Morse Brothers, Inc. and the town of Halifax will meet once again in the courtroom to settle their grievances.
Morse Brothers, Inc. and the town of Halifax have an increasingly complex history that goes back decades and is most recently highlighted by a public earth removal hearing and now a lawsuit against the town brought forth by the cranberry growers. The issues at play are myriad and echo an overall conflict that is playing out throughout Southeastern Massachusetts. On one side are the cranberry growers, particularly the small farms, that are claiming to attempt to maintain what is seen by some as a dying industry. There are residents concerned with how those farms’ practices affect their access to things like clean water and safe roadways. Still another side are the environmental groups that claim that the sand and gravel mining being done by the farmers is unnecessary and dangerous to the environment.
Back in November, the Halifax Board of Selectmen issued an earth removal permit to Morse Brothers following the public hearing. The current permit is to remove 20,000 yards of earth from a hill and does not include excavation below grade or into the water table. After hearing residents’ concerns, the Selectmen imposed a number of restrictions on the permit including limiting truck traffic to a maximum of 25 trucks per day as well as imposing strict limitations on hours of operation. There are additional restrictions regarding truck coverings. Morse Brothers states in their suit that the restrictions on Morse Brothers, their trucks, and their drivers go above and beyond what is prohibited by law on public roadways.
In the suit, Morse Brothers allege that for decades they engaged in “routine farm maintenance” including the removal of sand, without it being suggested that their activities were subject to the earth removal bylaw or could potentially be prohibited by the town. Morse Brothers allege that the Board of Selectmen’s insistence that they apply for earth removal permits was a direct result of complaints from a small number of residents concerned with truck traffic and damage to roadways.
In October of 2023, Morse Brothers requested exemption from the permit requirements of the town’s earth removal bylaw but were not granted it. Morse Brothers has cited concerns that the application of the bylaw to their ongoing cranberry bog maintenance has “unreasonably infringed on protections of land uses for the primary purpose of agriculture under State law.” They argue that the conditions imposed upon them unreasonably interfere with “activities integral to farming” and will cost their business significantly.
Jeremy Gillespie, who serves on the Zoning Bylaw Review Committee as well as the Beautification Committee, has been an outspoken opponent of the earth removal. According to Gillespie, the Board of Selectmen don’t have the authority to grant a permit for this particular operation as the hill is in the Aquifer Protection Overlay District which allows for stricter constraints on land uses in order to protect water resources. Halifax is a right-to-farm community which is intended to protect agricultural enterprises from unnecessary interference including from abutters. Gillespie believes that the town issued the permit despite protests from residents because zoning restrictions can’t unreasonably regulate farming. “It can reasonably regulate farming,” Gillespie said with emphasis on the reasonably. He continued, “It’s not unreasonable for us to want to protect our aquifer.”
While Morse Brothers insists that the removal of the earth is necessary from a farming perspective to support their cranberry activities, there are those who believe that these types of projects have a different goal – to turn a profit on mined sand and gravel. A public earth removal hearing was recently held in Kingston for PK Realty Trust where environmental attorney Meg Sheehan spoke out against earth removal. Sheehan, who was not speaking on the Morse Brothers project, but the PK Realty project said, “This project appears to be one more ruse to get the sand and gravel out of there… I have seen 100 of these ruses… enough is enough and we are drawing the line.”
Sheehan urged residents to visit https://www.sandwarssoutheasternma.org/. The cover page of an 84-page report on that website describes it as “An investigation into the money, politics and corruption behind sand mining and its silent environmental crisis in Southeastern Massachusetts.” Of the mining, Gillespie said, “Obviously the state is looking the other way; they need a cheap source of local concrete to build houses, you know?” Gillespie implied that cranberry growers are choosing the highest elevations to place bogs saying that they can make money from the excavated sand while breaking even on the cranberries.
While Gillespie believes that this particular earth removal project by Morse Brothers is likely not being done to turn a profit on mined soil and sand, he does question if past projects by them were. According to Gillespie, they removed a large hill in 2015 that Morse Brothers claimed was shading their bogs. Gillespie insists that the hill was always there and the removed earth was likely sold for profit. Regarding the current project he said, “If you needed the sand, why didn’t you keep some of it? They sold it for profit; they didn’t expand their bogs; they didn’t improve it for production.” He acknowledged that some of the removed earth is likely being used for agricultural purposes like reconstructing bogs to raise them to elevation in order to plant a new variety of vine. Certainly, the application of sand to cranberry bogs is part of a regular farming process. Gillespie questions, however, why the sand needed to do so can’t simply be purchased by either the cranberry grower or the town if it meant protecting the water source. “When they apply for all these grants that they’ve received over the years they always put sand as an expense – a huge one, but from what I’ve seen, it’s free to them… so that’s kind of the town’s argument too, we’re not making it for you not to be able to farm, if you just need sand, just go buy sand, you can always buy sand; nobody is preventing you from buying sand,” Gillespie said.
Gillespie said that there have been no environmental studies on what removal of these uplands is doing to the lakes. “You don’t have lakes without the uplands that surround them… I don’t know that there is much history of people doing this,” he explained. He noted that the sand is always leaving the property rather than being brought to it. “The less sand you have… the less filtered your water is; sand is an excellent water filter,” Gillespie said. Referring back to the reasonable versus unreasonable argument, Gillespie said of the 165,000 cubic yards removed from Halifax’s division II water protection zoning overlay district, “it’s not unreasonable not to want to continue removing sand that filters our water considering all of the problems that we are having right now.” Residents have taken to the Halifax MA Community Facebook page to post pictures of their excessively dirty water filters. Gillespie said that he would like to see the town or Morse Brothers bring in a hydrologist to properly investigate the effects of the earth removal on the surrounding water.
“Nobody knows… when you’re taking down these hills that have been sitting there for 20,000 years, you’re disturbing the balance that’s in the soil, you’re disturbing iron and other stuff that may have been deprived of oxygen and you’re introducing it to oxygen and then you get iron oxidizing bacteria… when you’re taking down giant glacial hills right next to the lake, there’s going to be effects and you might not see those effects immediately; you may see them in 20 years,” Gillespie said.
While the town imposed restrictions on Morse Brothers around truck traffic, etc. their position on the earth removal’s effect to the town’s drinking water remained clear. During the meeting where the Halifax Selectmen issued the now disputed earth removal permit, Selectman Jonathan Selig said, “this project has been reviewed by our Highway Surveyor, our Board of Health Agent, our Water Superintendent, our Police Chief, our Land Counsel, an Independent Engineer – all paid employees whose job description is to help be watchdogs for our Town. The site has also been inspected by the Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection – an agency whose sole purpose is to literally protect the environment… I believe the town has done its due diligence… this project does not pose a threat to our town’s drinking water or our natural resources.”
