Sushi, Japanese Eatery Planned For Cushing Square As Comella’s (Quietly) Seeks Similar Location

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Photo: The location of the former Ben Franklin in Cushing Square which will likely transform into a sushi/Japanese restaurant

The owner of a popular Belmont take out place has signed a lease for the former Ben Franklin 5 and 10 store with plans to bring top-notch sushi and traditional Japanese dishes to Cushing Square.

“We chose Belmont because of its proximety, the people and as a resident of Belmont we need more places where we can gather and meet up for a nice meal,” said Jack Sy, a former financial analyst turned restauranteur who owns a number of eateries including the popular Number 1 Taste Chinese Food takeout also located on Trapelo Road.

Sy’s move to the long time home of five and dime stores – operated as a Ben Franklin franchise since the 1930s before changing its name to Hollingsworth 5 and 10 in 2014, and finally as Belmont 5 and 10 before closing for good in August 2021 – will be a long-needed shot in the arm for the business center with a steady number of empty store fronts.

The menu which the Johnson and Wales graduate is still developing will include high-quality sushi and traditional Japanese dishes like Katsudon (pork cutlet rice bowl), Ramen noodles and Teppanyaki (sizzling hot plates) to your table. (Think Netflix’s ”Midnight Diner” food in Belmont.) There will also be many creative tapas-sized dishes for an option to a light meal. Sy will also seek an all-alcohol license to compliment the food.

Just beginning the permitting process with the town, Sy said he tentatively wants to do a complete buildout of the space replacing the site’s large existing windows with bistro-style windows that fold open during good weather while also taking advantge of the high ceiling and openness of the space “to create a mature, and fun atmosphere to come enjoy. A place where people can enjoy long conversations over dinner or a glass of wine.” He will also hire locally for all positions.

Sy’s move to open a restaurant near the busy intersection of Trapelo and Common comes as a regional Italian restaurant company currently on Leonard Street has its eyes on its own move to Cushing. Talk around Belmont Center and town offices since the fall of 2021 has Comella’s seeking a location near the popular public transportation bus line – the 73 bus is one of the most heavily used in the MBTA system – and the new Bradford apartment complex. No word from Comella’s to confirm this decision.

Whether or not Comella’s makes the move, it will not deter Sy’s plans.

“I think its a good idea for any restaurant or business to come and make the Trapelo area more vibrant,” said Sy.

Sy said a opening date is still a while in the future; he still hasn’t come up with a name for the place.

“Any suggestions?” he asked.

Hiding Out On B Street: Feds Nab Belmont Man Wanted For Murdering His Wife 27 Years Ago

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Photo: Colombian homicide fugitive Acosta following arrest on April 13 by ERO Boston officers near Belmont, Massachusetts. Photo by ICE ERO Boston.

It’s a story straight out of a true crime podcast. A man with a murderous secret was living a quiet suburban life on a dead end street. But it was his wish to be just like most of his neighbors that opened the door to his downfall.

That suburban byway is B Street near Waverley Square and adjacent to Belmont’s Town Yard, and the man who lived for nearly a quarter century with his family in a small condo at the end of the street was Carlos Alberto Rendon.

But Rendon was the alias he hid behind as he attempted to escape from justice … that is until early Wednesday morning, April 13, when special agents from the Federal Bureau of Investigation arrested William Hernando Usma Acosta for the 1994 murder of his wife, Laura Rose Agudelo, and the attempted murder of her daughter in Medellin, Columbia.

“Acosta is a convicted cold-blooded killer who thought he could evade justice by entering the United States and creating a new identity for himself so he could live under the radar. He needs to face justice for what he did, and today’s arrest ensures that he will,” said Joseph R. Bonavolonta, special agent in charge of the FBI Boston Division.

U.S. Immigration and Customers Enforcement (ICE), Boston

On November 14, 1996, a court in Medellin sentenced Acosta to 45 years in prison for aggravated murder of his wife during a domestic assault, aggravated attempted murder, and illegal possession of a firearm. That sentence was later reduced to 28 years and six months based on new sentencing guidelines. Colombia subsequently issued an international arrest warrant for Usma Acosta to serve his sentence.

According to immigration records, Acosta, who was then going by his newly-assumed identity of Carlos Alberto Rendon, arrived in the United States illegally in 1995 when he crossed the Mexican border. In 1998, he married an American citizen and obtained lawful, permanent resident status while living in Somerville. Since that time, Rendon moved to Belmont with his wife and son into a small condo at the edge of the DPW Yard and lived a very quiet life away from all scrutiny.

