Whitman-Hanson Express

You are here: Home / Archives for News

Shop’s a Pop of Fashion Fun

By

WHITMAN —  Ariel Koonce Fortes’ passion for fashion and motivation to start her own business began with her balance of home and work life, the result is Fashion Fun Pop — a unique boutique carrying some of the hottest trends — in a small, local and lovely location only a dash from your front door.

Owners Ariel Koonce Fortes and her husband Paul  have been in business for four years and have been at their newest location 560 Washington St. in Whitman center for over a year.

Their happening hosting space gives the location an exceptional way to bring women together with a sense of community; wellness, mom’s night out, and even a recent athleisure affair have created a combination of relaxation and designer wardrobe events.

As a busy mom of two, Ariel recently announced they are expecting another baby boy in the spring. They used the event space in the shop to host and film the exciting news with a giant pop of blue.

The couple celebrated with family, friends and their Fashion Fun Pop family during a Facebook live gender reveal.

Koonce Fortes doesn’t currently carry maternity wear, however she shows off the pieces she carries in store.  She accentuates her baby bump in style and can still manage her day in a perfect fall wedged heel bootie.

“You can learn to be stylish and work at being comfortable in yourself,” she said. “Give yourself a figure versus hiding your shape with baggy clothes.  Show your shape.”

Her passion for fashion and motivation to start her own business began with her balance of home and work life.  She loved her job in Boston at Children’s Hospital but the long commute left little family time.

The inception of the shop combines her background in business, her former career in retail, and her true self – style has always been a natural strong point.

Her clientele ranges from new moms with body transformations who want to update their wardrobe, women who want to try a trendy piece, working career women looking for new styles that assure a comfy daily commute, and special event seekers.

With sensible price points from designers all over the world Koonce Fortes attends several fashion shows in Atlanta and New York each year choosing and buying the hottest sellers in wearable trends and bringing them back to her clients.

Along with using social media such as Facebook live videos to keep in touch with her customers.  She also sells online through her website.

Ariel models and discusses her apparel, even demonstrating how to restyle outfits incorporating a seasonal trend, tucking, adding a belt and offers simple ideas on bringing a favorite outfit into the next season.   

For the holidays they have a wall of accessories, shoes and perfect gifts for a hostess or fashionable friend.

She loves the intimate relationship she builds with her clients working with them one to one pulling styles together and talking about what they like about a piece they are wearing.

She sees a lot of women who want to be stylish but are insecure about a part of their body.

She wants her customers to come in and find an outfit that accentuate the parts they love about themselves as well as feel great in what they are wearing.

In upcoming happenings on Oct., 2  Fashion Fun Pop is pairing up with another local business  Simple Graces of East Bridgewater with  hostess’ Jennifer Petricig  and Stephanie O’Neill.  The information on the combined style and wellness night out is available on Fashion Pop Fun’s website and Simple Graces website.

The event is complimentary with a suggested donation to Koonce Fortes charity of choice Big Brothers Big Sisters.  For further information on renting space and their upcoming event in October visit fashionfunpop.com or Simple Graces Studio on Facebook.

Cross country, girls’ soccer soar in Week 2

By

The Whitman-Hanson Regional High girls’ soccer team and the boys’ and girls’ cross country teams are unbeaten through Week 2.  

Here’s how all the action played out:  

Boys’ cross country (1-0) opened its season with a 25-34 triumph over Plymouth South, Wednesday, Sept. 11. Junior Theo Kamperides took home first place, covering the course in 16:43.  

Girls’ cross country (1-0) also won its season opener, 23-34, Wednesday, Sept. 11 against Plymouth South. Sophomore Myah Kamperides won the race at 21:31. 

Field hockey (0-3-1) tied Duxbury, 1-1, to open the week Tuesday, Sept. 10. Senior Robin Goyette had the Panthers’ goal. … On Thursday, Todd Humphrey’s team was shut out by Hingham, 5-0.  

Football (0-2) blew a 10-0 lead and fell to Hanover, 20-10, Friday, Sept, 10. Sophomore Will Stafford accounted for 102 total yards of offense in the loss.  

Boys’ golf (1-3) fell to Hingham, 245-265, Tuesday, Sept. 10. Sophomore Pat McBroom led the Panthers with a 2-over par 38. … On Wednesday, Junior Aidan Miller carded a 4-over par 40, as the Panthers picked up their first win of the season, 272-297, over Plymouth North. … Brian Dempsey’s club capped the week with a 267-274 loss to Plymouth North on Thursday.  

Boys’ soccer (1-2-1) lost to Scituate, 4-1, Monday, Sept. 9. Sophomore Adam Sousa had the goal. … On Wednesday, W-H fell to Hingham, 1-0, on a late goal with 90 seconds to go. … Then, on Friday, Junior Brendan Nehiley scored in the 79th minute, as W-H earned a 1-1 draw against Cohasset. 

