Chenery Eighth Graders Champs Of National Middle School Quiz Bowl Tourney

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Photo: The National Champions of Middle School Quiz Bowl: (from left) Gregory Zeldovich, Jeffrey Wu, Fergus Williams and Andrew Gao

When Andrew Gao answered what would be the deciding question in the 2023 Quiz Bowl Middle School National Championship Tournament, he knew he got it correct. And when they the announcer confirmed it, an excited Gao jumped out of his seat knocking over the chair in front of an auditorium filled with students, parents and Quiz Bowl officials.

[The answer was the 1976 Korean axe murder incident]

But that small faux pas didn’t dampen the realization the team from the Belmont’s W. L. Chenery Middle School had enough of a lead to hold off their Georgia competition and secured the national title to the team made up of four eighth graders – captains Gao and Gregory Zeldovich, along with Fergus Williams and Jeffrey Wu – who represented Belmont’s W. L. Chenery Middle School.

“It was like a mystical thing,” said Williams when the final score was announced. “Then it instinctively click: we won!”

Quiz bowl is a competitive, academic, interscholastic activity for teams of four students. Quiz Bowl teams use buzzers to answer questions about science, math, history, literature, mythology, geography, social science, current events, sports, and popular culture. The matches feature a blend of individual competition and team collaboration, since no individual player is likely to be an expert in all subject areas. Participation in quiz bowl both reinforces lessons from the classroom and encourages players to develop new intellectual interests.

“It’s like Jeopardy but with longer questions and there are bonuses for getting the question early,” said Gao.

See how you would do answering these Middle School Quiz Bowl questions.

The Chenery joined 159 of the top middle schools Quiz Bowl teams from 31 states and South Korea at the Hyatt Regency O’Hare Chicago for the annual event held over the May 13 weekend.

Not that the Goa or the Chenery team are strangers to the competition as the school’s Quiz Bowl club was runners-up in the 2022 edition, losing to Longfellow Middle School of Falls Church, Virginia.

“That really helped knowing how to take on the pressure of each game,” said Zeldovich.

The young men are members of the school’s Quiz Bowl Club which includes students who are competitive and those who simply want to have fun with a wide array of subjects. The club qualified for the national tournament being one of the top 15 percent of teams in the country.

“I feel like we do pretty well in tournaments that we took part in last fall,” said Williams.

Coached by Beth Manca, Chenery began the preliminary rounds with a eight-game winning streak, finishing the preliminary rounds with a 8-0 record, qualifying them for the eight game playoff round.

There were some tense moments in the final round. Chenery defeated Sycamore A from Indianapolis, Indiana by the narrow margin of 440-415 during round 5 and then suffered a narrow loss to River Trail A from Johns Creek, Georgia, 345-340, during round 21. But by then, Chenery cumulative record was good enough to put them in the championship finals against Johns Creek.

In the ultimate match, Chenery had a small lead at the half 200-160. “It was back and forth, just like in the last game with them, It was Deja vu,” said Gao.

After a second half push by River Trail, Chenery managed to pull ahead for good with two minutes remaining, winning 380-280.

Gao was honored as an All-Star for correctly answering 60 tossup questions, 46 of them for “power questions.” Goa said he’s good at quires about literature, geography and history. “But not math,” he said with a shrug. “So it’s OK that there are not that many math questions.”

Belmont High Graduates 315 In The Misty Chill Of Harris Field

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Photo: Caps tossed into the overcast as Belmont High School graduated 315 in the Class of 2023.

In weather more attuned for a fall football game, parents, siblings, relatives, and friends bundled up to witness the graduation of the members of the senior class of Belmont High School on Saturday, June 3.

The anticipated rain never came during the event, but the mist, wind, and 50-degree weather put an unseasonable chill on the ceremony underway at 10 a.m. outdoors at Harris Field. Retiring Superintendent John Phelan and retiring Assistant Superintendent Janice Darias (“I’m finally graduating,” she said before the ceremony) lead the long crimson procession for a final time from the high school to the field with the Belmont High School Wind Symphony playing Elgar’s “Pomp and Circumstance.”

