Chenery’s Soap Box Derby Club Impress In First-Ever Competition

Photo: The first ever Chenery Middle School Soap Box Derby Team.

The Chenery Middle School’s Soap Box Derby Team, led by Coach Leon Dyer, had a lot of fun on its first-ever competition in the Indoor Rally Race held in the parking garage of the Cambridgeside Galleria Mall the weekend of March 3. The team competed in the morning race on Sunday, March 4.

The team fared well in its first-ever event. Liam Mitchell came in 2nd (with Liam’s last race being a difference of .03 second), James Barmakian came in 5th and Ian Goentzel came in 8th (taking over the spot of Eamon Khan, a 7th grader who had to leave early).

The Chenery Team started almost a year ago taking a field trip in June 2017 to the Arlington Soap Box Derby Championship. After seeing that event, the group of students was sold in building a few cars. Over the past few months, Barmakian, Goentzel, Mitchell and Khan and coach Leon Dyer built four Super Stock Soap Box Derby cars in the Tech Ed classroom at Chenery Middle School.

Ryan Bauer, a Chenery 7th grader who has been participating in Soap Box Derby racing for roughly four years, served as the team’s racing advisor. He was first in his Stock division at the Cambridge race. Ryan was great at answering questions about the cars and competitions.

The team is planning to compete in one or two additional events before the Championship Race in Arlington on June 2. Moving forward, we are looking to add up to six additional cars to the fleet and a trailer giving a total of 8 to 10 students the opportunity to build, learn, race, and compete in Soap Box Derby.

If interested in sponsoring a Soap Box Derby Car, please email Dyer at ldyer@belmont.k12.ma.us.

The Soap Box Derby is a youth soapbox car racing program which has been run in the United States since 1934. World Championship finals are held each July at Derby Downs in Akron, Ohio. Cars competing in this and related events are unpowered, relying completely upon gravity to move. There are three types of Soap Box Derby Cars. Stock, Super Stock, and Master’s Class.

A Musical For Today: BHS PAC Performing ‘9 To 5, The Musical’ March 22-24

Photo: The performance poster for “9 to 5, The Musical”

With the nation focused on the #MeToo and Time’s Up movement, country singer Dolly Parton said last month that now is a good time to remake her hit 1980’s film, “9 to 5,” one of the first to highlight sexual harassment of women in the workforce.

So it’s timely that the Belmont High School Performing Arts Company shines a light on a major social issue with its spring staging of Parton’s musical version of “9 to 5.” Based on the hit movie, “9 to 5, The Musical” features music and lyrics by Parton. It is upbeat, funny, full of great singing & dance numbers and delivers a message about empowerment that is relevant and important today.

“9 to 5, The Musical” will take place at Belmont High School’s auditorium on Thursday, and Friday, March 22 and 23 at 7 p.m. and two performances on Saturday, March 24, a matinee at 2 p.m. and 7 p.m.

Tickets on sale online and at Champions in Belmont Center.
ADULTS: $15 in advance, $18 at the door
STUDENTS: $10 (Belmont High students get half-price tickets for Thursday’s performance)

According to Performing Arts Company’s award-winning Producer and Director Ezra Flam, selecting “9 to 5” occurred after talking to the students “and looking for a show that met all of these demands and felt like it would inspire and excite the cast/crew and artistic team.”

“I didn’t know anything about 9 to 5 other than that it was ‘the Dolly Parton’ musical, and I didn’t know of any other high schools that had done the show. However, after we did one of the songs from the show at Broadway Night [in the fall], I decided to give it a read. I was only halfway through the script when I knew this was the show for us,” said Flam.

“The heart of the show is a friendship between three women, which inspires all of them to find strength in themselves and in one another. The backdrop of the show is a musical comedy: the songs are fun, there’s lots of humor, and tons of dance,” said Flam.

“However, against that backdrop is also a serious look at gender inequality in the workplace. We have taken the opportunity to talk in rehearsal about gender discrimination, sexual harassment, fair labor practices and the ways in which the landscape has – and hasn’t – changed in the last 40 years. With the current national awareness about many of these issues, students have been able to make some meaningful and thoughtful connections between the events of the show, the modern world, and their own lives,” said Flam

“9 to 5: The Musical” is set in the late 1970s at the fictional Consolidated Industries. Three female employees – Violet, Judy, and Doralee – are tired of being overlooked, belittled and harassed by their boss. What starts out as a fantasy of getting rid of him turns into a comical reality when they end up kidnapping him by accident. The three women then take control of the office and institute a series of new policies, which increase employee morale and productivity.