Girls’ soccer (3-0) topped Scituate, 4-2, Monday, Sept. 9. Sophomore Olivia Borgen led the way with a hat trick, while classmate Kelsee Wozniak also scored. … On Wednesday, W-H topped Hingham, 4-0. Sophomores Nora Manning, Ava Melia, Wozniak and junior Alexis Billings all scored.  

Girls’ volleyball (3-1) defeated Marshfield, 3-1, Monday, Sept. 9. Senior captain Lexi Connolly had eight aces, while fellow senior captain Maya Faich posted 21 digs. …On Wednesday, first-year head coach Samantha Richner’s team topped Scituate, 3-0, behind five kills from senior Marissa Connell. … The Panthers suffered their first loss of the season, 3-1, against Hingham on Friday.  

*Express weekly roundups include scores from Sunday to Sunday. 

State’s EEE, WNV precautions are urged in Whitman

By

While Eastern Equine Encephalitis (EEE) and West Nile virus (WNV) still pose a threat to many communities in Massachusetts, local officials have not yet recommended changes to outdoor event schedules.

EEE levels as categorized by The Mass. Department of Public Health include remote, low, moderate, high, and critical designations. Whitman is considered high while Hanson is in the moderate category.

Test samples of mosquitos in Whitman have tested positive for EEE over the summer and the risk level is high for EEE while low for WNV, according to the Mass. Department of Public Health. Hanson is listed as at moderate risk for EEE and low for WNV.

After consulting with the Whitman Board of Health, the Hanson Board of Health, Whitman Fire Chief Timothy Grenno and Hanson Deputy Fire Chief Rob O’Brien, on Thursday, Sept. 5, Superintendent of Schools Jeffrey Szymaniak recommended that there be no change to current outdoor evening activities in either town, including school activities and sports for the Whitman-Hanson Regional School District.

If any changes or modifications to after school outdoors activities is warranted, parents and residents will be notified immediately, Szymaniak said.

During this time of year, Szymaniak is recommending that families follow DPH guidelines in regard to wearing bug spray, long sleeved shirts and long pants while outdoors.

So far this season, 379 mosquito populations have tested positive for EEE and nine animals and four humans have been infected. A 59-year-old Bristol County woman has died from the virus while a man over 60 fell into a coma. Barnstable, Bristol, Essex, Franklin, Hampden, Hampshire, Middlesex, Norfolk, Plymouth and Worcester counties all have mosquito populations that have tested positive.

The threat of WNV is less with 61 mosquito populations testing positive and no animal or human cases to date. Risk categories for WNV are low, moderate, high, and critical. Both Whitman and Hanson are at low risk while neighboring Halifax and other South Shore communities are considered to be at moderate risk.

Aerial spraying to reduce mosquito populations was conducted in parts of Bristol and Plymouth Counties on Aug. 8 through12 and Aug. 22 through 25. The pesticide used is Anvil 10+10 which contains two ingredients: Sumithrin and Piperonyl butoxide.

“It should be noted that although the aerial spraying is considered necessary to reduce human risk, it will not eliminate risk,” the DPH stated on its website.

Preventive measures for those communities at critical risk include the recommendation that recreational outdoor activities held between dusk and dawn be canceled. For the week starting Sept. 8, dawn is considered 5:45 a.m. and dusk is considered 7:15 p.m.

With no existing vaccines or specific antiviral treatments for either EEE or WNV, the best preventative measures are those that decrease the likelihood of getting bit by mosquitos. Recommendations include wearing long pants and shirts, eliminating any standing water on your property, and wearing an EPA registered repellant with at least one of the following ingredients: DEET, Picaridin, IR3535, Oil of lemon eucalyptus (OLE), Para-menthane-diol (PMD), and 2-undecanone. Repellants are not recommended for infants under two months of age.

While rare, Massachusetts was second only to Florida in the number of EEE cases between 2009 and 2018. The incubation period for the disease is 4-10 days with some of those infected remaining asymptomatic. The systemic infection has an abrupt onset with some of the signs and symptoms including chills, fever, malaise, arthralgia, and myalgia.  In infants, onset of encephalitis is abrupt while in older children and adults, encephalitis starts within a few days of systemic illness. Signs and symptoms of encephalitis include fever, headache, irritability, restlessness, drowsiness, anorexia, vomiting, diarrhea, cyanosis, convulsions, and coma.

A third of those diagnosed with EEE will die while many that survive are left with secondary mental and physical impairments that are often disabling and progressive.

Residents with questions or concerns can contact their local boards of health — 781-618-9754  for Whitman and 781-293-3138 for Hanson.

