Governor Charlie Baker declared a state of emergency in Massachusetts on Tuesday, March 10, to aid in the state’s response to Coronavirus Disease 2019 or COVID-19 as it is identified. Baker said, “We will continue planning and preparing to mitigate the spread of this disease…I urge employers and other large organizations to follow our example and limit or eliminate non-essential travel, limit or eliminate large events where possible, and explore telework where appropriate for your organization.”

Older adults and those with health issues are also being implored by the administration to avoid large crowds and gatherings as are those that live with someone in the vulnerable population. As of press time, the number of confirmed or presumptive positives in Massachusetts had reached 91 with the majority of those being linked to a Biogen conference held in Boston in late February. As of Wednesday, March 11 the World Health Organization had declared COVID-19 a global pandemic. What does all of this mean for our local communities?

On March 11 Kingston Town Administrator Thomas Calter posted a letter to residents alerting them of a possible COVID-19 case in a Kingston resident at Beth Israel Deaconess Hospital in Plymouth. Later that same day, Kingston town officials leaarned that the patient was negative for the virus during a lengthy call with the Massachusetts Department of Public Health. As of press time, there are currently no presumptive or confirmed cases of COVID-19 in Kingston or Plymouth County.

The Kingston Board of Health said that thus far they have been following the guidelines provided by the CDC and Mass.gov. They did say that they planned to run a simulated drill with emergency services personnel in town in conjunction with the Board of Health on March 21. The drill is meant to assess the level of preparedness of the town should the worst-case scenario take place.

They also said that they are in talks with a contractor should they elect to do a commercial grade clean of the schools and other town buildings. The cleaning would involve a mist spray made by the same company that produces Lysol.

Other local communities have taken similar measures to help ensure that their schools are being properly disinfected. Whitman-Hanson performed a deep cleaning of all school facilities over the February break and plan to do another this coming weekend. All public schools in Plymouth were closed on Friday, March 6 in order to thoroughly clean and disinfect them. The closing was due to an abundance of caution after a student became ill upon returning from a recent trip to Italy. That student ended up testing negative for COVID-19.

The Plympton Board of Health is referring residents to a letter jointly posted to the town website on March 10 by Town Administrator Elizabeth Dennehy, Fire Chief Stephan Silva, and Chair of the Board of Health Art Morin. The letter reminds residents of common-sense actions they can take including washing hands, avoiding touching their face, and cleaning of frequently touched surfaces.

According to the letter, the town is following the advice of the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) and Department of Public Health (DPH). Specific questions, it says, can be directed to Fire Captain Cheryl Davis (cdavis@plymptontown.org).

The Halifax town website also provides information on COVID-19 including links to resources such as the Massachusetts Department of Public Health webpage and the CDC’s frequently asked questions regarding coronavirus and another page dedicated to interim guidance for employers. Halifax Town Administrator Charlie Seelig, who advised listening to medical professionals, said, “People should practice hygiene, if they feel sick whether it’s COVID-19 or the flu or a cold or something else, stay home. Obviously, people over a certain age or with frequent health problems are more endangered with this so they should probably take additional precautions.”

Regarding town business, Seelig said that unless specific directives were given by the Governor’s office, business would go on as usual with some obvious precautions taken. “We’re going to continue, until otherwise I would say, operating as normal,” Seelig said.

Seelig did say that maintenance staff both within the schools and other municipal buildings have been taking extra care to disinfect common surfaces such as doorknobs.

Given Governor Baker’s suggestion to avoid large gatherings, Seelig said he will reach out to the administration to find out how best to handle potentially large gatherings such as the Chapter 40B public hearings scheduled for next week.

Seelig’s advice to those in the community is to “Try and maintain, as well as you can, a sense of normalcy given the circumstances.”

Assistant Superintendent Ryan Lynch led the discussion on the Student Opportunity Act and what it means for Halifax during the Monday, March 2, Halifax School Committee meeting. The Student Opportunity Act, signed into law in November of 2019, rethinks the allocation of Chapter 70 funding throughout the state per the recommendation of the 2015 State Foundation Budget Review Committee. It has had the greatest impact on state education funding since the inception of the Massachusetts Education Reform Act in 1993.

Lynch explained that districts receiving less than $1.5 million in additional funds are required to produce a student opportunity plan known as the short form while districts receiving greater than $1.5 million must produce the long form. Halifax falls into the former category earning about $30 per student totaling $17,580. Under the Act, 85 percent of the funding was awarded to a small number of districts that were deemed to be the most in need.

