Sixth graders at Old Hammondtown School have come up with a unique way of raising money for a cause – the result of learning about the precious commodity of water, both in Mattapoisett and in the rest of the world.

Funded by a $3,000 grant provided by the Marion League of Women Voters, sixth grade students have been busy with a curriculum designed to raise awareness of global society’s growing shortage of water and how access to clean water is essential to life.

Assistant Superintendent Elise Frangos introduced Social Science teacher Sara Jacobson to the Mattapoisett School Committee on April 13, accompanied by an entire sixth grade class of students making a presentation that led up to a request to hold a fundraiser so they could fund the construction of a water well in East Africa.

The students learned about water conservation and management and how some villagers live without a nearby source of clean water, said Jacobson.

“The kids started to notice connections” between Mattapoisett water concerns and regions of Africa, said Jacobson. “So the project took on a life of its own.… The kids were very, very taken by the stories from East Africa, especially how education is impacted by a lack of water in Africa.”

The students lined up, each having their turn to endorse their fundraising idea of selling personally-designed stainless steel water bottles to raise $1,000, which is enough to fund the construction of a water well in an African village.

“We don’t know how important water is to us because we usually take it for granted,” said one student.

Other parts of the world aren’t so lucky, said another. One by one, the students drove their point home before a committee more than willing to support the effort.

“Did you wash your hands today? I hope so…” said one student. “Did you drink some water [today]?”

The students were concerned for other kids in villages where water is scarce, where people must walk miles every day to find drinking water, even keeping some girls and boys out of school in order to tend to the family’s needs for clean water.

The class will vote on the design for the bottles, and they hope to sell 100 of them at $10 each.

The committee approved the fundraiser without hesitation, and unanimously agreed they were proud of the students for their altruism.

Also during the meeting, there will not be any further school choice slots offered in Mattapoisett Public Schools next year after the committee voted 4-1 that class sizes were too much of a concern to invite more students from other districts.

School Committee member James Muse maintained that the benefits of the school choice program outweighed the negatives that Chairman James Higgins emphasized in his speech to the committee against school choice.

Higgins said factors such as special needs students coming into the district and taking resources away from Mattapoisett students were a concern, while Muse argued that adding two additional students would not be a burden to the staff and the program offers diversity among the student body.

The committee had been hoping to add an additional kindergarten teacher to allow for four smaller classes, but the Finance Committee and town administrator denied the request in the Fiscal Year 2016 draft budget, leaving little room for additional students. Muse suggested adding two slots to the first grade instead of kindergarten.

School Committee member Patrick LeClair suggested taking a year off from offering new slots to “take a breather” and assess the school resources for next year.

Also during the meeting, the committee approved the final FY16 budget totaling $6,385,751 – up 2.9 percent from FY15.

The committee also approved the new library/media curriculum as presented by the librarians at Center School and Old Hammondtown School.

The next meeting of the Mattapoisett School Committee is scheduled for May 18 at 7:00 pm at Center School.

By Jean Perry

On April 13, the Mattapoisett Conservation Commission found itself facing a conference room packed with residents gathered to hear the details for another private pier – this time at Aucoot Cove.

Represented by David Davignon of N. Douglas Schneider & Associates, Jay and Julie Duker of 112 Aucoot Road applied to construct a residential pier facility to provide access to Aucoot Cove and Buzzards Bay for small vessel usage such as kayaks, canoes, and skiffs.

Davignon outlined the size of the pier, materials to be used, construction methodologies, and associated wetland considerations for the commission and the public that filled nearly every available seat in the Town Hall conference room.

Davignon said the pier would be 4-feet wide and 161-feet long, spanning a barrier beach and eelgrass beds. He said a study conducted several years ago found eelgrass to be sparse in the area the pier is proposed to cross with decking materials. The location of the pier was determined from soundings made to map water depths along the Dukers’ beachfront during various tides. The pier location, as noted, ends at a deep-water pool.

He also said the Natural Heritage & Endangered Species Program commented that construction may not take place between June 1 and October 15, and that the Massachusetts Division of Marine Fisheries, Mattapoisett’s harbormaster, and the shellfish officer have yet to comment on the matter. The Dukers have received a DEP file number, Davignon said, and are awaiting notifications from the Army Corps of Engineers and Massachusetts Public Waterfront Act, aka Chapter 91, for permits previously requested.

Chairman Bob Rogers said, “Well, there are a lot of different issues on this one.” He said that an updated eelgrass study would be required and the pier needed to be delineated so that the commission members could visit the site and see for themselves the impact the pier may have on what was described as a coastal beach, coastal dune, and barrier beach by Rogers.

The audience was given the opportunity to give voice to their concerns. First up was Richard Cederberg, 108 Aucoot Road. He said he wasn’t for or against the pier, but in a tone geared to make his point quite clear, he said, “I brought pictures … I’m going to show you what that area looked like at nine o’clock this morning.” He went on to say that winter storms have caused most of the beach along Dukers’ frontage to disappear, and a breach in the barrier beach has allowed a salt pond to become situated in the area where heavy construction equipment was proposed to traverse for purposes of moving pier and decking materials.

“I tried to walk out there this morning and my feet sunk,” Cederberg said. “The land has changed dramatically over the winter!”

Davignon said that when the Dukers received an earlier permit to provide beach nourishment to their waterfront property, a permit gave them the right to repair the breach. Rogers disagreed with that interpretation of the conditions approved by the Conservation Commission, saying “We have a prohibition for fill.”

Cederberg was also vocal over the use of construction mats used to protect areas crossed by heavy moving vehicles. ‘Tat’ Tarrant of T. A. Tarrant Construction was present to describe how his crews would need to build the pier from both the landside and waterside of the property. He assured the commission and Cederberg that the mats work and cited a project at Tabor Academy in Marion where mats were used to protect marshlands.

Brad Hathaway, a long-time Aucoot Cove resident and abutter to the Dukers’ property said, “We have always enjoyed the scenic views north that the pier is going to block.” He questioned when the rights of the public to enjoy recreational spaces outweighed the rights of a single owner, calling the rights of the public “far more important than a single landowner.”

Also speaking up, not so much against a pier but the cutting off of views and unimpeded water access, were Mr. and Mrs. Tom Richardson, also abutters.

Hathaway wanted to know if a wetlands bylaw would help protect the public rights, to which Rogers reminded him, “We are looking at this project under the Wetlands Protection Act and not any bylaws.”

The application hearing was continued until April 27 to give Davignon time to prepare additional reports and to delineate the pier’s location for the commission’s site visit.

Also coming before the commission was Merry McCleary, 6 Main Street, to construct an addition and garage, new driveway, and curb cut on Main Street. McCleary received a Negative 3 determination and will now go before the ZBA for a special permit.

The Buzzards Bay Coalition received a Negative 3 determination for the placement of wooden planks along a new walking trail near the Nasketucket Bay State Reservation; and Matthew and Kaitlin Keegan, 41 Aucoot Road, received a Certificate of Compliance.

The commission members voted by majority to send their proposed wetlands bylaw to Town Meeting after receiving guidance from town counsel for the writing of the article for the warrant. There will also be a public hearing at the next scheduled Conservation Commission meeting on April 23 at 6:30 pm in the Town Hall conference room on the draft that will appear on the warrant.

By Marilou Newell