But in 2020, Acosta decided to become an American and submitted his application for naturalization to the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services which began the unraveling of his true identity. As part of that application, Acosta submitted a Colombian birth certificate and fingerprints. The FBI compared his fingerprints against those provided by the Colombian National Police and determined they were an exact match with the murderer Acosta. Investigators also determined the Colombian birth certificate that Rendon/Acosta submitted was fraudulent.

In June 2020, special agents with the FBI Boston Division’s Violent Crimes Task Force received information that Usma Acosta may be residing in the greater Boston area. The FBI’s Violent Crimes Task Force tracked Usma Acosta’s whereabouts to his home in Belmont and he was arrested without incident as he was heading to work in Waltham. 

Proceedings to remove Acosta from the United States for violating the conditions of his legal permanent residency status will be commenced by U. S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement which will transfer him to Colombian law enforcement authorities who issued the warrant for his arrest.  

“Today’s arrest has ensured that this dangerous and convicted killer will face justice for his crimes,” said Todd M. Lyons, Field Office Director, Enforcement and Removal Operations (ERO), U.S. Immigration and Customers Enforcement (ICE), Boston. “Acosta will no longer pose a threat to the residents of the Commonwealth thanks to the tireless efforts of an outstanding team of law enforcement professionals in both the United States and Colombia.” 

Debate Dust-Up At Candidates’ Night As Epstein, Lasseter Seek Voters Attention For Select Board Seat

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Photo: Lawn signs for the candidates for Select Board

The League of Women Voters of Belmont’s annual Candidates’ Night is the opportunity for many residents to get their first – and sometimes, only – look at the town-wide candidates in action. For the most part, the hottest moments in past debates was from the lack of air conditioning in the former Belmont High School auditorium.

Not so the 2022 edition as sparks flew during virtual Q&A on Thursday night, March 24, as the public watched the aspirants for the Select Board – political neophyte Jeff Dean Lasseter and incumbent Roy Epstein – forced home their points in a classic dust-up of ideas and policy differences.

And it was the self-described ”positive force multiplier” Lasseter who made the most noteworthy claims. Backed by the austerity advocacy group Citizens for a Fiscally Responsible Belmont, Lasseter told viewers as a Select Board member he would put a target on the town’s relationship with its workers and their union representatives, contends the schools are over budget by a whopping 17 percent and blasted Belmont’s chief administrative officer as being a “toxic” element in town.

In his opening remarks, Lasseter laid blame for the litany of fIscal issues squarely on the current and past Select Boards, from the ”dire financial straits” he said the town is experiencing and the lack of a plan in place to tackle the town’s “average” $2.3 million “budget deficit” [Editor’s note: Under state law, cities and towns are not allowed to have any shortfalls at the close of the fiscal year.]

“This is simply poor financial management,” he claims. The remedy to all of the town’s problems is anchored in the well-worn catch phrase ”common sense spending.” Lasseter’s one example he provided was a need for a new select board to do ”something” with town employees and their representative unions.

”These things aren’t acceptable the way they are,” said Lasseter, who did not specify the actions he would advocate against the unions and their members. Belmont employs more than 700 full-time employees in public safety, the schools and town services. It also has approximately 600 part-time and seasonal workers.

For his part, one-term incumbent Roy Epstein used his opening statement to tout his achievements during the past three years.

“I’m running for re-election because I love this town because I’ve accomplished a lot in the last three years and because there’s still a lot to do.” He pointed to his work reducing the size of the Beatrice Circle 40B proposal, reconstruct a new Light Board and restart the planning of a new skating rink and led the work on controlling student parking on side streets around the new Belmont High School.

“I’ve always worked hard to be a voice for all of Belmont,” said Epstein. “Having good local government is essential for our quality of life. I offer my judgement, independence, imagination and above all proven experience.”

While Epstein has spent more than a decade in town governance, serving on the Select Board, chair of the Warrant Committee and headed the special group which developed a plan to support installing solar panels on residential property, Lasseter’s local government experience is a blank slate. A Woodland Street resident since 2014, he has not sought to volunteer on the numerous town boards, is not a member or currently running for Town Meeting, and has yet to vote in a town election.

