Evelyn Gomez Selected To Fill Vacant School Committee Seat

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Photo: Evelyn Gomez, newly-appointed member of the Belmont School Committee.

Evelyn Garcia Gomez, a relative newcomer to Belmont, was named to the School Committee Thursday, June 25, to fill the final nine months of the term of Susan Burgess-Cox who resigned in April.

An engineer and educator with degrees from MIT, Harvard and UCLA, Gomez – who arrived in Belmont in 2017 – is believed to be the first Person Of Color to serve on the Belmont School Committee.

“I think my being selected for the School Committee represents that Belmont is willing to put in the work to have a truly inclusive and equitable town,” said Gomez in an email to the Belmontonian after she was voted to the board on the third ballot by a joint meeting of the Select Board and School Committee. The other finalists included Meghan Moriarty, Jeffrey Liberty, Seeth Burtner, and Vicki Amalfitano.

Gomez’ background includes teaching math and physics for nearly two years in California and working as an adjunct associate professor at Pasadena City College. She also holds teaching credentials for high school math in California and Massachusetts.

“I want to use this time of COVID-19 to reimagine what education can be because, while this current system of AP classes and standardized testing worked for me, it certainly didn’t work for many of my classmates or my students,” said Gomez, who lives with her two young children who have yet to enter the school system.

(Editor’s note: The complete interview with Gomez is at the bottom of the article)

Gomez arrives as the school district and committee are juggling a pair of daunting issues: opening schools in September during a continued COVID-19 pandemic and a looming budgetary gap that could result in massive layoffs.

“This is like parachuting on the deck of a ship to steer it through a really big storm,” said the Select Board’s Adam Dash. In responding to a question from the joint committee, Gomez said after speaking to School Committee Chair Andrea Prestwich, she has an understanding “about the time commitment and how hard it is to do this job.” While acknowledging she has her hands full with two small children, her flexible schedule allows being on the committee “this would be one of my top priorities and I don’t do anything at 50 percent.”

Gomez spoke poignantly how her inclusion to the committee would bring diversity to the group and how that “would be a blessing, and it makes our town stronger.”

Gomez is currently part of the education staff of the Lemelson-MIT Program which recognizes emerging collegiate inventors whose inventions could impact important sectors of the global economy. Before coming to Boston, Gomez was executive director of LA-based DIY Girls whose mission is to increase women’s and girls’ interest in technology, engineering, and making through innovative educational experiences.

Born and raised in the northeast San Fernando Valley, a predominately Hispanic region of Los Angeles, Gomez was her class valedictorian at San Fernando High School in Los Angeles.

Gomez matriculated at MIT where she earned a Bachelor of Science in Aerospace, Aeronautical and Astronautical Engineering. She received a Master of Science in the same degree from UCLA. Gomez also holds a Master of Education in secondary education from Harvard.

Interview with newly-appointed School Committee member Evelyn Gomez.

Belmontonian: You said just after being selected that you were not expecting to be named. Why do you think you were selected?

Gomez: Timing is everything. At this moment, in this country, and in this town, I think we are all realizing that there is a lot of work to do if we truly want to strive for “a more perfect union.” We are at the intersection of so many monumental events: Black Lives Matter, COVID-19, and lacking trust in our public entities. In this particular moment, many white people are starting to examine their privilege and implicit biases, understand what it really means to be a Person of Color in this country, and how our reality is vastly different than theirs. As I said during the meeting, I have a lot of internalized biases and anxieties about being a minority, but I am learning to overcome those anxieties thanks to anti-racist literature by Ibram X. Kendi, Ta-Nehisi Coates, and so many others. They are teaching me how to have the courage to speak openly about my identity and experiences as a woman of color, as a daughter of immigrants, as an English Language Learner, and how these experiences bring value to my community. 

Belmont has a lot of work to do, but I think my being selected for the School Committee represents that Belmont is willing to put in the work to have a truly inclusive and equitable town. 

Belmontonian: The Select Board’s Adam Dash said with all that is happening in education during the COVID-19 pandemic and the budget issues the town and schools are about to face coming onto the committee is like parachuting on the deck of a ship to steer it through a really big storm. What do you see your role in helping to steer this ship?

Gomez: It’s been said that we need to “scrap the blueprint and revolutionize this dangerously broken system.” As an educator, I think we need to use this forced disruption in the education system to stop and reflect on what we truly value in education and what students value. I want to use this time of COVID-19 to reimagine what education can be because, while this current system of AP classes and standardized testing worked for me, it certainly didn’t work for many of my classmates or my students. Belmont can lead to integrating novel and innovative approaches to schooling that work better for teachers, parents, and students than the old system. Let’s not waste this opportunity in the disruption of schooling, let’s use it as a time to strategically think about what we value in education and what we really want our kids to learn. 

