Belmont High Graduates 275 Newly-Minted Alumni from Class of ’15

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Photo: Caps flying during the 2015 graduation at Belmont High School.

“Bittersweet,” is how Lisa Castagno would feel watching her daughter, Olivia, receive her diploma along with 274 of her classmates during graduation ceremony for the Class of 2015 at Belmont High School on Sunday afternoon, June 7.

“I’m really happy but sad,” said Castagno, who has seen three daughters graduate from the school, with a son remaining. “It’s great to see them growing up. It’s an exciting time for them and for us parents but in a different way.”

Amidst cheers, hugs, contemplation, photos and a cloud of cigar smoke, 275 seniors transformed from students to alumni during the ceremony held in the school’s Wenner Field House.

“Your child charmed us, and at times alarmed us, they have pushed the boundaries of learning and thinking to new horizons,” Belmont High Principal Dan Richards told the graduates and those who packed the Field House.

“We will miss their energy and their endless ideas, but know that each of them will put that creativity and intelligence to good use,” he said.

Class President Sophie Kunz-Cosgrove said this graduating class “cultivated a culture of hard work, determination, and caring, in and out of the classroom.”

“After today, we will start our lives apart. But we built something here that will always be with us; a community, our community where everyone is different but everyone belongs,” she said.

Thomas Zembowicz, the first of the speakers honored with the School Committee Award for Outstanding Achievement in Scholarship – whose long list of accomplishments in academics, volunteering and athletics read by School Superintendent John Phelan seemed to embarrass him slightly – said what he will miss the most from his experience at Belmont High is “a feeling of contentment and belonging … in even the most mundane situations” hearing snippets of conversations or watching classmates working together on projects.

“I reflected on the rituals that bind us as a class; unscripted and unnoticed … noticing these shared routines … gave me a more powerful sense of nostalgia,” said Zembowicz, who will matriculate at Yale in the fall.

“Take a minute to notice the forged ties with people that shared things with you, even if that means just sharing a table at the library,” he said. “Because even as the past weeks events slip out of our memories, we will always have each other.”

Organization, for Catherine Tang, the second School Committee Award speaker, was the touchstone of her experience at Belmont High School. How she studied and practice, Tang did each within a tidy planned “comfortable” system. That was until the day her art teacher, Mark Milowsky, squirted a tube of paint on her blank canvas.

“Mr. Milowsky said, ‘You need to learn to trust yourself’,” Tang said. Despite being out of her comfort zone, she created a work that she remains most proud.

“We all have our plans, our systems, our expectations for the future. But we may find that someone splatters paint on our canvas,” said Tang, who will not travel far to attend Harvard College this fall.

“It is up to us to decide what we make of the unexpected situations that life throws at us, whether we view them as obstacles or as opportunities for personal growth,” she said.

“Don’t worry about the unexpected; trust your abilities and put your mark on the new and unexpected.”

Finally, it was time for the 275 students to become former pupils, to shake hands with school committee members, superintendent, and principal; then tossing caps in the air, and meet outside for photos and cheap cigars.

Belmont Boys, Girls Track In the Top Ten in East Divisional Meet

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Photo: Belmont’s girls relay team in action. 

In the best combined day in recent memory, the Belmont High School Boys’ and Girls’ Spring Track teams powered their way to top-ten finishes in the East Division 3 championships held Wednesday, June 3 in Durfee, Mass.

Led by a pair of second-place finishes by sophomore Julia Cella in the 100 (12.73 seconds) and 200 meter (26.36) sprints, Belmont piled up 46.5 points over the day, good for a solid sixth place.

The boys collected 33 points to place 9th, just three points from 7th place.

Belmont’s girls was the only team with two runners in both sprint finals as fellow sophomore Marley Williams joined Cella in the dashes.

After taking seventh in the 100, Williams finished second to the eventual winner, Tatum Pecci of Tewksbury, in the preliminary heats of the 200 meters, making her a favorite in the finals.

But Williams began feeling under the weather and scratched from the final, said Belmont Head Coach Melissa Glotzbecker, whose team won the Middlesex League regular season title and the League meet. 

Belmont’s other multi-event point scorer was freshman standout Anoush Krafian, who finished third in the 100-meter hurdles, tied for seventh in the high jump and 11th in the long jump. She was also on the 4×100-meter relay that came in fourth.

Junior Samantha Kelts was one of three athletes who broke the existing point record for the pentathlon to finish the multi-event competition in third. Also capturing a third place medal was junior Meggie MacAulay in the 400 meters.

Sophomore Claudia Tenner led three Marauders in the 400-meter hurdles, coming in 7th followed by senior Kayla Magno and sophomore Guilia Rufo.

