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

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

The next round of school budget negotiations should go this well, but judging by the sentiment among Select Board members, it’s not likely.
Voters in Hanson soundly rejected the override with no votes winning the day 821 to 522. While Whitman’s Town Meeting voted to use free cash to bridge the gap in the school district’s assessment, 361 people voted for the override and 883 voted against. Whitman voters also rejected a ballot question supported by their Select Board to change the treasurer-collector’s position to an appointed one instead of an elected one, by a vote of 830 to724.
Assistant Town Clerk Michael Ganshirt said 422 people voted early via absentee ballot or about 45 percent of the 1,200 ballots mailed out. Hanson saw 500-plus mail-in and 116 early voters of the 1,471 eligible voters go to the polls for early voting in the election. There are 8,477 registered voters in Hanson.
In Whitman 16 percent – 1,771 – of the town’s 11,000 registered voters cast ballots.
“I hope I win,” Salvucci said that morning. “I’m never confident, until I [see the result].” He said that, win or lose, he wanted to remain in the post as liaison to South Shore Tech, a position not always held by a Select Board member.
Select Board member Ann Rein, who was the top vote-getter among candidates in the race for two seats on the board, has been a vocal opponent of the override and school budget in general.
She has been “totally against the override.”
“I want the school department to be held to the fire,” Rein said while sign-holding at the polls Saturday morning. “I’m ‘sick and tired about them bullying us into doing what they want. No. If we have to cut, they have to cut.”
Frank Milisi, who finished out of the win column for Select Board said there was no purpose of it to pass at this point, anyway.
“It’s not worth the fight to pass it,” he said.
Second-place vote-getter Joe Weeks also predicted the override would fail.
“I think the town is in a position now, where things are tight and services and costs are going up,” he said. “I have a feeling that, that’s going to impact people’s votes,” he said. “I do think we have to do a better job of some education around it because, I think if people understood why some of these overrides and what [they] mean for the bigger picture are in terms of longer-term savings, I think we’ll have a better idea a positive vote.”
But there was a note of positivity among the Select Board candidates themselves.
As Hanson Town Clerk Elizabeth read out the voting results and candidates with calculators handy added up the numbers that returned incumbents Ann Rein and Joe weeks to the Select Board, a spirit of bipartisanship was evident.
“You deserved it,” Weeks told challenger Frank Milisi more than once, incredulous that he had won. Weeks had said earlier in the day that he felt the result would be tight and voter turnout might hold the key.
“I am so proud of you, and – to be honest with you – you were better than me,” Weeks said, shaking Milisi’s hand at one point. “Honestly, I did not expect that result. You deserved it.”
Weeks persisted in saying Milisi was deserving of a win, as a handful of people double-checked the numbers, confirming what Milisi had first determined – that Weeks had, indeed been the winner.
“You deserved it,” Weeks said a few more times. “I’m blown away by this. It did not expect it.”
“You could have said that two weeks ago,” Milisi joked, adding with a laugh, “I’m going to have to go around with your recall petition now.”
“You probably would,” Weeks replied.
Select Board Chair Laura FitzGerald-Kemmett said both ran a good race in an election with a relatively good turnout.
“Somebody’s got to lose, unfortunately,” she said.
Weeks had just pulled in 731 votes to win re-election by a total of 731 to 683. Weeks did better with early voters and Milisi edged him on in-person votes. Rein, also an incumbent pulled in a first-place vote count or 833, also doing slightly better in early votes than with in-person voters.
There were 31 blanks and scattered write-in votes.
“I knew I was going to get smoked today,” Weeks said of Saturday’s in-person voting, but his 286 to 189 edge in early voting had made the difference.
“I honestly thought you and Ann were going to run away with it, I really did,” Weeks said to Milisi. “I don’t believe it. I want to see the numbers. I did not expect to win.”
The candidates also said they enjoyed being “tent mates” as the three Select Board candidates shared two pop-up tents to shelter against the day’s persistent drizzle.
“This whole time, it’s been not bashing each other and just going off and figuring out the ideas and let people decide make out the difference,” Milisi said.
“Well, there’s a difference between not bashing people and acknowledging that people are doing a good job,” Weeks said.
Rein had expressed confidence in the outcome that morning.
“I’m hopeful,” she said. “I think we’re going to be OK.”
Both Milisi and Weeks said Rein was worthy of being the top vote-getter in the field.
“Although I am disappointed with the result of the election, I cannot be happier for Ann and Joe, both are great candidates with whom I have enjoyed working with in other capacities,” Milisi said in a statement later. “The Town of Hanson was offered another point of view and set of ideas this election, and I still believe in those ideas I laid out during the campaign.”
He said his immediate plans involved returning to work at Camp Kiwanee Commission and the Capital Improvement Committee.
“I would like to thank every voter, taxpayer, and resident whom I spoke with during the campaign,” he said. “The town of Hanson has some financially rough years ahead of us, and I will do the best I can to assist the board in any way possible.”
In Whitman, Select Board candidates, incumbent Dan Salvucci and challenger Kathleen Ottina were out holding signs early in the morning, also expressing cautious optimism in the job they did getting their message to the voters.
“To all the Whitman voters who came out for the May 18th town election to cast their vote for the candidates of their choice thank you,” he said in a statement about the outcome.” When the numbers were read by Whitman’s Town Clerk and when we knew who the winner was, we greeted each other and congratulated each other on running a clean race.”
While falling short of her goal by only 57 votes, Ottina offered Salvucci congratulations after the results were read that she appreciated the support she received.
“Your support was encouraging,” she said in a statement. “I especially want to thank the people who kindly hosted my lawn sign, the wonderful supporters who braved the elements to stand out near the polls holding signs, and my terrific family and friends who worked so hard to help me. I appreciate you all so much.” 
Ottina said she plans to continue her work on the Whitman Finance Committee to “advocate for sound financial decisions that benefit all Whitman citizens, especially those who are too young to vote.”
Before taking a break from sign-holding that morning, she was philosophical about the outcome.
“I worked as hard as I could,” Ottina said. “The voters will decide, but I would be proud and privileged to serve the Town of Whitman as a member of the Select Board.”
“I think we’re going to end up with a Super Town Meeting, which should be very interesting,” Salvucci said.
School Committee candidate Rosemary Connolly said she believed she was able to inform the public.
“I hope the public sees that they have other options out there,” she said. “Options that are knowledgeable about educational funding.”
She ended the day as the top vote-getter in the three-way race for two seats on the School Committee, with incumbent Fred Small garnering 963 and third-place finisher Kevin Mayer with 778.
Hanson’s School Committee race had three candidates vying for a single seat.
Kara Moser to the final contested office of the day, winning a School Committee seat to replace Michelle Bourgelas, who opted not to run again. Moser was the top vote-getter in that race with 520 votes, to Christine Cohen’s 431 and Barbara Connolly’s 293. There were 4 blanks.