SST School Committee Unanimously Approves Pembroke as 10th Member Town
Final Acceptance Pending Multiple Voter Approvals
HANOVER - October 16, 7 and September 17 - South Shore Vocational Technical High School took decisive steps toward expansion and regulatory compliance across three meetings in September and October, unanimously approving Pembroke as the district’s potential 10th member town and adopting a state-mandated lottery admissions system that eliminates academic performance from consideration. The School Committee’s October 7th vote to admit Pembroke requires approval from Pembroke voters at their October 21st town meeting, at least six of the nine current member towns at spring 2026 town meetings, and passage of two Pembroke tax override questions before the admission becomes final. Meanwhile, the committee’s near-unanimous October 16th approval of the new admissions policy—with only Norwell voting no—fundamentally changes how eighth-graders will compete for seats starting with the Class of 2030.
The Full Story
The special October 7th meeting was convened specifically to vote on regional agreement amendments after review by both the district’s legal counsel and the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education’s legal department. Superintendent Dr. Tom Hickey presented the agreement, emphasizing the compressed timeline driven by Pembroke’s fall town meeting scheduled for October 21st. At the October 16th meeting, Dr. Hickey confirmed he would attend Pembroke’s town meeting and reported that notice of the amendment had been sent to select board chairs and town administrators in all nine current member communities as required by the regional agreement.
Under the approved agreement, Pembroke would be allocated 10 freshman seats in the 2027-28 school year—the final year in the current building before the new facility opens. In subsequent years, Pembroke would receive seats proportional to its eighth-grade population, estimated at approximately 20 seats per grade level. The agreement includes an eight-year “on-ramp” period during which Pembroke would gradually assume its full share of the district’s debt, identical to the arrangement made when Marshfield joined in 2024.
A key provision unique to Pembroke’s admission addresses the one-year lag in state funding formulas. The agreement includes a supplemental operating assessment for Pembroke’s first five years in the district. For fiscal year 2028, Pembroke would pay an additional $175,000 beyond its base assessment, with subsequent years calculated based on the estimated number of students exceeding state enrollment counts multiplied by the per-pupil cost. The agreement also stipulates that Pembroke must contribute $331,437 to the district’s stabilization fund over five years and will pay a share of debt already incurred by current member towns in fiscal years 2026, 2027, and 2028.
The admission sparked discussion about impacts on existing communities, particularly larger oversubscribed towns. Marshfield’s representative Joseph Zambello voiced constituent concerns about temporary reductions in seat allocations. “Marshfield being one of the largest, if not the largest community, I’ve got a bunch of feedback from parents that basically have signed off and voted for the new school, yet for a couple of years, we’re going to take a haircut in terms of number of students we’ll be able to send,” Zambello said during the October 7th meeting.
Dr. Hickey acknowledged the trade-off while emphasizing long-term benefits. “There’s an obvious financial benefit to partnering with an additional community,” he said, explaining that the temporary “haircut” reflects the reality that the district cannot expand its operating budget quickly enough to immediately accommodate 80 additional students from Pembroke at full enrollment. The superintendent outlined plans to gradually increase enrollment capacity with staffing increases beginning in fiscal year 2028, estimating the need for approximately one additional academic teacher in each of the four core departments to accommodate 100 additional students.
Norwell’s Dustin Reardon offered a broader perspective. “Going forward, we’re talking about having a school for 1,000 kids. That’s a net increase to all of us of 300 students,” Reardon said. “If we fail to give Pembroke the opportunity to join now, we’re gonna be doing ourselves a disservice going forward.” He emphasized that adding Pembroke would benefit all member towns in funding the new school and maintaining the district’s leadership position in vocational education.
The timeline for Pembroke’s admission extends into late 2026. Following the October 21st Pembroke town meeting vote, all nine current member towns will consider the regional agreement at spring 2026 town meetings between April and May. At least six of the nine towns must approve the amendment. Following those votes, Pembroke voters must approve two ballot questions: a Proposition 2½ debt exclusion for construction costs and a Proposition 2½ operational override for operating expenses. The Commissioner of Education must provide final approval by December 31, 2026, or the entire agreement becomes void.