In the field events, junior Katrina Rokosz threw the javelin just under 111 feet for 7th place.

Leading the boys was senior captain Ari Silverfine, who broke two minutes to finish fourth in the 800 meters, while anchoring the 4×800 relay that raced stride for stride against Pembroke which eked out the victory over the Marauders by less than a second.

Silverfine’s fellow senior Owen Madden took third in the 400 hurdles while junior Luke Peterson used his long frame to finish fifth in the long jump, and sixth in the triple jump.

The final meet for both girls and boys is the All-State meet taking place on Saturday, June 6, at Fitchburg State College in Fitchburg.

From the girls team, Cella will be running in the 100 and 200 meters, Krafian in the 100 hurdles and high jump, MacAulay the 400, in addition to the 4×100 relay with Cella, Krafian, MacAulay and Williams with Naria Sealy as alternative.

Silverfine will run the 800 and Madden the 400 hurdles with the 4×800 and 4×400 relay teams taking part.

Sold in Belmont: A Quartet of Roaring 20s-Era Abodes Skidoo Off the Market

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Photo: 39 Bartlett Ave.

A weekly recap of residential properties sold in the past seven-plus days in the “Town of Homes.”

• 39 Bartlett Ave. Colonial (1927). Sold: $510,000. Listed at $525,000. Living area: 1,400 sq.-ft. 6 rooms, 2 bedrooms, 2 baths. On the market: 99 days.

• 35 Gilbert Rd. Condominium (1925). Sold: $497,000. Listed at $449,900. Living area: 1,100 sq.-ft. 6 rooms, 2 bedrooms, 1 bath. On the market: 65 days.

• 71-73 Lewis Rd. Condominium (1924). Sold: $485,000. Listed at $485,000. Living area: 1,198 sq.-ft. 6 rooms, 2 bedrooms, 1 bath. On the market: 70 days.

• 49 Sycamore St. #2. Condominium (1925). Sold: $388,000. Listed at $389,900. Living area: 950 sq.-ft. 5 rooms, 2 bedrooms, 1 bath. On the market: 40 days.

The great explosion of home building in Belmont lasted about two decades at the start of the last century. Farm and orchard lands were developed, estates were subdivided and streets plotted north and south of the Trapelo/Belmont corridor.

So it shouldn’t be that far-fetched to see four homes built in the 1920s selling in the same week. What’s interesting is that some have gone from owner-occupied two families to straight duel condominiums. Guess no one wants to be the landlord living over/under the tenant. 

It should also be noted that, despite news that the real estate market is suffering a lack of supply (causing prices to race skyward), especially of condos, Belmont saw three units on the smallish end of the square footage scale sell along with a sad-looking single-family.

And for these parts, rather affordable, on average about $480,000. Not a bad starter house for many couples.

Of course, just outside job-hot Austin, Texas, (about the same distance from Belmont to Boston) this is what you get for $469,000.

As Town Delays Policy, Town Meeting Considers Solar Power Resolution

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Photo: Solar panels.

Just two weeks after the Belmont Light Board – made up of the Belmont Board of Selectmen – decided to delayed the start of a payment plan for residents who use solar power, Town Meeting will debate placing a non-binding resolution on the town ballot to ask if the town should support as policy a higher subsidy to homeowners who choose the solar route.

While Sami Baghdady, the chair of the Light Board and the Selectmen, said the delay was so legal language could be clarified in the documents homeowners are required to sign, he did not dismiss the possibility the Light Board – which oversees Belmont Light, the municipal electric utility – could lead to a change in the Residential Rate APV, the new set of rates for customers who use solar panels to generate electricity which was approved in December. 

“At this point, it’s a delay. May it result in a re-evalutation of the policy? I think it might,” said Baghdady after a Selectmen’s meeting on Monday, April 27. 

The Light Board OK’d the postponement after several of the 18 residents who are entitled to participate in Belmont Light’s new program voiced concerns on understanding the legal language in the agreement including a very strong indemnity provision that needed to be signed and returned by April 24. 

“So when [the board] met (on April 22), we raised several questions regarding the packet that went out to residents that were still unresolved. So we agreed to delay the implementation. Concurrent with that, so that necessitated a delay in the filing [by Belmont Light] to the Massachusetts Department of Utilities,” said Baghdady. 

With the new residential rate delayed, Town Meeting will likely take up on the first night of the annual meeting, Monday, May 4, a citizen’s petition from a group of solar power advocates seeking members approval to place a non-binding referendum to gauge the community’s support for either the newly-created buy back pricing program or one which provides a greater payback to households using solar energy. 

Under the newly-delayed plan – which took nearly two years and sometimes contentious debates between advocates and the Municipal Light Advisory Board which drew up the blueprint – residents who install solar power would pay the standard monthly fee every household pays to be hooked up to the Belmont Light system, and a new monthly charge of about $14 for installed capacity.

