Jessica Zeoli

Express Correspondent

The Dennett School Committee had their monthly meeting Mon., April 23 to provide updates on the school over the past month. The first item on the agenda was a School Choice Public Hearing. School Choice allows slots within the Dennett Elementary for students out of district.

The committee discussed opening slots for new potential School Choice students for the upcoming school year, and voted against it. Currently, there are eight School Choice students, and no siblings of those are enrolling in Kindergarten for the upcoming year.

Next, Emily Peters of CASA, met with the committee to discuss plans for the new sign at the end of the driveway at the school. CASA located the artist of the original sign, and he declared it was unrepairable.

They found an artist willing to do a very similar design of a small school house, and raised letters. A company has also donated 8×8 granite posts for the sign, the original having 6×6 posts. The sign will be moved slightly forward and lit so it is more visible to those passing.

Updates on the water treatment project were presented by the committee, stating that a new water tank was installed over break, which consists of pipping up to the building itself. The project is expected to be completed by early summer this year.

The committee is still seeking guidance as they update the current playground at Dennett. They are in need of a consultant or project manager with experience working on playground safety and accessibility to help guide the project. A proposal must be completed and ready for approval by Fall 2018, which sparked Joy Blackwood, Superintendent, to offer contacting anyone she may know who can help.

The project would be aided by the School Choice fund. Updates on the project will be discussed at the next school committee meeting, May 21.

Christine Healy then provided the current Financial Report, briefly stating there was a deficit in custodial supplies due to custodians taking on more responsibilities and needing more supplies.

There was also a deficit in contracted services due to the new generator; this is expected to drastically drop next year. There was a surplus in Special Education, and Vocational Technical accounts of about $105,000.

Jill Proulx discussed the Curriculum Instruction Assessment updates, such as a new training available in the fall on suicide prevention and social emotional learning. It will be taught by an ELA teacher in the school who is an approved instructor of the course.

Next, she discussed the new policy to make available EpiPen at the school for all students. If the student goes on a fieldtrip, however, they will need to bring one from home.

In other news:

• There are currently 204 students enrolled at Dennett, with 25 to 30 potential Kindergarteners entering the school.

• The committee approved allowing several students each month to present their work at the school committee meetings to remind members why they volunteer their time for the children, and also to allow students to gain exposure for their work.

• CASA is planning to hold a Fun Run at the Dennett this upcoming summer, which will be further discussed in next month’s meeting once details are worked out.

• The next Dennett school committee meeting is Monday, May 21.

Kim Ciccone

Express correspondent

On Friday, April 6, the Halifax Elementary School 6th grade students faced off against the Halifax Hoopsters in a competitive basketball game. 

For the past twenty-four years the Hoopsters, a team made up of Halifax Elementary School teachers and administrators, have taken on the sixth graders to raise money for the Halifax Teachers Association Scholarship.  This scholarship is given to a deserving Silver Lake Senior from Halifax.

Six teams of 6thgraders faced off against two separate teams of Hoopsters in front of a crowd of parents and friends.  The 6th graders started out strong and held the lead for most of the night.

At half-time the younger kids got involved with a Shoot-To-Win competition, parents purchased raffle tickets and got snacks in the cafeteria.

The Hoopsters made a comeback in the second half, but the sixth graders squeaked out a 94-93 victory.  As the sixth graders celebrated on the court everyone agreed it was a great night for a great cause.

It’s not softball weather up in New England just yet, but one Halifax native has already been dominant on the diamond for the Bridgewater State softball team.

Shannon Grindle stood out for the Division 3 Bears during their trip to Florida earlier in the month and was recognized for her achievement. The week of March 12, she was named the MASCAC (Massachusetts State Collegiate Athletic Conference) Player of the Week.

The sophomore, who is listed as a first baseman and third baseman, earned the award because she tore the cover off the ball during her team’s trip down south. She played in eight of the team’s ten games and collected 13 hits in 25 at-bats, good for a .520 batting average. Not only that, but she belted three home runs, two doubles, knocked in 11 runs and drew four walks. That said, she posted a .586 on-base percentage and .960 slugging percentage in that span.

Grindle’s bat has been a major lift for an otherwise subpar start for Bridgewater State. They went 3-7 on their road trip despite that huge performance from Grindle.

That said, they likely would not have had that many wins if they did not have the excellent performance Grindle gave the team. It is also worth noting at the start of this week, Grindle led the conference in RBI (11) and home runs (3).

Grindle was also a regular in Bridgewater State’s lineup last season and among their top hitters. She finished 2017 with a .364 batting average, two home runs, 10 doubles and 34 runs driven in and a .410 on-base percentage.

