Ashleigh Wilson, of Mattapoisett, has been placed on the 2018 Fall Semester William Smith CollegeDean’s List while attending Hobart and William Smith Colleges. This honor is given to students whose outstanding academic performance resulted in a grade point average of 3.5 or above. Wilson is the child of Mr. Ross Wilson & Mrs. Michelle Wilson.
The Nasketucket Bird Club will be meeting on Thursday, March 28at 7:00 pm at the Mattapoisett Public Library.
Member Carolyn Longworth will present “From Bad Hotspot to Good Hotspot: Birding at Egypt Lane.” She will give a brief history of Atlas Tack, the Fairhaven superfund site which went from a dumping ground for industrial cyanide and PCBs to a prime bird habitat through cooperative funding by state, local, and federal governments.
Carolyn will show photos of some of the birds – common, endangered, and just plain surprising – that have visited. Some are glimpsed on the way to somewhere else and others stay and raise families. If a rare bird is going to show up in Fairhaven, it will probably be at Egypt Lane.
Note: It is almost the same program Carolyn presented to the Paskamansett group last April with updates on the grebes and other summer 2018 birds.
The meetings, open to the public and handicapped accessible, are held at the Mattapoisett Free Public Library, located at the south door entrance on Barstow Street in Mattapoisett.
Check our website at: massbird.org/Nasketucket/ or email our President Justin Barrett at jmbarrett426@gmail.com
On Saturday, April 6, two dozen Bishop Stang student volunteers will hold the 8th Annual Book Sale to benefit the American Heart Association in memory of Mr. Richard Flynn a former teacher at Stang, and Mr. Joseph Silva a contributor to the Stang chapel and the husband of a current teacher.
The sale is open to the public – all are welcome. It will be held from 8:30 am until 2:00 pm in the school’s cafeteria. Hundreds upon hundreds of gently used books, movies, and cd’s will on sale, all for the price of $1-$2. The money raised will be donated to the American Heart Association’s Southcoast HeartWalk which will take place in May.
Bishop Stang is located at 500 Slocum Road in Dartmouth. Anyone interested in donating books to add to the sale please contact the school at jgolden@bishopstang.org.
The numbers don’t lie, as the saying goes. And the numbers of students enrolling in Mattapoisett’s local schools – Center School and Old Hammondtown School – continues to trend downward. This fact has been discussed at many school committee and other Town board meetings for the last several years.
Bolstered by census numbers and projections developed by studies undertaken by Southeastern Regional Planning and Development District, the population trends for Mattapoisett and the whole of Tri-Town has shown an increase in the number of people nearing or of retirement age and beyond versus younger. On March 13, that decline was again discussed as the Mattapoisett Finance Committee met with Superintendent of Schools Dr. Doug White and local school Principal Rose Bowman to review the fiscal year 2020 school budget.
According to both White and Bowman, in keeping with enrollment projections, they have cut another teaching position from the budget, as has been the practice for the last couple years.
“We have been reducing [by] one classroom teacher and managed the classroom size,” White said.
In their report titled “Actual and Projected Enrollment”, the Center School student population for the 2018-2019 school year stood at 254, with three classes each for grades kindergarten through grade 3. Old Hammondtown School had 191 students for grades 4, 5, and 6, with grade 4 having three classes and grades 5 and 6 with four classes each. The elementary classes averaged 17 students per class.
The projected classroom numbers were virtually the same for the 2019-2020 school year. Center School projections stand at 255 and Old Hammondtown at 191. Grades kindergarten through 3 are planned to have three classes each with an average class size of 18 students. Old Hammondtown, with the staff reduction, will have three classes each for grades 4, 5, and 6, with an average class size of 18.
As for the budget, White discussed contractual increases for teaching staff along with modest administrative upticks. He also said that Old Hammondtown is no longer considered a Title I school; therefore, it is no longer eligible for grants under that program. This will equate to a revenue source shortfall of $18,000, which, he said, “We’ll have to pick-up in the budget.”
Finance Committee Chairman Pat Donoghue asked, “What does the Title I teacher do?” Bowman answered, “Those students are provided support in multiple ways. … For students who need extra support, there are small groups within the classroom,” for which, Bowman said, a paraprofessional provided the assistance.