Belmontonian: I believe – although I will have to ask the Town Clerk to confirm this – that you are the first Person of Color to be a member of the School Committee. What in your life’s experience and background will you bring to the committee that it may not have currently? 

Gomez: I have over a decade of experience working with students of color and can relate to their experiences and struggles because I once was one. More importantly, my experience as a Person of Color and a teacher to students of color has forced me to be creative in the ways that I reach my students. I have seen firsthand how empowering students to use their lived experiences to solve problems in their own community engages students in a meaningful and authentic way. While this is true for all students, I believe it is especially true for students of color and women. In 2017, Belmont Public Schools presented findings of the Achievement Gap. Back then, there were 205 students that self-identified as Black. Those students had 3-4 times as many Cs, Ds, or Fs as the total student body and were more likely to report negative social-emotional experiences in Belmont Public Schools. This tells me that something is not working in Belmont Public Schools and we need to work together to fix it. I continue to seek an understanding of how to support students of color and raising the next generation of White allies. I bring this lens to the School Committee and to the forefront during decision making.

Town, Health Dept. Rip Harris Field Graduation ‘Ceremony’, Large Party; Attendees Should Be Tested

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Photo: Graduating students at Harris Field on Sunday. (credit: Instagram)

The director of the Belmont Health Department is condemning a pair of events held on Sunday, June 7 in which large numbers of Belmont High School students and adults staged an unsanctioned graduation celebration on school property and attended a house party in apparent violation of town and state health codes created to stem the spread of the coronavirus pandemic.

Calling the actions “disrespectful and frustrating,” Health Department Director Wesley Chin said while Sunday was a time for big celebrations, “we just want to encouraged people to do the right thing during this difficult time.”

Chin is advising students and adults who attended these events to be tested for COVID-19 if they begin showing symptoms associated with the virus.

“It’s something we believe that is owned to the community to help keep everyone safe and healthy,” Chin told the Select Board at its virtual meeting on Monday, June 8.

Chin was informed of the events on Monday by concerned residents who viewed a number of photos and a video of the events circulating on the internet, which were characterized to Chin as reckless, grossly inappropriate and irresponsible during a pandemic.

Occurring soon after the end of the broadcast of the Belmont High graduation which was held virtually due to the pandemic, photos on the social media platform Instagram showed about 50 students and adults at Harris Field and at a large outdoor party with approximately 70 residents held Sunday night in which rules concerning social distancing, a limit on groups of more than 10 and wearing masks were ignored.

Note: The identity of those in the photos and names found online are being protected as they are not facing any charges.

The photos show typical graduation-type scenes with lineups of friends and sports teammates in caps and gowns linking arms and posing. Several of the young men are seen with cigars – an annual Belmont tradition at the post-ceremony family reunion – and in one video a bottle with carbonated liquid is opened by a student and the contents sprayed on his fellow students.

Photos from the party also shows students drinking alcohol in the presence of adults. While Massachusetts General Laws allows people under the age of 21 to consume alcohol on private premises with the consent of a parent or grandparent, that permission does not include non-family members.

Smoking and alcohol are banned at Harris Field.

The events come a few weeks after a large number of parents and some students protested a joint decision by the district and town limiting graduation celebrations to remote and virtual events due to safety and health concerns due to the COVID-19 virus.

Chin said the seemingly preplanned event at Harris Field mocked the long hours spent by 10 town departments, including fire, police, public works, and the school administration “who planned a safe and thoughtful graduation,” said Chin.

The Select Board joined Chin in denouncing the activity of the participants.

“To ignore the very reasonable asks that we’re making of people is just a bad practice … especially if parents are facilitating large groups who are not respecting social distancing is pretty bad,” said Chair Roy Epstein.

Graduation On The Remote: 329 Belmont High Students Honored In Virtual Ceremony

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Photo: Belmont High 2020 Class President Caroline Findlay addresses her classmates during the remote graduation broadcast Sunday, June 7.

There were the expected chestnuts of a Belmont High School graduation ceremony as the 329 members of the Class of 2020 were conferred their diplomas on Sunday, June 7.

The speeches, the national anthem – beautifully sung by Valentin Reynolds – the awards, a cappella singers performing, and the walk up to the stage to have a photo taken with the well-earned sheepskin.

