MIILTON — Curry College is proud to announce that Allyson Colanino of Halifax, has been inducted into the Sigma Theta Tau International Nursing Honor Society.

Curry College’s Chapter, Theta at Large, began in 1953 when it was chartered as only the seventh Chapter of Sigma Theta Tau. A group of nurses attending Boston University set out to establish an organization that would represent the best of what nursing offered in this part of the world. Boston University would stand tall for the ensuing 37 years, as the “institution of record” for the Chapter, until 1990 when it was re-chartered to include Curry College in Milton, Mass., and Simmons College in Boston – thereby establishing an “at-large” distinction.

Today, the chapter has over 900 active members linked among three unique institutions. Theta at Large has many reasons to be proud as it forges into the new millennium.

We are active in supporting local nursing scholars through our ongoing research and academic awards program. Our fall and spring programs offer members an opportunity to connect with each other and engage in scholarly educational discourse. We are thrilled to routinely send members to destinations around this country and abroad, to leadership conferences, academic events, member forums, and the biennial convention during which representatives from all chapters from around the world gather.

About Curry College

Curry College, founded in Boston in 1879, is a private, co-educational, liberal arts-based institution located on 131 acres in Milton, Massachusetts. The College extends its educational programs to a continuing education branch campus in Plymouth. The College offers 22 undergraduate majors in specialized and liberal arts programs, as well as graduate degrees in accounting, business, education, criminal justice, and nursing to a combined enrollment of nearly 2,500 students. The student body consists of 1,700 traditional students and nearly 800 continuing education and graduate students. The College offers a wide array of co-curricular activities ranging from 15 NCAA Division III athletic teams to an outstanding theatre and fine arts program. Visit us on the web at www.curry.edu.

The Halifax School Committee met in-person at the Halifax Town Hall on Thursday, July 1. They began the meeting with a reorganization of the Committee. Summer Schmaling was nominated to serve as Chair and the vote was unanimous. Schmaling then went on to nominate Gordon Andrews as Vice Chair. New Committee member Lauren Laws asked for a brief description of each of the roles before nominating herself to serve as Vice Chair. She cited Andrews’ many responsibilities including his role as one of the town’s Selectmen as a reason. Both Andrews and Laws received seconds to their nominations so the Committee then voted. Andrews narrowly bested Laws for the role of Vice Chair. Laws was instead nominated and voted in as secretary. Jim Keegan was named to the Pilgrim Area Collaborative.

Schmaling opened the floor for public participation. A member of the audience expressed frustration that she would not be allowed to speak later in the meeting during a discussion on a particular topic. “I’m here because I’m extremely upset with the climate and I don’t want to add to the negative climate within town and I have a few requests of the Board that I would like you to take with an open mind and would like the community to take with an open mind,” the resident said. She went on to say that Superintendent Jill Proulx was aware of the situation.

She continued, “I have requested all of the public documents and emails regarding the practice.” After being asked for clarification, she said she was referring to the dispute surrounding the peace flag being hung in classrooms. She said, “I thought the Pride event was wonderful; I look forward to it next year, but with the Peace flag, I have two children in the school, they were currently in second and fourth grade this year. I don’t believe the administration handled it very well and I requested, as I can, everything publicly available… there was over 1,000 emails.” She said that the price tag for obtaining all of this documentation is over $1,000.

“What did come to my attention, and I think that the public deserves to know, is that although individuals may not personally wish to have litigation or sue when they contacted the Attorney General’s office; the Attorney General can bring litigation and lawsuits forward to the town. I believe that is something that the general populace of the town of Halifax deserves to know…. As a parent I can tell you that my own son attempted suicide on April 7 of this year and it was in regards to what was going on at the school; it wasn’t another student, it happened to be the way the administration handled something incorrectly over the years and a staff member at the school.” She identified herself as a Girl Scout leader and said that half of her troop self-harms or has suicidal ideation. “This is a problem that we need to address,” she said. she also went on to urge understanding, inclusion, and appropriate accommodation of those that identify as LGBTQ+.

