Goodbye Minuteman Again As Town Meeting Re-Rejects Membership In Regional Voke

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Photo: Bob McLaughlin, Pct. 2. speaking against the town rescinding leaving Minuteman.

F. Scott Fitzgerald famously said, “There are no second acts in American lives.” Wednesday night, Belmont Town Meeting affirmed that saying when it rejected the opportunity to again become a member of the Minuteman High School district.

The article to rescind the 2016 Town Meeting decision to decamp from the vocational school failed, 140-95, as a majority of members are hoping there will be plenty of space in the foreseeable future for students from non-member towns to attend the Lexington school.

“It’s a lot to do with how strongly you believe your own projection of the enrollment numbers,” said Jim Gammill, whose argument for rescinding the earlier decision was voted down by the town’s legislative body.

Members who sought to have the school readmitted to the nine-town district – a position supported by the school committee and Belmont Superintendent John Phelan – are worried that a recent enrollment boom at the school could forecast in an increasing number of Belmont students without a desk waiting for them.

Gammill (Pct. 2) who headed the task force to find an alternative to Minuteman, told members that facts have changed over the past three years from the time when Belmont decided to leave to save a significant amount by not taking on the debt of a new building’s while being able to still send students to Minuteman.

“What changed … is the new building,” said Gammill referring to the 257,000 sq.-ft. structure that opened in September, a year early and under budget. With 20 different vocational and technical shop concentrations, Gammill said interest by middle-schoolers has skyrocketed, a trend he believes is sustainable.

“At this rate, three years from now there will be a full school,” said Gammill, with the real prospect of Belmont students looking from the outside in as member school students are expected to take the available slots. If that occurs, “we won’t have the $100s of thousands of savings” as was predicted in 2016.

In addition, “There is no Plan B,” Gammill protested, saying other vocational schools or programs in eastern Massachusetts are unable to accept Belmont’s students as they are filled or the cost in tuition and transportation would make them “cost prohibitive.”

Like Henry V at Harfleur, Bob McLaughlin (Pct. 2) led the Minuteman skeptics “once more into the breach” having been one of the most vocal proponents three years ago for a BelExit.

“This is a bad deal,” said McLaughlin.

While calling the school “the best vocational training for our kids,” McLaughlin reminded the members that the town left the district in 2016 (by a 72 percent to 28 percent margin) after the other members approved building a new school that was “too large and forced us to take on all that debt.”

‘Belmont was trapped in an agreement that it couldn’t get out of and every year they would hand us a bill that was non-negotiable” for a school that spends nearly $36,000 per student.

McLaughlin said Minuteman has seen student population free fall from 1,254 when it opened in 1977 to 383 in 2016 “and it’s going to continue to drop along with the need for vocational education.” Even if the pro-return enrollment numbers are correct, Belmont would see, at most, two to three students being denied a seat at the table.

”We’re going to spend $472,000 (as a re-entry fee), $200,000 a year (in tuition costs) and assume [a portion of the] $144 million in debt” to assure three students will have an education at Minuteman, said McLaughlin.

And with Belmont ready to undertake a $6 million Prop 2 1/2 override on the ballot in one year’s time, “we’re giving sound bites to the opposition [to the override],” said McLaughlin.

Proponents for taking a second walk down the aisle with Minuteman attempted to show the growing need for a quality school by a growing number of students in Belmont.

Caitlin Corrieri

Chenery eighth grade teacher Caitlin Corrieri said that while many students succeed in the current learning environment, “I also have students for whom sitting in a 50 minute traditional class is torture, who learned better using their hands to make and create, whose brains think outside the box.”

“There is no ‘one size fits all‘ school for everyone,” said Corrieri, an 11 year veteran in Belmont. The alternative provided by Minuteman would be a better fit for some students. And that message is being heard at the Chenery; currently 54 eighth graders signed up to tour the school and 10 have submitted applications.

“I’m here tonight on behalf of our eighth grade teachers to implore you to allow our student to have those options in the future,” said Corrieri, noting that higher education and the workforce are evolving “and Minuteman is responsive to these changes.”

