Opinion: Time Is Now For Sleep To Be A Priority For High School Students

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Photo: Bedtime. 

(Editor: On Feb. 7, the Belmont School Committee heard a presentation from the chair of the Belmont Start School Later campaign, Jessica Olans Hausman, and from School Committee member Andrea Prestwich requesting a task force be formed to consider a later beginning of the school day for Belmont High School students. Hausman presented an opinion article [below] to the Belmontonian to inform the public of current and future activities of her group.) 

The science supporting later school start times for high school and middle school students is evident.  An adolescent’s optimal sleep cycle is at 11 p.m. and wake at 8 a.m. Just put a Fitbit on your teen and put them to bed at 9 p.m. They will toss and turn until 11 p.m. That means waking up at 6 a.m. rouses adolescents at the lowest point of alertness in their 24-hour sleep cycle. It is the equivalent of an adult waking up at 4 a.m. This is why the American Academy of Pediatrics, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and American Medical Association recommend starting middle and high school no earlier than 8:30 a.m.

Teens are physically and mentally healthier and higher performing with a school start time of 8:30 a.m. or later.  They perform better academically in school and experience 68 percent lower injury rate athletically after school. Incidences of mood and eating disorders, at-risk behaviors such as drug and alcohol abuse, and car accidents all decrease with later start times.  

Schools around the country, including Massachusetts, are making a move to later middle and high school start times with positive results.  

  • In fall 2016, Hanover High School changed its opening bell from 7:25 a.m. to 7:55 a.m. The school’s Assistant Principal Hugh Galligan has already reported “a 32 percent decrease in Ds and Fs in period one classes, and a 10 percent increase in As in period one classes this school year.”    
  • In 2012, Nauset High School changed to start school at 8:35 a.m with an immediate result of a 50 percent decrease in Ds and Fs.  These statistics have continued steadily at the school to date.
  • A Newton Start School Later working group has collected nearly 2,000 responses to its survey of six scenarios for starting their high schools as late as 9 a.m. According to the Boston Globe, the Newton School Committee is expected to vote this spring to implement later start times as early as the fall of 2017.
  • South Portland Middle School will move its start from 7:55 a.m. to 8:30 a.m. and the high school will move its start from 7:30 a.m. to 8:10 a.m. in the 2017/2018 school year.
  • Boxford, Middleton, Mascomet and Topsfield formed a Start Times Advisory Committee in Spring 2016 that has already completed evaluations studying options for later middle and high school start times.

Much more examples of towns in the region can be found on the Start School Later Massachusetts Facebook page with additional updates available from the Start School Later Massachusetts newsletter.

What is happening in Belmont?  

Belmont may not be far behind these schools in moving to a later school start time.  In 2015, Middlesex League superintendents committed that, if their towns are going to change to later high school start times between 8 a.m. and 8:30 a.m., they will change by Fall 2018. This will help to coordinate after-school sports schedules.  

Belmont School Committee is discussing starting a task force to explore starting school later for the 2018/2019 school year. Their preliminary discussion took place at the Feb. 7 school committee meeting at Chenery Middle School. They may vote on the question at the upcoming meeting on Feb. 28

Belmont residents are highly encouraged to attend this voting meeting at Chenery Middle School at 7 p.m. on Tuesday, Feb. 28.  At the start of the meeting, members of the community are welcome to voice concerns for up to two minutes each. If you wish to sign a petition in support of later school start times for Belmont middle and high schools you can respond here until the school committee vote on Feb. 28. Town task forces often take one year to explore different plans and logistics for starting school later.   

If the Belmont school committee votes to create this task force and follow the year timeline, they could vote in the winter of 2017-2018 on whether and how to start school later in Belmont.

Selectmen Names Interim Town Admin As Search Begins to Replace Kale

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Photo: Phyllis Marshall

Phyllis Marshall, Belmont’s assistant Town Administrator, was named interim Town Administrator by the Board of Selectmen on Monday, Feb. 13 as the three-member panel puts into motion its “plan of action” to find a replacement for the departing Town Administrator David Kale.

“You’re going to be in it knee deep,” said Selectmen Chair Mark Paolillo to Marshall, who takes over the top job in Belmont in mid-March as Kale heads to Cambridge City Hall. Marshall starts her new position in the midst of the annual budget season and six weeks before Town Meeting begins on May 1.

Marshall was hired by Kale to be assistant Town Administrator in December 2013 from Watertown where she was Treasurer and Collector.

The Selectmen voted Monday to increase Marshall’s salary to $160,000 during her time in the job. The selectmen also authorized the temporary hiring of a consultant to assist her with the budget process.

The board also on Monday revealed its outline on finding Kale’s replacement which will start with the release of a Request for Proposal (RFP) to hire a professional search firm to evaluate the job and assist in finding candidates.

