said. “It did not reference the Hanson Middle School. We thought maybe it was time to make the regional agreement into the 2019 [version]. … It was not intentionally started to change any agreements or change any formulas — it was an update.”

A committee worked on the current agreement, which was approved by the School Committee in June 2018, Hanson voters in 2018 and passed over at Whitman Town Meeting this past May.

“Over the past two months, this has been [occupying] the central administration admin team about what the regional agreement is from 1991, what the amendments in 2018 did and something [Assistant Superintendent George Ferro] and I became aware of — that there are two methods of assessing communities via a regional agreement,” Superintendent of Schools Jeffrey Szymaniak explained. “There was no malice and there were no illegalities, as far as the assessment method made from the start through [fiscal] 2020.”

He said the agreement is legal and binding.

Based on the statutory assessment method state education officials implied should be used, Szymaniak said, Hanson’s fiscal 2020 assessment would have been $10,718,657 — or $1,047,682 more than the $9,670,975 it was assessed under the alternative method currently used. Whitman would have been assessed $13,350,469 under the statutory formula compared to the $14,398,151 as had been assessed.

“We don’t have an amended agreement, according to our attorney, according to DESE,” Szymaniak said.

Hanson Selectmen have voted to place an article rescinding its approval of the regional agreement on the Oct. 7 Town Meeting warrant as officials seek a solution to the issue.

“There’s a lot of emotion in the communities right now, and I’m asking for a reason, I’m asking — for our kids — because what I’m afraid of is not having a budget for our students in July of 2020 and being level-funding,” he said. “You’re going to see people wanting drastic cuts and de-regionalizing and so-forth. … I’m hoping we can have a calm, educationally based conversation moving us forward.”

Up until the fiscal 2020 budget under which the district is currently operating, the district has been using the alternative — or agreement — method. DESE is already in the process of changing that wording from “alternative” to “agreement.”

“We’re looking into who knew, who should have known, or who should have advised, members of the regional school district amendment committee or the School Committee, past and present, of these methods of assessment,” Szymaniak said. He added that past and present School Committee members have told him they were never able to make a decision about a choice between a statutory or alternative assessment method because they were not aware of the options.

He said he does not believe Selectmen or Finance Committee members in either town were made aware of the methods.

“I hold [the Mass. Association of Regional Schools] MARS a little accountable,” Szymaniak said, noting that in minutes he has read from the Regional Agreement Committee, MARS was never distinct in describing the two methods.

“It is implied in the new Regional Agreement, the one passed by Hanson in November 2018, and passed by the School Committee in June 2018 and passed over in May 2019 in Whitman, that the district is going to use the statutory method,” he said.

The statutory method takes into account a town’s minimum per pupil expenditure designated by DESE — the minimum local contribution — which fluctuates based on inflation, wage adjustment, income, property values and municipal revenue growth. Anything in a budget over the minimum local contribution goes to the regional agreement, based on pupil population, for any other operating expense.

There is no requirement for unanimous agreement by both communities to use the statutory method.

The agreement/alternative method uses strict per-pupil representation to assess the communities, the method currently used by the district. Both communities have to pass the assessment methodology prior to the budget distribution or at town meeting in order to use this method. If one town does not vote the budget forward and the other does, it does not constitute unanimous agreement for the method to be used.

The budget then goes back to the School Committee, which can opt to hold a district-wide meeting — also known as a super-town meeting — to vote on the statutory method as the only option open to the district by DESE regulations, according to Szymaniak.

If there is no budget in place by July 1, Szymaniak must inform the commissioner of education, who will place the district on a 1/12 budget based on level-funding to the previous year.

Budget panel seeks to hold off conflict

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WHITMAN —  Selectmen Randy LaMattina defended to work being done by the Budget Override Evaluation Committee as a preliminary investigation and not, as social media has portrayed it, and effort by “Whitman attempting to pick the pockets of the town of Hanson.”

LaMattina also sought to dispel any aspersions that there has been any nefarious behavior or elicit actions as completely false. The assessment method was to be further discussed with members of the School Committee and state education officials in a public hearing during the School Committee on Wednesday, Sept. 18.

“There’s been considerable talk about an assessment issue with the school district,” LaMattina said, noting the committee’s role in the issue is simple. “Myself, along with a couple other members, through various venues over a period of time, believe there may have been an issue with how the assessment was being handled. We thought that warranted a very solid look.”

The committee used that opportunity to “present some facts and make sure the issue was looked into properly,” he said.

“I don’t want anyone at this present time — it’s very premature — to assume anything you’re reading on social media,” LaMattina said. “We don’t know what, when or if this ultimately pans out. I would say preliminary opinions are in the favor of what the original belief was, but, again, [it’s] still very premature.”

