The Silver Lake Regional School Committee met on Thursday, April 10. Superintendent Jill Proulx introduced the results from various surveys taken. This past winter, students took the SAEBER (Social, Academic, and Emotional Behavior Risk) screener. The level of risk was assessed for each school for Grades K-6. Only three percent of students across Kingston, Plympton, and Halifax were deemed high risk. Plympton had the lowest percentage of students in the “some risk” category at just 9 percent while Kingston and Halifax ranged between 13 and 18 percent. The vast majority of students in Grades K-6 across the three towns fell into the low risk category.
A separate survey was given for students in Grades 7-12, faculty and staff, and families as part of the DESE Tiered Focus Monitoring program. Some key takeaways included that 92 percent of students felt welcome to participate in student activities and that students would like to see new activities/sports offered including dance team, golf, and ping pong.
A presentation was given on student performance through the middle of the year. For English/Language Arts (ELA) students meeting or exceeding grade level expectations in Kingston is 42 percent, in Halifax it is 55 percent, and at the Dennett it is 53 percent. The district-wide goal is to reach 70 percent. For math, 48 percent of Kingston, 55 percent of Halifax, and 56 percent of Dennett students are meeting or exceeding expectations. For science, 52 percent of Kingston students, 60 percent of Halifax students, and 63 percent of Dennett students were meeting or exceeding expectations.
Results from both MCAS and STAR testing for Grades 7 and 8 were also provided. Comparing last year’s MCAS scores to this year’s STAR, the number of students meeting or exceeding expectations for seventh grade is 22 percent higher than last year. It is 18 percent higher for eighth grade. They also reviewed performance for Grades 9 and 10. For reading, 64 percent of ninth graders are meeting or exceeding expectations while 50 percent are for tenth grade. It was stated, however, that the AP Seminar students were not included in the tenth-grade scores.
Chair Gordon Laws said, “Tonight’s presentation represents a lot of progress in my view on a number of levels. Not just from a standpoint of generally good improvements, but from a process standpoint as well. Several years ago, when I started on the School Committee, we couldn’t have a discussion on looking at grade level assessments or pre-assessments other than MCAS and we couldn’t relate whether those pre-assessments were predictive or correlated or related in any way to how MCAS looks. The fact that we are able to do this now… and have data-driven discussion, is really, really good progress.”
While Committee member Jason Fraser was unable to attend in person, he did pass along a Legislative Agent’s update. In it, he said that the House Ways and Means budget was set to be released the following week. Fraser said that significant increases to education appear unlikely but noted that the MASC (Massachusetts Association of School Committees) was still advocating for key measures. Amongst those is a $200 per pupil funding increment. They are also advocating for raising the state reimbursement rate for extraordinary special education costs to 90 percent.
Director of Finance and Operations Sarah Hickey told the Committee, “The Governor’s budget comes out in January – there’s initial amounts for Chapter 70 funding and then that goes to the House. The initial regional transportation reimbursement from the State from the Governor was $795,726; the House voted to fund regional transportation at 100 percent which would give Silver Lake $1,151,117 if that passes the Senate and then the Conference Committee for the final budget.” She noted that there is a potential for Silver Lake to receive $355k from the state and asked the Committee to consider additional staffing for the business office should that happen. Laws said that while it was worthy for debate, it was not on the agenda for further discussion and asked that they table it for a future meeting.
Regarding the School Resource Officer (SRO) at the Middle School, Proulx said, “We had received a request from the Chief for the School Committee to consider funding the SRO at 0.8 FTE for the upcoming school year out of our budget.” She said that the Town Administrator asked if the schools could pick up the cost for full-time benefits as it was not included in their budget. This would be on top of the $80k already allocated for the SRO. Proulx said it would be an increase of nearly $19,000.
The Committee was also told that the position likely wouldn’t be filled until December/January. Hickey said that she had asked their attorney to put together an inter-municipal agreement so they could have something in writing. She noted that what was agreed upon previously was that Silver Lake Regional would pay $80k at an expense of $10k per month. “So then it was explained that the patrolman would have to be hired and would have to go through the Academy and wouldn’t be able to start at the schools until later in the year.” She said that this would mean that the portion of the $80k that wouldn’t be spent on salary, would be used, instead, to pay the benefits.
Committee member Jeanne Coleman called it a bait and switch. Laws said, “I felt like we took a lot of heat from the towns and particularly that town about the state of our budget deliberations… and took a lot of grief over being able to project what our costs are and now that we locked them, we are being asked to readjust them and it doesn’t feel great.” Coleman said that part of the agreement was the understanding that they would not be paying for the benefits. She did acknowledge that the Police Department had asked for an override for their budget that the Selectmen did not vote to support, leaving them to have to find ways to trim their budget. Later in the meeting, Hickey clarified saying that she heard from the Kingston Town Manager and “the cost that he is looking for Silver Lake to pay for salary and benefits is $66,667… which fits within the $80k.”
Principal Michaela Gill provided an update. She said that she was “super excited” to announce that the school had received a $47,000 grant to help create more biomedical pathways. Gill also announced that student Olivia Silveira won a Best in Show award and her artwork will be displayed in Congress in Washington D.C. Gill said there were many staff members, herself included, already wanting to buy her artwork.
Gill also told the Committee that they had a proposal from the Athletic Director to establish a summer strength and conditioning program for student athletes that would be supervised by the trainer. Gill said it would run for six weeks, three days a week. The Committee voted in favor of the proposal.