The original movie, starring Jane Fonda, Lily Tomlin, and Parton, was made in 1980, and the musical adaptation was written in 2008. Besides the title song was written for the movie, the rest of the music was written by Parton for the musical.

“9 to 5” is appropriate for Middle School and older audience members. The show contains language and moments that may not be appropriate for younger audiences: parents may want to read a synopsis or watch the movie before deciding to bring young kids. Scenes depict sexual harassment, adult situations, and some adult language.

“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,” said Flam.

“As always, the singing and dancing are sure to be a real highlight. There’s a wonderfully fun sequence of scenes when the three main characters fantasize about getting rid of the boss which takes us from a jazzy noir-inspired dance to a rodeo hoedown to a live-action animated fairy-tale. The opening number of Act 2 features tap dance, and there’s much more fun choreography throughout,” said Flam.

“The music in this show is also a challenge for students, but once they have been meeting well. Many songs feature complicated vocal harmonies and the cast sounds strong. 13 student musicians have been rehearsing with Orchestra Director Margot Reavey and will help bring all of that music to life,” he said

“It’s also been fun for the tech crew to find a way to make the late 1970s feel bright and vibrant. We have pumped up some of the classic colors of the era to give it a bit of a pop feel, and the scenery, costumes, lighting, and props will definitely lend a fun vibe to the overall experience,” said Flam.

International Economics, Cooperation On A High School Scale Comes To Belmont

Photo: Belmont students (from left) Zachery Tseng, Julia Logan, Camilla Carere and Sofia Schlozman took home first place overall and first place for low-income county in the 2018 International Economic Summit.

Fifty-two students from Beijing joined students from Belmont, Andover and Bedford high schools to compete in the 2018 Chinese-American International Economic Summit, held earlier this month at Belmont High School.

The summit is a day-long interactive simulation that asks students to compete in a wide range of events including quizzes (in personal finance, current events, economics and geography), a debate, and a trade simulation in which students have to negotiate amongst trade barriers, tariffs and financial limitations to execute a predetermined  list of imports. 

The International Economic Summit, which is run out of Boise State University, takes place 30 times a year all over the US. The summit featured 125 students making up 32 teams of 4 students.  Awards were given for best costume, best table display table display, and top performing countries in each of the following categories (low income, middle income, high income, and overall). 

The one that took place at Belmont High School is unique because it is the only one that features mixed teams of students from two different countries. Students from Belmont and Bedford were on teams that featured two Americans and two Chinese students. The summit involves a significant amount of pre-summit prep so students from Bedford and Belmont have been communicating with the Chinese students for the better part of two months. Prior to the summit, the students took two quizzes, create a global proposal and make a one-minute video of that proposal involving all members of the group. 

Belmont students Julia Logan and Sofia Scholzman, along with their Chinese partners, Jing Jing and Hongguang Paio, took home top performing low-income country, Vietnam, in addition to having the top table display. Belmont students Zachery Tseng and Camilla Carere, along with their Chinese teammates, Tantong Huang and Zicheng Zhao, won the entire summit.

The summit was put on in conjunction with Boise State and the LEAF Network, which is a teacher run and led professional development group in the fields of economics and finance. More information regarding LEAF can be found at http://www.theleafnet.org/

Town Election ’18: Logjam For School Committee As Three Take Out Papers

Photo: Town Clerk’s Office

Here’s a little math for those seeking a seat on the Belmont School Committee:

If four possible candidates run for two available seats, that result will likely be an exciting Town Election this spring as the potential field to fill the pair of committee slots has doubled as more residents have taken out nomination papers with just eight days remaining to submit 50 signatures to the Town Clerk.

As of Monday morning, Feb. 5, three newcomers to town-wide elections have taken out nomination papers for School Committee:

  • Claus Becker, Poplar Street
  • Tara Donner, Payson Road
  • Jill Norton, Clark Street

Becker is a Town Meeting member from Precinct 5 who is an active campaigner to increase the use of alternative energy in town.

Donner represents Precinct 6 in Town Meeting and is an English teacher at McCall Middle School in Winchester.

Norton is director of education policy at Cambridge-based Abt Associates, and previously was a senior policy adviser for the Massachusetts Executive Office of Education.

Incumbent Susan Burgess-Cox is the only candidate to submit her nomination papers to Town Clerk Ellen Cushman.

Current School Committee Chair Lisa Fiore is seeking a partial one-year term rather than defend her full three-year seat on the board.

CORRECTION: Belmont High Principal Richards Leaving

Photo: Dan Richards.

Editor’s note: While Mr. Richards is leaving Belmont High School, he is not leaving to become principal of Newburyport High School as previously noted in the headline and in the first paragraph of the original story. The Belmontonian regrets the error in content.

