Support Local Artisans and Charitable Organizations through Holiday Shopping

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Photo: Santa can come with social action holiday gifts to give.

The Social Action Holiday Gift Fair has been an annual tradition of the First Church in Belmont, Unitarian Universalist for many years. This year it looks very different, but the opportunity remains the same: You can do holiday shopping and benefit others at the same time.

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1kg6886gKTPxwqfPQ-i5FM4JQERfDlakL6ESvf9XHI8I/edit

This year, given the economic devastation wrought by the pandemic, choosing to do your holiday shopping this way is more important than ever. Buy gifts for everyone on your list by choosing from an array of products featuring the work of both local and international artisans and craft makers. All proceeds from your purchases will benefit the participating organizations.

Hybrid Learning Returns To Belmont Grades K-8 On Monday; HS Enters Hybrid Thursday, Dec. 10

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Photo: A hybrid schedule at Belmont schools

It’s hybrid week at the Belmont Public Schools as the entire student population will be either returning to or begin for the first time hybrid in-person learning schedules.

In an email to the community from John Phelan, superintendent for Belmont schools, grades K-8 will resume their hybrid schedule on Monday, Dec. 7, while “we are happy to report Belmont High School students, grades 9 to 12 will start -person hybrid on Thursday, Dec. 10.”

The schedule for the Belmont High School hybrid schedule can be found here.

Phelan noted that principals from each of the six public schools will have sent out a communication to parents of children with more details on returning to the classroom.

“We appreciate the patience of our students, parents, faculty, and staff in pivoting to remote learning after the Thanksgiving holiday weekend,” said Phelan.

“We feel these proactive measures help keep the school community safe and give us a chance to assess and ‘reset’ the buildings for a healthy return to hybrid in-person learning,” he said.

Phelan said the district’s goal is to proactively and strategically pivot the instructional model for elementary, middle, and high schools when needed during the current pandemic environment while trying to limit disruptions to teaching and learning.

Belmont Returns To ‘Yellow’ As COVID-19 Cases Surge In-State and Town

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Photo: COVID-19 update.

As the United States experiences the most significant surge of COVID-19 cases since the coronavirus was first identified in February, Belmont has seen a similar increase in the number of positive cases over the past 14 days as of Dec. 3, according to the state’s Department of Public Health.

Sixty-three residents were diagnosed over the past two weeks as a total of 427 Belmontians has been infected by the virus since February, which comes to a biweekly rate of 14.6 infections per 100,000 population, both indicators increasing over the past two week period.

Over the fortnight, 3,703 residents were tested with 63 positive cases, a rate of 1.7 per 100,000 population.

There are now 97 communities considered at the highest risk for transmitting the new coronavirus in Massachusetts, according to the latest weekly community-level data on the pandemic, an increase of 16 

The jump in the number of cases resulted in the town re-entering the state’s designated “yellow” range indicating a moderate risk of being infected. Belmont had been in the “green” range for more than a month, having spent a week in the yellow range earlier this fall.

For communities with populations of between 10,000 and 50,000, a yellow designation has an average of more than 10 cases per 100,000 or a positive test rate of more than 5 percent.

Belmont Police Assist In Cambridge Knife Fight Arrest

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Photo: Belmont Police assisted in the arrest of a man who stabbed a person.

Action by Belmont Police officers led to the arrest of a Boston teen who stabbed a person in Cambridge near the Belmont town line on Friday, Dec. 4.

According to a twitter posting by the Cambridge Police Department, a 19-year-old man was arrested following a fight on Normandy Avenue adjacent to Belmont’s Blanchard Road. Cambridge Police said Belmont officers were the first to respond to the incident.

“A male was stabbed during the fight and sustained non-life threatening injuries.” said the Cambridge Police which recovered the weapon. “Special thanks to @BelmontPD for their assistance & initial response,” twitted the CPD.

First Peek At Fiscal Year ’22 Budget: Public Meeting On Dec. 9

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Photo: The town created its FY ’22 budget with the expectations that voters will approve a Prop 2 1/2 override in April.

John Phelan express the obvious in his opening remarks when presenting this coming year’s school budget on Monday, Nov. 23.

“We look towards a very unique year in budgeting in a very unique year in our time,” said Belmont schools superintendent as the town and school provided the public its first peek at the fiscal year 2022 budgets.

The “unique” year Phelan mentioned was seen during a topsy turvy nine months in which Belmont’s finances took a beating and where the town budget was revised twice – and likely a third time – as COVID-19 played havoc to fiscal assumptions.

During this upheaval, the fiscal year ’22 budget was being cobbled together. At first glance, a growing degree of normalcy has returned to the budgets: expenses such as overtime and road repair funding are back while the school district is seeking to add educators even as over all enrollment has declined by 250 students.