The budget breakdown listed a line item of $28,858 for a Title I reading tutor and $26,020 for a Title I math tutor.
The costs paid by the Town for older students attending Bristol County Agricultural High School are born out in the local school budget, White said. For the coming school year, that figure is $83,100. An additional cost of $30,000 for transportation was also listed.
The biggest increases were from contractual adjustments with a 15.2-percent increase planned for the superintendent’s office with the addition of a second assistant superintendent for $22,724, deemed by White as “an opportunity to do something different at the central office.” He also indicated that, while that figure is there now, the new position might not come to fruition.
The English and math budgets both impacted by a withdrawal of Title I funding will increase by 27.6 percent and 17.8 percent, respectively, and the special education administration line item went up by 22.9 percent.
When all the numbers shake out, Mattapoisett local schools need an overall increase of 2.98 percent. The FY19 approved budget was $6,994,224; FY20 is proposed at $7,202,580.
Bowman talked about the “Go Math!” program, which she said had been “extremely successful in the children’s ability to comprehend the importance of math.” She said the program gave students a deeper appreciation for the everyday use of math, from shopping at the grocery store to planning a household budget –“lifelong, critical skills,” she said.
On a somewhat related topic, FinCom member Paul Amoruso asked, “What do we do to make sure a kid lives here?” He said he has suspected that grandparents are saying some children live with them, but in reality, they are merely using a local address in order to go to school in Mattapoisett.
White said that when a case is brought to the attention of the school district, a police investigation is conducted, which includes staking out a residence. He said that when a student enrolls in school, the parents are required to provide supporting documentation. White confirmed that, in such cases, if it is proven that a student is not a resident of the town, the family is asked to withdraw the student.
Bowman said, in cases where a family may be moving out of the community after April, students may be allowed to finish the school year in Mattapoisett.
But, even if such cases are uncovered, Donoghue said, “There’s no bump up in the numbers. They are shrinking.”
“I’m very proud of our schools,” said Bowman. “We are very fortunate to have the staff we have, but it’s still a collaborative effort with the parents.” She also said that for the coming school year, no notifications for retirement had been received from the teaching staff.
Town Administrator Michael Gagne told the FinCom members that there are seven more departments awaiting their review as the FY20 budget planning continues ahead of the May Town Meeting.
The next meeting of the Mattapoisett Finance Committee is planned for March 20 at 5:00 pm in the Town Hall conference room.
Mattapoisett Finance Committee
By Marilou Newell
Get an early start on Spring Cleaning and bring your children’s gently used or like-new clothing to the ORRJHS Gymnasium on Saturday, March 30from 9:00 am to 12:00 pm. Clothing will be donated to Gifts to Give, which is a charitable agency that services local families in need. This collection drive is organized by the Tri-Town 8th grade Project 351 Ambassadors: Caitlin Collier, Madeline Dugas, and Sam Williamson. Project 351 seeks to develop the next generation of community-first service leaders through customized service learning, hands-on community-building, and values-based leadership training. Questions or comments? Want to give a monetary donation? Please contact: project351.tritown@gmail.com. Thank you for your support.
It’s never too early to start thinking about the Rochester Memorial Day Boat Race! Here is a great Spring vacation week project.
A seminar will be held Saturday afternoon, April 6, from 1:00 pm to 3:00 pm at the Rochester Fire Station, Hartley Road, for anyone interested in the building of a Mattapoisett River racing boat for use in the Rochester Memorial Day Boat Race. Boats will be on display, plans will be available, race rules and registration forms will be available, and boat builders will be on hand to answer questions.
Buy, sell, or swap: If you have a river racing boat to sell, bring it. If you are
looking for a river racing boat, come and see what’s available.
Raffle items: a plywood river racer, 18 ½ feet, raced once, designed and built by veteran racer Chris Tangney, complete with paddles and life jackets; two carbon fiber paddles, one straight shaft and one bent shaft made by Bill Watling III; handmade blue crocheted afghan, 46 x 40 inches, machine washable made by Cecelia Hall. Raffle tickets are $5.00 each. The winners for the paddles and afghan will be drawn at the Ham & Bean Supper May 25. The winner for the boat will be drawn at the awards program after the race Memorial Day. All proceeds from the raffles will be donated to the Rochester Firefighters Association to cover the expenses of the race.