Paolillo said the board soon will also create a selection committee – which could be made up of representatives of the Selectmen, Warrant and school committees, Planning Board and Capital Budget Committee – which will recommend two or three finalists.

The selectmen will have the ultimate final say on who is hired.

Paolillo said the board hopes to select the town’s new administrator by August.

Town Election ’17: Contested Races for Selectmen, Library Trustees

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Photo: Town Clerk’s Office.

Belmont voters will have two contested races to decide at the annual Town Election on April 4, according to the Town Clerk’s office today, Tuesday, Feb. 14.

Hillcrest Road’s Guy Carbone and Adam Dash of Goden Street will vie for the one available seat on the Board of Selectmen while a pair of incumbents – Kathleen Keohane and Gail Mann – are challenged by newcomer David Stievater for the two open slots on the Trustees of the Public Library.

The deadline for submitting completed nomination papers was Tuesday at 5 p.m.

What appeared ready to be a competitive contest in April fizzled as the School Committee will in all likelihood welcome Kate Bowen as its newest member as the Barlett Avenue homeowner joined incumbent Tom Caputo as the two residents certified by the Town Clerk’s Office for the pair of open seats.

In the end, current School Committee member Elyse Shuster and the Zoning Board of Appeals Nicholas Iannuzzi did not return the nomination papers they had taken out.

In addition to the above races, the remainder of residents running unopposed for town-wide office include:

  • Michael Widmer for Town Meeting Moderator (one year)
  • Floyd Carman for Town Treasurer (three years)
  • Robert Reardon for Board of Assessors (three years) 
  • Alexander Corbett III for Board of Cemetery Comm. (three years)
  • Donna David for Board of Health (three years)
  • Corinne McCue Olmsted for a one-year seat on the Library Trustees.

Proposed ’18 Town Budget Tops $110 Million, Up 3.6%

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Photo: David Kale, Belmont Town Administrator

Belmont’s next budget will see healthy increases in both the town and schools with some hopeful news on “stretching out” the monies that came from the 2015 Proposition 2 1/2 override.

The proposed fiscal 2018 town-wide budget – which begins on July 1, 2017 – is pegged at $110,210,440, an increase of $3.9 million or 3.6 percent, according to outgoing Town Administrator David Kale who presented the budget before a joint meeting of the Board of Selectmen, School and Warrant committees at Town Hall on Monday, Feb. 13.

The presentation consisted of the first preliminary outline – albeit a relatively detailed blueprint – of the town’s financial balance sheet which will be voted on at the annual Town Meeting in June.

When asked by Selectman Jim Williams how complete an outline was before them, Kale affirmed it was more than “90 percent” complete, noting that changes will be coming to the town’s revenue line items. He pointed to state aid to cities and towns coming from Beacon Hill will not be finalized until later in the spring. Kale said it is likely that Belmont will see a small increase in the $600,000 forecast heading to Belmont from the State House.

The biggest component of the budget is, as it is every year, the public schools which will come in at $53.1 million, an increase of $3.1 million from 2017, a 6.0 percent jump. According to Belmont Superintendent John Phelan, the jump in costs are directly related to the continued unprecedented increase in students enrolling in Belmont schools. 

Phelan said annually 100 students are entering the Belmont system straining the district with the number of pupils in classrooms, the need for more teachers and staff as well as requiring the district to purchase a second set of modular classrooms in the coming year just to keep pace. 

Expenses from the “town” side of the budget – town services and public safety – will see a 4.2 percent increase (approximately $1.6 million) from 2017 to $38.4 million.

Fixed costs – debt payments, retirement assessments, road repair – which makes up 16 percent of the total budget will see an increase of $600,000 to $17.2 million.

On the revenue side, Kale said 90 cents of every dollar coming into the town’s coffers were from real estate and property taxes ($88.5 million, 80 percent) and state aid from the State House ($10 million, 9 percent). Total property taxes will see an increase of $3.2 million or 3.7 percent from 2017 figures.

Belmont is expecting to see in fiscal 2018 a boost in other revenue sources including $200,000 in meals, motor vehicle, and payments instead of taxes and another $200,000 in local receipts.

Kale, who is leaving for a position at the City of Cambridge in March, noted that due to favorable increases in “new growth” and state aid, the town will only require $1.3 million from the General Stabilization Fund, the $4.5 million in additional funds approved in a Prop 2 1/2 override in April 2015, to balance the budget.

Kale said through belt-tightening and a jump in revenue; budget planners were able to cut nearly in half the original $2.2 million they scheduled to take from the line item. He said that figure could be reduced further if added revenues come to Belmont. 

