The Halifax Board of Selectmen met on Wednesday, Nov. 15. Chair John Bruno told those assembled that following the public hearing regarding earth removal for Morse Brothers, they compiled all the questions posed by the public. He said that they did their best to have answers prepared for those questions.
Bruno said, “Transparency is a critical part of assuring everyone concerned that the Board of Selectmen when called upon to make decisions, has taken their role seriously and thoughtfully. Accordingly, I will take this opportunity to set out my thoughts, observations, and reasons. I’ll begin by describing as I see this matter, what we’re being asked to do.” He continued, “Understand that in 2022, Morse Brothers requested a permit to dig a pond, remove earth from their property on Lingan St. That permit was withdrawn before a public hearing was held. The request for a permit that is before the Board of Selectmen now is not the same project.” He noted that the current project is smaller in scope and proposes removing 20,000 yards of earth from a hill and does not involve excavation below grade or into the water table. According to Bruno, Morse Brothers is a cranberry/agricultural business that has been in business for 60 years.
Bruno also reminded those present that Halifax is a right- to-farm community. He said that three other earth removal permits have been issued in Halifax for bog operations – Turkey Swamp on Monponsett St. received a permit for over 36,000 yards, Harju Bogs on Thompson St. for a permit for 20,000 yards, and White Dog on Palmer Rd. for 84,000 yards. “The request by Morse Brothers is not unusual for cranberry operations nor is the amount of removal requested excessive,” Bruno said.
He further stated that the Board has done everything possible to hear and consider all the concerns brought forth by the public. He noted that the concerns fall into two major categories consisting of environmental and public safety. Those concerns include effects to the ponds and water table, traffic implications, road maintenance, and effects to underground utilities. Bruno said that the application has been reviewed by Halifax’s Board of Health, Conservation Commission, and the Water Commissioners. “If any of our town authorities, who are the experts on our town water, had raised even the slightest concern, I personally, would not even consider moving forward with this application,” Bruno said. He also specified that the State had also looked into the property and found no concerns. Bruno said that the Board needs to move forward based on evidence rather than conjecture. He said that the Police and Highway Department have raised no concerns regarding traffic or utilities.
Bruno said that the truck traffic will not run on Saturdays, Sundays, or holidays and would work around the school bus schedule. He further said that he would propose limiting the trucks to 25 trucks per day at maximum. He said that the work should be completed within a 29-day time period while telling those assembled that fewer trucks allowed would delay the project.
Selectman Jonathan Selig also gave a statement. “The last thing anyone wants to do is put our town into any sort of jeopardy. 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’s 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. For this Board to turn a blind eye to all of these findings would not only be in poor taste, in my judgement, it would be irresponsible.” Selig added that approving the permit would not be the end of the Board’s work, saying that they would be ensuring that the rules and regulations would be followed.
Before turning things over to the residents in attendance, Bruno noted that it was not a public hearing. The first resident that spoke asked how many times the residents on Lingan St. would be asked to endure the heavy truck traffic. Bruno said that while he hears the concern, they can’t change the fact that it’s where the bogs are located. The resident also complained about the condition of their road saying she would like to see it paved. Bruno cut her off saying, “you’re mixing up a whole bunch of issues.” Another resident spoke, again, citing concerns around underground utilities. Bruno told the residents that should anyone see that the rules are not being followed, they should take pictures and submit them to the appropriate authorities.
Jeremy Gillespie, who has been an outspoken critic of the earth removal project, said, “Boy, I’m disappointed but not surprised.” He continued, “the bylaw says that you don’t have the authority to give an earth removal permit in that zone and, in fact, the peer-reviewed town engineer said, they may need a permit from the Planning Board… the bylaw says no permit can be issued greater than 50 cubic yards, yet somehow they’ve gotten away with about 160,000 cubic yards… the other cranberry operations aren’t in the Division 2. You don’t have the authority; you’re taking the cheap way out.” Bruno said that according to Town Counsel, “no zoning ordinance or bylaw shall prohibit, unreasonably regulate or require special permit for the use of land for the primary purpose of commercial agriculture.” He said that they are following Town Counsel’s advice as to whether they should be the regulating authority. Another resident spoke saying that the attorneys for Morse Brothers used Bruno’s words to support their case in a lawsuit that she was a part of against them. She also showed them dirty water filters which she said need to be changed far more frequently than recommended since the last earth removal.
Another resident asked, “What kind of fines are these companies going to get slapped with?” “We haven’t discussed any of that yet. We haven’t even voted on the permit… but that’s an issue that could come up if it somehow became necessary,” Bruno said. He noted that it was something that could be considered.
