Despite no major influx of new special education students to the Silver Lake district, Special Education Administrator Marie Grable said increases to tuition and transportations costs need to be addressed in next year’s budget for the 629 students in the program.

Estimates for next year’s budget were not ready to be discussed formally, Grable told the committee; they are still in the rough draft phase. In her presentation, she outlined some of the finances that need to be considered on a yearly basis when addressing a special education budget.

To begin the presentation, she highlighted that there isn’t a standard program that can be applied for all students in the special education program.

“Accommodations need to be individualized,” Grable said.

Specialization has its own challenges. For one, Grable said, developmental delays are often diagnosed anywhere from the age of 3 to 9. It can be hard to tell if a student is struggling with reading or if it’s because of some sort of developmental delay.

Committee Chair Jason Fraser asked about unexpected cost from students coming into the district mid-year. Unexpected cost can also affect a special education budget, she said. When a student from out of district from Plymouth for example moves to Halifax mid-school year, Grable said that student is already budgeted in Plymouth’s special education budget for the year. If the student is from out of state, the rule doesn’t apply, and Silver Lake would get an unexpected cost added to the current fiscal year’s budget.

The state does provide some relief with special education budgets, Grable explained. She said municipalities are responsible for the first $44,000 no matter what. However, the state does pay a percentage of additional dollars, but that rate is set on a yearly basis. According to Grable, she’s preparing for a rate around 55 to 60 percent.

Fraser reminded the committee that the district still needs to pay for that money because the state funding is a reimbursement given for the previous year.

Some of the district’s funding does come from state grants, though. The district gets two entitlement grants from the state. One of those grants is for a little over a $1 million statewide. The district gets a cut of that grant each year. That first grant, the district uses to help pay for the paraprofessionals at the schools. The second grant helps fund special education programs at the preschool level. Exact municipal numbers were not specified.

Grable spoke highly of the district’s special education programs. She was especially proud of the developmental learning centers at each school level (elementary, middle, high) district wide and how language-based learning programs were going. Grable said the language-based learning program has been implemented at the middle school successfully, and she hopes to do the same at the high school when the timing is right.

One thing she hopes to continue with, especially in the last years of high school, is remind students that once they turn 18, they are usually responsible for making sure they get the accommodations they need, especially at the college level.

“Colleges don’t necessarily look at IEPS, but do verify disabilities, so when students turn 18, they need to advocate for themselves,” Grable said.

A budget draft will be available at a later school committee meeting.

High School

Principal Michaela Gill presented formal requests to the school committee for some curriculum changes. One request was to remove the practical computing course. Gill spoke of students’ success in the other course computer applications, making the course unnecessary.

Another course change proposal was removing College Prep II Trigonometry from the curriculum.

“Let me explain the math behind this,” Gill joked.

Right triangle trigonometry is now taught in geometry to help students prepare for standardized testing.

“There’s not enough material to run a whole trigonometry class when it’s already in geometry,” she said.

The high school also received the following donations:

• $25 gift card from May Flower Municipal Health Group to pay for new cables for the library smartboard.

• Three residents donated vehicles for the high school’s automotive program.

Middle School

A middle school-level National Junior Honor Society is coming to the district. Pam Samford said the district will start putting this together after term two grades are in.

Samford said the honors society for seventh and eight graders will run much like the high school model.  After grades are in, eligible students will meet in the auditorium. They will have to complete community service, get teacher recommendations, and be interviewed. Students will be told if they will be inducted before April vacation and another ceremony will follow.

Number 14, Molly Terbush, prepares to make her shot. (Photo by Aaron Duke)

The Silver Lake High girls’ basketball team played hard and enjoyed success at various points in the matchup. Ultimately, however, their opponent surged in the fourth quarter and the team did not get its first victory of the season.

The game was tight after three quarters, but Hanover pulled away in the fourth and ended up winning the contest, 62-49. With the loss, the Lakers fell to 0-5 on the season.