When Epstein highlighted Lasseter’s lack of turning up to the ballot box, the former CIA employee noted his numerous assignments and other government obligations for not visiting the Beech Street Center polling station during town elections (Lasseter has voted in national elections.) Epstein quickly noted that Belmont has ”a system of absentee ballots. That’s all I would say.”

Not that Lasseter has steered clear of politics, lending himself to a campaign video for Caroline Colarusso, the Republican congressional candidate defeated by incumbent US Rep Kathleen Clark in the 2020 general election. He was also seen on Twitter confronting Gov. Charlie Baker over Covid-19 restrictions on businesses as Baker left a visit to Wheelworks in Waverley Square in Aug. 2020. Lasseter is best known for owning and managing Jamaica Jeff’s, a Caribbean-themed restaurant in Belmont Center that closed in early 2022.

When resident Katherine Jewell asked the candidates to prioritize four important issues facing the town – fixing potholes, building a new library, construction of a skating rink and investing in schools – Epstein used the safe out, claiming that ”I support all these things” noting the worthiness of the capital projects will ultimately be decided by the voters in likely debt exclusion votes while schools, budgeted at “$70 million” – the current draft amount for fiscal 2023 is $68.9 million as of February 2022 – and potholes are part of the operating budget and are being funded.

While saying ”I support the schools 100 percent,” Lasseter said while “we budgeted [schools] for … 70 [million dollars],” ”it only really costs 59 to 60 [million dollars]” to run the district. Lasseter did not detail the 17 percent gap between his vision of the schools budget and that vetted by the school district and warrant committee or if he would challenge the school budget at the upcoming annual Town Meeting in June.

“[W]e need to be realistic, on how much money we have and then what we can spend,” said Lasseter.

Lasseter also said the current skating rink and library structures simply “need improvements” despite lengthy studies demonstrating both facilities have passed their useful lives especially the library. Rather than rely on the existing multi-year reports for both projects, Lasseter suggested going back to square one where ”we need a plan a, b and c and we need to pick the most viable plan with the resources we have available.”

The most contentious question was from an “anonymous” resident directed at Belmont’s Town Administrator, Patrice Garvin, alleging ”the salaries and financial benefits some town employees receive … are considered excessively generous by many citizens.”

Epstein said Garvin – who has been in her position since 2018 – “does an excellent job,” emphasizing that past Select Boards and the town’s Human Resources Department have conducted extensive salary benchmarking with relative-sized communities and discovered Garvin is paid slightly below where the “market is.”

“We’ve had this discussion over and over again but people insist on attacking our town administrator,” said Epstein, noting top male town officials are not held to the same scrutiny. “It seems bizarrely aggressive and misogynistic and I reiterate my support,” for Garvin, he said.

But Lasseter alleged that “there’s a toxic relationship that exists between our administrator and many of our public servants that are here to protect us and these things need to be fixed. That’s just the reality.”

The allegation of a toxic relationship is referenced in a recent letter to the Select Board targeting Garvin with unsubstantiated wrongdoing presented by John Sullivan, president of the Belmont Education Association, whose union is in increasingly contentious contract talks with the Belmont School Committee and town officials who are creating the fiscal year 2023 budget. [Editor’s note: The Belmontonian has decided not to publish the letter as it contains possible elements of libel.]

Saying Lasseter was “clearly referring to the letter,” Epstein said his challenger was repeating “innuendo that is unfounded, malicious and is bound up intimately with ongoing contractual negotiations.” Lasseter quickly doubled down on his assertion the letter was asking for “fairness and respect in dealing in a professional manner.” “These things are uncomfortable but they need to be discussed,” he said, stating he had read the letter.

Lasseter also questioned Garvin’s salary. ”I like, most Belmont citizens, find these things out after the fact,” wondering why salary decisions by the Select Board “is never put to a vote in the town.” [Editor’s note: Garvin’s salary was approved by the Select Board in open session.]

“The money belongs to the town and we should have a say in it. It shouldn’t just be administered by leadership and then told us how we have to spend it,” he claimed.

Wrapping up, Lasseter reiterated his past claims that by voting for Epstein “the same financial mess that we’re in or likelihood of severe could happen sooner than later.” He also highlighted the town not having to accept “toxic relationships,” homeowners forced to sell homes due to high tax bills and . While saying he wants to put the town on a strong financial footing via common sense spending, Lasseter referenced a misleading assumption advanced by several CFRB members at public meetings that the Belmont Middle and High School building project is $17 million over budget.