With parents and friends taking photos and umbrellas opening in the stands and on the field, the graduates strode down the 50-yard line to their seats in the center of the field, where the ceremony began with the Belmont High Chorus performing the National Anthem.

In his speech, Belmont High School Principal Issac Taylor addressed the assemblage the “fear and uncertainty in a world that is undergoing enormous changes compressed into one generation.” And while these “new tools are powerful and where there is power, there is both opportunity and danger.”

“Technology responds to you, and you respond to it. And the ease with which you navigate the modern world is a dynamic tool that will help you succeed. You will also be the people who helped steer the direction we take as a species, how we use this technology, and to what ends. This is an enormous responsibility and a great opportunity,” said Taylor.

“I hope that you all find your version of success. In a world that is changing so quickly, defining a successful life can be elusive. Like happiness, success comes from within. Partly success and happiness comes from the skills that we develop. Partly they come from the experiences that we have. But mostly being successful comes not from the pride of what we know and what we can do.”

Class of 2023 President Nicky Mosharaf reminded her classmates and graduates, “the most abundant challenge for us this year was making a tough decision. Deciding which college you’re going to go to, if you’re going to go to college.”

“However, we haven’t gotten to life’s hardest decisions yet. From what I’ve seen, I think the most difficult life decisions are the ones where you have to decide whether to give up or not. Usually the first thing that comes to mind is never give up,” said Mosharaf, using her mother’s decision to return to school to seek her MBA with two small children and an infant.

“On the other hand, there’s a second option to give up. I know it doesn’t sound as motivational as never give up. But I think sometimes it can be better to scrap the current plan and go down a new path. Maybe sometimes it is better to give up.,” she said, remembering how she decided gymnastics wasn’t her cup of tea.

“So deciding between the two options is tough, and there’s no specific Tiktok that’s gonna give us the right answer,” she said. “Whether we give up or not … is not as important as we think. The most important thing is to make your decision positively and take joy in your decision and what you do.”

The Belmont School Committee awards for outstanding achievement and scholarship were presented to seniors Leo Son and Ana Lehmann. Son, whose accomplishments in the classroom and as a student leader run an entire printed page: he is a math and STEM scholar, took 11 AP courses, and plays and teaches chess, among numerous other accomplishments.

“And I’m sure many of us were thinking about this idea on our last day of high school, navigating thethe hallways for the last time on route from yellow to light blue to pink, already missing the comfort of a weekly club, where you found a community that you belong to.”

“But as this meeting place for all of us comes to an end … be proud of how far you’ve come. Remember all the connections and routines we’ve let slip by, and we look forward to the opportunity to find a new lunch table for the first time and new club communities again next year or sooner. Do not let go of what you’ve gained from the sources of joy that you once knew and grasp more tightly onto the experiences we have now.”

When Lehmann – an international Math Olympian, a harrier, and a talented German speaker whose language proficiency is at the university level – heard she would be receiving the award and expected to make a speech, “I procrastinated.” While admitting she was “mostly excited and honored to be speaking,” the suggested subject concerning the future was “nerve-racking.”

“What can I, a 17-year-old, impart to an audience – at least half of which has much more life experience than me – about the future? I don’t even know which college I’m going to in the fall!” Instead, Lehmann decided to speak “about the uncertainty of it all.”

Lehmann spoke of her parent’s immigration story – her Serbian mother and German father who came to the US and met in Pennsylvania – and how their journey became hers. “I’ll technically follow in their footsteps as immigrants. They didn’t know what to expect when they came here. And like many of us here today, we don’t know exactly what’s awaiting us at college.”

“On the journey into our inherantly uncertain futures, we can choose familiar constants to keep with us and help us along the way, whether it be family, friends, mentors, pets, or even hobbies. We’re not all about to be immigrants, but we are all starting an exciting and unknown new chapter in a new environment with new labels of high school, graduate or college students,” she said.

