Why I’m Running: Murat Bicer for School Committee

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Photo: Murat Bicer

Hello, I’m Murat Bicer and I’m running for School Committee. My family and I deeply value public school education and I’m grateful that my children will benefit from Belmont’s excellent schools.

Over the next term of office, the School Committee will be faced with a number of important challenges.

Primary among these challenges are:

  • The need to manage rapidly increasing enrollment
  • The opportunity to build a new high school and share the costs with the Commonwealth
  • Teacher contract negotiations

Some of these challenges are structural which means we need to find long-term, sustainable solutions, and not just short-term fixes. We need to stretch our override dollars as far as they will go and question all the assumptions in our budget.

As an experienced venture capitalist and a father of two, I believe I’m uniquely qualified to do just that. And that’s why I am running.

I have over a decade of professional experience in financial management, strategic planning, and contract negotiations. Specifically, I have served on the boards of over a dozen companies. I routinely review and approve financial and operational plans. I have negotiated numerous employment contracts, as well as investment deals. And finally, I’ve served as the Treasurer of my children’s preschool for the last five years.

It is this range of experience that I can bring to the School Committee to make a difference for the future of Belmont’s schools.

I appreciate your support and, if elected, look forward to working hard for Belmont.

Letter to the Editor: Prestwich Professional Experience Value to School Committee

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Photo: Andrea Prestwich

To the editor:

I met Andrea Prestwich and her husband Steve Saar ten years ago. Our kids have sung in the choir and attended Sunday School together, and more recently participated in Chenery Middle School’s extraordinary instrumental music program together. We have become good friends as our kids have aged from 2 to 12.  

That’s why I was delighted when Andrea told me she was running for Belmont School Committee.  She has a fascinating career in astronomy, and in her time at the Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory Andrea has taken and active role in STEM education. She has been involved in science outreach, writing articles and giving presentations to the general public on all aspects of astronomy, making complex concepts understandable for people untrained in the discipline.   

She was instrumental in starting a highly successful Research Experience for Undergraduates  program at the Smithsonian-funded by the National  Science Foundation. She has supervised graduate students and postdoctoral researchers, and for several years, she was director of the NASA Einstein Post-Doctoral Fellowship Program.  

Andrea has a “top down” view of STEM education that would be very valuable on the School Committee. She has an analytical mind and professional experience that make her uniquely qualified to serve on curriculum and policy subcommittees. I urge you to vote for Andrea on April 5.

Kate Searle

Beech Street

School Committee QW: Where Do You Stand on High Stakes Testing?

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Photo: The candidates: Bicer, O’Mahoney, Prestwich.
The Question of the Week (QW) for the School Committee candidates:
There is a bill in the legislature (H 340) sponsored by the state’s teachers union to halt statewide student testing, calling for a three-year moratorium on the implementation of PARCC – which Belmont has been a test community – and to remove the “high stakes” nature of the existing MCAS tests, ie. in which high school senior would no longer need to pass MCAS to graduate. Teachers say tests take too much time away from educating and don’t reveal just how much a student has learned. Opponents say removing MCAS and other tests could lead to a return of lack of standards and accountability. As members of the school committee, you may well be asked your opinion on this measure. Question: Where do you stand on high stakes testing?

Andrea Prestwich

The MCAS has been to used fulfill the requirements of the Federal No Child Left Behind act (NCLB). NCLB was enacted with the best of intentions: to use rigorous standardized tests to ensure that all children receive a good education. Tests were used to track individual students progress, evaluate teachers and identify “failing” schools. The stakes were high: schools that did not make sufficient progress were closed, teachers fired, and students prevented from graduating.

Unfortunately, NCLB was a failure. Kids from wealthy families did better on the test than poor kids. Teachers were penalized for working with disadvantaged kids! To improve scores, teachers would focus on test preparation to the extent that other areas of the curriculum suffered. There were reports that struggling high school students were pressured into dropping out to make the average scores better. The tests are extremely stressful for students.

