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Halifax Memorial Day parade event

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The Town of Halifax Office of Veteran Services along with the Halifax Board of Selectmen will be hosting the Town’s Annual Memorial Day Ceremony as well as a Memorial Day Parade on Monday May 29, 2023, from 9:30 a.m. through 12:30 p.m. The parade will begin at 9:30 a.m. at the Halifax Country Club and conclude at the Town Hall, 499 Plymouth Street, at around 10 a.m. to begin the ceremony. The ceremony will be outdoors in front of Town Hall. The Office of Veteran Services and Board of Selectmen welcome anyone to join us in remembering and honoring all of the heroes who gave the ultimate sacrifice.
Halifax Generations, a 501(c)3 organization established solely to support the Halifax Council on Aging and community it serves, will be hosting an outdoor cookout following the ceremony which will include a hot dog, bag of chips, and bottled water for five (5) dollars. Proceeds will go towards supporting the Council on Aging’s expansion of programs and services. We invite everyone to stay and enjoy some fellowship after the ceremony.
For questions, you may contact the Office of Veteran Services by calling (781) 293-1724 or e-mailing Steve Littlefield, Director of Veteran Services at Steve.Littlefield@halifax-ma.org.

History of Memorial Day
Originally called Decoration Day, from the early tradition of decorating graves with flowers, wreaths and flags, Memorial Day is a day for remembrance of those who have died in service to our country. It was first widely observed on May 30, 1868 to commemorate the sacrifices of Civil War soldiers, by proclamation of Gen. John A. Logan of the Grand Army of the Republic, an organization of former Union sailors and soldiers.
During that first national commemoration, former Union Gen. and sitting Ohio Congressman James Garfield made a speech at Arlington National Cemetery, after which 5,000 participants helped to decorate the graves of the more than 20,000 Union and Confederate soldiers who were buried there.
This national event galvanized efforts to honor and remember fallen soldiers that began with local observances at burial grounds in several towns throughout the United States following the end of the Civil War, such as the May 1, 1865 gathering in Charleston, South Carolina organized by freed slaves to pay tribute and give proper burial to Union troops.
In 1873, New York was the first state to designate Memorial Day as a legal holiday. By the late 1800s, many more cities and communities observed Memorial Day, and several states had declared it a legal holiday.
After World War I, it became an occasion for honoring those who died in all of America’s wars and was then more widely established as a national holiday throughout the United States.

Program of Events
A program of events is being finalized and will be available online at halifax-ma.org or by using the link below. Please continue to visit halifax-ma.org for updates.
Download 2023 Memorial Day Ceremony and Parade – Program of Events (PDF)

Shea celebrates 60 years as a barber acutting

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Sunday, May 7, John Shea, John the Barber, was celebrated at the Upland Sportsman Club in Plympton for his 60 years in business.
John’s son and fellow barber Darren Shea introduced John to the crowd.
John spoke about how he started his barber career working for Louie Gallerani in 1963 at Louie’s Barber Shop, Hall;’s Corner in Duxbury. After working there five years he decided to open his own shop in Halifax.
John spent 18 years at his shop at the Halifax King’s Market on Route 106 before moving up the street to the Cumberland Farms location at the intersection of Routes 58 and 106, where he continues to practice with his three other barbers: Darren Shea, John’s son; Corey Socha, nephew of Darren Shea’s wife; and Jared Traynor, John’s nephew.
A good size crowd stopped in to congratulate John, including his very first customer, Paul Barber. The furthest attendee came from Texas.

