The Kingston Board of Selectmen met on Tuesday, Aug. 29. During Open Forum, Director of Elder Affairs Marybeth Lawton asked to speak to update the Board about the Council on Aging. “We have had an extremely busy year here at the senior center since I started back July 18, 2022,” Lawton explained. She said they are “looking forward to partnering with the Compact Grant to be able to make application for the age and dementia friendly initiative so that we can fund the survey that is needed to kick off the initiative.” Lawton also told the Selectmen that they are going green in the senior center by finding ways to reduce their carbon footprint.
Lawton said that she wanted to talk to the Board regarding a change in the way they handle food service at the Senior Center. “As you know we have a large crowd that comes in every Thursday… and we serve anywhere from 60-65 people… looking at dollar and cents as well as what the future holds for this type of program… I decided to reach out to some of my fellow COA Directors in the area and go and visit their facilities to see the different way that they deliver food service to their seniors,” Lawton said. She said that the Thursday lunch will be finished up by the end of September. She said that they would be moving forward with a café experience in Kingston. “The idea behind this is to get more food out to more people for a reasonable amount of money and to be able to do it in a way that is spread out rather than doing it all within this one-hour period on Thursday,” she continued. She said the menu will include hot meals like stews as well as desserts. Hours will run from 9:30 until 1 in the afternoon and will be on Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday. “I can’t tell you how excited everyone is about shifting everything around so differently to be able to get what it is that they want at a price point that is going to be really, very, very modest,” Lawton explained.
Lawton also said that they are looking into building a bocce court for seniors as well as setting up Zumba classes on Monday nights. She said that they are setting up a small office for seniors at the library that will include a paper shredder and a laptop for accessing the internet.
Chair Kimberley Emberg introduced Town Planner Valerie Massard to go over the policies for street acceptances as well as temporary repairs. Massard said that the money they get from the State for all of the maintenance and repair of public roadways has leveled off over the last decade or so while the cost of labor and materials has increased exponentially. “We are doing our level best to find other resources… we are doing a town-wide study on all of the improvements that are needed,” Massard explained. She said that they were recommending the temporary repair by-law which would need to be approved at Town Meeting. She said that if residents on private ways petition 15 or more people to come to Town Meeting to ask for assistance in necessary repairs, they can do that with her proposal. “It’s kind of a way to engage with each other that’s cooperative, forward-thinking, and aims for a solution and that’s something that we would like to recommend,” she said. Vice Chair Donald Alcombright asked if the town could be incurring liability by taking on repairs that residents could then say were not done up to par. He was assured that it would be unlikely. Massard added that it had to be for public safety as opposed to another use. The Selectmen agreed to the proposed changes.
“Our street acceptance policy right now asks for $100 to be provided, a petition provided, and then it’s kind of missing some information that we would strongly recommend the Board consider adding,” Massard said. She noted that the town is facing a hard situation and they need to take action in order to serve the residents particularly regarding the safety of the roads. She said the residents can choose to opt out based on costs but noted that they would have access to the expertise of the town. The proposal was for 60 percent of the roadway’s owners to come forward and then a public hearing would be held before the Board of Selectmen to determine the validity of the issue. Massard said that a private way such as a cul-de-sac might not qualify as having enough of a public benefit in the eyes of the Road Commissioners. She said that the town may come before the petitioners and tell them that the cost is $300,000, for example, and they may opt out of the road improvements.
Massard pointed out that oftentimes, exploratory work is required to determine what work needs to be done. “We do an estimate, we give that estimate to the residents of what the engineering costs would be, at this point they can opt out or they can say look we want to wait and save up, we’ll do this another year,” Massard said. “Then, if they want to continue, now we’re looking at the engineering design, that cost is going to be bettered out to that neighborhood… we’re going to say here is the engineering design, we think it’s going to cost $300,000, for example, to repair this road to bring it up to safety standards for public travel… you don’t have to continue… to move forward from here, you’re looking at 90 percent of the residents agreeing at this point and 100 percent of anyone that is affected by something like an easement,” she told the Selectmen. Massard also said that since there were only two people working on these issues, they couldn’t handle more than three betterments and/or street acceptances in a year. “Like we said, it’s an overwhelming task for everyone involved and there’s a lot of other moving parts going on in Town Hall that Paul [Kingston Superintendent and Tree Warden Paul Basler] and I are responsible for and we wouldn’t want to mess this up,” she told the Selectmen. The Selectmen agreed to deliberate and vote on the issue during their next meeting.
