The Plympton School Committee met on Monday, Jan. 22. Superintendent Jill Proulx gave a budget presentation telling the Committee, “We have prepared for you a level-services budget.” Proulx said that she wanted to point out some differences in the way the budget was presented in the past, versus the current presentation, some of which is linked to the regional agreement change. “In the past, out-of-district student tuitions were charged to the elementary budgets… regardless of if they were in the elementary or secondary schools, those tuitions were charged to Dennett Elementary School if those students resided in Plympton,” she explained. She continued, “In the past Silver Lake elementary programs existed and Dennett Elementary School had Silver Lake staff.
“I will now parse out some of the changes,” Proulx began. She said, “Pre-K will now be a Silver Lake expense, Silver Lake positions in the elementary schools will need to become school or town employees and the Curriculum Coordinator, how that will work, it’s our belief that the Curriculum Coordinator will have to become a town employee in one of our towns and then portions of the coordinator’s salary will be charged out to the other elementary districts.” She also said that shared costs positions would be decided based on regional agreement percentages. Facilities Director and Food Services Director were two examples of these shared costs positions. “Pre-K, although it will be housed in Kingston, will be considered a Silver Lake program… you will no longer see tuitions for students Grades 7-12 in the Plympton budget,” Proulx said.
Regarding increases to the Plympton budget, Proulx pointed out some items that will no longer be a part of the Silver Lake budget. “Currently we have two paraprofessionals working in Dennett Elementary School; in order to maintain level-services they would become, in theory, Dennett Elementary School employees for $60,000.” She said that while the cafeteria is still being discussed it currently operates under a Silver Lake revolving account. She also said that the estimated cost to Plympton for a shared Curriculum Coordinator is about $40,000.
For decreases to the Plympton budget, she said they would see a total of $255,000 for tuition and transportation for Pre-K and Grades 7-12. She said that Circuit Breaker has been estimated at 70 percent but noted that it was not yet reflected in the budget. Proulx said that substitute costs were level funded while utilities were increased by 5 percent.
Dennett Principal Peter Veneto spoke regarding potential enrollment increases. He said that they could be looking at as many as 264 students next school year. He said that classroom related increases were around 42 percent or approximately $20,000. He said that they are still discussing whether there are any facility related needs for the next year. The items that he said he feels need to be addressed are increasing from a part-time speech teacher to two full-time positions, a special education teacher, and a part-time ELL teacher.
After viewing trends for ELL learners, Committee Chair Jason Fraser said that he wasn’t sure he agreed that the school needed someone in-house given the fluctuations. “DESE gives us recommended minutes for ELL students; currently we are not meeting the minimum recommended minutes for multilingual learners,” Veneto said. Fraser asked him to build out the costs if Dennett were to pay someone through the contracted services to meet the minimum requirements.
Veneto also shared a graph of students with disabilities. He said that in the 2021-2022 school year, 15.5 percent of students had disabilities that increased to 17 percent and now 18 percent in the two years following. Veneto said that they currently have three full-time special ed teachers, but he is requesting a fourth. He said they are also seeing an increase in high-needs students which is differentiated from special education. He noted that 38 percent of students are now considered high needs.
Fraser said, “As many of you know, I also sit on the Silver Lake Regional School Committee and we got preliminary numbers there last week and seeing this budget this week and trying to digest all of the information, all of the changes that we’ve had to go through; just looking at it from a Plympton perspective, last year… we realized… that we had some extraordinary special ed costs… and we worked with the town and we managed to backfill and take care of those students and their needs… and when we went to town meeting last year, we came to the town voters of Plympton with a $346,000 increase and an 8.75 percent increase or so and they voted it unanimously, so we already had a substantial increase last year… but I was hoping that this number, the bottom line, would not be a 5 percent this year; I was hoping it would be a zero or a negative.”