Halifax votes on Saturday

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Saturday, Halifax voters will mark their choice for the annual town election on ballots at the Halifax Elementary School, Rte. 106, from 10 a.m. until 6 p.m.
This year there is only one contest on the ballot. Alan J. Dias and David J. Hatch are both seeking the three-year term on Board of Health. There may be other write-in campaigns according to the abundance of political signs around town.
Asking for your vote are the following, in alphabetical order:
For the Board of Assessors, Holly J. Merry is the only candidate on the ballot seeking the three-year term.
Karyn Beth Townsend, candidate for re-election, and Kathleen L. Berry, are both seeking election to the two three-year terms on the Halifax Elementary School Committee.
Lori A Costa-Cline is seeking election to a one-hear term to fill a vacancy expiring May 18 on the Halifax Elementary School Committee.
Alan J. Dias and David J. Hatch are both seeking the single three-year term on the Board of Health.
R. Steven Hayward is seeking re-election to the three year term of Highway Surveyor.
Christine M. Thompkins is seeking re-election to the three-year term to the Halifax Housing Authority.
Kathleen Shiavone is a candidate for re-election to one of the two three-year terms to the Board of Library Trustees. The other post has no candidate.
Michael J. Schleiff is a candidate for re-election to the position of Halifax Park Commissioner for three years.
Thomas Millias is seeking election to the five-year term for the Planning Board.
Jonathan H. Selig is a candidate for re-election to the three-year term on the Board of Selectmen.
Jennifer Ann Carroll is a candidate for election to the three-year term on the Silver Lake Regional School Committee.
Richard A. Clark will run for re-election to the three-year term on the Board of Water Commissioners.

Bouzan is Holy Cross Valedictorian

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Plympton native and biology major will deliver the valedictory address at Commencement.
WORCESTER –  Emily Bouzan a member of the Holy Cross class of ’23, has been selected to deliver the Class of 2023 valedictory address at the Commencement ceremony on Friday, May 26.
Bouzan, who is from Plympton, is a biology major and a member of both Phi Beta Kappa and Alpha Sigma Nu Honors Society, and is a 2022-2023 Dana Scholar.
While at Holy Cross, Bouzan has served as a member of both the College Choir and Chamber Singers ensembles, as well as co-chair of the Alternate College Theatre (ACT), where she facilitated mainstage productions and recreational theatre events.
For the past two years, she has been conducting biochemistry research in the lab of Christine Hagan, assistant professor of chemistry, with the work being submitted for publication in the book series “Methods in Molecular Biology.” Additionally, as part of her self-designed college honors thesis project titled “Examining the Intersections Between Weight Stigma and Food Insecurity,” Bouzan has been volunteering at a local food pantry, as well as observing a virtual disordered eating support group.
Since joining the Worcester community, Bouzan has been volunteering at several nursing homes and hospice facilities in the city, including St. Francis Rehabilitation and Nursing Center, in addition to the Pernet Family Health After-School Club, all in partnership with the College’s Student Programs for Urban Development (SPUD), for which she serves as an intern managing the senior and healthcare sites. She also sees patients nearing the end of their lives at various nursing homes in Worcester through Trinity Hospice.
Her time spent with seniors has led to an interest in the field of medicine, and specifically in geriatric medicine, a medical specialty focused on providing care for the unique health needs of older adults.
Currently, Bouzan works as a patient care technician at a local urgent care facility. Following graduation, she plans to pursue a year-long Clinical Research Coordinator position at Mass General Hospital Cancer Center in the neurology department, as well as apply to medical school in June.
Bouzan was selected as valedictorian from a group of academically outstanding members of the senior class, each of whom submitted speeches for consideration. The Valedictorian Selection Committee — composed of students from the senior class, faculty members and administrators — reviewed the submissions, and the final selection was made by Interim Provost Ann Marie Leshkowich.
The College of the Holy Cross in Worcester is among the nation’s leading liberal arts institutions. A highly selective, four-year, exclusively undergraduate college of 3,100 students, Holy Cross is renowned for offering a rigorous, personalized education in the Jesuit, Catholic tradition. Since its founding in 1843, Holy Cross has made a positive impact in society by graduating students who distinguish themselves as thoughtful leaders in business, professional and civic life.