On October 16th, the School Committee took final action on the revised admissions policy mandated by new state regulations. The Department of Elementary and Secondary Education now requires all vocational technical schools to use a lottery system when applications exceed available seats, eliminating the previous scoring system based on grades, attendance, discipline, and interest. The policy was approved with eight yes votes and one no vote from Norwell’s Dustin Reardon.
Before the vote, Dr. Hickey acknowledged the committee’s concerns about the state mandate. “I just want to note that although there may be an affirmative vote on this policy this evening, it’s well understood this committee’s position on the lottery and the reasons why the committee is taking this vote,” he said. When Norwell’s representative asked what would happen if the committee voted no, Dr. Hickey indicated the district could be found out of compliance by the Department of Education, though he noted he didn’t have a definitive answer on consequences.
Under the new policy, which will be implemented for the Class of 2030 (current eighth graders), applicants will no longer be scored or ranked. Each qualified applicant will receive at least one entry in a random lottery. Students can earn up to three additional “weights” or lottery entries by meeting minimum standards for attendance (fewer than 27 unexcused absences in the 270 days before application), discipline (no felony convictions or weapons/assault incidents involving school staff in the previous 270 days), and demonstrating interest in vocational education through an optional essay or other submission.
The committee made one minor change to the policy, adjusting the application launch date from October 20th to October 25th to coincide with the school’s annual open house. Dr. Hickey announced that the Saturday, October 25th open house will run from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m., with the application going live the same day and remaining open until January 16, 2026. Families will be notified before the lottery of how many entries their student has received, allowing time to address discrepancies. The lottery will be conducted publicly, likely via livestream, with students identified by ID numbers.
The school is implementing the new policy after experiencing record enrollment. Dr. Hickey reported in September that the school had 699 students enrolled, a net increase of 20 students, with the freshman class reaching 190 students. The district maintains waiting lists for communities with additional openings.
On the building project front, substantial progress continues on the $185 million construction effort. At the October 16th meeting, the Owner’s Project Manager (OPM) from LeftField reported that the project remains on budget and on schedule for a fall 2028 opening. The School Building Committee approved monthly invoices totaling $971,931, including $87,084 from LeftField, $865,645 from DRA Architects, and $19,202 from Suffolk Construction.
Committee member Joseph Zambello, who serves on the invoice subcommittee with Bob Mahoney, explained the billing structure. “A lot of these things are because of the way the billing is just the total project divided by the number of weeks or sessions we have,” Zambello said. “I spent time with Kevin and Kyle, and we had a pretty extensive discussion. I think everything looked great.” the OPM noted that the project budget is submitted monthly to the Massachusetts School Building Authority for review, providing an additional layer of oversight beyond the district’s internal checks.
Architect Carl Franceschi from DRA provided critical updates on permitting and construction milestones. The Conservation Commission conducted a site walk on October 16th afternoon, with a second hearing scheduled for October 29th. An abutters meeting is planned for October 30th at 6 p.m. at the school, and the first Planning Board meeting is scheduled for November 3rd. Dr. Hickey noted the district is “definitely in a local permitting and civic outreach phase” with these important meetings taking place between regular committee meetings.
Test pits for the septic system and wastewater treatment plant, originally scheduled for October 16th, were postponed two weeks due to recent heavy rain. “It would be a little misleading if we dug the test pits on the day after a couple days of rain, where it would be a little misleading and force us to raise the elevation of those fields perhaps even more than is already planned,” Franceschi explained. The Department of Environmental Protection will be on site with the design team when the test pits are dug.
