Town Government
School Committee & Superintendent
Two Towns, One District
Whitman does not have a school district of its own. It shares one with Hanson, the town on its southeast border, and that single fact shapes almost everything about how school decisions get made here. The Whitman-Hanson Regional School District enrolls about 3,423 students from both towns, and every figure on this page and on the student data page describes the two towns together. None of them is a Whitman number.
It also means your ballot is only part of the picture. Ten people sit on the School Committee. Whitman voters elect six of them and Hanson voters elect four, so a budget that affects your school is settled by a body that only six-tenths of you had any say in choosing. That is the trade a regional district makes: one high school and a shared bus fleet for two towns that could not each afford their own, in exchange for a vote you share.
And Whitman belongs to a SECOND regional district. It is a member town of the South Shore Regional School District, the vocational technical district, which keeps its own committee and its own ballot: the town has held district elections for it, and its building project was Question 1 on the May 16, 2026 town ballot. A Whitman student choosing between the regional high school and the vocational school is choosing between two districts their town helps govern.
The Superintendent
Dr. John Marcus
About 3,423 students across Whitman and Hanson start their day in this district, and one person answers for all of it. Dr. John Marcus is the Interim Superintendent of Schools, proposing the district budget, setting academic priorities, and running the schools day to day. The Superintendent is hired by and reports to the elected School Committee, which carries out the evaluation. Because the district is regional, that committee answers to two towns at once, and the budget it approves has to be funded by two separate Town Meetings.
| Role | Interim Superintendent of Schools |
|---|---|
| District office | 610 Franklin Street, Whitman, MA 02382 |
| Phone | 781-618-7000 |
| Website | whrsd.org |
The School Committee
The Whitman-Hanson Regional School Committee has ten members serving staggered three-year terms, six of them elected by Whitman voters and four by Hanson voters. The committee sets district policy, approves the district budget, and hires and evaluates the Superintendent. It meets about twice a month on Wednesday evenings, and the meetings are public, which means a Whitman student who shows up can speak. Each seat below is labelled with the town that elects it.
Ryan Tressel
Thomas Roffey
Steven Bois
Beth Stafford
Rosemary Hill
Stephanie Blackman
Christopher Marks
Hillary Kniffen
Glen DiGravio
Warren MacCallum
Roster, roles and towns read from each member’s own page at whrsd.org. The committee’s officers are chosen by the committee itself, not by either town’s ballot.
The District at a Glance
- Enrollment: 3,423 students, PreK through 12, across Whitman and Hanson.
- High school: Whitman-Hanson Regional High School, at 600 Franklin Street in Whitman, shared by both towns.
- Graduation rate: 88.9 percent, district-wide.
- State data: DESE profile (code 07800000).
Meetings & Participation
- When: about twice a month on Wednesday evenings, with agendas and minutes posted on the district website.
- Public comment: residents of both towns may address the committee. Check the agenda for sign-up details.
- Watch: meetings are carried by WHCA, the community access station for Whitman and Hanson.
- Subcommittees: much of the detailed work on budget, policy, operations and the regional agreement happens in subcommittees, and their membership is listed on each member’s page.
Curious how a bill becomes law, or how students can take on a civics project?