As for a statement on social media that this is “Whitman attempting to pick the pockets of the town of Hanson,” LaMattina said the accusation is “entirely off base.”

“This was a red flag that members of our committee — which, I would hope, any person or taxpayer out there watching would expect out of their appointed and elected representatives — would look into properly, and that’s what we’re doing at this point,” he said.

Selectmen Chairman Dr. Carl Kowalski was absent from the meeting.

LaMattina said the Budget Override Evaluation Committee was scheduled to meet Monday, Sept. 16 to hear a preliminary report from consultant John Madden concerning the state of the town’s finances.

In other business, the board voted to maintain the trash fee at $285 while retaining the senior discount.

Searching for a new administrator

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HANSON —  Economic development, communication between town departments, the need for a new library and senior center, as well as the role of the position in town government itself, were among the issues raised Monday, Sept. 16 at listening sessions held by the firm heading the search for Hanson’s next town administrator.

Principals from Municipal Resources Inc., (MRI), a Meredith, N.H., recruiting service met with Selectmen, department heads, boards, committee members and interested residents at two sessions centering on qualities the town wants.

They also wanted to discuss challenges and opportunities ahead for the town in the next five to 10 years.

MRI team members Robert Mercier and Reginald “Buzz” Stapscynski held an afternoon session the Hanson Multi-Service Senior Center and met in the evening at the Selectmen’s meeting room in Hanson Town Hall.

“I ran a major corporation for 25 years,” said Library Trustee Chairman Corinne Cafardo. “The salary for a town administrator is low.”

Stapscynski said Selectmen have done a good job moving the salary up to a more competitive level.

There have been 13 résumés that have come in so far, but that is not a cause for concern, Mercier said, noting that in a typical 30-day ad run for a position, the serious candidates wait until the last week.

Résumés are then scored by MRI on experience and job history and pre-interview them via essay questions, within a 10-day window, on how they would approach issues like those facing Hanson. They then present a list of between three and six finalists to the appointing authority and attend the final interviews.

“This is a very easy community to talk about [with people they recruit], you’ve got a great reputation,” Stapscynski said. “We check out the communities ourselves. … You folks have a good reputation in Boston with the Department of Revenue. You must be doing everything right.”

He said there would be signs if that were not the case, and that they both know and hear positive things about the community.

“The challenge is that you’ve been through a number of administrators over a number of years, so the word we get from selectmen is stability,” Stapscynski said. “You want someone to stay for awhile and invest in the community.”

“Our role is not to set up somebody for failure,” Mercier said, adding that they think Hanson is a good, solid community.

Both Stapscynski and Mercier have town executive experience in Massachusetts and have also conducted capital improvement plans and consolidation studies in other places. Stapscynski said.

Mercier said the town executive officer community is a small one and issues of stability can raise concerns, but with the right information, they can talk applicants through such concerns.

“We want to seriously get input from anybody who wants to comment,” Mercier told the handful of board and committee members at the evening session. He said he and Stapscynski had already spoken with all five selectmen as well as department managers.

Mercier said what they wanted to hear about were the type of qualities and characteristics that residents and officials think would work in Hanson. The train station and its parking are a true asset for the town, he said.

“It’s an exciting time as people are retiring out,” Stapscynski said. “But there’s this whole cadre of young people coming up.”

Former Selectman Bruce Young said he was interested in how the current process differs from the screening committee process that selected former Town Administrator Michael McCue.

“No matter how good you screen people, there’s the human quality of life,” he said. “People have these things that you don’t see that turn up maybe six months later or a year later that you wish you had known.”

Young also wanted to know if applicants were aware of the limitations of the position as outlined in the Town Administrator Act.

Stapscynski said the internet allows the MRI staff to unearth “just about all” there is to know about candidates. They ask selectmen to appoint any finalist they select on a tentative basis, depending on a background check and negotiation of a contract.

Mercier said the MRI president and CEO is a retired police chief who has access to “places I can’t go.” The confidential final report is extensive.

“We know a lot of these people,” Mercier said. “We know things that aren’t public about some people and we would not move an individual — if there’s a problem —  forward to the board. That’s one of the reasons you hired us.”

He reminded the audience that if the search is not successful, they will do it again free of charge, a situation that has only happened once before.

Planning Board Chairman Don Ellis said he was interested in seeing a candidate with economic development experience, especially in the Route 27 corridor.

“The biggest problem is sewerage — we need sewerage down in that area because it’s an aquifer protection area,” Ellis said. He also expressed concern about a heavy-handed approach to dealing with town department heads.