Selectmen act on parent concerns

By

HANSON — The Board of Selectmen voted 5-0 on Tuesday, Sept. 10 to close all town fields, including school athletic fields, from dusk to dawn until after the first hard frost due to the elevated threat of Eastern Equine Encephalitis (EEE) and West Nile virus (WNV) in the region.

While the vote, in response to concerns expressed by the public — including a handful of parents at the meeting — was initially intended to include WHRHS athletic fields, the was later reminded that those fields are in Whitman and the school is in Hanson.

“We’re just talking about this very small window, so just lock it down for a couple weeks,” said Selectmen Chairman Laura FitzGerald-Kemmett, expressing her personal concern. “It’s not going to kill us not to have practice, but it could kill us to have practice.”

Test samples of mosquitos in Whitman have tested positive for EEE over the summer and the risk level is high for EEE while low for WNV, according to the Mass. Department of Public Health. Hanson is listed as at moderate risk for EEE and low for WNV.

After consulting with the Whitman Board of Health, the Hanson Board of Health, Whitman Fire Chief Timothy Grenno and Hanson Deputy Fire Chief Rob O’Brien, on Thursday, Sept. 5, Superintendent of Schools Jeffrey Szymaniak recommended that there be no change to current outdoor evening activities in either town, including school activities and sports for the Whitman-Hanson Regional School District. [See related story].

“What I’m seeing across the state is, typically, they raise the risk to critical after someone is diagnosed, or an animal is diagnosed or someone is dying,” asked parent Michelle Bourgelas of Holmes Street. “Is that what Hanson is waiting for?”

She urged that fields be closed right away to protect student-athletes, noting that other high-risk communities have done so.

“What are we waiting for?” Bourgelas said. “Whitman is high [risk] and youth sports are playing at Whitman High School at 8 o’clock at night when Whitman is high.”

The parents said they have already talked to school officials and were told the school district follows advice of the boards of health.

The Selectmen’s vote came after an update FitzGerald-Kemmett requested as a courtesy from Health Board Chairman Arlene Dias.

“Things haven’t changed for Hanson,” Dias said. “Hanson was still listed as moderate risk, so the recommendations that had been made a month and a half ago — dusk-to-dawn be careful being outside, wear repellent, long-sleeved clothing, long pants — that hasn’t changed for us because we haven’t had any more positive mosquitos in Hanson.”

She said people should continue to exercise those cautions until after the first hard frost. Some communities are being sprayed again, but Dias said Hanson is not on that list.

FitzGerald-Kemmett asked when the town should take additional action.

“We should have started taking them a month ago, in terms of making sure when you’re out at night that you’re wearing repellent, that you’re wearing long-sleeved clothing, make sure there is no standing water — the same things that we had recommended when they first got that positive test,” Dias said. “If the DPH considered us critical, then we would implement people not being on the fields for the schools and town places.”

Dias said the schools do not have to wait for such an order from the Board of Health.

“They can, on their own, decide they don’t want the kids on the fields,” she said. “I think, if was critical in Hanson, they would want to protect the kids, they would want to close the fields.”

She said the Board of Health had already voted a couple of months ago to close the fields if Hanson was placed on the critical risk list.

FitzGerald-Kemmett said she would be expressing that concern to the school disctrict if her children were still in school.

“I don’t know how responsive they would be to that, but I certainly would be expressing it,” FitzGerald-Kemmett said.

Dias said the state has not changed the guidelines to require closing fields at the moderate-to-high risk levels and asked if youth sports participants were being required to use repellent when playing after dusk.

“Think about it, bug spray and sweat — how does that work?” said parent Danielle O’Brien of William Way. “You sweat, your bug spray is gone. I can spray my son up and down but, when he’s out there, he’s in full gear head-to-toe and it’s gone.”

O’Brien said parents have few options.

“Right now, my son’s not playing Saturday night because I’m not taking that risk,” she said.

Lakeside Road resident Meghan Moore told Selectmen about how her brother was left with brain damage after being infected with EEE more than 40 years ago when he was 6 years old.

“We didn’t have all of these warning signs and people telling us, ‘Enough. Get in the house.’ We’re being told that,” she said. “Why are we putting our kids outside and putting them at risk for something. … Someone has to start listening to parents.”

Moore’s mother Marie Clifford of Gorwin Drive also spoke of her son’s situation.

“For 40 years he’s had a seizure problem, he’s brain-damaged and it’s been hell for a long time,” she said. “Today, hospitals can keep them alive … but the side-effects are terrible.”

Moore also asked how often the state tests mosquito samples. Dias said that is done weekly.

“I’m not sure how to be responsive,” FitzGerald-Kemmett initially said, asking if the Board of Health could meet on an emergency basis ahead of its posted meeting next week.