Morse Brothers has been growing and producing cranberries in Massachusetts for six decades and on Lingan St. in Halifax for 40 years. The history of cranberry growing in Massachusetts is rich, in Southeastern Massachusetts in particular. According to sources, Ephraim Stetson first began to cultivate cranberries in Halifax in 1867. Cranberry production really took off when the United Cape Cod Cranberry Co. was formed in 1904. In Halifax, the A.C. Burrage Cranberry Co. was founded a year later in 1905. Burrage, as it is known to many in the Halifax and Hanson area, was named after industrialist Albert C. Burrage and is home today to over 2,000 acres of ponds, marsh, swamps, and cranberry bogs. Perhaps the biggest name in cranberries, Ocean Spray was formed in 1930 in Hanson. Today, Massachusetts is responsible for nearly a quarter of the cranberries grown nationally behind only Wisconsin in production of the crop. According to the Farm Credit East Knowledge Exchange Report, the cranberry industry is responsible for 6,400 jobs throughout the Commonwealth. Additionally, the overall economic impact of cranberry production in Massachusetts in 2023 was estimated at $1.7 billion when combined across farming, processing, manufacturing, and marketing.
Despite Massachusetts’ hearty production of cranberries, the industry is plagued by problems including increasing production costs and decreasing crop values. An increasing world supply of cranberries, particularly in Canada, has contributed to the declining prices for the crop. The Massachusetts cranberry industry is also affected by federal trade policies that reduce the market abroad. Climate change has also presented problems for cranberry growers as winter temperatures grow increasingly erratic and they depend on frozen bogs for crop health. The last decade has seen the state lose more than a quarter of its cranberry farms. Cranberry growers have sought to make ends meet through alternative means such as leasing their land for solar.
Halifax is a microcosm of the current state of Massachusetts’ cranberry industry and the complex issues that surround it. Morse Brothers’ suit against the town is at the epicenter of that.

The second round of the SLT Construction Corporation’s continued hearing before the Plympton Zoning Board of Appeals will take place Thursday, Jan 25, at 6:30 p.m. in the Deborah Samson meeting room in the Plympton Town House, 5 Palmer Rd. Plympton residents are encouraged to attend.
The first round of the hearing was Thursday, Jan. 4, and the standing room only crowd heard from attorneys representing SLT as to how their client’s project fell within the bylaws of the Town of Plympton, and why it should be allowed.
Zoning Enforcement Officers Thomas Millias and Kathleen Cannizzo issued their determination not to allow the permit for the proposed asphalt, brick, and concrete processing facility (ABC) based on the following: the project is located in a Groundwater Protection District and the SLT plant stated it would use water to mitigate the dust created in the processing. Because the water would mix with the rubble dust particles, it would become a “process liquid” unless it were treated and returned to state drinking water standards.
Second, the definition of “Light Manufacturing” states that the fabrication, assembly, processing, finishing work and packaging must be done in a manner such that noise, dust, odor, vibration, or similar objectionable features are confined to the premises and are in no way objectionable to abutting property.
SLT’s several attorneys spoke on their client’s behalf, stating that there would be no “process liquids” used at the Spring St. property, that there would be no manufacturing of asphalt, brick, or concrete at the property; it would use previously manufactured asphalt (cured), brick with attached mortar, and concrete rubble that may have rebar metal in it, break it down by crushing it, using strong magnets to remove the scrap metal, then force the remaining material through screens to size the final product. They would not be fabricating anything; they would be recycling existing materials, all of which is allowed under Plympton’s By-laws, they claim.
SLT handed out information in the form of 32-page booklets to explain their proposed operation.
SLT maintains that any vibration, dust, noise, or odor will not be felt outside of the Spring St., Plympton’s property lines. As the Spring St. property abuts Carver, the entrance and exit for the facility will be through the Town of Carver.

The Halifax Elementary School Committee met Tuesday, Jan. 2. The topics of conversation were heavy, ranging from hate speech to the preliminary budget presentation.
Chair Lauren Laws asked the other committee members to approve the minutes from their previous meeting. Member Lori Costa-Cline requested that they hold off on voting on the minutes. She explained, “There’s a significant discussion that’s not included… and it was an important discussion that involved diversity, equity, belonging, and inclusion – creating a group focused on that. Why that was necessary – incidents of hate and racist speech at HES; creating a more tolerant culture; work that had been happening in terms of cultural inclusion. So, I think that I am disappointed that we don’t have a recording.” She said that she felt it was important that they have a public record. The Committee voted that they would come back with edits for what to add into the minutes.
Laws said that they added the DEIB (Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Belonging) subcommittee during their last meeting. Beaudry said that as of the start of this year, the school has classified 92 incidents as behavioral issues at the K-6 level. He said that 39 percent of them were code of conduct, 30 percent of them were peer conflict, 13 percent were inappropriate language, 13 percent were noncompliance, and 4 percent were vandalism. He said that of the incidents, 75 to 80 percent of them occurred within the fifth and sixth grade. “We did have an incident, as was brought up last meeting, where there was hateful words towards another student. We obviously investigated that, parent meeting, we had a student meeting, there was discipline that was administered according to our handbook,” Beaudry said. He did note that there were several incidents of writing on the walls in the bathroom that were hateful. “It was typically in the boys’ bathroom,” he noted. He said that they have implemented a program called Hallway Pass where fifth and sixth grade students have to note why they are leaving the classroom, for what purpose, and what times they are out. According to Beaudry this has cut down on these types of incidents.
Costa-Cline asked how these incidents were being communicated to all stakeholders. “Kind of closing the loop with staff, making sure the kid that reported the incident understands what happened,” she explained. Beaudry said that, “we have been hearing derogatory, negative comments and that’s why… we have been working with Dr. Carlos Hoyt who is a speaker and a consultant… so Ryan [Lynch] and I and one of the fifth grade teachers met with this person just to kind of share like what the issues were we were seeing and then this individual shared what they can bring to us and right now we’re in the process of just finalizing the dates… it’s a really neat model.” He said that it would begin with a workshop for teachers and then a workshop for fifth and sixth grade students. Laws asked if there would potentially be room to start these conversations for younger grades so they don’t come to a head in the way that they have this year. Beaudry said that they are absolutely open to that. The Committee asked for further information about Dr. Hoyt.
Hybrid Meeting Request
Laws said that it was requested that they meet in a hybrid form. Laws said that they don’t have capabilities to do that in their meeting space. She said that she did find out that they would be able to broadcast them live on YouTube since she felt that the intention was not so much to participate but to be able to watch in real time. Superintendent Jill Proulx said that Kingston was the only one of the three towns that broadcast live. There was some discussion surrounding the public making comments. The Committee said that people needed to realize that those comments would not be viewed by them during the meeting. They voted to look into the technology to enable them to broadcast live.
Policy Review
Committee member Karyn Townsend said that she would like to see a policy put in place that there would be no food or candy given by a teacher to a classroom at any time. She said that she felt that food should never be given as a reward. Principal Kayne Beaudry said that the policy already exists. Costa-Cline said that while she appreciated the intent, there were specific “cultural events” such as the ice cream social that were centered around food. Laws pointed out that they give out hot chocolate and apples during the Turkey Trot as well. Proulx said that she recommended that they begin with a review of the existing policy.