But the documents Phelan and Town Administrator Patrice Garvin presented before a mega joint meeting of the Select Board, Financial Task Force and the School, Warrant and Capital Budget committees are unique insofar as they are contingent on voters passing a multi-million dollar Prop 2 1/2 override at this April’s Town Election.

Just how big is the override’s price tag? That figure remains up in the air. What is known as currently calculated, the all town ’22 budget is approximately $8.1 million in the red.

It will be an especially unique new year as the town and schools will present sometime early in the new year a version of the fiscal ’22 budget if the override fails at the ballot box.

“So we will be preparing two budgets this year,” said Phelan, to allow the public see the impact on services and staffing with and without override funds.

The town will hold a Zoom public meeting on the impact of a Prop 2 1/2 override on the fiscal year ’21 budget on Wednesday, Dec. 9 at 7 p.m.

For Town Administrator Patrice Garvin, while “we are inundated every day with what is horrible about 2020,” she said that there are reasons to see the past year in “a positive note”: town services were continued to be delivered while measures were taken to soften the blow from revenue losses including hiring freeze and maximizing turn backs from school and town departments to build up the town’s free cash account.

Due to its conservative approach to the operating budget, reaching out for grants and award – including $2.1 million it received from the federal government’s CARES Act – and seeking new sources of revenue (the McLean development and two marijuana host community agreements), the town retained its top ranked triple A credit rating as it approached developing the coming budget.

All-Town Budget

What is known at this early stage of the budget process is the combined town/school budget- excluding the enterprise funds of $6.9 million – is being set at $144.5 million, a 3.8 percent increase from the pre-pandemic fiscal ’21 budget.

The FY ’22 budget breaks down as:

  • Town: $43.5 million
  • Schools: $67.6 million
  • Fixed costs: $31.4 million
  • Capital budget: $2 million

Due to the wild fiscal year the town underwent in 2020, the percentage change between the ’21 and ’22 budgets are significantly different. If compared with the “original” fiscal year 2021 – the pre-pandemic budget from March 2020 – the fiscal year ’22 budget has increased by 3.8 percent, which is in line with annual budget growth over the past decade. Substitute the original ’21 financials with the COVID-19 budget – in which town and school stripped out $7 million in expense savings – the increase jumps to 9.2 percent.

Highlighting the town budget, Garvin pointed out that while FY ’22 will be a minimal level service budget, there will be personnel adds to a few departments such as a social worker for the Council on Aging as well as a newly created town-wide procurement manager.

The town will increase the tree budget by $50,000 for the increasing number of damaged timber and replenishing deferred expenses such as $450,000 for equipment and furnishings for town departments as well as bringing back overtime.

View a detailed PowerPoint presentation of the ’22 town budget here.

Reporting on the schools, Phelan said while its current fiscal budget did take a significant hit due to COVID-19, it was able to employ educators to support remote learning and secure supplies and computers through federal grants.

Because those expenses were paid for with one-time funds, Phelan said the district will attempt to carry those expenses over to FY ’22 but not embed them into the annual budget but rather place them in what is being called the “COVID parking lot.”

“So we only provide these service (including technology specialist, aides and nurses) and ask for the funds if they are actually needed,” said Phelan.

The schools will be budgeting to a model created by the Financial Task Force II which has been working for eight months with the district and the Warrant Committee on the assumptions of anticipated expenses.

The detail presentation from Superintendent Phelan of the FY ’22 school budget can be found here.

At the end of the day, the preliminary fiscal ’22 is swimming in the red by $8.1 million, or about two-thirds as large as the $12.5 million in override funds the Select Board is seeking at April’s Town Election. The Board has said the override amount that will be before voters in the spring will be reduced sometime in the next two months.

To provide residents the real world consequence of the override measure, Garvin and Phelan will be creating a second budget over the next month of two that will show the services and staff cuts to town and schools if voters reject the override.

While both the town and schools expenses are set, the more interest part of the meeting was how the revenue side was looking. There were two nice surprises on that side of the ledger: the first a great leap in free cash to $11.2 million. A detailed explanation on this year’s free cash account can be found here.

There is also a healthy amount of state aid – $3.2 million – the town was not anticipating in fiscal ’21 as the town expected a drop of receipts by 20 percent. But after the budget was approved, Gov. Charlie Baker’s administration stated it would maintain the same amount of aid in ’21 as in the previous year.

But Garvin said the restored state revenue – which has yet to arrive from the state – is slated to go into fiscal year 2023 free cash account.

And every penny of funding is needed as the town has yet to find an answer to the bain of Belmont’s fiscal existence: a persistent structural deficit. With Belmont’s real estate classification at more than 90 percent residential and new growth limited due to a lack of open space, the “Town of Homes” is hamstrung by the four decade old Proposition 2 1/2 that places a 2.5 percent ceiling on total property taxes annually – which makes up 77 percent of tax receipts – as well as the 2.5 percent limit on property tax increases.