Resident Dave Mascio asked Bruno and Selig if they told Selectman Naja Nessralla that he should recuse himself from voting on the matter as he is an abutter. Both Bruno and Selig said that they left the choice up to him. Nessralla wasn’t present at the meeting that night. “It does hold water against what you guys are going to decide,” Mascio said of his abutter status. He also brought forth an issue another resident asked about. They both asked that there be some type of monetary payment made to the town for use of the roadway should an incident occur that would require the town to fix something. “Have some contingencies put in place so that if something should happen… that’s what everyone is here for John, it’s not to piss you off,” Mascio said. Mascio also asked that there be some kind of training program for the truck drivers who will be driving down Lingan St. to safeguard the children and other people using that roadway.
Several residents, including one that owns an abutting farm, spoke out against Morse Brothers saying that they weren’t trustworthy. “We need to protect that land out there, that is all sacred ground,” a resident said. He further claimed that trucks were removing earth at night already. Bruno said that they investigated a complaint about that and the Highway Surveyor said there was a water main break and the Highway Department trucks had to go down Lingan St. to address the issue. Resident Claire Hughes also spoke out against Morse Brothers saying that they have gone town to town digging up earth and there have been many problems that have arisen as result. She told the Selectmen that they claimed to make their decisions based on facts, but said that it appears that they didn’t have all the facts. “There really should be more research into who you’re dealing with and their history and it didn’t take me long to find out that they do have a long history of not holding up their word,” she said.
Another resident spoke about the heavy truck traffic saying that the limitations seem reasonable until you are actually living on the street and seeing that kind of traffic. “I just hope that there is something in place to consider the residents; to consider the noise, the traffic.” Another resident said, “As part of that training program that Dave suggested, it should be ‘this is the speed limit that you are allowed to do on Lingan St.’ There’s a new state law, 4 ft. berth to vulnerable persons on the road; they need to know that they are going slow enough that they can brake for those people.” She noted that during the last earth removal project, there were four trucking companies utilized, two of which were courteous and two that were not. She said that they try not to call for every incident as they don’t want to be a nuisance, but said that going forward, they would “blow up” the non-emergency Police line, if necessary.
Cheryl Howell began her remarks saying “I’m going to be open and up front about stuff that happened a year ago when they wanted to pull the permit.” She continued, “One of the Board members was actually having an affair with another Board member and that one Board member was having an affair with Ryco which was one of the companies that was going to do the hauling. And that’s why a lot of the stuff we were having trouble with was because we felt as if it was just going to be pushed through. You cannot tell me that people that were dating weren’t talking about it behind the scenes.” Selig said, “Can I just say for the record that no one here is associated with Ryco and John and I are not having an affair.” This was met with some muffled laughter.
Bruno outlined the limitations associated with the project including that the earth removal will only take place between the hours of 7 am and 5 pm Monday through Friday and never on a legal holiday. A request was made by residents to reduce the hours to 7 a.m. through 3 p.m. in the interest of protecting elementary school aged children who are likely to be out after 3 pm. “Vehicles loaded with soil or sand should be suitably covered to prevent dust and contents from spilling and blowing on the road,” Bruno said. Selig said that he would like to see the vehicles limited to 10 or 15 mph rather than 20. Other regulations included that the town reserves the right for weekly inspections even without prior notice. “No excavation below the natural grade of any boundary line shall be permitted,” Bruno said. A regulation is also in place requiring Morse Brothers to provide reports outlining the amount of earth removed. Residents also asked that truck drivers have to sign an agreement and that should they violate that agreement, they will be fined.
There was also discussion regarding increasing the $0.25 per cubic yard of removed earth to be paid to the town to $1 per cubic yard. The Town Counsel said that the bylaw called for $0.25 or greater but said that there would need to be a reasonable justification for the increase. Residents said that repairs necessary, etc. would justify the increase. Town Counsel said that increased monitoring of the roads would likely justify an increase. Bruno and Selig agreed that doubling it to $0.50 would be reasonable especially considering that any repairs to the road need to be taken care of by Morse Brothers.
Before adjourning, both Bruno and Selig stated that the decisions they make are always with the best interests of the town in mind. Selig called Bruno “a man of character.” Bruno said, “If I made a mistake here, I’ll be the first to admit it and do everything I can to correct it.” Bruno made a motion to approve the permit with the conditions as discussed, that night in the draft form. Selig seconded it.

The Plympton School Committee met on Monday, Nov. 6. Chair Jason Fraser was absent, so Vice Chair Dan Cadogen led the meeting.
Dennett Elementary School principal Peter Veneto gave an MCAS presentation. “We have some things to celebrate and we have some things to improve upon,” he told the Committee. Veneto also said that at both the District and State level, there is still a lot of ground to make up to get back to pre-pandemic scores. “Recovery is underway,” Veneto said.
Some key takeaways from the presentation include ELA scores for Grades 3 through 10 for the State. While Grade 10 was at 58 percent meeting expectations, Grades 3 through 6 all fell somewhere between 40 and 44 percent meeting expectations. At the elementary level, Grades 3, 4, and 6 took MCAS in the subject areas of ELA and math while Grade 6 also took a test in math and technology. Grade 10 is at 58 percent meeting expectations for ELA.
