Photo by Kim Cicone.

By Kim Cicone
Express Correspondent

At the June School Committee meeting, Halifax Elementary School Principal Claudia Motta announced that she would be leaving Halifax Elementary School at the end of June.  John Tuffy, Silver Lake Superintendent, then stated that Assistant Principal Kayne Beaudry would take the position of Interim Principal for the 2015-2016 school year.

At the end of the upcoming school year, if the School Committee was pleased with Mr. Beaudry’s performance; they would offer him an extended contract.   The fifth graders from Ms. Belcher and Mrs. Orcutt’s classes wanted to know more about Interim Principal Beaudry, so on June 23 they held a town meeting with him to find out more.

The students had many questions about Principal Beaudry’s background. 

They learned that he has a Bachelor’s degree in Science from the University of Massachusetts, a Master’s degree in Elementary Education from Lesley University and a Certificate of Advance Graduate Studies in Educational Leadership from Bridgewater State University.  Prior to coming to Halifax Elementary four years ago, Mr. Beaudry taught sixth grade in the Everett school system, and third and fourth grade for 10 years in the Cohasset public schools.

Growing up, Mr. Beaudry wanted to be an Architect because he liked to draw and build things.  His favorite subject is writing which he struggled with as a younger student, but he improved upon as a classroom teacher.  He feels writing is a great way to express yourself and your personality. 

Mr. Beaudry is excited for the opportunity to be Principal at Halifax Elementary.  He hopes to be able to continue to build relationships with the staff, students and community.  He has seen a lot of great things at the school and hopes to continue to foster a positive environment.  He is eager to get started, but anxious because he has never been a Principal.  Mr. Beaudry told the fifth grade that he wished he had been a classroom teacher at HES, and that he hears that being a fifth grade teacher is the “best.”  When asked if he would change anything about the school he said he would love to add air-conditioning, which got a lot of support from the students, but he likes the history of older buildings and likes the challenge of maintaining the architecture while keeping up with technology.

The fifth graders were very interested in Mr. Beaudry’s personal life.  They learned that he is married and has three children: Gus, 9, Stella, 7, and Tess, 5. They like to watch movies together including “The Book of Life” and “McFarland USA.”  His family has a dog named Bean, a cat named Flea, a guinea pig named Pig and 10 chickens.  Mr. Beaudry has been an avid hockey player since childhood and continues to play in a men’s league.  His favorite dinner is Annie’s White Cheddar Mac-n-Cheese and he does not drink soda, but likes lemonade and iced tea.  He doesn’t eat donuts and likes bacon, but not as much as he likes cheese.  Mr. Beaudry is also a big fan of the Taco Boats they make in the school cafeteria and likes the coffee/pistachio twist they serve at JC Dairy in Hanover.

Mr. Beaudry is sad to see the school year end as there are some things he’d like to complete before the year is out.  When one student said the end of the year was bittersweet he agreed.    One place you probably won’t find Mr. Beaudry this summer is on a rollercoaster, unless his daughter Stella talks him into it!

Rich Goulart, Executive Director of Area 58 Community Access Media, excitedly talks about his plans for the new tri-town media studio that is set to officially come into being any day now. He bustles from room to room in his new studio, showing off the various bells and whistles of the newly renovated space.

All that is left are a few signatures and some legal loose ends as the final agreements are drawn up, according to Goulart, and the Carver-Halifax regionalized public access studio will become a three-town studio with Plympton as the third member.

Plympton will bring its public access cable money to Area 58, but it still represents only about 1/8th of the total operating budget. Carver pays about 50 percent, with Halifax representing the remainder.

As this transition occurs, the studio is transforming as well. Brand new equipment such as digital cameras, shiny Apple computers and large televisions have taken over ever corner of the (at the moment) sign-less building in North Carver.

Graphics are being finalized, signs ordered, and a new website and Facebook page developed, all in preparation.

Although by no means a shoe string operation with so much modern equipment and plenty of room, the staff of six, two full-time and four part-time workers (and several contract camera people) means that an enormous amount of work has to be done by everyone.

By law, cable companies must provide towns and cities public access television studios and equipment to the communities they serve. A surcharge for the service is collected on each cable bill, and this money must be used for public access television. As negotiated currently, the surcharge will be 4.5 percent, with .25 percent of that amount paid by Comcast.

