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School Choice questions at fiscal year end

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The Plympton School Committee held their close-out meeting on Monday, July 15. Attendance was limited with only three committee members present including Chair Jon Wilhelmsen, Amy Hempel, and Jill Palenstijn. Director of Business Services Christine Healy and Superintendent Joy Blackwood also attended.

Wilhelmson had a lengthy meeting with Dennett Elementary Principal Peter Veneto regarding the ongoing issue of lead showing up in the water testing being done at Dennett.

The source of the lead has remained a mystery and has confounded the board for months as the system appears to be working as it should. Additionally, the amount of lead in the water heading into the system is less than the lead that is in the water coming out of the system. Wilhelmson described to the committee his theory about what he believes may be to blame. Every 14 days a backwash cycle is run at night.

Water is pumped backward through the filter during backwashing. The samples that were tested were taken in the morning and Wilhelmson theorizes that if the samples were taken the same day as the backwash cycle, it could explain why the water would be temporarily tainted as it would be pulling in the lead that had been filtered out of the water over the previous two weeks. In order to test this theory, the next step will be to repeat the testing at a time that does not coincide with the backwash cycle.

New Playground

at Dennett

Vice Chair Jason Fraser was absent but Wilhelmson shared with the committee some notes from Fraser regarding progress on the new playground at Dennett. Veneto and Fraser met to pick a location for the playground based on the land survey that was completed. Since the committee will not meet again until September, they voted to authorize Fraser to proceed however he sees fit to get the playground completed.  Superintendent Joy Blackwood commented that given that construction has not yet begun, it is unlikely that the playground will be completed by the beginning of the school year.

An emergency management operations meeting attended by Veneto, Wilhelmson, the police chief, the fire chief, and the highway department was held regarding the power lines. With a generator now at Dennett, the building can be used as an emergency shelter. With only one way in and one way out of the school, however, there is a problem if a tree would be to fall on power lines and block the entrance as has happened in the past. It was agreed upon that a reasonable solution would be to use some grant money that may be able to be acquired to place the power lines underground (as some already are). Wilhelmson, who relayed the idea to the town administrator, said, “Hopefully this is something that we are going to continue to push on and try to affect that change so that we never have that issue that we had before again.”

Healy gave an update on the close-out for the budget. Healy said that $1,507.29 will be returned to the town with $1,198.25 of that coming from special education and $309.04 coming from the regular budget. This is the total after all the transfers were done that were approved at special town meeting. The transfers included money from the out of district vocational fund to the SPED stabilization fund which is now fully funded at $47,000. Other transfers coming from the out of district vocational fund included $10,000 to the operating budget for roof repairs and $8,500 to the operating budget for a new copier. The out of district vocational fund still has a balance of approximately $21,000 after all bills have been paid for the year and the above-mentioned transfers were made. In total, over $22,000 will be returned to the town. Wilhelmson thanked Healy for her work. Healy said, “We have an amazing staff that helps us make that happen and it’s all hands-on deck and I would say since the middle of June it has been we need to make it work and we do.”

School Choice questions

The issue of school choice was also discussed. Plympton, Halifax, Kingston, and Silver Lake Regional school committees make decisions individually regarding whether or not to accept school choice. Currently only Plympton allows it. The committees and administration believed that this meant that once a student who elects to come to Dennett Elementary through school choice is through with their k-6 education, they would have to leave the district as Silver Lake Regional does not allow school choice either at the middle or high schools. Blackwood shared with the committee that she was recently told by DESE (Department of Elementary and Secondary Education) that those students would have to be allowed to continue with their education at Silver Lake middle and high schools if that was their preference.

This creates a conflict as the Silver Lake Regional School Committee voted down school choice. There are currently eight students at Dennett Elementary there through school choice with five of those coming from towns within the Silver Lake district anyway (Halifax and Kingston). This means that only three students would fall under the umbrella of school choice for Silver Lake Regional.

Blackwood admitted to not having any definitive information at the moment and said that they are still working their way through this development. Wilhelmson felt that the Plympton School Committee should not be able to obligate the Silver Lake Regional School Committee to take on school choice just as the regional committee should not be able to stop Plympton from accepting it.

A major question arising from this conundrum is who will pay for the students to attend Silver Lake schools beyond sixth grade. Blackwood said she will provide an update to the committee when she knows more.

‘Super’ returns to SL as treasurer

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The Silver Lake Regional School Committee held their close-out meeting Thursday, July 11. It was a brief meeting with fewer attendees than usual. Vice Chair Eric Crone took the meeting in Chairman Jason Fraser’s absence.

The first order of business was the appointment of a new treasurer for the district. The school committee agreed to add a treasurer last year after years of being asked to do so by auditors. The position was added to the budget at that time with a small stipend of 6-10 hours per month allotted.

Superintendent Joy Blackwood said that after speaking with Director of Business Services Christine Healy, it was decided that they would not renew the current treasurer’s one-year contract. The main duties of the treasurer are to transfer out funds and reconcile balances.

Former Silver Lake Business Manager and Superintendent John Tuffy applied and attended the meeting. Tuffy spent six years as the Silver Lake business manager and another eight as superintendent before retiring in 2015. From 2016-2018, Tuffy acted as an interim business manager for Cohasset.

Blackwood said, “Someone who we all know and love applied for the position. I think it is a perfect situation where it is one of the few times where I can say it is an absolute win-win. He knows our system inside and out and he’s absolutely trustworthy and I’m thrilled that he decided to apply.” Crone entertained a motion to appoint Tuffy as the new treasurer and it was passed unanimously. Crone addressed Tuffy and joked, “Welcome and thank you; you can never get away.”

Healy gave the committee an update on the budget. Regarding the operating budget, Healy said that a balance of $128,679.21 will eventually flow back to the excess and deficiency account. Healy addressed the areas where they had some “bumps in the road” including deficits for both substitutes and homeless transportation.

