Letter to the Editor: Common, Inclusive Solutions Needed In Belmont

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Photo: Belmont Town Hall.

To the editor:

Good day, Belmont.

It is another town election cycle and this time, I am hearing some strange things that people believe is truth. Because I am on the campaign for Alexandra Ruban, I hope to share some of who I have learned Alexandra is.

Alexandra is a wife, mother and consultant who moved to Belmont for its great schools and active community. When she attended Town Day in 2013, she, like others, heard that part of the due diligence was that the town was seeking Request for Proposals from other trash and recycling vendors, having had the same vendor for 15 years without assessing the market. Three years later, we have not requested any bids, just bids like you would get if you were seeking a roofer, painter, driveway paver – and we have locked ourselves into another two-year contract with a 12 percent increase. 

The reason I joined Alexandra in her bid for Selectman is because I, too, have been frustrated with policy and decision making in town: from global insights being used as a way to stall the adoption of solar energy, to really talented, committed experts in their fields being passed over for those who have successfully implemented moratoriums without any further policies and guidelines to help us when the moratorium lifts. There is unbelievable work happening in our town committees that takes herculean efforts (to gather data needed to be informed and make recommendations, years of complaints by few overshadowing the solutions presented that could accommodate all involved).

I gladly serve on the Economic Development Advisory Council under Tomi Olson, who has been a champion of mine as we bring forth proposals to help our home and business owners with real economic relief. Without a forward-thinking ally like Tomi, whether Alexandra has her vote or not, new, common-sense ideas would not be possible to consider at the Selectmen level. I, like Alexandra, am a business owner and present to and represent the highest level of senior executives often, yet I am afraid of how our Board of Selectmen will react to our proposal because I have experienced public and private backlash a few times already. Is this the way you want it to be?

Common, inclusive solutions, from establishing frameworks to allow us to preserve the tangible and intangible assets in Belmont are needed. Policy-making has to begin and end with an inclusive agenda to help our home and business owners thrive. For those who argue about the smallest number of transient residents who bring their families for a short period and leave, how about we figure out how to woo them to stay instead of blaming them, incorrectly, I may add, for taxing our public services.  

Finally, become informed. That is the purpose of our campaign. Whether you have decided on one candidate or the other, get informed on what each of them has and can accomplish. And determine whose values, vision, and ability to make progress while preserving our town of homes match yours. 

Erin Lubien

Unity Avenue

Three Belmont High Scouts Earn Their Eagle Wings

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Photo: Belmont’s Eagle Scouts: Clay Moyles, Luke Peterson, Calvin Reinhardt-Ertman.

On Sunday, March 20, Belmont’s Troop 66 awarded Eagle Scout awards to three distinguished Belmont High School students: Clay Moyles, Calvin Reinhardt-Ertman and Luke Peterson.

As the highest rank in Scouting, the Eagle Badge requires notable discipline and sustained effort to achieve. It is estimated that fewer than seven percent of all Scouts attain this goal. Research indicates that those who do continue to distinguish themselves in later life through community volunteerism, charitable donations, environmental stewardship and professional leadership.

“Clay, Calvin and Luke are dedicated and accomplish Scouters who, through their Eagle Projects, have made a lasting impact on the town of Belmont. They personify the spirit of service and leadership that Scouting is all about,” said Scoutmaster Jesse Barnes.  

Their combined Eagle Projects resulted in more than 500 hours of community service rendered by Scouts and other volunteers that have benefitted the Town of Belmont and its residents in multiple ways.

• Clay Moyles, a senior at Belmont High School, created a new logo for the Belmont Food Pantry, as well as a 24/7 drop-off container and signs to direct Belmont residents to the Pantry’s drop-off location. 

A BHS Honors student, Clays plays the alto saxophone in the Wind Ensemble and played varsity Golf and Lacrosse. He was the recipient of Boston Globe Silver Key for Arts in 2012.