“I hate to see students turned away for Minuteman on a long waitlist because we didn’t speak out on this,” she said.

Jack Weis (Pct. 1), who was Belmont’s representative to the Minuteman School Board in 2016, voiced the opinion of many stating “that there is no right or wrong decision on this question as there are risks associated with either vote. Town Meeting members are going to have to decide … which version of the future they think is more likely.”

“And if they are wrong, which set of downside risky they are more comfortable leaving the town exposed to,” he said.

Mike Crowley (Pct. 8) who is a member of the school committee said “continued membership assures access for our kids for years to come … a no vote tonight put the future in jeopardy.” Once students are “squeezed out” of attending Minutemen, “the quality and breadth of programming isn’t there in the other schools that we may be able to offer us a spot or two.”

Warrant Committee member Elizabeth Dionne (Pct. 2) wasn’t convinced there will be an “enrollment crisis” to require Belmont to spend a significant amount of money annually when the town is preparing for a $6 million override in a year’s time.

With the needs of the general student population and special needs pupils to be considered, Belmont should find a way to “provide vocational education in a more cost-effective fashion,” she said.

“We don’t need to buy 40 years of insurance to make sure this happens,” said Dionne.

Jessie Bennett (Pct. 1) agreed with Weis that the financial difference in staying in or leaving Minuteman is relatively small (a cost-benefit of $100,000 being a non-member using the average number of Belmont students and the current student population) considering the $130 million-plus town budget. “If these numbers are so close, than we should vote our values and our values are to support students and provide them with the best possible education they can get.”

“If we don’t have this available for all kids, we are introducing instability into the decision making process for eighth grade families, we are introducing instability into the decision making process for every family … and in our future as a town that provides the best education for all students.”

The final vote – after which the Town Meeting showed its appreciation of Gammill’s work with a standing ovation – revealed the majority of members voted on the belief that interest in Belmont and surrounding towns in attending Minuteman will abate.

“That’s a lot to hope for because we really don’t have a Plan B,” said Crowley.

Teachers Holding Public Forum Wednesday On What Belmont Wants From Schools

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Photo: The Belmont Education Association

Educators to Belmont: What do you want?

The Belmont Education Association – which represents the educators and staff in the Belmont School District – is seeking input from residents on what is important about education in the public schools at a public forum on Wednesday, Nov. 6 from 7:30 p.m. to 8:15 p.m. at the Belmont High School library.

What will be discussed is:

  • What does the community value about Belmont public schools, and
  • What would it like to see changed.

This input will help inform the BEA’s upcoming negotiations for a new three year contract.

To sign up for the meeting, or to respond to the questions online if you cannot attend, go to: https://masstea.ch/belmontforum

‘All Animals Are Equal …’ BHS PAC’s ‘Animal Farm’ In Performance Nov. 7-9

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Photo: Poster for the play

You may have read it, you certainly have heard about it and we may be living it. Now is your chance to see it on stage as the Belmont High School Performing Arts Company presents an adaptation of George Orwell’s story “Animal Farm” in three performances Nov. 7-9 at 7 p.m. at the Belmont High School auditorium.

Tickets are:

  • Adults: $12 advance sale/$15 at the door.
  • Children/students: $5 Thursday/$10 Friday and Saturday
  • Belmont High Students: $5.

Tickets are available at Champions Sports in Belmont Center or online at bhs-pac.org

From an allegorical novella by George Orwell (Nineteen Eighty-Four) Animal Farm demonstrates that best intentions could lead to bad consequences: after staging a successful revolution against their human masters, a group of farm animals establishes a communal society, only to see it devolve into the corrupt regime of a power-hungry dictator.

Remember: “All animals are equal. But some animals are more equal than others.”

The play resonates with many of the issues the world faces today: the rise of totalitarianism and demagoguery, massive wealth inequality, gaslighting propaganda and fake news, cults of popularity disguised as populism, and the use of violence to solve problems. But the play grounds these topics in a vivid immediate reality. And while the book was clearly an allegory about the rise of Stalinism when it was originally written, the story feels eerily contemporary.

