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Matt Clancy to return as interim police chief

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Police Chief Matthew Clancy (Photo Courtesy of the Duxbury Clipper)

At the regular meeting held May 6, Plympton Selectmen voted to name Matthew Clancy as Interim Police Chief effective August 1, 2019.  Clancy will manage the Plympton Police Department on the retirement of Chief Patrick Dillon at the end of July, 2019.

Clancy is currently serving as Police Chief in Duxbury, and he will be retiring from there effective June 14, 2019.  He is very familiar with the Town of Plympton and the Plympton Police Department, as prior to serving the Town of Duxbury for the past eight years, Clancy was the Plympton Police Chief from December 2002 to April 2010.

Matt Clancy holds a Masters Degree in Criminal Justice from Boston University and he is a graduate of the FBI National Academy.  With over thirty-two years of combined full-time policing experience, Mr. Clancy has been involved with developing a wide array of policing, management and labor relations policies.  Mr. Clancy serves as the President of the Massachusetts Police Accreditation Commission and we thoroughly believe that his transparent and hands-on management approach will make him an asset to the Town of Plympton and we are thrilled to be welcoming him back.

We would like to express our sincere gratitude to our current Police Chief Patrick Dillon for managing the Plympton Police Department in an effective, efficient and responsive manner.  Chief Dillon has led the Department well over the years by setting a great example and encouraging officers to be involved with the community.  Chief Dillon also played an integral role in the planning process for the newly constructed Plympton Police Station.  We wish Chief Dillon the best of luck in his future endeavors and a very happy and healthy retirement.

Guilty! Kilburn convicted!

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Justin Kilburn is led away in handcuffs to begin his not less than five but not more than six year sentence at MCI-Cedar Junction. He has 14 days to appeal. (Photo by Abram Neal)

PLYMOUTH —Justin Kilburn, 30, of Links Way, Kingston, was found guilty of one count of motor vehicle homicide by OUI in the death of Diane Giordani, 52, of Plympton, and her German Shephard dog, Blitz, by Judge Cornelius J. Moriarty, II, Wednesday, May 8, after an emotional, jury-waived trial in Plymouth Superior Court in Plymouth. The three-day trial occurred just days before the one-year anniversary of the fatal collision.

The self-employed father of two was acquitted of one count of motor vehicle manslaughter by OUI.

He had a blood alcohol content level of 0.17%, more than twice the legal limit, when he caused the collision, said the district attorney’s office, and this was not his first alcohol-related driving offense.

Moriarty sentenced Kilburn to serve five to six years at MCI-Cedar Junction, a state prison in Walpole.

According to trial testimony, shortly before 6:11 p.m. May 10, 2018, multiple bystanders came running after hearing what they variously described as a loud pop or boom and came upon a two-vehicle head-on collision on County Road (Route 106) in Plympton, near the Halifax town line. They found a white pickup truck on fire and a black car in the woods.

State police investigators estimated that Kilburn was traveling 67- in a 40-mph zone around a curve in the road.

Kenneth Payne, a carpenter from Kingston, testified that Kilburn’s white pickup truck passed his vehicle at a high rate of speed seconds before the collision.

Another witness, Joanne Hudson, formerly of Kingston and now of Hilton Head, South Carolina, testified she was traveling to a wake from Kingston when a white pickup truck crossed the center line and almost drove her BMW off the road, also just seconds before the collision.

Diane Giordani with her German Shepherd, Blitz. (Photo courtesy Giordani family)

Three Plympton police officers, who happened to be only hundreds of feet from the collision, also heard the crash. They arrived within moments, according to trial testimony. Bystanders also called 911, and firefighters and additional police arrived momentarily.

Giordani was found dead at the scene.  State Medical Examiner Dr. Henry Nields testified cause of death was due to blunt force trauma to the head and extremities.

Plympton police officer Douglas Mazzola, who knew Giordani, testified he watched 5-year-old Blitz crawl up next to her and perish at the scene as well. “The dog got up, laid down next to Diane, and expired,” he said.

It took between two and three hours to extricate Giordani from her vehicle using the Jaws of Life, according to police testimony. The prosecution used graphic photos of the mangled vehicles throughout the trial, and Giordani’s black Nissan X-Terra was so damaged it was unrecognizable as a vehicle in the images.