“I know that there are multiple staff at the school, teachers, paraprofessionals, administration that in the past have taken the youth mental health first aid course. I would like to request from the Board that the paraprofessionals be required to take it and if… you guys need to have negotiations with union staff and other things to have step raises as they do at Town Hall and other things for those that have different certifications and such, that those discussions happen.” She cited an unfortunate incident between her own son and a paraprofessional at the school as her motivation for wanting to see them all trained properly. She mentioned the mental health challenges that are sure to be seen once school resumes in late summer saying, “We have wonderful staff at the school… but I don’t think the district is ready; honestly I don’t think any district is ready.” She also requested that those on recess duty have their simple CPR training.

Before concluding her remarks, she added, “I’m also really bothered, as a parent in 2021, that students that have invisible disabilities are not addressed more… I never should have had to hire an attorney to get my kid what he needed.” She also criticized the behavior, particularly on social media, of some of those currently sitting on the Diversity and Inclusivity Subcommittee.

Director of Business Services Christine Healy provided the Committee with a financial closeout. Healy acknowledged that there were some “unusual events” but said, “thank goodness we made it successfully through the year.” She listed some of the savings including regular transportation and homeless transportation. Special education transportation, however, was a deficit of nearly $28,000. Healy said that she requested a line-item transfer to move funds from the regular day budget. “We do have money left in the special education portion of that to offset these costs,” she explained. She acknowledged that they struggled with their Circuit Breaker funds and said that they will be going into next school year with $100,000 less in these funds than usual. Healy told the Committee that the regular day budget will be ending with a surplus of $84,000 before the $28,000 line-item transfer. Healy also said there was a surplus of over $36,000 in out of district vocational.

Before adjourning, the Committee turned their attention to the Subcommittees. Schmaling provided an update on Youth and Rec saying that they did a STEM program through June at the Elementary School. She also said that the gym floors will be re-sanded, re-lined, and refinished this summer and referred to it as a total makeover. “We are very fortunate that we have such a strong Youth and Rec department here in Halifax because they really do provide a lot for our kids in terms of sports which is great,” she said. Schmaling also said that the department will be looking to replace the existing tennis and basketball courts behind the schools at some point as well.

Here is a look at how the Silver Lake High varsity sports teams fared last week

Boys Lacrosse

The Lakers had their season come to a close after facing off against a tough Hingham opponent in the Division 1 South quarterfinal. They lost the game 17-6 on the road on Tuesday, June 22. In the loss to Hingham, Brandon Cavicchi scored a team-high two goals for the Lakers. Other than Cavicchi, a few other players scored goals for the Lakers against Hingham. They include: Jackson Nugent, Chris Broderick (1 assist), Tommy Condon (1 assist), and Will Cronin (1 assist). It was the first varsity goal of Nugent’s career.

Softball

The Lakers picked up a 17-5 win over the Hopkinton Hillers on Monday, June 21. Two days later, the Lakers beat Mansfield 8-5 in the Division 1 South quarterfinal. However, their season came to an end with a 14-1 loss to Bridgewater-Raynham on June 24.

Track

Select Lakers athletes competed at All-States. On the boys’ side, Sam Shirikjian came in seventh in the triple jump and 10th place in the long jump on June 26. On the girls’ side, Riley Paskow had the top performance for the Lakers. She came in 20th in the 400 meter. Additionally, the girls competed in their Division 1 South championship meet on Sunday, June 20.

At that meet, Paskow came in fourth in the 400 meter and seventh in the long jump while Toni Ierardi came in sixth in shotput and seventh in discus.

KINGSTON (June 16, 2021) – State Representative Kathleen LaNatra (D – Kingston), along with her colleagues in the Massachusetts Legislature, passed legislation on Tuesday evening that extends numerous popular provisions adopted during the State of Emergency. The State of Emergency, which was put in place by Governor Baker on March 10, 2020 in response to the pandemic, came to an end on June 15th.

The legislation, which passed both the House and Senate, paves the way for continued remote meetings of public bodies until April 20, 2022, as well as continued remote permission for representative town meetings, nonprofit member meetings, notary services and reverse-mortgage loan counseling. It also included certain eviction protections, flexibilities for assisted living residences, and allowed for medical assistants, podiatrists, phlebotomists, and certain military personnel to administer COVID-19 vaccines.

The House and Senate were able to reach a compromise late on Tuesday afternoon regarding numerous measures that effects restaurants in the Commonwealth.