One of the few issues our hideously divided congress could agree on is that NCLB is a failure. Last year congress replaced NCLB with the Every Student Succeeds Act with overwhelming bipartisan support. The ESSA maintains the requirement for states to test, but gives states more freedom to define “school quality” and “accountability”. Given the new responsibilities under ESSA, I support the H340 requirement that the Commonwealth establish a task force to review the use of MCAS or PARCC data. Previous policies have failed, and it is time to re-evaulate what use we make of standardized tests. I also support the moratorium. Test results should not be used for teacher evaluation or student graduation while the task force does its job. To clarify: I fully support standardized testing. Standardized testing is crucial to identify problem areas and measure progress. However, we need to take a break and think about how test data is used in view of the failures of the past decade.

Murat Bicer

I am not generally in favor of standardized testing. Research shows that test results correlate above all to socio-economic conditions and may be unable to parse the quality of education at the individual or classroom level.  Many tests are criticized for being biased and the system of test taking disadvantages students who have difficulties with structured, timed activities. I believe that multiple-choice tests are not a good indicator of how much a student has learned, or whether that student has the qualities that good students should have – like creativity, critical thinking, and curiosity. Any student who is struggling with basic skills should be identified and supported well before a test result points out his deficiencies. It is true, however, that Belmont has in the past used test results to identify areas of relatively weaker performance and make positive changes in those areas.  

The Massachusetts Education Reform Laws of 1993 necessitate “a variety of assessment instruments” whose purpose is to evaluate student performance and to “improve the effectiveness of curriculum and instruction.” Tests have been credited with ensuring a certain quality standard across the state, but they’re imperfect. Unfortunately for all, many of the other “assessment instruments” such as descriptive reporting and subjective, essay-based testing are more difficult to administer and often put additional burden on the teachers, and that’s likely why testing has become the primary “instrument.”  

We can probably all agree that accountability and adherence to a basic standard curriculum is necessary, but that needs to happen on a day to day basis within the school community, not as a result of, or in pursuit of, a test score.

Kimberly O’Mahoney

Personally, I have never been a big fan of standardized tests,  but my only experience has been in the seat of a test-taker.  I never felt that the tests provided the “bigger picture” of my educational experience and abilities. The testing also is narrowed to only include certain subjects, leaving behind the notion that a well-rounded educational experience (including extra-curricular areas) is most beneficial to the children. That being said, there are also benefits to the testing that is being administered. It does help support accountability and possibly identify those areas in the curriculum that may need review and reinforcement. Belmont, though, has always prided itself on the high quality of education that it affords the children in the District. With or without standardized tests, Belmont will keep this a priority. I don’t believe that the high standards that our educators are held to will diminish if this moratorium is put in place. It may allow for greater flexibility in instruction and allow classes to delve further into subject areas without the constraints of focusing on and preparing for the “test material.”

Letter to the Editor: Bicer’s Financial Expertise An Asset to Committee

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Photo: Murat Bicer
To the editor:
 
I would like to encourage the residents of Belmont to vote for Murat Bicer for School Committee on April 5. He has a strong understanding of the problems that face our town’s schools and a clear sense of how to help solve them.
 
My family moved to Belmont several years ago. Like many, we were drawn to the community because of its excellent schools. As our eldest daughter entered the brand new Wellington School, we were impressed by the excellent teachers and staff, as well as by the highly engaged, welcoming group of parents and children. However, as evidenced by the recent override, our school system faces tremendous pressure on resources. We face ballooning enrollment and state mandated, but unfunded, programs. On top of these pressures, we need to continue to innovate the way we educate and engage our children.
 
As we face the challenges ahead, it is my firm belief that Murat Bicer’s extensive professional experience in financial management and strategic planning makes him an excellent candidate for the school committee. He has served on the boards of both non-profit and for-profit companies. Most importantly, Murat is the father to two young children, who will be entering the public school system in the next few years. He and his wife, Katherine, are very strong proponents of public schools and the role they play in our communities. The challenges ahead are daunting but I believe Murat Bicer offers the kind of leadership necessary to overcome them.
 