“We have to do things better,” said Lasseter.

In a rebuttal to his opponents assertions, Epstein said the public sees “how complex the Select Board really is” and it will take more than “silver bullets” to resolve the issues facing the town. Epstein accused Lasseter of budgetary magical thinking, pointing to his opponent’s contention that current town financial challenges will be solved “with funds waiting for us on Beacon Hill.”

“Anyone with experience knows better,” he said. “We have to work on real solutions” based on research, listening to the public and reliable facts.

“Alleging that the middle and high school is $17 million over budget is not a fact, at all,” Epstein said.

“I urge you to consider that experience counts,” he said.

Select Board Nix Pedestrian-Friendly Summer Plan In Belmont Center For More Parking, Traffic

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Photo: The end of the pedestrian-friendly summer plan

The two-year experiment known for calming traffic and prompting walking and al fesco dining in Belmont’s business center has come to an end.

The Belmont Select Board voted, 2-1, Monday, March 21 to end pedestrian-friendly summers along Leonard Street in Belmont Center as the board’s majority approved a blueprint created by the Belmont Center Business Association that emphasizes auto traffic and long stretches of parking.

The approved plan essentially maintains the center’s current traffic pattern with it’s two-lanes of commuter traffic running through the town’s main hub.

“In terms of traffic flows … nothing would be any different than it is today because it would be retain two-way travel,” said Glen Clancy, Belmont’s director of Community Development.

The one exception to the current design will be jersey barrier-protected bump outs in front of selected restaurants and eateries to allow for a small outdoor dining area. The number of restaurants seeking seating will decrease from 14 to 9, much due to changing business environment. Owner of The Toy Shop of Belmont, Daren Muckjian, told the board that a reduction of Center eateries including Starbucks and Comella’s just didn’t warrant the amount of spaces taken out of circulation.

“I hate to have barriers and spaces in front of empty spaces. What’s the purpose and what’s the reason behind it?” he said.

There will also be “a significant number of parking spaces gained” said Clancy, including converting the former MBTA bus stop adjacent to the town “delta” adjacent to the People’s United Bank branch from a loading zone into additional spaces. Where once the near entirety of the parking spaces on the east-side of Leonard Street was converted to seating, this year most will revert back to the curb parking.

The metal railings that ran the length of Leonard Street which provided a safety barrier between autos and the walking public will not longer be part of the scheme as the business association referred to them as a “maintenance headache,” said Clancy. In addition, cyclists will be asked to share the traffic lanes with vehicle traffic as the jersey barriers will take up that space.

The summer traffic plan accepted by the Belmont Select Board that shows two-way traffic and several new parking spaces. The yellow spaces are seating areas.

Devised by the town and Select Board in the spring of 2020 to allow the center’s eateries room to create outdoor dining when the Covid-19 pandemic closed indoor service at restaurants, the opening of Leonard Street with a single traffic lane from Alexander Avenue to Channing Road created a pedestrian-friendly area that attracted strollers, shoppers and diners to the business district. In 2021, additional parking was created along the street as well as flower pots and new railing as the length of the closure was increased from early May to late October.

Despite being popular with residents and shoppers, a segment of the business association’s membership has opposed to the one-way, pedestrian version since its inception, claiming their operations suffered financially due to the lack of direct on-street parking and commerce generated by the mostly out-of-town commuter trade. While there is a large municipal parking lot in the rear of the center along Claflin Street, the merchants said it is too far for many shoppers.

Another reason for the businesses opposition this summer is cost as the local family which donated the funds to install the jersey barriers will not commit that money in 2022, according to Muckjian.

For the Select Board’s majority, the business association’s option appeared to meet the needs of those most impacted by the road changes.

“I think we’re feeling our way … to striking a balance between different businesses that may have different priorities,” said the Select Board’s Roy Epstein, as restaurants keep their outside dining areas – albeit diminished in square footage – while retailers have their on-street parking.

With the town-wide mask mandate lifted for businesses and indoor dining expected to “flourish, I think this is a fine compromise,” said the Select Board’s Mark Paolillo, who said businesses have “suffered” due to the lack of on-street parking in front of their establishments.

But Dash said that since last year, “I’m concerned that we keep eroding this plan” noting the original concept in 2020 advocated doing away with vehicles in the center as many European municipalities and some US resort areas have done.

