 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.  Click here to watch Hingham's Weekly Update By Carol Britton Meyer
Commissioner of Education Jeffrey Riley recently extended the statewide public schools mask mandate through at least Jan. 15, 2022. The Board of Elementary and Secondary Education authorized Riley last August to require that masks to be worn by all K-12 public school students ages five and older, educators, staff, and visitors until at least Oct. 1 to allow time to increase the vaccination rate in public school buildings. Recently, that date was extended to Nov. 1 or later, so this is the second extension. Face masks are required indoors -- except when eating or drinking and during mask breaks -- with some exceptions. Masks must be worn on school busses. This latest decision was made "after consulting with medical experts and state health officials," according to a press release issued by the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education. The Department will continue to work with medical experts and state health officials to evaluate the mask requirement beyond Jan. 15. Currently, if public school building administrators are able to demonstrate a combined vaccination rate of 80 percent or more among students and staff in a public school through an attestation form submitted to DESE, then vaccinated individuals in that school would no longer be subject to the state mask requirement, which is a local decision. In alignment with statewide guidance, unvaccinated students and staff would be required to continue wearing masks. In addition, with the expected announcement of the vaccine becoming available for children ages 5-11 in the coming weeks, an extension of the mask requirement would allow time for the elementary school population to receive the vaccine, according to DESE. |
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