Public Access To HS Athletic Fields Restricted Beginning Sept. 21

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Photo: Harris Field in Belmont

Beginning Monday, Sept. 21, access to the Belmont High School Athletic Complex located on Concord Avenue – which includes Harris Field, the track and the fields west of the “Skip” Viglirolo ice skating rink – will be limited to Belmont High School Fall athletic teams and school authorized personnel during Belmont High practices and games, according to Belmont Athletic Director Jim Davis.

In accordance with guidelines set by the Massachusetts Executive Office of Energy and Environmental Affairs, the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education and the Massachusetts Interscholastic Athletic Association, the general public is asked to refrain from any use of the athletic fields and track area of the complex when Belmont High School teams are practicing and hosting games.  

Practices are scheduled for:

  • Monday, Tuesday, Thursday and Friday: 2:30 p.m. to 8:30 p.m.
  • Wednesdays: 12:30 p.m. to 7:30 p.m.  

On Game Day Saturdays, the facility is scheduled for use from 8 a.m. to 7 p.m. for both games and practices.

17 Students From Belmont High And Belmont Hill Named National Merit Semifinalists

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Photo: 17 National Merit semifinalists in Belmont

Fourteen Belmont High School students and three who attend The Belmont Hill school were named semifinalists by the National Merit Scholarship Corporation during a presentation on Sept. 9.

At the beginning of each school year, the Evanston, Ill-based NMSC reveals the students who will go on to compete for scholarships in the spring. Approximately 7,600 of the 16,000 semifinalists will win scholarships for 2021.

According to NMSC, semifinalists are determined by the results of pre-SAT tests taken by about 1.5 million high school juniors nationwide during the previous school year. Semifinalists are the highest scorers in each of the 50 states and represent fewer than one percent of each state’s high school seniors. 

Those students named finalists will then apply to obtain scholarships up to $2,500.

The Belmont semifinalists are:

Belmont High School

  • Isabel T. Burger
  • Katarina L. Chen
  • Charlotte E. Conroy
  • Alexander W. Fick
  • Sarah A. Firth
  • David A. Jen
  • Edward P. Lee
  • Alicia A. Lugovskoy
  • William J. Mann
  • Timothy J. Minicozzi
  • Jessica D. Peng
  • Jason Tang
  • Howell Xia
  • Yao Xiao

The Belmont Hill School

  • Aaron W. Belluck
  • Sreetej Digumarthi
  • Max D. Hall

Fall Sports: Modified Rules, Modified Fees As Seasons To Start By Month’s End

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Photo: Belmont High Field Hockey will be playing this fall

There will be a fall sports season for Belmont High School student athletes as the Belmont School Committee voted unanimously on Tuesday night, Sept. 8, to approve an agreement by the Middlesex League which Belmont is a member on rules and safety.

With each sport – field hockey, golf, boys and girls soccer, boys and girls cross country – having to undergo a number of modifications to limit contact and potentially unhealthy actions on the field, the School Committee modified the participation fee each players pays.

“We are entering into a very unique school year, not only academically Burt for our student athletes,” said Jim Davis, Belmont’s athletic director, who told the committee the fee will be cut by $150 to $300 due in not small part to the major changes each sport will undo.

For example, heading the ball in soccer is disallowed, penalty corners will be discontinued in field hockey and cross country will likely be a timed race rather than the traditional group event. In addition, sport teams will be playing a third of the usually number of games in recent season and there will be no post-season tournament.

Davis said he, Belmont Superintendent John Phelan and the high school coaches reviewed the modifications and the potential impact on each sport “and that’s why we are moving forward with the ask this evening to bring those sports … back into our school and allowing our student athletes the opportunity to compare in those activities.”

While the cut in the fees will reduce revenue from athletic activities to an estimated $86,000, expenses due to less games and personnel will fall to $98,000 for the fall sports season. Phelan said that an $11,000 deficit would have been seen as reasonable when the district was initially forecasting the impact on the bottom line.

The Middlesex agreement – which is following guidance from the Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education and the high school’s governing body the Massachusetts Interscholastic Athletic Association – is providing guidelines on pre-workout and pre-contest screening, social distancing in practices, and protocols for equipment use, hydration and the cleaning of gym bags.