Massard and Basler also discussed the town’s policy for plowing. Basler said that the previous long-standing policy was that they would plow any road that had three or more homes on it. Basler said they finally have in writing the steps that need to be taken to ensure a road is plowed. “This is bare bones, we’re not asking for nice smooth pavement, lightest trees… we need something more substantial in writing so when residents call me, I can say, here you go and we can move on,” Basler said. “The road’s got to be wide enough so we can get in there; it’s got to have branches cleared high enough so that we can get in there so we’re talking about 14 ft. high, 16 ft. wide that we want to have clear so we can get a plow safely through,” Massard added.
Emberg said that the Special Town Meeting will take place on Tuesday, Oct. 24 at the Intermediate School at 7 p.m.
She also said that the Complete Streets Grant improvements were underway at the intersection of Main St., Evergreen St., Wapping Rd., and Pembroke St. “It will be ongoing for another four to six weeks,” Emberg said. She noted that they don’t currently have any scheduled delays.
Emberg announced that there is an opening on the Capital Planning Committee, as well as several other Boards and Committees.
Emberg said that they received a request from the water department to approve an amendment to an existing contract for relocation of existing cell antennas and the addition of new cellular equipment at the Elm St. water tank. The Selectmen voted in favor of the amendment.
A proclamation was also made during the meeting to declare Sept. 10 as part of National Suicide Prevention Month in Kingston.

The Halifax School Committee met Monday, Aug. 28. Committee Chair Lauren Laws began with a reorganization of the liaisons to various sub-committees including Admin Review and Youth and Recreation. They discussed whether to continue a sub-committee called Curriculum Development. The sub-committee had been started by the School Committee’s previous Chair Summer Schmaling. Current Vice-chair Jessica Page said that the intent behind the sub-committee was to allow for a point person for parents concerned about curriculum. After some discussion, it was decided to absolve the Sub-Committee.
Superintendent Jill Proulx addressed the issue of Silver Lake’s substantially separate programs including preschool. The State pointed out to the District that the preschool currently operates under Silver Lake Regional, despite its being a Grades 7-12 district. The State gave the school a set amount of time to correct the issue. Proulx said that the hope was to have the three towns recognize the preschool as remaining part of Silver Lake Regional via a warrant article at each of the town meetings. There are a handful of other positions that fall under the purview of the region despite not serving Grades 7-12. A member of the Committee asked Proulx about the instrument teacher shared by the towns but was told that that individual was employed part -time by each town individually.
Principal Kayne Beaudry provided an update saying that enrollment was down a bit since the outgoing sixth grade class was quite large. He said, however, that the new kindergarten class was the largest in five years. Beaudry also provided a staffing update saying that there were five new positions. He said that they currently have two open paraprofessional positions as well as an open cafeteria manager position.
Proulx told the Committee that they held staff meetings over the summer that revolved around a LEGO theme and included fun team-building activities. She said that during their welcome back with staff they focused on the strategy for district improvement, what was accomplished last year, and upcoming goals for the new school year. Proulx said that they will continue to monitor student’s social and emotional well-being based on incoming data. She noted that teachers will provide necessary interventions based on that data. Proulx said that the Middle School will continue with their anti-bullying curriculum, Second Step. Proulx said that a new school website will be launched by December of this year that will help make things consistent throughout the District. She said that it would also provide for more ease of accessibility.
One of the District goals, according to Proulx, is to set high expectations for all students while providing the least restrictive environment for all students. “We continue to work on and build our capacity to be more inclusive,” Proulx told the Committee. She said that they implemented a new K-5 literacy program last year. She noted that the plan was to add resources, particularly in the area of science for the upcoming school year. She also noted that they were able to hire a Human Resources Director last year.
Assistant Superintendent Ryan Lynch said that there were nine Halifax teachers who participated in co-teaching professional development over the summer. “All of our administrators from our four elementary schools were there and really talked about how our special education staff and general education staff worked together to support our students and adopt their co-teaching models and schedules for interventions,” Lynch explained. He also expressed thanks to the custodial staff for the work they do over the summer to get ready for the upcoming school year.
There was some discussion among Committee members regarding the social and emotional learning surveys that are distributed to students. One Committee member asked why the school went with the survey from Panorama as opposed to other ones available. Lynch said that the school liked the twice per year approach as it provided an opportunity to check in with students more than once. One Committee member expressed concern with the Panorama survey using vocabulary that might be over the heads of elementary school students including the word “grit.” Proulx said that while the surveys are important, they also rely heavily on feedback from classroom teachers, support staff, and adjustment counselors.
A Committee member asked if after the implementation of a sub-separate classroom this year, the school found the adjustment counselor and behaviorist to be too taxed? She asked if the addition of a second sub-separate classroom might exhaust resources too far? Beaudry explained that they added a part- time position to help alleviate that load.
He said that were they to identify another need, they would adjust accordingly.