Selectman Kenny Mitchell also asked if the parents had spoken to the football coaches or youth sports boards. Parents said those officials, too, refer them to the Board of Health and that W-H Athletic Director Bob Rodgers has been “making a mockery of us” on Twitter by equating the use of bug spray to buckling a seat belt.

Dias said she would reach out to Rodgers about the issue.

“Everyone thinks it’s the off chance, it’s not going to happen to me,” O’Brien said.

“I’m not going to lie, I’ve changed my habits,” FitzGerald-Kemmett said. “I used to walk my dog after dark, but I’m just not going to risk it.”

Another parent, and youth sport board member, Warren McCallum of Thayer Drive said one of the concerns among the groups centers on being the stand-alone on a board to advocate against playing after dusk.

“I know that’s part of the struggle the football board is going through,” he said. “They’re looking for a scapegoat in some way, someone they can say to the parents, ‘Oh, we can’t [play] because the Board of Health says it’s time to cancel.’ … Sometimes the town needs that easy way out.”

“Sometimes you’ve got to do the right thing,” FitzGerald-Kemmett said.

McCallum agreed.

“Would a two-word answer be common sense?” said Selectmen Jim Hickey, who was a youth coach in Hanson for 20 years. “It goes right down to them. There’s no need to play a Saturday night game. … Somebody’s going to come out of this looking like the bad guy, whether it’s a parent, the Board of Health, Board of Selectmen or the schools and it just comes down to common sense.”

The sweeter taste of lemons

By

WHITMAN — Connor Clough, 12, of Whitman spent a portion of his summer with a debt looming over his head — he had borrowed $25 from his nana and was determined to pay her back.

Mission accomplished — and then some.

With assistance from several family members he decided to open Connor’s Lemonade Stand in his front yard on Beulah Street to raise the money he needed.

Spunky, amusing and tall Connor is on the autism spectrum and has been learning life skills including handling money at school. He recommended the new raspberry lemonade or the fruit punch to this writer as he sat behind his fold-out table while his mom Heather Clough recalled the busy few weeks they have had.

Heather told him that, once he paid his nana back, he could save the rest of the money toward a Nintendo Switch and they headed out again to sell more lemonade for his next goal.

Two weekends ago he got a big surprise from a local car group when members read a post from Heather on social media, inviting people to stop in for her son’s lemonade stand.

The Mopars of Mass., and car club members from Whitman, dropped by and presented Connor with a Nintendo Switch and welcomed him to be a lifelong friend.

On Saturday, Sept. 7, the stand opened on a rain delay with Connor later serving lemonade happily posing for photos and greeting neighbors.

“He told me the other night he might be famous,” said his Nana Peggy after they saw his story on the news.

He has, indeed realized some celebrity, which according to his family has done wonders for his self esteem.

He attends the League School in East Walpole where he is learning social skills, interacting with others, forming friendships, managing money and lessons in giving back.

When asked what he will do with earnings Connor with side coaching from Nana Peggy, said he was being “forced” to save money by opening a bank account.

His mother gladly accepted the role of accountant knowing that was his next step in learning about saving and handling money.

Connor quickly chimed in that he thought opening a bank account with added interest was a good move and he would re-think the idea.

The family is also planning on donating money toward a local Autism program to help other families.

In a special moment Nana Peggy was the prime receiver of the largest hug Connor could muster. At least a foot shorter than Connor, his nana softly reminded him during their heartfelt embrace to squeeze her only a tiny bit.

They Clough’s also expressed their appreciation to the patrons of Connor’s Lemonade Stand and the positive response from the community including a local woman who gave Connor a game to go in his new Nintendo Switch, hugs and high fives from the Whitman police and firefighters, and visitors from all over town who stopped to offer Connor encouragement for his fund raising efforts.

Whitman Police Chief Scott Benton retiring

By

WHITMAN — Police Chief Scott Benton retires on Monday, Sept. 16 after a 33-year career in law enforcement.

He said he is looking forward to a new era and plans to remain productive however he is looking forward to a greater quantity of downtime.

With two new grandchildren, and another arriving in the coming year, he is looking forward to being a papa along with traveling with his wife Kathie.

His influences in his profession were his father and his uncle who were both police officers, but he didn’t decide until halfway through college to begin his law enforcement career. Benton said from the beginning of his career through the end his clearest intentions were helping others — which drew him to the badge at the start.

“I certainly believe in what a police officer stands for,” Benton said. “You level the playing field on the domestic front- you make it fair for everybody.”

Step by step he climbed the ladder in the Whitman Police department in the community where he grew up. Beginning as an auxiliary officer. In September 1986, to a permanent reserve officer in May 1988 he was a full time patrolman in January 1990 and within two years became the first DARE officer for the Town of Whitman.