There are also measures to increase physical distancing – keeping players six feet apart for the majority of games and practices – and incorporating protective equipment to reduce the spread of respiratory particles.

Under the agreement approved, fall sports in the Middlesex League will start Monday Sept. 21. Golf will kick off the season during the week of Sept. 28.

Sports will have three teams – varsity, junior varsity and freshmen – limited to 25 participants. Due to restrictions on the number of students on buses, away games will be restricted to 22 players. There will be three varsity and two sub-varsity practices each week.

Field hockey and boys and girls soccer will play 10 games on Saturdays through October and November including Columbus Day and Veteran Day. Belmont teams will play the five opponents in the Middlesex Liberty division on back to back Saturdays, home and away. The season for these sports will start Oct. 3. Games postponed will not be rescheduled.

Cross country will have five dual meets over this time.

Spectators will be limited to one per player who will be provided a season badge. Face masks will be mandatory at each contest.

The School Committee is continuing to discuss if athletes will be reimbursed their participation fee if a sports season is cancelled due to health concerns including a spike in COVID-19 infection rates. That debate will be voted before the season begins next week.

Belmont Playing Modified Soccer, Field Hockey, XC This Fall; Volleyball, Swim, Football Move To ‘Floating’ Season

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Photo: There will be a fall sports season at Belmont High School.

There will be Belmont High student/athletes playing this fall at Harris Field and on the links this fall as the athletic directors of the Middlesex League have approved their schools playing boys and girls soccer, field hockey, boys golf and boys and girls cross country, according to Belmont Schools Superintendent John Phelan who announced the decision at Wednesday, Sept. 2 School Committee marathon meeting.

But volleyball and swimming will be moving with football and competitive cheer to the newly created “floating” season that starts during the final weeks of February and ending in April.

School superintendents and athletic directors that represent Middlesex League schools approved a league-wide response to move forward with a fall season. It has been reported that Belmont will compete twice against teams in the league’s Liberty Division – Arlington, Winchester, Reading, Lexington, and Woburn – which will end for this year the annual competition against cross border rivals Watertown.

The decision by the Middlesex League comes as other athletic conferences such as the Mayflower and South Coast leagues on the South Shore and the nearby Northeastern Conference have canceled their fall schedule and moved it to the floating season, with the hope that the modifications would be suspended with changes in the severity of COVID-19.

While Belmont will be playing this fall, some of the sports will look quite different. Field hockey will now be played seven-against-seven – under normal conditions, there are 11 on each team – while penalty corners which are an important part of the game have been banned.

Soccer will see corner kicks and sideline throw-ins ended, reduced to free kicks that can not be sent into the goalie’s area. Defensive walls that help goalies to protect against free kicks have been suspended. But the most significant ban will be the end of heading the ball.

Cross country will likely be a timed event where each participant starts a certain length of time – usually 30 seconds – from the next runner.

Will Belmont High Be Playing Sports In 2020? Here’s The Q&As

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Photo: Belmont High Football will be delayed until 2021.

It’ll be Thanksgiving without the turkey this year.

The annual Belmont vs Watertown Turkey Day football rivalry, which would be marking its centennial contest in 2020, will have to wait until sometime next year to settle its annual grudge match after the state and the athletic governing body for high school athletics decided the quintessential fall sport is deemed too high risk to play while the COVID-19 pandemic continues to plague the US.

The postponement of the football season statewide was just one of several outcomes with the release of a joint sports guidance for the 2020-2021 school year from the Department of Secondary and Elementary Education (DESE), the Massachusetts Executive Office of Energy and Environmental Affairs, and the Massachusetts Interscholastic Athletic Association (MIAA) .

The blueprint for the resumption of high school sports – which took months to hammer out between the state agencies and the governing body of athletics in secondary education – was approved by the MIAA on Wednesday, Aug. 19.

With several questions remaining, here are the answers for sports in the new school year:

Q: So will sports be played this fall and the rest of the year?

Yes, the guidance has identified the sports deemed safe to play – either low or moderate risk – and the few which would be “practice only” activities.