Principal, Asst. Superintendent, Superintendent Updates
Kayne Beaudry provided the Committee with an update on Star Assessments that were administered in Grades 2 through 6. He said that ELA scores improved by 6 percent and Math by 13 percent. Assistant Superintendent Ryan Lynch provided a curriculum and assessment update. He said that they have continued their work with consultant Dr. Pia Durkin of Research for Better Teaching. “We did learning walks on November 29, Mr. Beaudry, myself, Dr. Proulx, Mr. DeSantes, Dr. Durkin visited several classrooms and looked at differentiation, learning centers, engagement; Mr. Beaudry followed up with an email to all teachers,” Lynch said. He said that more learning walks would take place in February.
Beaudry provided an update on the water testing that has been ongoing within the school. Lead levels were found to be elevated in all 10 sites that were tested. A company has been hired to do additional testing. “In the meantime, water is only being used for hand washing,” Laws said. Beaudry said that bottled water was being used for water fountains and in the kitchens for any type of cooking. Laws said, “To summarize… we’re not sure if it was the timing of the flushing that impacted the lead results, so the reason we are retesting with someone who – this is someone who this is what they do, they’re professionals – is to make sure either that those tests were valid or they weren’t valid and then we’ll go from there.” “Yes,” Proulx replied.
Proulx began her update by thanking Director of Business Services Christine Healy for her 28 years of service to Silver Lake. “Christine is not only a remarkable Business Director, but human being… we’re going to miss her and we love her very much,” Proulx said to a round of applause. “It’s been an amazing journey and I have learned a lot and I’ve met a lot of wonderful people,” Healy said.
Proulx told the Committee that the Commissioner has approved their amended regional agreement that includes the inclusion of Pre-k officially into the Silver Lake Regional Agreement. She said it also brings the agreement up to date with all current laws and regulations. She also spoke on some calendar updates saying that if there were no weather-related cancellations, the last day of school would be June 13. The Committee did vote to approve the calendar.
Budget Presentation
Proulx and Beaudry presented a budget narrative and capital plan to the Committee. Proulx said that they begin each year with discussions with the Technology Director, Special Education Director, and the Curriculum Coordinator. They also ask that principals begin discussions with their teachers. Proulx noted that the budget would be based on level services which she noted is different than level- funded. Level services keeps things functioning as they currently are whereas level- funded would require cuts. She said that Pre-k would now be a Silver Lake expense and Silver Lake positions in the elementary schools would now become town employees. “Silver Lake does not exist as an elementary entity,” she said. Laws asked how many people that impacted and was told it was three paraprofessionals in Halifax. Other changes included that grants would now be used to defray out of district vocational costs.
“There are increases to the Halifax budget. There are five paras and a part time speech language pathologist in the budget; in the past that was funded through a grant… you’re going to see an increase in the salary lines,” Proulx said. She said that shared costs’ increases represented about $12,000. She said that Circuit Breaker was estimated at 70 percent or $750,000. The Regular Day represents an increase of 12.32 percent or $783,751. The special education tuition and transportation represents a 63 percent decrease. The total budget is a 10.3 percent decrease of $955,207.
Additionally, Proulx said that shared costs, while included, do not reflect potential contractual changes. Additional staffing requests were also not included. The budget as presented that night did not include potential enrollment increases such as kindergarten or a reduction for technology hardware.
According to Beaudry the anticipated class average for next year is 19, down a bit from this year. He said that a notable increase is $7,000 for a reading intervention program. He said that the teaching supplies line is down. Beaudry also shared proposed costs beyond the level service budget. Those included a special education teacher estimated at $65,000, a part-time ESL teacher at $32,000, a building substitute, and a Hero Academy proposal. The Hero Academy would be a summer offering for approximately 60 students in Grades 1 through 6. He said it would be for students who are partially meeting expectations who typically don’t receive services during the school year and are likely to have regression over the summer. The total increase for these services would be roughly $140,000. Beaudry also went over capital needs including water testing and plumbing, student and staff bathroom upgrades, and a gym bleacher replacement.
The building substitute cost would not increase over previous years, it would just be a difference of day-to-day sub rates over a permanent building substitute. The Committee agreed that it should therefore be added into the budget. Costa-Cline noted that the town had asked them to do level service. “It’s in our best interest to listen to the direction of the town and be respectful of their ask; I think we are in a difficult situation with asking for more than level service even though I think it’s a compelling need that has been made for all of those additional items,” she said. She further said that while she is comfortable with the building sub and potentially the special education teacher add – she didn’t feel that the town could afford the other requests. The School Committees’ next meeting will include a public budget hearing.

The Kingston Board of Selectmen met on Tuesday, Dec. 19. Chair Kimberley Emberg was absent; Vice-chair Don Alcombright, who was donned in a festive cat Christmas sweater, led the meeting. Selectman Sheila Vaughn was wearing a Santa wig and beard to start the meeting.
Earth Removal Hearing
There was a public hearing for earth removal for PK Realty Trust. “The applicant asks to be able to remove 1,100,500 cubic yards of sand and gravel off site from 20 acres… off Route 44 for preparing the site for cranberry bog water supply, tailwater pond construction; the requested hours of operation are Monday through Friday 7 a.m. to 4 p.m. and Saturday 7 a.m. to noon,” Alcombright read. He further said that the plans are available in the Selectmen’s office at the Town House where they can be viewed during regular business hours.
Town Administrator Keith Hickey said that he had the opportunity to speak with the applicant before the hearing. Attorney Timothy Angley spoke on behalf of PK Realty Trust saying, “The bog is planned to be an organic bog that will ultimately be an education resource and facility that is going to be operated by the Cardinal Cushing school. This is planned to be a resource combining not only the bog but the wetlands to be able to provide a unique outdoor opportunity for students with special needs as well as other students from the surrounding towns and communities.”
President and CEO of the Cardinal Cushing Centers Michelle Markowitz spoke next. Of the work being done at Cardinal Cushing she said, “For almost 80 years now, we have been providing supports, education, vocational and recreational programming for students and adults with disabilities… farming is something that any one of us in this room could learn… we found that our students, the first few trips we made to the cranberry bogs were incredibly impactful; we saw their self-esteem soar.”
Bill Madden from JF Engineering said they were asked by PK Realty Trust to evaluate the property that they purchased. He said that they evaluated and reviewed the bylaw of the town regarding earth removal. “What we’re intending to do is create the level area for the cranberry bog to be constructed on, slope all the surrounding areas, and then come in and excavate for the bog and the water supply.” Madden said that a portion of the work will fall in the water resource overlay district. He said that monitoring wells were in place so that they can monitor the water table elevation any time during the construction process. He said that they filed a stormwater prevention plan through the US Environmental Protection Agency. “We want to return any water that we use for agricultural purposes right back to our tailwater pond… it serves both purposes – water supply reservoir and tailwater. That creates a closed system – nothing comes into the site and nothing comes out of the site,” Madden explained. He said that any excess water would be used for sedimentation and erosion control on the side slopes. He also said that they planned to start heavy vegetation growth early. The side slopes would be seeded as well. “All the areas around the bogs would be essentially our dike roads and sideways,” Madden said.