The Lakers enjoyed a lot of success in the first quarter, taking a sizable lead. By the end of it, they found themselves up 22-12 thanks to some sharp shooting and stout defense.

In the second quarter, the Lakers were able to preserve this lead, although the game started to become a little more evenly matched. Still, they took a 34-26 lead into the second half.

In the second half, Hanover gained the edge in terms of momentum. They outscored the Lakers by nine points in the third quarter and ended it with a 42-41 lead. They also held onto the lead in the final frame.

Hanover went on to outscore the Lakers by 12 points in the final quarter of the bout in order to pick up the victory.

The Lakers are on the younger side this season with the overwhelming majority of their players being underclassmen. With this in mind, they have some young talent on their squad that should grow and develop over the next few seasons.

This year’s team has five seniors on it including: shooting guard Izzy Ruprecht, point guard Jessica Stas, small forward Brianna Villanova, small forward Angela King and small forward Stephanie Barrett.

The Lakers next game is on Friday, Dec. 28 at home against the Falmouth Clippers (5:00 p.m. start time). The Clippers are 0-1 to start the season, according to MaxPreps.

HALIFAX — The Halifax Fire Department was recently awarded a $3,500 Child Passenger Safety Seat Distribution grant from the Baker-Polito administration for free child car and booster seats for those in need and to replace car seats that have been damaged in motor vehicle accidents at no cost to the owner, stated Halifax Fire Chief Jason Viveiros in a Dec. 10 letter to the Board of Selectmen. The department is also offering free car seat inspections or installations by calling 781-293-1751 for an appointment, according to the announcement.

The chief, himself a fruitful grant-writer, commended Firefighter/Paramedic Peter Hogan for his work in obtaining the grant.

In 2017, the chief said, Hogan recognized the need for a certified car seat installation technician in Halifax, after seeing many situations where children were not secured properly or were in seats that were not safe.

He attended a 40-hour child passenger safety technician (CPST) certification course and the department began offering the service.

The grant, for fiscal year 2019, is from the Executive Office of Public Safety and Security, Office of Grants and Research-Highway Safety Division (EOPSS/OGR/HSD). The Governor and Lieutenant Governor said they were pleased to support the department’s traffic safety efforts in a Nov. 29 letter to the chief.

“We thank you for the work you do to keep children safe on our roads,” they wrote.

CARVER — The Federal Communications Commission is proposing new rules that would, among other changes, alter the way Area 58 Community Access Media— Plympton, Halifax and Carver’s local cable access provider— and other local cable access providers across the country are funded, according to Area 58 Executive Director Rich Goulart.

Currently, funds are set aside from cable franchising fees, or the fees that the cable companies pay for access to a particular community, for community television channel access, broadcasting equipment and other monies needed to run local cable television studios.

The channels are known as public, educational, and governmental or PEG channels. This is part of the Federal Cable Communications Policy Act of 1984, which requires cable companies to allocate a percentage of the profits they make from subscribers toward PEG channels.

Goulart said the proposed rules would allow cable companies to deduct from their franchising fees a value for these PEG channels, at a assessment they determine, as an “in-kind” donation.

He said this could lead to a situation where, if the rules were to go into effect— and he says they would go into effect immediately if they are enacted— the studio would be able to “keep the lights on,” but would not be able to pay its two full-time salaries, part-time salaries or purchase equipment to produce and disseminate television.

“This would have a crippling effect on public access,” he said. “This [proposal] came out of left field.”

The proposal has prompted the state’s two federal senators, Elizabeth Warren and Edward Markey, to send a letter to the chairman of the FCC, Ajit Pai, along with nine other senators opposing the rules:

“…[T]he proposal puts at risk critical funding for … [PEG] stations as well as broadband connections to schools and other public buildings. Our constituents watch PEG channels to monitor local government proceedings, hear the latest news from nearby college campuses, and consume other locally produced programming including emergency alerts and directives. Your proposal may jeopardize these important functions.”

PEG channels and their trade groups across the state and country have been united in their opposition to the proposed rule changes.