For further information call Arthur Benner, 508-763-2024 or email: artbenner@comcast.net
Join us as we kick off the Week of the Young Child on April 6from 11:00 am to 1:00 pm in the Old Rochester Regional High School Gymnasium, 135 Marion Road, Mattapoisett with a fun-filled, family and learning event celebrating our youngest learners! This is a wonderful opportunity for families to meet community providers and services offered in a fun and interactive way. All families from the Tri-Towns are invited to attend. Please call the Early Childhood office if you have any questions: 508-748-1863. The Week of the Young Child is an annual celebration hosted by NAEYC to spotlight early learning, young children, their teachers, families, and communities.
As Marion Town Administrator Paul Dawson gave his report after a long March 19 evening of plowing through a packed agenda, he said a project he’s been working on “has been the most difficult project in my career.” He was speaking of the town’s need to find a solution to what has become its curbside trash collection dilemma. While the estimates have yet to be received for outsourcing trash collection, he said it could be as high as $600,000 per year.
Dawson said that, given his impending retirement, it was important to leave the new town administrator with guidance in this matter. He asked and received approval to seek a quote from the firm Weston and Sampson, a company that has been assisting Dawson with solid waste disposal issues. As if that volume of work wasn’t enough, interim Department of Public Works Superintendent Jon Henry was asked to come forward and give the Board of Selectmen his bad trash news.
Henry said that the last operational trash truck blew its engine recently and was now disabled, leaving the Town without a vehicle for trash collection service, forcing the DPW to rent a truck that is costing the town $1,200 a day. On the bright side, he said that a used replacement engine had been found and that all the repair work could be completed by town employees. While it’s not the ideal solution, this stopgap measure would grant the town a little time as it ponders its future in either continuing to offer its own curbside collection or outsourcing.
The selectmen approved Henry’s request for $6,200 to repair the motor with money from the Reserve Fund and to seek final approval from the Finance Committee.
Selectman John Waterman said half joking, “Now when I have a bad dream it’s about trash trucks.”
Staying on the theme of all things DPW, Dawson said that the search for a new superintendent has produced two finalists who were not named.
Dawson also reported that the RFP for a comprehensive wastewater management plan was released, as well as the RFP for trash outsourcing.
Dawson also reviewed the 66 articles that now populate a draft of the Annual Town Meeting warrant. One of the big-ticket items is in Article 22 – $325,000 for a new ambulance. The selectmen agreed that this, like other capital improvement items, had been “kicked down the road” to the point that each year made it more expensive to get things accomplished. Waterman also referred to water main issues in this vein.
Dawson said a Special Town Meeting would also take place on the evening of the Annual Town Meeting at 7:30 pm. That meeting will address the movement of $63,749 from free cash to the DPW for snow and ice removal, but mostly to offset costs associated with broken down trash trucks.
Also during the meeting, the selectmen met with Bernard Lynch who has been spearheading their search for Dawson’s replacement. Lynch said that a field of 37 applications has come down to four. Of those, two had withdrawn, leaving two. Those candidates are Lisa Green, Whitman’s assistant town administrator, and Adam Wilson, Aquinnah’s town administrator.
Lynch shared Green’s background that includes not only her current position, but also her former position as a selectman in Whitman, the chief procurement officer for Whitman, and grant writer, as her experience with budget planning and personnel matters. Green also holds a law degree, Lynch said.
Regarding Wilson’s background, Lynch said he was currently in the role of town administrator to a small but complex community that requires the handling and understanding of federal lands and Native American rights. Lynch said that Wilson has had to work with both seasonal and year-round residents and visitors, as well as environmental issues. Wilson holds a masters degree in public administration and has worked in Washington, D.C. as an aid.
The selectmen planned a meeting to interview the candidates on Monday, March 25, at 5:30 pm in the Town House conference room.
Earlier in the evening, the selectmen met with Finance Committee Chairman Peter Winters and FinCom member Margie Baldwin. The committee members discussed the issue of reserve funds and whether or not those funds should be utilized to balance out employment contractual agreements or for emergencies to pay for unexpected expenses.
