Pantazopoulos Pulls Papers For Predicted School Committee Push

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Photo: Peter Pantazopoulos (Linkedin)

Peter Pantazopoulos doesn’t know which Belmont School Committee seat he’ll be seeking at Town Election in April.

But he will be running.

“I haven’t made a decision yet if I will run for three years or one-year term,” said the Winslow Street resident in an email interview. “I plan on making that decision when I turn in my nomination papers on Feb. 12” the deadline to turn in papers to the Town Clerk. 
The father of two “impressionable boys” and an 18 year resident with his wife Olga, Pantazopoulos said his run for one of the two open seats on the six-member board came about after he asked himself “how can I best serve my community.” 
“I have heard parents express their passion to me surrounding the Belmont School system. As I echoed their concerns, I decided the parent’s need a voice on the School Committee that they can trust and will be transparent with them on the intentions of the committee’s decisions that we make.” 
Pantazopoulos is an account executive at Weston-based Apps Associates. He matriculated at Bentley University (BA Accounting) and earned an Executive MBA from Suffolk and an MSIT from Bentley. Pantazopoulos is currently not a Town Meeting member.  
Pantazopoulos’ overall philosophy on education is based on “the passion that all parents have to ensure that their children will have a proper and fulfilling education.
“I want to see all children get the preparation they need to attend a higher education. That journey may require some students to have IEPs [Individualized Education Programs] to develop their social and learning developmental skills,” he noted.   
Pantazopoulos poised several questions which he believes need to be asked of and than answered by the school committee:
  • Are we doing enough for those children and getting them the assistance that they need to enjoy learning and socializing with their peers? 
  • Are students that are on a fast track in learning getting challenged in their studies and do we have the state of the art facilities to foster that hunger to learn? 
  • Do we have the right class sizes and the right grade levels in each facility? 
  • Are we being fiscally responsible in using the taxpayer’s dollars to fund large-scale projects and are these projects being done with the voice of the parents and community members?

He also got Belmont-specific on a pair of fronts. 

“Belmont will be making key decisions in the coming years with building a new 7-12 school. The committee needs someone with experience in managing complex budgets, understanding mandated, fixed and soft costs. Understanding policy and procedures and trusting compliance but verifying we are doing the right thing for the parents, children and the tax payers who are funding these projects with their hard-earned tax dollars.”
“I want to make sure we are starting school at a reasonable time and that working families have high quality after school care for their children at an affordable price,” he said.
Nomination deadline for town-wide and Town Meeting seats is Feb. 12.

New Model Predicts Belmont Budget Heading For Financial Cliff in Fiscal 2021

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Photo: Members of the boards and committees discussing the new budget 

A budgetary roadmap provided by a UMass Boston-based advisory group shows Belmont falling off a steep fiscal cliff in two years time unless the town comes up with a new strategy to soften the landing.

At a joint meeting with the Board of Selectmen, School Committee and Warrant Committee on Monday, July 30 at Town Hall, consultants for the Edward J. Collins Center is forecasting a $2.3 million deficit in fiscal year 2021 which begins on July 1, 2020, due to what many municipalities are facing, a systemic structural deficit in which town expenditures are outpacing non-recurring revenue including money from the last Proposition 2 1/2 override.

“You basically have two years to resolve this matter,” said Stephen Cirillo, who with Anthony Torrisi presented a detailed forecasting model software program to the town as part of the state’s effort to provide communities with financial management best practices in the areas of fiscal forecasting, capital improvement planning and policies.

But rather than debate how best to resolve the deficit on the horizon, Selectmen Chair Adam Dash said “tonight is to ask questions about the model and the assumptions … Clearly, this is the beginning of a much longer conversation.”

In her first week on the job in January, Belmont Town Administrator Patrice Garvin obtained a $30,000 Community Compact Grant from the state to create the forecasting program – think of it as a massive spreadsheet which permits  –  that Cirillo called a “powerful tool” that allows cities and towns “to look over the horizon to see what budgetary conditions will be in the future.”

Belmont’s budget planners in Town Hall, on the School Committee and with the fiscal watchdog Warrant Committee can now conduct “what if” analysis to see the effect of a policy decision – for instance, how a change to the amount employees  contribute to their health insurance – will affect the “gap” between revenue and appropriations, said Cirillo, who was director of finance for the Town of Brookline and Newton’s chief budget officer.

In the view of Warrant Committee Chair Roy Epstein, the forecasting model “is the most sophisticated effort to get our overall budget in a structure where it can analyze.” 

