The Marion Council on Aging now has tickets available to the final dress rehearsal of Sweeney Todd – School Edition at the Old Rochester Regional High School on April 8 at 7:30 pm. Admission is free, but please bring a non perishable food item for the local pantry.
Due to the popular demand of our trip to the JFK Memorial in Hyannis, we have scheduled another trip for May 4. Space is limited. Call the office for reservations.
Mattapoisett Congregational Church will offer “StoryTelling,” an interactive community event for all ages on Sunday, March 22 from 4:00 to 6:00 pm. Experience Bible stories in a new way and learn more about the art of storytelling. Rev. Bert Marshall will present old and new stories orally and musically passed down from generation to generation. For more information, visit www.gospelofmarkalive.com. The event is free, but donations are welcome. Reservations are recommended. Email: mattcongce@verizon.net or call 508-758-2671 to reserve a seat.
The Old Rochester Regional Junior High School Drama Club will perform The Little Mermaid on Thursday, March 19 at 7:00 pm in the junior high school auditorium. Tickets are $10 for adults and $5 for Students and Seniors; Children 5 and under are FREE. The performance is open to the public. Reserve your tickets by emailing orrjrhighdrama@gmail.com. Please provide your name, number of tickets and type of tickets with your reservation.
Kevin T. Brogioli, Principal of Old Rochester Regional Junior High School, announces the following Students of the Month for February, 2015:
Green Team: Genevieve Grignetti and Ian Friedrichs
Orange Team: Madeline Hartley and Logan King
Blue Team: Hunter Hanks and Hunter Moreau
Red Team: Finneas McCain and Ruth Harris
Special Areas: Jillian Higgins and Edward Dunn
Please join Tabor Academy in welcoming oceanographer and science photographer Chris Linder to campus for our first Science at Work Lecture Series on March 30 at 6:30 pm in the Stroud Academic Center, Tabor Academy, 232 Front Street, Marion. For over a decade, Linder has focused on communicating the stories of scientists working in the Arctic and Antarctic. He has documented dozens of scientific expeditions and has spent over two years of his life exploring the polar regions.
“Polar exploration is at once the cleanest and most isolated way of having a bad time which has been devised,” wrote Apsley Cherry-Garrard of his time with the 1910 Scott expedition to the South Pole. And that’s how most of us still imagine polar expeditions: stolid men with ice riming their beards risking death for scientific knowledge. But polar science has evolved over the past century. Using images from the Adelie penguin chapter of his book Science on Ice and recent work in Siberia, oceanographer-turned-photographer Chris Linder will demonstrate the power of photography to inspire the next generation of scientists.
Mr. Linder will spend the day in classrooms on March 30 with Tabor Academy students and faculty before sharing his work with the local community at 6:30 pm at this free evening lecture.
The Mattapoisett Woman’s Club March 19 meeting starts at noon in Reynard Hall at the Mattapoisett Congregational Church, 27 Church Street.
Don’t Be Late! You won’t want to miss Colby Rottler’s talk on his second-career journey to professional chef and culinary instructor.
Topics on his agenda are: the change in career and the culinary institute he attended; must-have kitchen utensils/gadgets; what makes a dish successful or unsuccessful; how herbs and spices change the texture and taste of food; and answers to questions you’ve wanted to ask, such as does the size of the egg you use affect the recipe.
Did I mention there will be samples to taste? Join us for a light lunch and a delicious talk! For more information, please call Barb at 508-864-5213.
Come join the Buzzards Bay Coalition and the Wareham Land Trust on Wednesday, March 25 from 9:00 – 10:00am for a free morning stroll through the Wildlands Trust’s Rounseville II Preserve on Mary’s Pond Road in Rochester. Walking outdoors is great exercise for your body and mind, and on this walk you’ll also learn about history and ecology along the way.
This walk is part of the “Wednesday Walkabouts” series of free morning walks in March. The other two walks will take place on March 11 at East Over Reservation in Rochester and on March 18 at West Island State Reservation in Fairhaven.
Registration is required for this walk. To RSVP, email bayadventures@savebuzzardsbay.org or call 508-999-6363 ext. 219.
“Wednesday Walkabouts” is part of the Coalition’s Bay Adventures series – programs designed for explorers of all ages to get outside and discover Buzzards Bay. To learn more about all our upcoming Bay Adventures, visit www.savebuzzardsbay.org/bayadventures.
It is not a level service budget per se, if you compare it to last fiscal year, but the FY16 ‘better school budget’ could be considered level service if one takes into account the growing student body at ORR.
With class size already a concern of the Old Rochester Regional School Committee, the projected increase in student population at the high school next year is expected to exceed 800 for the first time, further driving up class sizes and pushing some teachers beyond their contractual maximum student caseload.
“Seven-hundred has always been considered healthy,” said ORRHS Principal Mike Devoll on March 3. “Eight-hundred scares me.”
In the current 2014-2015 school year, according to Devoll, the average class size is 24.9; “extremely large,” as Devoll described it.
Since 2008, student population has increased steadily by 16.2%, while teaching staff has been reduced by 9.9%. The average caseload for teachers is 119, and the high school currently has 32 classes with 28 or more students enrolled.
“Ultimately,” said Devoll, “something has to give.”
The FY16 budget proposes adding two new English teachers for two additional sections of English to keep class sizes, currently at 23.6 students per class, steady at 22.4.
During the last joint meeting of the School Committees, committee members favored Devoll’s proposed addition of two new intervention skill-based math classes to help bridge the gap created by the transition from junior to high school, which has had a negative impact on MCAS scores.
“You can’t run those classes with class sizes the way they are now,” said Devoll.