Long-time Belmont educator Dan Richards will be stepping down after five-and-a-half years at the helm of Belmont High School as its principal.

Richards, who made the announcement in a short email announcement to the Belmont community on Monday, Feb. 5, said it was “with mixed emotions” that he decided to look outside of Belmont to “peruse other leadership opportunities.” 

For nearly a decade and a half, Richards career has been centered at Belmont High, spending seven years from 2004 to 2011 as assistant principal for instruction before being named principal at Melrose High School in 2011. Richards made a surprising return to Belmont High in 2012 after then-principal Dr. Michael Harvey left to become superintendent of the Hamilton-Wenham Regional School District. He previously worked at Peabody High and Newton South High.

He said moving to a North Shore community a few years ago had him looking for the right set of circumstances in the area that would all0w him to spend more time with his family. 

“The past 12 years in Belmont have been very rewarding for me. I have enjoyed the privilege of working with an amazing faculty, staff, community, and most of all, the students,” Richards said.

“Belmont High School will always remain a special place in my heart. Thank you for the privilege and honor to be part of such a wonderful community,” he said.

Richards replacement will be selected by Belmont Superintendent John Phelan. It is unknown if the next principal will be in place by the beginning of the school year in eight months.

Twice The Fun: Two Improv Shows On Tap Friday, Feb. 2 and Saturday, Feb. 3

Photo: Improv this week.
The Full Winter Improv Show is back with twice the laugh over twice the shows.

After selling out Belmont High’s Little Theater for both the Winter and Spring shows last year, the Belmont High School Performing Arts Company has added a second date to its winter show with performances on Friday, Feb. 2 and Saturday, Feb. 3. Come once or come both nights: each show is guaranteed to be it’s own unique event, featuring games and scenes all made up on the spot based on audience suggestions.

The shows will feature the 35 member Improv Troupe performing plots with names such as “I can do better”, “Road trip”, and my favorite, “Hey, waiter!”
The two performances are Friday, Feb. 2 and Saturday, Feb. 3 with the curtain going up at 7 p.m. in the Belmont High Little Theater. Tickets are $5 for adults ($7 for both shows) with free admission to students.

Belmont High Principal A Finalist To Lead Newburyport High

Photo: Dan Richards.

Belmont High School Principal Daniel Richards is one of two finalists to become principal of Newburyport High School, having interviewed with the school’s staff and parents this past Thursday, Jan. 25. 

The other finalist is Andrew Wulf, the administrator of teaching and learning in the Salem public schools.

The next principal of the 9-12 school with nearly 800 students will be selected by Newburyport Superintendent Susan Viccaro after reviewing the candidates’ backgrounds and taking input from staff, the search committee and residents. The final decision will be made in the next month who will replace Mike Parent, the current principal, who is retiring at the end of the 2017-2018 school year.

For nearly a decade and a half, Richards career has been centered at Belmont High, spending seven years from 2004 to 2011 as assistant principal for instruction before being named principal at Melrose High School in 2011. Richards made a surprising return to Belmont High in 2012 after then-principal Dr Michael Harvey left to become superintendent of the Hamilton-Wenham Regional School District. He previously worked at Peabody High and Newton South High.

Richards was a National Finalist for Assistant Principal of the Year from the Nation Association of Secondary School Principals (NASSP) and was the Massachusetts Assistant Principal of the Year.

New Belmont High School Debt Vote Set For Nov. 6 After Meeting OKs Design, 7-12 School

Photo: Belmont High School Building Committee Chair William Lovallo.

The future of a new Belmont High School will be decided on Tuesday, Nov. 6 when residents vote whether to authorize a debt exclusion for more than $200 million for a new high school, according to the head of the committee shepherding the project from concept to completion. 

“We are looking at the November general election, definitely,” said Belmont High School Building Committee Chair William Lovallo, who made the announcement after the Belmont High School project crossed a significant milestone when the Belmont School Committee unanimously approved the recommendation of School Superintendent John Plehan to house 7th through 12th grades in the new school.

The School Committee’s action took place before members of the Belmont High School Building Committee, the Board of Selectmen, the design and project management teams and 85 residents who crammed into the Wellington Elementary School’s cafeteria on Tuesday, Jan. 23.

With Belmont’s student enrollment continuing to skyrocket – it is expected to increase district-wide by 375 students between now and the 2024-2025 school year – Phelan said the only grade option that will allow the school district to meet its educational vision while being financially viable while adding space required to house the K-12 pupil population is to create a 7th to 12th grade high school.