Another area that had a tough year was contract services including maintenance and buildings and maintenance and grounds. The expenses included the installation of new hot water tanks at the high school as well as improvements to the systems at the middle school that resulted in reduced humidity particularly during the hottest months of June, August, and September.

Regarding the work done at the middle school Healy said, “We got a call from the principal today saying it is amazing what it has done and actually some of the custodians have noticed when they’re working at night that it’s not nearly as humid and overwhelming as it has been.”

Any areas of deficit, however, will be made up for by areas of surplus. One of the largest areas of surplus is health insurance. Healy also gave an update on the revenue side of the budget. The revenues, which are made up of several things including Chapter 70 money, regional transportation money, shared costs, etc., will exceed the budget by $301,000. Regional transportation exceeded expectations by $123,000 and the district received the final payment on July 2. Another area that exceeded expectations was the net media agreement where the district received $114,000 in excess of what was budgeted. Other smaller, unbudgeted sources of revenue including interest totaled $113,000 that is then added to the increases and then that is added to what is not being spent in the budget.

Healy said, “If we look at all of that totally, we’ll be returning approximately $543,000 to our E & D account. That is if nothing changes as of right now.” School Committee member Leslie-Ann McGee made a motion to recommend that $128,679.21 be returned to the Silver Lake Regional School District revenue account. The motion was passed unanimously.

The committee briefly discussed the new calendar survey committee that would convene to discuss whether or not to survey constituents regarding changes to the school calendar. They also discussed the school start times committee whose purpose will be to do more research into what the state and others are doing regarding earlier start times. The issue is a hot button one as it affects clubs, sports, after school jobs, buses, family schedules etc.

School Committee member Paula Hatch gave an update on the Safety, Facilities, Fees and Revenue subcommittee meeting that took place just prior to the school committee meeting. Hatch said that the bids for the work that needs to be done on the roofs are due by July 18. The hope is to have substantial work completed on the repairs by October 1. The subcommittee also discussed how to better house warranty information going forward as it is not all currently stored in one easily accessible location. The new plan will be to scan documents and place them in Google Docs where everyone from the business manager to the custodians can access it.

Work will begin shortly to grade and seed the grass on the football practice field in order to improve the lawn and enable it to be used again.

Sandblasting and painting of the water filtration plant is also underway as it was recommended that it be done sooner rather than later to avoid further erosion.

Some important dates were also discussed prior to the adjournment of the meeting including new teacher orientation on August 23, the first day of school on August 28, and the next school committee meeting on September 12.

BOS cautiously agrees to land buy

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The Halifax Board of Selectmen met Tuesday, July 9.

DFG land agent from the Division of Fisheries and Wildlife Joan Pierce came to speak to the Board about the possibility of acquiring an area of Peterson’s Swamp from the town. Pierce, who brought a map of the area to show the selectmen, said, “We would like to acquire it because it would make a really good public access for a couple of cars.” Pierce also mentioned that their intention with the land would be to maintain rather than develop it as it contains ecologically important attributes including, but not limited to, white cedar trees.

The inhabitants of Plymouth County and the town of Halifax share fifty-fifty undivided interest in the property. An appraisal of the property came in at $250,000. Fisheries and Wildlife is interested in purchasing the area for a total of $150,000 with $75,000 going to each of the entities. Board of Selectmen Vice-Chair Tom Millias took issue with the low price offered given that it falls significantly short of what he considered to be an already conservative appraisal. Adding to the dissatisfaction with the offer, Fisheries and Wildlife currently owe the town of Halifax $52,500 from a past transaction. Payments on debts of this nature must be tied to a land purchase. Pierce explained that Fisheries and Wildlife’s intent was that the purchase of the land would also absorb the debt owed to the town. The Selectmen were displeased to hear this as the $52,500 would be coming out of the $75,000 purchase price, leaving the town with a net gain of only $22,500 on a property appraised at $250,000 ($125,000 of that value belonging to Halifax). Pierce argued that the town would also be gaining a parking area (albeit a small one) that would provide residents with better access to the area.

Explaining, in part to newest Selectmen Gordon Andrews, Millias said, “Every time we deal with Fisheries and Wildlife we get short-changed and we keep kicking this can down the road.” Board of Selectmen Chair Troy Garron also expressed frustration with what has been an ongoing theme in the town’s dealing with Fisheries and Wildlife. Town Administrator Charlie Seelig and the Board discussed the offer at length with Pierce before a possible suggestion was offered by Andrews. There is a sliver of land in Halifax owned by Fisheries and Wildlife behind Aldana Road that would be necessary to possess in order to be able to pave that road. Andrews suggested Fisheries and Wildlife turn over that land to Halifax as part of the negotiation. This idea was amenable to all parties. Before any negotiations can take place, however, the town of Halifax must first purchase the inhabitants of Plymouth County’s portion of the land from them. The next step would be to sell it to Fisheries and Wildlife for $150,000 plus the land behind Aldana Road. Pierce agreed to email her summary of the proposed plan to Seelig prior to sharing the details with Plymouth County Administrator Frank Basler. The Board also plans to verify that the land behind Aldana Road provides everything needed in order to eventually pave the road. While the selectmen still felt that the deal leaves something to be desired, they agreed that they could live with the proposed plan as the town would still be receiving something of value to it.

Library Director Jean Gallant attended the meeting to speak to the need for more parking as the library is now competing for parking with the new playground built by Friends of HOPS (Halifax Open Play Space). Additionally, many people also use the library parking lot when attending events at the athletic fields. Gallant pointed out the safety issue posed by the lack of adequate parking as cars are often circling the parking lot looking for a space while children are running in the area.

Millias said, “The simple answer is we need to create more parking spots. The bigger question is where and at what cost?” Friends of HOPS still have some funds available but were planning to use them to have an Eagle Scout build a gazebo for the playground. Both Gallant and Millias agreed that they would rather see those funds go to the gazebo project and have the cost of the additional parking area paid for by the town. Garron argued that the town could oppose the idea of paying for the additional spaces since the reason for the lack of parking is the playground. The selectmen agreed that speaking with the highway surveyor about how many spots can be added as well as where to best place those spots would be a good first step.