At Bridgewater State, Grindle is also teammates with her former high school teammate, freshman infielder Alexandra Ruprecht, who is from Kingston.

Bridgewater State has not played any games since March 8 because of several postponements. Their next scheduled games are a doubleheader at Rhode Island College on Tuesday, Mar. 27, weather permitting.

Avoiding the harsh New England winter by starting their season with games in South Carolina and Florida, the Southern New Hampshire University women’s softball team is off to a great start. Much of that can be credited to a pair of Silver Lake alum and Halifax natives.

At the start of the week, SNHU was 10-0 on the season, in part thanks to the effort of sophomore Maddy Barone and also thanks to freshman Emily Critch. At one point, they were both ESPN Boston All-Scholastic high school softball players leading the Lakers to deep playoff runs, but now they have the opportunity to lead a college team to greatness. So far, they have both excelled.

On the mound, Barone has emerged as her school’s ace. Through 10 games, she has made six outings (five starts) and is 5-0 with a miniscule 0.58 ERA. She has also struck out 37 batters in 36 innings pitched.

There are a couple of reasons why Barone’s performance has improved from last year to this year. First of all, she has more experience in college softball but secondly, she has Critch catching her once again. Critch was Barone’s catcher for multiple seasons in high school and they excelled together; Barone threw 10 no-hitters with the Lakers and Critch was her catcher for three seasons.

Since Critch is also the Lakers all-time home run leader, it is no surprise that her bat also earned her a spot in SNHU’s lineup. She has played in eight of the team’s first 10 games and has collected five hits in 22 at-bats while knocking in four runs.

Both Barone and Critch are still underclassmen, so they are bound to keep improving over the next couple of years as they continue playing side-by-side. Certainly, SNHU has to be excited for the future contributions they will receive from both of these former Lakers given not only the success they enjoyed in high school, but also early in their college careers.

The Silver Lake High boys’ hockey team found itself in a slugfest during its second playoff game of the season.

In the end, the Lakers found themselves on the losing side of a 6-4 game at Gallo Ice Arena in the Div. 3 South bracket, putting an end to their season. The Lakers finished the season at 8-12-4.

The Lakers started the game with a goal from David Mariani 7:45 into it. Alex Heffernan was credited with the assist. However, the Lakers were unable to protect that lead; a minute later, Bourne tied things up and at the end of the first period, they put up one more to go up 2-1.

In the second period, each team scored once. Kevin Cardarelli put one up for Silver Lake but the Lakers still trailed 3-2 after two frames. Still, it was anyone’s game–but Bourne pulled away.

There was a span where three goals were scored in 26 seconds early in the final period, and this put Bourne up 5-4. First, Bourne scored with 11:26 left in the game and then came the interesting part about seven minutes later.

Heffernan found the back of the net for the Lakers to make it a one-goal game again. Fast forward just five seconds later and Bourne scored again to protect their lead. After this, Cam Duff scored again for the Lakers on their first rush post-faceoff, helping the team’s hopes stay alive.

Ultimately, the Lakers pulled Alden Maguire out of net with less than two minutes remaining while trying to tie up the game, but they were unable to muster anything and Bourne put the game away with an empty-netter.

The Lakers season might be over, but this performance marked the second year in a row in which they won a playoff game despite being marked the lower seed.

The Plympton Community Preservation Committee voted Tuesday, Feb. 13, to present the preservation of Plympton’s first Town House, on upper Main St., to town meeting voters for their approval at the annual Town Meeting May 16.

Plympton’s Community Preservation Committee (CPC) received the application from the Plympton Board of Selectmen, in conjunction with the Plympton Historical Society for possible CPA funding consideration at the May 2018 Town Meeting.

The project under consideration is an historic preservation of the town-owned “Old Town House ” on Main Street at the junction of Center Street, also sometimes known more recently as the    “Plympton Historical Society Building”.   

The structure was built in 1850 as a Town Hall. For the last 65 years it has been used by the Plympton Historical Society for the preservation and presentation of materials and collections related to the Town’s history as well as the site of many community events.

The project under consideration requests funds for much needed rehabilitation and restoration of the historic building. Estimated project cost would be approximately $87,500 which includes $25,000 for painting and clapboard restoration, $45,000 for window restoration and replacement, and an additional $17,500 to be used in the case of unexpected contingencies.

In the committee’s efforts to diligently review and choose well-conceived projects that offer a lot of benefit for its limited funds, the CPC welcomes any and all comments and input.

