Home Care In Hopkinton, MA

HOPKINTON — Voters at Special Town Meeting this week overwhelmingly approved a $158.4 million plan to construct a new Elmwood Elementary School.

Monday's 622-241 vote easily cleared the two-thirds majority required. The plan now heads to a special election on Nov. 28, where a simple majority for approval is needed to move the effort forward.

The new school building, which would house grades 2-4, would replace the existing Elmwood Elementary, which serves just second and third graders. The Massachusetts School Building Authority (MSBA) is set to reimburse the town up to $61.5 million for the project; the town will then contribute $91.2 million over the course of the project's 30-year borrowing period.

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The project has been in the works for a while, with the first statement of interest submitted to the MSBA in 2007. The project was accepted into the MSBA new school building project in 2021.

On Aug. 23, the Hopkinton Select Board voted 4-0-1 on the $158.4 million budget recommendation for the new school. Chair Muriel Kramer abstained, raising concerns about the increase in property taxes and its effects on Hopkinton residents.

New Hopkinton school will keep up with growing population

The new Elmwood building is designed to house up to 1,195 students in grades 2-4. The current school building, at 14 Elm St., was opened in 1965 and was most recently renovated in 2006, according to the MSBA website.

But since that last renovation, Hopkinton's population has increased sharply. The number of residents in town grew by nearly 26% — from 14,925 to 18,758 — from 2010-20, according to the U.S. Census. That far exceeded state and national growth, both of which were 7.4%, while Middlesex County grew by 8.6%.

Booming growth:Census finds Hopkinton had one of the state's biggest population surges

Hopkinton reported 4,163 students in its public school system during the 2022-23 academic year, including 627 at Elmwood. Just three years earlier, Hopkinton's total enrollment was 3,862 students, with 557 of them at Elmwood, according to state enrollment data.

Jon Graziano, chair of the Elementary School Building Committee, said previously that adding fourth graders to the new Elmwood provides a "relief valve" for the district.

How will the project affect taxes?

The average single-family home in Hopkinton is assessed at $852,400, meaning a typical Hopkinton homeowner would pay an additional $945 — a roughly 8% increase — in property taxes during the peak year of borrowing. The approval also includes a $10.1 million contingency plan to protect homeowners if unexpected costs come out of the project.

Over the past few months, the town's contribution to the project was reduced after the MSBA voted to increase its share.

Homeowners were originally slated to pay between $106 million and $108 million, which would have led to an additional $1,100 to $1,200 per year on property taxes for the typical Hopkinton homeowner.

What happens next?

The project now goes to a special election on Nov. 28. Should the proposal win a simple majority at that time, the project's design development is scheduled to begin in December and end next April.

Construction is tentatively scheduled to occur between June 2025 and December 2027 at a site chosen by the School Building Committee, immediately adjacent to the Marathon Elementary School.

A tentative move-in date is set for January 2028.

Voters in all precincts vote at the Hopkinton Middle School Gym at 88 Hayden Rowe St.

Town Manager Norman Khumalo and Town Clerk Connor Degan are pleased to report that the Town of Hopkinton will utilize time-saving electronic voting for the first time at Special Town Meeting later this month.

When residents vote yea or nay on Nov. 13, there will be no more delays for manual hand counting of votes. The town has contracted with Meridia Interactive Solutions to provide Audience Response System Keypads for all voters. The easy-to-use keypads feature: Accessibility: Voters will no longer have to stand during lengthy hand-counted votes. Additionally, each clicker has color-coded tactile Yes/No buttons with no touchscreens or confusing navigation menus. Voters with visual impairments who require a device with Braille can contact the Town Clerk's office (508-497-9710) or Town Manager's office (508-497-9701) prior to the Special Town Meeting to make arrangements for a specialized device.

Anonymity: The clickers do not have logins, usernames or passwords. All devices are auto-configured and only given to voters at check-in. Votes are completely anonymous.

Security: The Audience Response System Keypads are not connected to the internet and communicate with a base station via a secure wireless frequency.

"The Meridia voting clickers will enable our Town Meeting voters to have confidence that their votes will be counted and that their valuable time will be well-spent on meetings and votes that are quick, efficient and accurate," explains Town Clerk Degan. "By turning to a system that is trusted by dozens of other Town Meetings, Hopkinton will be implementing an easy-to-use system that will allow us to run better meetings and take more accurate vote counts."

The same Meridia system is being used by more than 60 other Massachusetts municipalities and Town Meetings including Bellingham, Berlin, Boylston, Carlisle, Concord, Dedham, Grafton, Lee, Leicester, Littleton, Mendon, Medway, Rehoboth, Rutland, Stow, Sterling, Sturbridge, Sudbury, Wenham and Uxbridge. It is also used for voting by the U.S. House of Representatives and the New Hampshire General Court.

