One place where the Old Rochester Regional District’s elementary schools still feel a bit of an advantage over secondary and middle grades is the little kids got a bigger piece of the 2020-21 school year full-time and in person.

            Asked to address anxiety during the February 3 meeting of the Rochester School Committee, Memorial School Principal Derek Medeiros pointed to the advantage of being first to transition the youngest learners back to in-person learning.

            A key piece of meeting the needs of students has been the district-wide application of the “responsive classroom.” Traditionally emphasized over the opening six weeks of the academic year, this year the emphasis has lasted 8-10 weeks.

            “And that’s okay,” said Medeiros. “If you don’t establish those routines and structures, then learning doesn’t take place the way we know it (should). … Obviously, we have a phenomenal school here so we’re very lucky, but we are seeing ourselves trend in the right direction.”

            “I think our capacity to differentiate our social-emotional support in this building is immense,” said RMS Vice Principal Charlie West. “We have the ability with our team, as well as the teachers that we have who’ve been using responsive classroom … can come to those social workers, to administrators, and troubleshoot situations and really work to get those kids engaged and included and also always have our antenna up and know when we see kids that might be struggling a little more with obviously behaviors and anxiety or other emotional needs.

            “Having a mechanism in place to be able to work with them and support them has been huge.”

            Routines play a major role in establishing a sense of expectation for the students and allow them to focus on learning.

            “I see that this year more than ever, especially with the younger population. When they can come in and know it’s a predictable environment that they know what they need to be doing, they’re thriving,” said West, who has been covering classrooms due to the lack of available qualified substitute teachers. “Jumping into Kindergarten, it’s amazing to see how responsive they are knowing how predictable things can be and knowing how they’re in a safe learning environment.”

            School Committee member Jason Chisholm asked if the responsive classroom provides benefits for teachers.

            “They don’t buy in and do that great work around the classroom … unless they believe in it themselves,” said Medeiros. “We try to promote that through (monthly) personal community learning meetings.” Medeiros said that staff meetings help teachers compare notes and discuss how to make the responsive classroom work well with everyone.

            A key piece in the RMS School Improvement Program, said Medeiros, is to train 100 percent of the staff in the responsive classroom, a four-day course for licensed educators. “We’re right on track to stay with that goal,” he said.

            School Committee Vice Chairperson Anne Fernandes asked Medeiros how Rochester Memorial’s progress in the five competencies of social-emotional learning is monitored. Medeiros explained a four-point grading scale and how it applies to everyday scenarios of family interaction.

            ORR Superintendent of Schools Mike Nelson acknowledged that the pandemic has somewhat slowed the progress of monitoring social-emotional learning overall. “We’re getting to the point where we’re using a different Panorama tool,” he said, alluding to administration’s support of teachers through the Kaleidoscope feedback tool, along with report cards and the Panorama Survey tool used for parental and student feedback.

            Director of Student Services Craig Davidson referred to a family survey conducted earlier in the 2021-22 school year that tied into ORR’s Accelerated Road Map. Davidson said the survey monitoring sense of belonging and focus drew positive results.

            Fernandes’ questions during the February 3 meeting yielded a comprehensive explanation of ORR’s various student surveys. Some of the surveys are held anonymously and some designed to enter student information. One done with the Kaleidoscope tool, explained Nelson, keyed on a certain classroom. From there, information gathered by the Social Emotional Learning team customizes work for individual students.

            “Charlie and I always feel like social-emotional learning is definitely one of the key strengths for us here at Rochester Memorial, and I think there’s a couple of different reasons for that. Number one is the main reason … our continued belief and approach around our responsive classroom,” said Medeiros.

            Medeiros says RMS has benefitted from the ORR District’s support, providing all new staff a platform to learn about the responsive classroom. “We’re showing to our staff that we believe in that evidence-based approach,” he said, noting that the emphasis extends beyond school grounds to families via the RMS newsletter and access resources on the school’s website.

            RMS students are learning that cooperation leads to responsible decision making, said Medeiros. “You don’t want to overwhelm students especially at the elementary level so we don’t want to make this too in-depth … you really want to merge them together.”

            Assistant Superintendent of Teaching and Learning Dr. Jannell Pearson-Campbell summarized the results of the recently completed Tiered Focus Monitoring Audit of ORR schools, which looks at the implementation of English language learners, Special Education and Civil Rights regulations. The state Department of Elementary and Secondary Education (DESE) examines relevant documentation and student records, interviews staff members, and solicits parent/guardian feedback.