A rendition of “Landslide” by the Belmont High A Capella was followed by the presentation of diplomas – the names masterfully handled by Mosharaf – then the moving of tallases and tossing of caps into the air. And it wasn’t surprising that not that many people stuck around Harris Field as the chilly wind picked up had the clouds grew dark.

Foundation for Belmont Education’s Outstanding Teacher Awards Ceremony Set For Thurs., May 4 at Belmont High Auditorium

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Photo: You’re invited to the Foundation for Belmont Education’s Outstanding Teacher Awards Ceremony.

The annual Foundation for Belmont Education’s Outstanding Teacher Awards Ceremony will be held on Thursday, May 4, at 6 p.m. at the Belmont High School Auditorium.

Sponsored by the Belmont Savings Bank Foundation, the Outstanding Teacher Awards recognizes the extraordinary contributions made by teachers in the Belmont Public Schools. Community members, including high school and middle school students, nominate teachers they feel deserve this recognition. A sub-committee of the FBE then selects teachers from the nominations, one from each of the Belmont Public Schools, to be recognized as the Outstanding Teachers of the Year.

This year’s honorees are:

  • Kerry Lapon, Winn Brook Elementary, Kindergarten
  • Kate Ebdon, Wellington Elementary, Second Grade
  • Samantha Sacco, Butler Elementary, Third Grade
  • Nicole Pond, Burbank Elementary, Art Teacher
  • Brianne Panzarella, Chenery Middle, Sixth Grade Social Studies
  • Eileen White, Belmont High, Social Studies

In addition to the outstanding teachers award, the S. Warren Farrell Award for Educational Excellence recognizes one Belmont Public Schools educator for long-standing dedication and leadership in the classroom and the larger community. This award honors the legacy of S. Warren Farrell for his many years of dedicated volunteer work in Belmont and its schools.

This year’s honoree is Cindy Crowley, Butler Elementary, Special Education.

This year’s FBE hosts are Barbara Bulfoni and Nomita Ganguly. The awards will be presented by John Phelan, Belmont Public School superintendent, and Assistant Superintendent Janice Darias, who are retiring this summer. A special guest will be State Sen. Will Brownsberger.

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All District Art Show Opening Reception Tuesday, May 2 At Belmont High

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Photo: By Adam Arredouani, AP 2D Design

The Belmont school district’s annual K-12 Art Show will hold its opening reception at 5 p.m. on Tuesday, May 2, at the Belmont High School lobby and cafeteria.

Here is an opportunity to view the artistic talent in all 13 grades in Belmont in visual, photographic, and ceramic arts.

Frankie Edmonds

Last Of ARPA Funds Directed For School Security, Butler Roof

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Photo: The Butler school will have its original roof replaced in the summer of 2024.

The “last” of the $8.7 million Belmont received in American Rescue Plan Act funding will be spent to create secure entries at all district schools and replace the 123-year-old roof on the Butler school.

In January, the Select Board voted to allocate the remaining $1,137,214 in the town’s ARPA account to go towards capital needs. After reviewing the capital projects in the town that align with the ARPA spending requirements, the Comprehensive Capital Budget Committee Chair Christine Doyle returned to the board on April 3 with two recommended projects:

  • The creation of security vestibules with security cameras in three district schools totaling $245,000
  • The remaining $892,214 will be combined with $607,786 in discretionary capital funds to be mainly used to repair the Daniel Butler Elementary School’s roof.

A security vestibule is a secure room between the school’s outer door and the building interior, allowing visitors access to one space at a time. The structure limits and regulates entry, allowing more efficient screening of people entering the school.

The three vestibules will cost $75,000, and the upgraded cameras and technology are priced at $170,000. Doyle said the Select Board’s OK will allow the Facilities Department to advance the project immediately, with the vestibules and cameras completed by the start of school in September. The CCBC will request an additional $160,000 in the fiscal 2025 budget for further camera upgrades in the other three schools.

“I think the security additions are timely,” said Board Chair Mark Paolillo, noting how schools around the country are stepping up measures to keep students and teachers safe.

