School Week: Belmont High School Ranked In Top Two Percent of US Public High Schools

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Photo: Belmont High School

The cliché about Belmont is that you don’t come for the roads, you come for the schools.

That saying was reinforced last week when US News & World Reports announced the 2023-2024 Best High Schools rankings and Belmont High School was rated the 290th public high school in the US out of nearly 18,000 schools in the country on its performance on state-required tests, graduation and how well they prepare students for college.

In the four ranking categories compiled by USN&WR, Belmont High School is:

When all the numbers were crunched, Belmont High’s overall percentage “scorecard” is 98.36 out of 100, with the school in the top two percent of high schools in the country.

“Having access to a strong high school program is paramount for students as they face an ever-changing world,” says Liana Loewus, managing editor of education at U.S. News. “Making data on our high schools available helps parents ensure their child is in the educational environment that best sets them up to thrive.”

The highest ranked public schools in the 2023-2024 Best High Schools national rankings are those whose students achieved exceptional scores on state assessments for math, reading and science. These schools also had strong underserved student performance, college readiness and curriculum breadth, as well as graduation rates.

“It’s a great honor to be on that list. I think that it is a reflection of the strength of Belmont,” said the recently appointed Belmont Schools Superintendent Dr. Jill Geiser.

While Geiser looks at the rarified ranking as an accolade, it’s not the district’s only metric to measure “how our students are doing.” But it is still “a reflection of the strength of Belmont public schools.”

The statistics of students at Belmont High include:

  • 70 percent took at least one AP® Exam
  • 65 percent passed at least one AP® Exam
  • 88 percent were Mathematics Proficiency
  • 89 percent were Reading Proficiency
  • 86 percent were Science Proficiency
  • a 100 percent graduation rate

US News used six ranking indicators and their weights to produce the overall score.

  • College Readiness: 30 percent. The proportions of 12th graders who took and earned a qualifying score on at least one AP or IB exam. Earning a qualifying score is worth three times more than just taking.
  • State Assessment Proficiency: 20 percent. Aggregated scores on state assessments that students may be required to pass for graduation.
  • State Assessment Performance: 20 percent. How aggregated scores on state assessments compare with U.S. News’ expectations given the proportions of students who are Black, Hispanic and from low-income households.
  • Underserved Student Performance: 10percent. Scores on state assessments aggregated just among students who are Black, Hispanic and from low-income households. These scores are compared with what is typical in the state for non-undeserved students, with parity or higher being the goal.
  • College Curriculum Breadth: 10 percent. The proportions of 12th graders who took and earned a qualifying score on AP and IB exams in multiple areas. More exams are valued more than fewer exams up to a maximum of four. Earning a qualifying score on an exam is worth three times more than taking.
  • Graduation Rate: 10 percent. The proportion of entering ninth graders who graduated four academic years later.

The final score involves summing each school’s weighted scores across the six indicators of school quality, then computed a single zero to 100 overall score reflective of a school’s performance across these metrics. The overall scores depict how well each school did on a national percentile basis. For example, a school with a score of 60 performed in the 60th percentile among all schools in the rankings.

While the US News annual High School rankings is a popular and anticipated – at least for those schools which find themselves rated highly each year – the rankings have come under increasing criticism, including that top performances are boosted by a student body that is richer and more homogeneous than their districts or in general.

An article published in the Oct. 2021 in the online publication Degreechoices, Bob Schaeffer, executive director of The National Center for Fair and Open Testing, said:

“By relying almost exclusively on school rating factors that strongly correlate with family wealth, U.S. News guarantees that schools serving relatively affluent student bodies will rank at the top of its lists. In addition, the magazine’s formula assumes that standardized test scores are a fair and accurate measure of academic performance, rather than a narrow snapshot of one set of skills.  It is similar to trying to rank basketball teams based on their players’ free throw shooting percentages. Like most U.S News’ rankings schemes, this is another example of ‘Garbage in, garbage out’.”

A Second Bite: Select Board Seeks Residents View On Ending Civil Service For Police On Thursday

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Photo: Belmont Police Chief James MacIsaac

It’s a second bite at the apple as the Belmont Select Board will be holding a hybrid public meeting on Thursday, Sept. 7, to discuss whether or not the Belmont Police Department should end its relationship with the state’s Civil Service system.