Police Chief Joao Chaves addressed the Board requesting permission to institute a six-month trial of a motorcycle unit. Chaves, who previously headed the motorcycle unit in New Bedford, reached out to a contact at Seacoast Harley in New Hampshire who provided tips for a small lease plan. The lease would cost $325 a month for six months for a total expense of $1950. The leased bike would be fully equipped and would have only 80 miles on it. Officer Michael Schleiff would be attending a 40-hour course in Taunton starting next week at no cost to the town. The addition of the motorcycle unit would be instead of rather than in addition to a cruiser patrol. Chaves explained, “He can respond to calls the same way and can actually get to calls a little quicker.” Chaves sees the motor unit as potentially having a lot of benefits to the town.

“Halifax has a high population of motorcycle riders that enjoy the roadways. I think it’s another way for police to connect with that part of the community. We can utilize it for races and for funeral processions, it’s just another way to get us closer to the community.” The Board gave permission to move forward with the trial after which the feedback from both the community and the Police Department would be evaluated to determine whether to continue with the unit.

Various other items of business were also discussed. A hearing for “Jada,” a dog accused of biting another dog while loose on June 30, will be held on July 23.

The Traffic Safety Committee plans to meet with Chief Chaves later in the summer regarding complaints about truck traffic and speed on Walnut Street. Seelig agreed to talk to the highway department regarding a resident complaint of overgrown brush on South Street just off of River Street.

Trash bag fees will also be increased from $2.00 to $2.25 for small bags and from $3.00 to $3.25 for the large bags. This is the first increase for bags since 2009.

Roof leaks over town vault; records in jeopardy with

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The Plympton Board of Selectmen met Monday, July 8. The meeting began with Co-chair of the Open Space Committee Linda Leddy giving an update on two municipal lots that are for sale. A deal for one of the two lots recently fell apart during the purchase and sale process leaving two lots still available.

Leddy was originally told that the lots could not be listed in the MLS (multiple listing service) without redoing the legal work and paying the buyers’ fees. After speaking with a different broker, however, it was discovered that the lots could be listed in the MLS after paying just a flat fee of either $500 or $1000 and stating in the listing that the seller would not pay buyers’ fees. The broker working with Leddy said that Plympton was a desirable location with high land values.

The previous difficulty in selling the lots was likely due to lack of exposure; a problem that listing in the MLS should solve. The Board voted to move forward with this method of advertising.

Town Administrator Elizabeth Dennehy asked the Board to approve a proposal from Door Tech Inc. out of Bridgewater to make the town library doors accessible. The motion was unanimously approved. The Board also approved the appointments of Colleen Thompson to the Zoning Board of Appeals and Edward Sealey as gas inspector. Both appointments are for one year.

Town Clerk Patricia Detterman addressed the Board about concerns over the vault that houses the town’s records and important paperwork. Detterman said that the roof is leaking over the area where the vault is housed and is concerned that the contents are vulnerable to fire and water damage. Detterman visted other town halls and spoke with other town clerks regarding their criteria for the management of old records and deeds.

Additionally, Plympton Police Chief Patrick Dillon showed Detterman the manner in which the police department houses their paper records. Detterman asked the Board for their permission to have an electrician come in and talk to her about what the vault is capable of right now and what the possibilities are to make it safer in the future. Board member Mark Russo said, “I think there are a lot of pieces that we have to look at; we probably just need to get a sense of this stuff, see what it’s going to cost, get some quotes, and I think we’ll be looking at town meeting.” He continued, “I’m totally in favor of finally getting this thing done.” The Board voted to approve having an electrician come out to inspect the vault and offer suggestions for improvements.

Both Detterman and her assistant Jill Palenstijn have recently attended two meetings with the U.S. Census Bureau. It was advised that the town clerk meet with the selectmen to form a Complete Count Committee dedicated to ensuring that residents complete the census. It was also recommended that the council consist of a variety of trusted voices from the town such as those from a local church or the Council on Aging. The preference is that the census is completed electronically so the council would be responsible for setting up workshops at the library where the not so tech savvy could be guided through the process. Either count committee members or possibly high school students completing community service could volunteer at the workshops. The hope is that the census would be completed upon the first mailer that goes out with recipients responding online although the option to return via snail mail is still available. The last resort, and most expensive option, is the door to door approach for those that have not responded. The Board asked Detterman to reach out to possible volunteers for the Complete Count Committee to be voted on and appointed by the Board.  Detterman said, “We have a small town; we can do this, I’d like to be one of the first ones to finish the census count.”

Dennehy presented her update to the Board. She noted that there are several applications in for the position of animal control officer. The Board was in agreement that Chief Dillon and Selectman Russo will meet with the applicants and select finalists to go before the entire Board. Russo, who is a Doctor of Veterinary Medicine, joked about bringing his dog along for the interview. Dennehy also sent notes to the Halifax and Carver town administrators about the possibility for shared opportunities including joint grants or shared services for the Council on Aging. The Selectmen agreed that there is a great deal of enthusiasm for shared services and cited the success of Area 58 Community Access Media which serves Plympton as well as Carver and Halifax.

Dennehy also presented to the Board a new plan to hold department heads more accountable for their individual budgets and for keeping on track with said budgets. Finance Committee member Kathryn Shepard and Dennehy agreed to draft a joint letter with a new attachment to redo how transfer requests are done adding additional steps to ensure better collaboration and communication between the various departments, committees, and selectmen. The letter would be approved by the Board of Selectmen prior to being dispersed to the various department heads.

Town Accountant Barbara Gomez agreed to do a monthly financial printout to show department heads where they are in terms of their spending for the year. Each department head would be required to sign off on the printout to acknowledge they are aware of the state of their budget. They would also be expected to decide if a meeting with the Finance Committee or Board of Selectmen would be necessary to review their expenditures thus far.