Lynch explained that the student opportunity plan is meant to focus on ways in which to close persistent opportunity achievement gaps. “While this is a required plan, it does align with Halifax’s plan and Silver Lake’s plans to really try and support all students across the board,” Lynch explained. The plan is broken into four parts focusing on 1.) identifying which subgroups are not achieving at the same rate as their peers, 2.) Adopting, deepening, or continuing efforts to close that gap, 3.) Ways in which to monitor the plan and 4.) engaging families and stakeholders in the process. Lynch said that students with disabilities, students in the Title 1 program, and English language learners were all identified as needing additional supports to close the current gap in student achievement. Lynch also said that part of their plan includes the adoption of a new, evidence-based early literacy plan for students.

Principal Kayne Beaudry, Assistant Principal Brian DeSantes, and Superintendent Jill Proulx have recommended continuing with a math interventionist position for the fiscal year 2021 budget. The position was previously funded through Title I but won’t be for the upcoming year. A member of the public present at the meeting asked what kind of success the school has seen as a result of the position that would justify continuing with it despite needing to now fund it through the budget. Proulx said that curriculum coordinator Melissa Farrell, who was not present, would be best suited to answer the question with specifics. Proulx did stress, however, the importance of interventionists who can work alongside teachers in an inclusive classroom. “One of the things that we have talked about and focused on is really the need for push in rather than pull out. As research shows us, when we work with students in the classroom as opposed to sending them out for interventions, student achievement tends to grow,” Proulx explained.

Lynch explained that the state asks districts for specific metrics that can be used to measure success. Lynch said that ELA achievement on the MCAS as well as math achievement are two of the metrics that Halifax will be using. Halifax School Committee Chair Summer Schmaling asked that some metrics be used that are not test scores as not all students are good test takers.

Both Lynch and Proulx said that they are eager to find out from families what additional supports they may need. There will be a meet and greet with Proulx and Lynch on March 18 with a session beginning at 3 p.m. and another at 5:30 p.m.  The finalized plan must be submitted by midnight on April 1.

A member of the public and father of children at Halifax Elementary attended the meeting Monday to address his concerns over bullying at the school. The father said that he had been a part of a heated conversation on Facebook regarding bullying and “wanted to at least show everyone who I was so I’m not just sitting behind a keyboard.” He also said that he had been encouraged by a recent meeting he had with both the principal and assistant principal. He emphasized how important communication between parents, teachers, and students is to fixing the problem. Schmaling said, “Thank you for coming, there is nothing worse than a keyboard warrior… you’re sending a powerful message.”

Proulx presented a draft of the schedule for next year. Proposed in-service days for teachers would be August 31, September 1, November 3, and February 22. The first day of school would be September 2. February vacation will be from February 15 to February 19. Some school committee members asked about the professional development days all falling relatively early in the calendar year. Committee member Alison Vance, however, pointed out that prior to the current year, there were only two in-service days for teachers and they both occurred prior to school starting.

Proulx led the discussion on the budget addressing the need to fund the math interventionist previously funded by Title I. The amount needed to fund the position would be $30,000. Proulx suggested some proposed budget cuts including building cuts totaling $10,000 and another $7,000 in cuts from reducing Grade 3 textbooks and limiting the implementation of classroom materials such as STEM materials. Proulx also said that she requested cuts from technology director Steve Pellowe. Proulx said that she worked with administrators to provide a list of cuts that would have the least impact on student needs. In addition to shrinking Title I funds, Proulx said that Title II A funds are also being reduced. Title II A is currently the only means of funding professional development services.

Vance said that even without cuts, adding the $30,000 to the current budget would still be level service as it is not a new position. Schmaling was also hesitant to make the cuts proposed by Proulx. School Committee member and Halifax Selectman Gordon Andrews said that he felt that the budget was reasonable as is but that adding $30,000 on top of that would likely present a problem.  “I think it’s the fiscal reality of what’s happening with the town and what’s happening with the state,” Andrews said.

Proulx pointed out that there may be a savings in the budget once the transportation numbers are actual and the bus contracts finalized. There was also some discussion among the committee members as to whether or not it might make sense to ask the town to reallocate funds from the vocational students back to the schools in order to help fund the math interventionist. School committee member Robert Johnson said that he was not worried about the additional $30,000 given that the overall budget totals more than 8 million dollars.

