MILTON– Curry College congratulates roughly 1,000 students who were named to the Fall 2020 Dean’s List. To earn a place on the list, full-time undergraduate students – those who carry 12 or more graded credits per semester – must earn a 3.3 grade-point-average (GPA) or higher.

From Halifax:  Kayla Knudsen, Melanie Stoltz, and Makenzie Hughes.

From Kingston: Rachele Bouchard, Sarah Busby, Hannah Gillis, Trevor King, and

Valerie Willette.

From Plympton: Zachary McCarthy and Mark Martin.

Founded in 1879, Curry College is a private, four-year, liberal arts-based institution located on 131 acres in Milton, Mass. Curry extends its educational programs to a continuing education branch campus in Plymouth, Mass. Curry offers 28 undergraduate majors, as well as graduate degrees in business, accounting, education, criminal justice, and nursing, with a combined enrollment of over 3,700 students. The student body consists of approximately 2,000 traditional undergraduate students, and 1,700 continuing education and graduate students. Approximately 1,575 of its students reside on the Curry campus. The largest majors are business management, communication, nursing, criminal justice, and education, and the college is also internationally known for its Program for the Advancement of Learning (PAL). The College offers a wide array of extra-curricular activities ranging from 15 NCAA Division III athletic teams to an outstanding theatre program. Visit us on the web at www.curry.edu.

At least one Kingston native had a strong opening weekend to start off his team’s college basketball season. Jordan Minor, who is 6-foot-8 and 240 pounds, is a Kingston, Massachusetts native and a member of the NCAA Div. 1 Merrimack College men’s basketball team in North Andover, Massachusetts. In their opening game of the season, he was the team’s standout player. Merrimack hosted the Connecticut-based Sacred Heart University in their opener on Thursday, Jan. 7. It was a competitive bout, but Merrimack pulled away in overtime and won the contest 97-90. In that contest, Minor was the team’s leading scorer. He dropped a team-high 20 points, hitting nine of the 16 field goals he attempted. He also led the way with 12 rebounds and two blocked shots in the victory. He was on the floor for 43 minutes in the game. The next day, the team lost 68-62 at home to Sacred Heart. Minor also contributed in the game, putting up nine points while grabbing a team-high seven rebounds. He also played a team-high 37 minutes in the game, indicating that he will be a key contributor for the team this season. As a freshman, Minor was a bench player, but saw significant action. He averaged 6.1 points per game and 4.3 rebounds and had a team-high 32 blocks while averaging 16.3 minutes of play per contest. Before college, Minor never attended Silver Lake. Rather, he started out his high school career at Boston College High School in Dorchester before transferring over to Brimmer and May in Chestnut Hill. The school is a member of the New England Preparatory School Athletic Council.

January 4, 2021

To the Residents of Plympton:

We hope this letter finds you well. We are writing to inform you that due to the continuing increase in the number of COVID-19 cases in Town and our positive test rate percentage doubling over a matter of days, we are enacting the following protocols:

Town House and Council on Aging:

The Plympton Town House will remain closed to in-person business and we will continue conducting business remotely, as we successfully accomplished throughout the Spring of 2020 and in recent weeks. We have set a tentative date of Monday, February 1, 2021 to re-open for in-person business as usual. This date was selected after careful consideration of Plympton’s positive test rate percentage, statistics available to us from the MA Department of Public Health and in anticipation of a second surge in the upcoming two weeks.

All Town offices will be fully available to conduct business remotely via Email and/or telephone during this timeframe. Email and telephone messages will be checked daily. If you need to deliver something to the Town House, you can send it by mail to the respective Department, 5 Palmer Road, Plympton, MA 02367 or you can utilize the drop boxes on the outside of the Town House by the main entrance for payments or dropping off paperwork. The drop boxes on the exterior of the building are checked frequently throughout the week, so you can feel comfortable making use of this resource.

The Council on Aging pantry will continue to be available to seniors on Mondays and Thursdays from 9:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m., however, the public will not be able to enter the pantry directly; if you come to the Town House during the respective timeframe, bags will be prepared and brought out to your vehicle or handed to you at the entryway of the building.

Our Inspectional Services Department (Building, Wiring, Plumbing/Gas, Zoning) will continue to be available by appointment for any of your needs. Please Email: buildingadmin@plymptontown.org or contact them by phone: (781) 585-0571 to set up an appointment and/or if you have any questions.