The most striking element to come out of the recommendations is the creation of a fourth “season” dubbed Fall II or the Floating season to be played in late winter and into early spring. It was created to allow sports deemed too risky to be played at the beginning of the season and those school districts which has high community infection rates or which decide to pass on the first fall season a chance to compete when there is clearer evidence on the risk factors in participating in the sport.

Here is the list of sports and the time of year they will be played:

Sept 18 – Nov. 20, Fall Sports: Boys and Girls Soccer, Fall Gymnastics, Cross Country, Field Hockey, Girls Volleyball, Swim & Dive, Golf and Dance.

Nov. 30 – Feb. 21, Winter Sports: Boys and Girls Basketball, Boys and Girls Hockey, Wrestling, Winter Gymnastics, Boys and Girls Indoor Track & Field; Alpine Ski, Nordic Ski, Winter Cheer, Dance, Swim & Dive

Feb. 22 – April 25, Fall Sports II (“Floating Season”): Football, Fall Cheer, Unified Basketball, sports not played in fall season because of remote learning model or a decision made to wait until the spring.

April 26 – July 3, Spring Sports– Baseball, Softball, Boys and Girls Lacrosse, Boys and Girls Tennis; Boys Volleyball; Boys, Girls and Unified Outdoor Track & Field, Boys and Girls Rugby, Sailing, Girls’ Golf, and Crew.

Q: So are these dates for each season set in stone?

No. The start and finish dates are flexible due to circumstances such as moving sports between seasons. The date for the spring season ending could extend to mid-July.

Q: What else was approved by the MIAA?

The , there will be no state championship to contend in the fall; only league titles will be on the line. Out of season coaching will be allowed for the entire year and students can play in all four seasons. Also “Captain practices” – in which senior players hold un-sponsored training sessions during the off-season – are being discouraged by the MIAA.

Q: Are districts that choose to begin the school year remotely effected by the new guidance?

Under the DESE guidelines accepted by the MIAA, districts such as Belmont which starts the school year in a remote only setup are currently prohibited along with districts in communities with high COVID-19 rates from playing any sports – whether they are considered low risk such as cross country or moderate risk like soccer and field hockey – until late February when a newly created “floating season” begins.

Q: So, no sports for Belmont athletes until after the winter break?

Not all is lost for the fall and winter athletes as the new rules gives the district an “out”; remote learning districts can get back into competition if they gain the approval of their School Committee. In addition, in his weekly memo to the community on Thursday, Aug. 20, Belmont Superintendent John Phelan noted that “Belmont is able to participate in these sports with our given Phased Plan with a remote start in Phase One.”

Q: So with the general guidance approved, what’s next?

A: With health and safety for the students and coaches paramount, the next issue is how to play each sport under the guidelines set forth by the EED and DESE. And this is all about the MIAA modifying the sports to meet these state goals.

Q: What are modifications?

The modification is just that, altering the rules of the game to either eliminate or significantly reduce encounters that pose an opportunity for the Coronavirus to be transmitted. These changes are becoming a point of contention for both student and coaches.

While some sports will see little change – swimming in a pool with lane markers follows most of the social distancing; cross country will likely use a staggered start – others, such as football, are played in close quarters with constant contact as an integral part of the game.

For many sports, the changes are still being developed while other youth sports associations have already issued new rules. Take, fore instance, soccer. The Massachusetts Youth Soccer Association has just released its modified rules to comply with EEA guidance. There are changes that will effect some of the sports’ bedrock skills include:

  • No heading the ball
  • Shoulder tackles are prohibited
  • Slide tackles within 6 feet of a player are not allowed.
  • Throw-ins and corner kicks will be replaced with a “kick-in” which can not be played directly into the opponents’ penalty area.
  • A restart after a foul will require all players to stay 6 feet from each other and the opposition to stay 10 yards from the ball.
  • The “defensive wall” is suspended.

By Monday, Aug. 25, the MIAA will identify and put the modification guidance in place for each sport, which will be reviewed by each school district, said Phelan.

Q: So will the schools decide after Aug. 24 whether to play in the fall?