The meeting will occur in the Select Board Conference Room in Town Hall at 7 p.m. Residents can attend via Zoom at this link.

The meeting marks a second attempt to end the police department’s relationship with the government agency designed to provide fairness in the public sector, in entry-level hiring, and promotions, including bypass in rank, demotions, layoffs, and discipline which includes suspensions and terminations.

Supporters of ending civil service, which included town officials, the Select Board, and the leaders of both fire and police departments, believe the town would see significant cost savings by ending a 108-year-old arcane system for hiring and promotions, replacing it with an efficiently run locally-focused practice. 

Opponents made up of the rank and file of Belmont Fire and Police and resident supporters said changes to civil service – such as altering age limits and increasing diversity in the number of candidates – can be made by changes to the existing language of the agreement.

The last time the issue came before a Town Meeting, an article removing civil service for Belmont’s Police and Fire departments was withdrawn by the Select Board minutes before it was to be presented before a contentious Special Town Meeting in September 2020.

Since then, issues with Civil Service requirements continue to plague hiring at the Police Department. In 2021, Police Chief James MacIsaac pointed to an inability to fill important entry posts for two years due to the limited number of candidates he could choose from. He also said he could bring a more diverse group of candidates to the hiring process outside of Civil Service.

While more than 130 cities and towns have accepted Civil Service, many communities have recently ended their relationship, including Lexington in 2019.

An Already Exciting 2023 Continues For Becca Pizzi After Ninth Edition Of Her Fundraising Race [VIDEO]

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Photo: Becca Pizzi at the road race she has held for the past nine years

It would already be an eventful year for Belmont’s best known runner, Becca Pizzi. It’s only going to get more existing in the next two months.

The two time champion of the World Marathon Challenge began the year coaching one of Boston’s greatest pro-athletes, former Boston Bruin captain Zdeno Chára, to race his first BAA Marathon in April.

Under her tutalage and running with her in the race, the 6-foot, nine-inch retired Bruin and the 5-foot, two inch Belmontian crossed the finish line hand-in-hand in 3 hours, 38 minutes and 23 seconds.

Being on the front of the sports pages worldwide would be enough for most runners to brag about; a month later – seemingly on a dare – Pizzi entered her first ultra-marathon, a 50-kilometer race in western Massachusetts. Up against veterans in the event, the first-timer won the race outright with a winning time of 3:59:11, smashing the women’s course record by 35 minutes and was the 24th-fastest 50K performance by a woman in the United States.

“It’s still great to win at 43 years old,” she said.

It was these accomplishments that Pizzi brought to Belmont on Aug. 27 as she hosted the 9th edition of the Becca Pizzi 5K road race, a fundraiser to support student scholarships and athletic material. Under wonderful conditions, nearly 360 runners took part in the 3.1 miles race from Harris Field to the Winn Brook School and back.

Nate Jackson cruised to a convincing victory in 15 minutes and 49 seconds. Finishing runner-up was All-American championship runner from his time at Belmont High. Victor Gras still holds every distance record at Belmont High School and won numerous state titles from the early 2000s traveled from New York City where he’s a senior vice president for a really cool company, YouGov, and finished in 17:17. Shannon Bueker took home the female title with a time of 18:32, edging out Haily Desmarais who came in at 18:56.

“It was an awesome day. The community shows up so hard. It’s just a great way to give back [to the community],” said Pizzi.

And there’s more to come for Pizzi in 2023. Later this month, Pizzi will travel to Wyoming to participate in the Jackson Hole Marathon on Sept. 23, completing her goal of running 50 marathons in 50 states.

“It’s been a ten-year journey; five marathons a year. I got serious about it two years ago,” said Pizzi. “It’s an incredible way to see the US.”

Just three weeks later, on Saturday, Oct. 14, Pizzi will participate in the ultimate triathlon in the world, the 2023 Ironman World Championship Women’s Race in Kailua Kona, Hawaii. Pizzi was honored by receiving one of a handful of non-qualifying slots in the famous swim-cycling-running race that covers a total of 140.6 miles.