Giordani’s husband, Michael, testified that she was going to dog training in Bridgewater on the day of the collision, one of her favorite activities. In a victim impact statement, Giordani’s sister, Stephanie, said that Giordani had been cleared of having Multiple Sclerosis the day before she died.

Kilburn, who was initially unresponsive at the scene but came to after police and paramedics performed CPR, was medflighted to Rhode Island Hospital for treatment of his injuries. He told paramedics that he had consumed beer and nips while fishing earlier in the day, according to testimony.

Police said he was ejected from the vehicle and they found him bleeding in the middle of County Road.

Kilburn appeared at several pre-trial hearings and conferences limping with a crutch, although he stood tall and looked straight ahead throughout the trial. He showed emotion only when Michael Giordani testified, tearing up when photos of Giordani were displayed on a television.

Kilburn did not testify in his defense. He was represented by Plymouth-based defense attorney Jack Atwood, who did not call any witnesses and waived an opening statement.

“Anybody who’s driven a car would recognize the danger this behavior puts others in,” stated assistant district attorney Russell Eonas in his closing arguments. “I would suggest this case started long before he [Kilburn] got behind the wheel.”

Moriarty warned the gallery, which was filled with family and supporters of both Giordani and Kilburn, to not react emotionally to his verdict – which he said would possibly please some and upset others – or be held in contempt of court.

The room remained silent as Moriarty rendered his verdict and moved into sentencing after hearing Giordani’s sister’s victim impact statement, calling it an “egregious” case.

Kilburn did not visibly react when found guilty or sentenced.

He was advised by the clerk that he stood committed and could appeal the verdict within 14 days.

“The loss of Miss Giordani and her companion Blitz was devastating to her family members, who were in the courtroom throughout this trial,” district attorney Timothy J. Cruz said in a release Wednesday. “I am hopeful that with today’s conviction and sentencing of Mr. Kilburn, this family can finally find some peace.”

Neither Atwood nor Kilburn made any comment throughout the trial.

Lakers Drama finds success at METG

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Shelby Philbeck stands with her award-winning locker set for the play “Boxes.” (Photo by Kristy Zamangi-Twomey)

For the first time in many, many years the Silver Lake Regional High School Drama Club participated in the METG Festival.

METG, short for the Massachusetts Educational Theater Guild, Inc., has spent nearly a century striving to encourage and improve participation and education in theatre arts for students and teachers in both middle and high school. The festival includes 112 one-act plays put on by high schools across the state.

There are preliminary, semi-final, and state rounds at which awards are presented for student excellence in acting and technical design.

Silver Lake participated in the preliminary round hosted by Marshfield High School where they won four of the coveted awards.

Seniors John Coady and Quinn Bonneyman and junior Caitlyn Beckwith were all awarded leading acting awards while senior Shelby Philbeck won a set design award.

“We performed Boxes which is a one act play that uses symbolism to talk about teenagers’ stress in the current world,” Beckwith explained.

Of her role, Beckwith said, “I played the role of Holly who was at the end of the show, a voice of reason.  In the beginning it seemed like she had the perfect life but really her deeper story was that she had problems like everyone else which I feel like resonates in our world where we think someone is perfect but they have problems of their own. The character taught me not to judge other people at first which I was guilty of doing before, so I’m really glad I got to play her and learn that.”

Bonneyman, who will most likely study music at Brandeis University in the fall, played the role of Jack. “He’s the protagonist of the show who struggles with throwing his expectations away in the form of a box. People will put things in a person’s box and that’s their expectations or so he thinks. Throughout the story, it’s a development that he realizes that its others people’s hopes for him… he can choose what goes in his box and it goes to show that students have control of their own life and people in general have control of their own lives,” Bonneyman explains.

Coady, who will attend Brown University next year, describes his character as follows, “I played Chris who seems like the carefree easygoing character but as you learn he threw away his box because he couldn’t handle the responsibility that he felt was placed on him through the passing of his sister. That put a lot of stress on him and instead of facing it he decided to bury it. Throughout the show Chris is learning and understanding what it means to have people believe in you, what it means to have people have hopes for you. It was really incredible for me to step into that role because I’ve never felt real emotion on stage until I did that role. It was an incredible experience for me personally being able to play Chris in the show.”

Philbeck became involved in the production later in the process when it was decided that a set piece was needed. Putting her creativity to good use, Philbeck spent multiple rehearsals painting the lockers that would serve as the backdrop to the performance.