The rule was proposed by the FCC on Oct. 15. Although a comment period on the change has passed, comments to those already made are being accepted at fcc.gov/ regarding MB Docket No. 05-311.

Reply comments, letters of support or opposition and supporting documents have until 11:59 p.m. Dec. 14 to be submitted according to the instructions online.

“Massachusetts is one of the most vibrant states for public access,” said Goulart. “This is not good news…It’s a mess right now. It’s uncertain what it’s going to mean.”

Town Clerk Tara Shaw swears in new Plympton Fire Chief Stephen G. Silva. Photo by Abram Neal.

PLYMPTON — Stephen G. Silva, of Popes Farm, took over as the Plympton fire chief Monday, Nov. 19. The following day, he was personally cleaning out a storage room at the fire station— where he envisions a bunk room to replace the trailer out front— and was already easily joking around with the men and women who make up the department.

“Firefighting is a calling,” he said. “I’ve been chasing firetrucks since I was riding a bicycle.”

The 23-year Plympton resident said he is proud to take over the department and has a wide range of experience, including more than 40-years in firefighting and emergency medical services, in both the public and private sector. Most recently, he was a lieutenant with the Middleborough Fire Department, where he frequently served as shift commander.

But before Silva talked much about himself, he wanted to point out the dedication of the firefighters of the Plympton Fire Department.

The department went through a difficult period this year, he conceded— including an outside investigation, by Municipal Resources, Inc. The investigative report went so far as to describe “a department in crisis” when it was written in February. In March and May the department lost their chief and acting-chief, respectively.

Yet Silva said the department was not in crisis, it was a department “searching for an identity.”

The firefighters have been functioning quite well in the absence of a chief and in the hands of senior leadership, he pointed out, but now the department is ready for the “next level … and when we get there, we’ll go to the next level again,” he said. “We do have dedicated people.”

Silva is an EMT/paramedic, rescue specialist and special operations operator for the Massachusetts Department of Fire Services. In addition, he teaches rescue techniques and is an instructor at Massasoit Community College.

In the late 1970s and early 1980s, he worked as an EMT, first getting excited about working in the field while a student at Syracuse University in New York. He eventually returned to Massachusetts where he has held a series of jobs in urban, suburban and rural settings for both cities and towns and in the corporate sector.

He has done everything from running his own ambulance company in Brockton, Exodus Medical Transportation, to establishing the first fire-based Advanced Life Support (ALS) EMS system on the South Shore, to work as a flight paramedic.

At his interview before the selectmen, he came recommended by many area fire chiefs, including Whitman (who is the president of the Fire Chiefs Association of Massachusetts), Duxbury, the current and retired chief of Middleborough, the retired chief of Kingston and the deputy chief of Hanson, among other fire officials.

Silva spoke of some of the issues concerning him in town. One topic he came back to in several different ways was adapting: learning to extricate accident victims differently as cars change, to fight fires differently as development brings more houses to the edges of forests and the opioid epidemic— which he says is truly an epidemic.

Silva said that cars have changed over time, and that rescuers have had to adapt to changes in vehicles in order to rescue accident victims. He added that when he worked in Middleborough, he would respond to horrific crashes on I-495, and that cars are made very differently than they used to be. “It’s become more and more technical,” he said.

He also said that while Plympton is not California— referring to the wildfires occurring there now— the town needs to be careful how it chooses to develop. He said that brush fires can and do happen, and that there have never been so many houses close to the edge of forests. This has led to changes in the ways that fires are prevented and fought, he added.

Silva spoke also of the opioid crisis, which he labeled as endemic of something wrong with society, although he doesn’t know exactly what it is. Although he is not certain of the number of calls related to opioids in Plympton yet, he spoke passionately about the issue county and country-wide.

“It’s a sign of a deeper problem,” said Silva.

Despite the challenges, Silva is keeping his eye on the future. “We’re coming out of the background,” he said of the PFD.

“I’ve been overwhelmed by the ideas, the sense of community and energy here. Firefighters are cut from a different cloth … they’re different. Different in a good way,” Silva added.