Wellington Principal Spangler Leaving In December

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Photo: Principal Amy Spangler

Amy Spangler, the respected and well-loved principal of the Wellington Elementary School, is leaving her position to return to the Pacific Northwest.

“I’m sad to be leaving such a great school and staff,” said Spangler to the Belmontonian at Wednesday’s annual International Walk to School event at the school.

Spangler said her effective resignation date would be in mid-December before the winter recess.

The reason for Spangler’s departure is the same that brought her to Belmont five years ago; she is following her husband as he takes a new corporate position across the country.

“Amy will be missed significantly. She runs an amazing school,” Belmont Superintendent John Phelan told the Belmontonian Wednesday. “She’s all about the students and the families. You could see that before school in the playground and inside the school when she’s with the children.”

Phelan said he is early in the process of finding a replacement for Spangler. He and his staff will first look at possible internal candidates before deciding whether to hire an interim principal or place an outside job posting. 

Phelan would like to have a quick turnover in filling the position so to allow Spangler time to mentor her replacement.

Spangler was hired in October 2012 by then interim superintendent Dr. Thomas Kingston to replace long-serving principal Amy Wagner. 

Belmont Educators Come Out In Mass To Support Contract Negotiations

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Photo: Kristen Bell speaking before the School Committee and her colleagues.

Approximately 125 teachers and educators jammed into the Community Room at the Chenery Middle School Tuesday night, Sept 26, to demonstrate its support of its union – the Belmont Education Association – before the Belmont School Committee as the two sides attempt to hammer out a multi-year contract in the next month.

“As educators and union members … we stand with our negotiators in support of our vision of the schools our students deserve,” said Kristen Bell, a first-grade teacher at the Wellington, Belmont resident and an official with the union, who spoke before a sea of colleagues in red T-shirts and school committee members during its scheduled meeting.

The past contract between teachers and the town ended on Aug. 31, just days before the school year began.

The BEA and the school committee have two remaining agreed-to negoitating sessions to resolve salary and benefit differences and craft a contract for the 500 union members, of which 330 are teachers in Belmont’s six public schools.

Bell said the union is seeking to:

  • Ensure curriculum-based learning is free from distractions and excessive mandates.
  • Allow time for educators to think, plan and collaborate in meaningful ways.
  • Provide educators the appropriate level of influence over decisions with their schools.
  • Maintain consistent and qualified instructional coverage for students, and 
  • Ensure the town continues to attract and maintain “exemplary educators.” 

While neither side would reveal how far apart they remain on wages and benefits, the union and school committee have only encouraging words about the talks. School committee members and teachers greeted each other with smiles and the amenity of friends. 

“We have faith and hope [the school committee] will reach agreement before the end of October,” said Bell. 

In a statement from the School Committee, Chair Lisa Fiore said she was glad to hear that the BEA supports the work on both sides.

“As with all union negotiations, the balance we always try to strike is supporting our educators and being accountable to our taxpayers,” she said.

Learn About Plans For New High School Tuesday, Sept. 19

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Photo: The project even has a logo.

It will likely be the largest and most expensive construction project in Belmont’s history. So don’t you want to know more about the new Belmont High School?

Join the Belmont High School Building Committee for a community engagement meeting on Tuesday, Sept. 19, at 7 p.m. in the Chenery Middle School auditorium, 95 Washington St.

The night’s agenda will include:

  • High School Building Project updates
  • Introduction of the Project Design team
  • District Enrollment Update and Grade Configuration discussion
  • Results of Recent Education Visioning workshops
  • Questions and comments

“The Community Meetings will be a great chance for the public to hear and comment about the recent work of the Belmont High School Building Committee,” said Belmont School Superintendent John Phelan.

“This will include meeting the Project Team: Daedalus Projects and Perkins+Will who will be leading this work. The audience will also learn about the enrollment and space challenges of the school, the three grade configurations being considered (7-12, 8-12, 9-12) as well as the ‘visioning’ work of the school system as it relates to the design of the new building,” said Phelan.

Additional community meetings will take place:

  • Friday, Oct. 13 at 1:15 p.m. at the Beech Street Center, 266 Beech St.
  • Saturday, Oct. 28 at 10 a.m. at Belmont High School.
  • Wednesday, Nov. 15 at 7:30 p.m. at Belmont Town Hall
  • Tuesday, Dec. 12 at 7 p.m. at Belmont High School

To sign up for email updates and to learn more about the Belmont High School Building Project, including project timelines, videos, meeting schedules, presentations, and more, please visit its webpage.

