Massachusetts
Closed state prison reopened as migrant shelter spurs concern about schooling in a Massachusetts town – The Boston Globe
Norfolk Superintendent Ingrid Allardi said most of the children at the shelter are from Haiti and Venezuela.
She said she recognizes that the shelter is a “significant change for this community,” and acknowledged children from the shelter would have an influence on class sizes. Still, she assured parents that programs would “remain strong and rigorous.”
“We anticipate our schools operating as they always have,” she said.
More than 2,800 students were enrolled in district schools serving Norfolk during the 2023-2024 school year. As it stands, new shelter arrivals would represent roughly a one percent increase in the school population. However, as the shelter grows to full capacity, residents worry that the impact of additional enrollment would be amplified.
Benjamin Sprague, a father of two elementary-aged children, said having children from different cultures at school would have a positive influence on his own children. But he wished that the state would have communicated their plans for the shelter earlier.
“There’s got to be better ways we can do this, instead of putting all the stress on one single town,” Sprague, 42, said before the meeting. “How is one little town supposed to support all these people so they can be successful Americans?”
Some residents were not convinced that an influx of new students would not harm classroom instruction.
“All the time and effort that is needed to properly support our newcomers — that takes a lot of energy,” said Peter Svalbe, a member of the Norfolk School Committee who has two elementary school-age children. “How are we not distracting from our current student needs and preparing for this upcoming school year?”
He was met with applause.
Rich Drolet, superintendent for the King Philip Regional School District, said that the two districts will be hiring four more English Learner teachers, one who will teach at each of the four schools in the district. School leaders also said they had established a summer planning committee to develop educational plans, and that staff is undergoing specialized professional development training.
Last school year, Drolet said, King Philip enrolled 14 students who were living at a hotel in Plainville. “It was a positive experience, although it was challenging at first,” Drolet said. But, he added: “We certainly have concern and trepidation of getting such a large increase in this population of students.”
The situation in Norfolk illustrates the struggle various school systems across Massachusetts, including West Springfield Public Schools and Middleborough Public Schools, have contended with as groups of migrant children living in temporary housing have enrolled in local school districts. Some school officials say their systems lack the necessary means to support the increase in students.
In Norfolk, dozens of residents rallied against migrants being placed in their community when the facility reopened as a shelter. But others also showed support for the new arrivals, decorating “welcome banners” and voicing opposition to the housing of children in the former prison.
At the information session, some parents expressed gratitude to school staff for their preparation to welcome new and existing students. “Thank you to the teachers who are also opening their arms to everybody,” said parent Kristen Stacy.
Norfolk, a town of about 11,660 , is located roughly 30 miles southwest of Boston and has a median household income of more than $182,700, US census data shows — approximately $66,700 higher than the median household income in Norfolk County.
A Globe analysis of state data earlier this year found that relatively few wealthy communities host emergency shelters like the one at Bay State. The majority of these facilities are placed in middle-income towns and cities.
As of Wednesday, the Norfolk shelter housed 39 families, 129 individuals in total, according to Noah Bombard, a spokesperson for the Executive Office of Housing and Livable Communities. Eighteen elementary-aged children, eight high school-aged children, and six middle school-aged children were living at the site as of Wednesday, Bombard said. The state is contracting with Heading Home, an emergency shelter provider offering hundreds of family shelter units in the areas of Boston and Lawrence, to run the Norfolk facility.
For the 2023-2024 school year, Norfolk Public Schools had an enrollment of 1,041 students in the district’s two elementary schools, which serve students in prekindergarten through sixth grade. King Philip Regional School District, which also serves Plainville and Wrentham, enrolled 1,849 students at its middle school and high school during the last school year, according to state data.
Capacity at the Bay State shelter will expand gradually, Bombard said, and the timeline for reaching the population limit at the site depends on various factors, including demand. The state’s emergency shelter system reached Healey’s cap of 7,500 families months ago, and as of Wednesday, there were 731 families on the waitlist to access emergency shelter, Bombard said. Overflow sites like Bay State are offered as shelter to those on the waitlist, but not all families may choose to utilize them, according to the Executive Office of Housing and Livable Communities.
For months, dozens of migrant families, largely from Haiti, had been sleeping overnight at Boston’s Logan International Airport in Terminal E, where scenes of parents cradling their children on air mattresses set out on the floor became commonplace. But as of Tuesday, Healey’s ban on overnight stays at the airport went into effect, and the migrants disappeared from Logan.
Some are now housed at the Bay State facility in Norfolk, Bombard confirmed. Families staying at the Bay State shelter did not have any prior housing.
On Thursday afternoon, about half a dozen young children ran or rode bikes across a playground and soccer field, now set in front of the old correctional center. Still, they played behind a towering chain link fence that made it clear the facility was once a prison, though much of the barbed wire had been removed.
School officials said staff would begin screening and enrolling children from the shelter in August.
Jim Lehan, the chair of Norfolk’s Select Board, who also chairs the King Philip Regional School Committee, said in an interview on Wednesday that there have been conversations among school leaders about the possibility of enrolling children living at the shelter in schools outside districts serving Norfolk. But the decision would have to be made “out of the kindness of the neighboring community to take some of those students,” Lehan said, emphasizing that the state has made clear that they have no authority to force other districts to enroll children from the Norfolk shelter in their schools.
