Haverhill

Podcast: Riding with MeVa Regional Bus Regulars and Driver Larry Corcoran

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(Additional photograph below.) The sky is still dark when Larry Corcoran, a bus driver for Merrimack Valley Transit, starts his route outbound from Haverhill at six a.m. For the few who ride this early in the morning, the transportation is essential. When MeVa leaders went before state lawmakers to request more money early this month, Chief Communications Officer Niorka Mendez said, for some of the people they serve, “This is the only way to get to food access, to get to medical care—even in the social aspect of visiting friends. On the bus, as a bus driver, I used to talk to them, and maybe we are the only people they talk to during the whole day. They don’t have a family member to talk to or vent [to].”

Corcoran, the most senior MeVa driver, said his job requires multitasking. He has to be “an expert motor vehicle operator, and also a personality.

Education

House Ways and Means Committee Budget Boosts Haverhill’s Allocation of State Education Aid

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While it won’t plug a looming revenue shortfall, Haverhill could receive $5.3 million more in state education aid over last year if the House Ways and Means Committee gets its way. The House last week proposed a formula that would give Haverhill $88 million in so-called Chapter 70 aid compared with $82.6 million in the current year. The amount is also $131,664 more than Gov. Maura T. Healey proposed in her draft budget. “Changing our state education formula when I joined the House in 2017 was my top priority,” said Rep. Andy X. Vargas in response to questions from WHAV. “Passing the Student Opportunity Act was a herculean effort by many.

Haverhill

Haverhill Train Station to Close to Downtown Commuters; Officials to Receive Secret MBTA Briefing

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Beginning this summer, a bridge replacement project will surprisingly and inexplicably close the downtown Haverhill station to commuter rail passengers, yet leaving it open for Amtrak Downeaster passengers. Starting “tentatively” in mid-July and continuing for 10 to 12 months, those who usually board the commuter rail in Haverhill must get on at the Bradford station instead, according to a letter from the Massachusetts Bay Transit Authority—or MBTA—to the city. The letter explains, as WHAV reported first in 2022, the diversion is due to the replacement of the South Elm Street bridge originally built in 1906. The downtown parking lot will remain open. “The project understands that a request has been made for the MBTA to provide alternative service between Haverhill and Bradford stations during the construction of the South Elm Street bridge replacement project,” the letter continued.

Haverhill

Haverhill Boys & Girls Club Signs Purchase Agreement for 6.5-Acre Site Near I-495 and Broadway

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(Additional photographs below.) The Boys & Girls Club of Greater Haverhill is moving ahead with plans to buy and develop a 6.5-acre parcel at the corner of Monument Street and Broadway near Interstate 495. Executive Director Javier Bristol told WHAV Friday the Club signed a purchase and sale agreement, following the withdrawal of a competing housing applicant for the state-owned parcel. Both applicants bid $855,000 for the land. WHAV exclusively reported the proposal Feb. 23.

Education

Haverhill Schools Highly Rank Early Literacy Program Despite Cost During Expected Tight Year

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While the Haverhill district grapples with potential cuts, public school officials made the case last week to include a new early literacy program in the budget. With the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education requiring lower-income districts to demonstrate how they will improve outcomes with state aid, Superintendent Margaret Marotta said of “Wit & Wisdom,” “that’s our most pressing lever for change.”

With a projected $10.7 million deficit next year, Chief of Teaching, Learning and Leading Bonnie Antkowiak told School Committee members it would cost an additional $421,000 to adopt the program districtwide, $260,000 plus professional development for kindergarten to second grade and $138,000 plus professional development for third to fifth grade. Marotta added they could roll it out over three years, spreading out costs. Marotta called “Wit & Wisdom” the district’s “priority among priorities.” The committee motioned, in the words of member Richard J. Rosa to “approve this presentation we received tonight about our student opportunity act money as our priority for the Haverhill public schools.”

While Marotta said the district has already invested heavily in four of the five areas detailed in the 2019 Student Opportunity Act, they still need to work on a “comprehensive approach to early literacy.”

“We are really looking to improve our early literacy programs and our early literacy scores,” she said. As WHAV reported, teachers who have piloted “Wit & Wisdom” spoke favorably of the program at a school committee meeting in late January.

Community Spotlight

Officials, Advocates to Discuss Lead Poisoning at April 24 Panel Discussion in Haverhill

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State Rep. Andy X. Vargas, journalist Dan Kennedy and health advocates will discuss the problems posed by lead during a panel discussion next week in Haverhill hosted by Lead Free MA. Lead Free founder Andrea Watson, one of the speakers, left Flint, Mich. for Massachusetts after the 2016 water crisis. The city’s drinking water became tainted with lead, prompting then-President Barack Obama to declare a state of emergency. Watson said she was personally affected.

Haverhill

Haverhill Receives $2.4 Million Federal Grant to Remove Lead Paint From Homes

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Haverhill seeks to remove lead paint from at least 75 homes over the next three years thanks to receipt of a more than $2.4 million federal grant—the only such grant in New England and the largest nationwide. Mayor Melinda E. Barrett, during an appearance on WHAV last week, explained the importance of the award from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. “Lead Hazard Reduction Grant—it’s a whopper and it’ll impact families and households in the community. We have really old housing stock,” she said. In a statement Wednesday, the mayor said priority will be given to homes with court-ordered deleading because of the presence of a child with elevated lead blood levels, units with children having levels of greater than 3.5 micrograms per deciliter, units where at least one child under six lives or spends a significant amount of time visiting, buildings of two to four units with two or more bedrooms and housing in attics/basements where lead-based paint is more prevalent.

Education

Haverhill Schools Won’t Accept Out-of-District Students; Marotta Explains How Enrollment Shifts

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Citing a lack of space, Haverhill Public Schools will not allow out-of-district students to attend this coming year. According to Superintendent Margaret Marotta, the school board also voted no to inter-district school choice in the past several years for similar reasons. Asked by member Yonnie Collins if there might be capacity this time, Marotta explained how enrollment starts misleadingly low, then quickly grows. “Generally, in the summer, we have some space in our classrooms, but we receive kids all school year long, and we particularly have a big bump of kids, oftentimes in early October, and in January as well,” she said. Due to families arriving from the Dominican Republic in early October—Marotta speculated flights become a little cheaper then—and a “big influx” of people moving in January, Marotta said class sizes swell.