            Nelson compared the audit to the special-education report made earlier in the school year by Davidson. System-wide, said Nelson, the six-school ORR District has 12 students receiving English Language Learner supports, including nine ELL students, three of those being RMS students.

            At the committee’s January 18 meeting, Davidson thanked Special Education Secretary Kim Amato for her work in helping Rochester Memorial report to DESE.

            “Having lived through that process a number of times, I just want to echo what Mr. Davidson said about all the hard work from each and every individual, from Central Office to our own office to classroom teachers, the whole nine yards,” said Fernandes. “It’s quite a process, very deliberate, painstaking and you guys did a great job. Thank you for everything.”

            ORR was to report back to DESE by February 14 for a final stamp of approval.

            The committee voted to approve the acceptance of two $500 donations from the Rochester Cultural Council, one to support RMS sixth-graders’ virtual lunar-robot project, and the other to support a financial literacy fair sponsored by MoneyWise.

            In crediting the procurement of that support to Alison Bosma and teacher Tracey Forns, Medeiros explained that the sixth graders’ virtual lunar robot model must stand up on the moon, take a soil sample, and store and move it to another location 100 yards away. “Pretty cool project,” he said. “The students were able to build it in (two dimensions) and then 3D on that (computer) system.”

            The $500 grant sponsors the students’ access to the computer program and entrance into a NASA-sponsored contest. “They also got to make it out of LEGO’s and actually build it out of LEGO’s first, then transfer it onto paper, then transfer it to the CAD system,” said Medeiros. “A lot of challenges to it. They had to make sure the temperature was right … pretty impressive work by our scientists.”

            Nelson updated the committee on Covid-19. As of February 3, RMS had only four active cases. The state mask mandate is in place until at least February 28, and contact tracing will be discontinued in schools.

            The committee began its February 3 public meeting to enter executive session including Select Board Chair Brad Morse. The committee and Morse emerged to public session to vote their approval of a Memorandum of Agreement to go into effect upon the approval and signatures of the teacher’s association.

            On February 3, Nelson was pleased to announce that Diana Russo of the ORR Central Office is the recipient of the 2021 Massachusetts COSCAP Administrative Assistant of the Year Award. In 24-plus years on the job, Russo has supported three different superintendents and five school committees. “Diana is the ultimate professional,” said Nelson. “She’s trustworthy, and you will never find anyone with more integrity than her.”

            In other business, Medeiros reported to the committee that the annual Grade 4 concert was held and recorded on ORCTV, and a virtual welcome to new students was scheduled for February 9.

            In committee reports, Chisholm said that the Joint School Committee voted to accept an amended version of the 2022-23 school calendar. Fernandes told the committee that, when the Joint School Committee voted to adopt gender-neutral pronouns in policy language, she cast the lone dissenting vote. “I would have preferred we use common nouns,” she said. Kate Duggan reported on a “book walk” for Black History Month in partnership with Tri Town Against Racism.

            In his January 18 report, Assistant Superintendent of Finance and Operations Howie Barber told the committee that $626,000 remained in the unencumbered funds in the FY22 operating budget. Lunch counts in 2021-22 have quadrupled from the 2020-21 school year, a mostly hybrid formatted year. The committee ended its January 18 meeting to enter executive session to discuss bargaining.

            The next meeting of the Rochester School Committee is scheduled for Thursday, March 3, at 6:30 pm, and the next meeting of the Joint School Committee is scheduled for Thursday, April 28, at 6:30 pm.

Rochester School Committee

By Mick Colageo

            Upon discussion of the minutes of a recent public meeting that included the Heron Cove public hearing, Marion Zoning Board of Appeals member Dana Nilson asked a question as to whether developer Ken Steen’s ultimatum regarding water-metering methodology was based on dwelling units or buildings. “I’m looking for clarification on what they’re looking for so we don’t go the same road as we did with Marion Village Estates,” said Nilson.

            The minutes were tabled for the board’s next meeting, but the conversation that wrapped up the ZBA’s February 10 meeting overshadowed two public hearings that reached favorable conclusion.