Giulia McDonnell Nieto del Rio can be reached at giulia.mcdnr@globe.com. Follow her @giulia.mcdnr.
Massachusetts
Governor files bill to cover pay, benefits for Chelmsford firefighter hurt in fall at Massachusetts Fire Academy
Governor Maura Healey said Wednesday that she has filed legislation to ensure that Chelmsford firefighter Nick Spinale will receive full pay and benefits while recovering from injuries he suffered during a 40-foot fall at the Massachusetts Firefighting Academy.
Spinale was nearly killed during the fall on April 7 at the academy in Stow. He suffered significant internal and external injuries, and had to learn to walk again at Spaulding Rehabilitation in Charlestown before being released.
Because Spinale was working as a part-time instructor for the state, and not on duty for Chelmsford Fire Department at the time of the fall, the town did not place him on injury leave. He had to use accrued paid sick time, while Chelmsford firefighters swapped shifts to make sure his job would be there when he is ready to return.
But on Wednesday, Healey announced that her legislation would ensure that he receives full pay and benefits, and also maintains his full-time position in Chelmsford while he recovers.
“Nicholas Spinale is a hero. Firefighters run into danger every day to keep people safe, and Nick went even further to lend his expertise to train the next generation of firefighters,” Healey said in a statement. “He suffered from a tragic, life-altering accident while doing this important work, and the last thing he needs is to worry about whether he will continue to be able to support himself and his family. This legislation will ensure that he receives the full pay and benefits that he deserves so that he can rightfully focus on his recovery.”
In a statement, the Professional Fire Fighters of Massachusetts urged the House and Senate to fast-track the legislation and get it to Healey’s desk so she can sign it.
Chelmsford Firefighters IAFF Local 1839 thanked the governor for drafting the legislation.
“This bill demonstrates that through collaborative efforts and challenging discussions, significant and equitable decisions can produce positive impacts for first responders throughout Massachusetts,” the union said.
Massachusetts
‘It’s maddening’: FIFA licensing delays threaten Massachusetts’ World Cup party plans – The Boston Globe
Without those approvals, municipalities cannot legally show the matches in public, leaving many local organizers frozen in place — unable to lock in vendors, rent giant screens, hire security, or recruit volunteers.
If the licenses do not come through soon, the vision of fans of diverse ethnicities and generations gathering in a rolling soccer party from one end of Massachusetts to another could fade before the first whistle at Gillette Stadium, on June 13.
“It’s maddening,” said Sandhya Iyer, economic development and tourism director for Lexington, which is planning a watch party at the lawn of the town’s visitors center. “The World Cup is right around the corner, but we can’t invite people to a celebration that might not happen.”
FIFA did not respond to multiple requests from The Boston Globe for comment on its licensing process.
The only two entities to receive FIFA licenses so far are the City of Cambridge and the MetroWest Tourism and Visitors Bureau, which is organizing events in Franklin and Marlborough, according to the state Executive Office of Economic Development, which has been helping local communities alongside Boston’s World Cup host committee. Officials in at least two municipalities, Framingham and Weymouth, have decided against holding World Cup watch parties due to concerns over security and costs.
Compounding the frustration, local planners say they have been unable to get clear answers — or even reach a real person — at FIFA. Instead, they are routed back to the organization’s online licensing portal, where they repeatedly encounter the same three words: “Application in Review.”
The licensing delays are just the latest manifestation of mounting frustration with FIFA, the Zurich-based organization that owns and runs the World Cup.
Chief among the concerns is ticket pricing, which for many fans has become prohibitively expensive. For the highly anticipated France-Norway match on June 26 at Gillette, remaining tickets range from $750 to $5,680 each.
Speaking at an event last week in Beverly Hills, Calif., FIFA president Gianni Infantino defended the ticket prices, saying they reflect demand to watch the World Cup as well as laws in the United States that allow tickets to be resold for thousands of dollars above face value. Tickets are available via resale platforms including FIFA’s own marketplace; last month four seats for the World Cup final at MetLife Stadium in New Jersey were listed at just under $2.3 million each.
Now FIFA — already accused of squeezing millions from soccer fans — is facing a new charge: acting like a party crasher, spoiling the festivities the World Cup is supposed to inspire.
“This is all wildly unconventional. It’s like being a month out from a big event and not having a venue,” said Greta Teller, a soccer marketing consultant from Roslindale who is assisting more than two dozen organizations statewide on World Cup festivities. “The frustration is that nobody can get a straight answer [from FIFA], and that makes planning really difficult.”
The community watch parties are anything but small undertakings.
While the events vary in size, they’re costly and labor-intensive to stage — one reason the Commonwealth is helping foot the bill. A single giant screen to broadcast the games during the tournament can run up to $100,000. Security, portable toilets, food vendors, signage, and trash removal can add tens of thousands more. And then there’s the FIFA public-viewing license itself, which can range from about $1,000 to $20,000 depending on expected crowd size.