State Representative Kathy LaNatra, of the 12th Plymouth District announced that she will have a new district office, located in Cordage Park in Plymouth. She will share the office with State Senator Susan Moran.

The office will be used to meet with constituents, various organizations in the District, as well as provide a place for the Representative and her staff to work. Anyone who would like to meet with Rep. LaNatra at her district office location can reach out to her office and set up a time. At the beginning of the new

In keeping with the new tradition of having a different representative from a Board, Committee, Commission, or otherwise attend the Plympton Board of Selectmen meetings, Alan Wheelock was in attendance on Monday, December 21 on behalf of the Wage and Personnel Board.  Wheelock told the selectmen that they were impacted by COVID and didn’t meet at all over the summer.

He also provided a number of updates. Wheelock said that the federal government was recommending a 1.3 percent cost of living guideline this year. The Wage and Personnel Board plan to vote on that increase during their first meeting in January. Wheelock also told the selectmen that the Board had a request from Town Administrator Elizabeth Dennehy asking them to support her on a probationary period bylaw. The proposed bylaw would state that newly hired or promoted town employees would be subjected to a 6-month probationary period. Selectman John Traynor interjected that he believed the intent was to modify the request not to include those newly promoted that had been with the town a substantial amount of time already. Wheelock said that he was open to such an amendment.

Wheelock also said that the Board was taking a look at the wage and personnel bylaws in Plympton since they haven’t been updated in quite some time. He said that they were hoping to have a few recommendations to bring to the spring town meeting.  The Board also had an intern from Bridgewater State University who assisted with some of the data that the Board uses. Finally, Wheelock said the Board was looking to find a location on the town website to store the paperwork related to wage and personnel.

Plympton School Committee Chair Jon Wilhelmsen provided a brief update on the schools. He said that two additional cases of COVID were reported at the Dennett Elementary School over the weekend, bringing the overall total for the school to 3. There has been a total of 61 cases throughout the Silver Lake district. Wilhelmsen noted that the holiday break will be a welcome one for the staff and teachers who have been working so hard throughout this unusual year.

Several appointments were also made during Monday’s meeting. Gabe Lundgren was named to the Board of Registrars through May 22, 2021. Miranda Boyles-Pink and Kathleen Keirstead were both appointed as trustees to the Plympton Public Library through May 22, 2021. There was also an appointment to the Central Plymouth County Water District Commission Advisory Board.

Dennehy introduced a new initiative for 2021 described as “what makes Plympton unique.” Dennehy said that the original intention was to talk a bit about knowing where your food comes from and highlight the many remarkable farms in town that provide for people all over the South Shore. Dennehy described the project as “fun” and “feel good” and said that the idea has since morphed into picking a different topic in town on a regular basis to highlight on the town Facebook page. She said the intention would be to “show what makes us unique and a really great place to be.”

Dennehy said she would potentially like to start with the Plympton kindness tree that has been setup over the holiday season on a Farm on West St. The idea of the tree is that residents can stop by and write something positive about something or someone in town and enclose it in a globe ornament that is hanging from the tree. Dennehy said that hand sanitizer, etc. was provided by the family. Traynor mentioned another project in town along the same vein. He said that he was recently the recipient of a holiday wreath courtesy of some members of the Garden Club who delivered over 90 wreaths to seniors in town.

Dennehy also provided a general update. She said she had just attended the Finance Committee meeting and said that while things do appear to be on track overall there are some shortfalls in the police salary lines moving forward. A member of the department is retiring somewhat unexpectedly resulting in the need to pay out overtime and out of rank pay to covering officers.

Dennehy noted that the town has retention issues within the Police Department. She said that many officers have cited the health insurance, which is a 50/50 split, as a reason for leaving. She said that she is currently surveying other towns as to their insurance and obtaining pricing. Selectman Chair Mark Russo said that he agreed with Dennehy’s assessment and referenced the hidden cost of losing people and training new people.

The town is often footing the bill for putting officers through the academy only to have them leave shortly thereafter. Traynor mentioned that some towns mandate that an officer must stay in the department for three years or pay back a portion of the expense for the academy.

Regarding COVID, Dennehy said that the numbers continue to rise in town and everywhere. She said that while it can be challenging to tell if cases have cleared or not through the MAVEN system, her best estimate for number of active cases in town stands at 20. “It’s out there and it’s around; it’s in town,” Dennehy said. She said that the decision to dial things back at the townhouse appears to have been the right one. She also alluded to employees becoming too lax and said of the closing, “it’s a good chance to reevaluate some of our protocols.”

