 By Carol Britton Meyer
The School Committee is reinstating the practice from last year of holding "office hours" once a month. The purpose of these meetings is to listen to community members' questions, suggestions, and concerns. "Drop-ins" are welcome during the usually 1-1/2-hour meetings, or participants can attend for the entire time. These informal meetings involve a couple of committee members at a time, taking turns. While they may not be able to answer every question, member Tim Miller-Dempsey said recently, any that remain unanswered will be brought to the attention of the committee to be addressed. Whether a meeting will be held remotely or in-person will be determined on a month-by-month basis. Information about the meetings will be broadly shared so the community is aware of when they are happening.
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 By Carol Britton Meyer
Following a particularly high number of absences among Hingham Public Schools teachers recently, the School Committee decided an increase in the daily pay rate for new and experienced substitute teachers was in order to hopefully attract more applicants due to the current shortage. "We might have eight to 10 teachers out, with only two substitutes available," Interim Supt. of Schools Gary Maestas said. "Our rates of pay are not competitive with neighboring school districts, and we are in direct competition with them." The committee decided to increase the rate of pay per day from $93 to $113 for new teachers and from $105 to $125 for experienced teachers, effective Jan. 3, 2022 through the end of the current school year. In the meantime, the human resources director will check out other school districts to see how the Hingham Public Schools rates compare to theirs and report back to the School Committee, which will decide whether to recommend a further adjustment at a later time. "We are in a crunch. We do need more people [to fill this role]," Chair Kerry Ni said.  Click here to watch Hingham's Weekly Update By Carol Britton Meyer
The School Committee unanimously voted on Jan. 5 to enter into contract negotiations with Dr. Margaret Adams as the next Superintendent of the Hingham Public Schools. She will succeed Interim Superintendent Dr. Gary Maestas for the 2022-2023 school year. Adams is currently the Assistant Superintendent of Teaching and Learning at Melrose Public Schools, where she has worked for the past 10 years -- eight of those as the Assistant Superintendent and two as the Director for Curriculum. She has also served as Director of Literacy for the Malden Public Schools and Department Head for Bilingual/ESL (English as a Second Language) Services for Brockton Public Schools. The Superintendent Search Committee began its work in September 2021 with 20 applicants, finally narrowing the search to two candidates, including Adams. The other finalist was Dr. Scott Carpenter of the Monomoy Regional School District. "The Committee was impressed with Dr. Adams' student-focused vision, collaborative leadership and mentoring skills, and enthusiasm for creating a positive school culture," School Committee Chair Kerry Ni said. "We are excited to welcome Dr. Adams to our community.”  Click here to watch Hingham's Weekly Update By Carol Britton Meyer
Plans for major improvements to the busy Route 3A corridor along Hingham's harborfront focus on public safety. Benefits to pedestrians, motorists, and bicyclists include a shared-use path with a buffer along the waterfront and a permanent "road diet" from Martins Lane to the Hingham Rotary that will reduce the number of traffic lanes from two to one in both directions along this dangerous stretch. The Massachusetts Department of Transportation recently held a public Zoom hearing about the project, now at the 25 percent design stage. The overall plan includes safety and related improvements along Route 3A, Summer Street and Rockland Street from the intersection of Otis Street and Broad Cove Road south near the Hingham Lobster Pound and east to the intersection of George Washington Boulevard and Rockland Street, including the Hingham Rotary. The planned modifications are also geared toward enhancing the recreational, educational, and commercial opportunities in this area. Hingham's share of the project will be about $819,000 for engineering and construction design costs. MassDOT estimates the actual construction cost at $15.3 million, which will be paid for with state and federal funds -- a great deal for the town, according to Rte. 3A Task Force Chair Judy Sneath. The project is expected to be shovel-ready in 2024, but when the work actually begins depends on the state's Transportation Improvement Program schedule.  Click here to watch Hingham's Weekly Update By Carol Britton Meyer
The 53-page Hingham Public Schools Equity & Inclusion Plan is being rolled out during the new school year, Asst. Supt. Jamie LaBillois told the School Committee recently. The idea is to start implementation in 2021-2022, with a focus on "developing a sense of belonging among all members of the school community." The plan is built upon a "restorative practices" foundation that is already underway, based upon building healthy relationships between educators and students; reducing, preventing, and improving harmful behavior; repairing harm and restoring positive relationships; resolving conflict; holding individuals and groups accountable; and addressing and discussing the needs of the entire school community. "We want to use that sense of community to take a different approach," LaBillois said. "We're all members of the same community, and if someone's behavior has wronged someone else, it's incumbent on that person to right that wrong." Updates will be available during the school year.  By Carol Britton Meyer