He made sergeant in May 1994, detective sergeant in 1997, followed by deputy chief in 2008, and Chief in   2012.

“When they need your help they are usually desperate. It doesn’t need to be a life and death thing but when people come to you (the police) they are looking for your help,” he said.

He has reunited with a few victims over the years who, he recollects, were at a disadvantageous place in their life. The circumstances involving child victims are the ones he will not forget but various occasional triggers evoke memories of other cases from his career.

Like all first responders, being an officer on the street can bring daily occurrences that leave residual emotions inked on the soul.

It has remained an unspoken bond in one particularly horrific domestic case; the victim would likely have been killed if they didn’t reach her on time.

He describes himself as a protective father with an incredible family bond. There were periods of time in their personal lives that he felt his children had endured comments and mistreatment because of his profession. Nonetheless he has no regrets in the choices he has made.

He recalls his own father paying for college while he was a kid cutting classes. He acknowledged that his father gave him a great opportunity to be anything he wanted. In a joking manner he remarked that his father just got smarter and smarter every year. He plans to retire on Sept., 16, that would have been his father’s 80th birthday. He passed away in the fall of 2018.

Benton has witnessed numerous transformations in society over his three decades involving relationships between citizens and officers, one topic of concern he has raised is the use of police body cameras.

“If I was a police officer today I would want to have a body camera to protect myself so that the entire incident was captured,” he said

Based on social media it is unfair of someone to post what they want you to see from an incident that took place- however most of the time that is not the full story.

At the end of the day that’s all we can ever ask for in life is to be treated fairly, he said.

Benton will pass the torch to Deputy Chief Timothy Hanlon also a long time career Whitman officer.

“I was lucky to have Tim (Deputy Chief Hanlon) he has been a great partner in this. He will lead Whitman to its next chapter.   I know he will do a great job. “

In terms of being remembered as chief  Benton said, “I‘d like to think I was a policeman who just happened to become a chief for a little while.”

Study reviews Hanson economic climate

By

HANSON — Selectmen on Tuesday, Aug. 27 heard a report on the town’s Economic Development plan from consultant Frank Mahady, owner of FXM Associates of Mattapoisett.

Mahady’s study was funded by a budget amendment  filed in the FY19 state budget by state Rep. Josh Cutler, D-Duxbury, and supported by state Sen. Mike Brady, D-Brockton. A Town Meeting vote authorized the appropriation for the study in the Route 27 corridor and — in the town generally — as a method of assessing general office, retail and industrial space, as well as rental housing needs, in town.

“The greatest demand [nationwide] for commercial space is in so-called industrial wholesale space because of … the need to establish distribution centers on a broader basis,” he said.

Mahady found that an increase in Hanson’s population and number of households is projected to continue, and already exceeds rates of Plymouth County and the state overall.

Hanson’s median household income is “substantially higher” — at $106,000 than Plymouth County at $79,000 and the state at $81,000 — and a higher number of employed people per household. There is also a higher proportion of residents in owner-occupied single-family homes.

At the same time, between 2007 and 2017, jobs in Hanson decreased by 1 percent while county job availability increased by 14 percent and 15 percent statewide.

It had rebounded some since 2011, Mahady pointed out, however.

“Looking at market conditions and trends …we projected that demand for office space in Hanson and surrounding towns is about 8,000 square feet per year over the next few years,” he said. “The vacancy rates are low.”

Mahady said demand for rental housing that can support new construction is substantial, especially in the area of high-end rentals in the neighborhood of $2,700 per month. Tax rates are competitive.

“We think there is a strong potential, from a market standpoint, for mixed-use office/retail/restaurant and residential development in the vicinity of the MBTA station,” Mahady said. “There is a retail gap right now.”

Zoning changes and addressing wastewater treatment issues are required, however, to make such development possible.

Selectmen Chairman Laura FitzGerald-Kemmett said progress made by the owner of the former Ocean Spray building is moving in the mixed-use direction.

“No one should be afraid of rental housing targeted to young professionals and empty-nesters, which is what everybody is doing,” Mahady said.

He said while he did not interview Selectmen due to an oversight, Mahady’s firm interviewed a dozen interviews with business owners in town. While he could tell them who he spoke with, confidentiality agreements dictate that he could not give details about what they said.

Police dispatch

The board also heard department reports from Police Chief Michael Miksch and Town Accountant Todd Hassett.

Miksch focused on the changes to come from joining the regional dispatch center in Duxbury.

He is leaning toward having police officers staff the station after the change, to prevent having a dark station.

Station counts determined that about 300 people a month walk into the station, which Miksch thought seemed high until he reviewed the traffic data.