The Silver Lake students that attended the festival all describe a sense of comradery that was felt between all attending schools as well as an appreciation for the performances of their peers.  Of her experience at the festival Beckwith said, “Everyone from all the different schools were so supportive of us and we were so supportive of them. I made a lot of friends. I was really proud of our cast and myself and the other groups.”

Bonneyman added, “When you get there, there’s no crevasse of time that’s not filled with something fun and entertaining.” Regarding performing in front of the other schools Bonneyman said, “You get out there and it’s an exhilarating experience because the whole audience also wants to be there and they are all so passionate about what they do so all of them react and all of them respond to what you’re doing on stage which is amazing.”

Coady echoed similar sentiments saying, “That was the Silver Lake kids first time partaking in this event and it was so much more than what I could have imagined it was; just going and seeing all of these different shows and of all these incredibly talented people in your area, you really get to learn a lot from how they go at things and how some of the actors do certain things. That was an incredibly humbling and informative experience. I was also struck by how accepting everyone there was of everyone else.”

Philbeck explained her experience as a crew member, “We went to METG and it was unreal to me because as a crew member you feel like you’re in like a niche of a niche because drama club seems like you’re secluded in a social sense and then crew even seems more secluded. But you were just in such an environment that you feel like you can relate to everyone… that was crazy to me because I had never seen that many people that were like me.”

Senior Hannah Arroyo, who plans to study communications at the University of New Hampshire, also attended the festival as an actress and described her time at the festival as an “unforgettable experience in a place where so many people are just like you.”

A love of theatre is apparent in listening to these students speak with such fervor about their experience at the festival as well as their future plans. While Beckwith is only a junior and is uncertain where she will go to school after next year she plans to continue with acting and theatre saying, “It’s been too big a part of my life to not do it all of a sudden. I love it.”

Bonneyman, who plans to study music, explains, “Acting and music, they kind of go hand in hand to me. I will be doing a lot of theatre as well. It’s just such a big part of my life.”

Coady, for his part, is unsure what he will study at Brown but knows that he will continue to act in some capacity. As he puts it, “Acting has been my passion since I was like nine so I’m never going to stop doing that no matter what.” Philbeck plans on studying biology describing her artistic endeavors as her “soul work” despite having alternate career plans.

The Silver Lake drama club put on a performance of Almost Maine this past weekend with performances both Friday and Saturday.

Coady describes it well, saying, “Almost Maine is a very unique show set into eight different scenes, all short stories in and of themselves; they are all independent from each other and stand alone as their own stories but they are all connected in some way and set in the same town. All of the stories are about love – two individuals falling in love, falling out of love, and all of them end in this thought of almost love. It’s really a beautiful show, it’s a funny show. There are upsetting parts, there are beautiful parts, there are adorable parts so it’s a very diverse show and the script is magnificent.”

Teachers Ashley Ferrara, Kim Orcutt, and JennyLyn Berry serve as the drama directors for the spring performance and the METG festival. Orcutt described the decision to do the festival as an easy one thanks to the quality of the seniors involved, “We haven’t done this kind of play competition before and we felt confident because of these students that are seniors this year. We knew that they would have the ability to dedicate themselves and help us be patient because we didn’t know what we were doing. We had some amazing leaders from the tech world, from the building world, and from the acting world.”

Ferrara gave credit to seniors Josh Heath and Nic Asnes for lending their skills and providing instruction on the technical aspects of production. Ferrara said of Heath, “He pretty much was in charge of building everything and instructing others and with him gone next year, the only reason we’ll still know how to do things is because he taught everybody how to.”

Asnes ran all of the lights and sounds. Ferrara continued, “Those two kind of manned the technical side of the show for us and we couldn’t have done it without them.” Ferrara also said they couldn’t have done it without the help of volunteers such as Orcutt’s father Don Orcutt who competed in and won a state title at the METG competition in the 70’s and who spoke to the Silver Lake students prior to the festival.

With regard to the lessons taken away from the festival, Ferrara said, “It’s hard to know how you can improve if you never leave your own school so that was the best part of the experience. The kids learned stuff but we also learned stuff as the directors.”

Illustrating the love the directors have for this group of seniors, Ferrara, Orcutt, and Berry joked about being in denial about their impending graduation before reminiscing about a moment at dinner when they found themselves crying into their cupcakes.

Lakers Boys LaX take Panthers 19-3

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The Silver Lake High boys’ lacrosse team continues to do what they do best: win.