Fraser also drew special attention to the teacher salary line. He said that a typical increase there would be $80,000 while this year the increase was $220,000. “Can anyone explain to me where the $220,000 increase is coming from?” Fraser asked. He said that another big area that jumped out at him was the special education transportation line which increased by $60,000 though he said that he understood where the increases were coming from. Fraser also said that he was eager to see what Plympton’s assessment would be for Silver Lake. “Obviously this is very preliminary and until we get a more solid understanding of what the Silver Lake overall budget is going to look like, I don’t really think we can make too much movement on this budget right now, but I want you to really think long and hard about Peter’s comments on the needs of the students and how we can best service them here and Admin., I would really like to know where that $220,000 increase in salaries came from,” Fraser said.
Principal’s Report
Veneto began his update by saying that currently enrollment stands at 253. He said that students recently participated in their third “all school rocks” meeting which focused on community. He said that individual classrooms won different awards. He called it a “rousing success” with all grades. “We’re still trying to fill vacant positions, Title I Reading and Math Interventionist,” Veneto said. He noted that they simply weren’t getting any applicants.
Capital Improvements
Regarding Capital Improvements, Fraser said that himself and Director of Facilities Mike Lawless met with the Town Properties Committee. He said that Town Properties told them to line up the air handlers on the roof in order of need. Fraser said they would try to get as many of those taken care of as possible through remaining ARPA funds. “We were also very cautious of how the end of year might look with some of the rearrangements of the Dennett budget; you know at the end of the year sometimes we’ve had surplus that the town has allowed us to use to do some improvements here at the school; with next year’s budget we don’t know if we’re going to have those kinds of surpluses anymore in June so, again, making sure if you have any of the classrooms that need a rug or tiles done, to really lean in to those dollars at the end of this year so we can communicate it to the town… so we can maintain the building to the best of our ability,” Fraser said.
Dog Walking at Dennett
Fraser said, “I’ve been approached by a few members of the community of varying backgrounds who are dog owners who are really missing the opportunity to have their dogs up here at the Dennett; you know feeling that walking around the track that had been installed around the fields with dogs leashed doesn’t cause any problems with dog waste on the fields and a lot of the dog owners that keep their dogs leashed also pick up after their dogs.” Fraser asked the Committee if they would agree to him approaching the Board of Selectmen regarding some leash laws, etc. for dogs to allow for them at Dennett. A member of the Committee expressed concern that a leash law might affect those like herself that have their dogs trained off-leash.
Superintendent and Assistant Superintendent’s Updates
Proulx said that the Commissioner approved the revised updated regional agreement. She explained it saying, “to incorporate Pre-K and make the adjustments to the regulatory language.” Fraser explained that the new agreement would affect some of the budgetary numbers. Proulx said that Negotiations were meeting the following day to discuss how the changes may affect faculty.
The Old Colony Planning Council reached out to Assistant Superintendent Ryan Lynch to ask if a survey could be distributed through Parent Square to the residents of Plympton. Fraser said that they had previously sent out a similar survey regarding similar needs. The Committee voted unanimously to allow it to go home.
Lynch also asked the Committee to consider the DESE (Department of Secondary and Elementary Education) VOCAL (Views of Climate and Learning) Survey for administration to students in conjunction with MCAS testing. “So at the elementary level, this survey asks students questions about climate, like engagement and safety,” Lynch said. Fraser said, “I’m opposed to it; I just wanted to make sure I explain why. We currently have a policy on the books that says that parents have the right to opt-out. They would have the right to opt-out of this, but the way the test is setup is that it automatically is on every single students’ MCAS so then it would be incumbent upon the teacher to know what kid wasn’t supposed to take the test and somehow monitor that… we haven’t traditionally used this as a data collection device here at the Dennett… if it doesn’t violate the word, it violates the spirit of that policy.” The Committee voted not to allow it.
Proulx asked the Committee if they would consider allowing Kingston Youth Lacrosse and South Shore Children’s Chorus flyers to be sent home in students’ backpacks. The Committee voted unanimously to allow it.

Morse Brothers, Inc. and the town of Halifax will meet once again in the courtroom to settle their grievances.
Morse Brothers, Inc. and the town of Halifax have an increasingly complex history that goes back decades and is most recently highlighted by a public earth removal hearing and now a lawsuit against the town brought forth by the cranberry growers. The issues at play are myriad and echo an overall conflict that is playing out throughout Southeastern Massachusetts. On one side are the cranberry growers, particularly the small farms, that are claiming to attempt to maintain what is seen by some as a dying industry. There are residents concerned with how those farms’ practices affect their access to things like clean water and safe roadways. Still another side are the environmental groups that claim that the sand and gravel mining being done by the farmers is unnecessary and dangerous to the environment.