Just that it didn’t take place in the normally sweltering confines of the Wenner Field House but on a computer or television screen.

There wasn’t the nervous march into the Field House, the beach balls, the cigars hidden in some young men’s suit jackets, shaking hands with school committee members while receiving their diploma, the caps thrown high and the gathering outside for photos (and cigars) with family. That experience, along with the prom and other graduation week activities, were struck down weeks before by the same pandemic effecting the world for the past four months.

It was a new normal for the Class of 2020 – a remote graduation in a virtual setting.

Class President Caroline Findlay spoke about the void her class was feeling saying “[t]here is no way to speak to you today without acknowledging the fact that our class has lost so much this year. Missing the supposed best three months of the last 13 years has been truly difficult because it has meant the loss of our final moments together as a class.”

The main message coming from her classmates, said Findlay, was that “we have each other.”

“We have encourage this message throughout our time in high school but over the past two years it has solidified what it’s meant to be a member of the Class of 2020. It is through this adversity that we faced, instead of focusing solely on ourselves as individuals, we all have shown up in supporting one another.”

“If you think about it, the challenges that our classes face over the past two years have provided us with an incredible set of tools to lean on as we force our path in our journey that lies ahead,” said Findlay.

Findlay and Belmont High Principal Isaac Taylor noted the passing of classmate Cleo Theodoropulos in 2019 and chorus teacher Sean Landers early in 2020.

“I watched as you the ways that you kept your beloved friend and classmate, close memory alive, showing love for her and her friends,” while being “moved by the respectful and loving kindness that so many of you showed, to the passing of a teacher, a friend and a fellow human being,” said Isaac, overseeing his first graduation in Belmont.

Noting that a “great teacher gets to know her student by getting beneath the surface, finding the insecurities and helping to strengthen them, noticing the gaps, and sometimes subtly, sometimes overtly teaching the skills to fill them,” Isaac said while the graduates had wonderful teachers that are proud of each student, “you are all pretty great teachers yourselves.”

“You have used your heart and your wisdom to guide one another through the loss of a friend and the loss of a teacher. Through the pandemic. Through the lockdown. You have supported each other through tragic tragedy and loss and uncertainty. You have gone beneath the surface and listened, understood, you have taught your parents and the faculty and staff at Belmont High School,” he said.

Belmont High School’s Senior A Cappella

The Belmont School Committee bestowed its annual awards for Outstanding Achievement in Scholarship to Samantha Widdison and Cynthia Lu.

“We are graduating during a pandemic, which hasn’t occurred in 100 years and in an economy as bad as the Great Depression. There are people in the streets fighting for justice, with intensity not seen since the 1960s,” said Widdison, who will be attending Tufts in the fall.

“We all have plans, our expectations for the future. It is up to us to decide what we make of unexpected situations. Whether we view them as obstacles or opportunities for personal growth. I use the opportunity of grades being pass fail this spring to fully embrace senior ‘slide.’ As we move on to the next chapter of our lives, let’s take one day at a time. Don’t worry about the unexpected. You are currently surviving a pandemic being quarantined with your family. You can survive anything,” she said.

Harvard-bound Lu told her classmates that “happiness doesn’t always have to come at a price or a sacrifice.”

“We are never too old to find delight in a snowman or a charity popsicle, or to dive headfirst into something new the way we used to jump into swimming pools, exploring new subjects and activities, meet new people and wander to new places, and soon you’ll find new homes.”

“While growing up often seems like a process of discomfort and less. I hope we remember that even when we fall and scrape our knees. We’ll have each other to help us up,” said Lu.

The ceremony proceeded and concluded with each graduate coming on stage in alphabetical order – which occurred a few weeks previous – to have their moment in the spotlight. If a viewer didn’t know Elgar’s “Pomp and Circumstance March in D” they would after hearing it repeated to the nth degree during the presentation.

One theme that was highlighted throughout the celebration was that of shared hope. Findlay referenced the writer and encourager Nikki Banas on what can get her classmates through even the toughest times.

“Let it be hope that you are stronger than any challenge that comes your way. Let it be hope that you are exactly where you’re meant to be right now, and that you’re on the path to where you are meant to be. Because during these times hope will be the very thing that carries you through,” said Findlay.

Rollin’ Thru Belmont With The Class Of 2020 [Photos]

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Photo: A Belmont High grad with his crew on hand.