In addition to presenting this new financial toolkit, the consultants gave their assumptions on Belmont’s budget in the near future. Both Cirillo and Torrisi were impressed with how the town “stretched” the $4.5 million operational override (that was placed into an account called the general stabilization fund) past in 2015 providing funds until fiscal year 2020, two years longer than anticipated.

But the consultants could not see past the looming gap facing the town in 2020. While there will be some “unused capacity” in open receipts in years to come, “it will not solve all your problems.”And the largest problem will be the $2.3 million “hole” in the budget, said Cirillo.

Belmont’s school budget is saddled with three “budget busters” whose inflation rate is “unsustainable” moving forward. Collective bargaining, health insurance, and special education are growing at annual rates of 2.5 percent, 8 percent, and 7 percent respectively requiring a rethinking on controlling their increases, said Cirillo.

“Clearly there is a large implied deficit at about the time we had expected it,” said Epstein.

The most striking recommendation from the pair was for the town to no longer use free cash to either fill in budget gaps or to support the operating budget. Free cash has been a favorite stop gap in filling several “needs” from paying for the Belmont Center traffic and parking project and modular classrooms at the Chenery Middle and Burbank Elementary schools. 

Rather, they suggest that annually free cash be placed in a “new” general stabilization fund to maintain Belmont’s outstanding bond rating, currently at an AAA rate. They point to a number of capital projects in the pipeline including the new high school which will benefit from lower interest rates.  

New HS Construction Schedule, Exterior Design Update At Tuesday’s Meeting

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Photo: Belmont High School design

The Belmont High School Building Committee,
 the School Committee, and the Board of Selectmen is holding a joint meeting to present to the public construction phasing and exterior design update on Tuesday, June 19 at 7 p.m. 
Chenery Middle School Community Room
, 95 Washington St.

The night’s agenda includes:

  • Construction phasing schedule, and site logistics update

  • Exterior design update

  • Questions and comments


The next Community Meeting is Thursday, June 28 at 7 p.m
. at the Chenery Middle School where the agenda will be a project costs update and a schematic design presentation.

After A Gesture Of Goodwill, Norton Appointed To Fill Final School Committee Seat

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Photo: Jill Norton of the Belmont School Committee.

It was a political gesture that’s hardly seen in an age of insulting opponents and demeaning the process.

A vote to fill the vacant seat on the Belmont School Committee by a joint meeting of the Belmont Board of Selectmen and the School Committee, on Friday, May 11, resulted in a four-to-four deadlock between Jill Norton and Michael Crowley, two of the four candidates seeking the position.

As the selectmen and committee were prepared for the second round of voting between the two, Crowley told the board he wished to “make things easy.”

“I appreciate that Jill got out and ran and I’ve talked to her a number of times … and she would do a fabulous job on the school committee,” as he graciously step aside, withdrawing his nomination to allow Norton, who unsuccessfully ran for a term on the committee, to serve the remaining two years of Thomas Caputo’s term after he was elected to the Board of Selectmen in April. 

The act caught the boards and residents by surprise as the Clark Street resident was unanimously approved by the board.

Crowley said his decision was not due to any sense of doing “the honorable thing.”

“I like [Norton] and it felt right,” said the Warrant Committee member. “I didn’t want to see any quibbling or arguing which I did see any benefit in that.” 

For Norton, Crowley’s reaction thwarted her own thoughts of ceding her votes to her opponent.

“It’s funny because I potentially was thinking of doing the same thing Michael did but he got there first,” she said, noting a financial background is important as the schools make up nearly half of the town’s annual budget.

The closeness of the vote showed the group were of two minds on the skills the School Committee would need in the coming years. The first four votes were for Crowley, emphasizing his budgetary and financial background as well as his membership on the town’s financial watchdog agency.

“There’s sort of a void in that hardcore, number crunching [skill set],” said Adam Dash, selectmen chair.

Norton, who received the final four votes, was seen bringing a policy approach while each of members who selected her said she deserved credit for stepping up and running a good campaign and were vetted by the voters.

“I do give a lot of credit who put themselves out there for the election,” said Susan Burgess-Cox, chair of the School Committee.

But the differences were made mute when Crowley abandoned the race.

As for the newest member, Norton has experience on the policy side of the education field. For the past two years, Norton has worked as Director of Education Policy at Cambridge-based Abt Associates, to help develop and execute a strategy for the firm’s Education Practice. Previously, she was a Senior Policy Adviser for the state’s Executive Office of Education and Executive Director of the Rennie Center for Education Research & Policy, a Cambridge-based think tank, having started her career as a classroom teacher.

Norton matriculated at Michigan State University where she earned a BA in Elementary Education and received her Master’s in Education from Harvard. A 16 year Belmont resident, her oldest child attends Belmont’s public school.