A: Well, yes but there is a caveat. Schools are joining their respective athletic leagues – for Belmont that’s the Middlesex League – to discuss the modifications and new rules with the idea of voting as a group on their future playing fall sports.

“The superintendents and athletic directors in the Middlesex League are meeting on Monday, Aug. 24, to discuss these latest guidelines,” said Phelan.

Q: Why would a league or school decide not to play in the fall and wait until the floating year?

A: Simply, there will be sports in which coaches and athletes believe the changes to the rules alters the play to such an extent that student athletes are forced to learn essentially a new sport. Since the MIAA will not decide whether the modifications will be used in the floating or spring season, leagues may take their chances that the development of effective therapeutic or a vaccine which will move the sport to a return to pre-COVID rules.

In addition, by working together on their positions to participate or not, the leagues will secure a schedule of traditional opponents and not have to seek teams to play possibly in far flung locations.

Jim Davis, the district’s athletic director, said that he “will be speaking with Phelan to talk through the District’s options.”

“[It’s a] [w]ork in progress,” said Davis.

Town, Health Dept. Rip Harris Field Graduation ‘Ceremony’, Large Party; Attendees Should Be Tested

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Photo: Graduating students at Harris Field on Sunday. (credit: Instagram)

The director of the Belmont Health Department is condemning a pair of events held on Sunday, June 7 in which large numbers of Belmont High School students and adults staged an unsanctioned graduation celebration on school property and attended a house party in apparent violation of town and state health codes created to stem the spread of the coronavirus pandemic.

Calling the actions “disrespectful and frustrating,” Health Department Director Wesley Chin said while Sunday was a time for big celebrations, “we just want to encouraged people to do the right thing during this difficult time.”

Chin is advising students and adults who attended these events to be tested for COVID-19 if they begin showing symptoms associated with the virus.

“It’s something we believe that is owned to the community to help keep everyone safe and healthy,” Chin told the Select Board at its virtual meeting on Monday, June 8.

Chin was informed of the events on Monday by concerned residents who viewed a number of photos and a video of the events circulating on the internet, which were characterized to Chin as reckless, grossly inappropriate and irresponsible during a pandemic.

Occurring soon after the end of the broadcast of the Belmont High graduation which was held virtually due to the pandemic, photos on the social media platform Instagram showed about 50 students and adults at Harris Field and at a large outdoor party with approximately 70 residents held Sunday night in which rules concerning social distancing, a limit on groups of more than 10 and wearing masks were ignored.

Note: The identity of those in the photos and names found online are being protected as they are not facing any charges.

The photos show typical graduation-type scenes with lineups of friends and sports teammates in caps and gowns linking arms and posing. Several of the young men are seen with cigars – an annual Belmont tradition at the post-ceremony family reunion – and in one video a bottle with carbonated liquid is opened by a student and the contents sprayed on his fellow students.

Photos from the party also shows students drinking alcohol in the presence of adults. While Massachusetts General Laws allows people under the age of 21 to consume alcohol on private premises with the consent of a parent or grandparent, that permission does not include non-family members.

Smoking and alcohol are banned at Harris Field.

The events come a few weeks after a large number of parents and some students protested a joint decision by the district and town limiting graduation celebrations to remote and virtual events due to safety and health concerns due to the COVID-19 virus.

Chin said the seemingly preplanned event at Harris Field mocked the long hours spent by 10 town departments, including fire, police, public works, and the school administration “who planned a safe and thoughtful graduation,” said Chin.

The Select Board joined Chin in denouncing the activity of the participants.

“To ignore the very reasonable asks that we’re making of people is just a bad practice … especially if parents are facilitating large groups who are not respecting social distancing is pretty bad,” said Chair Roy Epstein.

Graduation On The Remote: 329 Belmont High Students Honored In Virtual Ceremony

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Photo: Belmont High 2020 Class President Caroline Findlay addresses her classmates during the remote graduation broadcast Sunday, June 7.

There were the expected chestnuts of a Belmont High School graduation ceremony as the 329 members of the Class of 2020 were conferred their diplomas on Sunday, June 7.