The Lakers had no issue taking care of the Plymouth North Eagles last Thursday, Apr. 25 at home. The Lakers shined not only on the attack, but defensively as well. They came up with a 19-3 win to improve to 5-2 for the season.

From the start, the Lakers proved themselves to be the dominant team. In the first quarter alone, they went up 5-0, getting all the goals they needed to win the game. Dhruva Nugent was a major part of the team’s early success, notching a hat trick (three goals) in the first quarter.

The team’s dominance would not subside from there. Although they allowed a goal in the second quarter, they also put up six more to go up 11-1 at halftime.

During the second half, the Lakers held onto their lead, and expanded it. They had a spread out scoring effort, the defense got the job done and Mike Masterpolo was excellent in net.

In the win, one Lakers player had a milestone achievement in his career. Freshman Tommy Condon got in on the scoring action, netting his first career varsity goal.

Through seven games this season, the Lakers actually had a better record this season than last year when they were 4-3 at the same point. However, the Lakers did drop their road contest against Hingham on Tuesday, Apr. 30 15-5, dropping their record to 5-3 on the season.

So far this season, the Lakers have scored 94 goals and allowed 65 in eight games, meaning they have scored 11.75 goals on average while allowing 8.125.

The Lakers next contest is this Friday, May 3 on the road against the Whitman-Hanson Panthers. The Panthers are 6-5 so far this season, according to MaxPreps.

Plympton’s first hemp grow license

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A field of hemp.

The Town of Plympton has been notified by the Commonwealth that the town’s first Industrial Hemp Grower License was issued by the Massachusetts Department of Agricultural Resources to Scott Sauchuk.

When contacted this week Sauchuk told the Express that he isn’t going to plant the crop; that he  applied for the license over the winter, when it looked like a good idea.  Further research helped him decide to go with other plans.

Hemp culture is a crop that will likely be seen again as it can now be grown without the stigma of being a “cousin” to marijuana.

The Act to Ensure Safe Access to Marijuana, legislation passed July 28, 2017, created a distinction between hemp and marijuana, recognizing hemp as an agricultural commodity, and removed it from the controlled substance list, allowing hemp to be grown commercially throughout the United States.

The Massachusetts Department of Agricultural Resources (MDAR) was given the authority to oversee the growth and production of hemp for commercial and research purposes within the Commonwealth, and the planting, growing, harvesting, processing, and retail sale of hemp and its products require licensing by MDAR.

Under federal law, the 2018 Farm Bill allowed the United States Department of Agriculture to develop regulations and guidelines relative to the cultivation of hemp and set the stage for major changes to the Industrial Hemp industry in the United States.  These include, but are not limited to the following:

• Hemp has been removed from the Controlled Substances Act and is now considered an agricultural commodity, rather than a drug, though it is still subject to  state and federal oversight.

• Hemp is now eligible for federal crop insurance and hemp farmers may now participate in USDA programs for certification and competitive grants.

Hemp and marijuana are different varieties of the same plant species and cannot be distinguished simply by looking at them.  Due to the differences in the end use of the product, they are generally cultivated differently.  They are both cannabis plants and both produce cannabinoids.  The marijuana plant contains high levels of the psychoactive compound THC – 5% to 25%.  The varieties used for hemp, however, have been selectively bred to contain no more than .3% of THC.

The MDAR will test the crop before harvest to ensure that the crop contains less than .3% THC.

Under Massachusetts General Laws, Chapter 40A, commercial agricultural use is protected from unreasonable regulations or special permit requirements under local municipal zoning ordinances or bylaws.  While marijuana is expressly excluded from this protection, hemp is exempt from the definition of marijuana and is therefore eligible for the same protection as other forms of commercial agriculture.

Hemp, according to the Commonwealth of Massachusetts web site regarding the Commercial Industrial Hemp Program, is an extremely versatile plant with many uses.  It can be cultivated as a fiber crop, seed crop, or for production of cannabinoids found in the flowers.  Hemp products manufactured from the fibrous stalks and seeds include rope, clothes, food, paper, textiles, plastics, insulation, oil, and biofuel.