In the end, the committee voted to approve the budget with the additional $30,000, forgoing the additional cuts proposed by Proulx. The committee voted to approve the 2020-2021 elementary regular day and special education operating budget of $5,871,010. They also voted to approve the elementary out of district special education tuition budget of $1,857,409 and the out of district special education transportation budget of $473,800. The final vote was to approve the out of district vocational education budget of $206,500.

Several of the Plympton town committee meetings scheduled for Monday, February 24 had to be rescheduled due to the town website going down sometime around 10 a.m. Monday morning. Under the Massachusetts Open Meeting Law, a public body must give at least 48 hours’ notice (excluding weekends and legal holidays) prior to any meeting with exceptions made for emergency situations.

Towns can elect through a vote at town meeting for the town website to be the agreed upon posting location for such meetings. If that website is unavailable for viewing for six or more continuous hours, the posting is considered insufficient.

Town Clerk Patricia Detterman said that she received an influx of calls yesterday during the outage.

Meetings scheduled included a Board of Selectmen meeting, a dog complaint hearing, a Plympton School Committee meeting and public budget hearing, a Board of Health meeting, Financial   Committee meetings, and a Planning Board hearing.

The selectmen’s meeting has been rescheduled for next Monday, March 2. The new days and times for the other meetings can be found on the town website.

CivicPlus is the platform that hosts the town’s website as well as many towns throughout the state including Halifax and Duxbury. CivicPlus sent an email Tuesday at 2:39 p.m. alerting the town that the problem was related to the load balancer, had been resolved.

A load balancer, intended to increase capacity and reliability, is a device that is used to distribute traffic across various servers. If one of the load balancers fails, a second one becomes active. If both fail or are misconfigured, servers are knocked offline. 

Detterman requested a report from CivicPlus detailing what led to the problem and steps that were taken to resolve it.

Detterman said that she has never before experienced the website going down and jokingly said that you don’t appreciate what you have until its gone.

She was quick to say, however, “We do appreciate it; it is such a powerful tool for this office.”

The Silver Lake Regional School Committee meeting on Thursday, February 13 began with a public budget hearing on the budget for fiscal year 2021. Committee Chair Jason Fraser opened the floor to anyone from the public that wished to speak on the budget.

A member of the public speaking on behalf of the Union said, “Research has consistently shown that the single most important school-based factor in student achievement is teacher quality… that’s why it’s so important that Silver Lake’s budget focuses on attracting and retaining great teachers.”  He continued saying, “the budget as the version 2 was presented seems to be cutting the exact factor that’s most important to student achievement. I would urge the school committee to direct the superintendent to reexamine the budget and make cuts to areas that have less of a direct impact to student success.”

He also read a statement from the 8^th grade English Language Arts (ELA) teachers at the middle school. Those teachers were concerned that one of the proposed cuts included revamping the twenty-first literacy class and integrating it into the 7^th grade curriculum. In the statement, the teachers expressed their concerns that this would remove teachers from their areas of expertise thus lessening the quality of the education the students receive.

Halifax town administrator Charlie Seelig also addressed the committee, beginning by acknowledging the difficulties inherent in creating the budget. “Doing the budget is probably one of the worst parts of the job.” He continued, “ …having to cut back incrementally, piece by piece and taking apart the Silver Lake school system in order to find some happy medium between what the towns can afford and what our students need is a very difficult proposition especially given that almost every single dollar of increase in the budget from year to year right now is a dollar that’s coming from the three communities.” Seelig also stressed the lack of money coming in from the state as well as the competition posed by charter schools. Students attending charter schools from the Silver Lake district increased from 20 in 2013 to 58 in 2020.

“I can’t come to you and say this is a terrible budget, you didn’t cut enough – you cut a lot,” Seelig said. Seelig said that it appeared to him that the assessment among the three communities was around 3.2 percent whereas he was hoping to see something closer to 2 or 2.5 percent. It is worth noting that administrators came up with an assessment number that they say is closer to 2.99 percent. Seelig also pointed out that while on the surface it appeared that the assessment to Halifax was quite low at 1.2 percent, that number doesn’t accurately reflect the true cost to Halifax. According to Seelig there were expenses transferred to shared cost that are no longer reflected in the Silver Lake budget. Additionally, Seelig shared his concerns that Halifax is again being asked to fund their share of the middle school resource officer through an article at town meeting as it is yet another cost to the town that is not included in the budget as presented.