The legislation permits to-go beer, wine and cocktail sales through May 1, 2022, so long as the takeout and delivery drinks are sold at the same price as those beverages consumed on-site. Special permits for expanded outdoor dining will be valid until April 1, 2022, avoiding an original expiration date of 60 days after the end of the State of Emergency.

“While we are certainly nearing the end of this difficult pandemic, it is not over yet, and it was crucial that we extended some protections for the residents of the Commonwealth,” said Rep. Kathy LaNatra (D – Kingston). “I was thrilled to support this important piece of legislation and see it passed.

Ensuring that our restaurants are able to take full advantage of the economic recovery by keeping outdoor dining and take-out beer, wine, and cocktails. While many are comfortable meeting in-person, many members of town bodies and people who want to attend are not, so this was an important step to keeping people safe.”

 The legislation was signed by the Governor on Wednesday.

The Halifax Board of Selectmen, who have been meeting with greater frequency than usual, met in-person on June 11. They dealt with some regular town business including approval of line-item transfers and ambulance abatements. They also signed off on a road opening for White Island Road to install a new gas service requiring one detail. There was another road opening request for 160 Holmes St. to install a new gas service as well.

Selectmen Chair Gordon Andrews recused himself from the discussion of the Host Community Agreement (HCA) with Green Earth Cannabis. “There’s nothing, as far as I know, in State law that says that simply because someone proposes a Host Community Agreement the town is obligated to say so. I think, you know, it’s the Board’s judgment call not just on zoning issues or site plan review which are being done by the Planning Board but whether it’s worth it to the community to have this establishment in here… it’s one of the reasons we ask for the public comments on it,” Town Administrator Charlie Seelig explained.

He told Selectmen Ashley DiSesa and Troy Garron their options including agreeing to the HCA, saying no to it, asking for additional provisions within it, or asking for additional public comment. Garron said he has very strong feelings about it and said he has heard from more residents against the idea than for it. Seelig said that a valid reason to say no would be that there was significant opposition to the establishment particularly due to its close proximity to residents resulting in traffic worries, etc. Garron made a motion that they not agree to the proposed HCA and DiSesa agreed. Seelig said he would communicate the decision to the applicant.

The Selectmen also reviewed the Police Department rules and regulations. Seelig asked the Board if they wished to move the discussion to a further date and have Police Chief Joao Chaves attend. Andrews pointed out that they hadn’t been updated in a really long time and Seelig laughed saying, “Yea, in about 45 years.”  Selectmen DiSesa and Garron both said they had reviewed the new rules and saw no issue. The Selectmen then unanimously approved.

Seelig also discussed several documents pertaining to the Franklin St. Solar Field. “There are two documents, one is the final document related to the actual payment of taxes pilot agreement and that is going to go to the Registry of Deeds… the other is for financing purposes for the developer,” Seelig explained. The Board unanimously agreed to approve the documents. The Solar Field itself was approved at a previous year’s town meeting.

The Selectmen also re-evaluated their own duties and liaisons. Garron agreed to stay on as the liaison to the Animal Control Officer. He also agreed to be assigned to Cemetery, MBTA, Memorial Day, Monponsett, Advisory, and Old Colony Planning Council delegate. DiSesa was assigned to the Capital Planning Committee as well as the Highway Department. Seelig remained on for Chief Procurement Officer and the insurance plan. Andrews agreed to be the liaison to the Finance Committee and Fire Department as well as the Halifax Emergency Management. He also took on Government study. DiSesa agreed to Traffic Safety.

The Selectmen also discussed the surplus equipment procedure. Seelig said, “We have tried to be transparent in the past when we’re selling property, to get the information out; this helps formalize what locations, what venues we’ll be putting out notices and such when we’re putting property out for sale whether it be vehicles or something else.” He said that for vehicles they would still do the auctions and advertise on the town website. Seelig told the Selectmen that this way any resident who may be interested can find out about it and no one can say they weren’t aware of the proceedings. The Selectmen voted unanimously for the policy.

Seelig also addressed reports received regarding OUI (Operating Under the Influence). He said that for the last several months there were none reporting that someone pulled over said they had had their last drink in Halifax. “Most of the time we get a clean sheet,” Seelig said.

Seelig also said he was looking into reports of erratic power outages in town.

It came down to the last at-bats and they were three outs away from losing the game. However, the Silver Lake High softball team saw the challenge and they beat it.