For more information regarding the regulations around the cultivating and processing of hemp, go to https://www.mass.gov/files/documents/20182018/04/30/Hemp%20Policy.pdf

Giordani auto fatality case set for Monday

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Justin Kilburn, 30, in Plymouth Superior Court in Plymouth Tuesday, April 30, 2019 at a final pre-trial hearing for the alleged motor-vehicle homicide death of Diane Giordani, 52, of Plympton. (Photo by Abram Neal)

PLYMOUTH — Justin Kilburn, 30, was before Judge Cornelius J. Moriarty, II, Tuesday, April 30, in Plymouth Superior Court at Plymouth for a final pre-trial hearing. His motor vehicle homicide trial starts Monday. The Kingston man is accused in the death of Diane Giordani, 52, of Plympton, and her German shepherd, Blitz, following a collision on County Road (Route 106) in Plympton, May 10, 2018.  

Police determined that Kilburn was allegedly speeding when he crossed the center line and struck the car driven by Giordani head-on. The investigation found that Kilburn had a blood alcohol content level of .17 percent at the time of the crash, according to the DA’s office. 

Giordani and her dog died at the scene of the collision, say prosecutors and police. 

The trial is expected to be jury-waived and last about three days, according to Jack Atwood, Kilburn’s Plymouth-based court-appointed defense attorney. 

Kilburn was indicted on one count of motor vehicle manslaughter by operating under the influence of alcohol and motor vehicle homicide by operating under the influence of alcohol by the grand jury June 5, 2018. 

The case is being prosecuted by Assistant District Attorney Russell Eonas. 

The collision was investigated by Plympton Police, State Police detectives assigned to the DA’s office, the State Police CARS Unit and State Police Crime Scene Services.  

SL baseball shines over April vacation

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The bats got it done for the Silver Lake High baseball team.

Facing Plymouth North, a baseball powerhouse, the Lakers offense made the difference in their first round game of the Brad Martin Memorial Baseball Tournament on Tuesday, Apr. 16. The Lakers won the game 11-5 to improve to 2-3 on the season.

Silver Lake’s bats really started to come to life in the fourth inning, a three- run inning which gave them a 5-1 lead. They nearly batted around the lineup. Mike Quigley knocked in a run on a single while Matt Cauchon got an RBI on a sacrifice fly.

The Lakers scored their first two runs of the game in the first inning when Alex Heffernan, the No. 3 hitter, smacked a two RBI double to put his team up by a pair.

Later in the game, the Lakers offense roared in the seventh and final inning, tacking on six runs. One RBI in this rally came on a triple from Nolan Hughes, the team’s starting pitcher in the contest. Matt Bettle also had a triple in this dominant stretch of Lakers hitting.

On the mound, Hughes pitched on four days rest for the Lakers–and he was sharp. He got pulled in the sixth inning with the team up 5-2 and picked up the win.

Plymouth North rallied in the bottom of the seventh inning. However, they could only muster three runs before recording three outs to end the ballgame.

Two days after their Plymouth North victory, the Lakers also beat New Bedford 7-6 in a nine inning contest to improve to 3-3 on the year. Hughes had a two RBI triple in the win, Heffernan gave the team a strong start on the mound and Quigley earned the win in relief.

The Lakers next bout is this Saturday, Apr. 27 on the road against St. John Paul II (11:00 a.m. start time).

Roy feted at her final selectmen’s meeting

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Selectman Kim Roy served at her final selectmen’s meeting on Tuesday, April 23, putting a cap on three terms as selectmen.

Shown at the right with her board, Roy was awarded a certificate from the Halifax VFW honoring her years of service to the town and its veterans.  VFW Post 6258 commander David Walsh, with VFW member Robert Dugan thanked her for her service saying they thought of her as the “First lady of Halifax.” From left are Selectman Troy Garron, Kim Roy, and Thomas Millias.

Selectmen vote $11 million budget

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PLYMPTON — The Plympton Finance Committee recommended and the Board of Selectmen voted “yes” on an $11,280,185 budget for fiscal year 2020, representing an overall increase of 3.5% over last year at a somewhat abbreviated Selectmen’s meeting, Monday, April 22.  Selectmen voted on all Annual and Special Town Meeting articles after hearing the finance committee’s recommendations.

The largest portion of the total budget is by far the school budget.

School costs are up an overall 4.7%, with the largest portion of the $6,160,582 proposed budget – up from $5,884,103 last year – going to the Dennett Elementary School and to associated special education costs for Plympton students both local and those placed out-of-district.  This is followed by the regional school assessment, which is up 6.5% from $2,174,763 last year to $2,316,518 this year.

