The Plympton Board of Selectmen met on Monday, June 3. They began the meeting with a license renewal for the town of Plympton’s cable. Selectman Mark Russo said that federal and state law mandate that they hold a public hearing to ascertain the community’s need for continued cable services.
Russo explained the role of Area 58 before proceeding with public comment. “Public access TV in Plympton is funded by a small percentage of revenue from the local cable company. The funds are used to establish a cable studio which we call Area 58 Community Access Media; it’s a nonprofit organization and the way these things are set up it is separate from town government and therefore has more freedom from perceived or real oversight,” Russo explained.
Marilyn Browne, chairman of the Finance Committee spoke saying, “I know how critically important it is for people to be informed and not isolated and I think that this program offers that opportunity for people who may be ill or weather related incidents and they can’t get out and I just think it’s very critical that we keep it up and keep people informed.” Kimberly Russo spoke next saying it was needed for history. Russo said, “We’ll have it forever… we use it to settle a lot of arguments in town… so I think we need it.” Colleen Thompson, Director of Elder Affairs and member of the Town Properties Committee said, “I do believe this is very important to the town.” She noted that they recently held a well-attended forum in town on the importance of new buildings, but said that those that couldn’t attend were able to watch it back.
Town Administrator Elizabeth Dennehy also spoke saying that she felt that it was ultimately about transparency and noted that she hoped for a beneficial contract between the town and the company. Russo said that he came up with a list of reasons why cable access was necessary. The first on his list was that despite the number of volunteers, etc. in town, they are a small community with limited expertise in broadcasting and publishing. Russo said that they also offer a training program. He also noted transparency and the elderly population as being two additional reasons to continue with Area 58. “Area 58 is a shared service, it combines the cable access activities of Plympton, Carver, and Halifax… it is a beautiful example and maybe one of the best examples of shared services and how dynamic that model can be because in my heart of hearts, I ultimately believe these small towns that are so strapped financially – one of the main ways out of it, is finding additional ways to share services,” Russo said.
Executive Director of Area 58 Rich Goulart also spoke. “We’re just starting really in what we can do for the town, I would really love to see more and more people really come in and do the public access side of things and really start producing their own programs on any of their own interests, we’ll do everything we can along the way,” he said. He also said that they would continue to do what they could for the government including the schools. Goulart said that they do what they can to get things posted to YouTube as well as their own channel.
The Senior Manager of Government Relations for Comcast, Michael Galla, also spoke saying they are happy to work with the town to get whatever they need with relation to Internet and fiber. “I just want to let everyone know we have our internet essentials plan; we have two plans available, one for $9.95 per month and one that’s a little higher that offers two different speed tiers; it does allow for people to get access that are lower income,” he explained regarding seniors and others that may be in need. Selectman John Traynor asked about the qualifications and was told that they are income based and take into consideration things like whether or not they are on social security. “It’s not very cumbersome,” he said.
The Selectmen closed the public hearing before moving onto a departmental update from the Town Accountant Lisa Hart. “I’ve begun setting up FY25… I did set the Special Town Meeting articles have all been done… the money that was approved from the schools from general stabilization and the line transfers.” She also said that she can’t officially close the books until roughly September or even October.
The Selectmen discussed with the Accountant the DOS database system employed by the town for presentation of financial information. Russo said, “If we could present it in a more vibrant way, I think that would be very helpful.” Traynor agreed saying that if they could have a technology person to turn to, it would greatly help with such things. Russo said, “we just need to fund that position and that might just be one of the ones for a shared service.” Traynor proposed using Silver Lake’s technology department potentially.
The Board also discussed pricing for mosquito and tick control on the fields in town including Holt Field. Dennehy went over the pricing structures for some of the different companies. The cost for spraying Harry Jason Park was significantly greater due to the larger acreage. Traynor said he would like to talk to recreation first. “So they’re building that walking path but we have to get it so it’s a walking path that’s usable by seniors and disabled people, but I don’t know what the cost of that is,” Traynor said. Dennehy said that there were no plans to pave that walking path until they get further into the town campus-wide projects. Dennehy noted that Plymouth County Mosquito Control can come and do the spraying from the back of the truck. She said that the substance that is sprayed is different than that from private companies and often doesn’t reach the back of the property. She also told the Selectmen that aerial spraying is outside of their purview. Russo said that his preference was to begin with hiring someone to spray Holt. Regarding the walking path, he said that he is more than glad to do fundraising to ensure that an accessible pathway at Harry Jason Park is created. The Selectmen voted to have Oh Deer conduct spraying twice a month through early September.