A Carver resident spoke saying that she was an abutter to a different earth removal project noting that it has amounted to a “sand mining” operation. “The permit was allowed back in 2011, here we are 2023. We have tolerated sand in our gutters, not being able to open our windows if there is the slightest breeze… everything in the house – the vehicles would get coated in sand silica. We have tolerated the tractor trailers and the dump trucks – 25 a day. The most I counted was 56 in one day. Now, if you can imagine the vibrations from these trucks going back and forth. We have dealt with a lot of things over the years. Are you prepared to protect any abutters that are close enough to this project from the downside of this project?,” she asked. “What my husband and I have gone through over the years, it sucks, it really sucks,” she said emphatically.
Madden then presented several reasons why this project was different than the one the previous speaker mentioned. “As I said, we’re not going to be impacting the roads, we’re not going to have travel, you’re not going to have some of the inconveniences or the long-term… we’re trying to have as minimal impact on the neighborhood as possible. There really aren’t any neighbors in this area – it’s industrial land and it’s open forest land,” Madden said.
Jimmy Powell, who is both a Kingston resident and the Ecology Program Director at the Jones River Watershed Association, said he reviewed the plans thoroughly. He asked, “is our earth removal bylaw not no touch ten feet from the water table?” He noted that the plan said otherwise and said, “that just seemed like an oversight to me.”
Meg Sheehan spoke next saying, “I’m an environmental attorney with decades of experience in environmental law working with public interest groups here in Southeastern Mass. I’ve worked on many, many earth removal projects including many with Mr. Madden.” She continued, “I just want to get right to the point here. This project is not allowed in the residential R8 zoning district.” She cited a court case where the town of Plymouth denied a project and the Supreme Judicial Court upheld the decision. “Many, many projects like this have tried to evade bylaws in Plymouth, Carver, sometimes quite successfully because no one is watching until now.” She said that the project in Plymouth was almost identical to this one except that it was for a Christmas tree farm. “This project is not allowed in this zoning district… if you approve this you are violating the laws of this State,” Sheehan said. She said that it didn’t matter the intention of the project or how many stormwater plans, etc. were in place. “This project appears to be one more ruse to get the sand and gravel out of there… I have seen 100 of these ruses… enough is enough and we are drawing the line,” she said. She urged residents to visit https://www.sandwarssoutheasternma.org/.
Selectman Eric Crone asked, “Can somebody tell me what the profit is on a cranberry bog versus annual profit on a cranberry bog of this size versus what is the profit 1.1 million cubic yards?” Sheehan said that they estimate it to be about $15 million. “The price of sand and gravel in Southeastern Mass has quintupled,” she said. She added, “The cranberry business as everyone knows is in an economic decline… it’s a breakeven business at best… who is kidding who, this is not about cranberries.” Angley replied that the quality of the gravel is worth maybe $3 million, not $15 million. He also said that the purpose of the project is to be an educational resource. Crone asked if that meant that it would be not for profit. Angley said that they would make a profit off of the materials mined but noted that it was minimal.
Crone asked, “There’s a ton of abandoned cranberry bogs, why not just take one that’s already built next to a pond, I mean they are all over the place so why not just take an existing one and make that an educational non-profit?” Angley said that it wasn’t possible to convert an existing one into an organic one. Crone retorted, “but that’s not what we found; we called and they said pretty much all the organic cranberry bogs in the State were converted.” Angley said, “That’s not my understanding and I may be misinformed.” He noted that the location near the wetlands and the access point made it ideal for the intended use.
Vaughn said, “I just don’t understand why we need to move 1.8 million tons of sand and gravel for a bog… I just don’t understand how we have to move all of that just to have an educational site for a bog for Cardinal Cushing.” She added, “I really think Cardinal Cushing is a great school; I think it is amazing… it’s just, to me, moving that much sand and gravel for a bog, it just doesn’t make sense to me.” Angley said that the long-term goal would be to make it more than just a bog with barns and livestock, etc.
Town Administrator Keith Hickey said, “I don’t think we’re interested in getting into a debate this evening between two counsels who have obviously opposing views on what this land will be used for.” He asked both Angley and Sheehan if they would provide some information that they can use in their peer review and their review with legal counsel. “I think, at this point, there’s a lot of questions from our point of view, from the Town’s point of view, with the amount of sand and things of that nature, we’ve asked… about needing some additional information before the Board of Selectmen can make a decision,” Hickey said.
Michelle Frost of Quincy spoke saying that her daughter is a student in the vocational program at Cardinal Cushing. “She has been afforded a number of vocational site opportunities; she loves the goat farm – that is a big one. She comes home with a lot of soap. She has done window washing; she has a really diverse set of opportunities… but it is the cranberry bog that is her passion.” She noted that this particular location was chosen for accessibility. “By building this to spec, you are opening this up to a tremendous amount of kids and adults who, their disabilities make it really hard for them to engage otherwise,” Frost said. “When you have a child with a disability, it is really hard to get to a place where you can look beyond that and just stop worrying, you have to find your new footing, so Cardinal Cushing and people like Michelle are critical to providing purpose and joy to other students,” Frost explained. She said that her daughter who works in the cranberry bog earns money that way and wants to eventually buy a home. “This has the potential to be a difference maker for so many students, like my daughter and the community, and the more people are around kids like mine, the more they learn the skill of looking past the disability,” she told the Selectmen.
Executive Director of the Jones River Watershed and Kingston resident Pine duBois spoke next. “When I first set foot in Kingston it was on an abandoned cranberry bog… and we turned that into an organic cranberry bog,” duBois explained. Children from Brockton and other locations were brought in to work and get an education on that bog. “So I really appreciate what was just said… but this site… taking down the site 75 ft to eliminate the drainage to Indian Pond… is going to damage the 3 ft deep to 4 ft deep Indian Pond 66 acre natural heritage site; it is an endangered species site. It is important to Kingston, it has been important to Kingston and it will continue to be important to Kingston as long as it can have water to fill it up and where that water comes from is the water that they are going to trap because it is no longer going to get to Indian Pond,” duBois said. duBois also shared concern that the geology and hydrology of the area will be changed potentially affecting the water table and noted that they will happily make other options in Kingston available to Cardinal Cushing for this purpose.
Vaughn said that they will continue the public hearing until January 16. Included in her motion was that PK Realty provide $10,000 for a peer review of the earth removal application. The peer review company must be selected from the Planning Board’s list of acceptable options. The Board voted unanimously to approve Vaughn’s motion.
Other Business
The Conservation Agent spoke to the request for the Blackwater Memorial conservation restriction. Little was said about the matter other than that a lot of work had been put in over the last year and it was now ready to be voted upon. The Board voted unanimously to approve. The Selectmen also approved some liquor licenses and live entertainment licenses.
