Long Time Wayland Educator Selected As Next Wellington Principal

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Photo: Dr. Heidi Paisner-Roffman (YouTube)

The Wellington Elementry School has its principal as Dr. Heidi Paisner-Roffman accepted an offer with the Belmont School District, according to a district press release on April 1.

What’s In A Name? Plenty As New School Building To Get A Moniker

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Photo: Could this be the new Hogwarts School, Belmont Campus? 

With groundbreaking for the new 7-12 grade school building just 10 weeks away, there’s one thing still missing from the $295 million project.

What’s it called? And like a newborn, you need to get it right off the bat as you’re not getting a second chance. 

Belmont Superintendent John Phelan told the Belmont School Committee on Tuesday, March 26, the Belmont High Building Committee will accept a name from the Policy Subcommittee for the building by May 1 with students and teachers being asked over the next week to contribute to the list of names and assist in whittling down the hopefuls to a handful.

Collecting and coordinating the naming effort are Belmont High Building Committee members Chenery Principal McAllister and Belmont High educator Jamie Shea.

With the countdown starting for when the five-year project commences in late May, Phelan said the Massachusetts School Building Authority – which partnered with the School District in building the new school – knowing that signage and written material will need to be ready by groundbreaking gave the Building Committee “complete permission” to come up with a name that “we would be moving forward.”

After Belmont High sophomore Grace Kane asked if the name change would be effective on May 1, Phelan said “out of respect” for the students at the current school will continue attending “Belmont High School” for the remainder of their schooling.

Phelan read out the names that have been collected over the past two years from teachers, students, and resident in visioning sessions held early in the design process.

The current list includes:

  • Belmont High School
  • Belmont Middle/High schools
  • Belmont High School Upper School/Lower School
  • Belmont High School, Lower Division/Upper Division
  • Belmont Secondary School, Upper school/Lower school
  • Belmont 7-12 School, Upper School/Lower School
  • Belmont High School Academy/Belmont Junior Academy
  • Belmont Academy Upper School/Lower School
  • Belmont Academies
  • Belmont Junior/Senior High schools

“They all revolve around trying to capture that Belmont High should be part of the branding but also with the full acknowledgment that we have a middle school that will now accompany the school,” said Phelan. A name should provide “middle school students a name of their own to call where they go to school,” he noted. 

There are examples of how school districts named buildings that house more than the traditional 9-12 grade arrangement. The town of Lee has “Lee Middle and High School.” Carver, located way far away, named its school “Carver Middle High School,” West Bridgewater has a brand new 7-12 “Middle-Senior High School” and the communities of Dennis and Yarmouth is known as “Dennis-Yarmouth Regional High School.”

Thinking out of the box, the town of Easton named its high school after the son of the shovel magnate Oliver Ames and Westford kept “Academy” to its high school as it was a private school until the 1920s. 

And why not HSS Academy? Constance Billard-St.Judes School? North Shore High School? And, of course, there’s Hogwarts School, Belmont Campus.

As for Phelan?

“It’ll probably be Belmont High School,” he said to the committee.

Feed Me, Seymour! Belmont High Presents ‘Little Shop Of Horrors’ March 21-23

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Photo: Poster for this year’s musicial, Little Shop of Horrors

Don’t feed the plant!

For its spring musical, Belmont High School Performing Arts Company presents “Little Shop of Horrors” produced and directed by Ezra Flam.

Performances will take place on:

  • Thursday, March 21 and Friday, March 22 at 7 p.m. and
  • Saturday, March 23 at 2 p.m. and 7 p.m.

Tickets:

  • ADULTS: $15 in advance, $18 at the door
  • CHILDREN/STUDENTS: $10 ($5 tickets for high school students for the Thurusday Mar. 21 show)

Tickets on sale at bhs-pac.org and at Champions in Belmont Center

All performances will be in the Belmont High School auditorium.

An off-Broadway hit 35 years ago which was turned into a cult-favorite rock/horror/comedy film, “Little Shop” has become a contemporary musical theater classic. The show featured a catchy score inspired by 60’s rock, doo-wop and Motown, written by Howard Ashman and Alan Menken, the duo responsible for “Beauty & the Beast,” “The Little Mermaid” and “Aladdin.”