The production does not attempt to shoehorn the play into one particular interpretation or historical setting, according to PAC’s director Ezra Flam.

“The surprise of the show is not what happens, but how you get there,” noted Flam. How do good people let bad things happen – and even participate in making decisions that go against their own interests, challenge their self-concepts, or actually violate their memories and their grip on reality?

The play takes place on the Manor farm, where the alcoholic human farmer Mr. Jones has been mistreating the animals and mismanaging the farm. At the urging of Old Major, a boar held in high esteem by the animals, the residents of the farm take matters into their own hands, oust Mr. Jones, and rename the farm “Animal Farm.” Led by two young pigs, Snowball and Napoleon, the new community establishes a society built on egalitarian principles, universal education, and long-missing economic efficiency.

But soon the elation of their utopia gives way to doctrinal squabbles, propaganda fights, and vicious power plays, and everyone scrambles to choose the right side or be swept away by the tide of corruption growing in the center of their idyllic community.

By the end of the play, one of the early leaders has been banished, kangaroo courts have sent many innocent people to their deaths, and the farm has turned out worse than it ever was under the misguided administration of the humans.

In his notes of the show. Flam said this production showcases what the Performing Arts Company does best: give actors and stage crew the chance to learn about theater by creating a fully realized production.

Making the show happen has engaged the efforts of more than just the cast of 26 actors. More than 75 students are part of the backstage crew: building and painting scenery, making costumes, creating lighting and sound effects, constructing props and working as production assistants.

But Animal Farm has called on even more than the usual set of skills.

The actors and crew must tell a story that exists on multiple levels, said Flam. The cast must tell a deeply allegorical story that decries totalitarianism both in its Stalinist expression but which echoes into the current day. For example, they were both schooled in Soviet history and watched videos of Brexit arguments in Parliament to prepare for their roles.)

They must enact vicious moment-by-moment power plays, oppression, and experiences of terror, all while thoroughly respecting their fellow actors. And they must tell this harrowing story in the guise of farm animals – and not as they might portray a cow in the stable of a Christmas play, but in a way that captures the nuances of animal characteristics without devolving into caricature.

“They can’t just play a horse like you might in fourth grade,” Flam explains. “The actors need to do a play that tells a story on the surface but underneath tells deeper stories.” Whether pig, sheep, or horse, the actors must tell a profoundly human story.

Likewise, the production crew has worked diligently to help create the world of the story. The students on the costumes crew, under the guidance of Costume Designer Lila West and in conjunction with the actors themselves, have created a wealth of costumes that evoke rather than explicitly depict animals. Through costume pieces and improvised movement, the cast and crew create a world of animals without yielding to literal representation.

Meanwhile, the collaborative efforts of the cast and student set crew, led by Scenic Designer Anna Moss and Technical Director Ian O’Malley, have produced a set that evokes a farm but allows the audience to grasp the timeless themes of the story.

Letter To The Editor: Give To UNICEF During Treat Or Treating

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Photo: Give to UNICEF this Halloween

To the Belmont community:

Are you trick-or-treating this year? Do you want to make a difference? This Halloween, the Belmont High School UNICEF Chapter is bringing Trick-or-Treat for UNICEF to the town once again!

What is Trick-or-Treat for UNICEF? Only one of UNICEF’s biggest fundraisers! UNICEF – the United Nations International Children’s Emergency Fund – is a worldwide organization dedicated to helping children in need by providing health care, education, food and water, and protection. Trick-or-Treat for UNICEF is an annual event held every Halloween where children will ask for donations as they go door to door. They will receive a special cardboard box from UNICEF to collect donations in.

How can it impact the world? You and your children’s donations are sent directly to UNICEF, which then uses the proceeds to make a difference. It doesn’t take much to go a long way:

  • $5 can immunize 10 children against measles and rubella,
  • $35 can supply 50 kids with pencils and books for a year of education,
  • $150 can provide a village with a hand pump for safe drinking water.

Since the inception of the fundraiser, kids have collected more than $132 million, making a major impact on the lives of many families and children. In short, encourage your kids to Trick-or-Treat for UNICEF to help improve conditions of many around the world, all while having a fun time this Halloween. Together, the donations will add up and help thousands of underprivileged children.Every dollar makes a difference!