Hickey asked that the Board rescind just over $24,000 of $50,000 of approved ARPA funds for several reasons outlined in a document shared with the Selectmen. He said that they have some additional ARPA fund requests. He said, “We’ll have about $10,000 in ARPA funds – we have to spend those funds by the end of 2024…. There is well over a million dollars that has been approved for a variety of projects primarily Water Department and School Department that have not been spent yet.” The new requests include a system that would notify the Fire Department members on duty if there was a call for service. The second request was for an air conditioning system for the Reed building used by the Recreation Department for a summer daycare program. The third item was for a new chiller unit for the elementary school. The final request was to replace the Opticom system at the intersection of Wapping Rd., Evergreen St., and Pembroke St. The Selectmen approved the uses.
Hickey provided a few more updates saying that the Wastewater Treatment Plant project had reached substantial completion. He also noted that the leaks in the fire suppression system at the Town House and Senior Center had been improved. He also said that the town has installed security cameras at the playground at Gray’s Beach due to ongoing vandalism.
Before adjourning, the Selectmen wished everyone Happy Holidays and Merry Christmas and complimented the town on the various holiday events around Kingston.

The Kingston Board of Selectmen met Tuesday, Dec. 5. Selectman Don Alcombright was remote for the meeting while Selectman Tyler Bouchard was absent.
The Selectmen dealt with the results of the traffic study that was done on Landing Road regarding road safety. Some residents requested a three-way intersection be installed at the corner of Landing Road and Maple Street. “Ultimately, based on the research that was done by Old Colony Planning, based on accidents – things of that nature, Old Colony Planning indicated that it did not meet the merits of a three-way stop sign,” Town Administrator Keith Hickey said. Regarding issues with the bridge, Hickey said that they met with the appropriate parties from Duxbury to get some type of truck restriction. “Duxbury seems very willing to potentially limit the size of the vehicles that travel down Landing Road,” he explained. He said that Old Colony has agreed to do some traffic counts and traffic studies regarding potential changes to traffic flow. “We are trying to address this as best we can,” Hickey said. “The Police Department has tried to make people more aware of the speeds that they are traveling… the 40-mph speed limit starts closer to the Maple Street intersection than what was indicated in the report,” he furthered.
A representative from the Old Colony Planning Council joined the meeting remotely to answer questions as needed. “One question I had was the traffic study that was done in March, which is not the busiest time for the roadway that leads to the harbor, so I was just wondering if we have taken that into account in some of this analysis?” Chair Kimberley Emberg asked. She noted that traffic picks up considerably starting in May and said that March may even be the slowest time of the year. The representative said that one of the things they can do this coming spring is to recount the Landing Rd. area during May to have a baseline of March to May. Emberg also asked if he could elaborate on why the intersection didn’t meet the necessary requirements for a three-way stop and was told that in addition to entering their numbers into a database, the Police Department didn’t identify five or more correctable crashes in the span of a 12-month time period.
Alcombright said that he wanted to make sure that any truck restrictions wouldn’t impact boat traffic. Superintendent and Tree Warden Paul Basler said that for most people, it shouldn’t affect that. He said that the bigger concerns of the residents were the box trucks hitting the bridge and the speeds of landscaping trucks, etc. “Even with a truck exclusion, oil trucks, gas trucks are still going to be able to service the residents… it shouldn’t have any impact on the boating people,” Basler said. He also spoke against the installation of speed bumps saying, “that’s going to impact the boating.” He said that he did a sign audit on that road noting that there were 11 signs between Main Street and River Street. “After a while, a lot of signs become invisible… in my opinion, there are an awful lot of signs on that road that nobody is paying attention to… so by increasing the number of signs, changing the signs around, I don’t think that’s going to give us the impact we are looking for,” Basler said. Emberg said that they were merely accepting the report that evening and that any decisions regarding what actions to take, would take place at a later meeting.
There was some discussion regarding a resident that was surrendering a razor clam license for the current year. There was one person on the waitlist. The Shellfish Constable intended to call all recipients of the licenses to see if anyone was not using theirs, but the very first person he called surrendered it. Hickey said that he would like to see, as a show of good faith, the town refund the original holder of the license. He also said that he would like to set a policy in place that stipulates that license holders must use it so many times or surrender the license at the end of the year. The Board agreed to issue the license to the new recipient at a pro-rated amount and refund the unused six months back to the original holder.
Jason Silva, the Community Development Director, spoke to the Board regarding the review of fees charged for inspectional services. “It’s been about four years since we’ve changed; a lot’s changed in the last four years in terms of our economy,” Silva said. He noted that after reviewing the fees charged by surrounding communities, it has become apparent that the fees need to be raised. He also asked to increase the compensation for the inspectional services’ workers. The Selectmen voted unanimously to approve the proposed increases.
Emberg said that during an earlier meeting they discussed going out to bid for legal services. She said that Hickey had prepared a draft RFP for them to approve that evening. Selectman Sheila Vaughn was the sole Selectman voting against the RFP.
Regarding the Police Chief search, Emberg asked for results from the community outreach survey that was completed by residents. Crone said that the main takeaway was a call for increased communication with the community. He said that they narrowed the field of applicants to eight before having two drop out. He said that they would like to add two back in before notifying the candidates.
Hickey said that the hiring committee for the Finance Director met that day and narrowed the list of applicants. He noted that the current Finance Director Carol McCoy would be leaving in-person employment the following week and then working remotely until a replacement could be found. “She’s been a tremendous asset to this community. She’s done a great job and she’ll be a tough person to replace, but wish her all the best,” Hickey said.
Hickey said that they’ve asked Departments to go back and review their budgets before reviewing at a higher level to present before the Board. “We should have all that done and to the Capital Planning Committee and the Finance Committee before the end of the month, certainly,” Hickey said.
Emberg reminded those in attendance that the new water rates went into effect in early November and noted that it would be reflected in the March 2024 quarterly bill. She also said that Kington’s annual luminary display will take place on Saturday, Dec. 16 and road closings will begin at 5 p.m.. The tree lighting and caroling will begin at 6 pm on the Town Green. Other activities including crafts and visits with Santa will be between 5:30 p.m. and 8 p.m.. She also reminded residents that if they see snowflakes they need to get their vehicles off the streets to ensure safe and timely plowing.
Emberg opened things up to open forum and a resident asked, “the chlorine in the water, could we get an update on if this is a permanent condition, why, what we can do about it, and if the town is going to do anything about it because quite frankly it’s upsetting. Hickey said he would reach out to the Water Department and provide an update on the Town’s website.

The Halifax Board of Selectmen met on Tuesday, Nov. 21. Chair John Bruno began the meeting by turning it over to Plymouth County Commissioner Jared Valanzola. Valanzola announced that Halifax would be receiving $600,000 in ARPA (American Rescue Plan Act) funding for the two water treatment plants. “In 2020… the Federal Government awarded the County of Plymouth with some CARES Act money, about $90 million, and there was a handful of communities that believed we shouldn’t have administered that program. The Commonwealth of Massachusetts absolutely did not think we should have administered that program,” he said. Valanzola continued, “In the final analysis of the CARES Act, the town of Halifax, and every other town in Plymouth County received 50 percent more dollars than towns outside of Plymouth County. We distributed, of the $90 million, $87 million to our member communities. The remaining $3 million went to non-profit hospitals that are in the County… that is $44 million more than like-sized communities outside of Plymouth County received.”