The technology is endorsed by the Massachusetts Town Clerks Association and the New England Association of City and Town Clerks.

The Town Clerk's office will have two open office hour demonstrations of the clickers: Monday, Nov. 6 at 2 p.m., Hopkinton Senior Center, 28 Mayhew St. Tuesday, Nov. 7 at 5 p.m. at Town Hall, 18 Main St. For more information, visit the Meridia webpage dedicated to New England Town Meetings at following link: https://www.meridiaars.com/electronic-voting-system-in-massachusetts-to…

HOPKINTON — Construction of a new Elmwood Elementary School is set to move forward after voters on Tuesday approved the $158.4 million project at the polls.

Voters approved the project, 995-634, with two blank ballots, according to unofficial results sent by Town Clerk Connor Degan. The 1,631 ballots cast represent 12.3% of the town's 13,208 registered voters.

The project needed a simple majority at the polls after achieving the necessary two-thirds approval at the Nov. 13 Town Meeting, which it easily cleared, 622-241.

The new school building, which would house grades 2-4, would replace the existing Elmwood School, which serves just second and third graders. The Massachusetts School Building Authority (MSBA) is set to reimburse the town up to $61.5 million for the project; the town will then contribute $91.2 million over the course of the project's 30-year borrowing period.

Plans for a new school have been in the works for more than 15 years, with the first statement of interest submitted to the MSBA in 2007. The project was accepted into the MSBA new school building project in 2021.

On Aug. 23, the Select Board voted 4-0-1 on the new school's $158.4 million budget recommendation. Chair Muriel Kramer abstained, raising concerns about the increase in property taxes and its effects on residents.

Hopkinton's new school will keep up with growing population

The new Elmwood building is designed to house up to 1,195 students. The current school building, at 14 Elm St., was opened in 1965 and was most recently renovated in 2006, according to the MSBA website.

But since that last renovation, Hopkinton's population has increased sharply. The number of residents in town grew by nearly 26% — from 14,925 to 18,758 — from 2010-20, according to the U.S. Census. That far exceeded state and national growth, both of which were 7.4%, while Middlesex County grew by 8.6%.

'A great place to be':Hopkinton saw one of the biggest population surges in the state

Hopkinton reported 4,163 students in its public school system during the 2022-23 academic year, including 627 at Elmwood. Just three years earlier, Hopkinton's total enrollment was 3,862 students, with 557 of them at Elmwood, according to state enrollment data.

Jon Graziano, chair of the Elementary School Building Committee, said previously that adding fourth graders to the new Elmwood provides a "relief valve" for the district.

How will the project affect taxes?

The average single-family home in Hopkinton is assessed at $852,400, meaning a typical Hopkinton homeowner would pay an additional $945 — a roughly 8% increase from the town's average property tax bill of $11,196 — in property taxes during the peak year of borrowing. The approval also includes a $10.1 million contingency plan to protect homeowners if unexpected costs come out of the project.

The town's contribution to the project was reduced in the past few months after the MSBA voted to increase its share.

Homeowners were originally slated to pay between $106 million and $108 million, which would have led to an additional $1,100 to $1,200 per year on property taxes for the typical Hopkinton homeowner.

What happens now?

Design development is scheduled to begin in December and end in April.

Construction is tentatively scheduled to occur between June 2025 and December 2027 at a site chosen by the School Building Committee, immediately adjacent to the Marathon Elementary School.

A tentative move-in date is set for January 2028.

Voters in all precincts voted Tuesday at the Hopkinton Middle School Gym at 88 Hayden Rowe St.

When it comes to the town of Hopkinton, there’s no better ambassador than Scott Mackin.

The 59-year-old has been an assistant coach with the Hopkinton football team since the 1970s. He also coaches unified basketball (and officiates the games), boys basketball and baseball. Even though he has significant intellectual disabilities that hamper his speech, his players understand him well, and his actions speak volumes to his tireless dedication in service to the community.

He extends his services to the Hopkinton fire department, police, Boston Marathon, and youth Parks and Recreation basketball camps.

Mackin has been coaching alongside Hopkinton’s unified and freshman boys basketball and baseball coach Jay Golden for 23 years, and Golden believes Mackin exemplifies commitment and teamwork at every game and practice. He is the first person to show up for practices and the last to leave and ensures nothing is left behind, especially the medical kit or the water bottles.

“Scott (offers) great support,” said Golden. “Not just athletically but emotionally to the kids, too. After a really tough practice or maybe a tough loss in a game, (the players) look over and see Scott, and Scott has a smile on his face, and it cheers the kids up and really boosts team morale. He really brings a lot to the team from the team-building perspective and kind of brings everybody together.”