The speeches, the national anthem – beautifully sung by Valentin Reynolds – the awards, a cappella singers performing, and the walk up to the stage to have a photo taken with the well-earned sheepskin.

Just that it didn’t take place in the normally sweltering confines of the Wenner Field House but on a computer or television screen.

There wasn’t the nervous march into the Field House, the beach balls, the cigars hidden in some young men’s suit jackets, shaking hands with school committee members while receiving their diploma, the caps thrown high and the gathering outside for photos (and cigars) with family. That experience, along with the prom and other graduation week activities, were struck down weeks before by the same pandemic effecting the world for the past four months.

It was a new normal for the Class of 2020 – a remote graduation in a virtual setting.

Class President Caroline Findlay spoke about the void her class was feeling saying “[t]here is no way to speak to you today without acknowledging the fact that our class has lost so much this year. Missing the supposed best three months of the last 13 years has been truly difficult because it has meant the loss of our final moments together as a class.”

The main message coming from her classmates, said Findlay, was that “we have each other.”

“We have encourage this message throughout our time in high school but over the past two years it has solidified what it’s meant to be a member of the Class of 2020. It is through this adversity that we faced, instead of focusing solely on ourselves as individuals, we all have shown up in supporting one another.”

“If you think about it, the challenges that our classes face over the past two years have provided us with an incredible set of tools to lean on as we force our path in our journey that lies ahead,” said Findlay.

Findlay and Belmont High Principal Isaac Taylor noted the passing of classmate Cleo Theodoropulos in 2019 and chorus teacher Sean Landers early in 2020.

“I watched as you the ways that you kept your beloved friend and classmate, close memory alive, showing love for her and her friends,” while being “moved by the respectful and loving kindness that so many of you showed, to the passing of a teacher, a friend and a fellow human being,” said Isaac, overseeing his first graduation in Belmont.

Noting that a “great teacher gets to know her student by getting beneath the surface, finding the insecurities and helping to strengthen them, noticing the gaps, and sometimes subtly, sometimes overtly teaching the skills to fill them,” Isaac said while the graduates had wonderful teachers that are proud of each student, “you are all pretty great teachers yourselves.”

“You have used your heart and your wisdom to guide one another through the loss of a friend and the loss of a teacher. Through the pandemic. Through the lockdown. You have supported each other through tragic tragedy and loss and uncertainty. You have gone beneath the surface and listened, understood, you have taught your parents and the faculty and staff at Belmont High School,” he said.

Belmont High School’s Senior A Cappella

The Belmont School Committee bestowed its annual awards for Outstanding Achievement in Scholarship to Samantha Widdison and Cynthia Lu.

“We are graduating during a pandemic, which hasn’t occurred in 100 years and in an economy as bad as the Great Depression. There are people in the streets fighting for justice, with intensity not seen since the 1960s,” said Widdison, who will be attending Tufts in the fall.

“We all have plans, our expectations for the future. It is up to us to decide what we make of unexpected situations. Whether we view them as obstacles or opportunities for personal growth. I use the opportunity of grades being pass fail this spring to fully embrace senior ‘slide.’ As we move on to the next chapter of our lives, let’s take one day at a time. Don’t worry about the unexpected. You are currently surviving a pandemic being quarantined with your family. You can survive anything,” she said.

Harvard-bound Lu told her classmates that “happiness doesn’t always have to come at a price or a sacrifice.”

“We are never too old to find delight in a snowman or a charity popsicle, or to dive headfirst into something new the way we used to jump into swimming pools, exploring new subjects and activities, meet new people and wander to new places, and soon you’ll find new homes.”

“While growing up often seems like a process of discomfort and less. I hope we remember that even when we fall and scrape our knees. We’ll have each other to help us up,” said Lu.

The ceremony proceeded and concluded with each graduate coming on stage in alphabetical order – which occurred a few weeks previous – to have their moment in the spotlight. If a viewer didn’t know Elgar’s “Pomp and Circumstance March in D” they would after hearing it repeated to the nth degree during the presentation.

One theme that was highlighted throughout the celebration was that of shared hope. Findlay referenced the writer and encourager Nikki Banas on what can get her classmates through even the toughest times.