            ZBA Chairperson Cynthia Callow and board member Tucker Burr discussed a January 27 conference that they recently attended, in which Mark Bobrowski, the attorney representing Steen in the latter’s role as developer of Marion Village Estates and Town Counsel Jon Witten met to discuss disagreement over whether changing the water-metering practices at the affordable-housing development constitutes a “substantial change” as opposed to an unsubstantial change.

            The ramifications of “substantial change” necessarily include a public hearing. On December 23, Witten advised the ZBA to consider a change from three meters to measure water consumption in 60 residential units (one meter for each 20-unit building) to 60 meters (one for each unit) as a “substantial” change because it would drastically decrease the revenue generated to the town.

            Thusly, Steen’s request to proceed without a public hearing was rejected. Prior to that decision, Bobrowski had already notified the board that a “substantial” judgment on the part of the ZBA would result in his immediate appeal to the state housing court.

            The Bobrowski-Witten conference was a prescribed next step toward resolution. Bobrowski had contended during the prior public meeting that Steen was originally supposed to pay for water on the town’s lowest rate tier, but he argued that since the project was completed, the town “moved the goalposts” by changing the tier system and by determining the tier for Village Estates based on the consumption recorded by each meter rather than each residential unit.

            As a result, Bobrowski said Steen pays Marion the highest water rate possible, something he insists never would have happened had the water been metered to individual units.

            Bobrowski and Witten met before Lisa Whelan of the state Office of Community Development. According to Callow, Whelan heard the arguments and suggested mediation. Witten, said Callow, told her the town never says “no” to mediation. “Bobrowski, I think, is trying to keep us out of the equation, and I don’t like when people try to keep me out of an equation that I think I should be in,” said Callow.

            The conference concluded, said Callow, with instructions for both sides to submit a summary of decision by February 28. Callow reported that Witten advised her that the process will take a long time and most likely will be remanded back to the ZBA.

            Burr said that the contentious situation about water metering at Marion Village Estates is distracting to the same issue as it applies to Heron Cove. He questioned how the ZBA can confidently go about its business knowing there is an ongoing effort by the same developer to exclude the ZBA from vetting the same request at another development.

            Callow asked Burr and Danielle Engwert to vote in the public hearings heard by the ZBA on February 10 in order to ensure a five-member quorum.

            In Case 798, Terrence and Kym Lee were voted a Special Permit under Section 230-6.1C of the Zoning bylaw to allow their construction of an addition to the existing nonconforming residence at the corner of Holmes and Front streets.

            Represented by Will Saltonstall (Saltonstall Architects,) the Lee’s, 43 Holmes Street, applied for the Special Permit to add onto the main structure of the house an addition measuring 41.8 feet long (the length of the house) and 10 feet wide. The addition will be one story with a shed roof off the back of the Cape-style house.

            As Saltonstall displayed via computer screen sharing, the east side of the house is 13 feet from the lot line and therefore noncompliant to the side setback. The addition proposed would extend what looks like approximately 24 feet of the nonconformity by another 10 feet. The addition will be set back 6 inches from flush to the side of the house because the house is not exactly parallel to the lot line, but it will at its outermost point come to within 13.1 feet of the lot line.

            Saltonstall said he had not seen any pushback from abutters.

            Kym Lee told the board that she reached out to abutters and 9 of the 11 she had email addressed for “were okay” with the plans. She noted that ZBA member Will Tifft is one of the abutters. She said Tifft wrote back “in the affirmative” but noted he would have to recuse himself from participation in the case. Lee said she did not hear back from everyone but received no negative responses.

            Terence Lee said he would soon by turning 59 and that the couple wants to create space for first-floor living. He said the second floor would be left to “the kids and grandkids.” At the same time, the applicants told Callow that there are no plans to add residents to the home.

            ZBA member Margie Baldwin supported the project, noting that there is significant distance between the addition and the closest abutter. Terence Lee said that a fence erected by the former owner of the bordering property obscures the view.

            In Case 801, the ZBA voted applicant MRF Nominee Trust on behalf of Patrick Fischoeder and Allison O’Neil, 498B Point Road, a Special Permit under Sections 230-6.1A and 230-6.1C of the Zoning bylaw to allow their construction of a single-family dwelling to replace two existing, non-conforming dwelling, resulting in a decrease of the non-conformity but increase the building area and volume as allowed under Section 230-7.1, Section 230-7.2 and Section 230-7.3.