“On a daily basis, just under 14,000 cars drive by that station,” Miksch said, adding that between 15,000 and 17,000 drive by on peak days.

“That would explain, to me, the number of walk-ins.”

About half of  those people walk into the station because they need a police officer, he said. “Any of those tasks that the civilians can handle, I can teach a cop to do. The other 50 percent, I can’t have the civilian do — dealing with restraining orders, taking in firearms or ammunition.”

He said it also provides a deeper pool of officers to deploy and noted that civilians can’t be sent into the cell block to check on prisoners.

The fire department has also reported that about 15 people a year walk in seeking medical assistance. For his department, Miksch said the answer lies in hiring new officers.

Five dispatchers can be translated into four police officers, he said, two of which can be hired before the regional dispatch takes over on July 1, 2020.

“It’s never been a notion for us to have a dark station,” FitzGerald-Kemmett said. “That’s never been on the table.”

She said regional dispatch should be cost-neutral, to which Miksch agreed, and estimated that two officers could be in place by January.

Revenue check-up

Hassett provided a financial update to Selectmen as well, reporting that overall revenues to the general fund have exceeded budget by $550,000.

“We did particularly well with excise taxes, licenses and permit revenue,” he said. Pending additional information from the Department of Revenue, he also expects another $82,000 in intergovernmental revenue.

Overall budget returns for the year are just over $800,000. Hassett also told Selectmen he felt town facilities maintenance efforts should be consolidated under a single manager, but that the current issues surrounding education funding might delay any movement on that front.

The Board of Selectmen also reviewed warrant articles and voted to close the warrant for the October Town Meeting.

(This story was amended on Friday, Sept. 6 to clarify the funding source for the study.)

First day of school earns an ‘a-minus’

By

Superintendent of Schools Jeffrey Szymaniak gave the Wednesday, Aug. 28 first day of school an A-minus, citing a minor sewage problem at WHRHS as the only noteworthy glitch in an otherwise smooth opening to the 2019-20 school year.

School Committee Chairman Bob Hayes noted a “few buses were late here and there” as parents photographed their children’s first day.

“Kids had smiles on their faces,” said Szymaniak, who visited every district school along with Assistant Superintendent George Ferro. “It was a great day. It was great to see kids.”

He said the high school’s sewage issue, which occurred at 2:30 p.m., Wednesday, was quickly repaired.

Szymaniak also said the open houses held at district schools were “all packed,” and noted Gary Pellitier is the interim principal at Indian Head School and will be introduced to the School Committee at a later meeting.

Faculty and staff attended a welcome back program Monday, Aug. 26 featuring speaker Mike Smith, a nonprofit entrepreneur and skateboarder, who brought a message of personal integrity and critical thinking.

“Mike’s not your typical presenter,” Szymaniak said, describing Smith’s long hair and penchant for wearing hats. “He just didn’t fit into the typical W-H teacher crowd. … But he had a captivated audience for about an hour — he’s phenominal and left a good message about how we should be teaching our kids.”

Szymaniak said Smith focused on character as the most important quality he looks for in potential employees. He also spoke of how the average college student is changing majors six or seven times before graduating just as they will likely change careers six or seven times during their working lives.

“It’s not the teach-to the textbook, it’s teach to the kid and he even said, ‘I don’t necessarily want the straight-A AP kid, who’s just textbook, cookie-cutter. I want the kid who’s a good person,’” Szymaniak said. “He really hit the social-emotional learning piece that we were trying to drive home. Of being a good person.”

Smith told educators that “I could teach a good person what I want them to learn, but I can’t teach them how to be not arrogant, how to be selfless and working with a team,” Szymaniak said. “I think he left a great message.”

SJ Services donated a catered lunch, cooked by facilities staff and an ice cream truck’s visit was donated by Collegiate Press.

Budget panel seeks financial review

By

WHITMAN — The Override Evaluation Committee on Monday, Aug. 26, will be working with retired Duxbury Finance Director John Madden to review current town finances and plan for the future.

Madden, who started in Hingham before working in Plymouth for 17 years before moving on to Duxbury for 12 years, has 31 years of municipal finance experience. He has also worked in the private sector on converting accounting systems for cities and towns across the Commonwealth. He is currently education coordinator for the Mass. Municipal Auditors and Accountants’ Association, which he has also served as president.

He expects to provide a progress report to the town in a couple weeks. In the meantime, the School Committee has also contracted with the Mass. Association of Regional Schools (MARS) to conduct a review of the school district’s finances including minimum local funding of the towns.

“You guys are my primary focus,” Madden said after outlining past work he has done for the town of Rockland, as well as recurring work in Uxbridge, Woburn and Mansfield. “Budgeting had been the greatest aspect of being finance director. That, and forecasting and projecting — I just love that.”