“Let it be hope that you are stronger than any challenge that comes your way. Let it be hope that you are exactly where you’re meant to be right now, and that you’re on the path to where you are meant to be. Because during these times hope will be the very thing that carries you through,” said Findlay.

A Running Fundraiser To Aid The Fight For Racial Equality

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Photo: Logo for the fundraiser.

For James Fitzpatrick, a captain on the Belmont High School track team, the murders of George Floyd, Ahmaud Arbreys, and Breonna Taylor have made it abundantly clear things need to change in our country.  

To help aid in this movement, the Belmont High School Track Team will attempt to run 500 miles in one week in order to raise funds for Black Lives Matter Boston. The challenge will begin this week.

The site for the fundraiser is here.

“I came up with the idea to create a fundraiser after hearing about all of the terrible instances of white supremacy and police brutality towards African-Americans in recent weeks,” said Fitzgerald.

“I think that as a White American right now, it is super important to be an ally for the Black community so I read a lot of articles about ways in which White people can help in this fight,” he said.

One of the most impactful is through donating to organizations that are actively working to fight for equality in America and Black Lives Matter Boston is just one of these organizations.  

“They have three main principles: working to end police brutality against African-Americans, empowering young Black people so that they can grow up to make change, and also creating change from inside the Black community.  They are also a local group so I felt like raising money for them would be directly impactful,” Fitzgerald said.

“I am hopeful that we see a changed America in the future,” he said.

Please consider donating and helping us to help others in the best way we can right now.

Belmont High Rolling Rally’s Route Set For Saturday

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Photo: Come out on Saturday to cheer for students like this one.

Come out on Saturday to celebrate the Belmont High Class of 2020 as they roll along the streets of Belmont.

The COVID-19 pandemic has caused the cancellation of all year-end activities and events for the Belmont High School Class of 2020. As a way to celebrate our seniors, senior parents with the support of town officials have organized a rolling rally through Belmont on Saturday, June 6. 

The rally will begin at noon at the Boston Massachusetts Temple of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Belmont Hill and will proceed along the following route:

Start: Boston Temple, 100 Hinckley Ave.

Right to Park Avenue

Right to Prospect Street

Right to Clifton Street

Left to Pleasant Street

Right to Brighton Street

Right to Cross Street

Right to Channing Road

Left to Leonard Street, under the commuter rail bridge

Right to Common Street

Left to School Street

Right to Washington Street

Left to Common Street

Right to Trapelo Road

Left to White Street

Left to Beech Street

Right to Waverley Street

Straight onto School Street

Left to Goden Street

Right to Concord Avenue

Left to Underwood Road

Right to Hittinger Street and the high school parking lot.

Make some noise, give them a wave and shout out some words of encouragement. Please also be mindful of the current social distancing requirements.  

Recognizing Graduating Seniors, One Cup At A Time [VIDEO]

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Photo: The finished product: A seniors sign of the times

It’s been an unsettling time for the graduating class of Belmont High School; a pandemic that caused the sudden cancellation of classes, the transitioning to on-line learning, missing their classmates, the shutting down of long rehearsed concerts and the Spring Musical and the loss of an entire season of sports.

And for the seniors, what was unthinkable on March 1 became a reality weeks later: no prom, no senior events, no live awards ceremonies and the cancellation of a traditional graduation. The response for many was of sadness, lost moments that should have been happy memories of the last days of public school.

Yet even the smallest of gestures can show the community and families know that this time of year remains a special time. For Liz Biondo and Joan Horgan, it took the form of red plastic party cups.

On a warm Wednesday late afternoon, the mom and daughter (both are Belmont High grads, Liz – who attends Simmons – in 2019) were wedging cups into the chain link fence adjacent the athletic fields along Concord Avenue spelling out “We [heart] Our Seniors” for the youngest Biondo, Anna, and all her fellow graduates.

“This is a special graduation because she’s my last one to graduate,” said Horgan of Anna.

“Knowing what my sister is missing really hurts so we really wanted to do something that shows we care,” said Biondo.

“It’s a weird time so we wanted to do different things and make the most of it,” said Horgan.