“Now we are talking about two-way traffic. At some point [you have to ask]’what’s the point?’” said Dash. “I’ve heard from residents that either do what you did last year or get rid of the cars altogether. I’ve heard zero people in the public say ‘I want two-way traffic’,” he said.

“I’ve also talked to businesses in the Center who wanted the same that it was last year,” said Dash.

But Epstein countered Dash view by noting the plan has changed yearly due to new conditions.

“I don’t believe we are eroding the concept, I think we are evolving the concept because we’re trying to balance a number of different constituencies,” including a number of merchants who believe “keeping two-way traffic year-round is a matter of life or death” for their businesses.

He suggested creating a lower speed limit targeting Leonard Street as a way to make the area “a little more acceptable.”

“It would be better if we had the one-way travel lane and a dedicated bike lane,” said Dash, who was the lone dissenting vote. “At least the commuters will love it.”

The 2021 plan for Belmont Center.

Belmont Lifts Mask Mandates For Schools, Indoor Public Spaces

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Photo: Masks are no longer required in Belmont schools and at indoor spaces.

Beginning at midnight on Tuesday, March 8, Belmont’s town wide Covid-19 mask mandates for schools and indoor public settings are suspended after both the Select Board and School Committee voted unanimously to accept the recommendation of the Board of Health.

The three bodies, which met and voted in rapid succession Monday evening, effectively ends two years of wearing face coverings which began in March 2020 at the start of the pandemic with a short reprieve in late summer between surges of the coronavirus.

While the mandate has ended, the Health Board “highly recommends” children under the age of five – who can not receive a vaccination – and unvaccinated residents of any age to continue wearing masks. For public school students, masks are no longer be required riding school buses but they will continued are still required to wear masks in the nurses’ offices.

Although the mask mandate has been lifted for indoor spaces, businesses may choose to continue mask use for their establishments.

“Knowing that this decision will be applauded by some and met with disappointment by others, I would ask all of us to respect each other’s choices, and to proactively encourage our children to do the same.,” said John Phelan, Belmont’s Superintendent of Schools, in an email sent out to parents minutes after the Select Board vote.

The Health Board pointed to reduced transmission rates, high vaccination status and wider availability of testing as the main reasons for lifting the requirement. The Health Department’s Lindsey Sharp kicked off its Zoom presentation before more than 60 residents highlighting recent Covid-related data showing Belmont and Middlesex country now in a post-surge environment.

Vaccination rates by class in Belmont public schools

Sharp said Belmont’s average positivity rate for the first week in March at one percent, a significant reduction from the 6.4 percent rate during the surge in December and January while the pooled positivity rate in Belmont schools plummet from 15.3 percent in the second week of January to 2.5 percent one month later. Resident vaccination rates in Belmont increased from 55 percent in October 2021 to 83 percent in February with students hovering at 90 percent for middle and high schoolers and in the 70s for the lower grades.

“The numbers are looking great,” said Sharp.

During the public comment session, the remove-the-mandate residents said the science supported an end of the requirement.

”I clearly see that the time is right to remove the mandate,” said Patrick Whittemore.

Others, such as Nancy Snyder, said “there is no risk to keep (the mandate)” as it makes her and her friends “feel safe.”

The board members were in agreement to remove the mandate while pondering whether it should continue for children under the age of five. Rather than create confusion and noting the very low hospitalization rates, the board said it would “strongly recommend” than require masks for that group.

The board voted to “suspend” the mandate policy rather than striking it so when a time comes during another surge or a new virus emerges the board will be able to reinstate the policy quickly. In addition, the board approved an automatic reintroduction of the mask mandate if Middlesex county returns to a “high” level according to CDC guidelines.

Both the School Committee and Select Board took up the recommendations and voted to accept them. There was one change from the Select Board, rewriting the Health Board’s “automatic” reinstatement of the mask mandate to one where the Select Board would take a vote after reviewing the data, which the Health Board accepted.

Belmont Select Board Convey Support For Ukraine And Its People

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Photo: The Select Board express its support for the embattled Ukrainian people as its country is invaded by Russia

Belmont joins a growing number of communities around the world expressing its support for Ukraine and its people as the European nation is being invaded by Russia.

While saying it’s usually not the place of the town’s executive body to venture into areas outside their purview, Select Board member Mark Paolillo said on Monday, Feb. 28, that “all of us have been watching the events in Ukraine and the attack on democracy. Those individuals that are of Ukrainian descent in Belmont, we stand with them and the Ukrainians as they fight off the aggression by someone that’s trying to destroy democracy.”