Madden said when he started in Duxbury the town had been using nearly $1.9 million in free cash to balance the budget.

“Once you begin to use free cash for ongoing expenses, then it’s no longer considered free cash,” Madden said. “Eventually, you run out of free cash and the tenor of conversations generally changes.”

He said he has spoken to Finance Committee member Scott Lambiase about what the Override Evaluation Committee is looking into and that he can bring perspective to the process.

Madden said he anticipates working closely with Town Administrator Frank Lynam and in talking with the town accountant and, potentially, the building inspector, assessor, “and anybody else you want me to talk to.”

“I’d be comfortable going back about six years to see changes … just to get a look back,” he said. “What are your trends? Are there any anomalies in there? What has changed and what have you done with those changes?”

He plans to translate those five years into a picture of the current financial situation, as well as a look forward five years.

“We’re having a hard time meeting everyone’s needs,” said Committee Chairman Randy LaMattina. “We have seen the school district suffer [and] we’ve given them a good chunk of money but it doesn’t seem enough.”

He told Madden that, ultimately, the committee was set up to formulate a strategic plan of where the town’s finances will be in five years.

“If we’re going to fix it, we want to fix it now,” with the help of a new set of eyes, LaMattina said.

“I know we can get there,” Madden said. “I know we can develop a working tool.”

To do that, he said he needs to know information, including practices done from routine but not written down, about the town that is different from his experience.

“It’s the nuances of what makes Whitman Whitman that I need to know,” Madden said.

During the meeting Lynam also reported that, in order to fund this fiscal year, $350,000 of what historically has been excess levy capacity was used to fund, among other things, the increase in the WHRSD budget.

“The concern I had expressed at that meeting is that we were using money that we couldn’t readily identify, but we anticipate would be available, and as an offset we did retain free cash available for appropriation in the event that these numbers weren’t there,” Lynam said.

He asked the town accountant to work through the available numbers and with the Department of Revenue to extrapolate what those numbers would be.

The resulting estimate is that $553,000 will be available in the levy capacity when the tax rate is set, however, the $350,000 already used for the school budget represents part of that figure.

“If all of these numbers are supported, we will have an additional levy of $203,000 when we set our tax rate in late October or early November,” Lynam said.

Lynam and Madden will be asked to formalize how that is done, according to LaMattina.

The UMass, Boston Collins Center will present a capital plan for Whitman at a joint meeting of the Board of Selectmen and Finance Committee at 7 p.m., Tuesday, Oct. 8 in the Town Hall Auditorium.

Step one in solving W-H budget woes

By

The School Committee plans to open it’s Wednesday, Sept. 18 meeting with a public hearing on the funding formula on which assessments to the towns of Whitman and Hanson are set.

Lawyers for the committee, the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education (DESE), and school and town officials will be asked to attend.

“This needs to be done immediately, because it affects how we move forward budgetarily,” said School Committee Chairman Bob Hayes. “It has serious budget impact for everything that we do and this needs to get settled first. This is step one.”

Whitman Town Administrator Frank Lynam agreed this issue is too critical to get bogged down on.

“This stuff is fairly complicated and, unless we’ve got our eye squarely on the ball at all times, things will be either misinterpreted or not understood,” he said. “Let’s just say what’s done is done. We need to move forward. …The quicker we work on this, the quicker we work on the real work at hand, which is establishing a budget.”

Superintendent of Schools Jeffrey Szymaniak provided information on the funding formula as he presented an update to the School Committee Wednesday, Aug. 28 on Whitman’s Override Evaluation Committee, which last met Monday, Aug. 26. [see related story, page one].

Regional agreement

The School Committee approved a proposed new review of the Regional Agreement in June 2018, which was approved by Hanson voters that November. Whitman voters, however, passed over the article at Town Meeting in May.

“Questions had started to arise surrounding the Regional Agreement, whether a town could move out easier than not, but there was an overarching question mark about how the funding was broken up in the two towns,” Szymaniak said.

Szymaniak said the new language was confusing to him, particularly regarding the alternative method of assessment that has been used in the district since 1991 and the structural method requested by DESE. There has also been some question about whether DESE’s request was, indeed, a requirement.

A couple of School Committee members presented Szymaniak with a document regarding that recommendation dated 2007 “encouraging regional school districts to use the statutory method of assessment.”

There are two ways to fund a regional school district, according to Szymaniak. The statutory method is based on the minimum local school contribution and the alternative method, which does not — it is instead currently based on enrollment figures with Whitman bearing the cost of 60 percent of the school budget and Hanson 40 percent. Under the statutory method, he told Hanson Selectmen on Aug. 27 that Hanson might be paying more under the alternative method.