• Calvin Reinhardt-Ertman organized Scouts and other volunteers to re-landscape a portion of Belmont Town Hall’s grounds, planting them with winterberry, bearberry and other hardy native plants.

A junior at BHS, Calvin plays the violin in the orchestra. In summer 2015, he participated in the National Outdoor Leadership School, kayaking several canyons on the Green River in Utah and Colorado.

• Luke Peterson worked with the Belmont Department of Public Works to direct groups of Scouts in building three A-frame picnic tables that have been placed on Belmont parks to increase use and enjoyment. 

Luke is an Honors and AP student at Belmont High School who has excelled in soccer and track and was a standout player for the Marauder’s varsity Basketball.

Clay, Calvin, and Luke participated in Troop 66’s 2014 High Adventure Trip to the Sierra Nevada Mountains in California.  They hiked extensively in Kings Canyon National Park and summited Mount Whitney—which, at 14,505 feet, is the highest peak in the lower 48 States.

Letter to the Editor: Prestwich Professional Experience Value to School Committee

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Photo: Andrea Prestwich

To the editor:

I met Andrea Prestwich and her husband Steve Saar ten years ago. Our kids have sung in the choir and attended Sunday School together, and more recently participated in Chenery Middle School’s extraordinary instrumental music program together. We have become good friends as our kids have aged from 2 to 12.  

That’s why I was delighted when Andrea told me she was running for Belmont School Committee.  She has a fascinating career in astronomy, and in her time at the Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory Andrea has taken and active role in STEM education. She has been involved in science outreach, writing articles and giving presentations to the general public on all aspects of astronomy, making complex concepts understandable for people untrained in the discipline.   

She was instrumental in starting a highly successful Research Experience for Undergraduates  program at the Smithsonian-funded by the National  Science Foundation. She has supervised graduate students and postdoctoral researchers, and for several years, she was director of the NASA Einstein Post-Doctoral Fellowship Program.  

Andrea has a “top down” view of STEM education that would be very valuable on the School Committee. She has an analytical mind and professional experience that make her uniquely qualified to serve on curriculum and policy subcommittees. I urge you to vote for Andrea on April 5.

Kate Searle

Beech Street

Selectmen Question of the Week (QW): How Would You Promote Business in Belmont

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Photo: Alexandra Ruban and Mark Paolillo.

The Selectmen candidates answers this week’s QW (Question of the Week).

Rightly or wrongly, Belmont has a reputation as being “bad for business.” Examples are small group of people stopping a redevelopment of South Pleasant Street, the inability to see any progress in Waverley Square, the planning process for Cushing Village that took 18 months to complete, the rejection of the Dunkin’ Donuts on Pleasant Street and of people using their private homes as Airbnb housing, a lackluster business community (Belmont does not have its own chamber of commerce) and so forth. There hasn’t been a report on the town’s future financial health that doesn’t emphasize growing commerce. Question: What will you do in the next three years to promote existing business and new business in Belmont?

Alexandra Ruban

Our businesses, new and old, make our community whole, both as convenient shopping or dining retreats and by generating revenue to diversify our tax base. The commitment our business owners have to Belmont is astounding – from continuously meeting donation requests, to supporting the annual Town Day, our businesses deliver dividends to every corner of our community. However, businesses in Belmont struggle with our policies, regulations and processes. Licensing policies are inconsistent from year to year, so a business plan that is thoroughly reviewed and approved during planning can be denied or altered shortly thereafter. A sensible and consistent framework for establishing, operating and growing businesses in Belmont is a necessity and does not have to conflict with residential concerns.

I have spent considerable time speaking with individuals, groups, and business owners about the state of affairs in Belmont and how town decisions impact our businesses, and surrounding neighborhoods.

Belmont has yet to implement recommended design specifications and rezoning for our few commercial areas which would define what type of business structure would be acceptable to town before developers come in. Once that is in place, I would work with our boards and committees to reach out to developers to publicize updated parameters to make sure that our few commercial spaces are no longer vacant.