High Wind Advisory Monday, Tree Damage, Power Outages Likely During Gusty Conditions

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Photo: Trees will be buffeted by high winds this afternoon and night.

The National Weather Service has issued a High Wind Warn for Belmont and eastern Massachusetts beginning at 3 p.m., Monday, Nov. 30, and lasting until 1 a.m. on Tuesday, Dec. 1.

Residents can expect steady west winds between 20 to 30 mph with gusts between 50 to 60 mph which could result in trees or large branches coming down causing scattered power outages.

Belmont Light’s number to report power outages is 617-993-2800. Do not call 911 for a non-emergency call.

During the advisory, people should follow these precautions:

  • Use caution if you must drive. Travel will be difficult especially for high-profile vehicles such as trucks and buses. 
  • People should also avoid being outside in forested areas and around trees and branches.
  • If possible, remain in the lower levels of your home during the windstorm, and avoid windows.

What’s Open (Coffee,CVS), Closed In Belmont On Thanksgiving

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Photo: Thanksgiving 2020 (credit: WebMD)

Thanksgiving during COVID-19 will be one in which so many families will be greeting relatives and those close to them over the internet and their phones as even small gatherings can be unsafe. It is a time to be thankful and to social distance while wearing a mask.

Town offices will be closed Thursday and Friday. The US Post Offices will be closed Thursday but open on Friday.

The MBTA’s commuter rail, subway and buses will run on a Sunday schedule.

  • Starbucks in Belmont Center and in Cushing Square will be open from 6 a.m. to 4 p.m.
  • Dunkin’ Donuts: The store at Trapelo Road and Beech Street will be open “normal hours”: 5 a.m. to 11 p.m. The shop in Waverly Square on Church Street is open from 5 a.m. to 7 p.m. and the store on Pleasant Street is in operation from 6 a.m. to 3 p.m.
  • CVS at 264 Trapelo Rd. is open from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. while the pharmacy is open from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m.
  • CVS in Belmont Center on Leonard Street is operating from 8 a.m. to 9 p.m. The pharmacy is closed.
  • Star Market in Waverley Square will be closed all day.

Breaking: Belmont Schools Return To Remote Learning For The Week After Thanksgiving

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Photo: Belmont School District headquarters on Pleasant Street.

Saying the Belmont School District was “making a decision regarding the safety of students, educators, and families,” Belmont Schools Superintendent John Phelan announced that all Belmont students will transition to the remote schedule for the week following Thanksgiving, Nov. 30 to Dec. 4.

“It is not a decision we take lightly,” said Phelan. “While we wish we did not have to make a decision, we are confident it is the safest choice during this time of increasing transmission rates, nationally, state-wide, and locally.”

Elementary and Middle School pupils will revert back to the remote plan from their current hybrid schedule and the introduction of the hybrid model for Belmont High School students scheduled for this week will be delayed.

Pre-K and LABBB will remain in-person for the week. Transportation for those programs will continue as regularly scheduled.

In an email to the Belmont community, Phelan noted the decision was based on six factors relating to the safety of students, educators and families.

“The decision for any school district cannot hinge on a single factor, but rather on a consideration of all factors taken together,” said Phelan.

Those factors include:

  1. Communication with families regarding their travel and hosting plans.
  2. Analyzing our staffing data to get a sense of educators’ travel and hosting plans.
  3. Coordinating with available substitutes.
  4. Seeking the advice of the Belmont Health Department
  5. Networking with other superintendents in the Middlesex League athletic league
  6. Discussing this topic publicly at our Nov. 24 School Committee meeting

“It is our hope that by being proactive and strategic in the short-term we will avoid difficulty in the long-term,” said Phelan.

January Cardboard Event Will Cost You To Drop Off The Holiday Packaging

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Photo: Cardboard collection day is coming in January.

For the first time since it began two years ago, the next town cardboard event will have something extra: a $5 fee per resident will be required during the next drop off day coming after the holidays in early January.

While his fellow board members believe that including a fee will sow confusion and hard feelings among residents, Board Chair Roy Epstein is so convinced the fee based drop off will be a success, he pledged to make up any deficit out of his own pocket.

The cardboard event – which will be the first since June – will take place on Saturday, Jan. 9, at the Department of Public Works Yard at the end of C Street.

Jay Marcotte, Department of Public Works director, restated his opinion of two weeks previous on Nov. 9, that the only practical way to hold the drop off session is on the weekend with a fee to offset the $2,000 the event will cost the town.

“I would never as the department head agree to … getting rid of planned overtime with the expectation that I would still going to offer that service,” said Marcotte, who said residents are increasingly calling his office on when the next cardboard collection day will take place.