Norton told the Belmontonian that her priority is to listen to the constituencies – teachers, students, parents, and administrators – within the districts before she brings proposals before the committee, “and is there any possible connection between our needs and funding and grant opportunities that the governor’s office is considering.” 

Norton said her family’s involvement with the cadre of educators teaching her son as well as her background in the classroom “intensifies my inclination to connect with teachers and support all the good work that they are doing and do whatever I can because that’s where the rubber meets the road.”

Take A Virtual Tour Of New High School Tuesday; Project’s Construction Firm Will Be Picked

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Photo: There will be a virtuality reality tour of the new school.

Residents don’t have to wait five years before taking a tour around a new Belmont High School as they are invited to view a virtual reality presentation of the interior of the proposed building housing 7th through 12th grades as the Belmont High School Building Committee holds a joint meeting with the School Committee at the large community room of the Chenery Middle School, 95 Washington St., on Tuesday, May 8 at 7 p.m.

Also on the agenda will be the selection of the firm to be the project’s Construction Manager. Gilbane Building Co., Skanska, and Suffolk Construction are in the running for the nearly $300 million project.

The night will also include a site design update, discussion of traffic and community comments.

The next community meeting is Wednesday, May 16, at 7 p.m. when traffic solutions will be discussed. The meeting takes place at the Wellington Elementary School cafeteria.

Belmont Youth Hockey Scores On Proposed New Rink Along Concord Avenue

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Photo: An overview of the proposed new Belmont Youth Hockey rink along Concord Avenue.

They patiently sat on the bench for the past two-and-a-half years since it last was action, but on Tuesday, April 24, Belmont Youth Hockey jumped over the boards to reintroduce itself to the community and the Belmont School Committee with its vision of a new skating rink for Belmont.

The structure will be a sleek single-story rink/recreation center located on Concord Avenue across from the Underwood Pools, creating with a new high school and public library a new community hub for Belmont, according to Belmont Youth Hockey representative Robert Mulroy who, along with Ara Krafian, CEO of Cambridge-based SMMA |Architects who created preliminary drawings of a new rink, who presented the plans to the School Committee.

If all goes to plan, the new rink/center could be up and running by 2020 before major construction begins on the new Belmont High School.

To make the whole thing work, the youth hockey organization is proposing a public/private partnership with the school committee and town which will allow the non-profit to take school property in a 30-year lease at zero cost with the stipulation Belmont High sports teams will have a set number of hours reserved for games and practices. That partnership agreement will need to pass muster from the school committee and Town Meeting.

A new rink that will not need significant public funding will be a small but significant capital expense removed from the town’s significant “wish list” of large projects that Belmont faces paying for which includes as new Police Headquarters, Department of Public Works facility and public library.

While reluctant to say how much the new center will cost as construction expenses have markedly increased, Mulroy quoted a price tag of $6.5 million in 2015. The construction of the new rink – which will require the demolition of both the White Field House and the Viglirolo rink, known as “The Skip”, which was built in the 1970s.

School committee members did raise questions on the impact of traffic along Concord Avenue with a brand new facility and high school just a few hundred feet from other., But Mulroy believes the nearly 180 new parking spaces and traffic pattern changes associated with a new High School project will alleviate the current demand of on-street parking on main and side streets created by the existing rink and vehicle congestion created by those seeking parking. 

Belmont Superintendent John Phelan said youth hockey was asked by the district and school committee to wait to present its proposal until the “footprint” of the new High School was determined, so not to create any interference with the design and location of the 7th to 12th-grade building.

The need for a new rink is evident once anyone enters “The Skip” which is the current home of Belmont Youth Hockey and the Belmont High teams. Built more than 40 years ago, the once open rink has one wall of corrugated steel open to the elements. (Once, a visitor from Calgary, Canada who attended a nephew’s game at “The Skip” on one bitter January night, said he had been in warmer outdoor arenas in his hometown than indoors in Belmont). The mechanical infrastructure is on “death’s door,” said Mulroy. 

“It’s not how long until there is a catastrophic failure. It’s that it will happen,” said Mulroy, whose league currently purchases three-quarters of all rental time at the rink. “But we have the capacity for a lot more,” he said.

A new rink comes as the youth hockey program has seen increased growth in participation and teams – eight developmental programs and 22 competitive traveling teams for boys and girls from 4 to 18 – in the program which started 47 years ago.

The rink/rec center would be located on school property facing Concord Avenue on the parking outcrop between the White Field House and the Mobil service station across from the Underwood Pool. It will be a short walk from Harris Field and will allow for a softball field and soccer/lacrosse pitch to be located in the rear.