The project is moving forward with its first procurement package. Franceschi announced that a design-assist bid package for precast concrete panels will be issued by the end of October. “So much of this building is precast concrete panels, and that’s a very kind of specific kind of work,” Franceschi said. “We’re going to solicit what’s known as design assist proposals from precast manufacturers because their work will have impact on the connections to the steel frame building and connections to the concrete foundations.” The precast contractor will be brought on early to provide input while construction documents are being finalized.
The next major milestone is the delivery of 60% complete construction documents to cost estimators in early November. “We can certainly post that online,” Franceschi told committee members inquiring about when the public could see design progress. “The sets of drawings right now are pretty extensive. They’re hundreds of pages.” The documents will be posted to the project website, which is linked to the school’s homepage and accessible to the public. Bob Mahoney expressed interest in having materials available to share with constituents asking about project progress.
At the September 17th meeting, the committee approved establishing a voluntary invoice subcommittee to provide detailed monthly review of substantial invoices before they come to the full committee. Owner’s Project Manager Kevin Sullivan explained that invoices typically arrive by the first of the month, and the subcommittee could meet via Zoom by the fifth or tenth of the month to review them in detail.
The district is pursuing aggressive grant opportunities to offset construction and equipment costs. At the October 16th meeting, Vocational Director Keith Boyle announced that South Shore Tech has been awarded a $350,000 grant from the Massachusetts Clean Energy Center to purchase energy-efficient equipment for the automotive and HVAC programs. The district is also applying for a CTE Facility Expansion Grant worth up to $5 million, with the application due at the end of October. If awarded, the grant would be used for construction, design, and equipment specifically for the electrical, manufacturing, and metal fabrication/welding programs.
Boyle also reported strong enrollment in the winter Career and Technical Initiative (CTI) program launching in January. The electrical program, being offered for the first time in the district’s fourth year of CTI programming, already has over 40 applications for a 20-student class. “We did expect a big turnout, but it’s definitely bigger than originally anticipated,” Boyle said. The district is also running a UAA program in partnership with Bridgewater State University’s EXCEL program in the manufacturing shop, with plans for another session in summer 2026.
The district’s FFA chapter received a $1,500 grant from the National FFA Foundation to support participation in the National FFA Convention in Indianapolis later in October. A Fire Cadet and Emergency Management Cadet program will begin in January as a 13-week session, part of a two-year program that allows students to earn six college credits through Massachusetts Maritime Academy upon completion. The annual fall advisory meeting, which typically draws 150 representatives from vocational programs, is scheduled for November 5th at 6 p.m.
In financial matters, District Treasurer Jim Coughlin reported at the October 16th meeting that the district has a cash balance of just over $3.2 million. The fiscal year 2023 audit has been completed. Coughlin announced that the district is proceeding with its first bond borrowing for the construction project, with $9 million in the pipeline. The borrowing will be a six-month note through June, followed by larger borrowings based on cash flow analysis provided by LeftField.
Coughlin also announced that the district will return approximately $50,000 to member communities. The state provided a higher Chapter 70 allocation than anticipated when the budget was built, and state directives require regional schools to return excess Chapter 70 funding to communities. “If we’d known that the Chapter 70 number budget time, we would have charged the towns less. So therefore, this is a way of giving the money back to the towns,” Coughlin explained. The refunds will be applied as credits to future quarterly payments from each town. When asked if the district could retain the funds for other purposes such as vehicle replacement, Coughlin and Dr. Hickey explained that keeping the money would require reopening the budget process with all member towns.
At the September meeting, Principal Sandy Baldner had reported on major changes to the school’s daily schedule. South Shore Tech transitioned from a four-block day with study halls to a five-block rotating schedule, allowing the school to offer more essential courses including physical education, health and wellness, a success seminar for underclassmen, academic strategy courses, and universal access to the biotechnology curriculum. Baldner reported that students adapted within the first cycle and teachers are growing comfortable with the change.
Boyle provided an update on the school’s new cell phone policy in September. In the first 16 days of school, there had been only eight infractions, all first-time offenses with no repeat violations. Feedback from teachers, parents, and students has been overwhelmingly positive about the policy’s implementation.
