The Plympton Elementary School Committee met on Monday, Sept. 8. “Over the summer I was approached by a member of the gardening club here in town, who is also one of the neighbors of the Dennett Elementary School who happened to know the Dennetts. And she was concerned about the situation around the flagpole and around the dedication slab to the Dennetts. Just wanted to pass along some ideas for how we can rehab the area and maybe we can make this one of our priorities for the grounds during the course of this year… so we can get that back up to snuff and give the respect and honor to the Dennetts for all they’ve done for the town of Plympton,” Chair Jason Fraser said.
Silver Lake
pre-K program
Superintendent Jill Proulx said that the Silver Lake Regional School District has presented a warrant article for Plympton’s special town meeting in the fall. “It asks the town to approve the incorporation of our pre-K program… into the Silver Lake Regional School District which is how we have been operating for many years. In addition, the Regional Agreement had a number of items, legal regulations, that needed to be updated because it had been a while since the Regional Agreement had been revised and updated to meet State regulations.” Fraser said that town meeting was October 18 and asked people to go and support the new Regional Agreement. He added, “If we don’t pass the new Regional Agreement, we are going to be in a heap of trouble here at the local level because our pre-K program will cease to exist as an incorporated program and we’re going to have to come up with a way to do it in house ourselves and pay for it as well.” Fraser did say that the new agreement came with a price tag of about $40,000 for Plympton. He said it had less to do with the inclusion of the pre-K program and more to do with adding an administrator responsible for the preschool program.
New Playground
Regarding the new playground at the Dennett, Director of Business Services Christine Healy said, “We believe the playground is complete. We got a chance to take a peek out there. It looks lovely, it was a long, long process.” Fraser said, “I would just like to publicly thank Peter [Veneto] for his leg work that he did at the beginning, at the dreaming phase of the playground. We met with a lot of different consultants, we came up with a lot of different designs, we heard from a lot of parents who wanted re-designs, we went back to the chalkboard and redesigned things until we could best meet the needs of what the playground was designed for and it was a three-fold operation – we were trying to make it developmentally appropriate for a K-6 building… we were looking for safety; there was no fill below any of the structures in our old playground… and the one that was nearest and dearest to my heart was accessibility for all students, regardless of who shows up at the doorstep of this school, now they will be able to play with their friends on this playground.”
School solar project
Regarding the solar project, Fraser said the school had signed all agreements necessary including the purchase and lease. “They are hooked to the grid and they are up and running at this point,” Fraser said.
During the Report of Standing Committees, Fraser provided an update for the Legislative Update saying that they were able to successfully pass the free school meals for all. He said there was a “decent amount of funding” for schools in the State budget. “The one thing I would ask you to look at is the Mass rural schools right now are making a major push for additional funding and we actually do benefit from that legislature… this year we saw a tripling of rural aid and last year, Silver Lake, but it’s mostly Plympton, got around $71,000 in rural aid so we should expect to see close to triple of that last year… a bill right now would call for that to be multiplied by four more,” Fraser said.
Principal Peter Veneto provided the Principal’s Report saying that enrollment stood at 251 students to start the year. He said that students have been earning tickets for “demonstrating expected behaviors at class, recess, pretty much everywhere at school.” Assistant Principal Christine Marcolini explained that the classrooms work toward filling their bowls with tickets in order to earn a class reward. “And then their tickets get transferred into the big Dennett rock… and the kids are so excited about it and they’re looking to see ‘well how much further do we have to go to get the whole school reward.’”
Veneto said that as part of the playground project they received a new donation of a giant Adirondack chair and a friendship bench from C.A.S.A. Veneto said they also received a check for $10,000 from an anonymous donor. Regarding staffing updates Veneto said Melissa Ritter is now teaching Grade 1, Kirsten Myers is the new Math Interventionist, and Hannah George is a new paraprofessional. He noted that he is still trying to fill the building substitute and 0.4 art teacher.
Proulx and Assistant Superintendent Ryan Lynch presented jointly on the state of Curriculum and Assessment. Proulx said that they had a busy summer with hiring including the addition of the new Director of Student Services, Dr. Christine Panarese, as well as a new Assistant Director of Student Services. Proulx said they were in the process of hiring a new Director of Business Services as Healy will be retiring at the end of December. “We’re very sad that she will be retiring but we are very grateful that we’ve had her to help us get through some difficult times,” Proulx said of Healy. She also said that the daily sub rate has been increased and should hopefully aid in securing substitute teachers.
“We continue to monitor the social and emotional needs of our students through the analysis of data. We had two data points last year, teachers worked in groups to examine their student data and then implement interventions in the classroom,” Proulx said. She noted that Second Step was implemented in the Middle School and high school students participated in the Anti-Defamation League training.
“We also examined support team practices across all the schools and this year it will be a big focus of ours to develop greater consistency and effective practices across all of our schools to make sure that all students are receiving interventions regardless of whether or not they are special education students or not… if a student is experiencing difficulty or struggles… that goes through the support team process and the support team works with staff to help identify ways that this child can be supported in the classroom and beyond,” Proulx told the Committee.
She provided some updates on the curriculum as well. She said that a technology plan was created last year and would be implemented this year. Proulx also said that all the schools now have instrumental lessons. She also said that they would be working to close achievement gaps as well.
Lynch thanked the staff for the work that was done over the summer. He said that 11 Dennett teachers spent three days talking about “how best to meet the needs of students… and co-teachers’ interventions and support.” He also credited specific staff members with their work on the science curriculum over the summer.