How could it be any better? Sunny skies, summer temperatures, the roads open by a police and fire escort while residents, friends and family cheering all the way. Yes, the rolling rally for Belmont High School’s Class of 2020 was a success for a group of students who saw so much of their final days in school closed down due to the world wide coronavirus pandemic.

With nearly the entire traditional graduation script – from skip day to prom, the class cruise and receiving their diplomas in front of family in the school’s field house – wiped clean, it was clearly a time for the town and high school to think beyond the normal celebrations to honor the tow’s 328 graduating seniors.

So taking the cue from other communities, the high school administration and Belmont public safety arrived with an event that has proven a hit with Boston sports teams: the rolling rally. Instead of the town coming to a specific location to cheer on the class, have the class come to them as vehicles with the student’s on board ride through town, driving through Belmont’s business center’s and passing by the town’s four elementary and the Chenery Middle schools.

Starting at noon from the Boston Temple, the caravan was greeted the entire way by applause and shouts from family and strangers. The rally snaked through the Center, into Waverley and up to Cushing before heading back to the high school.

Belmont Police Chief James MacIssac said that earlier in the day the number of vehicle topped 160 with more coming just as the rally was beginning. He said no incidents or complaints from the public occurred.

With near universal approval from everyone involved, could a rally become a graduation tradition?

Belmont Saves Millions Waiting To Sell $100M Bonds On Middle/High School, Police HQ Projects

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Photo: The Belmont Police Headquarters renovation.

Patience is a virtue and, in the case of Belmont, a way to pocket a few million dollars.

By holding off selling more than $103.5 million in municipal bonds on a pair of building projects from March to May, Belmont will reap a $6 to $7 million savings to taxpayers, according to Belmont’s Town Treasurer Floyd Carman as the Belmont Select Board voted to approve the bond sale at its remote meeting on Monday, June 1.

Originally, the sale of the triple-A rated, 30-year municipal bond to finance a portion of the $240 million Belmont Middle and High School project and the Police Headquarters renovation was schedule for mid-March. At the time, the financial markets began reeling due to the start of the coronavirus pandemic. Initial interest was anemic; just two firms showed any

Rather than chance an auction during rising volatility in the market, Carman pulled the paper and proceeded to reaffirm the town’s top status with the credit rating agencies.

Due to its long-standing policy of conservative budgeting and spending, a small default rate by homeowners and a willingness to payoff long-standing debt and keeping cash reserves – free cash – above what agencies require, Belmont is seen as having a high level of creditworthiness resulting in the coveted top ranking.

Belmont is one of just 11 municipalities in Massachusetts and one of fifty nationwide in which two of the three rating agencies – Moody’s and Standard & Poor’s – declared its “paper” at a AAA rate, the highest possible rating that may be assigned to an issuer’s bonds.

“We are truly in a category of our own,” Carman told Select Board Member Tom Caputo.

By retreating to the sidelines, Belmont could afford to bide its time toward a recovery and a more receptive market.

By late May, according to Carman, the number of bidders drawn to Belmont’s triple-A muni spiked to 10 and the resulting auction resulted in a “fantastic rate” of 2.178 percent – sold to JP Morgan Securities – a whopping 1.124 percent decrease from the 3.302 percent the town received at last year’s $111 million bond sale to support the middle/high school.

“Let me thank Carman for just a wonderful job … bringing these bonds to market and achieving a terrific result that the auction,” said Select Board Chair Roy Epstein who noted the sale occurred during the depressed state of the bond market in the last few months.

Educators Support Belmont Families And Children

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Photo: The logo of the Belmont Education Association

In light of the COVID-19 crisis, the Belmont Education Association announced the donation of $2,000 to a pair of organizations supporting families and children in need.

The donation was split evenly between ​The Belmont Food Pantry​ and ​Massachussetts Child​, a charitable corporation created by the Massachusetts Teachers Association to provide funds to local associations in order to help students in need.

“We recognize the impact that the pandemic has had on the Belmont community and we are happy to contribute what we can,” said John Sullivan, BEA president.

“We are all affected by the harsh reality of this virus,” he said. “We hope our donations can contribute to the well-being and safety of our students and families in the Belmont community.”

Belmont High Rolling Rally’s Route Set For Saturday

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Photo: Come out on Saturday to cheer for students like this one.

Come out on Saturday to celebrate the Belmont High Class of 2020 as they roll along the streets of Belmont.

The COVID-19 pandemic has caused the cancellation of all year-end activities and events for the Belmont High School Class of 2020. As a way to celebrate our seniors, senior parents with the support of town officials have organized a rolling rally through Belmont on Saturday, June 6. 