Dennett Elementary performed well across the board compared to the State average. Grade 3 Dennett students were at 72 percent meeting expectations for ELA compared to just 44 percent across the State. For math, 65 percent of Grade 3 Dennett students were meeting expectations compared to the State average of just 41 percent. Overall, the State-wide averages have increased from 2022 to 2023, but they are still not where they were pre-Covid.
A Committee member asked Assistant Superintendent Ryan Lynch how Dennett compared to the rest of the District. Lynch said that they performed similarly though he noted that given Dennett’s small population, the numbers can become skewed more easily. Coordinator of Student Support Christine Marcolini told the Committee that the Dennett third graders outperformed the District saying, “I think that was the other big standout.”
Veneto said that the school goal is to have 70 percent of students meeting or exceeding expectations for all subject areas. Veneto said that the Grade 5 science scores for Dennett have typically been quite high but noted that was not the case with the most recent round of MCAS. “We traditionally have really hit the ball out of the park in terms of science and unfortunately that was not the case last year,” Veneto told the Committee. He said that he wants the administrators to get into the classrooms more during science so they can witness the types of lessons being implemented including hands-on learning.
Regarding student growth for Dennett on the ELA and math MCAS, Veneto said that the school shows typical growth with higher achievement compared to the State. “Typical growth is okay; in my opinion, we can do better,” Veneto told the Committee.
One area of disappointment for Dennett was a designation assigned to them as a result of the MCAS participation rate for one sub-group of students. They were deemed as requiring assistance or intervention by the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education (DESE) due to the participation rate for this sub-group falling below 95 percent. Given the Dennett’s small population, it only took a few students not participating for that rate to drop as low as it did. Veneto said that he planned on addressing the issue with the families that opted out of the testing. Committee member Kaitlin Johnson asked Veneto how he planned to broach the issue given the reason for opting out probably centers around student stress. “The language we typically use with our kids is just do the best that you can do… inherently there is stress that is associated with the test,” Veneto said.
Superintendent Jill Proulx said that there is a corrective action plan that the school will have to do. Marcolini said that they have had in-depth conversations with the families involved and they don’t anticipate having this problem next year. “If families or children are expressing stress… I think it is incumbent upon us to really be talking with the families and talking with the children… I think our doors are always open and I think that seeing us fall below that number for us, that is a significant event and we need to do everything we can to make sure our kids and families feel supported,” she told the Committee.
Some of the actions planned by the Dennett administration to address improving MCAS scores include putting support teams in place to identify students who may need more supports and interventions. There will also be data meetings for K-6 to identify and target interventions for math and reading. Additionally, there will be enhanced co-teaching and an intervention model to provide more support in the classroom.
Veneto also reviewed the results of a student survey that assessed a wide variety of social and emotional issues. Committee member Robert Montgomery asked if any of the questions evaluated self-advocacy. Marcolini said, “A lot of the questions really are around themselves as workers and how supported they feel.” She also noted that, “the kids really are accurate raters of themselves.” Regarding the survey, Veneto said, “A lot of positive information here I thought.”
Marcolini said that she was happy to see the “grit” scores come up the way they did. She also noted the positive change in reporting from the sixth-grade class. Cadogen asked if she felt this was due to it being a different cohort of students than last year’s sixth grade class or if it had more to do with changes implemented in the school environment. Marcolini responded that she believed it to be a little bit of both.
The issue of increasing the daily substitute rate as well as the custodian substitution rate was addressed during the meeting. The proposed increase for the sub rate was from $107 per day to $110. It was said that the increase would make Dennett more in line with neighboring communities while still being below the paraprofessional starting rate. It was explicitly stated that the intention was to be competitive without making it more lucrative than being a paraprofessional. The increase to the custodian rate would be from $18 an hour to $19. The Committee voted to accept the increased rates.
Veneto also provided a Principal’s Report which included that the current enrollment stands at 253 students. He also said that they have a new art teacher and a building substitute. Veneto said it was “probably the first time in about a year that we can say we are fully staffed… and I would like to keep it that way.”
Homeschool enrollment was also briefly touched upon. At the Dennett, the numbers have increased by 1 from 4 students to 5. Proulx said, “District wide, overall, the numbers have decreased substantially especially since 2020.”
Before adjourning, the Committee asked Veneto and Proulx to touch upon an incident that happened during the night of parent teacher conferences. A student was found to have three live bullets on their person. The student showed another student who notified an adult. The Police came and investigated and found nothing else. The student reported finding the bullets on the side of the road. “The Police deemed that there was no credible threat,” Proulx said. Asked if the story regarding the origins of the bullets could be verified, Veneto said, “the Police can’t confirm that there was anything just lying on the ground.” Cadogen pressed asking if it was possible the story was fabricated. “That’s a strong possibility,” Veneto said. Committee members then asked if the issue was being addressed with the student’s family as there were concerns over items not being locked up properly. Veneto said that it was his understanding that the Police had done that.