Seelig, who has worked for Halifax for 24 years, said that it would be difficult for him to go to town meeting in May and tell residents to vote against the school budget because of the low assessment to Halifax this year. However, Seelig said he wants residents to understand that several years from now that assessment is going to climb as their share of the school population will inevitably increase. “Compound interest just keeps accumulating and at some point, we’re not going to be able to afford this,” Seelig explained.

Chair of the Halifax Finance Committee Melinda Tarsi also spoke during the hearing saying that while she shared many of the same concerns as Seelig she wanted to focus her comments on the part time school resource officer at the middle school. “We had the conversation last year concerning the structure of the financing and we had hoped that given a year more of talking and development that we would be able to find a way to successfully negotiate an agreement that would allow us to place the cost for the part time SRO into the assessment and to work out a more equitable arrangement among the police departments,” Tarsi said.  “As we understand it, there hasn’t been a significant change in the approach that is being taken and that this is going to be placed as an article, again, this year at the Halifax town meeting,” she continued. Tarsi was quick to point out that Halifax and the Finance Committee are in favor of both the position and the increased safety the position presents, but that they continue to be opposed to the proposed mechanism to fund that position. Tarsi said that Silver Lake shouldn’t be allowed to introduce articles with requests for positions since no other department is allowed to do that.

Chair of the Kingston Finance Committee Carl Pike also spoke to the committee, beginning his comments, much like Seelig did, with an acknowledgment of how difficult it is to create the budget. Pike commended Silver Lake for coming in with a bottom-line increase of 2.91 percent but noted that they were asking other departments to come in lower, at around 2.5 percent. Like Seelig, Pike pointed out that these yearly increases will prove difficult to sustain in the long run. Pike said that the average tax bill in Kingston is $6500 and pointed out that if all departments come in at a 3 percent increase it would mean an additional $200 onto the average bill. “If that happens year after year, it is just not sustainable,” Pike said.

The Halifax Police Department has been awarded a grantEach December, the Office of Grants and Research (OGR) partners with police agencies across the state as part of the national Drive Sober or Get Pulled Over enforcement mobilization.  OGR recently awarded grants to 125 local police departments, including a grant that reimburses the town of Halifax up to $7500 for extra patrols during the mobilization period of Dec. 11 through Jan. 20, to pay for overtime patrols to increase impaired driving enforcement targeting drivers impaired by alcohol and/or drugs during the holiday season.

Complementing these efforts was an educational campaign titled Wisdom featuring local cannabis users talking about their personal experiences with, and thoughts on, driving after consuming cannabis, alcohol, or other drugs.  Impaired crashes are not accidents; they are preventable.  Wisdom’s ads serve as a reminder for drivers to recognize the responsibility they have to drive safely and to avoid getting behind the wheel if they are impaired.  Remember – If you feel different, you drive different.

The next mobilization period is March 6-22, the spring speed enforcement campaign, followed by the April 1 – 30 campaign for distracted driving, then May 14 to 31 Occupant Protection/Click it or ticket.  From June 11 to July 5 is the Summer Speed Enforcement mobilization and final period is Aug. 20 – Sept. 8 Drive Sober or get Pulled Over.

The grant will reimburse the town of Halifax up to $7500 dollars for extra patrols during these periods.  The officers on these patrols must document at least 3 stops per hour unless an arrest is made then time is allowed to process the arrest.

During the Monday, January 27 Plympton Board of Selectmen meeting, town administrator Elizabeth Dennehy said that herself and Selectman John Traynor met with State Representative Kathleen LaNatra, Senator Michael Brady, a representative from the town of Halifax, and Francis Gay, the administrator of The Greater Attleboro Taunton Regional Transit Authority (GATRA). Dennehy said the takeaway from the meeting was that applying for membership in GATRA would only require a vote of the Board of Selectmen. GATRA would then vote in February to act on the request. Traynor said that membership would not cost the town any additional money.