“We can say that the leaders of Belmont stands with the Ukrainians against the Russian aggression,” said Select Board Chair Adam Dash who noted that more than 100 years ago the paternal side of his family fled Russian pograms to America from Odessa, Ukraine.

”I agree that [the Russian invasion] is completely out of hand and we maybe are on the verge of World War III. It is completely outrageous and I hope this gets resolved,” said Dash.

In addition, Vice Chair Roy Epstein saluted “the bravery of the individual Russians who have stood up against the Russian government and are paying a frightful consequence” including physical assaults and long prison sentences.

“I don’t know what more we can do as a town of Belmont other than stand strong with our Ukrainian colleagues,” said Paolillo.

Despite Gov. Baker Ending State Mask Mandate Feb. 28, Belmont Schools Will Wait Until School Committee Decision March 8

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Photo: Belmont School Committee will likely vote on the future of the mask mandate on March 8

The Belmont School District will keep its mask mandate in effect until at least Tuesday, March 8 despite Gov. Charlie Baker’s recent announcement calling for the lifting of the state’s school mask requirement on Monday, Feb. 28.

Belmont Schools Superintendent John Phelan said in a press release the district will wait for both the Belmont Board of Health and the School Committee to discuss and then possibly vote on the future of its mask mandate on Monday, March 7 and Tuesday, March 8 respectively.

At its Monday, Feb. 7 meeting, the Health Board said it would be revisiting the issue at its next meeting on March 7 when it will review the latest state and county data on Covid-19 infection and hospitalization rates with the goal of possibly lifting the town-wide mandate which includes the six Belmont public schools.

Two days later, on Wednesday, Feb. 9, Baker and the state’s Department of Elementary and Secondary Education announced the end of the state mask mandate, at which time, “masking policies will revert to local control.”

“In response to this updated information and given the Board of Health’s schedule, the School Committee plans to discuss this matter at their March 8, 2022 meeting,” said Phelan.

A New York Times article, “Why Liberal Suburbs Face a New Round of School Mask Battles” dated Feb. 10 points to the competing camps and difficult decision the Health Board and School Committee will face on the future of masks in Belmont schools.

Maskless in March? Belmont Health Board Moving Towards Recommending Lifting Town, Schools Mask Mandate Next Month

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Photo: This sign could be obsolete in March.

With nationwide positive rates of Covid-19 infection are falling as quickly as they skyrocketed two months ago, the Belmont Board of Health declared it will take a vote on lifting the town-wide and school mask mandate in the next month.

“That’s our intent,” Board of Health Chair Donna David said affirming the board’s decision. “We see masking coming to our March meeting” after the board appeared ready to change how it will determine the green light for ending the mandate.

When David asked the town’s Health Department Director Wesley Chin if he will provide a heads up to Belmont Superintendent John Phelan to prepare for a possible lifting of the school mandate put in place when students came back to class in March 2021, an unknown resident who had not muted themselves after speaking earlier, spouted out “Yes! Yes!”

The Board of Health has sole responsibility on imposing and ending mask mandates in public schools; the Select Board will take the Health Board’s recommendation into consideration whether to move on cancelling the mandate for businesses, town buildings and other public locations.

Starting the portion of the meeting, David proclaimed “Let’s talk about masks, Wesley” who said his office has been receiving “a number of calls” on the subject.

The Health Board’s “update” comes as states and municipalities across the country have suddenly begun dismantling mandates and other preventive measures.

Health Agent Lindsey Sharp told the board the latest Covid infection data is showing “a definite down swing” in the past month as the number of positive cases has fallen from more than 200 a week two months ago to 156 last week and 86 for the current seven days while 80 percent of those infected have been vaccinated.

But while saying the “numbers are better, we’re not there yet,” said Chin, stating he would not recommend voting Monday to take down the mask mandate as February vacation week is about to occur and Chin wanted to see the numbers of infections. He also noted that there has not been a vaccine approved for the youngest residents under the age of five.

The meeting witnessed a coordinated group of residents whose mission was to press the point that requiring masks indoors in buildings and the six town schools had passed its expiration date. Pat Whittemore, who said his opinions on masks “are very well known” claimed children with positive cases are not likely to be hospitalized when infected with Covid. He advocated “a nice middle step” of making mask wearing voluntary in schools.