            Acknowledging Callow’s recap that a Special Permit had been issued at this address but that the applicants came back before the ZBA because they wish to change the plan, representative Dave Davignon of Schneider, Davignon and Leone Inc. explained that the September 24, 2020 approval was scrapped and that the applicants have gone back to the drawing board.

            According to Davignon, the main house caught fire on January 16, 2019, and six months later, both the main house and the secondary house (farther from the shore) were demolished. Those two structures housed a combined six bedrooms, and the original Special Permit approved a plan for a single, five-bedroom house in their place.

            Under Board of Health, Conservation Commission and ZBA approval, the previously planned structure would have sat 19.5 feet off the northern property line and 16 feet off the southern property line. The new application, which sits on the same general space in the lot, proposes a house of a different shape with more depth on the north side and less on the south side. The setbacks are nearly identical at 19 (north) and 17.3 (south) feet.

            Davignon said the Conservation Commission recognized less work inside its jurisdiction with the new application and filed the plan without hearing it again.

            Abutter Jane Deland, 498 Point Road, supported the project.

            Nilson motioned to accept, and a unanimous vote awarded the Special Permit and carried the project forward.

            The next meeting of the Marion ZBA is scheduled for Thursday, February 24, at 6:30 pm.

Marion Zoning Board of Appeals

By Mick Colageo

The February 8 meeting of the Rochester Planning Board was a good one for members of the Renewable Energy Development Partners team, who have been meeting with Rochester boards for many months. But all that hard work and cooperation to the process is just about to pay off, bringing the 109 Neck Road solar project that much closer to a start date. The project has been described as unique in that a number of the panels will be mounted across irrigation canals and in other areas, crops may be planted under the panels.

            Coming before the board was Renewable Energy’s Hank Ouimet, as well as Sarah Stearns of Beals and Thomas, Inc. The meeting was held primarily to update the board on progress made in addressing comments from peer-review consultant Ken Motta of Field Engineering. Stearns also said that in his latest communication, Motta has offered some language for the board to consider when drafting its decision.

            Planning Board Chairman Arnold Johnson pointed out that waivers requested by the applicant were incomplete and needed future review because “the language is too vague to be enforceable.”

            The board also approved a list of bonds for the project: $133,000 for decommissioning, $15,000 for the next five years for screening near wetlands, $2,000 called a timber assessment and $35,000 for the next two years for landscaping. The hearing was continued to Tuesday, February 22, at 7:00 pm.

            An informal discussion was held with Brian Wallace of JC Engineering regarding plans for a playground associated with Countryside Child Care. Wallace described the location of the playground, drainage features and safeguards for pedestrians and motorists.

            Regarding the relocation of storage containers he owns, Matt Gurney asked the engineer and the board to consider placing them closer to the blacktop versus Wallace’s suggestion of farther away into an area that is currently wet. Johnson and Wallace agreed to work with Gurney to find an amenable solution.

            Town Planner Nancy Durfee reported that an update of the board’s bylaws and regulations was nearly ready for a public hearing once the board agrees with the changes.

            Durfee also advised the board that an existing Open Space plan would be completed and readied for their approval. Once finalized, Durfee said it would go to the state for final approval. Such acceptance, she noted, clears the way for the town to apply for grants. She said that up-to-date land mapping needs to be included in the plan.

            Durfee also said that she was in the process of writing a grant application that would defray expenses associated with drafting a new Master Plan.

            The next meeting of the Rochester Planning Board is scheduled for Tuesday, February 22, at 7:00 pm.

Rochester Planning Board

By Marilou Newell

            In thanking Paul Naiman and the Capital Improvements Planning Committee, Marion Town Administrator Jay McGrail told the February 15 meeting of the Marion Select Board that Naiman’s letter to the board will be a supplement to the warrant for the Spring Town Meeting.

            In a 6:30 pm appointment, Naiman appeared on behalf of the CIPC to discuss its process in prioritizing FY23 capital project and creating a 10-year outlook.

            The CIPC, Naiman explained, still has a couple of its founding members. Select Board Chairman Norm Hills is a founding member, and the newest member is Bill Marvel from Finance Committee. The committee’s purpose is to assist town department heads on developing capital plans to present at the Spring Town Meeting.

            By definition, a capital project in Marion has at least a five-year lifespan and costs at least $10,000.

            In order to facilitate the Select Board’s, town administrator’s and voters’ actions, the CIPC meets with department heads and asks them to prioritize their own capital projects and to answer how each project will be financed and its benefit to the town.