The new plan also reduces the money homeowners receives as a credit for energy Belmont Light “buys back” when the solar system is generating excess energy as the utility pays for electricity over the course of the entire month, without crediting the homeowner if the electricity is generated during peak-times and how much greenhouse gas emissions they are savings.  

Solar advocates contend they should receive additional credits, (or as the utility calls subsidies) for a myriad of energy and pollution savings.

While the debate in Belmont continues, a state task force on net metering and solar power issued its own report on April 30 concluding that it did did “not support raising the net metering caps in the short term absent a long term sustainable solution.”

“Rather, we believe it is extremely important that any adjustments to the caps be accompanied by meaningful changes to the mix of incentives and proper consideration of the role of the ratepayers,” it read.

Belmont’s 2015 Annual Town Meeting Begins Tonight, With New Rules For Speakers

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Photo: Town Moderator Mike Widmer.

Author Frank M. Bryan of the University of Vermont said that “the single most recurrent theme in the literature on the town meeting in the 19th Century … was the notion that town meetings are schoolhouses of citizenship.”

And Belmont will continue this New England tradition as the town will debate and vote on several citizens petitions including a ban on McMansions, proposed zoning changing and grants to several organizations from the Community Preservation Committee in the first part of the Belmont annual Town Meeting beginning tonight, Monday, May 4, at 7 p.m. in the Belmont High School auditorium.

As with recent custom, the first part of this year’s meeting of the town’s representative legislature – now in its 156th edition – will take up non-budget issues.

To view the warrant, head the Town Clerk’s web page.

This year, those who choose to speak before Town Meeting will have new rules to observe, according to Town Moderator, Michael Widmer. They include:

  • A five minute limit on speeches, to cut down on repetition of points over and over again.
  • Limit each speaker to an initial question and a single follow up. 
  • All questions must be asked through the Moderator, to ensure civil discourse.

If Town Meeting can not finish its business tonight, it will continue on Wednesday, May 6.

The approximately 290 representatives will debate the fiscal year 2016 budget in June when Town Meeting reconvenes.

Schools to End Year $536K in the Hole, But They Have a Way to Fill It

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Photo: Red ink at the School District.

They scrimped and saved, cut and did without. But skyrocketing costs f0r special education and rapid enrollment expenses will result in the Belmont School District ending the fiscal year approximately half a million in the red, according to Belmont Superintendent John Phelan.

Speaking before the Belmont School Committee on Tuesday, April 28, Phelan said despite the district coming up with nearly $400,000 in new savings this fiscal year – including cuts in overtime, not filling positions and foregoing supplies and educational material – the school district found itself with a $536,000 deficit at the end of the third quarter on March 31. 

“It would have been much higher without if not for the work of our staff [and teachers],” said School Committee Chair Laurie Slap. 

The cause for the debt is due to an explosion in costs associated with special education. With the enrollment of more than 15 students and the related expenses in transportation and out-of-district tuition added approximately $1.4 million to the school district’s budget.

And while there remains “many moving parts” to the budget – such as an unexpected enrollment of special needs students until the end of the fiscal year – the deficit should remain stable until the end of the fiscal year, according to the district’s Director of Finance, Business and Operations Anthony DiCologero.

Since the shortfall was first identified in the second quarter, the town and schools have come up with a financial solution to resolve the shortage, according to Phelan. In June, the district will request from Town Meeting a transfer from the Special Education Stabilization Fund of the entire $250,000 in the account and a $285,000 conveyance from the Warrant Committee’s Reserve Fund.

The requests will require a 2/3s vote of Town Meeting to be accepted. 

While saying she is reluctant to request the entire SpEd Stabilization Fund to the used, “this is the year to do it,” said Slap.

Slap indicated she would seek to replenish the $250,000 by asking Town Officials for a portion of any one-time funds which could be coming from the sale of town-owned property in the near future. 

“We have to be prepared for a similar event in the future,” said Slap of SpEd costs.

Noise Alert: Belmont Will Have a Voice on New MassPort Committee

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Photo: Air traffic at Logan Airport. 

Belmont, along with Watertown and Arlington, will now have a seat on a new regional committee which will advise the operator of the airports in Boston, Bedford and Worcester on matters such as noise and air quality control. 

But it took a bit of legislative back tracking for the communities to be put on the committee.

With the support of several colleagues in both branches of the legislature, State Sen. Will Brownsberger passed an amendment to the supplemental budget adding representatives from the three town onto the MassPort Community Advisory Committee (MassPort CAC).

The Massport CAC is planning its first meeting later in the spring.