The rally will begin at noon at the Boston Massachusetts Temple of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Belmont Hill and will proceed along the following route:

Start: Boston Temple, 100 Hinckley Ave.

Right to Park Avenue

Right to Prospect Street

Right to Clifton Street

Left to Pleasant Street

Right to Brighton Street

Right to Cross Street

Right to Channing Road

Left to Leonard Street, under the commuter rail bridge

Right to Common Street

Left to School Street

Right to Washington Street

Left to Common Street

Right to Trapelo Road

Left to White Street

Left to Beech Street

Right to Waverley Street

Straight onto School Street

Left to Goden Street

Right to Concord Avenue

Left to Underwood Road

Right to Hittinger Street and the high school parking lot.

Make some noise, give them a wave and shout out some words of encouragement. Please also be mindful of the current social distancing requirements.  

Belmont High’s Graduation Celebrations Start With A Grab and Go [VIDEO]

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Photo: No need to leave your car to start the graduation celebrations at Belmont High.

It was one stop shopping for Belmont High’s senior class as graduates came back to the school in vehicles to pick up their diplomas, caps and gowns as well as some swag and loud, sustained congratulations from teachers and staff.

In a year when a world-wide viral pandemic ripped to shreds the traditional events – prom, cruise, get togethers and a happy graduation ceremony in the field house – associated with the final days of public school, the high school administration team came up with safe, festive occasions to demonstrate to the students and their parents that their 13 years of schooling would be acknowledged.

Under summer like conditions, nearly the entire class of 2020 – about 330 students – drove into the school’s parking lot to an assembly line of facility who handed out diplomas, the swag bag and a line of teachers beating drums, holding signs and singing. And the kids, many with parents, family and friends in their cars and SUVs, appeared to appreciate the gesture.

Recognizing Graduating Seniors, One Cup At A Time [VIDEO]

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Photo: The finished product: A seniors sign of the times

It’s been an unsettling time for the graduating class of Belmont High School; a pandemic that caused the sudden cancellation of classes, the transitioning to on-line learning, missing their classmates, the shutting down of long rehearsed concerts and the Spring Musical and the loss of an entire season of sports.

And for the seniors, what was unthinkable on March 1 became a reality weeks later: no prom, no senior events, no live awards ceremonies and the cancellation of a traditional graduation. The response for many was of sadness, lost moments that should have been happy memories of the last days of public school.

Yet even the smallest of gestures can show the community and families know that this time of year remains a special time. For Liz Biondo and Joan Horgan, it took the form of red plastic party cups.

On a warm Wednesday late afternoon, the mom and daughter (both are Belmont High grads, Liz – who attends Simmons – in 2019) were wedging cups into the chain link fence adjacent the athletic fields along Concord Avenue spelling out “We [heart] Our Seniors” for the youngest Biondo, Anna, and all her fellow graduates.

“This is a special graduation because she’s my last one to graduate,” said Horgan of Anna.

“Knowing what my sister is missing really hurts so we really wanted to do something that shows we care,” said Biondo.

“It’s a weird time so we wanted to do different things and make the most of it,” said Horgan.

Topping Off Celebration As Final Steel Beam Placed At High School Section [Photos]

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Photo: The final steel beam being moved into place at the Belmont Middle and High School project, Friday, May 15.

The white beam was the final of more than 3,800 steel sections created to build the Phase One – the high school section – of the new Belmont Middle and High School project. And on a warm, sunny Friday, May 15, the final piece of the structural system was signed by many of the men and women of Ironworkers Local Union 7 and the general contractor Skanska USA before being hoisted to the fourth floor level of the building.

With so many events and celebrations cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic, it was a rare moment where the builders and contractors could stand for a moment and look at their joint accomplishment creating the backbone of the 425,000 sq.-ft. school.

With a small fir tree – a tradition going back nearly 1,000 years – and the Stars and Stripes bolted on the beam, the steel was the center of attention during the “topping off” ceremony marking the major milestone as the symbolic completion of the structural phase of the building.

The beam reached the top and was bolted into place by ironworkers Christian Breen from Woburn and Westfield’s Mikey Fabiani who took the time to shake hands when the the job was completed.

“Many of us are familiar with the topping off tradition. For others, this is the first of many to come in your careers,” said Manny Hoyo, superintendent for Skanska. “One thing is for certain, we’ll all remember the placing of this final steel beam as a testament to this incredible achievement we accomplished in the midst of a period of unprecedented challenges.”

Ironworkers Christian Breen (left) and Mikey Fabiani