“It makes me happy,” Mackin said. “I say, ‘You’d better win for me!’ (and) ‘Do you have good news for me?’ ”

During basketball games, he greets players coming off the bench and creates his own charts to show the team at halftime. For varsity games, he sits in the first row of the bleachers across from the bench and gives hand signals to the head coach, Tom Keane. In the spring, he chats with freshman baseball players to keep them engaged in the dugout.

Mackin’s connection with Hopkinton High ripples beyond the athletes. Stop by Hopkinton home football games, and you’ll see him walk over from the sideline to fire up the student section with his signature “roller coaster” wave.

“No exaggeration, there’s hundreds of kids in the student section,” said Golden, a PA announcer for several years. “So, they’re all dressed up and their faces are painted, and he’s got them eating out of the palm of his hands. He’s pointing this way and they go this way … and they’re chanting his name. He brings so much positive energy, not only to the game but to the whole atmosphere of what’s going on, too. And there’s not one kid in the entire school that does not know his name.”

Because Mackin cares, countless others care for him. In 2003, after a foul ball grazed Mackin’s head, umpire Jeff Merzel and his sons Dan (a player at the time but now an MLB umpire) and Adam made him a helmet, which he still puts to use.

Mackin is well-known among parents, Hopkinton alumni and opposing coaches as well.

“Anywhere we go,” his mother, June, said. “Not just in town. Other towns. There is always somebody that comes up and talks to us.”

Perhaps nothing represents Mackin’s lasting impact on the Hopkinton community better than when Golden chose him as a group leader on a senior class trip to a Red Sox game at Fenway Park in 2022. The Sox invited the group leaders onto the field to stand behind home plate and appear on the Jumbotron.

Imagine their surprise when they heard someone behind them calling out Mackin’s name.

“I had a player on my freshman basketball team in 2009 named Ryan Bohlin,” Golden said. “Ryan was one of those players that not only became very close to Scott but has kept that connection over the years. We turn around, and Ryan and his girlfriend are in the front row waving to Scott. Ryan had been out of high school for 10 years. They made all this effort just to see Scott, and so I think that is the best testament to the effect that Scott has on our student-athletes in Hopkinton.”

Mackin is a thriving example of how athletes and coaches living full lives with disabilities aren’t defined by their disabilities. They offer profound value and talent to the sports industry and their community at large. Embracing inclusion helps reveal everyone’s gifts to the game.

The Hopkinton Department of Public Works on Monday shared that the Fruit Street bridge over the MBTA tracks and Sudbury River is to be reopened later this month, citing an update from the Massachusetts Department of Transportation.

MassDOT indicated that removal of the 250-foot utility bridge is scheduled for this weekend. Following the completion of disassembly, safety fencing and other tasks, the bridge will reopen.

In mid-November, MassDOT shared that most of the curbing, sidewalk and guardrails were complete, with paving of the intermediate course taking place Nov. 21.

The bridge was closed to all vehicular traffic in February 2022. Work initially was projected to last about a year. The estimated finishing date was pushed back to the spring and then the fall due to “an unforeseen design issue that resulted from the depth of existing bedrock on which the piles are founded,” explained MassDOT spokesperson Judith Reardon-Riley.

The second bridge on Fruit Street, which spans I-495, also is being reconstructed, but it has been open to alternating one-way traffic.

The work is part of the I-90/I-495 Interchange Improvement Project.

Good morning, Hopkinton! Welcome to the daily update we call Hopkinton Today — a quick recap of yesterday’s news, highlights of what’s on tap, and a photo of the day.

Town Manager Norman Khumalo announced Monday that he will be leaving his job as Hopkinton’s town manager after nearly 15 years. In a public relations statement from the town, he announced that he is retiring in early 2024 after more than 30 years in municipal service to take a leadership position with a multinational sustainable energy company.

The Hopkinton Department of Public Works on Monday shared that the Fruit Street bridge over the MBTA tracks and Sudbury River is to be reopened later this month, citing an update from the Massachusetts Department of Transportation.

At its meeting Tuesday, the Select Board will consider granting a common victualer’s license for a Domino’s pizza restaurant in downtown Hopkinton. The establishment would be located on the main floor of 70 Main Street, which has been vacant since the closing of Old Town Liquors.

This week’s Senior Snippets includes information on programs including garden therapy, an iPhone/iPad tutorial and mental health literacy.

The Hopkinton Center for the Arts’ annual winter exhibition, titled “The Snowball Effect,” includes painted works, wreaths, quilts and more to celebrate the winter and holiday season. It runs until Dec. 18 in the Lotvin Family Gallery.

Town meetings tonight include the Select Board (6), Conservation Commission (7) and Historical Commission (7).

Photo of the Day: The Doughboy statue stands tall on a recent day.

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