Furthermore, Belmont has a written and agreed-upon vision to be a walkable town. Because we have not realized that vision yet, we must implement better, more modernized parking options, including setting uniform space designations, handicapped accessibility, and crosswalk markings. This would encourage shopper accessibility and also create a consistent and affordable way to generate additional limited revenue.

As a Town of Homes we need to create additional and diverse revenue streams. As your Selectwoman, I will help establish a streamlined, consistent, easy to navigate, and business friendly permitting process, implement uniformed parking practices that enable our businesses to build foot traffic without interfering with streets of abutting neighborhoods, and create a process by which we monitor, regulate and attract new, local business. I will work with the town committees and Town Meeting to adopt better, supportive policies and practices for licensing and regulations. Belmont will not be able to depend on tax revenue from its business sector without fostering a sense that our businesses are an important part of our town’s ecosystem.

Mark Paolillo

This is a question I’ve been concerned with for several years; I created the Economic Development Advisory Committee (EDAC) as a first step toward addressing it. The EDAC’s purpose is to promote balanced, long-term economic development within the Town and to advise the Board of Selectmen on issues concerning policies and zoning that foster commercial and business growth. But we need to do more. 

My next step would be to start with retail businesses. I would identify the recently established, successful businesses in towns like Lexington that have a thriving retail base. We can have Community Development take on the project of interviewing each of those businesses so that we understand what drove their decision to locate in a town other than Belmont. That will give initial direction to our efforts to attract new businesses. 

I would explore some big ideas that would give us a comparative advantage in attracting the most advanced digital companies. One that has not been fully explored would be broadband internet – gigabit service at reasonable prices provided by the Belmont Light Department.  The commercial vendors (AT&T and Verizon) do not readily offer this service. We could run fiber optic from the Belmont Light Department to South Pleasant Street directly, an area already zoned for commercial R&D space. The creation of high-tech tenants in South Pleasant Street could attract others to the McLean space.

Prior to doing this, however, I would want to address the concerns of homeowners, by looking at the experience of communities like Falls Church, Virginia. It is smaller than Belmont, and it is a town of homes.  Along the major transportation corridors, however, Falls Church has attracted high-tech firms, with strict limits on their locations.  They cannot expand beyond those major corridors, and the adjoining streets are quiet, residential neighborhoods.

Update: Waverley Commuter Rail Station Stays Open … For Now

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Photo: The Waverley Station in Belmont.

Despite being out of the running for a portion of $150 million in state-financed accessibility upgrades, Belmont’s Waverley commuter rail station will remain open while the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority seeks a variance to delay required work on the site, according to an email message from State Sen. Will Brownsberger.

At a Friday, March 24 meeting with MBTA General Manager Frank DePaola about the future of the Waverley Station, Brownsberger said the Authority and the state’s Department of Transportation are conducting their capital planning process in which the DOT intends to allocate $150 million to upgrade the accessibility to its stations and other assets. 

But while “[t]he specific project list has not been released … [DePaola] indicated that Waverley would not be on the list – other stations that are more heavily used are clear higher priorities for access improvements,” said Brownsberger.

While missing out on the current pool of funds to upgrade the facility in the heart of Waverley Square, Brownsberger said DePaola and the Authority would be “seeking a ‘time variance’ from the Architectural Access Board — keeping the accessibility upgrades of the station on the long-term to-do list, allowing the station to remain open and hoping to reach it as a project in the future.”

It was a decision by the state’s Architectural Access Board in 2013 that ordered the transportation authority to improve access to the Waverley Square commuter rail station to allow access-challenged citizens to take public transportation after what was considered “substantial” improvements were made to the station.

“If the AAB allows this variance, the station will remain open. Given the large investment that the MBTA is making in accessibility, it would be reasonable for the AAB to allow the variance,” said Brownsberger. 

School Committee QW: Where Do You Stand on High Stakes Testing?