Valanzola noted that they have since pivoted toward ARPA which he called more “forward facing.” He said that working with the leadership in Halifax was “fantastic.” “The last point I’ll make on ARPA: we currently are administering this program at approximately 1 percent. We administered the CARES Act for 1 percent and that received national recognition – it was actually 0.87 percent and that meant more money for Halifax… we received recognition from the U.S. Department of the Treasury as well as the United States Congress as one of the most effective and efficient administrations of the CARES Act in the entire country.” He further noted that while they are currently on track to administer ARPA at 1 percent, the national average is 7 to 8 percent.
The Finance Committee was also in attendance for a joint meeting with the Board of Selectmen to discuss wage and personnel. Town Administrator Cody Haddad explained some of the changes to the Wage and Personnel bylaws. He began by saying that he had previously sent the results of the compensation and classification study to the Selectmen as well as the Finance Committee members. Regarding the nearly yearlong process Haddad said, “we need to evaluate the positions and create internal as well as external equity.” He said that they contracted with GovHR to evaluate each position through a job evaluation questionnaire that all non-Union employees filled out. The questionnaires were provided to managers for evaluation and then, finally, reviewed by Haddad. GovHR then moved forward with interviews with at least one person in each position. This information was used to create the internal equity. He said that they used analysis from similar neighboring communities to assess external equity. He said that salary ranges were created using the 70th percentile. He said that the difference between going with the 60th percentile versus the 70th percentile was only about $1,000. He noted that going with the higher percentile would make them more competitive.
“Grades 1-3 are your administrative and technical staff, Grades 4-8 are supervisors and advanced technical staff, 9-12 are directors and senior managers and that’s really where the wage and personnel bylaw cuts off, but we did go forward and look at Grades 13-15 which would be the Town Administrator and Public Safety,” Haddad said. He said that all grades have a 35 percent variation between steps to create consistency. He said that the goal is to make it equitable for the employees but affordable for the town. Haddad said that in terms of implementation, they would start by making sure that everyone is now on one of the new steps, i.e. at least the minimum. He also said that everyone would receive at least a 2 percent raise while those being paid the least would be likely to see the biggest increase.
Regarding the financial impact for the town, Haddad said that for fiscal year 2024 it would be approximately $125,000. Haddad explained, “$260,000 was allocated at the spring town meeting for the purposes of this and also for settling collective bargaining agreements; there’s approximately $136,000 currently unallocated for this exact purpose.”
Finance Committee member Jim Walters expressed that he didn’t feel that the numbers were entirely accurate to the 35 percent and asked that it be amended as such. Haddad explained that the discrepancy lay in his using round numbers though he said he would revisit the document to ensure accuracy.
Selectman Jonathan Selig gave some background behind the impetus to review the wage and personnel bylaw. “So when I started… we had a tough problem here at Town Hall with retention and essentially filling roles. We were so grossly underpaying folks that we weren’t even just getting bad applicants, we were getting nobody… and the refrain you kept hearing was, you’re going to try and pay people that? Good luck,” Selig explained. He continued, “If we were lucky to get somebody, what would happen was that after a while, they were going to another community close by that was paying a lot more money than we were.”
Haddad said that the goal of the joint meeting would be to have them vote to adopt the compensation and classification plan as proposed. Haddad said, “To Jim’s point, when we get to the warrant, two options: we can either move forward as it’s written and we would just make note that it’s the 35.49 percent or what we can do is just make the last step a little bit of a smaller increase. My effort was to try and make the increase for each of the 12 steps the same percentage but in doing that, it bumped it off a little,” Haddad explained. “As long as the numbers add up and we can get it funded,” Walters said. The Selectmen and the Finance Committee voted to accept the plan. The Finance Committee then adjourned their portion of the meeting.
The Selectmen had an appointment with Wendy Grieco for an appointment to the Beautification Committee. “I just want to participate in the town, volunteer,” she explained. The Selectmen voted to approve her appointment through June 30, 2024.
The Selectmen went through the articles on the warrant for town meeting. These included Article 4 which reallocated $1.74 million in funding that was originally intended to turn the museum into the Council on Aging and approved in May of 2022. He said that the new article would rescind the original one and reallocate that funding for the purpose of designing and building a new Council on Aging facility. The Selectmen voted to approve the article. Article 5 encompassed all the changes necessary to move forward with the Thorndike Development project. The Selectmen recommended it.
The Selectmen also discussed potentially creating a policy regarding flags that will be flown on public property. “What I was concerned with is we had no policy whatsoever… I asked Cody to come up with a draft… what I thought to do was to limit our authorized flags to the American flag, the Massachusetts State flag, the Town of Halifax flag, the elementary school flag, and military flags for the purpose of Veterans’ observance… and I think that to me that makes the most sense and keeps us from getting into any arguments over who’s flag should be up, when it should be up, and everything else,” Bruno said. Bruno specified that it refers to the official flag poles rather than just a flag setup on public property. “I get the idea of this and it makes sense to me as to, I don’t want to call it Pandora’s box… it keeps it cut and dry… these are the flags we have,” Selig said. Bruno referenced a Nazi flag saying that if you were to allow other flags, you may have to agree to fly that one too. The Selectmen voted to adopt the policy as written.
Haddad told the Selectmen that he had a good meeting with a consultant regarding the MBTA Action Plan. He said that the consultant was very receptive to their ideas. He said that once they have a more finalized plan, they would bring it before the Zoning Bylaw Review Committee. He also noted that they hoped to bring it before the Board of Selectmen in February. Bruno noted that he had been a critic of the MBTA Action plans but said that he thinks that they can come into compliance without changing too much. Bruno said that it may be possible to just rezone some existing multi-family housing.

The Halifax Board of Selectmen met on Wednesday, Nov. 15. Chair John Bruno told those assembled that following the public hearing regarding earth removal for Morse Brothers, they compiled all the questions posed by the public. He said that they did their best to have answers prepared for those questions.
Bruno said, “Transparency is a critical part of assuring everyone concerned that the Board of Selectmen when called upon to make decisions, has taken their role seriously and thoughtfully. Accordingly, I will take this opportunity to set out my thoughts, observations, and reasons. I’ll begin by describing as I see this matter, what we’re being asked to do.” He continued, “Understand that in 2022, Morse Brothers requested a permit to dig a pond, remove earth from their property on Lingan St. That permit was withdrawn before a public hearing was held. The request for a permit that is before the Board of Selectmen now is not the same project.” He noted that the current project is smaller in scope and proposes removing 20,000 yards of earth from a hill and does not involve excavation below grade or into the water table. According to Bruno, Morse Brothers is a cranberry/agricultural business that has been in business for 60 years.