Dennehy provided a Town Administrator’s update. She said the town was working with the Old Colony Planning Council on a road safety audit on the intersection of Rt. 58 and Center St. “They’ve done some preliminary traffic counts and things of that nature,” she explained. “It’s a dangerous intersection,” Traynor added. She also said that the Green Communities Grant application she applied for to finish out the work on the library heating system is still pending. The application is for just over $240,000. Dennehy also said that $36,720 for another HVAC rooftop unit at Dennett Elementary School was earmarked through Senator Susan Moran. Another $5k would be going toward a lease agreement on a new police cruiser.
The Selectmen ended their meeting with their raves for the past few weeks. Russo said that “transparency and civility in town government” is a sub-context that got him started in local government and that he enjoys seeing it furthered. Traynor agreed about transparency and said that he feels that communication is vital.
He also raved for the Memorial Day Committee. “So far, all of the feedback I have heard is very positive so looking forward to next year,” Traynor said. Selectman Dana Smith agreed and said his rave was also for the Memorial Day event. “It’s just a great event,” he said.

Kristy Zamagni-Twomey
Express correspondent
The Plympton School Committee met on Monday, June 3. Superintendent Jill Proulx opened the meeting as it began its reorganization by asking for nominations for a Chair. Jason Fraser was unanimously elected Chair while Jon Wilhelmsen had unanimous support for Vice-chair. “We have an important year ahead of us and a lot of work to do,” Fraser said. Kate Johnson was voted Secretary.
Fraser thanked those who came out to Town Meeting and voted to support the Dennett budget for FY25. “That budget will continue to include reimbursement in the form of Circuit Breaker for this upcoming fiscal year, however, we have now split the cost of educating students with extraordinary disabilities who need out-of-district services between Silver Lake and the Dennett’s budget. This is going to cause us to have to look at the budget, as a whole, much like we did this year for the total cost of education in Plympton. We saw around a 6.7 percent increase in the total cost of education from last year’s numbers to this year’s numbers. I’d be remiss if I didn’t also mention, I can thank the town for supplying us with $187,000 at Special Town Meeting for the override that we had in our special ed line and Peter [Veneto] and his staff for putting the budget freeze in place,” Fraser told the Committee. He continued saying, “Anticipating already, just based on some of the cuts we had to make to the budget this year and some of the natural growth due to contractual obligations, we could be potentially looking at a 6-8 percent increase of our budget from Go as a level-services budget.” He called the financial situation “precarious.”
Director of Business Services Sarah Hickey addressed some faulty equipment at the new playground. She said the hemisphere is currently shutdown due to missing nuts and bolts. She said that some routine maintenance would be done per the recommendations of the manufacturer.
During an update for Capital Improvement, Fraser said that Senator Susan Moran had earmarked funds for an HVAC system at the Dennett. Wilhelmsen said that they had an earmark of a little over $36,000 which they hoped would be enough to replace a rooftop unit. He noted that while they replaced one with CARES Act funds, many of the others are nearing end of life.
Fraser said that Represenative Kathy LaNatra was able to secure an earmark of $50,000 for Silver Lake Regional performing arts. The Middle School planned to use the funds for ADA compliant risers while the High School planned to use them for repairs to the stage. During his Legislative Agent’s report he also said that the Senate increased the per pupil miminum increment to a historic $110 per pupil. Rural aid has also been increased. He said that the best budget news of all is that Circuit Breaker reimbursement will be increased to 75 percent for FY25.
Principal Peter Veneto began his report with an update on enrollment saying that they currently have 255 students enrolled. Veneto said that they had Future Lakers Day, that day where the sixth grade students from the three towns come together to have a field day and meet future classmates. Step up day for the sixth graders was later that week. The Dennett had “Ride your Bike to School Day” as well. The last day of school is Monday, June 17.
Fraser told the Committee that one area that was cut during budget discussions was overtime for the custodial staff. “We no longer felt as a Committee that we could bear the burden of paying the overtime cost for custodians to come into the building for organizations that we believed should be able to foot the bill themselves,” he said. Veneto came up with a facility utilization fee schedule. Wilhelmsen asked if this would extend to Town Meeting using the building and was told that they should be exempt. The wording was changed to exempt Plympton Town Government or school-sponsored organizations. The Committee voted to accept the new fee schedule.
Veneto also went over how test scores compared from last year to this year. He said that the March 2024 scores were better than the scores from May of 2023 for almost every grade in the Reading STAR assessments. There was a slight drop for both fifth and sixth grade. For the Math STAR testing, the scores for March 2024 are equal to or better than May of 2023. Veneto said, “The scores are down a little bit from September 2023 to March 2023. He noted that they didn’t have a math interventionist during that time and they still won’t moving forward. Veneto said that in spite of that they are still trending toward their end-of-year goal.
