Tucker Burr was elected chairman by a 3-2 margin during the Marion Planning Board’s May 15 public meeting. It was the first meeting since former Chairman Norm Hills retired from the board, along with Chris Collings, whose term also expired this year.

            Burr’s support came from Andrew Daniel and new member Ryan Burke.

            Vice Chairperson Alanna Nelson got a well-prepared nomination from Eileen Marum, who had the following to say: “I’m nominating her because she comes to every meeting prepared and uses her critical-thinking skills and has the desire and determination to push the Planning Board forward. She’s resilient, she takes responsibility for her decisions, maintains optimism and has the ability to focus on charting a new course of action. She acts decisively, she can make decisions without wavering, she’s secure with herself, she’s a risk taker, and an innovator and she’s transparent. … And I think she has excellent listening skills, she listens to everyone.”

            Upon Marum’s statement, Burke immediately seconded Burr’s nomination of himself for the chair position.

            “One of the reasons I put my papers in for Planning Board was to assure that the Planning Board sticks to what is relevant to the Planning Board and not anything other than that,” said Burke. “I think that’s a job Tucker could do wholeheartedly. He’s very capable of doing so.”

            Nelson seconded Marum’s nomination of Nelson, but Andrew Daniel’s was the deciding vote.

            “Ryan beat me to it, I was going to nominate Tucker Burr for chair,” said Daniel. “Sometimes (he’s) the quietest guy in the room, but often the smartest guy in the room is the quietest guy. He’s got a good knowledge of the bylaws and always conducts himself very professionally.”

            With that, Nelson, acting as defacto chair, called for the vote supporting Burr and announced its 3-2 verdict accordingly, handing the baton to Burr to preside over the meeting, beginning with the completion of new role assignments.

            After Nelson nominated herself for vice chair and was immediately seconded by Marum, Burke nominated Daniel. Burr seconded the motion. The roll call started with Daniel, who voted for himself, setting in motion his election to the vice chairmanship.

            Marum was nominated by Nelson to continue as clerk, citing her performance, and Daniel seconded, saying Marum had done a very good job in the role. The vote was unanimous.

            Jon Henry, who was absent, was voted the board’s representative to the Southeastern Regional Planning and Economic Development District (SRPEDD), and Daniel was voted the board’s representative to the Marion Community Preservation Committee. Also absent was newly elected member William Dale Jones.

            Burr became Planning Board chairman the same month that his father, Toby Burr, was voted new chairman of the Select Board.

            As the board moved on to review strategies for the town’s Municipal Vulnerability Plan and Marion Open Space Plan, Nelson proposed that the topics go on the agenda for discussion when the board will be in full attendance.

            “It would be great if we could take some of that low-hanging fruit that we have responsibility for and move it forward,” she said. “I do believe that both Open Space Plan and the Housing Production Plan are on the agenda for (May 16), and I mean throw in the Housing Production Plan for something, too, that we can look at for helping us guide priorities in the next year … assuming it is approved by (the Select Board.)”

            Marum followed up with a suggestion that the board also review the Municipal Vulnerability Plan.

            Nelson suggested using any remaining budget funds in working with SRPEDD. Town Planner Doug Guey-Lee chimed in on Zoom and said he had corresponded with SRPEDD about grant funding. Guey-Lee said the board does not have to spend budget money this year and might consider using it to get the town’s zoning maps up to date.

            “We have a small but effective team, so I think we can get something done,” said Guey-Lee.

            Marum asserted that Marion needs to communicate with surrounding communities on an escape plan. The board and Guey-Lee discussed some aspects to that, and Daniel summarized the leadership team in Rochester, where he serves as that town’s Facilities manager.

            The next meeting of the Marion Planning Board is scheduled for Monday, June 5, at 7:00 pm at the Police Station.

Marion Planning Board

By Mick Colageo

            Attending the May 10 Marion School Committee meeting remotely from Camp Burgess in Sandwich where she was with a Grade 6 field trip, Sippican Elementary School Principal Marla Sirois reported the kids were “having a fantastic time,” noting the noise in the background of her call.

            May brought that time of year when the end of school seemed near, even if it remained several weeks away.

            Sirois reported that the sixth graders had engaged that day in ropes courses and team-building exercises with a “night hike” scheduled for after the dinner they were enjoying while their principal zoomed into School Committee.