Bruno also reminded those present that Halifax is a right- to-farm community. He said that three other earth removal permits have been issued in Halifax for bog operations – Turkey Swamp on Monponsett St. received a permit for over 36,000 yards, Harju Bogs on Thompson St. for a permit for 20,000 yards, and White Dog on Palmer Rd. for 84,000 yards. “The request by Morse Brothers is not unusual for cranberry operations nor is the amount of removal requested excessive,” Bruno said.
He further stated that the Board has done everything possible to hear and consider all the concerns brought forth by the public. He noted that the concerns fall into two major categories consisting of environmental and public safety. Those concerns include effects to the ponds and water table, traffic implications, road maintenance, and effects to underground utilities. Bruno said that the application has been reviewed by Halifax’s Board of Health, Conservation Commission, and the Water Commissioners. “If any of our town authorities, who are the experts on our town water, had raised even the slightest concern, I personally, would not even consider moving forward with this application,” Bruno said. He also specified that the State had also looked into the property and found no concerns. Bruno said that the Board needs to move forward based on evidence rather than conjecture. He said that the Police and Highway Department have raised no concerns regarding traffic or utilities.
Bruno said that the truck traffic will not run on Saturdays, Sundays, or holidays and would work around the school bus schedule. He further said that he would propose limiting the trucks to 25 trucks per day at maximum. He said that the work should be completed within a 29-day time period while telling those assembled that fewer trucks allowed would delay the project.
Selectman Jonathan Selig also gave a statement. “The last thing anyone wants to do is put our town into any sort of jeopardy. This project has been reviewed by our Highway Surveyor, our Board of Health Agent, our Water Superintendent, our Police Chief, our Land Counsel, an Independent Engineer – all paid employees whose job description is to help be watchdogs for our Town. The site has also been inspected by the Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection – an agency’s whose sole purpose is to literally protect the environment… I believe the Town has done its due diligence… this project does not pose a threat to our Town’s drinking water or our natural resources. For this Board to turn a blind eye to all of these findings would not only be in poor taste, in my judgement, it would be irresponsible.” Selig added that approving the permit would not be the end of the Board’s work, saying that they would be ensuring that the rules and regulations would be followed.
Before turning things over to the residents in attendance, Bruno noted that it was not a public hearing. The first resident that spoke asked how many times the residents on Lingan St. would be asked to endure the heavy truck traffic. Bruno said that while he hears the concern, they can’t change the fact that it’s where the bogs are located. The resident also complained about the condition of their road saying she would like to see it paved. Bruno cut her off saying, “you’re mixing up a whole bunch of issues.” Another resident spoke, again, citing concerns around underground utilities. Bruno told the residents that should anyone see that the rules are not being followed, they should take pictures and submit them to the appropriate authorities.
Jeremy Gillespie, who has been an outspoken critic of the earth removal project, said, “Boy, I’m disappointed but not surprised.” He continued, “the bylaw says that you don’t have the authority to give an earth removal permit in that zone and, in fact, the peer-reviewed town engineer said, they may need a permit from the Planning Board… the bylaw says no permit can be issued greater than 50 cubic yards, yet somehow they’ve gotten away with about 160,000 cubic yards… the other cranberry operations aren’t in the Division 2. You don’t have the authority; you’re taking the cheap way out.” Bruno said that according to Town Counsel, “no zoning ordinance or bylaw shall prohibit, unreasonably regulate or require special permit for the use of land for the primary purpose of commercial agriculture.” He said that they are following Town Counsel’s advice as to whether they should be the regulating authority. Another resident spoke saying that the attorneys for Morse Brothers used Bruno’s words to support their case in a lawsuit that she was a part of against them. She also showed them dirty water filters which she said need to be changed far more frequently than recommended since the last earth removal.
Another resident asked, “What kind of fines are these companies going to get slapped with?” “We haven’t discussed any of that yet. We haven’t even voted on the permit… but that’s an issue that could come up if it somehow became necessary,” Bruno said. He noted that it was something that could be considered.
Resident Dave Mascio asked Bruno and Selig if they told Selectman Naja Nessralla that he should recuse himself from voting on the matter as he is an abutter. Both Bruno and Selig said that they left the choice up to him. Nessralla wasn’t present at the meeting that night. “It does hold water against what you guys are going to decide,” Mascio said of his abutter status. He also brought forth an issue another resident asked about. They both asked that there be some type of monetary payment made to the town for use of the roadway should an incident occur that would require the town to fix something. “Have some contingencies put in place so that if something should happen… that’s what everyone is here for John, it’s not to piss you off,” Mascio said. Mascio also asked that there be some kind of training program for the truck drivers who will be driving down Lingan St. to safeguard the children and other people using that roadway.
Several residents, including one that owns an abutting farm, spoke out against Morse Brothers saying that they weren’t trustworthy. “We need to protect that land out there, that is all sacred ground,” a resident said. He further claimed that trucks were removing earth at night already. Bruno said that they investigated a complaint about that and the Highway Surveyor said there was a water main break and the Highway Department trucks had to go down Lingan St. to address the issue. Resident Claire Hughes also spoke out against Morse Brothers saying that they have gone town to town digging up earth and there have been many problems that have arisen as result. She told the Selectmen that they claimed to make their decisions based on facts, but said that it appears that they didn’t have all the facts. “There really should be more research into who you’re dealing with and their history and it didn’t take me long to find out that they do have a long history of not holding up their word,” she said.
Another resident spoke about the heavy truck traffic saying that the limitations seem reasonable until you are actually living on the street and seeing that kind of traffic. “I just hope that there is something in place to consider the residents; to consider the noise, the traffic.” Another resident said, “As part of that training program that Dave suggested, it should be ‘this is the speed limit that you are allowed to do on Lingan St.’ There’s a new state law, 4 ft. berth to vulnerable persons on the road; they need to know that they are going slow enough that they can brake for those people.” She noted that during the last earth removal project, there were four trucking companies utilized, two of which were courteous and two that were not. She said that they try not to call for every incident as they don’t want to be a nuisance, but said that going forward, they would “blow up” the non-emergency Police line, if necessary.
Cheryl Howell began her remarks saying “I’m going to be open and up front about stuff that happened a year ago when they wanted to pull the permit.” She continued, “One of the Board members was actually having an affair with another Board member and that one Board member was having an affair with Ryco which was one of the companies that was going to do the hauling. And that’s why a lot of the stuff we were having trouble with was because we felt as if it was just going to be pushed through. You cannot tell me that people that were dating weren’t talking about it behind the scenes.” Selig said, “Can I just say for the record that no one here is associated with Ryco and John and I are not having an affair.” This was met with some muffled laughter.