This buys the three towns three stations each, a shared television studio, equipment, and access to the network. These resources are beyond what Plympton would normally be able to afford on its own, including recordings of meetings and events being uploaded to YouTube, and eventually live broadcasting. In the meantime, Goulart encourages the public to drop by the studio and check it out at 96 North Main Street, North Carver, 508-866-1019.  They are always willing to teach people all aspects of television production, from behind the camera to in front of it.

The Express looks forward to working with Area 58 and will keep readers up to date with on-going progress. Their online presence should be finished within a week or two. The next annual board meeting, open to the public for any questions or concerns, is  July 9 at 6:30 p.m. See photos the Plympton-Halifax Express Facebook page.

PLYMPTON – A Comcast deal that was three years in the making, was finally signed Monday night by Plympton selectmen on behalf of the town, allowing  funds which Comcast collects from its Plympton subscribers to be transferred to a Plympton cable access account and be spent to support Plympton’s share of the local access cable studio.

This action paves the way for Plympton to enter into a tri-town agreement with Carver and Halifax to join Area 58 Cable Access Media, formerly  CHAT.  At May’s annual town meeting, voters approved setting up the account.  Area 58 has been recording Plympton’s Selectmen’s and other meetings since the first of the year even though Plympton is not yet a member.

Selectmen voted to approve all appointees that were under their authority.  Chairman Mark Russo told the audience that technical issues related to computer networking and switching between different systems caused problems this year, and not miscommunication between Town House staff as was erroneously reported two weeks ago in the Express.

Russo stated that he did not want any lingering impressions to the contrary.

Linda Leddy and Rick Burnet of the Open Space Committee came before Selectmen this week.  In the beginning June, there were five votes from which Russo did not recuse himself, even though he is an abutter to the Maple Street property which has been under consideration as a possible site for a public safety building.  Both the Police Chief and Fire Chief do not like the site, but after speaking with a Commonwealth Ethics Commission attorney, out of an abundance of caution, Russo will recuse himself in future votes.  The five votes in question were rescinded and re-voted with Russo recusing himself.  None of the outcomes were changed, which were mostly related to tidying up small balances in accounts before the end of the fiscal year.

Selectmen continued to narrow their focus, defining the year’s upcoming goals and tasks.   Their newest member, Selectperson Christine Joy is especially looking for the public’s assistance in analyzing the Department of Revenue’s report on the Town’s handling of finances.  She has proposed an ad-hoc committee for that purpose and is seeking interested volunteers.

In other news:

•  Town Coordinator Dale Pleau reported he is looking at permitting software that would allow town departments and townspeople to better guide projects requiring permits from multiple departments through the process electronically.  He will report back to the board.

•  Selectmen gave the Open Space Committee permission to distribute informal questionnaires looking for “common knowledge” about the property owned by the USDA at 59 Parsonage Road. This is in addition to formal surveys that have already been completed. but this is standard according to Linda Leddy. The community at large and town departments will be solicited about what they generally know about the property.

• The Solar By-law Committee was dissolved with the thanks of the Board. Selectman Colleen Thompson was especially thanked by Russo for her hard work

Operation Swift Response, a two-day drill held in Plainville and Topsfield last week allowed first responders to test their strengths statewide.

Several agencies and technical rescue teams from the South Shore took part in the joint response under one command post in the simulation of an EF3 tornado. The practice drill required the deployment of rescue teams to multiple sites for recovery, rescue and support.

More than a dozen local fire chiefs also participated in area command posts as part of the disaster drill.

“It was a great training exercise, working alongside the technical teams from each county and utilizing statewide  assets — everything from  technical rescues to learning the logistics of area  command,” said Whitman Fire Chief  Timothy Grenno.

Hanson Fire Lt. Robert O’Brien Jr., was deputy director of operations for Plymouth County Technical Rescue Team. They quickly learned that moving personnel was their first priority and on day one of the drill relocated 150 people by aircraft from the Mansfield Airport. 

“We had a limitation in what we could move for equipment. We had to come up with a better system in what we moved first,” O’Brien said. “We were able to move six people using the medevac helicopter. In the utility helicopters we were able to move 11-12 person teams.”

With 14 squads participating, the helicopter was repurposed to bring in other resources forcing the “players in the drill” to rethink their strategy and reconfigure their resources.

Mannequins and live victims, portrayed by military personnel, were used during rescue missions and as part of the hands-on medical phase.

Victims who were “injured” but described as walking wounded were airlifted out and the remaining “victims” had symptom cards describing their injuries for rescuers. 

“We now have a better system in place to move equipment and as far as moving personnel it was flawless,” said O’Brien.