Back in November, the Halifax Board of Selectmen issued an earth removal permit to Morse Brothers following the public hearing. The current permit is to remove 20,000 yards of earth from a hill and does not include excavation below grade or into the water table. After hearing residents’ concerns, the Selectmen imposed a number of restrictions on the permit including limiting truck traffic to a maximum of 25 trucks per day as well as imposing strict limitations on hours of operation. There are additional restrictions regarding truck coverings. Morse Brothers states in their suit that the restrictions on Morse Brothers, their trucks, and their drivers go above and beyond what is prohibited by law on public roadways.
In the suit, Morse Brothers allege that for decades they engaged in “routine farm maintenance” including the removal of sand, without it being suggested that their activities were subject to the earth removal bylaw or could potentially be prohibited by the town. Morse Brothers allege that the Board of Selectmen’s insistence that they apply for earth removal permits was a direct result of complaints from a small number of residents concerned with truck traffic and damage to roadways.
In October of 2023, Morse Brothers requested exemption from the permit requirements of the town’s earth removal bylaw but were not granted it. Morse Brothers has cited concerns that the application of the bylaw to their ongoing cranberry bog maintenance has “unreasonably infringed on protections of land uses for the primary purpose of agriculture under State law.” They argue that the conditions imposed upon them unreasonably interfere with “activities integral to farming” and will cost their business significantly.
Jeremy Gillespie, who serves on the Zoning Bylaw Review Committee as well as the Beautification Committee, has been an outspoken opponent of the earth removal. According to Gillespie, the Board of Selectmen don’t have the authority to grant a permit for this particular operation as the hill is in the Aquifer Protection Overlay District which allows for stricter constraints on land uses in order to protect water resources. Halifax is a right-to-farm community which is intended to protect agricultural enterprises from unnecessary interference including from abutters. Gillespie believes that the town issued the permit despite protests from residents because zoning restrictions can’t unreasonably regulate farming. “It can reasonably regulate farming,” Gillespie said with emphasis on the reasonably. He continued, “It’s not unreasonable for us to want to protect our aquifer.”
While Morse Brothers insists that the removal of the earth is necessary from a farming perspective to support their cranberry activities, there are those who believe that these types of projects have a different goal – to turn a profit on mined sand and gravel. A public earth removal hearing was recently held in Kingston for PK Realty Trust where environmental attorney Meg Sheehan spoke out against earth removal. Sheehan, who was not speaking on the Morse Brothers project, but the PK Realty project said, “This project appears to be one more ruse to get the sand and gravel out of there… I have seen 100 of these ruses… enough is enough and we are drawing the line.”
Sheehan urged residents to visit https://www.sandwarssoutheasternma.org/. The cover page of an 84-page report on that website describes it as “An investigation into the money, politics and corruption behind sand mining and its silent environmental crisis in Southeastern Massachusetts.” Of the mining, Gillespie said, “Obviously the state is looking the other way; they need a cheap source of local concrete to build houses, you know?” Gillespie implied that cranberry growers are choosing the highest elevations to place bogs saying that they can make money from the excavated sand while breaking even on the cranberries.
While Gillespie believes that this particular earth removal project by Morse Brothers is likely not being done to turn a profit on mined soil and sand, he does question if past projects by them were. According to Gillespie, they removed a large hill in 2015 that Morse Brothers claimed was shading their bogs. Gillespie insists that the hill was always there and the removed earth was likely sold for profit. Regarding the current project he said, “If you needed the sand, why didn’t you keep some of it? They sold it for profit; they didn’t expand their bogs; they didn’t improve it for production.” He acknowledged that some of the removed earth is likely being used for agricultural purposes like reconstructing bogs to raise them to elevation in order to plant a new variety of vine. Certainly, the application of sand to cranberry bogs is part of a regular farming process. Gillespie questions, however, why the sand needed to do so can’t simply be purchased by either the cranberry grower or the town if it meant protecting the water source. “When they apply for all these grants that they’ve received over the years they always put sand as an expense – a huge one, but from what I’ve seen, it’s free to them… so that’s kind of the town’s argument too, we’re not making it for you not to be able to farm, if you just need sand, just go buy sand, you can always buy sand; nobody is preventing you from buying sand,” Gillespie said.