Christine Joy was absent from Monday’s meeting so just Russo and Traynor provided their traditional raves at the conclusion of the meeting. Russo said that his rave was for the holiday season despite acknowledging that it would be “strange if not downright weird.” “I’m really looking forward to that time when things slow down a little and we all gain a little perspective… to give our minds a little rest but also to give our hearts a little rest,” Russo explained.

Traynor had three separate shoutouts. The first was for the Police Department for their new website that went live recently. “It really looks good and I’m happy to see it,” he said. The second was for the Fire Department. They were awarded a grant that allowed them to install fire signs for any seniors in town that wanted them. Traynor said that 24 residents signed up. His final rave was for the good condition of the roads in town after the snowstorm.

The Plympton School Committee met virtually for one final time this calendar year on Monday, Dec. 14.

During the legislative update, committee member Jason Fraser spoke out against Governor Baker’s active solicitation of public schools to return to full, in-person learning during his Nov. 6 press conference. At the time, Baker said that communities in the gray, green, and yellow COVID risk categories were expected to have students learning in-person while communities in the red were being encouraged to follow a hybrid model rather than a full remote one. There was no clear answer as to whether districts that didn’t comply with state guidance would be penalized in some way.

Fraser said that he wrote a personal letter in early November as an individual member of a school committee expressing his concern over Baker’s remarks. Likewise, he said a similar letter was sent more recently as a member of the Massachusetts Association of School Committees expressing appreciation for all Governor Baker has done during the pandemic but urging him to step back his push for full, in-person learning. “His rhetoric is starting to be off-putting to members of our public-school community,” Fraser explained. He continued, “We do appreciate everything that the governor has done but we want him to leave us alone and trust us to do our job and do what’s best for our community.”

As she has done at all of the most recent school committee meetings across Halifax, Kingston, and Plympton, Superintendent Jill Proulx reiterated the state’s guidelines that inhibit the feasibility of a return to full, in-person learning. Included amongst those guidelines are the required 3 feet of social distancing on buses as well as the required 6 feet of social distancing required during lunch. Additionally, Dennett Elementary School has been maintaining 6 feet of distancing in their classrooms in accordance with CDC recommendations. The funds and space required to accommodate all students while still adhering to the necessary restrictions are prohibitive.

Plympton School Committee Chair Jon Wilhelmsen attributed the lack of school transmission and relatively few cases across the district to all the safety protocols that are currently in place. As of Monday’s meeting there have been 51 cumulative cases across all schools in the district. He also spoke out against the expectation that there be a uniform approach taken across the entire state as some schools are better equipped to accommodate students for in-person learning.

President of the Teacher’s Association Ann Walker told the Committee, “tensions are high; everybody is nervous… Plympton has done well so far but it feels like it’s closing in.” She also noted that it can be hard to stay 3 feet from young children let alone 6. Wilhelmsen thanked the teachers and administration for their hard work. He also thanked the building staff “for keeping the building as clean and as safe as we can.” “We will get to the other side of this. Likely we will all be tired, but stronger because of it,” Wilhelmsen said.

Dennett Elementary School Principal Peter Veneto told the Committee that they have entered the second trimester. Veneto told the Committee that he was “surprised we got this far.” He attributed the success to the families and staff at the Dennett. Families were recently given the opportunity to switch learning models from hybrid to remote or remote to hybrid. Only a small handful of families requested changes and all requests were accommodated.

Veneto said that there are currently 89 students in Cohort A and 80 students in Cohort B. Cohorts A and B alternate days in the building with one set of students attending in-person on Mondays and Tuesdays and another set attending in-person on Thursdays and Fridays. Cohort C, or the students who elected to be fully remote, currently has an enrollment of 23. Cohort D which includes the highest needs learners who are prioritized for more in-person days stands at 18 students. Veneto said that on any given day there are roughly 100 students in the building.

Finally, Veneto told the Committee that fourth grade teacher Bea Reynolds has decided to begin her retirement in January. Veneto called her an “institution in town” and noted what a tremendous loss it would be for the school. Current math interventionist Maria Barlow will replace her.

In another legislative update, Fraser said that the Massachusetts Association of School Committees delegate assembly overwhelmingly passed a resolution asking that the MCAS be cancelled for this year as well as the next three years. They are currently working with the appropriate parties in Washington D.C. to prepare legislation for the incoming Secretary of Education that will allow states to make the determination regarding testing. From there, Fraser said they will then begin to work with Beacon Hill and DESE to assure that they are eliminated this year.

