Town Edition
Plymouth County
Whitman, Massachusetts
In 1886 the people of South Abington stood up at a town meeting and voted to change their own town’s name to Whitman. Their descendants still settle the biggest questions the same way, in rooms any registered voter here can walk into. On May 16, 2026, 1,347 residents cast ballots, and one question on that paper, a debt exclusion for the South Shore Technical school building project, came up 93 votes short: 618 yes to 711 no. Three days later the Town Administrator told the Select Board what that meant, that a projected payment of about $1.093 million in fiscal 2028 would have to come out of the general fund unless a future election said otherwise. Ninety-three votes, in a town of 15,121 people. This guide shows you how to be one of them.
Whitman at a Glance
Sources: Massachusetts DESE, school and district profiles · US Census Bureau (data.census.gov).
- County: Plymouth. Whitman covers 6.9 square miles between Brockton on the west and Hanson on the southeast, with Abington to the north, Rockland to the northeast and East Bridgewater to the south. The town was incorporated as South Abington in 1875 and took the name Whitman in 1886.
- Government: open Town Meeting, with an elected five-member Select Board and an appointed Town Administrator, Mary Beth Carter.
- Schools: Whitman does not run a school district of its own. It shares the Whitman-Hanson Regional School District with the town of Hanson. About 3,423 students attend across both towns, led by Interim Superintendent Dr. John Marcus.
How Whitman’s Government Works
Whitman runs on an open Town Meeting, which means there are no elected Town Meeting members at all: every registered voter in Whitman is a member, and any of them can walk in, speak, and vote on the budget. Voters also elect a 5 member Select Board to set policy between meetings, and they elect Whitman’s share of the School Committee that oversees the regional schools. The Select Board hires a professional Town Administrator to run the town day to day. So the money is voted by whoever shows up, the direction is set by the Select Board, and the daily work is carried out by the Town Administrator.
Town Meeting
The legislative body, and it is not a committee. Every registered voter in Whitman is a member. Town Meeting adopts the annual budget, passes town bylaws, and approves major spending. This is direct democracy in its literal sense.
Select Board
5 members elected town-wide. They set policy, sign the warrants that decide what reaches Town Meeting, appoint residents to many town boards, and hire and supervise the Town Administrator.
Town Administrator
The appointed chief administrator. Runs the departments, builds the budget, and answers to the Select Board. Hired under contract, not elected.
School Committee
10 members, elected by the voters of the two towns the district serves. Whitman fills six of the seats and Hanson fills four. It sets school policy, approves the school budget, and hires the Superintendent.
- Residents elect the 5 members of the Select Board and Whitman’s six seats on the regional School Committee.
- The Select Board hires the Town Administrator and decides what goes on the Town Meeting warrant.
- Town Meeting votes the budget and the bylaws, and every registered voter present can vote.
- You take part: register at 16, vote at 18, and once you are registered you are already a member of Town Meeting.
Civic Calendar
- Annual Town Meeting: the first Monday in May, at Town Hall, 54 South Avenue. In 2026 that was May 4. The meeting is run by an elected Town Moderator, Michael G. Seele, who was elected to a three year term on May 16, 2026.
- Annual Town Election: the third Saturday in May, also at Town Hall. In 2026 that was May 16, when 1,347 residents cast ballots.
- Select Board: meets about twice a month, usually on Tuesday evenings, with the agenda posted in advance on the town’s Agenda Center.
- State and federal elections: even-numbered years, with the primary in September and the general in November.
Explore the Whitman Edition
- Town Administrator’s OfficeThe town’s chief administrator
- Select BoardYour five board members
- School CommitteeSuperintendent & committee
- Town DepartmentsWho does what at Town Hall
- Boards & CommissionsWhere residents serve
- LegislatorsYour voice in Boston & D.C.
- Whitman HistoryTacks, shoes, and the Toll House
- DemographicsWho lives in Whitman
- Non-ProfitsCommunity organizations
- Student DataWhitman-Hanson district by the numbers
Your County Officials
Two of the people with the most direct power over your life are elected countywide. The district attorney decides who gets charged with a crime, and what they get charged with. The sheriff runs the county jail. Both of them answer to the voters of Plymouth County, and that includes Whitman. They appear on your ballot. Now you know what to look for.
Every county in Massachusetts elects its own, and the job is the same everywhere: the charging decisions, the jail. Look up any town in the state and see who holds these two offices there.
Your First Civic Action in Whitman
You do not have to wait until you can vote to be heard in your own town. Here is how to take a real concern to the people who decide.
- Pick the right body. Town policy, roads, and police or fire go to the Select Board. Schools go to the Whitman-Hanson Regional School Committee, which answers to Whitman and Hanson together. The budget and the bylaws are voted by Town Meeting.
- Find the meeting. The Select Board meets about twice a month, usually on a Tuesday evening at Town Hall, 54 South Avenue, and every agenda and set of minutes is posted on the town’s Agenda Center.
- Know your members. All five Select Board members are elected town-wide, so every one of them answers to every Whitman voter.
- Speak. Whitman Select Board meetings open with a public forum, and the approved minutes record residents by name and by street. Check the agenda for how it is run.
- Or skip the trip. Report a pothole, a broken light, or a water or sewer problem to the Department of Public Works, which is the department that owns the repair.
- Town Hall: 54 South Avenue, Whitman, MA 02382. Main number 781-618-9700, Select Board office 781-618-9701.
- Town Clerk & agendas: 781-618-9710, with meeting agendas and minutes posted at whitman-ma.gov.
- Public schools: the Whitman-Hanson Regional School District, 610 Franklin Street, 781-618-7000, whrsd.org.
Local government works best when residents show up. Find your Select Board, speak at a meeting on the town’s published calendar, or simply register to vote and take your seat at Town Meeting.