The Butler slate roof is part of the original structure built in 1900 and is showing its age. David T. Blazon, director of the town’s Facilities Department, told the board the existing slate roof will be completely replaced with a synthetic version that is comparable in price with the natural rock. Due to a lot of engineering specifications and prep work needed, the job will take place in the summer of 2024 when students are not in the building.

Blazon said the new roof could be expected to last for a century.

While the ARPA account is now at zero, it doesn’t necessarily mean it will remain empty, said Town Administrator Patrice Garvin. She noted that many projects using ARPA funds are estimates of what they expect to spend on a job. If bids come in less than what was allocated, the account could once again have a positive balance in the future.

Geiser Selected Belmont’s Next School Superintendent; First Woman To Run District On Permanent Basis

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Photo: Dr. Jill Geiser during a Q&A with Belmont residents

After, at times, a contentious selection process, the Belmont School Committee voted to appoint Belmont resident Dr. Jill Geiser as the school district’s next superintendent at a special meeting on Wednesday, March 29.

“[Geiser] accepted right away, enthusiastically,” said Committee Chair Meghan Moriarity when she called the Oxford Avenue resident with the news immediately after the 5-1 vote.

The selection of Geiser marks the first permanent female superintendent in Belmont. Dr. Patricia Aubin served as interim superintendent for one year between the superintendencies of Dr. Peter Holland and Dr. George Entwistle.

“It’s pretty remarkable that it’s taken this long!” wrote Moriarity in an email to the Belmontonian.

The other candidates were Kimo Carter, the assistant superintendent in Weston, and Carlee Simon, the former superintendent of schools in Alachua County, Fla.

Geiser replaces John Phelan, retiring after holding the post for the past decade. If both sides approve a three-year contract, Geiser’s tenure as leader of a district with approximately 4,400 students and nearly 283 FTE teaching positions will begin July 1. Moriarity said the district would hold “some events and opportunities for the community to get to meet her … even before July 1.

With a Belmont Police Officer stationed at the door of the Belmont Gallery of Art in the Homer Building and roughly a dozen in attendance, the committee spent a considerable amount of time reviewing the candidates’ credentials and reactions to their district visits in mid-March with committee members, teachers, students, and community members.

By the time the committee members spoke on what they believed were important for the district to advance in the next three years, it became clear the committee would be selecting from the pair of Belmontian candidates, Carter and Geiser.

When what would be the only straw poll was taken, Geiser received the first four votes from member Jamal Saeh, Katie Bowen, Moriarity and Amy Checkoway before Carter received the last two recommendations from Mike Crowley and Jeff Liberty.

Liberty spoke of Carter’s accomplishment in completely turning around the education proficiency and management of Watertown Middle School which he headed for 13 years.

Saeh also focused on leadership for his support of Geiser, relating to a reference who called the Billerica assistant superintendent “smart and battle tested … relentless about doing the best” … “and forged by fire” when she participated in two major system changes.

“At this point, Geiser is ready for Belmont,” said Saeh.

Checkoway said Geiser would have less of a transition in coming to Belmont, which Moriarity seconded, noting “she is really attuned to what’s going on in Belmont, the politics and how the town operates” and that “she shared values and beliefs that match our community.”

“She mentioned that if she were coming here, she would really want to reinforce and continue and celebrate what going on but also drive towards academic excellence and the experience of Belmont,” said Moriarity.

“It’s good to have somebody that has that vision for improvement on what we have.”

Liberty said a powerful reference for Carter that when responding to conflict, it was “never with anger.”

“That suggests a certain emotional maturity that one needs to have in this role,” said Liberty, who pointed to Carter’s complete turn around of Watertown Middle School as its principal for 13 years.

When the final vote was taken, Crowley switched his straw poll recommendation and voted for Geiser with Liberty the sole ‘no’ vote.

The vote ended what a portion of residents and those who participated in the selection exercise felt was a flawed process with many pointing to the school committee’s management of the process, which included an abbreviated time frame, questions of transparency and a conflict between the selection and school committees – both sides issued articles on the dispute – that resulted in heated comments online.