Wilhelmsen told the Committee that he had recently been brought into conversations that were being held at the town level regarding the possibility of installing solar panels on the roofs of municipal buildings. Various buildings in town were suggested including the roof at the Dennett, which has properties making it ideal for such an installation. The condition of most of the Dennett roof, however, is a problem. According to Wilhelmsen they need “to rectify that hodgepodge of materials that is up there.”

In lieu of the entire roof, two spots are being investigated as possible locations for solar panels at the school. Those include the back wing of the school with the pitched metal roof as well as a canopy in the parking lot. Wilhelmsen said that there are a number of pine trees that would most likely need to be removed to increase the amount of sun received by the panels. He referred to them as sitting “ominously over the school.”

Wilhelmsen said he has had discussions with both the Town Properties Committee as well as the Plympton Selectmen. As a result, the focus, for now, will be on the rear part of the building. The rear mounted solar operation in the parking lot would incur a lot more cost and could result in an overproduction of power. The company, who works with Harvard and is well established in Massachusetts, still needs to come out and assess the roof and provide final costs.

Fraser was quick to point out that entering into the agreement at this point was exploratory only and either side could still back out. The Committee approved a motion to recommend to the selectmen that they enter into the non-binding agreement.

The Committee had a discussion around the need for a building-based substitute. Director of Business Services Christine Healy said that the substitute line in the budget is “doing remarkably well.” The Committee approved paying for a building-based substitute at $150 a day for 100 days beginning in January for as long as the school remains in either a hybrid or full, in-person model.

Healy told the Committee that she had reached out and found a consultant to help with the bids for the new playground. They would act as the school’s agent and make sure that everything was done to specifications including making sure it is ADA compliant. The cost for the consultant will be $13,300. Fraser agreed that as long as there were school choice funds available and a contingency remains, it would make sense to bring someone on to ensure that mistakes aren’t made. The Committee voted to allow Healy to hire the consultant.

Administrator of Special Education Marie Grable gave a presentation on the state of special education in Plympton and across the district as a whole. She gave similar presentations at the Halifax, Kingston, and Silver Lake Regional School Committee meetings in recent weeks. Grable said there are 45 students overall in Plympton and 643 in the district receiving special education services. Plympton’s percentage of students receiving these services stands at 18.2 percent that is just higher than the state average.

The breakdown of Plympton students receiving services includes 32 students at the Dennett, 5 at the integrated preschool, 4 in sub separate programs for Grades K-6, and 4 out of district placements. Out of district tuitions for FY21 total $553,106 for Plympton and out of district transportation totals $97,650.

Grable also shared information regarding various funding sources including Circuit Breaker, the state’s program to help local school districts provide special education services. Plympton’s total claim for FY21 is $242,104, the net claim is $97,048, and the anticipated reimbursement is $67,934. Several grants are also available including Fund Code 240 in the amount of $56,278. Fund Code 262 and Fund Code 298 which are geared toward Pre-K learners, total $2,567 and $1,085 respectively. Plympton will also receive $5,969 toward professional development from Fund Code 274.

Fraser praised Grable for bringing students back to in- district programming. He said that during her time in the position, she has excelled at keeping costs low while also keeping kids close to their local communities. Wilhelmsen seconded Fraser’s sentiments.

The Halifax Police Department, as well as many of the other police departments throughout the Commonwealth, participated in Coats4Vets on Tuesday, Dec. 8. The event is an annual initiative of the Massachusetts Military Support Foundation (MMSF) and is sponsored by Massachusetts State Police, Massachusetts Chiefs of Police Association, New England Patriots Foundation, Ocean State Job Lot, and Home Depot. Coats4Vets has distributed 34,500 coats to veterans since 2016.

This past Tuesday, various local law enforcement agencies traveled to Gillette Stadium to pick up 4,000 buckets that are each filled with coats, masks, hand sanitizer, and snacks. The buckets will be distributed throughout local communities. In addition to providing material support for the veterans, the hope is that law enforcement can make a connection with veterans as well and thank them for their service.

Veterans who are in need of these resources should contact their Veteran’s Agent .

The Town of Halifax and the Accureference Medical lab will host a COVID-19 drive-thru testing clinic on Saturday, Dec. 5 and Sunday, Dec. 6 at the Halifax Town Hall, 499 Plymouth St. from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. each day.