There was a fair amount of discussion as the selectmen were not in agreement with Winters and Baldwin who believed the account should be used for emergencies versus adding employees to the payroll. This conversation steamrolled into a wide range of other topics, such as Dawson’s statement that the DPW needed at least two more staff members to handle the overload in the office.
Coming back to the issue of how the Reserve Fund should be used and for what, Winters said, “If you move it for contract negotiations you can only use it that way … it decreases the flexibility.”
Finance Director Judy Mooney said, “Reserve funds are for unforeseen expenses. Most towns do an article for contract negotiations or put it in the budget of specific departments.”
Looking back over the past five years, Mooney found that the town averaged a sum of $61,000 for contracts and $57,000 for unexpected expenses.
A bit of frustration flared as Dawson defended the selectmen, saying that the budget was balanced and, furthermore: “the Finance Committee is an advisory board,” not responsible for running the entire town.
Winters pointed out that between the FY20 budget and anticipated capital improvements, a whopping $41,000,000 is what taxpayers would be looking at. Waterman tempered that statement, saying, “Those are two very different budgets.”
The next regularly scheduled meeting of the Marion Board of Selectmen will be on April 2 at 7:00 pm at the Marion Town House.
Marion Board of Selectmen
By Marilou Newell
As the Tri-Town libraries of Marion, Mattapoisett, and Rochester continue their “One Book, Tri-Town” program, no aspect of the selected book’s theme – the Great Depression era – is left out, and that includes the music of the times.
On March 17, the Friends of the Rochester Library hosted an afternoon of music, an old fashioned sing-along, featuring songs from the 1930s. Members of the New Bedford Sea Chanty Chorus and Chuck Smiler provided the vocals, and accompanying the singers were Rochester Library Director Gail Roberts on piano, Woody Underwood on his fiddle and guitar, Pauli Gardner on her double base she calls “Virginia”, Jack Dean on the ukulele, Robert Constantine on guitar, Louise Anthony on violin, and Gary Johnson who sat in playing his autoharp.
The group sang and played, filling the Mattapoisett Public Library conference room with harmonious sounds and encouraging words for the audience to sing along and not be shy.
The selected pieces spanned familiar tunes such as On Top Of Old Smokey, Skip To My Lou, and Home On The Range, but other songs spoke to the pain experienced during the difficult years of the Great Depression. Chief among them were the lyrics of Woody Guthrie’s Brother Can You Spare A Dime, and what Roberts called “that socialist song” – This Land Is Your Land – also written by Guthrie.
And then there was the song Keep On The Sunny Side. Written in 1899 and popularized by the famous musical family The Carters in 1928, the song most assuredly helped the struggling throngs during mass migrations from the Dust Bowl to the land of plenty, California.
Roberts briefly noted that the father and son team Charles and Alan Lomax was singularly responsible for ensuring that many of the songs of the American folk music genre weren’t lost forever.
Charles Lomax was a talented man for all seasons. He studied anthropology and blended that with his deep understanding and appreciation for music. He was at different times in his heydays a disc jockey, singer, talent scout, filmmaker, and producer for all media outlets, including TV. He inspired a deep musical appreciation in his son. It’s fitting that the senior Lomax has been called an “ethnomusicologist.”
The Lomaxes traveled the back roads and byways of the U.S. carrying with them a 500-pound recording device, which was used to capture all types of indigenous music from Appalachian scores to the soulful sounds of the Delta. The Lomaxes believed it was critical to record these sounds so unique to the country; music that spoke to the masses because they were the experiences of the people told through words and music.
Charles Lomax, through his education and in-field pursuits, believed that folk music and dance were used as survival strategies that evolved as humans progressed through experimentation and adaption; that these forms of expression exposed and strengthened the human spirit. Thanks to his efforts, thousands of songs, artists, dances, and other cultural endeavors are permanently recorded, not lost to the dust of time.
As the folks in the library worked their way through nearly two-dozen songs, it didn’t matter if one misspoke a word or hit the wrong note or merely sat back and took in the event. It was the coming together of people to share and explore the richness of lyrics and musical scores as a reminder: we are all the same, no matter where we come from or what our belief systems may be. As humans, our music unites us, lifts us up in times of need, speaks for us when we may not be able to utter a single sound on our own, or simply allows us to be joyful and at peace.