After the meeting was adjourned, Moriarity said while she was happy to defend the process, “I think there is evidence that there is still a lot of frustration in the district amongst parents. And that makes me sad. I was hoping that this process would really help bring the community together.”

“We really tired to gather as much feedback as possible and involve as many people in the visits,” said Moriarity, noting that a superintendent candidate survey was employed which nearly 200 people participated as well as the creation of vetting groups of various constituencies including students that advised the committee.

“I think there’s obviously still more that needs to be done and we need to play a role in that. I really hope that [Geiser] can help with that,” said Moriarity.

“I don’t dismiss their feelings at all. I really value their feelings. But I also don’t dismiss the process.”

Dr. Jill Geiser

About Jill Geiser

Joining the Billerica school system in 2017 as the assistant superintendent to Tim Piwowar (who, coincidently, was appointed the next superintendent in Westwood on Monday), Geiser was the principal of the Pre K-8 Healey School in Somerville from 2012. She also served as a middle school principal and high school assistant principal in the Lawrence schools. In addition, she is an adjunct professor at Boston College’s Lynch School, taught in Arizona and New York City, was a foreign language instructor in Thailand, and spent two years in Nepal as a Peace Corps volunteer.

Geiser holds a doctor of education degree from Boston College and graduate degrees from the Teachers College at Columbia University and UMass/Boston. In addition, she enrolled at the University of Delaware where she earned a Bachelor of Arts.

Schools Leave Empty Handed As Select Board/Warrant Committee To Place Added Local Aid To Free Cash

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Photo: Educators attend a recent Select Board/Warrant Committee joint meeting at Town Hall

On March 1, Massachusetts Gov. Maura Healey filed her state budget proposal with increases in Chapter 70 local aid, in which Belmont would receive an additional $1.4 million net for fiscal ’24, which begins July 1. And the boost in aid could not have come at a better time for the schools, the largest of the town’s departments.

Facing a $2.1 million deficit that could see nearly two dozen teachers, educators, and administrators losing their jobs and positions failing to be hired, the school district and Belmont School Committee placed their hopes that some portion of the governor’s largess would be directed to education.

But in a joint meeting held Monday night, March 20, the Belmont Select Board and the Warrant Committee (the Town Meeting’s fiscal watchdog) voted to cap the amount of free cash to use in the fiscal ’24 budget – which tops off at $138.3 million – at slightly more than $10 million. As for the added money coming from the governor’s budget, $600,000 would be allocated to the district’s depleted Special Education reserve account, with the remainder carried forward into the town’s free cash account.

At the end of the night, the schools will be asked to fill the $2.1 million deficit with the planned job cuts.

John Sullivan, head of the Belmont Education Association, who attended the meeting with two dozen teachers and administrators carrying signs calling to keep current staff, said the decision, if unaltered, will be felt in the classrooms.

“Free cash should be spent on what we need right now, and right now, we need it for staffing,” Sullivan said after the meeting. “Your kids are the ones that are ultimately impacted by these cuts.”

The town has allocated more than two-thirds of the $15 million in free cash it stockpiled over the past decade into the general budget with the schools being the chief driver, having witnessed an unprecedented 12.7 percent increase in expenses in fiscal ’24. The School District points out the record rise as a combination of two significant factors: the cost of opening the new Middle School on Concord Avenue and a historic jump in Special Education expenditures, specifically Out-of-District placement of students, that hit the budget hard.

The decision to squirrel away all future state funds is due to the realities the town is facing that it will be facing an $11 million shortfall in fiscal ’25 and $12 million in fiscal ’26. Current calculations show the town will have $5 million in the rainy day fund in fiscal ’25.

By marshaling all available state aid into free cash now, according to town officials, reduce the size of the Proposition 2 1/2 override request set to be on the ballot next April. Observers believe voters will not be amenable to a double-digit request, pointing to the rejected override this month by Newton voters that would have closed its school district’s $6 million budget gap.

“We know we need to have an override for fiscal ’25,” said Jennifer Hewitt, the town’s assistant town administrator and finance director. “But the goal is to try to make that number a winnable number” so the town isn’t stuck with “really, really bad decisions” if the override fails.