Gillespie said that there have been no environmental studies on what removal of these uplands is doing to the lakes. “You don’t have lakes without the uplands that surround them… I don’t know that there is much history of people doing this,” he explained. He noted that the sand is always leaving the property rather than being brought to it. “The less sand you have… the less filtered your water is; sand is an excellent water filter,” Gillespie said. Referring back to the reasonable versus unreasonable argument, Gillespie said of the 165,000 cubic yards removed from Halifax’s division II water protection zoning overlay district, “it’s not unreasonable not to want to continue removing sand that filters our water considering all of the problems that we are having right now.” Residents have taken to the Halifax MA Community Facebook page to post pictures of their excessively dirty water filters. Gillespie said that he would like to see the town or Morse Brothers bring in a hydrologist to properly investigate the effects of the earth removal on the surrounding water.
“Nobody knows… when you’re taking down these hills that have been sitting there for 20,000 years, you’re disturbing the balance that’s in the soil, you’re disturbing iron and other stuff that may have been deprived of oxygen and you’re introducing it to oxygen and then you get iron oxidizing bacteria… when you’re taking down giant glacial hills right next to the lake, there’s going to be effects and you might not see those effects immediately; you may see them in 20 years,” Gillespie said.
While the town imposed restrictions on Morse Brothers around truck traffic, etc. their position on the earth removal’s effect to the town’s drinking water remained clear. During the meeting where the Halifax Selectmen issued the now disputed earth removal permit, Selectman Jonathan Selig said, “this project has been reviewed by our Highway Surveyor, our Board of Health Agent, our Water Superintendent, our Police Chief, our Land Counsel, an Independent Engineer – all paid employees whose job description is to help be watchdogs for our Town. The site has also been inspected by the Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection – an agency whose sole purpose is to literally protect the environment… I believe the town has done its due diligence… this project does not pose a threat to our town’s drinking water or our natural resources.”
Morse Brothers has been growing and producing cranberries in Massachusetts for six decades and on Lingan St. in Halifax for 40 years. The history of cranberry growing in Massachusetts is rich, in Southeastern Massachusetts in particular. According to sources, Ephraim Stetson first began to cultivate cranberries in Halifax in 1867. Cranberry production really took off when the United Cape Cod Cranberry Co. was formed in 1904. In Halifax, the A.C. Burrage Cranberry Co. was founded a year later in 1905. Burrage, as it is known to many in the Halifax and Hanson area, was named after industrialist Albert C. Burrage and is home today to over 2,000 acres of ponds, marsh, swamps, and cranberry bogs. Perhaps the biggest name in cranberries, Ocean Spray was formed in 1930 in Hanson. Today, Massachusetts is responsible for nearly a quarter of the cranberries grown nationally behind only Wisconsin in production of the crop. According to the Farm Credit East Knowledge Exchange Report, the cranberry industry is responsible for 6,400 jobs throughout the Commonwealth. Additionally, the overall economic impact of cranberry production in Massachusetts in 2023 was estimated at $1.7 billion when combined across farming, processing, manufacturing, and marketing.
Despite Massachusetts’ hearty production of cranberries, the industry is plagued by problems including increasing production costs and decreasing crop values. An increasing world supply of cranberries, particularly in Canada, has contributed to the declining prices for the crop. The Massachusetts cranberry industry is also affected by federal trade policies that reduce the market abroad. Climate change has also presented problems for cranberry growers as winter temperatures grow increasingly erratic and they depend on frozen bogs for crop health. The last decade has seen the state lose more than a quarter of its cranberry farms. Cranberry growers have sought to make ends meet through alternative means such as leasing their land for solar.
Halifax is a microcosm of the current state of Massachusetts’ cranberry industry and the complex issues that surround it. Morse Brothers’ suit against the town is at the epicenter of that.