The key points of a new Concord Avenue facility include:

  • A 6,500 square foot multi-use athletic/recreation center.
  • A year-round NHL-size rink with above the ice seating and a “half” rink, both can be used for ice hockey, public skating, figure skating, sled hockey and curling.
  • A field house for half the year (where the half-rink is located) for indoor tennis, concerts and a practice facility for baseball, soccer, lacrosse, field hockey, and rock climbing.
  • A running/walking track above the field house.
  • 180 parking spaces that can be used by pool patrons and a drop-off area at the rink’s entrance.
  • Eight new locker rooms that can be utilized by teams playing on nearby Harris Field.
  • A team or community meeting room for public meetings or continued learning classes.
  • Exercise/health room for yoga and exercise.
  • Food concession stand.
  • A skate shop

The facility will be funded with a private 30-year loan which requires the school committee to lease the land at no cost to the non-profit, with an agreement that Belmont High’s Boys and Girls ice hockey teams will have a specific number of hours dedicated to practice and games. Phelan pointed out with a rink, the school department would need to allocate more than $100,000 a year on rental fees at other rinks and bus transportation.

Public-private arrangements are fairly common, said Mulroy, including for recreational facilities pointing to a pair of nearby examples: the Beede Pool and Gym in Concord and the Wellesley Sports Complex which will open later this year. 

The rink will be run by a professional management company. At the end of the 30 years, the town will have the opportunity to take possession of the facility or allow the existing management contract to continue under a new agreement. 

The Youth Hockey Association has been discussing an alternative location for the rink at the former incinerator on Concord Avenue at the Lexington/Belmont line. It would be an 80,000 sq.-ft. complex with two full ice surfaces and parking. While the association has been in discussions with officials and town counsel exploring the feasibility of the town-owned location, Mulroy said the clear first option for youth hockey is the high school site.

Mulroy said the next steps will be gathering feedback from the School committee and residents before seeking support from both the committee and Town Meeting to move forward. Once it gets the initial OK, Youth Hockey will release a Request for Proposal to build the facility and finalize the lease agreement. Afterward, the final designs will be done and the financing will be secured. The final step is to go back to the School Committee and Town Meeting for final approval of the lease deal. 

Town Election ’18: Donner, Burgess-Cox Heading To School Board As Few Voters Venture Out To The Polls

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Photo: Asst. Town Clerk Meg Piccione reading the results of the Belmont Town Election on April 3.

In a town election that saw one of the lowest turnouts in the past decade, a teacher topped the ballot in the race to run the Belmont’s schools. 

In the only competitive town-wide race, newcomer Tara Donner outpaced incumbent Susan Burgess-Cox, 1,767 to 1,517, to fill the two three year seats on the school committee as fellow newbie Jill Souza Norton just missing out finishing third with 1,349 votes. School Committee Chair Lisa Fiore ran unopposed for a one-year term on the committee.

Read all the unofficial results of the town-wide and Town Meeting races here.

A last-minute write-in candidacy by well-known resident Tomi Olsen was swept aside by the vote for current School Committee member Tom Caputo who ran as the only official candidate for the Board of Selectman, garnering 2,106 votes, or 94 percent of those who cast ballots.

Over on the Town Meeting side of the ballot, some interesting results were noted including two longtime ballot toppers who just barely held onto their seats; both Lydia Ogilby (Precinct 1) and Donald Mercier (Precinct 8) both came in 12th with Mercier taking the last slot by a mere nine votes over Mark Smith.

In the race of town-wide candidates battling it out on the Town Meeting ballot, Burgess-Cox topped Caputo, 214 to 203, to “win” Precinct 2’s top spot while Precinct 1’s Peter Dizikes garnered the most votes of all the precincts with 324. In the closest race, Linda Levin-Scherz defeated Elizabeth Khan by three votes, 125-122, to take the one-year seat in Precinct 2. 

Stopping by a crowded Town Clerk’s Office to pick up the unofficial results, first-time candidate Dovie Yoana King learned she tied for second receiving 164 votes. The newly-elected Precinct 7 member said she was “very excited” to become heading to Town Meeting in a month as her presence will add much-needed diversity in Belmont’s legislative body. With her son by her side, King said she hopes to give a voice to survivors of domestic violence but also represent all people in the precinct which she noted is populated by the most varied groups in Belmont.

A cold, wet miserable afternoon and the lack of competitive races appeared to have kept residents from the polls as participation was an anemic 16.5 percent as 2,816 residents voted at Belmont’s eight precincts. This election’s number is well below the 28 percent seen last year and 22 percent in 2016. The 2015 town election which included a $3.5 million override on the ballot brought out 51 percent.