By reducing its reliance on the stabilization fund this year, Kale said the town could rely on it for more than the three years it was originally slated to last.

Town Election ’17: Incumbents Baghdady, Shuster Step Aside

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Photo: Sami Baghdady, Elyse Shuster

Citing personal commitments, a pair of town government incumbents have decided not to seek re-election.

Selectman Sami Baghdady and School Committee member Elyse Shuster told the Belmontonian at Monday’s town budget presentation they would not be running to retain their seats on the respective committees.

“It’s about a quality of life,” said Baghdady, who noted he had spent the past 12 years as a member or the chair of groups including the Selectmen, the Planning Board, and the Warrant Committee. 

“Now it’s time for me to focus my attention on my young family and my busy practice,” said Baghdady who is an Arlington-based attorney. 

Baghdady, who help lead the Planning Board through the special permit process on the Cushing Village project, was completing his first term as a Selectman, having served as its chair and vice chair during his three years on the board.

Shuster was elected in 2013 to the committee. In 2016, she abandoned her seat to win the one-year term which remained after Laurie Graham resigned.

While she did take out nomination papers for this year’s town election, “I decided over the weekend that I wouldn’t run,” Shuster told the Belmontonian.

“A couple of commitments” prompted her not to run, she said. 

I Can’t Drive … 25? Town Discussing Lowering Speed Limit On All Roads

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Photo: 25 mph is the limit.

Belmont is moving towards following the lead of neighboring municipalities by reducing the speed limit on town roads to a uniform 25 mph.

Belmont’s Assistant Town Administrator Phyliss Marshall, Glen Clancy of the Office of Community Development and members of the Belmont Police Department have been discussing the possible changes in the past month, said David Kale, Town Administrator at Monday’s Board of Selectmen’s meeting.

“Conventional wisdom” would suggest lowering the speed limit would increase road safety, said Kale, who said a bylaw change to reduce the speed limit could be before Town Meeting in May.

Marshall told the Belmontonian on Wednesday, Feb. 8, that so far “all we have done is simply discuss the possibility. Nothing has been finalized.”

If the annual Town Meeting ratifies a blanket speed for town roads, Belmont will join Boston, Somerville, and Cambridge which lowered speeds on town roads to 25 mph. State roadways, such as the Belmont Street/Trapelo Road corridor and Route 60 (which includes Pleasant Street) would remain under Massachusetts Department of Transportation rules.

Cities and towns around the state have moved to drop the speed limit since the implementation of the Municipal Modernization Act signed in August 2016, which grants cities and towns the permission to decrease local speed limits to 25 in highly congested areas and create designated 20 mph safety zones.

The Metropolitan Area Planning Council and the Massachusetts Department of Public Health conducted a study of a 2012 bill found that lowering the default speed limits five miles per hour on local roads from 30 mph made neighborhood roads safer for pedestrians, cyclists, and children while promoting active transportation such as biking and exercise.

Town Election 2017: ZBA’s Iannuzzi Looking At School Committee Race

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Photo: Nick Iannuzzi

Nicholas “Nick” Iannuzzi, the long-serving member of the Zoning Board of Appeals, has taken out nomination papers for a possible race for one of the two open seats on the Belmont School Committee.

A founding partner of the Needham-based law firm Orsi, Arone, Rothenberg, Iannuzzi & Turner, Iannuzzi is known for his defense of town residents against commercial business projects such as the proposed boutique hotel on Pleasant Street and placing restrictions on Airbnb rentals. 

In 2010, Iannuzzi ran an independent campaign to represent the third district on the Massachusetts Governor’s Council, eventually losing to long-time incumbent Marilyn Davane of Watertown. 

Iannuzzi is a graduate of Boston College and Suffolk University Law School. He  has been practicing law for about 20 years. Before becoming a member of the Belmont ZBA, Iannuzzi served on the Zoning Board of Appeals in Somerville.

As of Friday afternoon, Feb. 10, incumbent Tom Caputo is the only candidate to by certified on the April 4 Town Election ballot. Incumbent Elyse Shuster and Catherine Bowen, the chair of Sustainable Belmont, have also taken out nomination papers. Candidates must submit signatures to the Town Clerk’s Office by 5 p.m., Tuesday, Feb. 14. 

We Give Up: Schools, Town, Library Closed For Thursday’s Nor’easter

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Photo: School’s out for … Thursday!

Belmont has surrendered to tomorrow’s Nor’easter.

With approximately a foot of snow predicted to fall from 6 a.m. to 6 p.m. Thursday, Feb. 9, most of Belmont will be shut down for the day.

  • Belmont Public Schools will be closed due to the snow and associated events and sporting contests will be postpone or rescheduled.
  • Town government and other town offices will also be shut tight.
  • The Belmont Public Library has cancelled events for the day and will remain closed until Friday at 9 a.m.