Nina Todreas
Treasurer, Belmont High School UNICEF Club

Get A Head(less) Start To Halloween With Horror House, Masquerade Concert Wed. Night At BHS

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Photo: A couple prepares for a night at Belmont High

Boo! Looking for a little pre-Halloween festivities? There will be two spooky events taking place at Belmont High School to get you ready for All Hallow’s Eve!

The 6th annual Belmont High School House of Horror will take place on Wednesday, Oct. 23 from 5 p.m. to 7 p.m. in the high school’s cafeteria.

This year there will be a kids section with Halloween oriented crafts and games. There’s a $5 entrance fee for the actual Haunted House but we’d greatly appreciate it if you’d like to donate more than that as the proceeds will go to Samaritians.

Along with the Horror House, the Belmont High School Bands will hold its yearly Masquerade Benefit Concert. You’ll hear the haunting themes of ghosts and goblins mixed in with the music of your favorite superheroes and Disney characters. The band will be dressed in their Halloween-best, and we encourage audience members (young and old) to wear their costumes and help set the mood for the evening.

Admission to the concert is FREE. The concert program will begin promptly at 6:30 p.m. – a half hour earlier than usual – to accommodate families with younger children.

Meet and Greet Belmont High’s New Principal On Tuesday, Oct. 22

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Photo: Principal Issac Taylor

The Belmont High School Parents, Teachers Students Organization (PTSO) is hosting a Meet and Greet with Belmont High School’s new principal, Issac Taylor, on Tuesday, Oct. 22 at 7:30 p.m. at the school’s library. Bring your questions, comments, concerns for Taylor. Hear from the PTSO about our plans for this school year. The monthly BPTSO meeting will be held after the event.

High School Solar Panels Survive Value Engineering Cuts … This Time

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Photo:

The installation of solar panels on the roof of the new Belmont Middle and High School will stay on the builder’s “to do” list … for now.

While the photo-voltaic cells were spared in this round of cuts, the head of the Belmont Middle and High School Building Committee said the group will return for a second and possibly third look at possible savings with an eye on big-ticket items that will likely include the solar panels.

At a civil but still contentious meeting held last week at the Belmont Gallery of Art, solar supporters including residents and many students clashed with several members of the building committee who the previous week advanced a plan using the $2.9 million set aside for roof solar arrays to close a $19 million deficit laid out in the second value engineering

After the previous meeting, the committee experienced push back on removing PV cells from environmentalists and local supporters of zero net energy. Before and during the early morning meeting last week, more than 50 residents and students came holding signs and distributing a fact sheet that contends solar arrays more than pays for itself by reducing energy costs by $170,000 annually.

Bill Lovallo

Committee Chair Bill Lovallo began last week’s meeting with an overview of the $295 million project reaching one of the committee’s goals of constructing a “high-performance building” that uses non-fossil fuel sources, innovated designs and automation resulting in the school being net-zero energy ready. Lovallo said even without PV panels, the building’s design that includes geothermal wells and other energy-efficient technologies, is “nothing like something that exists in Belmont … or what MSBA has in design now.”

But with the project’s budget set in stone, questions of what expense items are necessary to meet the teaching and learning mission of the school said Lovallo. And that may necessitate reducing the number of solar panels on the roof to save other items that residents are not advocating.

“I am for PV cells. We promised that. But we have to keep in mind that other costs are just as important,” said Lovallo.

Those campaigning to delay solar installation contend the move would close the deficit while preserving threatened educational programs such as classroom equipment and not scrimp on the quality of building material.

Bob McLaughlin

“We heard a lot about the promise that this building would have solar on the roof and that’s absolutely true,” said Bob McLaughlin, who spearheaded the drive to reinvest funds set aside for solar to restore interior items taken out. “But the mother of all promises, however, is that we will build a first class school and provide the best possible education experience.”

He believes panels can return as a post opening project which would be have the support of town meeting and will likely see a marked decrease in overall cost due to innovation and technological changes.