The general government section of the proposed budget is up 27.9% from last year, from $58,868 to $75,274. The planning board budget went down by about 67%, from $1,500 to $500. The largest increase in the section was for the Finance Committee itself, which increased its own budget by $300 from $1,500 to $1,800, or 20%.

The remainder of the general government increase was with the Council on Aging. The program itself is level funded, but they requested a large increase in the director’s stipend – from $7,500 to $10,000, or about 33% – which was reduced to only 2.3%, or a $170 increase from the previous year.

The Council on Aging support staff line item increased by 4.4% because driver hours are increasing.

The Fire Chief’s salary has been brought more into line with neighboring communities, from $80,000 to $104,250, or about 30% but the overall fire budget is up only 2.7%, from $652,499 to $670,250, with many line items seeing cuts, including lines for EMS medical supplies and Fire/EMS equipment and repair.

The Police Chief’s salary was cut by 3.4% which balances out a tight budget that sees an increase from $1,060,744 to $1,100,140 in a year with the move from the old to the new police station. Utilities for the new station were estimated to be $24,000 for the year.

The all-encompassing Selectmen’s department budget, including everything from computer maintenance to building maintenance, is up 10.5%. Selectmen themselves will each take a $1 stipend, level-funded as last year, but the Selectmen’s Assistant and the Town Administrator Elizabeth Dennehy will each see a raise of 4.3%.

The “Town Buildings” and “Building Supplies” line items have been separated, to avoid confusion and better keep track of where money is being spent, an idea of Dennehy’s, which is repeated throughout the budget document. Custodial services will see a proposed increase of about 30% to $23,035 because of the addition of the police station.

Payments to town counsel are expected to be up 20%, topping $60,000 from $50,000 last year.

A decrease in the number of elections during the coming fiscal year will lead to a decrease in the Town Clerk’s department budget, which is down from $96,437 to $87,227 or 9.6% overall.

The total accountant, tax and treasurer’s department budget is up by 5%.

Selectmen signed new employment agreements with the Town Accountant and Treasurer/Collector, both with 4.3% salary increases reflected in the budget.

The Board of Health’s budget is up 4% from $40,237 to $41,866, level-funded except for the modest wage increase for the office’s administrative assistant.  This is the same increase seen by many Town House employees.

In the public works buget, the ice and snow budget line item remains level-funded at $60,000, despite the fact that the Selectmen had to declare an ice and snow emergency this winter, early in the season, to cover costs for cleanup associated with the minor storms that occurred.

Also, in that section, the Highway Superintendent’s wage did not increase by 4.3%, as many other positions, as requested. It was increased by only $60 from last fiscal year, or about 0.1%. Despite an 18.5% increase in the “Equipment and Maintenance” line item, the public works budget overall is rose only 1.9%.

The building department budget is up 13.8%, from $87,151 to $99,190. The department’s administrative assistant will see an increase in hours, which represents about half of the increase.

The library is in line for a 2.9% increase. Their budget is relatively small, with a request of $153,712 up from $149,367 last year.

Selectman Mark Russo thanked Dennehy and the Finance Committee for all their hard work throughout the budget season thus far and the rest of the Selectmen concurred.

In other Selectmen’s news:

• Emergency medical services will now be billed by a Cambridge-based company, ProEMS Solutions. The town is changing from its 18-year EMS billing provider, Comstar.  All bidders on the proposal came in at the same dollar amount, according to Fire Chief Stephen Silva, and selectmen deferred to his judgement in terms of why he thinks ProEMS Solutions will be better for the town than Comstar.

• The next regularly scheduled Selectmen’s meeting will be on Monday, May 6, 2019, at 6 p.m. in the Selectmen’s Meeting Room of Town House.

Superintendent search begins

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A brief school choice hearing was held on Monday, April 22 prior to the regular Plympton school committee meeting. Chair Jon Wilhelmsen opened the discussion to the public as well as the committee. The discussion mainly consisted of Superintendent Joy Blackwood pointing out the large size of the incoming kindergarten class as traditionally school choice was used in years when enrollment was low. Vice Chair Jason Fraser seconded Joy’s hesitation saying he would only support school choice for the siblings of students already attending Dennett Elementary. The motion not to accept school choice for the 2019/2020 school year was passed unanimously.