In Easthampton, preparations for a five-day World Cup watch party that would coincide with a festival to celebrate the nation’s 250th birthday have been months in the making. The city has lined up a half-dozen food trucks, musical bands, two breweries and a local production company to operate the big screens and lighting at Millside Park. The event is expected to cost about $250,000; a $100,000 state grant will cover part of the expense, while the remaining $150,000 will come from private and in-kind donations, city officials said.
Mayor Salem Derby of Easthampton said many of those plans hinge on the yet-issued FIFA license. Until the license comes through, the city cannot finalize contracts with key vendors. And with Easthampton facing a projected $6.5 million budget deficit next fiscal year, Derby said officials are reluctant to spend money upfront without clear authorization to broadcast the games.
Derby called the FIFA licensing process “nerve-wracking,” adding, “You would think [the license] would be the easy part — that FIFA would want us to broadcast these games.”
That uncertainty is being felt elsewhere, including about 100 miles east in Lexington, where local planners envisioned a 10-day celebration on the spacious lawn at the town’s visitor center, with a beer garden, food trucks, two large screens, and soccer games for kids.
But two months after it submitted its application for a FIFA viewing license, Lexington’s plans are in limbo.
Iyer, the town’s economic development and tourism director, said she checks the FIFA website multiple times each day, hoping for any new information. Each time, the status is unchanged: “Application in Review.”
Now, town planners are exploring whether to scale back the festivities and have smaller watch parties at a movie theater or restaurants that already broadcast games and do not need a special FIFA license, Iyer said. “It’s hard to nail down specifics if we’re not even sure we can show the games,” she said.
In Lowell, the Revolutionary Valley Regional Tourism Council is finalizing plans for 14 watch parties around the city, with an expected $10 admission fee and capacity for tens of thousands of attendees. The group has already matched its $75,000 state grant and raised more than $200,000, but still needs about $400,000 more to meet its target.
Its initial FIFA license application, submitted in February, was rejected on March 10 because a full list of sponsors wasn’t yet in place, said council executive director Brian Bradbury. A second application was resubmitted in early May after most logistical details were finalized.
“We anticipated that it was going to be a quicker, smoother process, that it’s something that’s been done a million times and that they’d be able to give the license to us in a turnkey way,” said Bradbury. He said the initial license refusal was for “unnecessary” reasons.
“It is frustrating, and if we don’t have our license by next week, it’s going to be much more frustrating. We expected a quicker process.”
Even organizations that received FIFA licenses say the labyrinthine process and delays left them scrambling to finalize plans at the last minute.
MetroWest Boston Visitors Bureau is organizing a total of five free MetroWest Regional Fan Zones: three outdoor watch-party festivals in Marlborough June 11-13, and two in Franklin, June 24 and 25.
After filling out a relatively simple FIFA application form in mid-December, MetroWest did not receive its license until mid-April.
“The timeline was certainly more extended than we had hoped,” said Stacey David, MetroWest executive director, whose group received $120,000 from the state and is still trying to raise funds from the private sector to cover costs. “So now we’re crunched.”
Other grant awardees simply have their fingers crossed their licenses will come through.
Chelsea is planning one of the biggest watch parties in the state: 38 continuous days, 60-plus matches in Chelsea Square.
“That’s going to take us a lot of marketing, and the more time we have, the better it is,” said City Manager Fidel Maltez. “I think our team is trying to be respectful and appreciative but . . . we need this approval as soon as possible.”
Chris Serres can be reached at chris.serres@globe.com. Follow him @ChrisSerres. Michael Silverman can be reached at michael.silverman@globe.com. Laura Crimaldi can be reached at laura.crimaldi@globe.com. Follow her @lauracrimaldi.
Massachusetts
Dover Saddlery, Massachusetts-based equestrian retailer, announces store closures and potential layoffs
Dover Saddlery, an equestrian retailer based in Massachusetts, has announced multiple store closures and will potentially lay off more than 100 workers as it explores a sale.
The Littleton-based company said in a Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification Act filing that it’s preparing to let 112 workers go this July.
“Whether the layoffs or closures occur will depend in part on our success in obtaining funding or selling our business,” Dover Saddlery wrote in the notice.
Dover Saddlery sells saddles, blankets and other gear for horses, as well as boots and apparel for riders. WBZ-TV reached out to the company for comment but has not heard back.
Brothers Jim and David Powers opened the first Dover Saddlery store in Wellesley in 1975. A Facebook page for the store said it is closing soon, with sales of up to 20% off.
“Thank you for your support and loyalty over the years,” a message from the company said. “Serving you and your horse has truly been our privilege, and we’re grateful for the trust you’ve placed in us.”
Dover Saddlery has about three dozen stores nationwide. Stores in Connecticut, New York, Maryland, Illinois, Michigan and California are also set to close, according to social media posts.
In 2022, Dover Saddlery was acquired by Promus Equity Partners, a private equity firm, and said it was “positioned for growth according to a robust, strategic plan.” The company said last year it would be opening a new flagship store in Ocala, Florida at the World Equestrian Center in 2026.
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