Board of Selectmen Chair John Traynor expressed some concern over having all department heads participate in these additional requirements. The Board agreed and decided that only departments with a budget of a certain size would be subjected to this level of oversight.

Dennehy also briefly mentioned a letter from the Plympton Fire Chief requesting rate changes for the fire department details. In it, it was noted that rates had not been updated since July 1, 2015.

The Board also voted to approve the use of the Town House for several PAYS (Plympton Athletic Youth Sports) meetings on July 11, August 5, and August 8 contingent upon a room being available. They also voted to approve the use of the Town House on August 21 from 10 am until noon as the Council on Aging will have people handing out Go Packs to elders at no charge. The packs are valued at $50 apiece.

One of the final pieces of business discussed was the opening on the Community Preservation Committee. Russo said of the committee, “It’s a good committee, it’s a really good committee. It’s one of the best jobs in town. We actually have money. People come to us with good projects, we help spiff them up and make them even better. It’s a happy committee.”   

Anyone interested in serving on the Community Preservation Committee should contact Russo.

chairman of that Committee.

Halifax-Carver U16 Boys Soccer play at MTOC

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The Halifax-Carver U16 boys’ team attended the Massachusetts Tournament of Champions (MTOC) in Lancaster MA this past weekend as the champions from the Coastal League.

The twelve teams in their division were divided into three groups of four. Halifax-Carver were in a group with West Bridgewater, Franklin, and North Andover.

They played two games Friday, losing the first game 3-1 to West Bridgewater. Cole Wright scored Halifax-Carver’s lone goal of the tournament after carrying the ball from the backfield to score unassisted. They went on to lose 3-0 to Franklin in the second match.

“That was the second game on the first day and our kids were just out of gas,” Coach Jim Coombe explained. The team fell 4-0 in their final game held on Saturday against North Andover, who went on to finish second in the entire division.

The various opponents all zeroed in on Halifax-Carver standout Gabe Pacheco, making it difficult for the team to get anything going. “The boys worked hard but we were just outmatched,” Coombe said. “A small town like us, we don’t even have tryouts, we take everyone we can. It’s tough but they did well.

They didn’t embarrass themselves in any way, shape, or form,” Coombe continued. Cape Ann United from the Essex League went on to win the entire division.

Despite placing last in their group, the team managed to enjoy themselves. “We all stayed in the same hotel. After the first day there after they had two games, you would think they would be tired but no, they took over the pool and were playing in the pool until 10 o’clock at night,” Coombe said laughing. Just being invited to attend the tournament is an honor as only the top teams from each league across the state are invited as well as a handful of wildcard picks. “It is a good learning experience,” Coombe said, “It’s a great experience just being there.”

Halifax U16 Boys Soccer Team tops Coastal Soccer League

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The Halifax-Carver under 16 boys team ended the spring season atop the Division II Coastal League standings with a record of 6-1-1. The first-place finish earned them a spot at the upcoming Massachusetts Tournament of Champions (MTOC) held this weekend at Progin Park in Lancaster, MA.

The team is made up of 19 players in the ninth and tenth grade with the majority of the team coming from Halifax. The Halifax residents on the roster include Joseph Boardman, Benjamin Coombe, Thomas Czarniak, Daniel Ford, Richard Greene, Jared Hall, Jake Lawless, Ryan McAndrews, Jake McKee, Scott McKee, Gabriel Pacheco, Simao Rebelo, Trevor Rossini, Nicholas Tereshko, Connor Willis, and Cole Wright. The three Carver players are Cameron Besegai, Ethan Best, and Brandon Weygand. The team is coached by Jim Coombe and his son, Bridgewater State College student Nate Coombe. Coombe, who has coached both of his sons, has been with some of the players on the team since they played U8. The Carver players play varsity at Carver Middle High School and several of the Halifax players play freshman and junior varsity soccer at Silver Lake.

As described on the Massachusetts Youth Soccer website, “The Massachusetts Tournament of Champions (MTOC) is a season-ending tournament that brings together age/gender group champions from participating town-based travel leagues from across the state.”

Thousands of coaches and players will attend and twelve teams will compete for top U16 boys Division II honors at MTOC. The top regular season team coming out of the Berkshire, BAYS, Coastal, Essex, MAYS, Middlesex, Nashoba, Pioneer Valley, South Coast, and South Shore leagues as well as two wild card teams will round out the competition.

The teams will be divided into three groups of four teams with the winner of each group as well as one wild card advancing to the next round. Each team is guaranteed three games. Halifax-Carver will play their first two games at 10am and 2:30pm Friday with their third game scheduled for sometime Saturday. At only 25 minutes per half, the games at MTOC are faster paced than those during the regular season.

Fellow Coastal League team Pembroke is also attending MTOC as a wild card pick. Halifax-Carver and Pembroke had a bit of a rivalry this season with Halifax-Carver’s only loss of the season occurring during the first meeting of the teams. The second face-off ended in a tie. Of the 13 goals Halifax-Carver gave up this season, more than half of those were to Pembroke. While Halifax-Carver and Pembroke will start the tournament in different groups, it is possible that they could meet again during the semi-final or final rounds.

In response to what made him the proudest of his team this year, Coach Jim Coombe said, “They play together. They’re good sportsmen; they don’t do a lot of pushing, they play aggressively but they play within the rules. They play their positions and they play them well and they work together as a team.” Coombe also highlighted the importance of their center midfielder. “The heart and soul of our team is Gabe Pacheco; he’s where the offence starts and where the defense ends,” Coombe explained. Pacheco, who rarely comes off the field for Halifax-Carver, was called up to the varsity team at Silver Lake this past fall during the state tournament.

Regarding strategy, the Halifax-Carver team plays a 4-2-3-1 or a 4-2-1-3 formation. Benjamin Coombe and Thomas Czarniak have provided solid defense from the center back positions this season.