Fraser said that he has been hearing that classroom management has become more time consuming compared to six or seven years ago and asked if that was affecting the time allotted to teaching. Veneto confirmed that this was the case and noted that class sizes are beginning to approach numbers more typical of an average elementary school. Fraser said that he would like the Committee to figure out what they can do in assisting with that.
Veneto shared a chart which showed median growth from September to March. Proulx said that 50 SGP (student growth percentile) is average. “You want to see something above 50,” Proulx said. The percentiles for Grades 2 through 6 in Reading were all over 50 percent with numbers ranging from 54 percent to the highest in Grade 4 at 68 percent. For math, however, Grades 3-5 were all below 50 percent with Grade 3 at 41 percent, Grade 4 at 34 percent, and Grade 5 at 38 percent. Among other takeaways, Veneto said that they will be working to restore the math interventionist. “This was the work of a lot of people and we spent quite a lot of time making sure that we had accurate data so that we’re making better informed decisions for our kids; trying to figure out early on, what do they need and how can we provide it,” Veneto said.
Assistant Superintendent Ryan Lynch provided an update saying that he appreciated Principal Veneto and all the principals across the district, presenting testing data in a uniform manner. He said that he hopes to see similar uniform approaches in ways to meet expectations using consistent, research-based interventions. Proulx followed with a Superintendent’s update saying that Silver Lake held their graduation the Friday before. “So I just wanted to extend my congratulations to our graduates from Halifax, Plympton, and Kingston. It was a beautiful evening – one of our favorite events,” Proulx said. Proulx also said that during a State-wide meeting of superintendents, it was announced that chronic absenteeism is down nearly 5 percent. She said that updated standards for Health and P.E. have been provided and will be followed next school year.
Wilhelmsen told the Committee that Plympton Library Director Mike Slawson was able to get a grant for $20,000 for accessibility improvements. Wilhelmsen said that Slawson was taking ideas from the general public regarding suggestions for accessibility improvements, including things as small as adding devices to the Library of Things offerered there. Wilhelmsen pointed out that there may be an opportunity there for helping older people as well as children in the community.
The Plympton School Committee will meet for their end-of-year closeout in July.

The Silver Lake Regional School Committee met on Thursday, May 16 for their final meeting before their closeout in July.
A Halifax resident spoke during the public participation portion of the meeting. “There are three specific areas I would like to talk to you about – ongoing failure to provide a safe learning environment for my son… the effect it has had on our child and our family… and recent retaliatory responses by your administration on my child,” he said. The resident said that his family felt they were dealing with bullying, but said that Silver Lake Regional Middle School Principal Becky Couet said, “there’s only been one formal case of bullying during her tenure.” He said that information was misrepresented including where a teacher was in relation to their son during an assault. He said that his son was “incredibly reluctant” to engage with the school regarding the bullying. The resident said, “he knew it wouldn’t help, he would be labeled a snitch – an outcast, and the teachers and administrations would turn against him. Sadly he was right.” The resident and father said that the chain of events eventually led to his child engaging in self-harm. He said that his son was harassed “physically, emotionally, and mentally.”
“The school entertained our correspondence, however no plan to help (his son) rejoin the student community or take steps to look at his well-being going forward were taken,” he explained. He continued, “In short, we had a document called a safety plan written for very specific antagonists and specific actions, but that was the extent. It was also unclear and often proven that classroom teachers weren’t aware of what was happening.” He said that his son has since been implicated in two different incidents which the school claimed had him in the wrong. The first incident involved what was deemed “inappropriate touching” and involved a brief touch on the back of another student. He said that the investigations into these incidents were in stark contrast to the ones held in regard to the bullying against his son. He said that to his family’s knowledge their son had had no prior disciplinary incidents with the school. “He’s gone through a terrible year and we have advocated fiercely on his behalf. It’s odd that now for the first time ever he’s been implicated in uncharacteristic disciplinary investigations. One can see a high degree of correlation here and even draw causation,” he explained. He said he has spoken with many other families whose students have suffered similar situations. He pointed out that the average teacher salary at Silver Lake is far greater than the average salary of a Kingston, Halifax, or Plympton resident and said those teachers should be held more accountable.
Committee Chair Paula Hatch thanked him for coming in and having such thoughtful remarks. “Bullying and such is nothing this Committee condones,” she said. She asked if the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education (DESE) had been contacted and was told that they had. Superintendent Jill Proulx said that she couldn’t share the details of that investigation with the Committee during open session. Hatch promised the parent that she would respond back to him after digesting the information.