Residents have expressed their frustration on the growing amount of air traffic noise over the community since the Federal Aviation Authority re-routed air traffic patterns in which aircraft taking off from Boston’s Logan Airport proceeded over Belmont.

The Massachusett legislature voted to establish the Massport CAC in 2013 which will supersede the Logan Community Advisory Committee, which was created in 2002 as part of the Boston Logan Airport Noise Study and is about to end.

But when the MassPort CAC was created two years ago, Belmont, Arlington and Watertown were not included in the original list of represented communities. 

That misstep was rectified last week through the work of Brownsberger and State Reps Dave Rogers, Jonathan Hecht and Sean Garballey.

The MassPort CAC will be able to make recommendations to the governor and legislature, hold hearings, make recommendations to the MassPort Board of Directors and appoint a member to the MassPort Board.  

Although the Federal Aviation Authority has control over air traffic, MassPort controls airport operations and “the inclusion of Arlington, Belmont and Watertown on the CAC will ensure that our communities have a seat at the table,” said Brownsberger’s Legislative Aide Andrew Bettinelli.

Belmont Rugby Knocked About by BC High for First Loss

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Photo: Belmont Rugby.

Before the season began, Belmont High Rugby’s Head Coach Greg Bruce said he had heard rumblings that Boston College High School’s rugby club would be a challenger this year.

“BC High is coming into the season with high hopes,” said Bruce, noting that Belmont defeated BC High twice last season, including in last year’s playoff semifinals.

“But they’ve been really quiet about what they’re doing so that makes me wonder.” 

Bruce’s speculation of the Eagles’ aptitude was in evidence on a wind-swept field in Boston’s Columbia Point as Belmont came upon a highly physical BC High XV (for 15 players) that used its skill to win the ball after each tackle to take control of the match to defeat the visitors, 20-7, on Wednesday, April 15.

Belmont currently sports a 2-1 record against Division 1 teams, and 3-1 overall. 

After falling behind 5-0, Belmont’s senior captain Darren Chan faked out a defender and sped 25 meters for a five-point try (similar to scoring a touchdown) with Luke Gallagher kicking the two-point conversion to put Belmont out in front. 

But the host Eagles were able to take advantage of their superior skill at winning “breakouts” – the time after a tackle when players group over the ball to take possession of the ball – and not allowing Belmont to play its game of running its quick backs against its opponents.

While Belmont threatened BC through out the game, moving in close three times in the second half, BC High was able to make the stops they needed. A pair of late trys sealed the game in BC High’s advantage.

Belmont Rugby is currently on a week-long playing tour on the Algarve Coast of Portugal before meeting another historically-strong team, St. John’s Prep High School, on Wednesday, April 29, at 7 p.m. at Harris Field. 

Average Belmont Water, Sewer Bill Going Up About $40 Next Year

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Photo: Belmont water and sewer rates.

Belmont households and businesses will see their water and sewer bill increase by a combined 2.6 percent beginning in July as the Belmont Board of Selectmen approved the recommendations from the Belmont Department of Public Works on Tuesday, April 21, at the Beech Street Center.

The average Belmont homeowner who uses 20 HCF (hundred cubic feet) of water each three-month will see their bill jump by $10.13 – from the current $389.77 to $399.90 – in their quarterly bill from the town, nearly topping $1,600 for the coming fiscal year, according to Jay Marcotte, the town’s DPW director.

Those households and businesses the DPW dubbed as “heavy users” will see their bill increase by $27 per quarter.

The increase set for fiscal year 2016 is a significant drop from last year’s 4.6 percent jump in the combined rate.

Marcotte said Belmont’s rate increases are greatly influenced by the assessment from the Massachusetts Water Resources Authority, which supplies the town with water and takes its sewage. And a significant percentage of the MWRA pricing – 63 percent in fiscal 2016 – is influenced by “the large amount of debt it holds.” now topping $400 million in debt in fiscal ’16.

And Marcotte said the MWRA’s assessment will spike upwards – specifically in 2017 and 2020 – due to large increases in scheduled debt payments.

The rate increases come as Belmont residents have steadily reduced their consumption of water usage over the past two decades. From a high of 1.05 billion gallons consumed in 1995, households and businesses have decreased their water usage to 767 million gallons in 2014.

But while households’ have become more efficient and consumption trends point downward, “rates will need to increase to maintain and serve the public,” said Marcotte as fixed costs of capital projects and operation costs continued to rise.

The largest capital reinvestment program – which began in 1995 – is to replace every water main installed before 1928 or about 38 miles of pipes. As of today, 24 miles – or 63 percent – of the work is complete. In addition, the town has replaced two sewage pump stations while moving forward with a new pump station in the Winn Brook area.