Such lessons were the object of the exercise, which tested the overall effectiveness of emergency operations in case of a major disaster.

More than 100 first responders including many local firefighters attended the physically challenging exercise. The teams were moved by National Guard Black Hawk helicopters to the drill site.

In press releases prior to the event, Capt. Rob Reardon of Duxbury Fire, PIO assistant coordinator for the drill, said several local and statewide participants were involved: Fire Chiefs of Massachusetts, Technical Rescue Committee, COMTRIST, National Guard, Department of Fire Services, Mass Emergency Management Agency, Barnstable, Bristol, Essex, Norfolk, and Plymouth and District 14 Technical Rescue Teams.

The drill was intended as a test in times of disaster and will predict future areas of improvement for all responders.

“It went very well. It took a lot of planning — 24 separate meetings. We had a few small hiccups as part of the learning process but for the most part — it went very well,” said Chief Kevin Nord of the Duxbury Fire Department.   

There were several goals in running the two simultaneous drill sites including the main component of communication between rescue teams and assembling resources to manage an area that was “deemed inaccessible,” he said.

Participants assembled in teams with approximately 90 skilled technical rescue technicians as part of the incident.

Two National Guard helicopters were used; one flying from the north and one from the south to access the drill sites.

The Plainville Fire department doesn’t have its own technical team but they do have members who train on other tech squads. Nord expressed great thanks for Chief Justin Alexander as a gracious host to one of the sites as well as the entire Plainville Fire Department.

Along with the more than 100 participants in the drill there were abundant efforts in coordination, said Nord.

The logistics and planning between sites, central command and communication for a wide area were well coordinated during the two twelve hour days funded by FCAM Technical Rescue Committee, Massachusetts Emergency Management Agency and the Massachusetts National Guard.  Training funding was used for participating agencies, according to the press release.

Teams had great exposure and familiarization working with the National Guard soldiers who were embedded in the event, said Nord.

He also thanked everyone who came together for the drill.     

Gen. Rice was very gracious to allow us the use of the National Guard’s Black Hawks, Nord said. The coordination and positive response of participants was “exceptional,” said Nord.

Gov. Charlie Baker and EOPPS Secretary Dan Bennett attended along with his undersecretary.

The governor was pleased by the show of support of the Commonwealth, said Nord.

Interviews, appointments and re-appointments took some some shuffling, but all were assigned by meeting’s close

Halifax Selectmen named Mel Conroy to the open position on the Finance Committee at their Tuesday night meeting.

After interviewing two candidates for the one FinCom open position at their meeting June 9, the Board interviewed its final candidate for that committee, William McAvoy, on Tuesday, June 23.

Derrick Bennet, one of the three candidates originally running for the one open position on the board, withdrew his candidacy after his interview at the June 9 meeting, leaving McAvoy and Conroy.

Selectmen seem to be working with a large talent pool for this year’s major appointed positions, and appear to be trying to find the right fit with each personality and position.

As Selectmen interviewed McAvoy, one concern was his ability to give the time necessary for a Finance Committee position. McAvoy is a busy businessman, and has numerous family obligations as well.

Conversely, he is extremely qualified, according to all members of the Board, for many committees in town and is very enthusiastic to serve. “I make time for all of my commitments,” said McAvoy.

FinCom requires members to serve the town on no other board or department, as they must recommend budgets for those boards and departments. 

Hoping that McAvoy would take the opportunity to serve the town in more than one way, for now, he was appointed to an opening on the Capital Planning Committee.

Mel Conroy was thus appointed to the open position on FinCom.

Also, the position of Building Inspector has been vacated by Selectman Thomas Millias, and the Board has hired Robert Piccirilli of Halifax as his replacement. Piccirilli is currently an assistant building inspector for the town. He has served as a Halifax employee for 15 years, and serves on several boards and committees.

Millias abstained from all interviewing or voting for this position, as his position as Building Inspector will not technically end until June 30, the end of the fiscal year.

While major appointments to committees and boards that keep the town functioning seem to be in place, the Beautification Committee, on the other hand, is in disarray. One previous member asked not to be reappointed and the committee has been expanded from three members to five, leaving three vacancies.

Furthermore, $476 left unspent from fiscal year 2015 will be transferred from the committee to the general fund if not spent by the end of fiscal year 2015, Tuesday, June 30, thus the Board acted quickly.

They interviewed Debra Scioscia for one of the new openings, and heard some ideas she had for an all-season garden that has been in the works for the front of Town Hall for some time. Scioscia was quickly appointed.