John Link said mask wearing is not effective for children as “kids have zero chance to die” when they catch the coronavirus. He also said mask wearing by children can potentially lose 10 points from their IQ. Rather than an “onerous regime of wearing masks,” he also believes masks should be up to the discretion of the parents. In the same vein, David McLaughlin said there is a greater danger for children to be masked than being stricken by the Covid Omnicron variant. (Board member Adrienne Allen noted approximately 800 pediatric deaths in the US have been caused by Covid “so it’s not trivial.”)

Other residents was concerned about the town mandating vaccine passports (the Health Board and Select Board have not considered a vote on these regulations currently used in Boston) while other pointed to the high rate of student vaccination – in the higher grades up to 90 percent – as being enough to deter Covid’s debilitation effects.

Some residents wanted to take a slower approach on ending the mask mandate. “Thank you for following the science,” said Marina Atlas who felt really confident by the board’s appropriate use of data that show that masks work on Covid and other air pollutants.

It soon became clear that the board would not take action at its meeting but “we should consider another few weeks” after the February break to review the Covid data in Middlesex country.

“But [mandates are] not going on forever,” said David, who suggested taking a vote at the board’s next meeting in a month’s time.

“I agree this is not forever, as long as [the data] improves,” said Allen. Member Julie Lemay suggested the board change the data rubric for ending the mandate from Centers for Disease Control and Prevention rates and rely on one which uses number of hospitalizations to cases as a possible standard.

”I like that,” said David.

Chronicling Our Far-Flung Past: Belmont’s Andrew Knoll Honored For Revealing The Earliest History Of The Earth

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Photo: Andrew H. Knoll (Credit: Wikimedia Commons, The Royal Society Academy of Sciences)

The list of honors bestowed to Belmont’s Andrew Knoll just gets longer by the year. The foremost natural history scientist today has been acknowledged in the past for his seminal work unearthing the history of the planet from when it was nothing more than a molten rock peppered by meteors. The author of last year’s bestseller “A Brief History of Earth: Four Billion Years in Eight Chapters,” Knoll is the preeminent chronicler of the geological mysteries of how life on Earth evolve over its first three billion years.

On Monday, Harvard University’s Fisher Research Professor of Natural History and a Research Professor of Earth and Planetary Sciences was awarded the prestigious Crafoord Prize for 2022 from the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences which, since 1982, has promoted international basic research in the disciplines Mathematics and Astronomy, Geosciences, Biosciences and Polyarthritis.

“[Knoll] has developed and combined methods for geological, biological and chemical analysis, which are now widely used by researchers around the globe. Using these methods, he has succeeded in determining the age of strata in bedrock and studied microscopically tiny fossils of unicellular and multicellular organisms from deep time,” reads the Academy’s

In preparation of the ceremony, Senior Producer Katie Hunt of CNN Digital produced a primer of Knoll’s works and discoveries in his 50 years of academic study beginning in the 1970s as a graduate student.

https://www.cnn.com/2022/01/30/americas/earth-extinction-andrew-knoll-crafoord-prize-scn/index.html

The Society produced a video in which its members described Knoll’s research and breakthroughs in geoscience while Knoll described receiving word that he was named this year’s prize winner.

//api.screen9.com/embed/s9Ry1KciLL6dlvr1bTS7MtG8j9V8ioGklJOAwwrJbMBfidEmYrMC5J19C8W3rzHv

And Knoll has been a frequent guest on Belmont Media Center’s program “Contemporary Science Issues and Innovations,” the latest being on Dec. 9, 2021.

https://www.belmontmedia.org/watch/contemporary-science-issues-and-innovations-human-earth-12092021

Phelan: District At ‘Breaking Point’ As Covid Cases Skyrocket In Belmont Schools

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Photo: Belmont Superintendent John Phelan

A snow day this past Friday couldn’t have come at a more opportune time for the Belmont District Schools.

As the Omicron variant of the Covid coronavirus sweeps through Belmont schools after students returned from the winter recess, absentees among educators and staff has placed the district close to a breaking point whether there’s enough teachers in each building.

The numbers say it all.

In the final week of 2021, 16 Belmont students, educators and staff reported being infected with a new case of COVID-19. A week later, on Jan. 5, that tally exploded to 228 novel positive cases across the district’s six schools.