College student and Plympton resident Emily Hayes attended Monday’s meeting to speak to her need for available public transportation. Hayes said that she had a brain tumor removed many years ago that resulted in a loss of her peripheral vision leaving her unable to drive. Hayes said, “I don’t really have freedom and I’ve seen the bus go by our street coming from Kingston and it always kind of stings a little because there is my freedom going right by.” Hayes’ parents also attended the meeting and her mother Susan Hayes described her many failed efforts to secure transportation for her daughter. Hayes said she reached out to MA Rehab but was told they don’t offer transportation services. GATRA told her they don’t provide services to Plympton and the MA Association for the Blind and Visually Impaired told them Emily didn’t qualify as she wasn’t visually impaired enough. In the end, the elder Hayes had to leave her part time job of 16 years to assist her daughter with commuting to and from college. Joy thanked them for telling their story saying, “It’s nice to personalize this… It’s very brave of you to come in and share your story.”  The Selectmen voted for the town of Plympton to become a member of GATRA.

Transfer station sticker dispute

A dispute over a sticker on a vehicle for the town’s transfer station took up more than thirty minutes of Monday’s meeting and included a trip to the parking lot to ensure the correct and visible placement of a sticker. The residents insisted that they always had a sticker on their vehicle while the employees of the transfer station said it was either placed in the wrong location or not present on the vehicle at all. The residents insisted they were being singled out and even described their treatment as harassment, something those working at the transfer station vehemently disputed. An earlier incident at the transfer station between those present at Monday’s meeting resulted in the police being called on the resident due to fear for the workers’ safety.

Selectman Mark Russo said, “Public service is difficult and you end up dealing with situations that can get kind of hot and I totally respect the work of our people at the transfer station and I know they have a tough job and I know that sometimes they catch some abuse for doing what their job is.”

Russo went on to acknowledge the confusion surrounding where the sticker was and was not present saying that as long as it is now properly affixed to the car and there are no further incidents, it would be best to move forward.  Selectman Chair Christine Joy said, “Let’s put this behind us and hope that we don’t have to talk about this again.” Russo added, “I would hope that the interactions at the transfer station can be done with dignity and respect.”

Right of First Refusal

There were two public hearings both concerning Chapter 61A right of first refusal. Right of first refusal gives a potentially interested party, in this case the town of Plympton, the ability to purchase a property prior to the seller negotiating other offers. Notice of the hearings were posted in the Plympton-Halifax Express. The first hearing regarded several acres of property on Lake St. and the second was for 17 acres on Main St. The hearings were first opened to those wishing to speak in favor of the town exercising it’s right of refusal and then to those against. There was no one present that wished to speak out for either of the properties in question.

Before heading into deliberations, Russo did let those present know that the selectmen requested recommendations from various town boards and committees including the Open Space Committee, Planning Board, Historical Society, Conservation Committee, Agricultural Commission, and the Community Preservation Committee. The Board did not hear back from any of those groups. The Board unanimously voted not to exercise their right of first refusal in both instances.

Housing Choice Grant for $93,000

Dennehy explained the next step in the Housing Choice Grant contract process to the selectmen. The grant is for $93,000 for a consultant to work with the Town Campus Committee to establish a master plan for the town center and hopefully establish some housing opportunities. Dennehy also told the selectmen that the Town Campus Committee wished to change their name to the Town Properties Committee. The selectmen voted to make the change official.

Traynor told the other selectmen that he would like to see the Board increase their social media presence. Traynor cited the success of the fire department’s social media sites.

More Communication

Traynor also said that he would like to see a meeting between various elected officials to deal with issues that arise outside of the purview of the Board of Selectmen.

Currently Dennehy runs an operations meeting where the major department heads gather to look at the state of the town and ensure communication across the departments.

Joy suggested the possibility of a quarterly roundtable discussion that would include both department heads and elected officials. Traynor agreed saying that he would like to see these meetings have a theme such as customer service. “I think sometimes we miss that the only reason we are here is as a customer service to the residents,” Traynor explained. Russo agreed saying it might also be beneficial to have a de-escalation training to help officials deal with challenging situations that may arise.

Cultural Council members needed

Dennehy addressed the need for members to join the Cultural Council. Dennehy pointed out that without an active Cultural Council, the town won’t receive money from the Massachusetts Cultural Council (MCC), a state agency. The grants are used to support a number of artistic and cultural projects throughout the town. Joy described the Council as “feel good” and suggested possibly reaching out to people currently serving on some other boards and committees. Dennehy said that she felt that people may be more likely to come forward to join if they realized that the town was in jeopardy of losing the funding.