Everyone including non-Halifax residents, is welcome to participate whether they have health insurance or not. All participants must be at least one year old.

Bring your health insurance card (if applicable) and a government picture identification card such as a driver’s license along with a completed registration form that is available on the Town of Halifax web site – http://www.halifax-ma.org/sites/g/files/vyhlif4496/f/uploads/covid-19_req_form_halifax.pdf              All participants must remain in their vehicles at all times (this testing is available for drive-ups only; no walk-ins). All participants should leave adequate time to wait in line for testing and the length of the wait time depends on the number of participants. No appointments will be made.

The test will be the PCR (Polymerase Chain Reaction)/Molecular test (the nasal swab test). Results will be available within 48-72 hours. Results will be obtained by accessing Accureference Medical Lab patient portal at https://results.accureference.com/patientportal/index.html – If you do not have access to the web site, you can call 877-733-4522.

The Massachusetts Department of Public Health will be notified about all positive and negative test results. The Town will receive information about positive test results for residents of Halifax through the State›s MAVEN system.

The Halifax Cultural Council is now accepting applications for the Council’s Fiscal Year 2021 grant cycle. All applications must be submitted to the Halifax Cultural Council, 499 Plymouth Street, Halifax, MA 02338 no later than Monday, Dec.14.

Grant applications and other information are available on the Council›s web site: http://www.halifax-ma.org/cultural-council
<http://www.halifax-ma.org/cultural-council> or applicants can apply on-line at https://www.mass-culture.org/Halifax <https://www.mass-culture.org/Halifax> (click on the “Apply Now” tab) –

This year, the Council’s priorities include an emphasis on events in Halifax, but not just in the “municipal center”, programs related to nature, science, environmental education and the Town’s history, programs for seniors, library patrons, people with disabilities, families, and teens, and programs involving artists and speakers from Halifax.

Applicants can obtain more information through the Halifax Board of Selectmen’s office at 781-294-1316.

The Halifax Selectman and the Halifax School Committee held a joint meeting on Monday, November 16 to conduct interviews with several candidates for the open spot on the School Committee left by the resignation of Robert Johnson. Each candidate was allotted 10 minutes during which they were asked to provide some background on themselves and to field questions from members of both the Board of Selectmen and the School Committee. Candidate Karen Hart was scheduled for an interview but did not attend the meeting.

Ashley DiSesa

The first candidate to take the hot seat was Ashley DiSesa. DiSesa, a mother to a kindergartener and second grader, said she has been a resident of Halifax for the last seven years. She also said that she has attended most school committee meetings as well as some PTO and selectmen meetings. School Committee member Summer Schmaling asked DiSesa, as she would go on to ask all the candidates, if she considered herself fiscally conservative as well as what model (full remote, hybrid, full in-person) she believed should be the goal for this school year. DiSesa said she would consider herself fiscally conservative. Regarding the model of schooling, Disesa said, “That’s a tough one not knowing what’s going to happen; ideally I think all the kids should be back in school.” She went on to acknowledge the difficulties that a return to full in-person schooling would pose including busing and financial constraints. School Committee member Alison Vance asked DiSesa to speak to her favorite things about Halifax Elementary School. DiSesa, who called the Halifax teachers “amazing,” said that growing up in nearby Carver she always planned to move to Halifax and send her children through the Silver Lake district. Wearing two hats, Selectman and Chair of the School Committee Gordon Andrews asked all candidates if they were registered voters and if they had attended the last two town meetings. DiSesa said yes to both.

Marline Amedee

Marline Amedee described herself as a mother, social worker, community activist, and a small business owner. Amedee said she moved to Halifax a little over a year ago and said that while she has not had the opportunity to volunteer at Halifax Elementary School (HES), she was very involved in the schools in Brockton prior to her move. “For me serving children to young adults is not my passion, it is my life… I believe it is important to serve the community you live in,” Amedee told those assembled. In response to Schmaling’s question as to whether or not she considers herself fiscally conservative Amedee said that while she was very aware that the school budget is the taxpayers’ money, the budget still needs to serve the best interests of the students, staff, and the facility. In response to Andrews question, Amedee said that she was a registered voter and that she had attended one of the recent town meetings.