“We need to think about next year,” said Mark Paolillo, Select Board chair.

And having reserves in free cash will be critical in the worst-case scenario if voters bail on an override. The account will be used to mitigate what soon-to-be Select Board member Elizabeth Dionne described as a possible “blood bath” where the town and school district will see entire departments and services decimated with a back of the envelope calculations predicting a 10 percent cut in teaching positions.

While sympathetic to town and schools requests, Adam Dash – who will be giving up his seat on the board on April 4 – said “it’s a very dire situation, and unfortunately, it’s a bit of a zero-sum game at this point” as the town seeks a fiscally prudent solution. “The problem is that we need to bank some money and not deplete the entire savings account, what free cash is.”

But to School and Warrant Committee member Michael Crowley, the policy is a Faustian pact in which educators and programs are put on the chopping block to prepare for a future unknown. And like Oliver Twist with a bowl in hand, Crowley urged the town to find “just $500,000” to preserve posts such as teacher assistants in the elementary schools that the district has targeted for redundancy.

“Another half million in the spirit of compromise won’t destroy the bank,” said Crowley as educators in the room applauded.

But Garvin warned funds transferred from free cash to the schools would need to be offset with cuts elsewhere.

The one glimmer of hope for school advocates and educators is the likelihood that the Massachusetts House and Senate will join Healey in boosting local aid allocations in the next iteration of their budgets in the coming month. While Garvin stood firm on the town’s intention to slot any additional local aid to free cash, Select Board’s Roy Epstein was receptive to using a portion of any additional revenue from Beacon Hill towards the schools.

Steve Sloan, a Goden Street resident with a child in the district, said it’s honestly disrespectful to the parents to talk about putting all this extra money into free cash without even knowing how much you have” until the state budget is finalized.

“When you’ve got all these cuts on the table. I think that’s a bad optic and you’re sending a terrible message. At least take a compromise solution when you know how much you have.”

Letter To The Letter: Adding Superintendent Candidates To Search Committee List An Effective Decision

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Photo: The school administration building in Belmont

On behalf of the Belmont School Committee, I would like to thank Geoff Lubien and every other member of the Belmont Superintendent Screening Committee (SSC) for their diligence in fulfilling their charge of presenting up to three qualified finalists to the School Committee. As Lubien explained in his recent piece, the SSC spent many hours over six weeks reviewing 22 applications, selecting and interviewing five semi-finalists, and recommending two finalists to the School Committee. They operated on a tight timeline that has become common as school districts throughout Massachusetts compete for high quality leadership in a time when the market is volatile. 

The School Committee was thrilled to interview the two recommended finalists. After learning that one of Belmont’s candidates dropped out before the finalists were selected and seeing finalists withdraw from superintendent searches in Newton and Somerville, the School Committee made the informed decision to invite the other semi-finalists identified by the SSC to interview as well. We made this decision after hours of deliberation in an effort to fulfill our obligation to Belmont students and citizens to find the best possible superintendent for our schools. It turned out to be an effective decision as the pool narrowed even further when only three candidates accepted our invitation. 

The candidates who accepted our invitation met with the public, students, and the School Committee. Since the interviews, School Committee members have been gathering feedback from the community and conducting thorough reference checks, all in an effort to determine whether the remaining candidates meet the criteria identified by the Belmont community. 

The Belmont School Committee is an elected body charged under state law with hiring the superintendent. The SSC was an appointed advisory body. Just like the Warrant Committee chaired by Lubien is appointed to make recommendations about the budget that Town Meeting is free to adopt or set aside, the SSC was appointed to advise the School Committee about candidates for the superintendent position, and the School Committee is free to adopt or set aside those recommendations. In this case, the School Committee adopted all of the SSC’s recommended finalists as well as the semi-finalists that the SSC selected from a large applicant pool.