“There are so many things you have to do now [including tiles, flooring, and lighting]. And if they don’t get done now, they’ll never get done,” said McLaughlin. And solar’s $3 million can restore a great number of important items, he noted.

Ellen Schreiber

Committee member Ellen Schreiber countered McLaughlin’s suggestion of Town Meeting involvement as a step too far for taxpayers to take.

“I think that we have a pact that we made with the voters. And I think it’s very easy to say right now we’ll take that to [the meeting] because the next time we ask for something they won’t believe us,” she said.

Speaking in favor of retaining the panels in the construction budget, Belmont High senior Madeline Kitch – who helped bring out students to the first value engineering process in May and last week collected more than 200 signatures from high school students in support of the PV cells – said that “truthfully, I don’t have to be here. I refuse to believe that you don’t know the right choice because the very fact that you’re here is a demonstration of your investment in education and your investment in the future.”

“I can’t believe that you can’t see that the world is changing,” she told the committee. “In our time, we’re faced with incredible opportunities. We face decisions much like these, ones that dictate the lives of future generations who, I hope, will look back proudly and say to our faces about a vote much bigger than school and the community,” said Kitch.

Madeline Kitch

After the speeches and presentations the meeting moved the to the heart of the matter: examining 85 large expense line items selected by the building’s design team in which the committee either placed in the “it’s cut” category, the “under discussion” column and a subset of expenses which should be rebid in an attempt to generate more savings.

Many of the decisions had been determined during the first three value engineering meetings. Some were “easy” such as changing the base of the building from cement to masonry, reducing the ceiling finishes and casework in classrooms and simplify the audio playback system.

Others expenses that were “under discussion” were reconsidered such as removing skylights – it will now just be reduced in size – while town officials said they would reject the idea of trading asphalt curbing for granite.

By the end of the meeting, the arrays costs – having been separated into two line items totaling $1.2 million – were not touched. By the end of the meeting, the committee was within $150,000 to its goal of reducing the total cost by $19.2 million.

But Lovallo said discussions on PV cells and other large expense items will most likely be discussed in November as the Building Committee will conduct a third value engineering exercise, on 90 percent of its construction documents, which could reveal another shortfall, all at a time when the project’s contingency fund has been reduced from $19 million at the start of the project to about $7 million today.

Another area that the design team believes savings and be found is through the creation of a “relief valve” account which are accepted bid alternates of many big-ticket items.

But it’s likely that solar panels will be high on the list of expenses that will be forward to a “release valve” account which is a list of expenses that will be rebid. One example Lovallo suggested – to wide approval from the committee – is to remove the operable windows throughout the building “which we could do if the numbers are not looking good” with the budget. Another item could be the PV cells, either looking about both line items or just one while delaying the other.

In addition, the solar panels will be the final item put out to bid in 2023, said Lovallo, “so we have a long way to go to keep that money [in the budget] but there are a lot of things that are going to happen before then.”

Phone Threat To Belmont High Result In Increased Police Presence

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Photo: Belmont High School.

A threatening phone call to Belmont High School resulted in an increased police presence at the school on Thursday, Sept. 26.

According to an email to the greater Belmont High community, District Superintendent John Phelan said an unknown person stated “We are coming to get you” to a main office secretary.

“The Belmont Police were immediately informed, and are investigating the call. At no time during this process were our students and staff in danger,” wrote Phelan. As a precaution, officers were posted along with the School Resources Officer at the school throughout the day.

Phelan revealed in the past few days, officials several communities received threats to “shoot up” and plant bombs at their schools. The threats are being investigated by state public safety authorities although Belmont has not receive similar emails.

“Student and staff safety [is] our top priority, and we will continue to work with our partners in law enforcement to keep everyone safe,” said Phelan.

Residents, parents, and students with questions can call Phelan at 617-993-5401.

Belexit? Vote On A Return To Minuteman Tentatively Set For Special Town Meeting

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Photo: Jim Gammell (left) and the Select Board discussing Belexit.

The United Kingdom is in the midst of a contentious Brexit debate while Belmont is about to enter into Belexit, its own passionate dialogue on whether to return as a member or make a final, clean break with Minuteman Regional Tech.