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Photo: The candidates: Bicer, O’Mahoney, Prestwich.
The Question of the Week (QW) for the School Committee candidates:
There is a bill in the legislature (H 340) sponsored by the state’s teachers union to halt statewide student testing, calling for a three-year moratorium on the implementation of PARCC – which Belmont has been a test community – and to remove the “high stakes” nature of the existing MCAS tests, ie. in which high school senior would no longer need to pass MCAS to graduate. Teachers say tests take too much time away from educating and don’t reveal just how much a student has learned. Opponents say removing MCAS and other tests could lead to a return of lack of standards and accountability. As members of the school committee, you may well be asked your opinion on this measure. Question: Where do you stand on high stakes testing?

Andrea Prestwich

The MCAS has been to used fulfill the requirements of the Federal No Child Left Behind act (NCLB). NCLB was enacted with the best of intentions: to use rigorous standardized tests to ensure that all children receive a good education. Tests were used to track individual students progress, evaluate teachers and identify “failing” schools. The stakes were high: schools that did not make sufficient progress were closed, teachers fired, and students prevented from graduating.

Unfortunately, NCLB was a failure. Kids from wealthy families did better on the test than poor kids. Teachers were penalized for working with disadvantaged kids! To improve scores, teachers would focus on test preparation to the extent that other areas of the curriculum suffered. There were reports that struggling high school students were pressured into dropping out to make the average scores better. The tests are extremely stressful for students.

One of the few issues our hideously divided congress could agree on is that NCLB is a failure. Last year congress replaced NCLB with the Every Student Succeeds Act with overwhelming bipartisan support. The ESSA maintains the requirement for states to test, but gives states more freedom to define “school quality” and “accountability”. Given the new responsibilities under ESSA, I support the H340 requirement that the Commonwealth establish a task force to review the use of MCAS or PARCC data. Previous policies have failed, and it is time to re-evaulate what use we make of standardized tests. I also support the moratorium. Test results should not be used for teacher evaluation or student graduation while the task force does its job. To clarify: I fully support standardized testing. Standardized testing is crucial to identify problem areas and measure progress. However, we need to take a break and think about how test data is used in view of the failures of the past decade.

Murat Bicer

I am not generally in favor of standardized testing. Research shows that test results correlate above all to socio-economic conditions and may be unable to parse the quality of education at the individual or classroom level.  Many tests are criticized for being biased and the system of test taking disadvantages students who have difficulties with structured, timed activities. I believe that multiple-choice tests are not a good indicator of how much a student has learned, or whether that student has the qualities that good students should have – like creativity, critical thinking, and curiosity. Any student who is struggling with basic skills should be identified and supported well before a test result points out his deficiencies. It is true, however, that Belmont has in the past used test results to identify areas of relatively weaker performance and make positive changes in those areas.  

The Massachusetts Education Reform Laws of 1993 necessitate “a variety of assessment instruments” whose purpose is to evaluate student performance and to “improve the effectiveness of curriculum and instruction.” Tests have been credited with ensuring a certain quality standard across the state, but they’re imperfect. Unfortunately for all, many of the other “assessment instruments” such as descriptive reporting and subjective, essay-based testing are more difficult to administer and often put additional burden on the teachers, and that’s likely why testing has become the primary “instrument.”  

We can probably all agree that accountability and adherence to a basic standard curriculum is necessary, but that needs to happen on a day to day basis within the school community, not as a result of, or in pursuit of, a test score.

Kimberly O’Mahoney

Personally, I have never been a big fan of standardized tests,  but my only experience has been in the seat of a test-taker.  I never felt that the tests provided the “bigger picture” of my educational experience and abilities. The testing also is narrowed to only include certain subjects, leaving behind the notion that a well-rounded educational experience (including extra-curricular areas) is most beneficial to the children. That being said, there are also benefits to the testing that is being administered. It does help support accountability and possibly identify those areas in the curriculum that may need review and reinforcement. Belmont, though, has always prided itself on the high quality of education that it affords the children in the District. With or without standardized tests, Belmont will keep this a priority. I don’t believe that the high standards that our educators are held to will diminish if this moratorium is put in place. It may allow for greater flexibility in instruction and allow classes to delve further into subject areas without the constraints of focusing on and preparing for the “test material.”