All of us on the Belmont School Committee are volunteers who care deeply about doing what is best for Belmont students. We are fortunate and thankful to have dedicated community members, including Lubien, who volunteered to help us with selecting the next person to lead our school district so our students have the best possible future. We are also thankful to the three excellent finalists who took time to visit Belmont last week and we feel confident in our ability to make the decision that is right for all of our students and the Belmont community.  

Meghan Moriarty, Chair

Belmont School Committee

Opinion: The Superintendent Search – A Flawed Process Indeed

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Photo:The Belmont School Administration building where the district superintendent is located

By Geoffrey Lubien

As a committee member of the Belmont Superintendent Screening Committee (BSSC) and a parent of a Belmont Public Schools student, I would like to voice my significant concerns about the process of screening for up to three viable candidates for consideration by the School Committee. 

As the representative of the Warrant Committee to the BSSC, I was one of a 22-member committee which included three Belmont School Committee members and an outside consulting group with all members invited and appointed by the School Committee. With the BSSC having competed its charge and the finalists for superintendent having participated in a public process, I believe it is time to share these concerns.

As part of the process a charter, set of rules and desired competencies were agreed upon by the committee to guide us in vetting potential candidates. The timeline for this process was admittedly aggressive with the School Committee requirement to have it completed within six weeks, which, according to the consulting group, normally takes 12 to 16 weeks. Therefore, committee members were asked to accommodate tight timelines with numerous three-plus hour meetings. It was explained by the School Committee members that this aggressive timeline was due to the competitive market for Superintendents and the seasonal hiring cycle. It was also communicated to some that there was a desire for all the current School Committee members, two of whom have chosen not to run again, to have a vote in choosing the next superintendent. 

The process was kicked off on Jan. 23 and after several meetings it became evident that this was a significant task and that committee members would need to really need to dig in to determine up to three candidates by mid-March.  

Committee rules included that candidates required two-thirds vote by the full committee to advance to the School Committee for consideration. After a candidate pool was narrowed down to five, we conducted three-hour Zoom interviews with each participant, with the consulting group conducting the interviews and committee members observing. The full committee reconvened on March 6 to discuss and vote upon up to three of the five candidates to push forward to the School Committee. Through much discussion and deliberation, the committee recommended two candidates to promote to the next phase; hence, the committee met its charge. 

Less than 48 hours after the final meeting of the BSSC, the School Committee sent an email informing the committee members that the School Committee had decided to interview all four of the candidates. This egregious decision disregards the hours of work, set rules and charter, and the vote of the screening committee, all of whom were appointed by the School Committee. The School Committee unilaterally decided to advance two additional candidates that were not recommended by two-thirds vote of the BSSC including one candidate who did not receive any affirmative votes from the screening committee.  

The fact that the BSSC members were dismissed after working collaboratively and in the best interest of the Belmont Public School system is beyond reproach. Twenty two committee members worked within a very aggressive timeline for the superintendent search forgoing family and work obligations only to be completely disregarded in the end. Two of the candidates the committee did not vote to move forward were considered unviable candidates by the screening committee and should not have been pushed forward. 

The actions taken by the School Committee are extremely disrespectful of the number of hours dedicated to the process and the final decisions of the screening committee. Violating the agreed upon process in the end hurts the credibility and transparency of the selection of the next superintendent, a role critical to the Belmont School District’s and Town’s future. 

What is needed now is the School Committee to stop this current flawed process and appoint an interim superintendent to carry the schools through, form a new search committee with public invitations to serve and allow the appropriate time to garner and assess the greatest pool of qualified candidates. And when a decision is reached by said committee, the School Committee should follow suit and do what is best for the future of Belmont Public Schools.

Geoffrey Lubien is a Belmont Public School parent, a BSSC member, the Warrant Committee Chair, and Town Meeting Member, Precinct 7

Belmont’s School Committee Candidates: Amy Zuccarello [VIDEO]

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Photo: Amy Zuccarello, candidate for Belmont School Committee

A Belmontian through and through: born, brought up, schooled, and now living in Belmont with her family, Amy Zuccarello is seeking one of two seats on the Belmont School Committee.

Who is Amy Zuccarello?