“That will change the amount of funding given by both communities,” Szymaniak said. He said he informed Hanson Selectmen that the change could be coming down the pike, but that School Department attorney Andrew Waugh has interpreted the situation as one where, if an alternative agreement is not adopted, the statutory agreement is used.

“The statutory agreement could swing the pendulum by close to $1 million from Whitman to Hanson,” Szymaniak said. He noted that Hanson Selectmen had questions and plan to seek counsel from their town attorney as well.

“It was more than a recommendation from DESE that we should do this,” he said. “Our counsel is involved with this. We’re still up in the air as far as a firm decision, but their guidance is them saying that we probably … should be using the statutory method for the fiscal 2021 budget.”

Szymaniak said that the alternative method — in which the funding for the prior year stays consistent and the assessment goes up based on pupil population — has been used by W-H.

“I’m an amateur at this,” Szymaniak said. “I’m walking through this for the first time, there’s a lot of new information and I’m not the numbers guy, yet.”

School Committee member Chris Scriven said he was looking for some direction on where the ambiguity lies, because his research on the DESE website indicates the statutory method is a requirement, not merely a recommendation.

“It looked like it was pretty clear,” Scriven said.

Szymaniak said he did not want to present inaccurate information, but wanted to present an idea of what is happening regarding the Regional Agreement.

He read the memo aloud at the meeting, a portion of which requires an annual unanimous affirmative vote by the appointing authority as required to change it to the alternative method.

“We’ve been using the alternative assessments, but I don’t remember us ever, prior to me, taking a vote on this piece of it,” Szymaniak said. “We’re trying to define what we need to do, as a committee, as a district, to move forward, and that’s the legal piece of it.”

A letter Szymaniak received from Waugh indicated that such a vote would be required to use the alternative method.

Hanson Selectmen have placed a place-holder article on the October Town Meeting to discuss revoking the town’s approval of the revised Regional Agreement.

Hayes said the Regional Agreement was revised simply to update it, especially where it referred to schools that no longer exist.

School Committee Christopher Howard said the issue carries the risk of moving officials’ eye off the ball.

“Let’s move on this quickly,” he said, noting that it could bog down efforts to move on improving the budget issue forward.

School Committee member Robert O’Brien Jr., asked how it could have gone unnoticed for 12 years, saying the state should have flagged any improper use of the alternative method by the district, despite the district’s annual filing of end of the year reports on how budget votes are taken.

Szymaniak said, while that is an issue of concern, it shouldn’t be allowed to derail progress on solving bigger budget issues.

“I want as clear a document as we can possibly have, moving forward in my tenure … so we’re not in a shade of gray,” he said.

Szymaniak, meanwhile, lauded the work and mission of Whitman’s Override Evaluation Committee.

“It’s a pretty awesome group of folks that are committed to, I think, what’s in the best interests of Whitman, specifically to see if there’s a need for an override in Whitman and what would that be?” Szymaniak said. “I think we have a couple of things hanging out there … but the group is asking some really good questions to see where Whitman would be in the next five to 10 years financially.”

Reviews planned

He also noted that both the Override Evaluation Committee and the School Committee — using Mass. Association of Regional Schools (MARS) — have approved the conduct of reviews of their respective budgets and financial processes.

School Committee member Dawn Byers, who serves on the Override Evaluation Committee, said former Duxbury Finance Director John Madden’s review of Whitman’s financial picture is aimed to determine whether the town “really does need an override [for] a sustainable budget going forward.”

“The great thing about this committee is everyone has an equal voice at the table,” Szymaniak said. He noted the funding formula could have a “tremendous impact on the override and where the evaluation piece is and the financial needs of Whitman.”

Override panel Chairman Randy LaMattina, a member of Whitman’s Board of Selectmen said Madden will provide a progress report at the Monday, Sept. 16 meeting.

“The committee came up with this idea to add another level of transparency — another level of eyes doing an overview, an independent set of eyes — to go along with what Jeff has put forward with MARS,” LaMattina said. “It’s gathering information stage we’re at now.”

LaMattina said he does not think there is yet an answer to the question of whether an override will be necessary. He did say a previous estimate of October as a time frame for any Town Meeting to deal with an override issue was premature. Officials have lately been discussing the possibility of January or February for that.

A capital study conducted by the UMass Boston Collins Center will be presented at 7 p.m., Tuesday, Oct. 8 in the Whitman Town Hall Auditorium during a joint session of the Board of Selectmen and the Finance Committee.

“All pieces will work together,” LaMattina said, including involvement by the School Committee and Hanson officials. “I don’t have any results for you right now, but we have made progress.”

Hayes thanked the Override Evaluation Committee for their work findig solutions, cautioning that it is a “monumental task” that won’t be accomplished overnight.