The offense has also come through, keeping pressure on the other teams. As Coombe explains, “When we have all three guys up front who are very good players aggressively on the ball, that forces the other team to at least keep some of their better guys back so hopefully they can’t attack as much. It has worked so far.”

Time will tell if this strategy will work against the best of the best this weekend, but just being invited to attend the MTOC for the first time should give this team and the towns of Halifax and Carver plenty to smile about.

Search for new Silver Lake ‘Super’

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A joint meeting was held June 13 between Union 31 and the various Silver Lake school committees. The meeting began with a reorganization of the Silver Lake Regional School Committee. A unanimous vote named Jason Fraser and Eric Crone to continue to serve as chair and vice chair respectively of the Silver Lake Regional School Committee. The committee also voted to keep Paula Hatch as secretary as well as naming Michael Antoine assistant treasurer. Later in the meeting, Antoine was also named chair of Union 31.

Silver Lake Regional Middle School Principal James Dupille introduced science teacher Kathy Benash who heads up the science club and NASA project at the school as well as several of her students. Benash explained that through the NASA sponsored initiative, students were tasked with inventing something that would help society. Four groups of students presented their inventions to the committees. Among them were an epi-case, a phone case which would hold an EpiPen, as well as an astro sleeve, which would enable astronauts that cannot speak to communicate with other astronauts through an armband with built in speakers, screen, and keyboard.

Benash thanked the committee for their support and expressed how proud she was of her students.

Fraser addressed the students saying, “As a fellow science teacher, I just wanted to comment that each one of your designs and ideas are applicable today. As you were describing how they would improve lives of others,

I was already thinking of other ways they could be implemented into the workplace and into the marketplace. You guys all have marketable ideas right now standing in front of us today.” Fraser added, “I want to buy your products right now.”

Principal Dupille thanked Benash, who is retiring, saying, “It’s teachers like you, and we have some great teachers in these schools, that make all the difference, I think. The opportunities that these kids get at the middle school are a lot more than I did when I was growing up. So, thank you for everything that you’ve done and good luck with the next chapter in your life.”

Benash responded saying, “I am very happy as I retire that these kids are going to eventually take care of us. They’re amazing, amazing children.”

Superintendent search

Following the student presentations, the committees then turned their attention to the superintendent search. School committee member Laura Tilton put together a packet with data gathered thus far from the surveys that are open to Silver Lake students and faculty as well as residents of the three towns. Based on Tilton’s analysis of the data, financial management and curriculum development were of high importance to respondents.  Other items that were considered important included strong communication skills as well as understanding and recognizing good teaching.

Silver Lake has hired the Massachusetts Association of School Committees to aid in the search. Executive Director Glenn Koocher attended the meeting to go over and make edits to a mockup of the literature which would be distributed to potential candidates. The committee agreed to make changes to the mockup to better align with the issues constituents have pointed out as being of high importance to them. Committee member Leslie-Ann McGee suggested changing selection criteria to KSA’s or knowledge, skills, and abilities. The other major changes requested and agreed upon by the committees centered around the desire for a more aggressive timeline than the one suggested by Koocher.

Of concern was that a sitting superintendent might need to give anywhere from a one to three month notice at their current job. The committees were also eager to ensure that the incoming superintendent’s start date overlap with the final month of current superintendent Joy Blackwood’s tenure to allow for training. According to Koocher the only date that would be immutable would be the closing date for applications. Originally scheduled for September 22 the committee voted to move that date to September 16. Other notable dates include selecting the candidate by early November with a start date set for January 1.

Reorganization

After adjourning all but the Silver Lake Regional School Committee, the meeting continued with a reorganization of the various sub-committees. Tilton, McGee, and Gordon Andrews were named to a new sub-committee, calendar survey, that would brainstorm adjustments to the school calendar and would serve as informational only as no formal votes would take place until presented to the school committee in its entirety.

School start time discussion continues

Also discussed was the sub-committee school start times. Crone mentioned that in the last few months he has been contacted by three separate sets of parents about concerns over school start times. Crone said that based on a Facebook group focused on the issue, there appears to be just as many parents and students against the change as there are for it. While the existence of the sub-committee was deemed necessary, it is unlikely that it will even meet. Fraser explained, “This is more of a statement to acknowledge that there is research stating that our students at the middle school and the high school would benefit from a later start time though we don’t currently have the resources or the resolve to make that a reality here in the district.” Fraser continued, “This continues to be a topic of much discussion and there are several more schools this year that will be adjusting their start times so it is something that we should keep on the radar.”

Graduation

is a success

The success of the recent high school graduation was a source of laughs and good will during the meeting. Carl Pike of Kingston attended the meeting as a member of the public addressing the committee as follows, “I’d just like to take a quick minute to say that I was fortunate enough to attend both the high school awards ceremony and the high school graduation and I’d like to thank the school committee for the support and the leadership that they provide to our school systems. I thought that both of those occurrences were very well done and I think that a lot of times we hear people concerned about the funds that we spend on education; well there is two examples where we see what a great job we are doing and I for one, say thank you.”

Blackwood spoke fondly of the student tasked with introducing her at graduation. Graduating senior Joe Mirisola presented Blackwood with a diploma he designed for her to celebrate her time at Silver Lake.

Blackwood, who passed the diploma around, joked about how Mirisola had signed her diploma as he had given himself the authority.

Blackwood also told an anecdote about her decision to have herself and the teachers attending graduation sing a Jason Mraz song, Have it All, as a way of doing something special for the graduating class. Blackwood explained that she incorrectly assumed that the teachers’ microphones were turned on while, in fact, the only live microphone was the one she was singing into.

Laughing, Blackwood said, “I sang karaoke to over 1,000 people unintentionally but you have to have a sense of humor in life, right?”