The presentation, which included data Phelan has shown to the committee and the public for the past year highlighted the disadvantages the district would face by selecting another configuration. For instance, a 9-12 high school would require the town to finance and build a new elementary school and expensive renovations in an 8-12 school. 

“This is a really exciting time, it’s also a very anxious time to change your configuration,” said Phelan as the high school transforms from a 9-12 traditional model into essentially two sections: a lower high school for grades 7 to 9 and an upper school for 10-12. 

“But as long as we do a good job within our schools, the rest will take care of itself,” said Phelan. 

Immediately after the vote, the building committee selected the “bow tie” design scheme (known as C.4.2) from four approaches that survived a year-long process. See all of the designs here

While the building committee selected its “favorite” style, the design phase is at its beginning stage, according to representatives from the architectural firm commissioned to create the new school.

“We are not by any means done at this point. We will continue our work together,” said Brooke Trivas, principal and project lead at the firm Perkins+Will, a notion reiterated by Owner’s Project Manager Thomas Gatzunis.

With grade configuration and design in hand, the project – easily the largest construction project in Belmont’s 159-year history – will quickly gather steam in the creation of a schematic diagram as well as a clearer picture of how much it will cost. Last week, an initial rough estimate of the same design approved by the building committee came in at approximately $310 million.

According to Lovallo, the debt exclusion vote will be one of two watershed events the project will face this year. The second is the production of “a large document” known as the Project Funding Agreement. The PFA is the primary contract the MSBA enters into with districts whose school projects have been approved to receive reimbursement grants. 

The PFA also governs the relationship between the district and the MSBA during the school building process from design through construction and completion of the project and will determine how much the Massachusetts School Building Committee will reimburse the town in construction costs.

“Our work will be intense until July as we will produce the PFA for the MSBA and that will bind us with the state sometime in August,” said Lovallo, who said an independent group of residents would work gathering support for the debt exclusion.

Tuesday’s meeting was mainly a reiteration of the information and data gathered and formulated from a year of public meetings and other forums. Lovallo began the session with a detailed, step-by-step retelling of how the cost of the project was determined, the amount that will be reimbursed by the state, and how the project will impact residential taxes.

One week before, the committee announced the initial rough estimate for a new high school – mostly new construction with minor renovation – would cost approximately $310 million with Belmont residents picking up $231 million after the state’s reimbursement. 

Lovallo stressed was it was “not a wise choice” to make direct cost comparisons between Belmont and other high school projects as factors as diverse as enrollment, the sum of the renovations, removing hazardous material and abatement expenses and how much it would cost to phase the building onto the site while students are being taught there.

In addition, the project cost during the feasibility study stage is more an educated estimate than firm figures, calculated using a formula incorporating the building’s total square footage and not the actual cost of installed building’s mechanical systems (HVAC operations, for example) or the complexity of constructing science labs and other types of construction spaces.

With the new 7-12 school topping 422,700 sq.-ft., “[the high school] will have a large project cost,” said Lovallo. But a big price tag does not mean the building is riddled with extravagances. “I can say to those that question if we are building an opulent building, the answer is no.”

“The Building Committee continues to focus on cost-effective solutions to remain fiscally responsible and not just in capital costs but also in operating costs,” he said.

Lovallo said the “Belmont” cost for the building would be impacted by how much the Mass School Building Authority will provide for reimbursement. Currently, the state is looking to chip in 36.89 percent of “eligible” costs, a significant portion which is made up of a cap on construction costs of $326 per square foot, anything above that amount is Belmont’s to pay. There are opportunities for the reimbursement rate to increase with incentive points up for demonstrating, for instance, a high efficiency designed building, retaining a portion of the existing school and showing good capital maintenance practices.

Lovallo concluded saying the estimated $310 million cost is “within about 5 to 10 percent accuracy” of the final price tag so a 10 percent reduction in the cost of the new school would see the last price tag fall to approximately $280 million with Belmont’s bill knocked down to the low $200 million. 

“I am optimistic that … we will find ways to reduce the project cost from the numbers we have been discussing,” he said.

‘Big Number’: New Belmont High School Price Tag Likely Topping $300 Million

Photo: Residents viewing designs for the new Belmont High School, Jan. 16.

It was always assumed a new or renovated Belmont High School would cost a pretty penny for taxpayers.

After Tuesday’s joint public meeting led by the Belmont High School Building Committee, residents now have a clearer idea of the price tag to build a new school will require a whole lot of pennies, as in about 31 billion one-cent coins.

That’s the outcome of the initial financial analysis by Daedalus Project Company’s Tom Gatzunis, the owner’s project manager for the Belmont High School Project, who presented his work to a joint meeting of the Building Committee, the Board of Selectmen and the School Committee as well as a number of residents at the Chenery Middle School on Jan. 16.