Amy Zuccarello is a person who gets things done. Amy is a Belmont mom of two who is committed to her family and her community and has always been a champion of Belmont’s public schools. She is a lifelong Belmont resident, a graduate of Belmont schools, and a bankruptcy and financial restructuring lawyer with 20 years of experience working with distressed companies and helping them rebuild. Amy is also the Belmont Girl Scouts service unit coordinator and a former Belmont POMS board member and officer.

Why are you running for school committee, knowing just how challenging the next years will be for Belmont schools?

I am the right candidate for Belmont right now. My background and skill set complements the skills and abilities of current committee members. I know that I can make an instant impact to help the town and the schools navigate the current fiscal challenges.  

What broad experiences do you have – that is not in your LinkedIn profile! – that will make you a good school committee member?

I represent companies and other large stakeholders in distressed business situations – where resources are at a premium and there aren’t always enough funds for every item on everyone’s “wish list.”  As a trusted business advisor, it is my job to be able to use resources wisely.  I need to be creative and think outside the box to find ways to solve these problems.  I am also a fair, skilled negotiator.  I pride myself on navigating contentious situations while maintaining the balance between standing my ground on important issues and preserving a good working relationship with all sides going forward.  I also have significant experience working on committees of all types in various contexts.

Many residents/boards and committees believe the Belmont school district historically asks for more funding annually than it needs. Can Belmont schools teach children at the level parents/the community expects if district budget increases are capped at average growth in town revenue of about 3 1/2 percent a year?

In light of current inflation rates alone, I don’t think that this is realistic. The actual answer here depends on many factors we can’t know at the moment. For example, school enrollment isn’t something we can predict with certainty year over year. In addition, the town’s BEA contract contains cost of living increases at about 2.5 percent per year – so personnel costs – which comprise the largest single expense in the school budget – will increase by this amount alone year after year.  In addition, there are some big categories of costs set forth in the school budget that are not discretionary – including the cost of funding ESL programs and out-of-district special education placements.

Belmont’s future will depend on a substantial override in 2024. As a committee member, what would you do to help navigate the schools over the next year to prepare for a yes or no vote?

Put simply, spend smart.  Whether an override passes or not, we need to maximize efficiencies where possible.  We need to review expenses carefully and be sure that we are asking our community to fund an override that will be sufficient to bring stability to the schools for the foreseeable future. We can only do this while being mindful that our citizens are unlikely to support an override that isn’t backed by reasonable assumptions about what we need to fund the schools sufficiently. If we can restore public confidence in managing the school budget, I believe that our citizens will be more inclined to support an override.

Which line items in the school budget would be your priority to protect while serving on the committee?

I will always prioritize maintaining funding for positions and services that directly impact student learning and well-being. My goal is to minimize disruption for students due to a budget shortfall.

Do you have any ideas of your own or an existing plan that you support for providing outstanding care for Special Education students while also keeping a cap on expenses?

I have been speaking with many students and families about Belmont’s approach to special education.  I think that we need to take a very close look at the number of students with out-of-district special education placements and assess whether Belmont can find ways to accommodate student needs in-district. We should capitalize on the availability of space that has been created by the construction of the new Belmont Middle High School and a decrease in district-wide enrollment to build a robust program to serve the needs of special education students in the district. By doing this, we will not only enable our Belmont students to remain in town with their siblings and neighbors, but we will also be able to control the costs of out-of-district spending on special education.

Being a school committee member means more than working with finances. Which academic areas – curriculum, policy, etc. – will you focus on?

I will be available to work with my colleagues in many areas; however, I think that my legal background will make me an especially strong asset to the policy subcommittee.

What is one change – big or small – in the six Belmont schools that needs to occur to make the education experience better?

I would like to explore changes to the schedule of fifth- and sixth-grade students at Chenery to provide for more recess/socialization time.

At the end of your first term, by what measure will you know you have succeeded?

A Girl Scout’s mandate is to leave a place better than she found it. I will succeed if I can bring financial stability to our schools while maintaining academic excellence so that Belmont’s students can be assured of the best in public education for years to come.