School Committee chops budget by $266K

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The Kingston School Committee met on Monday, April 10. Superintendent Jill Proulx provided a budget update. She said that she, Christine Healy, Committee Chair Jeanne Coleman, and Committee member Mike Shekane met with the Finance Committee to discuss their request to reduce the budget by $300,000. Proulx said that they may be able to use ESSER funds to pay for the $60,000 required for furniture for additional classes at KES. She said they would also consider taking some of the technology items and moving them to ESSER. Proulx pointed out that if they take recurring costs out of the budget and move them to ESSER, there is likely to be a greater increase in the budget next year when they appear again. Since there were two placeholders for two out-of-district placements and only one was needed, there would be a $30,000 decrease there. Additionally, $10,000 from the Building Utilization Fund could be used to help offset the budget. These savings totaled $150,000.
Proulx pointed out that 80 percent of the budget is salary which is why they need to look at staffing for potential cuts. She said that the removal of a special education teacher would save $65,000. “There would be less scheduling flexibility for students who require co-teaching,” she said of the reduction. Proulx further said that $30,000 could be saved with the removal of a 0.4 music teacher. The third cut would be the full-time paraprofessional. Proulx said that this would mean that there would no longer be a full-time paraprofessional assigned to each classroom. These cuts would total $116,000. Proulx said that since this still lands them about $40,000 shy of the goal, they would then need to turn to cutting classroom teachers which would result in larger class sizes which was already noted as a problem.
There was discussion surrounding the fact that there were budgeted positions within the sub-separate programs that were unfilled and as a result money was being spent on contracted services. It was said that the positions were posted but unable to be filled. “What I’m hearing is if we were able to proceed with the adequate staffing in that program, you’re confident that we would have been able to keep some of those placements in,” Committee member Timothy Lewis said. He said that he was therefore hesitant to fill the behaviorist position and would prefer instead to fill the current vacancies. Grable said she agreed but noted the difficulty in filling the positions. “I would add that Mike [Bambery] brought to the table the amount of time that his adjustment counselor and his current behaviorist were dedicating themselves to the Silver Lake substantially separate program,” Proulx said. Bambery, Grable, and Proulx still advocated for the addition of the behaviorist position.
Lewis asked what could be done in the future to avoid large increases in the budget like what was being seen this year. “It was an unusual year in that we had a population increase in not only kindergarten but in Grade 1. The Committee has approved the addition of several positions which is adding to the increase in the budget. We’ve talked about the issues that are putting pressure on the special education budget; some of which were caused by the pressures of Covid, for example, transportation was increased because smaller transportation companies could not survive… we lost those competitive rates… I think there are some other drivers,” Proulx said. Healy said there was a 14 percent transportation increase. She said she hoped this year was not a precedent setting year.
Lewis made a motion that they reconsider their previously voted budget with the cuts as outlined by Proulx. Coleman said that she would not support a motion for a $300,000 cut since that would require an additional $44,000 being cut that had not been discussed. She said that she would entertain a motion to cut a total of $266,000 as discussed. Coleman said, “the data as well as the information is out there for any taxpayer who is questioning our budget.” She further said that as School Committee members she did believe it was their job to be at Town Meeting to answer any questions that members of the public may have. The updated budget represented a 10.4 percent increase, down from a 14 percent increase. The Committee voted to approve an elementary school operating budget of $10,239,747, a special education budget of $5,989,065, and an out-of-district vocational budget of $198,000.
Kingston Elementary School Principal Kerri Whipple provided an update. She said that they have been focusing on citizenship. Whipple said that they had their second visit, this time virtual, with author Beth Berry. The students are working with her on creating their own stories. Whipple noted that school pictures took place and due to an error, every student would be receiving a free class picture regardless of whether they ordered one. Whipple said that family surveys went out and that two concerns of note were class size and recess.
Kingston Intermediate School Principal Mike Bambery also provided an update. He said that the art mural event would be April 28. “We’re deep in MCAS… that’s our focus right now… the last day will be the twenty-sixth… things have been going very, very well,” Bambery said.
Fourth grade teacher Brette Blette provided an update for Teacher’s Corner. She said that MCAS testing was underway. “I know that myself included are very appreciative of the PTO donations to our classroom libraries from the book fair… a lot of the students were very excited to get new books,” Blette said. She noted that the grades that have not yet had their field trips were preparing for them. “Hopefully all of the sickness that many of the kids have had over the last few weeks will go out the window with those windows open as we head into the spring,” she told the Committee.
Director of Business Services Christine Healy also provided an update. She told the Committee that there was $300,000 in Circuit Breaker funds that will not be used this year that can be carried over for a reduction in the FY24 budget. They discussed the number of students in out-of-district special education at the K-6 level in Kingston and noted that they were up from a year ago. A Committee member asked if the addition of a behaviorist at Kingston Intermediate School could help keep some of those students in district and effectively save the district from the out-of-district costs. “When we get to the point where we get to an out-of-district placement, the kids, they aren’t accessing the curriculum and that’s the number one threshold for me,” Bambery said. He continued, “If we’ve tried everything possible and then the teacher says the kid is not accessing the curriculum regardless of what we do and what strategy we put in place, that’s when we look to move to an out-of-district placement.” Bambery said that to Administrator of Special Education Marie Grable’s credit, when she had the outside evaluators come in, they were not able to identify any strategies that had not been tried and concurred with the decision to move students.