Sara Townsend
Clark Street

School Committee Candidates QW: The One Issue The Board Should Focus On

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Photos: (from left) Murat Bicer, Kimberly O’Mahony, Andrea Prestwich.

Welcome to the first QW (Question of the Week) for the three candidates seeking to fill to two open three-year seats on the Belmont School Committee at town election on April 5. The order in which the candidates answered this week is by alphabetical order. 

Name the one issue you believe the board should focus on in your tenure on the school board?

Murat Bicer

I believe the most important issue facing the school board over the next three years is increasing enrollment. Families with school-age children are moving to town as housing comes to market, and new multi-unit developments are likely to bring additional students. A growing number of students require mandated English language learning and special education. These two factors put pressure both on our school budget and on our facilities.  

In the fall of 2012, the town convened a task force to study the issue of increasing enrollment and recommend strategic solutions. While a number of viable solutions were proposed, there was little budget to affect the changes. Since that time, two very important developments have occurred.  First, Belmont residents passed a $4.5 million Proposition 2.5 override. Second, the Massachusetts School Building Authority voted to move Belmont High School forward in its process, which will provide state cost sharing in the construction of a much needed new campus that can reflect our current and future needs.  

As a school committee member, I will use my deep experience in financial management and operational planning to ensure that the best decisions are made for immediate impact as well as future stability for our excellent schools. I will look to recommendations already made by the task force and welcome new ideas, while measuring each against the fiscal cost to our community. It is imperative that every dollar we spend on our schools has a direct, positive impact on the education of our children. Our focus needs to be on building a high school facility that can last us another 50 years, and enough flexibility in our lower schools to respond to enrollment fluctuations.

The most pressing issue facing the Belmont Public Schools over the next three years is the management of increasing enrollment. There is a lack of space throughout the district and the population of the town is ever-growing. The quality of our education system is the reason that people come to Belmont and is why they will continue to come; it’s why my husband and I moved here 12 years ago! We knew the reputation of the schools in Belmont and wanted our family to be educated in the best public schools in the area. 

In order for our town to uphold this reputation, we have an obligation to ensure every child is supported, especially at the elementary level where many children are learning to speak English. Belmont has a very diverse community, which makes living here so rich and rewarding.  With that diversity, though, comes more responsibility – especially in supporting and scaffolding children’s abilities.

As a first step, the School Committee voted unanimously to decline participation in School Choice at last Tuesday night’s School Committee meeting. Participating in School Choice would only add to the enrollment pressures that we already feel with the population that resides in Belmont. The School Committee will be critical in identifying solutions that will bring about positive change to alleviate the pressure of this issue.

Andrea Prestwich

The most critical issues facing Belmont schools are spiraling enrollment and the need for a new high school. Both of these issues require careful strategic planning by the School Committee and a willingness to advocate for an override to fund the new high school. These issues must be addressed otherwise our schools will fall apart (almost literally in the case of the high school!

We also need to transition BHS and Chenery to healthier (i.e. later) start times. The American Academy of Pediatrics and the Centers for Disease Control both recommend that middle and high schools start no earlier than 8:30 a.m. to allow adolescents to get enough sleep. Sleep deprivation among adolescents is a serious public health issue. Although there is an overwhelming medical consensus in favor of later start times,  this issue seldom gets to the top of a School Districts’s  priority list – there are always competing issues! If elected to the School Committee, I will devote time and energy to working for healthier school hours. I will not let later start times be squeezed off the agenda by managing the enrollment and a new high school. Enrollment and a new high school are critical, but so is sleep. We must work on all three.  

Why I’m Running: Kim O’Mahony for School Committee

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Photo: Kim O’Mahony

My name is Kim O’Mahony, and I am running School Committee.