            “Once we have all of the projects (there are over 30 for FY23,) they are scored on seven criteria,” explained Naiman.

            Projects funded by fees and enterprise funds garner the highest number of points, and those financed by debt garner the lowest number of points. Other factors that hold serious sway in CIPC project rankings include state or federal requirements (compliance) and decrees; projects lacking any regulatory requirements get no points, but public safety or health-related projects get points.

            A project will garner points if it upgrades an existing item and makes it more efficient such as replacing a snowplow. If a purchase is new, Naiman and his committee ask, “What’s the payback?” They also ask how a project relates to the Master Plan.

            The CIPC totals up project scores and creates a weighted average and a ranking. The goal is to achieve “an objective list, not a singular point of view,” said Naiman. “Just because a project scores high or low, it doesn’t mean it shouldn’t be put on the warrant.” Some of the school projects, he said, score lower on the priority list due to criteria failures, but those projects are typically funded.

            For FY23, Marion has 34 capital projects submitted for consideration totaling $8,600,000 in estimated costs, $7,200,000 of those costs related to Department of Public Works projects.

            The CIPC also puts together a compilation of a 10-year plan from each of the department heads as a planning tool. Before CIPC, said Hills, “there was nothing. Stuff would drop out of the air.”

            Sewer and water projects take up much of the 10-year outlook.

            The CIPC will meet in a few weeks for a post-mortem, discuss how the year went and how to improve, said Naiman.

            Waterman called the CIPC “a huge asset to the town. It’s methodical but also the fact they help us lay out a 10-year plan that avoids a chaotic budget process.”

            “If we didn’t have that list, it would put a tremendous amount of pressure on the boss and us to prioritize this list,” said McGrail. “From a management perspective, the final product is extremely helpful to Judy and me. We work backwards off the list.”

            In a 6:15 pm appointment, Harry Norweb and Dr. Ed Hoffer appeared before the board to discuss an action plan for the town to achieve an Age-Friendly Community (AFC) designation with AARP and the World Health Organization.

            Norweb explained that while many of the actions associated with the action plan can already be accomplished by the Council on Aging and volunteers, they cannot distribute the action plan, but the Select Board can. So the Select Board voted to submit the action plan to AARP.

            John Waterman thinks it is premature for Norweb to disband the volunteer working group because lacking a centralized leadership, he suspects the action plan would wane rather than thrive. McGrail suggested forming a workgroup under his watch.

            Hoffer suggested that the mutual interest in creating market-rate housing for the town’s senior population could bring together the action plan volunteers with the Affordable Housing Trust. McGrail noted that the AHT is scheduled to appear at the March 15 Select Board meeting to discuss the board’s scope of activities.

            Hoffer said the action plan also makes Marion eligible for modest AARP-related grants.

            Bob Grillo was introduced as the town’s new building commissioner. Grillo was the assistant building commissioner in Sandwich and a local inspector. He replaces Scott Shippey, who recently went to work for the Town of Foxborough.

            “We need to work with our contractors and homeowners, not against them,” said Grillo, who said he enjoyed success going at the job that way in Sandwich. “Hopefully we can continue on that same track.”

            In his Town Administrator’s Report, McGrail was thrilled to announce that the installation of the lagoon liner is complete, and all that remains are leak-mitigation measures. The town did not have to apply for another extension as the state said it will not hold the January 31 deadline over Marion’s head.

            Under Action Items, the board voted to support the DPW’s request to deficit spend on snow and ice removal. The town has already exceeded its allocated $50,000.

            The rescheduled, public dangerous-dog hearing has been moved forward from April 19 to March 15 at 6:15 pm.

            The Select Board voted to approve the conditions of a sewer connection application at 390 Wareham Road with the following prescribed conditions: an engineered connection plan, two as-built drawings within three months (regular condition,) that the applicant work with other users to build an association and a bond.

            The board approved several reappointments to the Stewards of Community Open Space, and Emil Assing was appointed as a full member of the Conservation Commission. Assing will fill Cynthia Callow’s spot until its June 2022 expiration and will need reappointment at that time.

            A letter from Donna Maxim requesting the placement of a memorial bench at Silvershell Beach was passed over, as Hills and McGrail plan to draft a policy in light of many such requests.

            The next meeting of the Marion Select Board is scheduled for Tuesday, March 1, at 6:00 pm.

Marion Select Board

By Mick Colageo