Jeanne Kling of the Halifax Beautification Committee wants to remind residents that the ban on single use plastic bags in the Town of Halifax will begin Sunday, March 1, so retailers and shoppers alike should be prepared.

The article was passed at  the Halifax Town Meeting in May 2019.

The reusable bag bylaw, designed to reduce the use and distribution of single use plastic shopping bags, will take effect on March 1, 2020.

This bylaw was voted at the Annual Town Meeting in May, 2019 and has been approved by the Attorney General. It applies to all businesses operating in the town of Halifax.

No plastic bags will be permissible for distribution at checkouts (points of sale). There is no thickness, or percentage of plastic content acceptable.

The Beautification Committee, on clean up days and at other events, has distributed free reusable bags while supplies lasted. Start gathering your reusable bags now!

For more information about the bylaw, or with questions, please contact the Halifax Beautification Committee at beautification@halifax-ma.org.

A joint meeting of the Silver Lake Regional School Committee and Union 31 was held on January 9 in order to interview and potentially hire a new assistant superintendent.

Newly promoted from assistant superintendent to superintendent, Jill Proulx told those gathered that she had previously worked with candidate Ryan Lynch for five years during her tenure as assistant superintendent in Scituate.  Lynch was the English Department chairman for the Scituate Public Schools from 2008-2015 before serving as principal of the Lester J. Gates Middle School in Scituate from 2015-2019.

Lynch, who grew up on the South Shore, received his Bachelor of Arts degree from The University of Notre Dame and completed his master’s degree at Brown University.

Lynch comes to the table with nearly two decades’ worth of experience as a classroom teacher in addition to his administrative roles.

Proulx described Lynch as having a “devotion to meeting the needs of all learners” as well as a “growth mindset.” “I think we would be very lucky to have Ryan on our team,” Proulx said.

“I am the product of a public high school. I believe in the power of schools and the value of public service. My mother is a retired high school principal and that really inspired me to see the kind of work that school districts can do to change lives,” Lynch told the committee and Union 31.

Regional School Committee Chair Jason Fraser said, “The build to this point in your career is rather unique as you were so long in the classroom and in the trenches, which is something that many of us have said many, many times that we really look for in someone coming forth in an administrative position.”

Many of those present took the opportunity to ask Lynch a variety of questions on topics such as “initiative fatigue” and charter schools. Those present were impressed with Lynch’s responses.

Jeanne Coleman, a member of both the Kingston School Committee and Union 31, was a part of the search committees that unanimously forwarded Lynch on as the sole candidate. Coleman said, “He’s very authentic and very positive. Every one of the questions that we asked him, which were pretty heavy, he answered very thoroughly and also with a lot of optimism for our district and also with a lot of knowledge about our district already.”

Regional School Committee member Paula Hatch said that she considered Proulx and Lynch’s time working together in Scituate to be a positive. Hatch said, “Sometimes it’s hard when somebody comes in to get a rhythm going… I would think there would be an immediate gel moving into the team and that’s a big hurdle that you’ve already jumped over and that’s a wonderful thing for the district that you’re already that much further ahead in the process.”

Lynch was unanimously voted through by both the Union and the Regional School Committee as the next assistant superintendent.

Regional Budget Discussed

Once the joint meeting adjourned, the regional school committee began their budget discussion. Superintendent Joy Blackwood said that herself, Proulx, and Director of Business Services Christine Healy have been meeting frequently to build the budget for fiscal year 2020-2021.

Blackwood said that version one of the budget came in much too high and that middle school principal Jim Dupille and high school principal Michaela Gill joined Blackwood, Proulx, and Healy in trying to reduce that number. They were successful in cutting $331,239 from version one without cutting staff. Blackwood said, “I’m sort of willing to cut most anything except staff; that’s always my last resort.”

The original version of the budget was coming in at 3.84 percent while version two came in at 3.34 percent. Much of what was cut was equipment including bleachers, technology items, and books. “We cut pretty much to the bone,” Blackwood explained. Blackwood said that finding cuts is quite difficult as 98 percent of the budget is fixed costs.

Decreasing enrollment

Blackwood said that enrollment has been decreasing over the last ten years but did note that the number of students being homeschooled has also decreased. Twelve students at the grade 7-12 level are currently attending school in surrounding districts due to school choice.