School Committee Drop Religious Holidays from Calendar, Start Year Post Labor Day

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Photo: Speaker at the School Committee meeting. Dr. David Alper is at right.

A year after joining most neighboring communities by adding Yom Kippur and keeping Good Friday as school holidays, the Belmont School Committee did a complete “about face” and voted on Tuesday, March 22 to rid the 2016-17 school calendar of all days off for religious observation.

The board voted 5-0 to strip out existing Christian and Jewish observations which were installed on a one-year “pilot” basis. 

The reversal came after the committee and School District heard from a large number of parents – including many first-generation Asian residents – who declared the policy disruptive to the educational process and did not reflect the growing diversity within Belmont’s schools.

“I would hate for the message to be that Belmont hates religion” but rather a vote is a nod to the growing pluralism in the district, said School Committee member Tom Caputo. 

“This is about being respectful and not anti-holiday,” said member Lisa Fiore. “That’s the headline, that we must respect you whether you are 87 percent or three percent of the population,” she said.

“But we also need to make steps towards making it as easy as practically possible to observe religious holidays,” Caputo said, saying the district should now embrace the opportunity to explain why these days are important and why students observe them. 

Before this year, district policy was Jewish students were not “penalized” for taking the High Holidays as an unexcused absence. 

The board also decided, 3-2, to support taking an official day off for the quadrennial Presidential election day including the one this November for “safety concerns” as three elementary schools – Winn Brook, Butler, and Burbank – are home to one of eight precinct polling locations. 

In a separate decision, the committee bowed to parents by rejecting a proposal to start the school year before Labor Day on the last week in August. Sponsored by Belmont Superintendent John Phelan and backed by district teachers and several national studies, starting pre-Labor Day provides an easier transition into the school year by “easing” into educating then having a three-day Labour Day holiday before moving directly into teaching post-Labor Day. But family vacation and summer plans trumped the idea on an online survey.

Residents spoke to keep the current “pilot” schedule including Dr. David Alper, who led the drive last year to recognize Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement, which is the holiest day of the year in Judaism, which a significant number of students observe.

Alper stressed the nature of the observance, a day of fasting and prayer in Temple and at house, which requires students to miss a day early in the school year – the high holiday occurs between early September to mid-October – and despite assurances from principals, teachers will schedule tests and new work on and after that day.

But for the sizable number of first-generation Asian residents – an unusual step of engagement from a group largely in the background in town politics and policy – who sent statements to the Superintendents office and voted to end all religious observations on an online poll, the issue was educational rather than spiritual. 

Speaking before the committee and after the meeting with the Belmontonian, Jie Lu said what brought Chinese, Korean, and South Asian parents to speak out on the issue was its direct impact on the educational process.

While noting the importance of religion in many person lives, Lu said he is supportive of parents taking children out of school and teachers taking a personal day to celebrate with their family.

“But I don’t agree [to close] the entire system because it’s disruptive and a lot of [a] burden for lots of other families,” said the Concord Avenue resident and parent of children in the district. 

Phelan and some school committee members noted that disruptions could continue these days as a significant number of teachers have expressed a wish to take off on Good Friday and to a lesser extent Yom Kippur. While the remaining students will be in school, it won’t be a “typical” day with no new work or exams and substitute teachers employed.

Other parents spoke of the exclusion of other “not-too-big-groups” that celebrate important religious dates such as Ramadan for Muslims or cultural celebrations like Chinese New Year in which celebrants are expected to stay up all night “which would be hard for children to attend then school the next day.”

Judi Hamparian said by adding one religion’s observation, such as Good Friday, it would “be opening a Pandor’s box” if the district would attempt to be as inclusive as it should, noting the Armenian Genocide is an important historical event that many in Belmont observe as a solemn occasion.