(Cardboard drop offs is a relatively new service, starting after the introduction of automated trash pickup in 2018.)

While suggestions were made to have the service during the workweek, “I don’t see how we would be able to safely conduct an event with a couple hundred cars … blocking up Waverly and C streets,” said Marcotte, noting he would be required to take a crew off of their normal work schedule to run the event.

Board member Tom Caputo countered the need for a fee drop off saying imposing onto residents a new cost would simply create confusion and frustration among the citizenry. Epstein felt that his colleague was “underestimating the ability of our residents to deal with something as simple as a cardboard program.”

“We’re talking about 200 or 300 households out of 10,000 [in Belmont],” he said. “It’s a convenience for a very small number of people in the scheme of things,” Epstein said.

The Select Board’s Adam Dash pondered if holding a potentially money losing fee-based event was worth doing in the first place. At $5 a pop, it’s unlikely the town will see the 300 vehicles needed to break even, said Dash.

“I’ll tell you what, Adam, I personally will make up the shortfall. You can quote me on that,” said Epstein.

What all side did agree on was the need for advanced notice to residents via the media and town signage on the new fee.

“We need to be clear why this is ,,, an unusual year and this is an unusual situation and we apologize” for requiring a fee, said Dash.

The DPW will also set up a pre-payment plan using the town’s Recreation Department website – which can accept credit and debit cards – along with information for contact tracing.

That day payments will also be accepted but it will take longer to process those residents due to the information they’ll need to write out the information required by the Health Department.

High School Hybrid 2.0: New Plan Takes Out Lunch, Puts In The Minutes

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Photo:

The selection of a new Belmont High School hybrid plan came down to what to do with lunch.

After being presented a pair of proposals to remedy issues facing the original hybrid blueprint, the Belmont School Committee voted on Tuesday, Nov. 17 to recommend a jury-rigged plan in which students will attend class in the High School building two half days a week while spending the majority of their days learning with their peers via live streaming video.

The plan will need the approval of the district’s teacher’s union, the Belmont Education Association, as online instruction requires the union’s OK through the collective bargaining process.

The plan is scheduled to going into effect during the week of Nov. 30.

The new plan appears to accomplish what a majority of parents have been advocating since the inaugural hybrid plan was announced in August: a hefty amount of instructional time. Originally slated at 95 minutes, the Hybrid Plan 2.0 will provide 170 minutes a week of instructional time, a reduction of just 10 minutes per week from the current remote plan.

The approved plan was the culmination of a three weeks sprint by a seven-person task force cobbled together after the School Committee rescinded an earlier vote to begin the original blueprint in early October.

“I think we are at the stage here where we are developing a hybrid model that will … to get high school students back into school,” said Belmont High School Principal Issacs Taylor who led the task force.

After reviewing students, educators and parents’ feedback from three surveys and 11 plans from surrounding districts – Lexington, Newton, Wellesley, and Concord to name a few – the group settled on two concepts which checked off many of the boxes the task force set for itself. These included “non-negotiables” such as maximizing instructional time, a balance on in-person and remote learning so all students would have the same classroom experience, as well as ensuring students would remain with their same teachers and classes as they have in remote sessions.

Both options would open and close at the same time for students: 8 a.m. to 2:25 p.m. One of two equally numbered student cohorts would spend two days “at school” – either Monday and Tuesday or Thursday and Friday – during in-class instruction while their counterparts would be following the lesson from home. The big difference from the current remote plan is that all students will learn the same lessons in real-time via live streaming.

The first option was a more traditional in-class school day with two 75 minute periods before and after a 50-minute lunch break taken in their homeroom.

A number of parents who attended the Zoom-meeting were impressed with option one where students attended two complete days in classrooms while having lunch in the building.

The second option squeezes the four 55 minute classes into a morning session. A 55-minute “lunch” break is used for the in-class students to head back home to begin the second round of lessons in the same classes they took that morning, this time in 20-minute blocks.

When questioned on separating a daily class into 55 minute and 20-minute segments, Taylor said “the morning session is that opportunity for the teachers to introduce topics and students to digest them … and then that afternoon session is a way of pulling things together.”

But it wasn’t how subjects were going to be taught but rather the logistics of attempting to serve lunch to 750 students and health risks that encompasses in Option One that turned out to be a “no go” for the task force and educators who expressed discomfort in their survey response being in classrooms for four days.

“In order to have lunch for everyone in school, I believe the health metrics would have to fundamentally change based on the space that we have in the high school,” said Taylor. Since the field house is being used as classrooms, “we don’t have the capacity in the school building to have lunch outside of the homerooms and I don’t believe that is the most effective and safest way of having lunch.”

Having settled on a hybrid plan 2.0 will not result in the task force shutting down, said Taylor. It will continue as “this is just the first step” how the district will move learning forward in this pandemic.”