Student Representative Luke McGann provided extensive updates at the October 16th meeting on campus activities. SkillsUSA coordinators attended the SkillsUSA advisory boot camp, and the organization is holding its first fundraiser—a drive-in movie night—on October 18th. The FFA chapter will fly to Indianapolis on October 28th to compete in the 98th National FFA Convention, with teams competing in nursery landscape and horticulture after 10 months of preparation, including practice twice a week over the summer.
Athletics are performing strongly, with football holding a 3-2 record, volleyball crowned Mayflower League champions, and cross country positioned to become league champions for the second time in three years. The National Honor Society is planning a Trunk or Treat event on October 26th at the school, hoping to establish it as an annual tradition. The student council recently held a successful homecoming week and dance, with the pep rally packing more than 700 students and staff into the gym. Student council representatives attended the CMASS conference at Quincy High School, hearing from Attorney General Andrea Campbell.
The Gay-Straight Alliance is working to promote the club and increase awareness, preparing infographics on LGBTQ+ topics and resources and planning monthly movie nights. The Drama Club has cast roles and begun rehearsing for their production of “I Hate Shakespeare,” scheduled for two weekends in March including one dinner theater night.
In other October 16th business, the committee approved a donation to the Metal Fabrication/Welding and MET programs and approved Superintendent Dr. Hickey’s annual goals for the 2025-26 school year. In September, the committee had approved a new TTI grant-funded position, changed the graduation date to Wednesday, June 3, 2026 at South Shore Music Circus, accepted a donation to the MET program, and approved the surplus of two vans.
Why It Matters
The potential addition of Pembroke as a 10th member town represents the most significant expansion of the South Shore Vocational Technical School District in recent years and would provide substantial financial benefits by spreading the cost of the new $185 million school building across an additional community. The state-mandated shift to a lottery-based admissions system fundamentally changes how families throughout the district must approach the application process, removing academic achievement as a factor and making admission largely a matter of chance for students who meet minimum attendance and discipline standards. For families with students currently in middle school, understanding these new lottery requirements and ensuring their child meets the basic thresholds will be essential. The building project’s steady progress through permitting and into the procurement phase demonstrates that the district remains on track for the fall 2028 opening, while aggressive pursuit of state grants could reduce the overall cost burden on member communities. The timeline for Pembroke’s admission extends through much of 2026, requiring voter approval in at least seven communities and two successful Pembroke ballot questions, giving residents ample opportunity to weigh in on the future direction of their regional vocational-technical school. Pembroke’s October 21st town meeting vote will be the first critical test of whether this expansion moves forward.
Meeting Minutes
Key Motions & Votes
Motion: Approval of LeftField, DRA Architects, and Suffolk Construction invoices for the school building project totaling approximately $1.7 million. Outcome: Approved. Vote:Unanimous. (Timestamp: 12:23 - September 17)
Motion: Approval of July 23, 2025 School Committee meeting minutes. Outcome:Approved. Vote: Unanimous. (Timestamp: 37:39 - September 17)
Motion: Acceptance of Finance Director’s report for July and August 2025. Outcome: Approved. Vote: Unanimous. (Timestamp: 40:24 - September 17)
Motion: Approval of job description for TTI grant-funded position. Outcome: Approved. Vote: Unanimous. (Timestamp: 1:27:40 - September 17)
Motion: Change graduation date to Wednesday, June 3, 2026 at South Shore Music Circus. Outcome: Approved. Vote: Unanimous. (Timestamp: 1:28:30 - September 17)
Motion: Acceptance of donation to MET program. Outcome: Approved. Vote:Unanimous. (Timestamp: 1:29:14 - September 17)