Email questions to BHS-BC@belmont-ma.gov

Boston Magazine Ranks Belmont in Top 25 In ‘Top Schools’ Issue

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Photo: The cover of Boston Magazine’s 2017 Top Schools Issue 
Boston magazine’s annual education issue which it names Greater Boston’s “Top Schools 2017” has hit the newsstands and the magazine ranked Belmont‘s public school district 23rd out of 125 districts within Route 495.
 
Using data from the Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education, Boston magazine’s determined its rankings using factors such as SAT scores, student-teacher ratios, graduation rates and more.
Some fun(d) facts from the study: Belmont spent the 20th lowest amount in dollars per student of the 125 districts, at $13,029. It also had the 7th largest class size, at 21.3 students. But some equally good schools such as Winchester (ranked 14th) and Westford (6th) spent around the same per student and Acton-Boxborough (15th) has even more kids in its classroom with 21.6. 
The entire “Top Schools 2017″ list can be found here, and can be sorted by various ranking factors.

Rain, Thunder To Greet Students On First Day Of School in Belmont

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Photo: Off to school.

In addition to the new backpack, pencils and lunch boxes, parents should add umbrellas, slickers and rain boots to the list of item students will bring to the first day of the 2017-18 school year in Belmont that commences today, Wednesday, Sept. 6. 

The need for added weather protection is due to the National Weather Service issuing a flash flood watch at 10:25 p.m. on Tuesday, Sept. 5.

Periods of showers and embedded thunderstorms are expected to begin in the late morning and lasting into the night with pockets of localized torrential rainfall. Hourly rainfall rates of one to two inches per hour will be possible with the strongest storms, which may lead to localized flooding of streets and low lying areas. 

Day one: 
  • It is a full day for students grades 1-12.
  • There will be no bus service available for Kindergarten students on Sept. 7, 8, and 9. Busing for Kindergarten students will begin on Monday, Sept. 12.
  • It is a Wednesday schedule for all students, meaning an earlier than usual dismissal time.

Purchase meals and plans online here.

Belmont High School

Wednesday is Opening Day for Grades 9, 10, 11, and 12: All grades will report to school at 7:35 a.m. for homeroom. After homeroom, students will attend each class on their Wednesday schedule and meet with teachers.

A Quick Reference Guide, including a list of items for Opening Day and the first week of school, has been uploaded to each ParentPlus and StudentPlus accounts. 

Dismissal times this year are:

  • Monday, Tuesday, Thursday and Friday: 2:25 p.m.
  • Wednesdays: 1:25 p.m.
  • Wednesday Early Release will be at 10:30 a.m.

Chenery Middle School

Start Time: 7:55 a.m.

Dismissal Times:

  • Monday, Tuesday, Thursday and Friday: 2:25 p.m.
  • Wednesdays: 1:15 p.m.
  • Wednesday Early Release will be at 11 a.m.

Burbank, Butler, Wellington Schools:

Start Time: 8:40 a.m.

Dismissal Times:

  • Monday, Tuesday, Thursday and Friday: 2:50 p.m.
  • Wednesdays: 1:40 p.m.
  • Wednesday Early Release will be at 11:40 a.m.

(1/2 Day Kindergarten: 8:40 a.m. to 11:55 a.m.)

Winn Brook School

Start Time: 8:50 a.m.

Dismissal Times:

  • Monday, Tuesday, Thursday and Friday: 3 p.m.
  • Wednesdays: 1:50 p.m.
  • Wednesday Early Release will be at 11:50 a.m.

More Than Road At Stake As Day School To (Maybe) Hear Planning Board’s Verdict

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Photo: The Planning Board. 

In one way or another, the future of the Belmont Day School’s proposed development of a new gym/classroom structure and a roadway adjacent to the town’s active cemetery off of upper Concord Avenue reaches a critical crossroads at tonight’s meeting of the Belmont Planning Board to be held at the Beech Street Center at 7 p.m., Thursday, Aug. 31.

It will either be one which the private K-8 school will quickly move forward with a set of restrictions or remedies on the land and road, as it will attempt to have the new structure up and running a year from now.

Or due to a final minute legal roadblock thrown by a resident from across Concord Avenue, the school and town could begin a meandering retracing of what appeared to be agreements on contentious issues including the amount of landscaping along the road and the structure of the road itself.

Less than a month ago, it appeared the Planning Board – reduced to four members due to the recusal of Chair Liz Allison (she is an abutter to the school) and the resignation of Joseph DiStefano – was ready to end the four-month long design and site plan review as interim chair Barbara Fiacco announced that the board would “wrap up” its oversight by Aug. 14.

While the 25,000 sq.-ft. Multi-Use structure – dubbed the Barn – was relatively free of controversy, the same could not be said for the roadway which would allow the school a second avenue of access to and from Concord Avenue. Several residents making up two community groups opposed the road as introducing both traffic and safety problems to an already congested main thoroughfare. 