Lead in Dennett water a mystery

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The June 3 Plympton School Committee meeting began with a reorganization. Jason Fraser nominated Jon Wilhelmsen to once again serve as chair and it was voted through unanimously as was Fraser’s nomination for vice chair. A unanimous vote also declared Michael Antoine as the new secretary. Congratulations were also extended to the committee’s newest member Amy Hempel.

Dennett Elemetary School Principal Peter Veneto was unable to attend the meeting so Superintendent Joy Blackwood gave an update on the ongoing issue with the water testing at the school. The most recent results were still showing lead levels that are too high. Veneto forwarded the results to Greenseal but is waiting to hear back from them.  Wilhelmsen plans to follow up with Veneto and then have a call with Greenseal directly.

The committee feels strongly that the problem is likely with the system as lead is not present when entering the system but is present when coming out the other end of the faucets. Adding to the confusion, the faucets have all been replaced and the lead is being found in the part of the school where the pipes the water is traveling through are from the last renovation.

Wilhelmsen said, “The lead has to be being introduced between where it comes in and where its being sent out from the pipes.” Wilhelmsen continued, “The lead should either be in the water before it comes in because it just has a higher level or it is leaching  because of the acidity of the water as it goes through and each time it hits a solder point in the lead solder it is taking a little bit of it with it, but we shouldn’t have any lead solder and in the places where it is, there shouldn’t be any and we’ve replaced all the faucets so the only thing is, we’re back to the system.”

The system has a treatment for manganese as well as a PH adjustor to make the water less acidic and should therefore leach less metal from everything. The system should also be equipped to deal with lead as there was a one-off lead test several years back showing higher than expected levels. Wilhelmsen and Blackwood were in agreement that too much time and expense has already gone into this problem for there to still be no resolution.

Fraser gave an update on the project to renovate the playground at Dennett for accessibility and safety. Fraser thanked the Community Preservation Committee for giving their support to an article that was brought forth at town meeting for an additional $94,000 toward the playground. The Board of Selectmen, Finance Committee, and School Committee all supported that article at town meeting.

“On the floor the night of town meeting having unanimous vote to support the playground really shows that the entire community supports the initiative,” Fraser said. Halifax Elementary Principal Kayne Beaudry reached out with ideas and offers to help with the planning process as Halifax recently completed work on their own playground.

Parents with expertise and experience in the field have also volunteered to serve as assistant project managers. Private donors have also come forward with in kind donations.

Wilhelmsen mentioned a general desire from the public, as shared on social media, to not see the dinosaur from the playground hauled away to be used as scrap metal.

Given the nostalgia that seems to surround the dinosaur, the committee suggested possibly auctioning it off or preserving it as a statue of some sort at the school. Best case scenario for completion of the playground would be September, but Fraser acknowledged that they are moving forward cautiously and mindfully to ensure the best possible end result.

The May 23 joint regional school committee meeting was also discussed as was the superintendent search.  Fraser mentioned the outstanding response thus far to the superintendent criteria survey that is open to the public.

Over 700 responses have been recorded thus far with parents, staff members, and other Plympton residents offering their thoughts and opinions on questions ranging from what issues are most important in the district to what qualities will make for the best superintendent. The survey will remain open throughout the summer as the search begins for Blackwood’s replacement.

Director of Business Services Christine Healy gave the financial report. With only a few weeks left in the school year, there are only a few deficits that will be absorbed by categories where there is a surplus.

Healy, who referred to the financials as “an amazing puzzle” also stated that a balance of approximately $21,700 will be returned to the town at the close of July.

Fraser thanked Healy for her hard work and reiterated, “So, we’ll be able to absorb any deficits in the budget and we’re still returning money to the town?”

“Yes,” Healy confirmed. The committee also approved the 2019-2020 elementary operating budget of $2,454,774 as well as the elementary special education budget of $1,084,164.

Search begins for ‘Super’

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The Halifax, Plympton, and Kingston school committees were all invited to attend the first portion of the Silver Lake Regional School Committee meeting on Thursday, May 23.

The meeting began with an in-depth discussion of the superintendent search that is to be conducted this summer in order to find a replacement for retiring Superintendent Joy Blackwood. MASC (Massachusetts Association of School Committees) has been hired to aid Silver Lake in conducting the search.

MASC Executive Director Glenn Koocher attended the meeting and spoke to the committees regarding the overall timeline and process for the search. Koocher stated that the goal would be to have promotional materials reviewed and approved by mid-June with the position posted by late June and remaining posted throughout the summer. According to Koocher 80-90 percent of applicants come in the last week with some 60 percent coming in in the final days.

The search committee, which will include members from all four of the district’s school committees as well as members of the school administration, will see all applications. MASC will place the applications into tiers based on their perceived level of qualification. The search committee can elect to look at these tiers or not as they see fit. A wide net will be cast with the position posted to the MASC website which receives 100,000 hits per year as well as a superintendent website which receives a million hits per year.

Of great importance to the committee members was that the new superintendent have a lengthy tenure with Silver Lake. There was mutual agreement that the committee wanted to avoid the so-called revolving door that seems to be the new way for superintendents in Massachusetts with most averaging around three years in a given school district. Current Superintendent Blackwood began her tenure when the current graduating class was starting kindergarten.

Koocher explained that while a standard contract is usually for three years, as part of the interview process, the search committee could certainly question applicants as to whether or not they still saw themselves in the district in five years’ time. Silver Lake Regional School Committee member Edward Desharnais stated that he would like to see someone hired who has spent a decade or longer of their career actually teaching in a classroom rather than someone who had spent less time teaching and more time doing strictly administrative work.  Regional experience was also deemed an important search criterion as the new superintendent will have to work with four school committees, three boards of selectmen, three finance committees, as well as all the other considerations that come along with a three-town district combining for a total of five schools. Chair of the Plympton School Committee Jon Wilhelmsen reminded the committees that no one applicant is going to have all of the experience and qualities wanted while Regional School Committee Secretary Paula Hatch spoke of the need for chemistry and again reiterated the importance of choosing a candidate that will be willing to marry the district. Regional School Committee Chair Jason Fraser said, “I’ve had several people from all three of the towns say that they believe this is the most important municipal position we have in the three towns and I could not agree more.”