The show features a giant, talking plant puppet – operated by three students – a chorus of singing and dancing street Urchins and a crowd-pleasing score, including “Suddenly Seymour,” “Somewhere That’s Green,” the Dentist’s over-the-top rock song (made famous in the movie by Steve Martin) and more.

The big test that faced producer and director Ezra Flam was taking a show that orginiated on a cramped stage Off-Off-Broadway and ramp it up to include a cast of thousands (well, nearly 100.)

“One of the fun challenges of this show has been expanding a show that traditionally has a small cast of nine performers, to work for our cast of almost 90,” he said.

“We have widened to world of the show, expanding the trio of street urchins to ten, adding a group of dancers who serve as a bridge between the gritty world of Skid Row and the fantasy of a glamorous life Seymour finds himself in, and filling out the world of Skid Row. Every character in the show has some part in pushing Seymour down his dark path, culminating in a huge finale song ‘Don’t Feed the Plants’ that is sure to be a crowd-pleaser.” said Flam.

“This production showcases what the Performing Arts Company does best: give our actors and stage crew the chance to learn about theater by creating a fully realized production,” Flam noted.

“The set will bring the world of Skid Row to life, and then open up to reveal the inside of the flower show; the costumes capture a colorful 1960s aesthetic; as always, the singing and dancing are sure to be a highlight of the show, especially with incredibly fun songs serving as a creative springboard, and a Pit Orchestra made up of mostly of students, under the direction of Arto Asadoorian.”

Belmont Education Association Holds Forum On State Ed Funding Reform

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Photo: Merrie Najimy, Barbara Barry, and Lindi DeLorio discuss improving education by recalculating the formula to calculate state educational aid.

A major component of the Massachusetts education reform law past in 1993 known as Chapter 70 was the state’s “foundation budget” formula, used to determine the cost of educating students in each district.

But for many, the more than a quarter-century old formula is now badly out of date.

On Thursday, Feb. 28, the Belmont Education Association held a Fund Our Future Forum at the Chenery Middle School with Cliff Gallant, a teacher at Burbank Elementary, leading a panel discussion on the foundation budget formula. According to a 2015 report by the Foundation Budget Review Commission, the state is underfunding our public schools by more than $1 billion a year. Of that total, Belmont would receive $3,5 million in additional annual funding. 

Butler Elementary teacher Lindi DeLorio, Chenery parent Barbara Barry, Massachusetts Teachers Association President Merrie Najimy and Vice President Max Page discussed the improved opportunities for our students which could be provided with the additional state funds to support class sizes, music, and art programs. Funds could also be used to provide needed staff such as classroom aides, nurses, counselors and librarians.

Snow Day: Belmont Public Schools Closed Monday; Late Opening For Town Offices

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Photo: Snow day

Due to the heavy snow expected to fall overnight, all Belmont public schools are closed tomorrow, Monday, March 4th, according to Belmont town officials.
Town offices, the Belmont Public Library, the Beech Street Center and the school administration offices will open at 10:30 a.m.  All evening meetings, including the Board of Selectmen’s meeting, will be held as scheduled.

North Middlesex Regional’s Taylor Named Belmont High’s New Principal

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Photo: Isaac Taylor inspecting the new school housing North Middlesex Regional.

Isaac Taylor, whose teaching and leadership career spans an ocean and three decades, has been named the next principal of Belmont High School, according to the Belmont School District. Taylor starts his tenure on July 1.

“I have 14 years experience in raising standards, maximizing student learning and engagement and ensuring accountability,” wrote Taylor in his LinkedIn profile. “I am passionate about working to help all students and staff reach their potential, enjoy challenging themselves, and become life long learners.”

Taylor comes to Belmont High after four and a half years as principal of North Middlesex Regional, a 9-12 high school located hard on the New Hampshire border servicing the towns of Townsend, Pepperell, and Ashby.

During his stay at North Middlesex, Taylor guided the school community’s move into a new $89 million structure in the fall of 2017. He also had to contend on that opening day with a threat against the school requiring students and staff to pass through metal detectors to enter the building.