The Board also re-appointed Amy Troup Greely and Jessica Raduc as well to the committee, still leaving two vacancies available.

The final re-appointment was Maureen Rogers, to the Wage and Personnel Board.

All of the appointments and re-appointments mentioned above were unanimous.

Selectmen Troy Garron and Tom Millias wished to send a letter of encouragement to the owner of the Monponsett Street property who has made significant progress in reducing the amount of junk on the front lawn. Selectman Chairman Kim Roy agreed, if the letter wasn’t too thankful, as the property should have been kept properly in the first place, according to Roy.

Finally, the Board went into Executive Session.  The agenda listed the reason as ““Chief Broderick – ‘last drink reports,’”  yet when the Chairman called for the Executive Session with the Police Chief she stated it was for “discussions of the security of the Town.” Last drink reports, or, Place of Last Drink (PLD) reports are self-stated reports of where an individual was last served alcohol, given to police usually after being pulled over for suspected OUI.

The state Alcoholic Beverages Control Commission (ABCC) keeps track of this data that is then disseminated to the various cities and towns in the Commonwealth and to the police. Selectman Garron, a retired police officer, has been vocal about the unreliability of such reports in past meetings.

It was not known at press time, after contacting the ABCC press office, the state Attorney General’s press office and the Halifax Police whether this information is considered public. It is also unknown at this time how it is related to the “security of the Town.”

Selectmen, without identifying individual offenders, but identifying individual establishments that over-served, have discussed PLD reports in the past at open meetings.

In other news:

• Debra Trotta, representing the Lyonville Tavern, was granted a weekday public entertainment license.

• The second round of treatments on both East and West Monponsett Ponds will begin on Tuesday, June 30.

Don’t forget  – because it does come a week early! –  to come out and celebrate the Fourth of July with the rest of Halifax at the 2015 edition of Halifax in Lights.

There will be plenty of fun for everyone.

On Saturday, June 27th, beginning at 6 p.m. at the HOPS playground located adjacent to the Halifax Elementary School, 464 Plymouth Street, Route 106, Halifax and surrounding towns will celebrate their patriotism with music, a balloon-animal artist, a juggler along with other vendors selling food and novelties. Raffles will also be held, promising plenty of fun for the whole family

At 9:15 p.m., the highlight of the show will begin when some of the most fabulous fireworks on the South Shore will be displayed.

Young and old alike and everybody in between are sure to enjoy this fun festival coming right up on Saturday (and again, don’t miss out– Halifax in Lights is a week before the actual Fourth of July!)

At Monday’s Selectmen’s meeting in Plympton, Debbie Grace, a Silver Lake Integrated Preschool Teacher’s Assistant who has been making rounds of the Silver Lake towns updated the Board on the progress of the privately funded regional playground conceived for the preschool.

Silver Lake Integrated Preschool (SLIP), located at Kingston Elementary School, was created in 1989 to serve the needs of the Silver Lake School District. The program has 107 students. made up of 17 families from Plympton, 17 from Halifax, and the remainder from Kingston. Many have special needs, making a safe place to play with their peers a necessity.

With students of all abilities from ages 2-5, and no proper playground for this age group on site, volunteers (both parents and teachers) recognized an opportunity to fill this need by forming a committee to raise the funds necessary to fund the project.

Approved by the Kingston Selectmen as well as the Silver Lake Regional School Board, the organizers started with a $12,000 grant from the Sampson Fund in Kingston. Originally setting a goal to raise $50,000, they raised nearly all of this in several days. The volunteers realized that they had incredible community support, as further grants and donations came in.

Setting their goals higher, they raised their budget to between $150,000-$200,000 in order to build a 2,900 square foot playground. It will be fully ADA compliant, including access ramps to the main structure and swings that can accommodate wheelchairs, even for paraplegics.

The “floor” of the playground will be made of a rubber-based material, allowing children with stability issues to use the playground– which is nearly as expensive as the playground structure itself, but necessary, according to Grace.

The latest grant the organizers applied for would add a sensory skill and dramatic play element to the structure, allowing teachers and therapists to bring lessons outside.

Although no public money is being used for the project, the playground will be open to the community outside of school hours. It will be located on the west side of Kingston Elementary School. The Selectmen enthusiastically have expressed support for the project in both Plympton and Halifax.

For more information, see “Do You Want To Build a Playground?” on Facebook, where you can find links to the project’s GoFundMe site. The playground will tentatively open Spring, 2016.