When they needed to show up and put up the best performance of their season, the Silver Lake High girls’ gymnastics co-op with Pembroke delivered.

Last Friday night, the co-op–dubbed “Pemberlake”–impressed at the Patriot League meet once again this season. They won it for the second straight year as they posted a 136.2 final team score in the meet at Mass Gymnastics Center in Pembroke.

The meet had several standout performances from the co-op. Most notably, Morgan Hackett took home Patriot League MVP as she earned second place in the all-around. Her performance also earned her a ticket to individual states by being one of the top-15 all-around gymnasts in the south section. Patriot League All-Star Tori Newton earned a fourth-place finish in the all-around and also earned a spot in the state meet as she is one of the top vaulters in the area.

Maizie Condon and Katie Kemp were also among those to have strong performances on the day. Condon earned second place on the balance beam while Kemp, who was named a league All-Star on floor, earned second place in that event, scoring an 8.6.

Awards were handed out at the meet and Pemberlake walked away with a few of them. In addition to Hackett’s MVP Award, Tess Bonanno was named a Patriot League scholar-athlete and Hannah Alexanian earned a Patriot League sportsmanship award.

At the start of the season, the co-op was at a disadvantage because Hackett was out with a thumb injury and Kemp got off to a late start to the season, but when the team had them back and healthy, it provided a boost to an already talented squad.

The co-ops individual meets season is over, however, now it is time for their top performers to prepare for the state meet which will be held in early March at a time and location that have yet to be announced.

It did not matter that the Silver Lake High boys’ basketball team got outrebounded by a decent margin. They shot well, so they were able to take down a tough opponent last week.

The Lakers had good touch on Thursday, Feb. 1, when they took on the Falmouth Clippers, who were already qualified for a playoff spot. Even so, this did not stop the Lakers from picking up a 66-57 win on the road.

In the contest, the Lakers got outrebounded 31-21, but they hit 51 percent of their shots including all of their free throws and 50 percent of their 3-point attempts.

This success was evident for the Lakers early in the game as a pair of 3-pointers gave them a 6-0 lead to start the contest and a few minutes into the game, Danny Duggan sank a three and a free throw to give his team a 12-4 lead. Falmouth clawed back, however, and led 18-17 after one quarter.

Early in the second quarter, Nolan Hughes drained a 3-pointer to put the Lakers up 23-20. This gave the Lakers some momentum as Josh Harvey got a block on defense and shortly afterwards, the Lakers went on a 9-0 run propelled by Danny Duggan, Tyler Duggan and Josh Gilbert. At halftime, they led 35-26.

Again, Falmouth was able to close the gap. By the end of the third quarter, they cut the Lakers lead to four points, 47-43.

With the Lakers lead down to two points 51-49, Matthew Bettle up with a key steal to give the Lakers possession and help them add some insurance points. The Lakers were able to do so and a couple of minutes later, Tyler Duggan hit a 3-pointer to give the team a 60-51 lead; he also hit a pair of free throws with 21 seconds in the game to put it out of reach for Falmouth.

The Lakers next game is this Friday, Feb. 9 against Plymouth North at home (6:30 p.m. start time).

The Silver Lake High boys’ hockey team continues playing hard against tough competition.

Although the team had a six game winless skid, they snapped it last week with a 5-0 win over North Quincy last week and have kept their competitive season going. At the start of the week, they stood at 4-7-3.

An obstacle faced by the Lakers so far this season has been being on the younger side defensively, but the team certainly is improved in comparison to where they were last year. That time around, they went 5-15-1 during the regular season and made the playoffs via the Sullivan Rule.   

Still, the team does have an asset in its offense. Through 14 games, they had put up a respectable 39 goals despite playing a tough and highly competitive Patriot League schedule.

At the start of the week, sophomore forward Kevin Cardarelli had scored a team-high nine goals and was tied for second on the team with 14 points. Junior forward Alex Heffernan led the team in points with 15 as he had netted eight goals and dished out seven assists. His classmate, fellow forward David Marani (eight goals, six assist) was also among the three players on pace to score more than 10 goals by the end of the season while averaging at least a point per game offensively.

Sophomore Nicholas Solari (four goals, four assists) and junior Andrew Johnson (one goal, seven assists) have also been contributors to the Lakers offense.

Also, in net, senior Alden Maguire has been sharp for the Lakers all season. The team’s captains this season are defensemen John Evans, Liam Kelliher and Nick Iarossi. They are among the nine seniors on the squad this season.

The Lakers next game is this Saturday, Feb. 3 at 5:00 p.m. at Hobomock Ice Arena in Pembroke against Plymouth North.