“Why not also a day [for recognizing the geneocide]?” she said. 

After the vote outside the meeting, Lu and Alper discussed their positions.

“We are not trying to argue should we have holiday or [not]. The important thing is how do we observe the religious and how do we let the children know there are different religions, and everyone should respect them,” said Lu. 

“The major concern is that we will have soon too many religious celebrations and that we disrupt the education,” he said. 

While there will be a break in the teaching with children and students out, Alper believes religious observations “is an opportunity for educating these kids that will last a lifetime.”  

“I don’t mind seeing [Yom Kippur] not observed as long as “the school committee and superintendent follow through by acknowledging these holidays and especially in the elementary schools that these children are taught that David and Rachel are not here today because they need to be in temple and fast and Mr. Lu’s children will not be in school because they are celebrating New Year,” said Alper, who said he will be vigilant that the committee follows through on its promise. 

“I agree that if the kids learn then they can tell their parents. That’s how I know about Yom Kippur, my kids told me because their teacher told them,” said Lu. 

“We need to make this less a calendar change and make it a teachable moment,” said Alper. 

Cushing Village 2.0: Toll Brothers Project’s New Owner As Starr Falls

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 Photo: Toll Brother’s Bill Lovett.

After more than two-and-a-half years of delays and broken promises, the long-troubled Cushing Village multiuse development entered a new chapter Tuesday, March 22 as national real estate firm Toll Brothers announced its purchase of the project’s development rights and two land parcels from original owner Smith Legacy Partners completed on March 14.

With Smith Legacy’s lead partner Chris Starr sitting quietly in the front row, Toll Brother’s Bill Lovett was introduced to the Board of Selectmen during a joint meeting of the Planning Board held at Town Hall.

“We’re very excited as we see this as a perfect location in a perfect community,” said Lovett, a senior development manager at Toll’s Apartment Living, a relatively new whole-owned subsidiary within the Horsham, Penn.-based firm.

With the sale, the project and town moves from an “endless loop of uncertainty” that prevented any work from commencing at the site for 969 days under the previous owner’s stewardship, said Selectmen Chair Sami Baghdady.

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Lovett said Toll Brothers was initially interested in Cushing Village about a year ago when Smith Legacy was actively seeking a deep-pocket investor to partner with but did not pursue the offer then.

“So we actually selfishly very excited when it came back around [at the beginning of the year] because it is such a terrific asset,” said Lovett, saying Cushing Village “checks many, many boxes” of a project it is seeking such as retail on the location, walkability, and a lifestyle community.

“[Cushing Village] really fits the bill,” said Lovett.

The price Tolls Brothers paid for the rights and the parcels was not revealed.

As part of the agreement, Toll will pay the town $1 million for the parking lot and an additional $150,000 in fees to complete the transfer.

After the announcement, the selectmen voted unanimously to approve a one-time only extension of the purchase and sale agreement to August 26 for the sale of the municipal parking lot at the corner of Williston and Trapelo roads to Toll Brothers.

Lovett said this will allow the firm to do its due diligence of the property – which once housed a dry cleaning store – before committing to its development of a property Smith Legacy’s attorney Mark Donahue called “extremely complicated.”

Lovett told the board it is taking the project “as is” with no plans to ask for changes to the massing and basic design that the Planning Board took 18 months to create in July 2013.

“There will be no refiguring of the project,” said Lovett.

As for financing the project which bedeviled the previous owner, Lovett said Toll Brothers “is fortunate that we have a very large balance sheet” with $1.5 billion in cash on hand which will allow the project to be self-financed with available liquidity. 

Founded in 1967, the firm is the country’s largest luxury housing “brand” said Lovett, known for its upscale communities in 19 states – mostly on the coasts – and ability for clients to “build” their house. It was also named one of the most admired companies worldwide, according to a survey by Fortune magazine in 2016. It is also known as the company that in 2005 rescued the weekly Metropolitan Opera broadcasts (now in its 85th year) after longtime sponsor Texaco dropped out a year earlier. 