Sarah Hickey gave an update on the bids received for the CTE overhead door project. It was explained that it isn’t simply a garage door but rather “a pretty extensive project” involving the rebuilding of the steel frame around the door as well. Hickey said she asked the Emergency Response Team for the High School regarding the current doors, “If the doors were open and the building were to go into a lockdown, is this going to need ten minutes to shut the door – is that a concern and the answer back was yes.” The two doors needing replacement are in metal fab and automotive. The Committee voted to change the budgeted amount for the two doors from roughly $181,000 to $201,000. Committee member Gordon Laws asked if it was over the capabilities of the CTE students to build the doors and was told that it definitely was outside of their scope.
CTE Director Elliot Glass spoke to the Committee regarding a carpentry project. “We have a great project that we’re recommending that we’ve been working with the customer on; I previewed this quickly with our CTE Sub-Committee last time we sat together in April; I did share the plans and the application with Paula [Hatch]… this project is within walking distance of the High School,” Glass explained. He said that it is a two-car garage with a mudroom built off the side of a single family home. “All of the pieces that we looked at to evaluate from course curriculum to the scope of work, safety considerations, travel and location, customer readiness were all very high… so it’s a great project,” Glass said.
The principals both gave updates. Couet presented the school improvement plan which the Committee voted to approve. She also presented a learning update thanking the curriculum coordinator in particular. She said that they utilize STAR testing for an assessment specifically in English/Language Arts. It is computer adaptive which means that students get moved to higher levels as they answer questions correctly. She said that the meeting grade level expectations went up from fall to spring. She did note that the exceeding expectations category was going up for math, but not ELA. She said that the school was working on cross- curriculum assessments and assignments between ELA and social studies.
High School Principal Michaela Gill said that they spent the first half of the school year as a faculty analyzing student MCAS scores and “really breaking down where do they perform well and what are areas that we need to help our students improve.” Gill said that common assessments were administered in ELA across all four grades targeting multiple standards. She said that while they were falling short in meeting or exceeding expectations in several standards in the fall, they have since made improvements in achieving those goals. She said that they would continue to work toward improving things further through professional development, student interventions, and other means. She also shared math updates including growth in students meeting or exceeding expectations in algebra.
Student representative Connor Doyle, who will be attending Assumption College in the fall, recapped student activity for one final time. He said that students enjoyed spring spirit week following April vacation which included soccer mom and barbeque dad day. He said that the AP government mock election took place between the breakfast sandwich and the French toast stick with the latter coming out on top. He also acknowledged many upcoming events including graduation and prom. He said that the class of 2028 would be coming to the High School for step up day. He thanked the Committee for allowing him to serve as their student representative.
Hatch told everyone in attendance, “We have a budget for next year, all three towns – hard fought, was not an easy process. I want to thank the taxpayers for supporting the budget… I want to thank this Committee for everything you did this year to get us to this point, it was a brutal year… I want to thank the SLEA for putting your heads together… having said all that, I want to thank everyone at this table… and everyone who had a hand in this administratively.”
There was a lengthy conversation about hiring additional staff to ensure that Silver Lake doesn’t miss deadlines, etc. per the required corrective action plan that came about due to an audit from DESE. Someone asked what would happen if they were to miss a deadline in the future and Hickey said they could withdraw federal grants from Silver Lake. Committee member Jason Fraser said, “I would like to see them try.” He said they would support Hickey were they to miss a deadline, etc.
Superintendent Jill Proulx provided an update saying that negotiations for several key positions within the District were underway. She said the only one that could be announced that evening was the new Assistant Director of Student Services Elizabeth MacKay. “Elizabeth is an experienced school psychologist and special education administrator,” Proulx said. She also said that they are in the process of hiring a new Athletic Director.
Fraser provided the Legislative Agent’s report. According to Fraser the House budget came through for Silver Lake “quite a bit.” He credited Representative Kathy LaNatra for the record high $104 per pupil minimum increment in the House budget which had previously been set at $30 by the Governor. Fraser said that this would help the town of Halifax, in particular.
Fraser also thanked Senator Bruce Tarr saying he was named the Massachusetts Association of School Committees (MASC) Legislator of the Year. Fraser said that Tarr put in quite a few amendments to be debated including one to fully fund regional transportation. Another is to increase the per pupil increment to $125 per student. Yet another amendment is to get the inflation index from 1.35 up to 4.5 percent with provisions for catch-up years coming in the future. Fraser said that Circuit Breaker is fully funded at 75 percent for tuition and transportation. “MASC was the organization calling for that and the Senate listened and it’s in the budget already,” he told the Committee. One of the Committee members commented on how lucky Silver Lake Regional School Committee is to have Fraser who works to get money not just for Silver Lake but for the entire State. This comment was met with applause.