My husband and I have lived in Belmont for 12 years. I have run a successful child care business in Waverley Square for the past eight years and we have three daughters attending the Butler School. I am excited to serve this town as I am deeply committed to it.  It would be a privilege to apply my experience to help Belmont move forward!

What is my experience?

I hold a BS in Accounting and worked professionally in systems analysis, auditing and business analysis. Currently, I own an early childhood education business. The combination of a business background and an expertise in education make me uniquely qualified to sit at the School Committee table. I understand zero-based budgeting and I am steeped in the developmental needs of children.  

There are many financial challenges facing the Schools, e.g., contract negotiations, ever- increasing enrollment, and the potential for a new/renovated high school. My experience positions me well to offer informed, balanced ideas that can help make a positive impact on solutions to these issues.  

While standing at the playground, on sidelines of soccer games, or attending Dolphin swim meets, I have listened to the concerns of fellow parents. What is clear to me is that the needs of our excellent school system must be balanced against the needs of the community as a whole. We are, after all, One Belmont.  

As a School Committee member, it would be my responsibility to represent my fellow community members and to bring the scope and depth of my fiscal and education experience to the table.  

I look forward to the opportunity of serving Belmont in this way.

Thank you for your consideration, and please be sure to vote on Tuesday, April 5!

Letter to the Editor: Back Bicer for School Committee

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Photo: Murat Bicer

To the editor:

We encourage everyone in Belmont to consider Murat Bicer for School Committee.    

Murat is uniquely qualified and brings sound financial and investment expertise to a School Committee, which will be facing a number of challenging issues in the years ahead that have a short and long-term impact on our community.    

As a well-regarded venture capital professional in the global technology community, Murat understands what it means to evaluate complex situations and provide sound financial counsel.   He has successfully invested tens of millions of dollars in growing companies; one of the best track records in the industry. Senior executives trust Murat with evaluating critical operational decisions that have immediate consequences on his investments.    

Now take a moment and translate this kind of experience to the most important investment of all: our children. Like Murat, we have young children who are still in pre-school. Our families will have children in the school system for at least the next 15 years. We share a long-term perspective on schools and how important they are to the foundation of Belmont.

In the next couple of years, we will be faced with critical decisions: the cost of a new high school, rising class sizes, teacher contracts, and the continued influx of new families. We need the best talent possible for our community to lay out frameworks to make sensible choices and be an informed voice of reason when there are millions of dollars and our children’s educational future at stake. 

Belmont has some unique financial challenges. We want the answers to those challenges to come from talented people who objectively have the experience of investing for the future. In the next few weeks, you will see that Murat is clearly qualified to play such a role in our community.

Matt Goldstein and Dr. Adrienne Allen 

Harris Street

School Committee Chair Retiring; Three Seats Now Up for Grabs

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Photo: Laurie Slap.

After serving two terms on the Belmont School Committee – including two years as its chair – Laurie Slap believes it’s a good moment to exit, stage left. 

“I’ve had a fabulous six years on the committee and that’s the right amount of time,” said Slap, who announced Tuesday night, Feb. 2, after the Belmont School Committee meeting that she was “retiring” from the committee when her term expires in April. 

Slap, who came to the board in 2010 after leading the effort to pass the debt exclusion for the Wellington Elementary, said one of her highlights from her tenure as chair was passing the $4.5 million Prop. 2 1/2 override in April 2015 that provided the school district with the necessary funds to meet the challenges of exploding district enrollment. 

“[The committee] was so excited to make the case that the schools needed resources and the override passing with the margin it did was a big one,” the Long Avenue resident said.

The other high-water mark was updating the district’s statement of interest to the Massachusetts School Building Authority to renovate and add new construction to Belmont High School. Those efforts came to fruition last week when the MSBA selected Belmont to begin the process of modernizing the nearly 50-year-old school. Slap was in attendance with Superintendent John Phelan and Belmont High Principal Dan Richards when the announcement was made by the MSBA in Boston.

“That’s a nice way to wrap up my time here,” she said.