With Blackwood retiring in January of 2020, the search is on for a new superintendent. Blackwood will be staying on until January in order to complete an additional budget cycle and help with the transition. Fraser said that he had reached out to three different organizations that conduct superintendent searches. The organizations were MASC (Massachusetts Association of School Committees), Nesdec (The New England School Development Council), and a collaborative in Massachusetts that is trying to get into these types of searches. The collaborative was ruled out as Fraser never heard back from them while Nesdec had conducted far fewer of these searches in Massachusetts compared to MASC who has done several successful searches in the last 18 months.  The committees, with Fraser abstaining, chose to go with MASC to run the superintendent search. They also authorized $15,000 to be spent by Silver Lake with the remaining charges of between $750 to $950 to be paid by the school committee. The expense for the search will be less than ½ of 1% of the overall budget of $50 million.

Of the decision to hire an outside organization to handle the search, Fraser said, “It’s a bittersweet moment. The average tenure for a superintendent currently is about 4 years in Massachusetts. We don’t want that to be part of our legacy. We don’t want to have Joy, who’s been part of the family for over a decade, be the last person we have as far as a family who stays here and really nurtures their career and nurtures our school district. That’s why we chose to go with an organization that can provide us with the firm structure to do a superintendent search instead of trying to freehand it ourselves.”

The plan is to have a preliminary screening group that consists of one person from each of the elementary school committees as well as one person from each of the towns from the Silver Lake Regional School Committee. Eric Crone will represent Kingston Elementary, Jon Wilhelmsen Plympton Elementary, and Summer Schmaling will likely represent Halifax Elementary. The three Silver Lake Regional members representing their respective towns will be Michael Antoine for Plympton, Laura Tilton for Kingston, and Paula Hatch for Halifax. In addition, the screening group will also include one administrator from the elementary schools, one administrator from the Silver Lake campus, and one administrator from the central office. Filling out those roles will likely be Principal of Silver Lake Regional Middle School James Dupille, Principal of Dennett Elementary School Peter Veneto, and from the central office, Director of Business Services Christine Healy.

Once more dates, etc. are in place, Fraser also plans to reach out to the three towns to try to get some municipal involvement from either the finance committees or selectmen. The search will likely be a long and extensive one with finalists likely not selected until the fall.

Regarding the issue of lead in the water at Dennett, Veneto said he had sent eight months’ worth of testing results to Greenseal and had been in contact with a representative there. Veneto said of his conversation, “she seems willing to want to make the problem better.”

Fraser gave an update on the plans for a new Dennett school playground citing a lot of public support and excitement for the project. More offers for donations have come in in the form of labor, landscaping, surveying, and a bank of swings (requested by students when surveyed) with estimates placing these donations at a value of $30,000 to $50,000. The additional revenue would help in making the playground even more accessible for students with intellectual, emotional, and physical disabilities. The donations, however, are contingent upon the article from the Community Preservation Committee for $94,000 toward the playground passing at the May 15 town meeting. Currently, there is roughly $132,000 available from school choice funds which has been held for just such a one-time use for students such as the building of the new playground. Fraser stressed the importance of people attending the May 15 town meeting and asked that people understand it is a two to three hour commitment that requires staying until the end and being thoughtful on a number of school and education related votes that night. Also included on the warrant for town meeting and special town meeting are school budget, regional budget, the article for the school resource officer, and assuring that the special education stabilization fund stays fully funded at 2 percent as allowed by law.

People have been mobilized to send out Facebook messages, make phone calls, and hold signs prior to town meeting in an effort to ensure a good turnout. Fraser said, “We need our parents to show up and people in town to realize that their property value is directly related to the function of this school and the reputation of this school.” Wilhelmsen added, “Make sure you mark the 15th not just for all of this stuff but there are a lot of other really important items that will be on the warrant this year including a lot of work done with respect to zoning in town and that also goes together with all of this.”

Veneto gave the principal’s report beginning by addressing Blackwood and describing her retirement news as “certainly sad for us but happy for you.” MCAS testing is beginning and will be coming to a close for all grades on May 21 and 22. Other upcoming events at the school include a living historian presentation on April 25 at 6:30 focusing on the life of teacher and astronaut Christa McAuliffe as well as a May 5 field trip for Grade 2 to the Heritage Museum. The kindergarten parents’ information night will be held at 5 pm on May 23 with the annual art show to follow at 6 pm.

Finally, Blackwood shared her draft of the school calendar for next year. Important dates include the start of school on Wednesday, 8/28 and the tentative last day of school on Friday, 6/12.