The school contends the new road would provide ease of entry and exit from the school which currently has just one street, Day School Lane, to access the campus.

In addition, the town’s Board of Cemetery Trustees and several people who own burial plots in Belmont’s Highland Meadow Cemetery contend the roadway will create a myriad of problems to the graveyard, including possible ground water and disturbance of the pastoral environs of peoples final resting places. The school believes that adequate landscaping will resolve the issue. 

But a final decision was rendered moot as the Board was the recipient of a local legal action by Concord Avenue resident Tim Duncan who contends in an Aug. 11 complaint he filed with the Belmont Town Clerk. He states the Planning Board violated the state’s Open Meeting Law by holding what was described as “working groups” with the Day School to resolve technical issues facing the project usually conducted between one person from either side. He contends the agreements hammered out in this setting were not legal as they were done behind closed doors, without adequate notice and without minutes of the meetings kept.

He contends the agreements hammered out in this setting were not legal as they were done behind closed doors, without adequate notice and without minutes of the meetings kept.

Tonight’s meeting will begin with the Planning Board – through the legal opinion of Town Counsel George Hall – answering Duncan’s complaint. If it continues to proceed with the meeting, the Planning Board will vote on any restrictions it believes is warranted to mitigate the creation of the road and building. Duncan has said if he doesn’t think the board or town is willing to answer the Open Meeting Law question, he will file a complaint with the state Attorney General.

But according to some who have reviewed the case, the Planning Board could delay a final resolution on the road and building to “redo” the working group sessions in a formal open meeting session. This would create a further pushing back of final order from the board and delay the building of the Barn and road possibly until the spring. 

Belmont High Bomb Threat Deemed A Hoax

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Photo: Belmont High School.

Units from the Massachusetts State Police and Belmont Police Department conducted a search of Belmont High School Wednesday morning, July 13, after the school district received an email bomb threat.

Belmont and three schools in Waltham including the high school were targeted by threats Wednesday. On Monday, several schools in Wareham were shut down due to bomb threats.

The message claiming that a bomb was inside the school arrived at the district office on Pleasant Street at approximately 9:45 a.m. School Administration immediately contacted the Belmont Police who informed the State Police. Law enforcement along with district staff conducted a visual inspection of the building.

After the inspection, and using State Police protocol, the threat was declared a “low risk, ” and the building was not evacuated.

“The School Department thanks Belmont and State Police for their quick response to this matter,” said Belmont Superintendent John Phelan.

Dancing With The Stars: Belmont High’s ‘Chicago’ Bring Homes Musical Gold

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Photo: The “Chicago” cast in one final pose.

They can tango, do the bunny hop, the shimmy shake, razzle dazzle, and, when need be, perform a reverse standing somersault.

And for all that jazz, the dancers in the Belmont High School Performing Arts Company’s Spring musical production of “Chicago” walked away with serious bling at the Massachusetts Educational Theatre Guild’s annual Musical Theater Award Ceremony – think the Tony’s for Bay State high schools – recognizing excellent work by Middle and High Schools on Saturday, June 24.

Nominated in seven categories including the prestigious “Best Overall Production,” BHS PAC took home four awards:

  • Lighting Design and Execution
  • Specialty Ensemble: Featured Dancers
  • Dance: Choreography and Execution
  • Student Orchestra

See a video preview of the show here.

“Congratulations go to all of the cast, crew, and staff who worked on the show. Being nominated for ‘Best Overall Production’ is an honor that is shared by the whole production team for strong work across the board,” said Ezra Flam, “Chicago”s producer/director.

The individual winners are:

  • Lighting Design and Execution: Lighting Designer Chris Fournier, and Lighting Crew Chiefs Addie Leabman (BHS ’17) and Daphne Kaxiras (BHS ’17).
  • Student Orchestra: Band Director Paul Ketchen.
  • Dance Choreography and Execution: Choreographer Jenny Lifson
  • Specialty Ensemble: Featured Dancers: Aidan Hamell, Alex Aleksandrov, Alyssa Bodmer, Alyssa Allen, Amelia Ickes, Andre Ramos, Becca Schwartz, Cheyenne Isaac, Edward Stafford, Elana Chen-Jones, Grace Curtis, Izzy Lazenby, Julia Cunningham, Julia Giatrelis, Kseniya Dzhala, Lennart Nielsen, Liz Biondo, Megan Bodmer, Molly Thomas, Nicole Thoma, Noam Bar-Gill, Raffi Manjikian, Wonyoung Jang and Zoe Armstrong.