The Belmont Select Board unanimously voted Monday night, Sept. 9 to tentatively place an article on the upcoming Special Town Meeting in early November to recind leaving as a member town in the Minuteman Career and Technical High School district.

“This will be a very big debate in town but enough has changed that it warrants Town Meeting action,” said Select Board’s Chair Tom Caputo.

The possible reinstatement of Belmont in the nine-member district which runs the public vocational high school located in Lexington comes three years after Belmont voted to leave the district in a dispute over the construction of a new school building.

But just getting to a vote will depend on two major obstacles:

  • The current member communities will need to put away their hard feelings after Belmont left them to pay for the building and unanimously approve its return.
  • Is Belmont prepared, or can afford, to hand over a one-time buy-back fee of $472,000 on top of paying the annual tuition assessment of approximately $255,000 in the 2020 school year.

“We might not even get the chance to bring this to Town Meeting if these issues block it,” said Select Board’s Adam Dash. The Select Board will be holding a public meeting on the article in the coming weeks.

It was a long and bitter fight in Belmont and with the Minuteman leadership on the town’s continued membership in the district. In May 2016, Town Meeting voted 141-81 not to approve a $144 million bond issuance plan for the construction of a new Minuteman High School building.

“[T]his is the wrong school at the wrong time,” said Mark Paolillo, who spoke against the plan which would have saddled Belmont with an annual bill of $350,000 to $500,000 to pay for its portion of the school’s debt.

But times have changed, according to Jim Gammill, who is Belmont’s representative on the Minuteman School Board (this is the final year Belmont will have representation on the board) who has been working with the Belmont School District on determining the benefits and likely return to the vocational school as a member.

The new school – which opened last year – is experiencing a spike in enrollment from member and non-member communities which could put in doubt if all Belmont students could be accommodated if upward trends continue. Non-membership would mean Belmont residents would only be able to attend the school if any of the 630 seats are not taken by member town students.

Gammill said if the upward swing continues, within two years, a small number of Belmont students will be left out in the cold of the fully enrolled school.

“Is it worth taking that risk?” said Gammill.

First Day Of School Goes To Plan As Key Construction At High School Site Nears Midpoint

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Photo: A third of the piles have been installed in phase one of the Belmont Middle and High School project.

It was a long Wednesday, Sept. 4 for Belmont Superintendent John Phelan.

After a busy Tuesday welcoming teachers and staff back to the district after the summer recess, Phelan’s Wednesday began bright and early at Belmont High School where he joined staff and Belmont Police in a new role, as traffic monitors to assist students and parents with the first new parking and drop off scheme since the school opened 49 years ago in 1970.

With the access road which once allowed parents to drop off students at the high school’s main entrance before exiting onto Concord Avenue now a fading memory, cars, SUVs and minivans clogged Underwood Street before doubling back onto Hittinger Street and out through the Trowbridge neighborhood due to the large scale construction of the new middle and high school at the west end of the project.

But with so much that could go so wrong, opening day of the 2019-2020 school year went “very, very well,” said Phelan during the meeting of the Belmont Middle and High School Building Committee on Wednesday.

“The wait … was not too long into the [high] school” due in large part to the team of officers from the Belmont Police along with signs produced by the Department of Public Works and balloons used to identify where vehicles could come and go.

“It was good to see the kids back at school,” said Phelan, who when not running a school system of 4,200 students was also tasked with supplying the Building Committee with pizzas and drinks.

“All in a day’s work,” he said pushing a chart into the Homer Building.

While the work of bringing a new class of 9th – 12th graders, the largest and largest construction task to date is moving along quickly as 133 concrete piles have been driven into the ground to anchor the high school wing of the building. Just on Wednesday, 27 “corner” piles were secured, marking out the rough outline of the high school section, according to Mike Morrison, project manager for Skanska, the general contractor.

“We are one-third of the way in Phase 1 of the building,” said Morrison, noting that debris and soil is being removed from the site as construction beginning in and around the site of the school’s pool.

“All is going well,” said Morrison.