According to an article in the Nashoba Valley Voice, Taylor spent part of his childhood in the U.K., and part in Acton, Mass. After receiving his BA in Liberal Arts from the Harvard University Extension School, Taylor began is teaching career in 2001 across the Atlantic in the historic cathedral town of Canterbury in southeast England. He spent three years as an English teacher at Canterbury High School (now Canterbury Academy) while earning a teacher certification from Canterbury Christ Church University College.

Beginning in 2004, Taylor was a teacher and administrator for nine years at Simon Langton Girls’ Grammar School in Canterbury for the next nine years, five as an English and Physiology teacher and four as assistant principal. During that time, he obtained a master’s in school and education management from King’s College, London.

In the fall of 2013, Taylor enrolled at Harvard’s Graduate School of Education where he earned a Master of Education with a concentration in school leadership, while serving a principal internship at Boston Latin Academy. 

Norton Not Seeking Return To School Committee … This Election

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Photo: Jill Norton, Belmont School Committee

Five took out nomination papers for three seats on the Belmont School Committee but four will be the maximum number of candidates  on the April   ballot.

Appointed member Jill Norton will not seek a return to the board

“I’m sorry to say that I won’t be coming back this time,” Norton told the Belmontonian at the end of Tuesday. Feb. 5 school committee meeting. She said the dual challenges of having her youngest child about to enter the Belmont schools and a chance to volunteer at her church placed too much on her plate to continue as a full-time committee member.

“I just felt I wouldn’t have the time to meet the responsibilities” needed for the role, said Norton.

Norton was appointed in May 2018 by a joint meeting of the Selectmen and the School Committee after co-finalist Michael Crowley stepped aside after the group tied 4-4 after the first round of voting.

Coincidentally, Crowley is expected to submit his nomination papers to serve on the committee before the Feb. 12 deadline.

Incumbent Andrea Prestwich and newcomer Peter Pantazopoulos have passed in their papers while Amy Checkoway, a senior associate at Abt Associates (where she is a co-worker of Norton) and an active member of the Wellington Student Care Program, has still not submitted her papers to the Town Clerk’s office.

And  don’t write off Norton’s name from the list of future candidates seeking a seat on the committee. She said her youngest will be in the first group of fourth graders to enter the newly configured 4th-6th grade Chenery facility.

“I will have a big reason to be involve,” said Norton.

Belmont ’19-’20 School Year Opening Wednesday, Sept. 4

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Photo: It’s already out; the ’19-’20 school calendar.

While the current school term is barely halfway completed, the Belmont School Committee has its eyes on next year’s calendar.

The school district presented the “final” version of the 2019-2020 calendar which the committee appeared to approve unanimously at its Jan. 8 meeting. Keeping with tradition, Belmont will begin its school year after the Labor Day holiday, unlike a growing number of districts which starts its academic term the last week of August.

Below are the highlights which will assist families in their preparation of long-range vacation plans: 

  • The 2019-2020 school year for 1-12 grades will begin on Wednesday, Sept. 4, with a half day at each school. Half of the kindergarten students will be starting either on Sept. 5 or 6 for a half day.
  • The winter recess begins at dismissal on Friday, Dec. 20 and runs until school reopens on Thursday, Jan. 2.
  • February school break is during the week of Feb. 17.
  • Belmont schools will be closed for the Massachusetts Presidential Primary election on Tuesday, March 3.
  • April recess is the week of April 20.
  • Graduation will take place on Sunday, June 7; just where the ceremony will take place could be tricky as the new 7-12 school building project will be nine months into construction of the “high school” section where the Wenner Field House is located.
  • And if the school district declares the average five snow days in 2019-2020, the final day of school before summer recess will be Tuesday, June 23.

Public Meeting On New Rink Set (Sort Of) For Jan. 22

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Photo: A new facility will replace the “Skip” Viglirolo rink adjacent to Harris Field.

The public will get its opportunity to listen and speak up on a new skating rink as a tentative date was presented at the Belmont School Committee meeting Tuesday, Jan. 8.

“Now is the time to take the next step” on the future of a possible public/private rink which could be located on school department property, said Belmont School Superintendent John Phelan, as he proposed the committee to request the Belmont Board of Selectmen to conduct a joint meeting on Tuesday, Jan. 22. The meeting will likely take place at the Chenery Middle School.