Belmont isn’t a stranger to unenthusiastic participation on election day; in 2009, only 1,438 voters or 5.89 percent of total registered voters came out. 

Finally: Teachers, Educators Ratify Three-Year Contract With School Committee

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Photo: The BEA is Belmont’s largest employee union with 500 members.

The members of three of four bargaining units of the Belmont Education Association have this month ratified new three-year contracts with the Belmont School Committee, all retroactive to September 2017, the start of the current school year. The new contract comes four months after the two sides told the public they had reached a tentative agreement.

The contract will cover approximately 500 union members, of which 330 are teachers and educators in Belmont’s six public schools and those working in the district. The BEA employee contract is the largest in the town; at $26.2 million in fiscal year 2018, it just under half of the school budget of $53.0 million. 

Only Unit C, which represents approximately 18 administrative assistants and secretaries, remains unresolved. John Sullivan, the association’s president, said the members “should vote in the next month.”

Sullivan said educators in Unit A, which is made up of teachers, will receive an annual 2 percent cost of living adjustment under the terms of the contract. There is also “improved language in the areas of teaching and learning,” he noted. 

The MOAs of the three units are below:

Letter To The Editor: Norton’s Collaborative, Inclusive Style A Great Fit For School Committee

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Photo: Jill Norton (Norton’s campaign Facebook site)

To the editor:

Jill Norton is passionate about education and would be a superb member of the School Committee. Besides her excellent credentials, Jill is smart, authentic, has good communication skills and has demonstrated leadership both professionally and in her personal activities. 

I know Jill from Trinity Church in Copley Square where we are members, and through mutual Belmont friends. At Trinity, Jill serves on the Vestry (Board of Directors), has mentored acolytes, taught Sunday school, served as an educational facilitator, and works with the Outreach Leadership Committee. Jill has a collaborative and inclusive style. People enjoy working with her, which I believe is important in an elected official. 

Jill has an M.Ed in Education, Policy, and Management from Harvard, and a Montessori Institute-New England Certificate in Early Childhood Education. She has highly relevant and broad experience and is both practical and visionary. She has done educational policy work at the State level and is currently Director of Education Policy at Abt Associates. 

She and her husband Read have two sons ages eight and three, and Jill is a Wellington Elementary room parent and PTO third grade Enrichment Coordinator. As we face complex and tough decisions about our education in Belmont, Jill would provide a uniquely qualified perspective and full commitment.  

Please join me in electing Jill Norton to our School Committee on Tuesday, April 3.  You may refer to JillNorton.org for more details and pictures of her and her family. 

Pamela Galgay 

Vernon Road

Town Election ’18: Ballot Set For Town Meeting; A Race For School Committee

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Photo: Pam Eagar readies to run for Town Meeting.

Pam Eagar has spent 40 years in Belmont, raising seven children (all attending the Belmont schools) and taking care of her mother in her home on Claflin Street near Belmont Center. 

Now, with the kids away and with time on her hands, Eagar wants to make a difference in the governing of Belmont with an eye on Town Meeting.

“I’m interested in [town government] but I had always been really busy for a lot of years with kids and grandchildren. But now seems a good time to get involved,” she said Eagar who came to the Town Clerk’s office Tuesday, Feb. 13 to make sure her nomination papers to run for one of the 12 available seats in Precinct 8 had been certified. 

She took her time debating whether to run down to the deadline on Tuesday. 

“I didn’t decide until the other day that I thought, ‘Oh if I want to do this I have to do this right away!”

When the clock struck 5 p.m. on Tuesday, Feb. 13, the ballot was set for Belmont’s 2018 Town Election to take place on Tuesday, April 3. See the candidates for town-wide office and all Town Meeting races in Belmont’s eight precincts here.

There is one townwide race as three candidates have been certified for the two, three-year seats on the Belmont School Committee as incumbent Susan Burgess-Cox will face off against a pair of newcomers; Winchester teacher Tara Donner and Jill Souza Norton, the director of Education Policy at Abt Associates. 

Over on the Town Meeting side, it’s a bit of a topsy-turvy year as precincts that have been historically light on candidates have filled the ballot with the 12 seats available while others will have open seats.

The big surprise is the typically underrepresented Precinct 7, the Harvard Lawn neighborhood along Belmont Street to the Cambridge line, which has filled the ballot with 12 candidates. And over at the usually politically active precincts 3 and 4, could only muster 10 candidates each for the dozen three-year slots. 

And one of the 13 seek a seat in Precinct 8 is Eagar who said she sees “a lot of growth in the town and I think we need to be really careful how things are regulated. Financially the town needs a lot of good planning in place because money doesn’t go on forever.”