Michael Regnetta

Michael Regnetta, who moved to Halifax a year ago and referred to himself as a small business owner, told the Selectmen and School Committee members that he has spent most of his adult life working with children, mainly as a coach. While his own children are grown, he said that he has young grandchildren who will eventually be attending HES. In response to the first part of Schmaling’s question he responded that he is “pretty conservative [fiscally] but more fiscally responsible.” Regarding an ideal model for school this year, Regnetta responded, “Obviously I would like to see all the kids in school full time… as normal as we can get it sooner rather than later.” While Regnetta said that he hadn’t yet attended a school committee meeting, he has attended town meeting and is a registered voter. Regnetta said that negotiating would be a strength of his that he could bring to the Committee.

Karyn Townsend

Karyn Townsend, a mother of two HES students, brought to the table the most education related experience of all the candidates. A 20-year resident of Halifax and an educator for 23 years, Townsend was previously a teacher at Silver Lake Regional High School and is currently a science teacher in Pembroke. She also serves as the negotiations chair for the Pembroke Teacher’s Association where she has successfully negotiated 3 contracts with the school committee. While she said that the financial aspect of things would be a weakness of hers, she did intend to take the course offered by the Massachusetts Association of School Committees (MASC) on the topic. Townsend said that while she is a registered voter, she has not attended town meeting recently. Committee member Alison Vance told the other members that Townsend is one of the only members of the community to regularly attend their meetings.

Asked whether she has volunteered within the school, Townsend said despite it being difficult with her work schedule she has done guest lessons for teachers, attended some PTO meetings, and coached both soccer and baseball. In response to Schmaling’s question about fiscal conservativism, Townsend said that she believed it to be too subjective of a question to provide an accurate answer. She also said that she felt unequipped to answer the question about the best model of schooling for this year without having all of the information.

James Keegan

Lifelong resident of Halifax and former Halifax police officer James Keegan was the second to last interview of the evening. Keegan, who is currently a Plymouth police officer, is the father to two daughters aged 9 and 11. He cited school safety as a major interest of his and said that he is currently a school resource officer at one of the Plymouth middle schools. He is a member of the National Association of School Resource Officers (NASRO) and is Alert, Lockdown, Inform, Counter and Evacuate (ALICE) trained. Keegan said he is a registered voter though he did not participate in the most recent town meetings.

Asked if he considers himself fiscally conservative, Keegan said, “fiscal responsibility is something my wife and I are extremely passionate about.” Regarding whether students should return to full, in-person learning Keegan said, “my wife and I believe, whether it’s good or bad, that the children should be back in the school. I’m looking at science… we’re just two parents who believe that the children should be back in school with parameters.”  He did go on to acknowledge that it wouldn’t be financially possible to do so in the very immediate future. Keegan ended his interview by saying that while he had always wanted to volunteer in town between his career, his wife’s career, and their family, he didn’t have the time until now.

Kathleen Deblois

The final interview of the night was with Kathleen DeBlois. DeBlois said she has lived in Halifax for the last 7 years after moving from the North Shore. DeBlois complimented the other candidates telling the Selectmen and School Committee that they had a multitude of good options. DeBlois, a mother to a third and fourth grader at HES, said she has a degree in public policy and previously worked in the office of the MA state senate president. She described herself as fiscally conservative but acknowledged that good schools result in good property values in town which is beneficial even to those who don’t have students in the school. Regarding her opinion on a model for the current school year, DeBlois said, “I would love to see… every kid back in school depending if it was done safely.”

A registered voter who has attended town meeting, DeBlois said she is heavily involved with HES, volunteering regularly in her children’s classes as well as at events such as book fairs and field trips. Asked if she has the time to dedicate to the Committee, DeBlois said that she has the fortunate ability to stay home with her children and that time constraints would not be an issue.

Discussion and Vote

Andrews addressed the candidates saying, “Thank you everyone for your commitment to our community.” He said that he was looking for someone who has the availability as well as has shown a commitment to the school and a knowledge of what the schools have gone through in the months since the pandemic began. Schmaling also thanked the candidates and said she was impressed to see so many people interested in the position. “Frankly, I think that all of these candidates bring something a little different to the table, it’s just up to us to decide what we’re looking for,” Schmaling said.

Before voting, Selectman Tom Millias asked each candidate if they would consider running for the same open position during the general election as the current position would only be an interim one until the next election. All candidates replied that they would.

The vote was based on the majority of all the Selectmen and School Committee members present. Andrews only had one vote despite being a member of both. The only candidates receiving nominations were Deblois, DiSesa, and Keegan. Deblois and Keegan received three votes a piece while DiSesa received four and was named as the newest member of the Halifax School Committee.