Bruno outlined the limitations associated with the project including that the earth removal will only take place between the hours of 7 am and 5 pm Monday through Friday and never on a legal holiday. A request was made by residents to reduce the hours to 7 a.m. through 3 p.m. in the interest of protecting elementary school aged children who are likely to be out after 3 pm. “Vehicles loaded with soil or sand should be suitably covered to prevent dust and contents from spilling and blowing on the road,” Bruno said. Selig said that he would like to see the vehicles limited to 10 or 15 mph rather than 20. Other regulations included that the town reserves the right for weekly inspections even without prior notice. “No excavation below the natural grade of any boundary line shall be permitted,” Bruno said. A regulation is also in place requiring Morse Brothers to provide reports outlining the amount of earth removed. Residents also asked that truck drivers have to sign an agreement and that should they violate that agreement, they will be fined.
There was also discussion regarding increasing the $0.25 per cubic yard of removed earth to be paid to the town to $1 per cubic yard. The Town Counsel said that the bylaw called for $0.25 or greater but said that there would need to be a reasonable justification for the increase. Residents said that repairs necessary, etc. would justify the increase. Town Counsel said that increased monitoring of the roads would likely justify an increase. Bruno and Selig agreed that doubling it to $0.50 would be reasonable especially considering that any repairs to the road need to be taken care of by Morse Brothers.
Before adjourning, both Bruno and Selig stated that the decisions they make are always with the best interests of the town in mind. Selig called Bruno “a man of character.” Bruno said, “If I made a mistake here, I’ll be the first to admit it and do everything I can to correct it.” Bruno made a motion to approve the permit with the conditions as discussed, that night in the draft form. Selig seconded it.

The Plympton School Committee met on Monday, Nov. 6. Chair Jason Fraser was absent, so Vice Chair Dan Cadogen led the meeting.
Dennett Elementary School principal Peter Veneto gave an MCAS presentation. “We have some things to celebrate and we have some things to improve upon,” he told the Committee. Veneto also said that at both the District and State level, there is still a lot of ground to make up to get back to pre-pandemic scores. “Recovery is underway,” Veneto said.
Some key takeaways from the presentation include ELA scores for Grades 3 through 10 for the State. While Grade 10 was at 58 percent meeting expectations, Grades 3 through 6 all fell somewhere between 40 and 44 percent meeting expectations. At the elementary level, Grades 3, 4, and 6 took MCAS in the subject areas of ELA and math while Grade 6 also took a test in math and technology. Grade 10 is at 58 percent meeting expectations for ELA.
Dennett Elementary performed well across the board compared to the State average. Grade 3 Dennett students were at 72 percent meeting expectations for ELA compared to just 44 percent across the State. For math, 65 percent of Grade 3 Dennett students were meeting expectations compared to the State average of just 41 percent. Overall, the State-wide averages have increased from 2022 to 2023, but they are still not where they were pre-Covid.
A Committee member asked Assistant Superintendent Ryan Lynch how Dennett compared to the rest of the District. Lynch said that they performed similarly though he noted that given Dennett’s small population, the numbers can become skewed more easily. Coordinator of Student Support Christine Marcolini told the Committee that the Dennett third graders outperformed the District saying, “I think that was the other big standout.”
Veneto said that the school goal is to have 70 percent of students meeting or exceeding expectations for all subject areas. Veneto said that the Grade 5 science scores for Dennett have typically been quite high but noted that was not the case with the most recent round of MCAS. “We traditionally have really hit the ball out of the park in terms of science and unfortunately that was not the case last year,” Veneto told the Committee. He said that he wants the administrators to get into the classrooms more during science so they can witness the types of lessons being implemented including hands-on learning.
Regarding student growth for Dennett on the ELA and math MCAS, Veneto said that the school shows typical growth with higher achievement compared to the State. “Typical growth is okay; in my opinion, we can do better,” Veneto told the Committee.
One area of disappointment for Dennett was a designation assigned to them as a result of the MCAS participation rate for one sub-group of students. They were deemed as requiring assistance or intervention by the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education (DESE) due to the participation rate for this sub-group falling below 95 percent. Given the Dennett’s small population, it only took a few students not participating for that rate to drop as low as it did. Veneto said that he planned on addressing the issue with the families that opted out of the testing. Committee member Kaitlin Johnson asked Veneto how he planned to broach the issue given the reason for opting out probably centers around student stress. “The language we typically use with our kids is just do the best that you can do… inherently there is stress that is associated with the test,” Veneto said.
Superintendent Jill Proulx said that there is a corrective action plan that the school will have to do. Marcolini said that they have had in-depth conversations with the families involved and they don’t anticipate having this problem next year. “If families or children are expressing stress… I think it is incumbent upon us to really be talking with the families and talking with the children… I think our doors are always open and I think that seeing us fall below that number for us, that is a significant event and we need to do everything we can to make sure our kids and families feel supported,” she told the Committee.
Some of the actions planned by the Dennett administration to address improving MCAS scores include putting support teams in place to identify students who may need more supports and interventions. There will also be data meetings for K-6 to identify and target interventions for math and reading. Additionally, there will be enhanced co-teaching and an intervention model to provide more support in the classroom.
Veneto also reviewed the results of a student survey that assessed a wide variety of social and emotional issues. Committee member Robert Montgomery asked if any of the questions evaluated self-advocacy. Marcolini said, “A lot of the questions really are around themselves as workers and how supported they feel.” She also noted that, “the kids really are accurate raters of themselves.” Regarding the survey, Veneto said, “A lot of positive information here I thought.”
Marcolini said that she was happy to see the “grit” scores come up the way they did. She also noted the positive change in reporting from the sixth-grade class. Cadogen asked if she felt this was due to it being a different cohort of students than last year’s sixth grade class or if it had more to do with changes implemented in the school environment. Marcolini responded that she believed it to be a little bit of both.
The issue of increasing the daily substitute rate as well as the custodian substitution rate was addressed during the meeting. The proposed increase for the sub rate was from $107 per day to $110. It was said that the increase would make Dennett more in line with neighboring communities while still being below the paraprofessional starting rate. It was explicitly stated that the intention was to be competitive without making it more lucrative than being a paraprofessional. The increase to the custodian rate would be from $18 an hour to $19. The Committee voted to accept the increased rates.
Veneto also provided a Principal’s Report which included that the current enrollment stands at 253 students. He also said that they have a new art teacher and a building substitute. Veneto said it was “probably the first time in about a year that we can say we are fully staffed… and I would like to keep it that way.”
Homeschool enrollment was also briefly touched upon. At the Dennett, the numbers have increased by 1 from 4 students to 5. Proulx said, “District wide, overall, the numbers have decreased substantially especially since 2020.”
Before adjourning, the Committee asked Veneto and Proulx to touch upon an incident that happened during the night of parent teacher conferences. A student was found to have three live bullets on their person. The student showed another student who notified an adult. The Police came and investigated and found nothing else. The student reported finding the bullets on the side of the road. “The Police deemed that there was no credible threat,” Proulx said. Asked if the story regarding the origins of the bullets could be verified, Veneto said, “the Police can’t confirm that there was anything just lying on the ground.” Cadogen pressed asking if it was possible the story was fabricated. “That’s a strong possibility,” Veneto said. Committee members then asked if the issue was being addressed with the student’s family as there were concerns over items not being locked up properly. Veneto said that it was his understanding that the Police had done that.