The next event planned for the “One Book, Tri-Town” program is scheduled for 6:00 pm on Wednesday, March 20, with the screening of “Pollock”, a movie about the abstract artist Jackson Pollack, in the Mattapoisett Public Library. That event will be followed by textile conservator Kate Tartleton on Tuesday, April 9, at 6:30 pm at the Plumb Library in Rochester to discuss work recently completed on the Purrington Panorama.
The “One Book, Tri-Town” program is a collaborative effort supported in part by grants from the Marion, Mattapoisett, and Rochester Cultural Councils.
By Marilou Newell
A year after Marc Bourgeois won the 100 breaststroke for Old Rochester Regional (ORR) boys swimming at the 2017-18 Division 2 State Championships, the Bulldogs have themselves another state champion.
Jacob Cuoco, only a sophomore, became the state champion in the 100 butterfly after powering his way to a 50.96-second finish. Cuoco narrowly edged out Grant Beebe of Nantucket, who swam the 100 butterfly in 51.02 seconds. The Nantucket sophomore had beaten Cuoco in their previous matchup at South Sectionals. Cuoco finished the heat in 51.86 seconds, narrowly losing to Beebe, who finished up in 51.47 seconds.
But Cuoco was able to make the jump from one meet to the next to earn himself his first state title. As much as he put in the extra work throughout the course of the season, there wasn’t anything different he did physically or in terms of his preparation heading into the final meet of the year. At least, nothing physically changed for Cuoco.
The sophomore did make a slight change to his mental approach heading into the Div. 2 State Championships. He wasn’t thinking about winning or even finishing in the top-10. Cuoco didn’t place his focus on beating Beebe in the 100 butterfly either. All he was looking to do was stay under 51 seconds in the event.
“I was just like, ‘I won’t care about the placement at all. All I care about is getting under a 51.’ And that’s what I did,” Cuoco said. “When I finished, I didn’t realize I’d won. I asked my timer, ‘Wait, did I win?’ He said, ‘I think so.’ and looked at the board and said ‘Yeah, dude. You won.’ I was really, really surprised.”
Cuoco took the approach knowing full well the race would be tight and that he couldn’t afford to give up an inch. If he got caught up in what his competitors were doing, then he’d be left in their wake. Given the top-six finishers in the 100 butterfly all clocking within 1.81, his line of thinking proved true.
“We were grouped so closely together so I figured it could go any way,” Cuoco said. “None of us were really ahead of each other. We were milliseconds apart. So I wasn’t focused on placement as much because I could have been all over the place. I was just focusing on dropping my time.”
Cuoco also competed in three relay events for ORR at the Div. 2 State Championships, securing two top-10 finishes. Both the 200 free relay (1:34.31) and the 400 free relay (3:28.94) came in 10th place. Cuoco also swam a leg for the 13th place for the 200 medley relay team that finished in 1:46.61.
For a litany of reasons, Cuoco has a bright future ahead of him. One reason among them: he still has two years of high school ahead of him.
“He’s a sophomore: he’s 16 years old, and he’s not done growing,” ORR swimming coach Mitch Suzan said. “As he gets bigger and stronger, he’s only going to be more powerful in the pool.”
Old Rochester Regional graduate class of 2017 Ryan Beattybuilt on his freshman season with the University of New England’s basketball team. He averaged 9.6 points per game, shot 38.4 percent from the floor, and averaged 3.3 rebounds per game throughout 2018-19 with the Nor’easters. Beatty played in all 26 of the University of New England’s 26 games, starting in 16.
Boston College Basketball and Tabor Academy alum Chris Herren, Jr. saw the 2018-19 finish in the first round of the ACC Tournament with an 80-70 loss to Pitt. Herren was one of two Eagles to play in all 31 of the team’s games throughout the year. He made eight starts and averaged 15.5 minutes per game. The freshman shot 35.9 percent from the floor, 32.1 percent from deep, averaging 4.2 points per game at the Division I level.
High School Sports Update
By Nick Friar