“We are giving you a brief snapshot of where we are of the cost of all the different scenarios,” said Gatzunis, pointing out the analysis presented initial cost projections for four designs – two that are minor renovation/major additions, a major renovation/minor addition and all new construction – in three grade configurations; 9th to 12th, 8th to 12th, and 7th to 12th grades.

With the focus of the joint committee on building a 7th to 12th-grade structure – which would not require the town to build a new elementary school if a 9th through 12th scheme is chosen or commit to costly revamping classrooms in an 8th through 12th grade blueprint – the project price tag for a new high school including construction and soft cost would come to approximately $310 million for a 410,000 sq.-ft. multi-story building housing 2,215 students.

Go to the Belmont High School Building Committee webpage to see an updated designs from architect Perkins+Will and financial data from Daedalus.

If approved by Town Meeting and voters through a debt exclusion vote, the new Belmont high school would be one of the most expensive ever built in the US, trailing only two mega schools in Los Angeles. Locally, it would top the current priciest high school in Somerville at $257 million and the proposed new building in Waltham at $283 million and dwarfing the controversial Newton North High School that came in at $197.5 million that opened in 2010.

Belmont will not be on the hook for the entire amount. About 36 percent of the construction cost or $81 million will be absorbed by the Massachusetts School Building Authority which is working closely with the Building Committee on the project. With the reimbursement calculated into the cost, Belmont’s share of the project comes to approximately $231 million.

What the $231 million expense means to taxpayers was explained by Town Treasurer Floyd Carman who said at 4 percent interest over 30 years of level payments, real estate property taxes would increase by $184 per $100,000 of assessed value beginning in 2020, the year construction would start. 

Below is a chart of the yearly real estate tax increase for homes at three assessed values:

  • $500,000 – $920
  • $750,000 – $1,387
  • $1 million (the average residential assessment in Belmont as of fiscal 2018) – $1,840

“The numbers are the numbers,” explained Carman.

There are less expensive options including renovating the existing school with not additions or new construction at $124 million with Belmont picking up $92 million. And a 9-12 school would be in the $180 million range, which does not include the cost of a new elementary school that Belmont Superintendent John Plehan has said would be required to meet the ever-increasing enrollment numbers in Belmont’s school.

Phelan said if any of the 9-12 designs are selected, the town would need to come up with between $72 million to $82.5 million for a new elementary school and renovations at three of the four elementary schools and the Chenery.

Whether it was sticker shock or the outcome of the analysis was expected, committee members and the public did not have any immediate reaction to the big numbers generated by the project. 

“Wow, I thought there would be a lot more questions,” said Building Committee Chair William Lovallo. He noted that the committee will not return to the cost component until mid-summer “when we will have better numbers.” 

The next joint meeting will be Tuesday, Jan. 23 when the School Committee will vote on a grade configuration moving forward while the Building Committee will select a design scheme. 

A Moment of Sportsmanship Earns Belmont Ruggers Top Award From State Athletic Group

Photo: Grace Christensen, Amanda Hanley and Molly Goldberg at the championship game.

It was just past 4 p.m. on a hot, humid June Saturday in Beverly and the girls of Belmont High’s Rugby squad were sky high, having just made history winning the first-ever state championship in the sport, coming from behind to defeat Algonquin Regional High, 17-14.

In the midst of the celebration, three Belmont players – Grace Christensen, Amanda Hanley, and Molly Goldberg – looked over to Algonquin’s bench and saw a player standing with an ice pack on her lower left leg, finding it difficult to join the awards presentation which was about to take place.

“We saw her and thought she shouldn’t miss getting [a medal],” said Goldberg as she, Christensen and Hanley went over and escorted the injured player to the center of the field to be with her teammates

A photo taken by the Belmontonian of the instant was seen by a representative of the Massachusetts Interscholastic Athletic Association, the governing body for high school sports in the Bay State. On Nov. 17, the trio of Marauders and their coach Kate McCabe were invited to the 24th annual MIAA Sportsmanship Summit at Gillette Stadium to receive the “Sportsmanship Moment of the Year” award for their collective demonstration of fair play and understanding. 

Belmont High was recognized a second time at the meeting as the school was honored with an Athletic Sportsmanship Award within its MIAA state district for demonstrating overall sportsmanship throughout the 2016-17 school year.

Both groups accepted the awards from John Maguire, president and CEO of Friendly’s and Rob Pearl, MIAA Sportsmanship Committee Chair and Medway High School Athletic Director.