Conflict resolution skills and working within a regional school district were also discussed.

Retired Board of Assessors member Kathleen Marini said she was concerned about the town’s success in applying for and obtaining grants and the need for sidewalks in town. She was also concerned about the next town administrator having a working knowledge of the South Shore.

“A good administrator will figure that out,” Mercier said. “They’ll be driving around town now.”

Cafardo said she has become more involved in the town since retiring and expressed concern about the need for a new senior center and library.

“Those two are very important to me,” she said. “What I would like to see is a town administrator who is pro-library.” She said the library is more than books, providing eBooks and programs for all age groups.

“We are very active, but the building was too small to begin with,” Cafadro said. “In the five years I’ve been a trustee only one town administrator has been to a meeting when invited. The past one came on his own.”

She also pointed to use of the library as a job search and résumé preparation resource, the latter service she provided in an urgent situation during the last recession.

“That’s not what a library really does, is write people’s résumés,” she said.

Conservation Commission Chairman Phil Clemons noted the importance of preserving Hanson’s conservation lands, rural atmosphere and water independence.

“There is a need to balance things,” he said. “We try not to miss opportunities to do something green and sustainable whenever [the town can].”

Hanson finalizes warrant

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HANSON —  Selectmen finalized and signed warrant articles for the Oct. 7 special Town Meeting on Tuesday, Sept. 17, and heard an overview of events being planned for the town’s 200th anniversary celebration next year.

Article 1 was completed, for settling unpaid bills — at a final number of $3,100.27 to be paid from free cash and $3,565 from retained earnings  — was recommended by the board. Article 2, supplemental budget is still incomplete, with a recommendation vote now slated for Oct. 1.

Articles 7 and 8, pertaining to zoning map book ($25,000) and codifying of zoning bylaws ($5,000) were recommended by the board as figures were solidified.

Article 18, which would fund tree removal around Needles Lodge at Camp Kiwanee ($25,000), was held pending necessary information from an arborist.

Articles 20 (adding $50,000 to stabilization) and 21 (adding $25,000 to school stabilization) were both recommended to be funded by free cash by the board.

An article to issue an easement at 410 Woodbine Ave., previously held up because of a lack of monetary consideration, was placed on the warrant after selectmen reopened the warrant to include it as Article 26.

“Just today, I received a call from the bank, who wants to know what’s going on with Woodbine Avenue,” said interim Town Administrator Meredith Marini. She said a bank official indicated they would “see what they could do. … I’d rather at least have it on the warrant and see if we can negotiate it and get this put to bed. There are a few things I’d really like to get wrapped up before I retire — this is on the list.”

“I’m thrilled that they’re even considering it,” said Selectmen Chairman Laura FitzGerald-Kemmett.

The polystyrene cup and plastic grocery bag ban articles (31 and 32) were recommended after town counsel completed some language revisions.

Chairman of the 200th Anniversary Committee Audrey Flanagan provided a month-by-month look at some of the community events planned by her committee. A calendar project organized by Selectman Matt Dyer, who used to serve on the Anniversary Committee, will include event dates, Flanagan said.

“We’ve met a little more frequently over the last month,” she said. “We talked about what makes sense and assigned project managers to each event.”

In February, a kickoff dinner and proclamation will mark the actual anniversary of the town at a location to be determined. The committee would like to use Camp Kiwanee, Flanagan said, but she noted that weather is a concern and discussions are still being conducted on that point.

In March, the Anniversary Committee will join the Hanson Business Network to hold the HBN’s annual St. Patrick’s Dinner at Kiwanee.

Historical talks are planned for May, in conjunction with the Hanson Historical Society at various locations around town. Members of the Mattakeesett tribe had met with the Anniversary Committee after the Wampanoag presentation at this summer’s fundraising dinner, and expressed an interest in participating in programs as the actual native American tribe that lived in what is now Hanson.

FitzGerald-Kemmett said they are also trying to connect the Mattakeesett tribe with the schools for a local history project.

Geocaching programs are also being planned in May.

There are discussions ongoing about a carnival in June, possibly with a Cape Verdean theme in recognition of the Cape Verdean contributions to the town’s history, according to FitzGerald-Kemmett.

An Old Home Day in July is planned as a “real traditional family day,” on the green with games such as sack races and egg-tosses. A food truck rodeo is being planned in August.

A parade is slated for September and, in October, an Oktoberfest Beer Garden event is being planned at a location to be determined. The year’s events wind down in December with the annual Holiday Fest on the Town Green with the Anniversary Committee joining in the planning.

Hanson 200 souvenirs are available on the Café Press website.