“I want to thank to all of the students in the PAC, the parents and community members who support our work and the Belmont faculty and administration,” said Flam.

‘While the recognition for ‘Chicago’ is nice, I am most grateful that I have the wonderful opportunity to run a theater program where the focus is on giving students a strong education in theater and building a community where all students feel welcome and supported,” he said.

At the ceremony, Lea Grace Swinson (BHS ’17) performed “When You’re Good to Mama” to represent the production in the “Best Overall Production” category.

Walk This Way: Wellington Send-Off Marks End of Elementary Experience

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Photo: Movin’-on at the Wellington.

It was a special class of students for Wellington Elementary Principal Amy Spangler who she led the fourth-grade students on their final walk out the front door on the last day of school, Wednesday, June 21, also known as “Moving-On” Day.

“Every year we have to say goodbye to our students, but this is the class which I have known since they were in kindergarten,” said Spangler, who arrived to head the school in January 2013. 

“They were in school for half the year, but they were still very young when I first met them,” said Spangler.

“Now they are on their way to [Chenery] Middle School,” said Spangler with a smile.

In what has become an annual event at Belmont, fourth and eighth graders moving into new schools are given an opportunity to have a “final exit” from their current building. At the Wellington, the five classes of fourth graders are led out the school’s front entrance by Spangler and their teachers – Jessica Endres, Aaron Ogilvie, Erin Severy, Steven Tenhor and Christina Westfall – in front of parents and family.

Then if was off to the turf playground for icicles, a last hug, and a photo before a summer long recess. 

“It’s nice to see them one last time as Wellington students,” said Spangler.

 

 

Burbank Picked To Be Modulars’ New Home With a $2.2M Pricetag

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Photo: Belmont Superintendent John Phelan.

The fall Special Town Meeting now has a price tag for the big ticket item on its agenda as Belmont Schools Superintendent John Phelan recommended four new modular classrooms be sited at the Mary Lee Burbank Elementary School on School Street.

The anticipated cost of the project – which will be up and running in September 2018 – is $2.2 million, excluding furniture and teaching equipment, Phelan told the Belmont School Committee at its Tuesday meeting, June 20.

“This is a very significant ‘ask’ to the town for the Burbank to take on the modulars,” said Phelan.

The Burbank was selected at the Butler Elementary School to be the home of the third set of modulars used by the district – there are several at the High School while six were installed at the Chenery Middle School in November 2016 – to alleviate the skyrocketing enrollment gains occurring throughout the district.

Phelan said adding the classrooms will help reduce class sizes in elementary grades from 25 and 26 students per room to a more acceptable 22 to 23 students.

Last month, administrators and staff held a pair of two-hour meetings at each school to discuss the concerns of residents and parents of adding prefab structures, afterward was a walk of the sites with an architect.  

The Burbank four modular will be sited adjacent to the rear of the school building which will allow for a covered walkway. The location will also have a minimal impact on neighboring houses as it’s lower than nearby Richardson Road and next to a stone wall.

Another factor leading to the Burbank taking on the modulars was its ability to take on additional students without affecting the teaching going on at the school. While it could have met the needs of students if selected, Phelan said the Butler had been home to a historically smaller school community, which has worked educating students successfully.

The greatest difference between the two proposals was the extensive infrastructure proposed at the Burbank. Including the repair and expansion of the parking lot and the overhaul of the playground area while the Bulter’s improvements would be limited to adding sod to the school’s two playgrounds.

In dollars and cents, the Burbank’s infrastructure costs exceed $692,000 compared to $172,000 at the Butler.

Heather Rubeski of Dalton Road, a Burbank parent and Precinct 7 Town Meeting Member told the committee and Phelan that presenting the most expensive option to the town’s legislative body could result in pushback by members.

“When I look at the cost difference of almost $500,000 … I think there is gonna be a lot of questions at Town Meeting on why are we spending all this extra money to put them at Burbank when the town has many things it needs to spend money on,” Rubeki said.

Putting on her “parent’s hat,” Rubeki also asked why would the district select the Burbank for additional space when the school population has been static resulting in children being bused to the school in September 2019.

“It has a feeling of ‘us’ vs ‘them’ and that has become very noticeable in the parent conversations,” she said.

Town officials and Town Meeting members had already begun on how to pay for the modulars with discussions on whether to dip into the “free” cash account which paid for the prefab classrooms at the middle school (a total of $1.4 million) or to finance the project through a bond.

Phelan said moving forward with the project is the best solution until a decision is made on the future of the new Belmont High School which will impact the district’s building requirements. 

“This is something that I believe is a good decision for the town … that this is a short-term trend that will help inform our long-term planning as well,” he said.