Kristy Zamagni-Twomey
Express correspondent
The Halifax Board of Selectmen met on Tuesday, Sept. 12 at the Fire House. Chair John Bruno began the meeting saying, “This is our continuing summer adventure, the Halifax Board of Selectmen roadshow… it’s an opportunity for the Board of Selectmen to get out of the Town Hall and actually interact with people which is a good thing. It’s also another opportunity for our various departments, this is the third or fourth one we’ve done this summer, to get on TV and brag a little bit about all the good work that goes on in Halifax.”
Fire Chief Michael Witham spoke to those assembled at the Fire House saying that he has been involved with Fire and EMS services for 32 years. “I am a paramedic,” he said. He also went through an overview of the Department saying they had a Chief, four Captains, and 13 call members, two who are paramedics and 11 that are EMTs. “The overall status of our shifts, we run four shifts now currently; we try to work it with one Captain and two firefighters working daily,” he explained. Witham said that they also have an administrative assistant who “does a fantastic job keeping all of us in line and making sure the daily operations run efficiently.” The Department has two ambulances, two fire engines, a tower truck, some brush trucks, and command vehicles. He noted that the mechanic and DPW work tremendously hard to keep the vehicles in great shape. Witham said that his ideal situation would be to add two more members to the Department which would allow them to have two additional ambulances or another engine. Witham noted that they have mutual aid agreements that allow for other towns to help Halifax in an emergency and vice versa.
Fire Captain Jeffrey Cuozzo also spoke to share a “feel good story” regarding a water rescue back on May 7. Cuozzo said that they received a call that there was a distressed person in the water in a near drowning incident. “Before we even got there, we heard that some civilians managed to get the victim out of the water which was great,” Cuozzo said. Michael Hughes swam after a remote-control boat that was swept into the water farther than anticipated. Residents Lyla Dooley and Cole Hingston were on the beach playing football. Hingston jumped into the water to save the drowning victim while Dooley called 911. Dooley, Hingston, and Hughes were all present at the Selectmen’s meeting on Tuesday. It was the first time that the rescuers met the man they saved that day. Just teenagers, Dooley and Hingston were presented with Citizen Hero awards. Selectman Jonathan Selig said, “I personally know Lyla and I know she’s an exceptional kid and if this guy is able to date Lyla Dooley, he must be alright too, so keep up the great work guys.”
Bruno said they had a letter from the Fire Department who was looking to run a fundraiser where a professional photographer would take photographs by an antique vehicle. They were seeking permission to use the town-owned property on the grounds by the blacksmith shop for two dates in October and November for fall and winter-themed photoshoots. The Historic Commission previously signed off on the usage. “A lot of families get their photos done anyway so why not do it in a way that can help the town,” Selig said. The Selectmen approved the use of the property.
The Beautification Commission asked for permission to use the town green on October 14 from 8:45 a.m. to 12 p.m. to kick off a week-wide clean-up project and distribute supplies. The Selectmen also approved this use.
Don Barrows, President of the Monponsett Watershed Association, appeared before the Board to share a leaflet regarding some of the testing and treatments. “The water is really great; I’m surprised myself,” he said. He said that wake surfing in shallow waters was becoming a problem. “What’s happening is those boats are actually bringing up the bottom of the ponds,” Barrows said. Jeremy Gillespie also spoke regarding the boats saying, “basically these boats are specifically designed to displace as much water as possible – they also have plates they can drop down on either side so they can create a wake up to and over 4 ft in height. These wakes have been proven to be much more disturbing than wind-driven wakes… it’s actually like a tsunami wave… you see the water starting to go out and what that does is pulls nutrients out of the water.” Town Administrator Cody Haddad said that they regularly work with Solitude throughout the year and that he was sure if it was a problem, they would address it. Bruno said that in addition to the problems it posed environmentally, he didn’t feel it was an appropriate activity for a small beach. He noted that potential bylaw changes may be needed.
The Selectmen also held the tax classification hearing for fiscal year 2024. Bruno said, “it is an annual event where we determine what the tax rates will be based on the type of property; we’re not setting the tax rate, that’s done… it’s more of a procedural thing than anything else.” The Principal Assessor for the town of Halifax Debbie Dean spoke next. “The town of Halifax has under 10 percent commercial, industrial, and personal property and therefore a split rate is not recommended… the real estate and personal property total value is $1,385,119,480. That’s up 13.4 percent from last year,” Dean explained. She also said that the Board of Assessors is not adopting the Open Space discount. She explained that towns with a lot of second home populations or resort communities often benefit from this discount. “There are only 61 second homes in Halifax,” Dean said. She said the Board of Assessors recommend that the Board of Selectmen vote against the exemptions and in favor of the factor of one. The Board voted in favor of the recommendations.
Bruno told the Selectmen that Haddad had drafted a code of conduct for elected officials. “This is becoming very common throughout the State… as chief policy makers for the town of Halifax it is good to set expectations for Board and Committee members throughout the town,” Haddad explained. He said that he borrowed pieces from other towns.
Melanie Martin-Plant appeared before the Board regarding an appointment to the Conservation Commission. The Commission voted to have her become the fifth member during their previous meeting. Martin-Plant is a new resident of Halifax and previously was involved in environmental advocacy in Plymouth. She said she was a founding member of a group called Sustainable Plymouth. The Selectmen voted to approve her appointment.
Haddad provided the Board with a number of Town Administrator’s updates including the MBTA Action Plan. He said that they hope to have someone come to the Zoning Bylaw Review, the Planning Board, and Zoning Board meetings to provide trainings on ways in which the town can be in compliance with the Action Plan. He said that they received word that Morse Brothers would be conducting work and noted that they were informed that they will need to submit a permit. Bruno outlined the process for taking public comment as he said he anticipates the Morse Brothers’ hearing to draw a large crowd. Those wishing to speak will need to sign up when they arrive at the hearing.