But the date is tentative as it may change if more members of both groups can attend at an alternative date and time.

Phelan said the first part of the meeting will be a listing of the pros and cons of placing the rink along Concord Avenue across from the Underwood Pools or at the closed incinerator location on upper Concord Avenue near the Lexington town line, as well as an explanation of the RFP – request for proposal – process.

The meeting will then become an open forum for the public to participate and “can have some dialogue” that could influence what will be included as public benefits and what it will expect from a new rink design including parking and traffic access, said Phelan.

At Monday’s, Jan 7, Board of Selectmen meeting, member Tom Caputo – the board’s liaison to the rink discussions – said while two locations remain in the running, past discussions and analysis of the upper Concord Avenue site by an environmental consultant revealed the incinerator parcel “might not be the best site” for a building housing a rink as it would be “more challenging” to build on ground that first needs to be capped.

In addition, a rink could not be built at the incinerator site for up to five years as the land will be used as a staging area for the construction of the new 7-12 school building.

Phelan said if the school committee – which last month agreed to move forward towards a possible acceptance of a rink– votes to accept an RFP utilizing school property, it will advantageous that “everything is ready to go” involving the project such as having a partner selected and a list of public benefits written out when a proposal is presented to Town Meeting in May.

While the RFP has yet to be written or placed out for a bid, the leading contender to run the facility is Belmont Youth Hockey which has been guiding  the effort to build a replacement for the “Skip” Viglirolo Skating Rink adjacent to Harris Field for the better part of a decade. It has released draft architectural designs and a list of public amenities such as locker rooms that can be used by home and away teams playing at Harris Field.

The site will be constructed as a public/private partnership in which the school department land would be leased at no cost for 30 years to the entity running the rink with specific language in the RFP requiring an allotment of time for youth hockey, both high school teams, and public uses. The town would be given the opportunity to take ownership of the structure at the end of the lease.

Campaign To Name HS Basketball Court After Legendary Coach Lyons

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Photo: Paul Lyons at a recent Belmont High hockey game.

For David Ramsey, the proposal he and his colleague Ralph Jones are promoting “is a layup to me.”

Officials with the Marauder Basketball Association, Ramsey and  Jones believe it’s time for the town to honor one of its great coaches and residents, former Belmont High Boys’ Basketball headman Paul Lyons. And what more appropriate place than where he did most of his work.

If approved by the committee, the plan is to place a banner with Lyons name and achievements on the Wenner Field House wall and name the field house the “Home of Coach Lyons Court.” The campaigners said there would be no wording applied to the court surface, and the new name would only be mentioned when an announcer welcomes teams and fans to the site.

The pair came before the Belmont School Committee on Dec. 18 to have Lyons lionized for his sports leadership abilities and character. A one-time player at Boston College, Lyons coached the Belmont High boys’ basketball team for a quarter century and led them to the state championship in 1993 on top of five Middlesex League titles. By the end of his Belmont career, Lyons had racked up 335 victories (and 473 overall) and was installed in the Massachusetts Basketball Association’s Hall of Fame.

His legacy continues as one of the founders of the Belmont Youth Basketball Association in 1977 and the Marauders Basketball Association in 1986 which has supported both the high school teams as well as introduced thousands of elementary and middle school-aged children to the game. Nearly all the players of the current undefeated boys and girls high school teams started playing hoops in the BYBA.

But Ramsey and Jones also said they wanted Lyons to be known for how he coached, always with sportsmanship and teamwork in mind. 

“He was very competitive and always wanted to win, but [Lyons] did so with a great deal of class and integrity,” said Jones, who is a former selectman and noted local basketball historian whose daughters played.

The committee, as its policy, would not respond to the motion at last week’s meeting. According to district policy, the School Committee has sole authority over naming or re-naming buildings, interior facilities and grounds to a person whose “work or service has contributed significantly to the Belmont Public Schools or to the Belmont community.”

As for Lyons, he continues to display his modest demeanor when pressed during a chance interview at the Belmont/Woburn hockey match Saturday, Dec. 22 at the Skip.

“We’ll see,” he said.