Happy 100th Birthday, Charlie!

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Saturday, April 15, Halifax resident Charles N. “Charlie” Bauer, Jr., was surprised by family and friends with a birthday celebration at Henrich Hall, featuring a cake made by his daughter, Nancy Lemon, and a catered luncheon for the more than 50 guests who came to wish him well.
Throughout the afternoon, a slide show ran with photos of a life well-lived. He is a veteran of World War II, Army Air Corps ball turret gunner, and worked as a plant supervisor at Goddard Memorial Hospital over 30 years until his retirement.
His son-in-law Herb Lemon, read the Citation that was read into the Congressional Record to be kept in perpetuity.

It was an ‘eggcellent’ egg hunt in Halifax!

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Saturday, April 1, the Halifax Elementary School gymnasium hosted hundreds of children all hoping to fill their baskets and have fun at the 22nd Easter Egg Hunt sponsored by the Halifax Youth and Recreation Dept.
Once again, Dick Steele, Director, led the activities, with the help of a large white furry flop-eared rabbit. Throughout the morning and afternoon, children enjoyed music, tattoos, balloon creations, face painting, bouncy houses, pizza, and hot dogs.
Children were separated by age groups to give everyone a chance to bring home a basketful of eggs.
Hundreds of area children enjoyed the day.

Open Space survey wants to hear from you!

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Alan Wheelock
Special to the Express
Plympton residents have an exciting opportunity to participate in a survey that seeks to gather their opinions on the future quality of life for their town. Starting now – and running throughout the month of April – townspeople can make their voices heard by completing a survey from the Plympton Open Space Committee. The survey will be available in hardcopy at the Library and at the Town Clerk’s office at the Town House. It is also posted electronically on the Town of Plympton website. A similar survey was conducted in 2016, and the responses to that iteration can be seen on the Town of Plympton Open Space Committee website.
For quite some time, when Plympton residents responded to surveys from the Open Space Committee, two primary areas of concern came through loud and clear: a) they want the Town’s rural character to be preserved, and b) they want to see continuing efforts to protect the purity of the aquifer on which all households depend for their water. Protecting our well water has been gaining in importance in the minds of respondents in recent years, as development pressures steadily increase. The current survey consists of 14 questions and takes only a few minutes to fill out.
This new survey also contains questions relating to recreational opportunities in Plympton, and the Plympton Recreation Commission participated in the development of the questions. Overall, respondents will find opportunities to express their opinions in writing in the survey, as well as filling out multiple choice questions that pertain to strategies for preserving land, how they and their families utilize our protected areas, how long they have lived in Plympton, and other areas.
Conducting these surveys plays a vital role in maintaining the Town’s ability to apply for grants that go towards land conservation. A recent – and vivid! – example of this is the half-million-dollar grant that Plympton was awarded by the state to help preserve Turkey Swamp. It was the largest land conservation grant in the town’s history and allowed us to permanently protect 300 acres of critically important white cedar swamp – some of the most ecologically important lands in southeastern Massachusetts. If Plympton had not been up to date with its Open Space Plan and survey, the town would have not been eligible for this critically important grant.

Please look for the Open Space Committee’s survey in April – the Committee is hoping for a large number of responses!