            The Marion School Committee voted to accept two grants related to literacy: a $152,000 Accelerating Literacy Learning through High Quality Instructional Materials Grant to support Sippican Elementary with 50% funding toward core instructional materials for literacy for Grades K-6 and a $5,076 Early Literacy Universal Screening Grant to purchase the DESE-approved Early Literacy Screening Assessment DIBELS 8th Edition for Grades K-3. The funding would also provide professional development for teachers.

            Chairperson April Nye and other members of the committee thanked Assistant Superintendent of Schools Dr. Shari Fedorowicz for her work in procuring the “highly competitive” grants from the state.

            Superintendent of Schools Mike Nelson pointed out that the state only offered a total of $1,000,000 in grant funding for the program statewide.

            “For districts like ours, competitive grants can oftentimes be very difficult because of the criteria that the Department of (Education) often outlines for those who would be given priority,” said Nelson. “Sometimes, based on success and the type of communities that we work on behalf of, we don’t meet those priority lists.

            “This type of financial support to move in the direction and support the work that we committed to system wide allows us really to accelerate where I think we’re going to be going in literacy in the next three to five years. Just a great jumpstart in Year One of this work …”

            “We still don’t know all the choices (of programming),” explained Fedorowicz, who is still waiting for guidance from DESE on pricing details.

            Fedorowicz said the new literacy program is moving quickly with its leadership teams involving administrators and faculty. All three of the Tri-Towns’ educators will meet with program representatives together before the end of the school year.

            Per state regulations, the committee held an annual public hearing to address its status as a School Choice district. In recent years, Marion has voted not to participate in the School Choice program.

            The School Choice public hearing was opened and without response from the committee or the public to the latter’s invitation for comments was closed. The vote was just as decisive, as the four committee members, April Nye, Mary Beauregard, Nichole Daniel and Nichole Nye McGaffey, all voted for Marion to remain a non-School Choice District.

            This means that students who reside in other school districts (towns) will not be allowed to attend Sippican Elementary via the state’s School Choice program in 2023-24.

            The committee voted to accept the memorandum of understanding between Nelson and Marion Chief of Police Richard Nighelli regarding the school resource officer for next school year.

            In her Chairperson’s Report, April Nye celebrated the Town Meeting vote and police budget paving the way for an SRO at Sippican in 2023-24.

            “As many of you know, when I initially ran for School Committee over five years ago, my goal was to make our schools as safe as they could possibly be through various measures, and one of them was my want of an SRO,” said Nye. “Through the years, working with administration as well as the superintendent’s office as well as the town, we’ve been able to improve on various security measures. Again, one of my biggest goals still was to continue to fight for and get that SRO if we possibly could.”

            With that, Nye thanked the committee members for “always putting what’s best for children as well as the staff and the school community as the number-one priority.” She added public thanks to Sirois, Crisafulli, Nelson, Nighelli, Marion Town Administrator Geoff Gorman and parents for reaching out to the committee and to Marion voters at large for supporting the school children.

            Upon the recommendation of the Old Rochester Regional School District as read by Nelson, the Marion School Committee unanimously voted to adopt the following schedule for 2023-24 meetings: September 14, October 19, November 30, January 4, February 8, March 14, April 25 and May 23.

            Nelson clarified the new approach targeting Thursday as the night for school-committee and major-subcommittee meetings across the ORR District. April Nye thanked secretary Melissa Wilcox for constructing the schedule, calling it “phenomenal” especially as members try to juggle family-related obligations.

            Assistant Superintendent of Finance and Operations Howie Barber reported with budgetary, facilities and food-service updates.

            Citing skyrocketing costs and other needs in the Tri-Towns, Nelson admitted he had been nervous about the FY24 budgeting process but said meaningful conversations about education with other stakeholders helped get the students what they will need for the next year. He thanked the educators for their steadfast focus as the current school year winds down.

            April Nye thanked Craig Davidson, the director of Student Services, for his acceleration camp.

            Nelson updated the committee that SMEC is looking to purchase a building.

            Early in the meeting, the committee broke into executive session to discuss collective bargaining and security and to comply with related laws and federal grant-in-aid requirements. The committee returned to public session.

            The recognition presentation on the May 10 agenda was held until the committee’s next meeting.

            The next meeting of the Marion School Committee is scheduled for Wednesday, June 14, at Sippican School, and the next meeting of the Joint School Committee is scheduled for Monday, June 8, at the Old Rochester Regional Junior High School media room. Both meetings start at 6:30 pm.

Marion School Committee

By Mick Colageo