Motion: Surplus of two vans. Outcome:Approved. Vote: Unanimous. (Timestamp: 1:30:07 - September 17)
Motion: Adjournment of September 17, 2025 School Building Committee meeting. Outcome:Approved. Vote: Unanimous. (Timestamp: 28:29 - September 17)
Motion: Adjournment of September 17, 2025 School Committee meeting. Outcome:Approved. Vote: Unanimous. (Timestamp: 1:31:01 - September 17)
Motion: Approval of regional agreement amendments to admit Pembroke as 10th member town. Outcome: Approved. Vote: Unanimous (All nine member communities voted yes: Abington, Cohasset, Hanover, Hanson, Marshfield, Norwell, Rockland, Scituate, Whitman). (Timestamp: 36:22 - October 7)
Motion: Adjournment of October 7, 2025 Special School Committee meeting. Outcome:Approved. Vote: Unanimous. (Timestamp: 37:50 - October 7)
Motion: Approval of September 17, 2025 School Building Committee meeting minutes. Outcome: Approved. Vote: Unanimous. (Timestamp: 1:41 - October 16)
Motion: Approval of LeftField, DRA Architects, and Suffolk Construction invoices totaling $971,931. Outcome: Approved. Vote:Unanimous. (Timestamp: 10:40 - October 16)
Motion: Adjournment of October 16, 2025 School Building Committee meeting. Outcome:Approved. Vote: Unanimous. (Timestamp: 19:13 - October 16)
Motion: Approval of September 17, 2025 School Committee meeting minutes. Outcome:Approved. Vote: Unanimous. (Timestamp: 29:08 - October 16)
Motion: Acceptance of Finance Director’s report for September 2025. Outcome: Approved. Vote: Unanimous. (Timestamp: 31:26 - October 16)
Motion: Approval of revised admissions policy (second reading). Outcome: Approved. Vote:8-1 (Norwell voted no). (Timestamp: 38:45 - October 16)
Motion: Acceptance of donation to Metal Fabrication/Welding and MET programs. Outcome: Approved. Vote: Unanimous. (Timestamp: 41:11 - October 16)
Motion: Approval of Superintendent’s annual goals for 2025-2026. Outcome: Approved. Vote: Unanimous. (Timestamp: 41:54 - October 16)
Motion: Adjournment of October 16, 2025 School Committee meeting. Outcome:Approved. Vote: Unanimous. (Timestamp: 42:48 - October 16)
Public Comment
No members of the public provided comment at any of the three meetings in September and October.
What’s Next
Pembroke will vote on the regional agreement at its fall town meeting on October 21, 2025, with Superintendent Dr. Hickey planning to attend. If approved, all nine current member towns will consider warrant articles on the regional agreement amendment at their spring 2026 town meetings between April and May, with at least six towns needing to approve. Pembroke voters would then face two ballot questions in spring 2026: a Proposition 2½ debt exclusion for construction costs and a Proposition 2½ operational override for operating expenses. The Commissioner of Education must provide final approval by December 31, 2026 for Pembroke’s admission to proceed. The school’s annual open house and application launch will take place Saturday, October 25, 2025 from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m., with applications remaining open until January 16, 2026. The Conservation Commission will hold a second hearing on October 29, 2025. An abutters meeting is scheduled for October 30, 2025 at 6 p.m. at the school. The Planning Board will hold its first meeting on the project on November 3, 2025. Test pits for the septic system will be conducted with DEP present two weeks after October 16 (approximately October 30). The precast design-assist bid package will be issued by the end of October 2025. The 60% complete construction documents will be delivered to cost estimators in early November 2025. The annual fall advisory meeting will be held Wednesday, November 5, 2025 at 6 p.m. The FFA chapter will compete at the National FFA Convention in Indianapolis beginning October 28, 2025. The National Honor Society Trunk or Treat event will be held October 26, 2025 at the school. Treasurer Jim Coughlin will present the Chapter 70 reimbursement calculation and refund amounts to member towns at the November school committee meeting. The district will proceed with a $9 million bond borrowing as a six-month note through June 2026.
Full meetings available via South Shore Tech’s YouTube. September 17, October 7, and October 16.