New Covid positive cases
(students, staff, teachers)
Week endingnumber
01/05/2022228
12/29/202116
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“The impact of the staff attendance and staffing levels is a real concern of the district,” Belmont Schools Superintendent John Phelan told the School Committee on Tuesday, Jan. 4 as 72 and 73 staff members were out on Monday and Tuesday respectively. And while praising substitute teachers and district employees for stepping up and filling in, Phelan told the committee the current patchwork approach for cover classrooms “is not sustainable.”

On Monday, Jan. 3, a staggering 605 district students (out of a total of approximately 4,600) were not in class while Tuesday showed an improvement where 473 were out due to Covid, traveling and those waiting for results of Covid tests. The usual number out on an average week is about 275. This is occurring in a system that has impressive numbers of vaccinated students. (See chart below)

“We believe that that we haven’t seen the worst of this phase of the virus at this point in time,” said Phelan, with the next weeks seeing staff and families make some “truly hard choices” related to going to school. Friday’s snow storm was a blessing for many teachers and family as it provided an extra day away from the classroom and added a day towards a quarantine total.

Phelan and his leadership team calculated teacher attendance would hover just below 90 percent which posed significant challenges requiring the district to set up a educational “triage” system to allow school to open on the first Monday of the new year.

On Sunday, teachers and staff came to Belmont to receive take home tests while on Monday the start of schools were delayed by one hour so teachers could receive KN95 masks, “ensure that we had time for our educators to get together, our principals with teachers and other administrators to support the setting up of the school day.”

Staff, central office personnel and other non-educators were redeployed and placed in classrooms to support teachers. The district also doubled its rate for substitute teachers while proactively recruiting to ensure it has sufficient numbers to place before students arrived on Monday

But even with adults in the classroom, Phelan said certain aspects of the school day have been lost such as small group instruction and parts of the traditional school day schedule that teachers can best perform effectively.

The challenge of lunch

Phelan also pointed to student lunch time as “one of the largest challenges moving forward.” With the large tents at the elementary and Chenery schools allowing for an outside option taken down for the winter, Phelan said he is attempting to balance Covid safety with feeding students. That will require keeping masked in the cafeteria, assigned seating, shortening lunch times by sending students to recess early, keep talking to a minimum and keeping their distance.

Sports and extracurriculars will soon see restrictions on the number of who can attend contests, restrictions on using locker rooms and a greater emphasize on proper mask wearing during play. This comes after a growing number of student/athletes and at least two sporting events were cancelled due to Covid outbreaks.

Phelan has been in discussion with his fellow area superintendents on possible changes to the schedule or length of the school day for elementary, middle and high schools as a way of keeping them safe from spread while providing adequate education.

“We want to keep our options open,” Phelan told the committee. Moving forward, the district will be keeping an eagle eye on in-school transmission rates, new positive cases in the community and keep appropriate staffing levels to allow schooling to take place.

While more parents and guardians are calling for the district and committee to consider the role of remote learning during this surge, Belmont – along with school districts statewide – finds itself between a rock and a hard place. Districts are prohibited by the Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education to return to full-time remote learning. And while DESE has established a protocol for when a school or entire district can seek permission to re-impose virtual learning, it has been done only in “a very few cases,” in the past months, said Phelan.

“{DESE) is keeping a very tight rein on [granting waivers],” he said.

Please Remember

When asked by the Belmontonian if the district has set a benchmark of when it would be prudent to close schools due to staff shortages, Phelan said there was no set percentage.

“We will assess our staffing levels daily to determine our coverage models. This looks different at each level. We need to assure that all students are engaged and properly supervised,” he said.

If a school or district simply must close due to staffing shortages, Phelan said DESE has informed districts they will need to use a “snow day” with the requirement it is made up at the end of the school year.

The district’s actions this week are at best a stop gap until the pandemic peters out which health experts said will not happen soon enough. All this is being played out as the district is facing ever “shifting guidance” from state and federal agencies on Covid safety.

Phelan told the committee the recommendations from the CDC and DPH are, at best, “inconsistent” such as the CDC requiring 10 days out of class and DESE five; no requirement for testing to return that many parents and school administrators find and DESE and CDC not on the same page on contract tracing (Belmont has abandoned it due to staffing issues).

The district will also step up its promote parents to sign up their students for pool testing, which “is more important now than ever for us to get a very clear picture through pool testing mechanism … for this upcoming year,” said Phelan.

While it has a plan in place to continue in-school education, Phelan said the new reality of variants and their impact will remain with the district when this current surge subsides.

“This is only one step in a long journey,” said Phelan.