But one scheduled event will take place: Thursday trash and recycling pickup is still “on.”

Belmont Police ‘Not in the Habit’ of Asking Immigration Status

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Photo: Belmont Police badge and patch. 

When asked about the department’s policy regarding persons with illegal status in the country, Belmont Police Assistant Captain James MacIsaac said while the department does not have written guidelines, when it comes to conducting local policing, “Belmont’s officers are not in the habit of asking about the immigration status of a victim, witness, or suspect.”

But while being an illegal immigration will not solely lead to that person’s arrest, if Belmont Police is asked by federal authorities to detain a person not lawfully in the country who is in custody for a crime, “I would expect our officers to cooperate,” said MacIsaac. 

The question of police cooperation with federal immigration law is at the heart of a likely citizen’s petition being prepared by residents which would make Belmont a “sanctuary” community through a vote at May’s annual Town Meeting. 

Belmont sanctuary supporters are pointing to a effort in Arlington, using similar language that would prevent local police from “engaging in or assisting in Immigration and Customs Enforcement in reporting, arresting, detaining deporting, or taking any other law enforcement action unsupported by separate and distinct warrants or probable cause from criminal conduct unrelated to immigration status.” 

Belmont Police’s current policy appears to takes a hands-off approach to the legal status of residents and visitors to Belmont: being an illegal immigrant or migrant is not of the utmost importance for law enforcement. 

MacIsaac said typically Belmont officers will encounter a person whose immigration status would be “questionable” occurs during a traffic stop.

For example, if a driver does not have a license, the officer may discover the person is a foreign citizen who is unable to obtain a Massachusetts RMV license because they do not have legal status in the US.

But that is as far as Belmont Police will go on the person’s status

“[T]he the fact that the immigration status would be questionable does not lead to actual questioning about the status,” said MacIsaac.

“Officers in these circumstances handle their business with a possibly illegal immigrant using state laws about driving unlicensed and then move on,” he said.

MacIsaac said only when a person is arrested would their illegal status officially come to the department’s attention.

As with all who are arrested f0r a crime in Belmont, the arrestee’s fingerprints are transmitted to the Massachusetts State Police and the FBI which assists the Department in identifying the person arrested, if they have a criminal record and determining if there are outstanding warrants.

One of the databases that fingerprint records are checked against, automatically, is one maintained by Homeland Security.

In response to the information that an alien with illegal status is in currently in Belmont PD custody, an official with Homeland Security could send to Belmont Police an “immigration detainer” which allows them to hold the person in custody for up to 48 hours in addition to whatever time they might be arrested for any state charges.

In Belmont, cooperating with the federal government’s request is part and parcel of good policing.

“In the media, one hears the heads of different law enforcement agencies say that they do or do not cooperate with these detainers. For my part, I expect that our officers will assist every US law enforcement agency in the accomplishment of their [legitimate] objectives, just as we would expect the same cooperation from those agencies in the accomplishment of our objectives,” said MacIsaac.

So far, the department has only seen one or two of these detainers, said Macisaac and its cooperation had been limited to providing the detainer to the district court for its action when we transfer a prisoner.

“It has certainly been less burdensome than other forms of civil detention in which the department is involved,” said MacIsaac.

For MacIsaac, the primary job of the department is to protect Belmont’s residents and visitors from crime, no matter the citizenship or immigration situation of the suspect.

“If inquiring into and using the immigration status of a person might help [us] remove from our community a serious criminal more quickly or effectively for the protection of our residents, I certainly support our officers in doing so,” said MacIsaac.

See The Three Plans For The New Belmont Library on Tuesday

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Photo: One of three designs now being considered for a new Belmont Library.

The Belmont Public Library Feasibility Committee is asking residents and patrons to join it in the Library’s Assembly Room for the final Open Public Forum on Tuesday, Feb. 7 at 7 p.m.

Feasibility Chairs Nancy Dignan and Elaine Alligood, Board of Trustees Chair Kathy Keohane and architect Stewart Roberts will walk through the work that went on during the study: what meetings were had, and what feedback they received.

The main portion of the evening will be reviewing of the floor plans, computer modeling, and cost estimating for each of the three options the committee is considering.

The study worked to develop a plan for:

  • A renovation of the existing space,
  • A renovation with an addition, and
  • new construction.

The study is nearing completion and the committee will be making its final recommendation on which of the three is the right fit and most cost effective to the Board of Library Trustees in the near future.

Come and voice your thoughts or bring questions to discuss. 

Library Director Peter Struzziero will be on hand with other members of the Feasibility Committee and Board of Library Trustees for conversation or other questions as well.

Light refreshments will be served.