Also proposed are one additional health class and a 0.4 teaching position for American Sign Language, which has been added to the foreign language curriculum as the school phases out French. Devoll said 41 students who otherwise would not fulfill the two-year foreign language college entry requirement have expressed interest in taking sign language.
In addition, two sections of physical education are included in the budget while specialist courses remain at level service.
The student population at the junior high is predicted to decrease slightly, as long as the committee votes to forego school choice slots a second year in a row. Last year, committee members voted not to offer any school choice slots out of concern for class sizes that climbed to an average of 28.
This budget proposes two new seventh-grade teaching positions and the addition of a new seventh-grade “mini-team” alongside the red and blue teams, to reduce class size to an average of 22.
Superintendent Doug White said lower class sizes in both schools would provide “more airtime” for students and a better chance for teachers to monitor and facilitate students’ progress.
“There’s a big difference between teaching 18 students and … 24, 25 students,” said White.
The only change in the specialist category is an increase in the library position from a 0.6 to a 1.0 position. White said the librarian could be available to more students as she takes on more of a media and technology teaching role.
A 35% increase in the demand for supplies funding also reflects the increased needs of a growing student body.
The cutting back of school choice, said White, has the potential to affect the budget over the next two years because of the loss of revenue to the tune of $120,000. The School Committee has not yet voted on whether or not to offer school choice slots to seventh grade for next year.
Total town assessment with this proposed budget of $17,269,113 – less transportation reimbursement and revenue – is at $13,993,254 and is broken down as follows: Marion – $4,230,738; Mattapoisett – $5,056,460; and Rochester – $4,706,056.
The Old Rochester Regional School Committee met again on March 11, after The Wanderer went to print, in order to vote on school choice.
By Jean Perry
Despite winter weather, senior spring traditions have begun at Tabor Academy. On Monday, March 2, Tabor seniors attended the annual 100 Days Dinner, which marks the beginning of the countdown to graduation.
Although its name tells otherwise, the seniors celebrated the beginning of the end of their time at Tabor with even less than 100 days to go due to the convenience of having this dinner on the 2nd.
The event was one that the seniors had been looking forward to for some time. This annual dinner is a bit different every year, in that it is personalized to each senior class. The students voted earlier in the year on the theme of this dinner, which involved unique decorations and costumes. This year, a luau theme was chosen and the seniors dressed in leis, Hawaiian shirts, sunglasses, flip-flops, and other luau-themed costumes.
Parents decorated the room and played music to suit the theme. The meal was inspired by this theme as well, including many fruity ingredients. More parents volunteered to provide food and raffle prizes. In this raffle, some lucky seniors won gift cards to local establishments and restaurants.
Senior Samantha Benedict especially enjoyed this theme.
“It was nice to get away from all the snow for a little bit, and it got us ready for spring break,” said Benedict.
Class President Caroline Shaunessy is excited that this event “is the first of a bunch of stuff that is going to happen for the seniors.”
Shaunessy found the class dinner to be successful because it helped make the “class closer and more cohesive,” which sets the tone for the remainder of the school year.
The dinner ended with a slideshow created by senior Francesca Ward, with photos of students together throughout their time at Tabor.
In the coming months, seniors will have more rites of passage, such as prom and, of course, graduation. Twenty-eight of the seniors will begin senior projects after they return from break, dedicating much of their school day to a unique personal endeavor that they will work on for the final quarter of school.
Senior breakfast is an event that is new this year and will be another senior tradition. This will be another opportunity after spring break for the seniors to spend time together as a class.
For Gwen McCain, the dinner was, “a great time to reflect on all of the fun we’ve had in the past four years.”
By Julia O’Rourke
With Town Administrator Mike Gagne unable to attend and a light agenda, the March 10 meeting of the Mattapoisett Board of Selectmen lasted all of twelve minutes.
Coming before the board were Bruce Rocha and Jodi Bauer, organizers for the Pilgrim Sands Trail Riders Club, to request use of the Town’s landfill for upcoming events.
Rocha said the club is planning two events in Mattapoisett for May 31 and September 27. He said the May event would bring in about 100 entrants from the surrounding area. The September event will be larger, he said. In cooperation with New England Trail Riders Association, a regional group, the September event might bring in as many as 250 riders and supporters.
“We’ll have an ambulance and police detail at the events,” said Rocha.
Rocha and Bauer also asked if the landfill area could be used for overnight camping on the evening of September 26, since some of the participants will be traveling from as far away as upstate New York.
“Some people will be arriving in travel trailers and motor homes that will be self-contained and we will be there to supervise also,” said Bauer. She anticipates about 20 campers and motor homes.
Selectmen Paul Silva asked that the club check in with Mattapoisett Police Chief Mary Lyons and to work closely with her department. Their requests were approved.
The board also approved requests from Ruth Joliffe to use the public parking area at Town Beach on April 16 between 10:00 am and 1:00 pm, and again on June 13 between 6:00 pm and 11:00 pm for a garden club event and the annual Rotch-Jones-Duff House benefit dinner.
The selectmen also voted to approve the appointment of Marilou Newell as a member to the Council on Aging to a three-year term.
The selectmen also signed a short-term bond request for the Cove Street sewer project in the amount of $250,000, as approved by Town Meeting vote.
The annual cat and dog rabies clinic will be held on March 29 between 10:00 am and noon at the Mattapoisett Fire Station. The fee is $15 per animal. All animals must be properly restrained, with dogs on leashes and cats in carriers. Dog licensing will also be available for $12 for spayed and neutered pets.
The next meeting of the Mattapoisett Board of Selectmen is scheduled for March 24 at 7:00 pm in the Town Hall conference room.
By Marilou Newell