The Lakers hosted the Duxbury High Dragons on Wednesday, May 26 and while they went into the bottom of the seventh inning down a run, they got two in the final half frame and came out with a 5-4 victory. The win put them at 7-2 on the season.

Nina O’Neil was among the heroes for the Lakers in the game. She had a walkoff single on a full count to knock in the game-winning run. It came on the third at-bat of the inning.

Lily Gustafson started the inning off by reaching base on an error by the shortstop. The next batter Delaney Callanan (2-for-4, 4 RBI) had an RBI double to center field, scoring Gustafson. Silver Lake then put in Autumn Fletcher as a pinch runner for Callanan. Fletcher reached third base on a wild pitch and then scored on O’Neil’s ground ball single to center field.

The Lakers used two pitchers in the game: starter Caroline Peterson and reliever Briann Ghilardi. Peterson went four innings and allowed two runs, neither of which were earned. She allowed five hits and four walks and struck out four batters.

Ghilardi pitched the last three innings in relief and allowed two runs, both of which were earned, on five hits and didn’t walk any batters. She had three strikeouts.

The Lakers had eight hits in the win. Other than Gufstafson, Callanan, and O’Neil, who had two hits apiece, Hannah Kelleher and Sam Waters also had hits for the Lakers.

The Lakers finished their regular season at 8-2 last week.

The Thursday, May 20 Silver Lake Regional School Committee meeting began with Chair Paula Hatch saying they were “giddy” because they were finally all in-person.

Silver Lake Regional High School Principal Michaela Gill was unable to attend due to family obligations. Silver Lake Regional Middle School Principal Jim Dupille read Gill’s notes to the Committee. Earlier this year, a subcommittee was established to formalize a dual enrollment policy. It would allow juniors and seniors in good academic standing to enroll part-time in college courses and earn college credits. The student and guardian would be responsible for paying for such courses. “I think it’s a great opportunity for our students to get a jump start on colleges; there’s an opportunity for them to not only earn credit in our high school but really reach out to the next level and really propel them forward in their career,” Dupille explained. Dupille said that Committee member Leslie-Ann McGee was instrumental in the development of the program.

One Committee member asked if the program would be open to the career and technical education students as well. Superintendent Jill Proulx said, “I think there’s an opportunity for a wide-range of types of courses that students could potentially take advantage of.”

Committee member Christopher Eklund expressed some concerns over the way the policy was presented calling it “very, very open.” McGee noted that there were many different models for dual enrollment. She also pointed out that for the last several years, many CTE students have already been involved in dual enrollment programs. McGee said that her own son was in a dual enrollment program at Quincy College taking precalculus as well as English Comp 101 online there. “By the end of December, he had his entire high school year of math and year of English completed,” she explained. She said that it has eased the transition into college. McGee pointed out that if a student takes an Advanced Placement (AP) course in high school but does not receive a score of a 4 or a 5 they will not receive college credit whereas a passing grade at a college while enrolled in a dual enrollment program would count toward college credit. She also stressed that it is financially more beneficial as well to enroll in such a program.

Eklund asked if the courses that are being selected to take at a college are typically those that are not offered at Silver Lake. McGee said that it gives students the opportunity to go beyond the curriculum offered at Silver Lake. Eklund said his concern was students going off campus to take courses that they could take at Silver Lake. He said he was all for students going off campus to take courses not otherwise offered to them. “I’m fully in agreement, I just want more structure to it,” he explained.

Committee member Gordon Andrews said, “So the idea is this is the first step an open policy and then you guys can work on an implementation plan to try to bring in colleges?” “That is my understanding,” McGee said. Except for Eklund, all other Committee members voted in favor of the new dual enrollment policy.

Dupille reported that according to Gill, the high school’s full, in-person return to school has been very successful. Gill requested permission from the School Committee to accept donations from the Kingston Fire Department for a physio-controlled life pack, 15 defibrillators; the total value of such donations is $20,250. A 2001 Oldsmobile was also donated by a resident to be used by the automotive department. High School graduation will take place on June 4 at 6 pm. The annual senior parade will take place on June 3 and students will have an opportunity to visit their former schools. The annual senior awards will be a virtual presentation on June 1.