“I had not realized the numbers that we are losing to school choice,” Blackwood said. Of Silver Lake considering school choice, Blackwood commented, “Considering our financial situation and the fact that we have space, it may be worth considering going forward. I’m not saying it’s the right thing to do but I think I would be remiss in not mentioning it as a potential source.” Currently there are 293 students enrolled in the career and technical education program (CTE), which accounts for 26 percent of the entire high school.

There are five retirements including some aide positions that will not be replaced, providing clean savings for the budget. Blackwood said that the addition of an allied health teacher as well as a nurse leader were not included in the current version of the budget. In order to seek Chapter 74 certification for the allied health program at the high school, a second teacher will need to be added. Half of the program, which is currently the most popular of all the CTE offerings, can be paid for through a grant but the other half, roughly $30,000, will need to be added into the budget. The position will be paid for by the additional Chapter 74 income but that won’t take Effect until the year after next. The nurse leader position would be a shared cost position were it to come to fruition. Several members of the committee said that despite the need for further cuts they would still be supportive of adding these two positions.

There are a few areas that may potentially provide further cost savings when the final numbers are received. A five percent increase is currently built in for health insurance, but that number may likely be as low as three percent, providing roughly a $56,000 savings. The district is going out to bid for the bus contract and the number currently entered into the budget is quite fiscally conservative. Blackwood said that they are hopeful to have those numbers finalized by the February committee meeting.

Perhaps the biggest hit to the budget is the contribution to the Plymouth County Retirement. The contribution this year is up $111,238. Blackwood and Healy said that they are at a loss as to why the large increase.

Principals Dupille and Gill both addressed the methods that have been taken for curbing the vaping epidemic in the schools as well as the approach to disciplining those found using vaping devices. A vape detection system was purchased and installed over the summer but has been malfunctioning since. Administrators reached out to the company and have since deactivated the system.  A new devices will be reactivated in the next few weeks.

Gill said that a task committee was formed to study discipline data related to vaping. What was found was that the traditional approach consisting of multi-day suspensions, etc. was largely ineffective in deterring use.  The school has started to develop a deviation program, based on the one used in the Belmont school district, that would provide education, support, and counseling for students to help with their addiction. Some students have done the Upper Academy in North River which is a 5-day program, in lieu of a suspension, that focuses on counseling and therapy and learning about what’s causing their addiction. The end goal is to start a four-week long program in-house at Silver Lake that would provide similar services. Gill said that another goal is providing a safe space where students can self-report and receive help.

The administration also recently partnered with the allied health program and the SADD (students against destructive decisions) program to unite students and staff together to combat the epidemic. The allied health students hope to reach out to students across all age levels in the district in order to help with education and prevention.

The SADD students are working on school PSAs to spread awareness about vaping and the dangers associated with it. Silver Lake Regional School Committee student representative Jake Twomey is enrolled in the allied health program and is also a part of the coalition of staff and students intent on working on a solution to the ever growing problem of vaping.

Twomey said that the students intend to do a presentation aimed at high school students, another one aimed at middle school students, and still another for the youngest cohort at the elementary level. Twomey explained that the hope is that the words would carry more weight coming from students. He also said that the goal is to focus not just on fixing the problem, but also on preventing it. A student support group is another idea that has been floated.

Dupille said that students undergo SBIRT (Screening, Brief Intervention, and Referral to Treatment) screenings. Additionally, the school offers anti-vaping programs throughout the year including this past week’s Vaping Me Crazy led by presenter Michael DeLeon. Dupille stressed that such presentations are open to anyone and are not limited to middle school parents.

Vice chair of the Regional School Committee Eric Crone said that he has been alarmed at the number of parents and grandparents who believe that vaping is not addicting and mild compared to what people of an older generation were doing in school. The consensus among the committee was that oftentimes parents as well as students need to be better educated regarding the risks associated with vaping.

Superintendent Joy Blackwood Prepares for Retirement

Staff threw a retirement party for Blackwood to thank her for her many years of service at Silver Lake. During Thursday’s meeting, Gill said, “On behalf of Jim and I and all of our staff and our students Joy, we just wanted to express our heartfelt thank you for your dedication and service to this district. We’re going to miss you, wish you all the best in your retirement, and we just want to publicly acknowledge all that you have done for our students and thank you for that.”

Fraser said, “The biggest impact you’ve had on my life is the impact you’ve had on my children’s lives.”