A compensation package was also discussed. “We’re looking for a superintendent for a very dynamic superintendency; we’re also looking for a superintendent to come in in an off cycle mid-year,” Fraser said. Fraser based his proposed salary on data as well as current superintendent salaries in like communities saying, “The number that I’m looking at as a salary range would be $170,000 to $190,000. That’s the salary range I’d like us to publish to get the attention of the candidates we’d like to see.”

The school committees will meet on June 13 to vote on materials and authorize the distribution of materials as well as the posting of the position.

Elliot Glass, Director of Career and Technical Programs at Silver Lake, gave an update on the various community programs that the CTE students have been working on as of late. The greenhouse construction project at the back of the high school is on track and should be complete by the end of June. CTE students at Silver Lake have also lent their skills to various projects in all three of their local communities. Students were tasked with designing and landscaping a portion of the area at the Halifax playground.  Carpentry finished their garage on Lake St. in Kingston and will also be assisting with some of the structures at Gray’s Beach. The metal fabrication department has been working on replacing the flag pole at Dennett Elementary School in Plympton.

Silver Lake CTE

Program presented

A presentation was also given on the newest CTE program offered at Silver Lake as of this year. Allied Health teacher Kathryn Morini was present as were two of her students. In just its first year, the Allied Health program was the most requested of the CTE offerings. Students in the program have already earned their stop the bleed and CPR certifications and will undergo domestic violence training in the fall to certify them as domestic violence interventionists. Students within the program will test for their CNA (certified nursing assistant) and HHA (home health aide) in their junior year, gaining them employability as well as a leg up in applying to nursing school and more, to continue their education.

Morini spoke about the enormity of the healthcare field citing the opportunity for employment in both the medical and business sides of the industry. Students attended a career fair where a wide range of representatives were brought in including owners of care vendors, the CEO of Linden Ponds, OR nurses, physical therapists, and such.  “We just had a whole gamut of different people come up and talk to the kids about all the different career fields that they could go down and the doors that would be open to them really if they took on this field of study,” Morini explained.

Glass commended Morini for her extensive connections in the field and her ability to use those connections to further the students’ experience. Regarding the future of the program Morini said, “The main goal for the first year was to make sure that they learned it, retained it, and now they’re applying it. We’ll come back next year and we’ll do more and hit the ground running.”

Blackwood gave an update on the school related matters that were voted on at the various town meetings. Kingston, Plympton, and Halifax unanimously voted the Silver Lake assessments despite increases, a fact Fraser credits to the towns’ trust in Blackwood’s leadership. Blackwood also gave an update on the article to add a part-time school resource officer at the middle school which was voted on at both the Plympton and Halifax town meetings. Plympton supported the article while Halifax did not. Neither the finance committee nor the selectmen voted to support the article in Halifax and it failed to pass by a vote of 68-44. The vote was the final one of the evening in Halifax, occurring at nearly 11pm.

While Kingston, Plympton, and Halifax all seem to support the concept of a school resource officer at the middle school, the mechanism to pay for that officer has been a major point of contention for the finance committee and board of selectmen in Halifax since the idea was first introduced.

Kingston supported a part time school resource officer at the high school for four years and has been funding a full-time officer as of this year. By law, the school resource officers at the high school and middle school have to be Kingston police officers as the schools are located within their jurisdiction. The current school resource officer spends 99 percent of his time at the high school so Blackwood and other members of the administration feel strongly about bringing in an additional resource officer to increase security at the middle school.

The plan, for the first year only, was to put it as a warrant article and then have the towns come up with an intermunicipal agreement where they would reimburse Kingston for the cost of that resource officer. With only Plympton voting through the article, there is now only $14,000 (Plympton’s share of the cost) allotted toward funding for the part time resource officer at the middle school. While this means that the officer will not be available as often as if Halifax had also voted in favor, there will still be somewhat of a consistent police presence at the middle school; an improvement over the current situation.

Blackwood is determined to find a solution to fund the officer that will work for all three towns moving forward. The problem with placing the cost within the school budget is that it changes the assessment and adds to Kingston’s cost. The only equitable solution for the towns would be to add 1.5 resource officers into the budget. The problem with this approach is that it would result in having to make roughly $150,000 in cuts from the school budget.

Having the resource officers included in the school budget doesn’t make sense to Blackwood as she explains, “They are not my employee. I don’t evaluate them. I don’t pay their health insurance. It’s a very difficult thing. We are not year-round. Police officers are year-round. We are only 184 days.” Old Rochester, the nearest, most comparable district to Silver Lake funds their resource officers by putting the cost into each of the town’s police budgets. Blackwood said, “I know I’m leaving but I have not cut back on the goals in my agenda. One of my hopes for this fall is to get something in place before I’m done.  I am here full time, until I’m not. Security has been something that I have really focused on and I’m hopeful that we can come to an agreement that everybody can live with.”

HES students work with Kenya

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Five members of the Design Squad Global Club at Halifax Elementary School, from left, Kiera Ethier, Reese Helisek, Will Hinkley, Kai Martin, and Kullen Martin gather to recap their unique experience. (Photo by Kristy Zamagni-Twomey)

Back in 2016, a project known as Design Squad Global was launched by WGBH and funded through a grant from the National Science Foundation. The project was based on the PBS Kids show Design Squad that aired originally from 2007 to 2011.

As described on pbskids.org, “Design Squad Global empowers middle school kids to solve real-world problems and understand the impact of engineering in a global context.” Anyone interested in starting their own club can sign up via the website (https://pbskids.org/designsquad/) and be matched with an international partner club. A full club curriculum guide for either 6 or 12 weeks is available on the website and includes multiple hands-on STEM related projects to be completed by both partner clubs with results being shared with one another via pictures and video chats.