After reviewing about 20 applications and participating in six preliminary interviews with applicants for the open Hingham Public Schools superintendent of schools position to replace Paul Austin, the search committee recently narrowed the pool of candidates down to four finalists for further consideration by the School Committee. They are Dr. Margaret Adams, current Assistant Superintendent of the Melrose Public Schools; Dr. Scott Carpenter, current Superintendent of the Monomoy Regional School District; Dr. Jennifer Curtis, current Executive Director of South Shore Stars and former Superintendent of Weymouth Public Schools; and Dr. Andrea Schwamb, current Assistant Superintendent of the Wareham Public Schools. The "Superintendent Search" link on the HPS website contains their resumes, successful candidate and Hingham superintendent profiles, screening committee details, and the timeline for selecting an individual to replace Austin. The School Committee, with assistance from the New England School Development Council throughout the search process, will make the final decision. Next steps include interviewing the four candidates, who will be invited to meet with students, parents, faculty, staff, members of the community, and others interested in the process. The School Committee is expected to make the selection this month or sometime in January. By Carol Britton Meyer
The proposal to renovate/build a new Foster School is moving through the Massachusetts School Building Authority process, with the hopes that the MSBA will fund a significant portion of either option. School Building Committee Chair Ray Estes told the School Committee recently that "the feasibility work is underway to determine what can be done [with the property]." The presence of wetlands and traffic are two considerations. Eight potential design configurations were looked at by building committee with consideration of the advantages, disadvantages, and challenges posed by each. These will be narrowed down to four potential site layouts by the end of December, and then a preferred design will be selected to move into the schematic design phase in January. Contingent on MSBA approval of the proposal, a warrant article will be drafted for the Spring 2022 Town Meeting -- or a fall 2022 Special Town Meeting -- asking voter approval of construction funding, a figure that will be announced at a later date. If all goes as planned, construction could begin in the Spring of 2023, followed by the opening of the new building in 2024. Estes emphasized that opportunities such as this one "don't come along often."  Click here to watch Hingham's Weekly Update By Carol Britton Meyer
The Select Board recently approved a re-precincting plan that includes a new Hingham precinct. "We will be notifying residents of their new precincts and voting locations in the coming months via the town website, as part of the 2022 census mailing in January, and through various social media platforms," Town Clerk Carol Falvey said. The reason for this change is that based on the 2020 United States census, Hingham gained approximately 2,900 residents over the past 10 years, Town Clerk Carol Falvey said recently. For that reason, a new precinct is being added. The Local Election District Review Commission (LEDRC-Office of the Secretary of State) initially prepared a proposed map taking into account the new population count. A committee comprised of Falvey, GIS Coordinator Loni Fournier, retired Town Clerk Eileen McCracken, and Community Planning Director Emily Wentworth reviewed the proposal and were involved in several rounds of discussions to reconfigure what is currently Precinct 3, which Falvey said had a slight impact on the initial borders of Precincts 4, 5, 6 and 7. "There were guidelines imposed on the remapping: each precinct should have a population of between 3,296 to 3,642 residents, with a target of 3,469 per precinct and not to exceed a variance of about 5 percent," Falvey explained. During future elections, Precincts 1 through 4 will vote at Hingham High School, Precincts 5 through 7 will vote at the Middle School, and the Linden Ponds campus will retain its sub-precinct station as part of the new Precinct 7. Previously the town had the following precincts: 1 through 4, Hingham High School; Precincts 5 and 6, Hingham Middle School; and Precinct 5A, Willard Square, Linden Ponds.  Click here to watch Hingham's Weekly Update By Carol Britton Meyer
A Woburn organization has been selected to facilitate the development of a strategic plan for the Hingham Public Schools, and input from stakeholders will be a key part of the process. Teaching and Learning Alliance, Inc. will work with Hingham school officials to put together a timeline of activities related to the project. "This will be a rigorous process, with stakeholder input sessions in January and also a districtwide survey," Interim Supt. of Schools Gary Maestas told the School Committee recently. Input will be sought from alumni, staff and faculty members, parents, grandparents, residents, and other interested parties about what such a plan should include -- such as identifying strengths, weaknesses, and opportunities -- as the process moves forward. The targeted completion date for the framework of the study is early June, with publication of the plan expected around the end of that month. Maestas will provide regular updates to the School Committee regarding which benchmarks have been achieved and dates for meetings with stakeholders, whose input, Maestas said, is "extremely important."  Click here to watch Hingham's Weekly Update By Carol Britton Meyer
Harbor Media staff have been busier than ever this past year completing innovative technology upgrades. Now all Comcast and Verizon subscribers have access to crisp high-definition viewing similar to what they experience when watching programming on network TV. Efforts are also underway to increase the amount of community-produced content, with more than 20 volunteers of different ages trained for that purpose. There is no longer a fee to be a volunteer member of Harbor Media, so anyone is welcome to present an idea for a new program. Harbor Media -- a non-profit in its 10th year of providing cable television service to the town through public, education, and government programming -- now also provides both live and video-on-demand scheduling. Closed captioning will be available soon. An added feature is the showing of a recent town government meeting at 9 p.m. on the two main -- now high-definition -- channels. The TV schedule is available at harbormedia.org. "An earlier survey of subscribers indicated that town government meetings and high school sports coverage are the most popular," Harbor Media Executive Director Michelle Balconi said recently. |
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