While a great runner and a good cyclist, getting ready for a 2.4 mile ocean swim has been daunting for Pizzi.

“Not really,” Pizzi said about her swimming attributes. “I’m going to Walden Pond because you can’t train for this in a pool.”

What’s Open, Closed On Labor Day In Belmont/ Trash,Recycling Pickup Delayed A Day

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Photo:

Labor Day, Monday, Sept. 4, ends the last big getaway weekend of the summer.

It’s one of ten holidays recognized by the federal government, although the feds don’t require employers to pay workers for this holiday. Businesses traditionally provide their employees with a paid holiday as part of a benefits package because most other employers do the same.

Trash and recycling collection is delayed ONE DAY due to the holiday: If your pickup day is Monday, this week it will be collected on Tuesday, etc.

Closed:

Belmont Town offices, Belmont Public Library, and Belmont Light are closed.

• US Postal Service offices and regular deliveries.

• Banks; although some branches will be open in some supermarkets.

• MBTA: Operating on a Sunday schedule. See www.mbta.com for details.

What’s Opened:

• Retail stores

• Coffee shops; Starbucks and Dunkin’ Donuts are open.

• Supermarkets

• Convenience stores and,

• Establishments that sell beer and wine are also allowed to be open.

Cultural Council Grant Applications Open Sept. 1

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Photo: The utility box adjacent Belmont Town Hall at Concord and Pleasant streets by Liz LaManche sponsored by a grant from the Belmont Cultural Council

Resident artist and artistic groups with an idea in mind will be happy to hear the Belmont Cultural Council Grant Application Process opened on Friday, Sept. 1.

The Belmont Cultural Council 2024 grant application process, which will run through Oct. 17, focuses largely on supporting Belmont programs that have enriched the Belmont community with music, fine arts, interpretive science, humanitarian initiatives, and applicants sponsored by a Belmont organization.

Applications and information about the Local Cultural Council Program are available online here.

Information about the Belmont Cultural Council, its priorities and guidelines, past grantees, and more can be found here.

The Belmont Cultural Council is part of the Massachusetts Cultural Council’s network of 329 Local Cultural Councils (LCCs) serving all 351 cities and towns in the Commonwealth. The LCC Program is the largest grassroots cultural funding network in the nation, supporting thousands of community-based projects in the arts, sciences, and humanities every year. The state legislature provides an annual appropriation to the Massachusetts Cultural Council, a state agency, which then allocates funds to each community. 

Largess Help To Maintain Belmont’s Pine Allée

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Photo: Bemont’s Pine Allée

An allée, according to the home design platform Houzz, is a pastoral walkway through evenly planted trees … that bring travelers to their destination in style. (The word “allée” is French for “way to go.”) Traversing an allée “reinforces the feeling that one has arrived.”

You don’t have to travel far to visit a truly unique example of this landscape: The Grand Allée at the Castle Hill on the Crane Estate in Ipswich is a half-mile of manicured lawn between evergreens that descends to the ocean.

While most notable samples are finely sculptured vistas, a unique example lies between Lone Tree Hill Conservation Land and Concord Avenue just beyond Highland Meadow Cemetery heading toward Lexington. Shortly after the land was purchased by McLean Hospital in 1906, pines were planted, either as a windbreak or as an artistic creation.

Today, Belmont’s Pine Allée runs east to west for nearly 1,000 feet, 165 mature pines reach 100 feet tall, joining white pine saplings planted recently to form a strikingly natural topography, producing a haunting, Gothic take on the form.

“If you walk there now, it’s very green along the lower parts of the allée from the young saplings, and up above you’ve got the older trees so it’s quite a nice sight,” said Roger Wrubel, executive director of the Fund.

On Monday, Aug. 28, Belmont’s pine allée became the beneficiary of a $40,000 donation from the Judy Record Conservation Fund that will be used to maintain the nearly 300 trees.

“The trees are big and have heavy limbs … so a lot of the money will be used for pruning up those trees as well as other maintenance and invasive weed control,” said Wrubel before the Select Board. “The ones we planted recently are getting pretty large right now,” he said.