Recently, students at Halifax Elementary School had the opportunity to participate in a Design Squad Global club at their school led by teachers Lisa Whitney and Jen Reidy. The Halifax students were partnered with a school in Kenya.

Nicki Sirianni, the Outreach and Marketing Manager for Design Squad Global, explained, “Our goal is to get into as many pockets of the world as possible.” Design Squad Global is well on its way to this goal with over 700 clubs from 40 different countries, including 46 states in the United States. “We don’t ever want to limit who is allowed to use our materials. We have clubs in libraries, museums, boys and girls clubs, the YMCA, and also a lot of institutions and schools,” Sirianni said.

According to the Congressional Joint Economic Committee, only 14% of engineers in the U.S. are women with about 18-20% of engineering students being women. Likewise, according to the NACME (National Action Council for Minorities in Engineering), in 2013 minorities accounted for only 12 percent of employed engineers, a number that paled in comparison to their representation in the overall population.

While these numbers are up from past decades, clubs like Design Squad Global hope to encourage further participation in STEM fields from people of all backgrounds. Speaking to this issue, Sirianni said, “We want to make engineering relevant in their everyday lives. There are a lot of stereotypes about who is allowed to work in engineering and we want to break down those stereotypes. The whole purpose is to get kids really excited about engineering.”

Fourth grader Kullen Martin, fifth grader Kiera Ethier, and sixth graders Kai Martin, Will Hinkley, and Reese Helisek spoke to the Express about their experience in the Design Squad Global club at Halifax Elementary.

One of the first projects tasked to the Design Squad Global club was the creation of shoes from a variety of found materials including tape, Styrofoam, bouncy balls, foam, felt, bubble wrap, cardboard, batting, cloth, and sponges. Helisek described the differences in the Halifax students’’ approach and the Kenyan students.

“We tried to design them to be more functional so that we could actually wear them where theirs seemed like they were more focused on how they looked; a lot of them had really cool designs and colors.” Kullen Martin added, “The Kenyan students’ were more sandals for their weather where ours were more like boots and sneakers.”

Kai Martin explained another project, “We had one where we built a light pipe where we had to illuminate the inside of a cardboard box.” Ethier again stressed the Kenyan focus on design saying, “They looked like little houses. Again, with like the designing, we tried to make it functional and they tried to make it look good.”

While the Kenyan club and Halifax club came up with significantly different solutions to the same problem for some of the projects, this was not always the case. Helisek explained, “We did one where we had to shoot airplanes down the line and learn about turbulence. I was a little shocked that ours were extremely similar designs, our group and their group.”

The exchange of cultural information between the clubs was a focal point of the experience with both the Kenyan and the American students learning a lot about the way the other lives.

“They asked what the weather was right then and it was pretty cold then and I was telling them how our seasons are much more drastic than theirs. They looked a little surprised when we said how cold it was,” Ethier said. Hinkley added, “I think the reason they were so surprised was because Kenya is split by the equator so it is very warm. They have two seasons – the dry and the rainy season.”

Other differences also stood out to the groups. The Kenyan students were surprised to see that the American students were not wearing uniforms. Helisek was surprised by the age ranges in the Kenyan club saying, “I think they had from kindergarten to eighth grade. I was surprised that they had the younger grades and the older grades together.” Kai Martin added, “They were talking about how we took the bus to school and they said that they either walked or did chores in the morning or rode their bikes. They were surprised that we either took cars or rode the bus to school.”

The differences in languages spoken by the clubs also came as a surprise to both groups. For his part, Kullen Martin was impressed with the Kenyan students’ grasp of the English language saying, “Since you don’t really get to hear from people from another country often, you don’t really think they speak English as well or as fluently as they do so that was kind of cool.” Hinkley explained, “In Kenya they speak Swahili which is their national language, they speak English, and then they speak whatever their tribal language is.” The students reminisced about the Kenyan students attempts to teach them some words in their language, including jambo for hello.

A fun moment for both clubs came when Hinkley, who traveled to Kenya a few years ago with family, showed off some souvenirs from his travels during one of the video chats between the clubs. “I brought in a shirt [Kenyan soccer shirt], some money, a soapstone rhinoceros, and a bunch of animals that my grandparents brought me back many years ago,” Hinkley said. “I think they might have been the most surprised when Will had the stuff too, like the soccer shirt and the animals,” Helisek said. Kullen Martin added, “Will showed them he had just a random lego brick. They were sort of surprised when he pulled that out just to sort of see what we had as toys.”

For all the differences they discovered, the students definitely discovered some similarities as well in the form of hobbies and supervillains. “I didn’t know they could draw so well. There was this one kid that wanted to know our talents but then he showed us a picture of a drawing that he did of the joker and it was really good,” Ethier said.

When asked what was the best part of Design Squad Global was for them, the students emphasized both the cultural exchange and engineering aspects of the experience. Kullen Martin, who hopes to one day become a zoologist, said he was most excited about working with people in older grades, both at home and in Kenya. Older brother Kai, who would like to study architecture, said, “I thought the coolest part was the light pipe because we got to do something that hasn’t actually been put in place yet; that was the sort of thing that we really got to engineer and we might get to make in our later life.” Hinkley, who’s ambition is to become a civil engineer, said, “I enjoyed listening and learning from other people because other people had ideas that were so much different than mine. I learned some things from these people [motioning to his friends] but I also learned stuff from the people in Kenya.”

Both Ethier and Helisek were most enthralled by the opportunity to interact with people from another culture. Ethier who wants to one day become a veterinarian shared her thoughts.

“I think my most favorite part was interacting with the people in Kenya. The Facetime call was so amazing, I would never dream of meeting people in a whole different country. They were pretty funny and it was just cool how we got to talk to them.” Helisek, who hopes to become an elementary school teacher, said, “I liked how we got to interact with people from another country to see how they worked differently than we did.”