Dupille then turned to his own update. Dupille said that later that week they would be holding their practice MCAS testing with actual testing on May 25, May 27, and wrapping up in early June. Spirit Week was held at the Middle School from May 10 through May 14. Dupille said clubs are now meeting after school once again including the school paper the Laker Ledger as well as the drama club. He said they were also looking at bringing back a modified field day sometime in June based on the new safety guidelines that are being released.

Proulx told the Committee that on May 17 the Department of Education issued a new set of Covid 19 frequently asked questions with updated information. Effective May 18 students no longer had to wear masks outside even if distancing could not be maintained. Adults still need to wear masks outside if distancing cannot be maintained. Masks will be required for all while indoors. Gathering limits for outdoor events will be lifted as of May 29. Governor Baker had announced that the state of emergency would be lifted on June 15. Proulx said she reached out to the head of the subcommittee on policy to amend the Covid policies appropriately. Proulx said that as of right now they are not anticipating a change to the policy that requires students and adults to wear masks while inside the school prior to the end of the school year. Proulx pointed out that sometimes the broader public implications do not always apply to schools as they must account for not only the Governor’s mandates but the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education’s (DESE) determinations as well.

Director of Business Services Christine Healy provided an update on the financials saying that while there were a number of deficits there were also a number of surpluses that would likely weigh each other out. Healy said she was surprised to see that the only utilities deficit was for gas at the high school. She found this surprising given the number of air purifiers and other items running due to the pandemic. Healy noted that the schools were still waiting for reimbursements for CARES Act funding from the towns.

Assistant Superintendent Ryan Lynch began his update by saying that principals, coordinators, and department heads are beginning work on summer curriculum. He said that teachers and coordinators are also working on a new K-5 ELA program. Regarding professional development, Lynch said they have their diversity, equity and inclusion working group continuing their work that was started over the winter. “The goal of this working group is to eventually design diversity, equity, and inclusion professional development for our schools,” he explained.

Superintendent Proulx also presented. “Despite the FAQ’s that came out earlier this week and the Governor’s announcement about the COVID related restrictions ending on May 29, one thing that is going to remain in place is that all of the federal U.S. Department of Agricultural school meal flexibilities that were announced on April 20 are still going to remain in place through June 30, 2022,” Proulx said. She also mentioned that youths over 12 years of age are now eligible to be vaccinated. Proulx also spoke about the grant opportunities that are available for summer programming to support the needs of the students that may have arisen over the last year or two. One such program is the Accelerated Learning Academy. The program is intended to help those students entering Grades 3-6 most affected by COVID 19. There will also be a Silver Lake Middle School Enhancement program for students entering Grades 7 and 8. There will be another program to ensure students with disabilities will not fall behind.

Silver Lake Education Association President John Lay spoke briefly. Lay said he wanted to acknowledge on behalf of the SLEA the tremendous amount of work that went into getting kids and teachers back in school full-time in a very short amount of time. He also said that he really appreciated the school encouraging kids aged 12 and up to get vaccinated. Committee member Summer Schmaling took issue, however, with the idea that the schools would be encouraging students to get vaccinated. “Something he said really struck me; encouraging students to get vaccinated, that is not our role as a school to be doing that. I have an issue with that; I’m trying to speak without coming across emotionally…. I think it’s out of line for our teachers and our staff to be having that conversation with minors,” she explained. Proulx clarified that the school nurse is putting together an informational packet to be distributed directly to parents.

Hatch pointed out to the other members that Halifax did not support the regional budget at their town meeting though Plympton did. Andrews clarified that if two towns vote no to the regional budget, the School Committee must reconvene to present another budget and the towns would have 30 days to hold another town meeting. Kingston did, in fact, vote through the Silver Lake Regional budget during their town meeting on Saturday, May 22.

As it was Andrews’ last Regional School Committee meeting, Hatch said, “We have to bid farewell… I just feel the need to say, you have been a tremendous asset to this Committee; your Finance Committee background coupled with your ability to just think outside the box has been overwhelmingly beneficial to this Committee… I’m going to miss your wisdom and I’m going to miss your humor both and I can’t thank you enough for having been on this Committee.” Additionally, School Committee secretary Lisa Turcotte is retiring. Hatch said, “Lisa you have been such a wealth of knowledge as well; you’re sort of like the historical gatekeeper of so many pieces of knowledge of this district… you’ve been absolutely wonderful to work with.”