The Apartment Living division was created after the 2008 economic crash, said Lovett. With ownership in upscale apartments nationwide, Toll Brothers receive a consistent cash flow as a hedge to protect its financial position if the core business of residential housing construction falters. As of March 2016, Toll has just a few apartment buildings under profile, but several are in the pipeline including a few in Massachusetts. 

Lovett reassured Baghdady that the firm is not looking to “flip” the project – place it on the market – once it is completed.

“We are long-term holders of our assets, and we also manage [them],” said Lovett, calling Cushing Village “a core asset.”

Lovett said once its due diligence is complete, the firm will hire a general contractor and begin to move the development “cautiously but quickly.”

“Our business model is to move people in, to start construction and move them in as quickly as possible,” said Lovett, describing it as putting “heads into bed.” 

Pressed on a timeframe in which the project would be completed, Lovett said due to some difficulty in the underground parking; he expects the project to be completed “in less than 30 months.” 

The purchase of the site and the special permit was the inevitable finale of a nearly 1,000 days of grand designs that could not match the business reality of a small-time developer in Starr – his previous real estate experience was as a partner in a modified strip mall in his hometown of Bedford.

Like Sisyphus, Starr’s dream of leaving a lasting monument in the town from where his family hailed led to frustrating and futile labor that in the end all his work and effort was all in vain.

With the sale, Starr leaves the scene as a cautionary tale for developers and town officials to take care before committing to a builder’s dream. 

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Belmont Man Murdered Outside Mt. Auburn Hospital Tuesday Night

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Photo: The location where a Belmont man was murdered Tuesday night.

A Belmont resident was murdered after being shot outside Mt. Auburn Hospital in Cambridge late Tuesday night, March 22, according to Meghan Kelly, communications director of the Middlesex District Attorney’s Office.

Armando Hernandez, Jr., 30, was one of two men who were hit by rounds fired by an unknown suspect at 9:57 p.m. last night on the 300 block of Mt. Auburn St. near the Lowell School Playground which is across the street from the hospital. Hernandez was transported to the Mt. Auburn Hospital emergency room where he was pronounced dead, according to Kelly.

The Belmont Town Clerk’s office said Hernandez is not in the town’s census. 

The other victim is in a Boston hospital with serious injuries, said Kelly in a communication. 

Cambridge Police Department spokesperson Jeremy Warnick said an investigation is ongoing.

Reportedly Belmont Signing On To Proposal to Start HS A Little Later in Day

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Photo: A little more sleep for high school students is being proposed by superintendents whose schools participate in the Middlesex League.

Belmont High students shouldn’t just yet set forward the time their alarms go off in the morning, but it appears the Belmont School District will join a growing number of districts who participate in the Middlesex League athletic conference to study a proposal to allow high schools to start later in the day to accommodate the needs of teens for greater sleep.

Sources say Belmont Superintendent John Phelan will announce at tonight’s School Committee meeting, Tuesday, March 22, that he supports a proposal written by Burlington Superintendent Dr. Eric Conti that would begin the propose of possibly allowing each high school to start the school day up to an hour later than their current schedule. 

A Belmont High student’s day runs from 7:35 a.m. to 2:25 p.m. 

In his proposal, Conti echos calls by the growing number of later-start-time activists who cite studies showing many high school students are sleep deprived which effects their social and emotional behavior and their ability to learn. 

Under the proposal, data would be compiled in the fall of 2016, senerios set up and studied before community forums are conducted in each town. Currently, the earliest the proposal would go into effect is the fall of 2018.

 

The schools in the Middlesex League include:

  • Arlington
  • Belmont 
  • Burlington
  • Lexington
  • Melrose
  • Reading
  • Stoneham 
  • Wakefield
  • Watertown
  • Wilmington
  • Winchester
  • Woburn