The Committee also voted on whether to continue with last year’s withdrawal from school choice. The Committee cited both financial and space concerns in their vote to once again withdraw.

The Kingston Board of Selectmen met on April 1. They discussed the warrant for the upcoming Town Meeting.
Town Administrator Keith Hickey said that in the warrant there is a request for a Proposition 2 ½ override of $653,000. He told the Selectmen that what they were viewing that night was his attempt to provide alternatives to get the town below the threshold for a Prop 2 ½ override. “The two warrant articles I’m suggesting is not including a Proposition 2 ½ override for $575,000 for the Police Department and also removing the warrant article to fund the independent school operational out of $100,000. If those two articles are removed from the warrant, you’ll have an excess property tax levy of $21,656… not a lot of money.”
Selectman Eric Crone said that as far as the Selectmen were concerned the $575k override was already a no vote. He said that the idea to reduce the transferred employment liability reserve fund from $150k to $100k was favorable. Hickey said that the reduction would not have an effect on excess levy capacity, but rather on free cash. Hickey also suggested reducing the OPEB (Other Post-Employment Benefits) from $100k to $50k. There would also be a transfer of $100k from stabilization. Hickey noted that they were not putting the town into any type of financial risk with these changes. Finally, Hickey told the Selectmen that the Finance Committee voted to restore the $25,000 book budget that had been previously cut from the library.
Hickey said that there is just over $3 million in the Stabilization Fund and noted that it has been years since they’ve had to access that and called it a last resort.
The Selectmen also discussed the school budget. Selectman Kimberley Emberg said, “I think we need to dig in deeper with this and I know the School Committees are doing as much as they can with the State… trying to adjust funding formulas and things. My understanding is we do have audits done, both at the town level and the school level already. I know Whitman-Hanson did a separate audit and found some interesting findings. My hope was that we would do an audit prior to having to ask for an override.” She said that she didn’t believe the town to have $100k, however, to do that. Crone recommended that they talk to the other two Silver Lake towns to look at everything. “And I want to point out, I’m not bashing any school committees because I think that everyone is trying to get a hold of this,” Crone said. He noted that they have a lot of work to do before next year’s budget “in preparation for the fiscal cliff that we’re going to see next year.”
The Selectmen also heard several FY26 capital requests. These included $25,000 to repair or replace folding wall panels at the COA, $51k to replace computer servers, $50k for traffic safety improvements, $233k to replace three police vehicles, and $167k to replace police tasers. There is also $82k to replace a lift at the Highway Department, $50k to replace the KES drain lines for the restrooms, and $50k to replace driveway and other asphalt surfaces at KIS. The top five bicycle and pedestrian safety projects were discussed as there is a grant available to cover construction. The town would need to pay for engineering to secure said grants. Included in that engineering cost is $151k for one project, $160k for another, and finally $49,500 for the most pressing of all the projects.
Town Planner Valerie Massard presented to the Selectmen. She said that they have been working with Second Horizon Capital on the redevelopment of the Kingston Collection. She said that in addition to purchasing the mall, they’ve also purchased the Macy’s building. “In order to generate traffic and get people on the ground at the mall, is a gas station,” Massard said. She said that there was some unused Fire Department land that could be named surplus property and redistributed toward the gas station project. Massard said they fully support the article and hope that the Selectmen will as well.
Massard added, “All of us are familiar as residents if you’re driving on Kingston Collection way and away from Plymouth and toward the highway, there’s a place where you’re coming around the bend on your way to the signals… and you can’t see them, there’s a blind hill that keeps you from seeing them and part of those negotiations do include the taking back of that hill to improve sight lines so it’s a safety consideration that the town gets as a win-win.” Selectman Kimberely Emberg said, “commercial business is good for everybody.”
The Sewer Commissioner presented before the Selectmen requesting their support for an FY26 warrant article funding request. She said, “In the late 1990s the town embraced the role of environmental steward of our local waterways with the introduction of our municipal sewer system… with the introduction… our local waterways… are being utilized to their fullest extent.” She went on to talk about the fishing and recreation opportunities that have come as a result as well as the clean drinking water. She said that the general fund has also seen an increased tax base due to increased property values.
She read from a 1998 document that discussed two different phases including a leaching field. “The town is currently paying one-third of the cost of phase one… the town is not paying one-third of the cost of the planned phase two as described in the notification from 1997. At this time, we are asking for the town to pay one-third of the cost of the leaching field project… the estimated final cost of the leaching field project as it was part of the adopted plan from 1997; the estimated final cost of the leaching field project is $8,200,000 including interest.” The town’s share would be just under $3 million. She spoke about needing to set up a debt schedule that would commit the town for twenty years.
Crone said that the Board would be voting their support for or against the article and speaking on the Town Meeting floor either supporting it or not. Hickey said, “The impression I’ve been left with… the agreement that was made twenty-five years ago where it said initially that the sewer commissioners would set the percentage of debt that was going to be shared by the general fund and later modified a little bit did not bind future town meetings; it’s been going on because it’s been accepted practice.”
Crone reminded everyone that Town Meeting will be held on April 26 and the Town Election on May 17. It was also said that Gray’s Beach stickers went for sale and can be found on the Recreation Department website. Out of town stickers sold out in a mere 15 minutes.