Slap noted that with her and member Laurie Graham’s departure late last year in addition to Elyse Shuster’s decision to give up her full-term seat to run to complete the one year remaining in Graham’s term, there are two three-year seats vacant on the committee to be filled in April and no incumbent running to retain a current position. 

As of Thursday, Feb. 4, only one resident has taken out nomination papers for the two seats. 

“[The School Committee] is a fabulous group and everyone who is associated with it, from the administration to the teachers, the students and parents,” said Slap.

“I highly recommend anyone who is looking to get involved with the town to consider running,” she said.

Modular Classrooms Heading to Chenery’s Tennis Court

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Photo: The Chenery Middle School tennis courts which will house six modular classrooms in August 2016.

After putting off a decision for the past two years, Belmont School District announced last week it will place six modular classrooms on the Chenery Middle School tennis courts for the start of the 2016-17 school year in August.

The classrooms – single-story temporary prefabricated structures most notably used last to house Wellington Elementary students as the new school was being built five years ago – are being brought to the middle school to alleviate the skyrocketing enrollment in the past five years that is taxing the building’s capacity, according to Belmont School Superintendent John Phelan and members of the Capital Budget Committee. 

The decision to go with modulars is not a surprise as the district initially discussed adding temporary classrooms nearly three years ago when the Space Task Force established by former Superintendent Dr. Thomas Kingston concluded the Chenery “does not have enough space to support the current level of student enrollment” and won’t be able to fit the large classes funneling from the four elementary schools in the next five years.”

The solution “will result in the need for modular classrooms” by the beginning of the 2016-17 school year.

The six classrooms – equipt with their own bathrooms and powered with underground electrical wiring – each can hold up to 25 students, making a dent in the rapid increase in student enrollment in Belmont schools. 

While the Chenery is the only school selected this coming school year, the school district will evaluate the enrollment numbers at the elementary schools with the possibility of purchasing more units for one or more of the district’s four elementary schools. 

Phelan said the district has no timetable on how long the units will be used or if they will be moved from school to school when there is a need for more classrooms. 

“[They’ll be] used as long as needed,” he said. 

While Phelan said the district has yet to decide on the type or style of the “mods” to be placed at the Chenery “we are working with the same engineering firm that Winchester is using” during the construction of that district’s new High School.

On that project, Littleton-based firm Triumph Modular added eight classrooms as a new school was being built on the site of the current building. 

Closer to home, Triumph was hired by Belmont Hill School in 2013 to provide six classrooms, an open testing area, five private offices, a conference room, and restrooms for staff and students for a year and a half during construction of a school building. 

Screen Shot 2016-01-11 at 2.45.20 PM

Modular units at Belmont Hill School 2013.

According to a “rough budget” from a modular study created by the school district, the estimated cost for lease the mods for three years comes to $1.12 million compared to the upfront cost of $1.23 million buying the units. 

“The one benefit with buying [the modulars] is that there is a resale market for the newer units” as opposed to the type the district bought in the past, said Ann Marie Mahoney, Capital Budget chair. 

While the school district has yet decided if they will lease or buy the units – “a cost analysis [is] underway” to determine the financially wise course, said Phelan – the likely purchase of the modular structures could result in the Capital Budget Committee using its entire $1.1 million budget acquiring the units.

“We can’t keep asking taxpayers to bond another million dollar expense,” said Mahoney.

“But then we can’t meet requests from the other departments this budget cycle,” she said.

“It will simplify our Town Meeting report,” Mahoney said wistfully.

 

Graham Resigns from School Committee; Three Seats Up in April Town Election

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Photo: Laurie Graham at the Friends of Belmont Education Spelling Bee in Nov. 2015. 

Long-time Belmont School Committee member Laurie Graham has resigned after serving nearly eight years on the board, three of those as chair leading the committee during some of the most financially challenging times in recent history. 

Graham’s resignation, announced at last week’s school committee meeting, is effective Jan. 20, 2016.

“I hope that I have added in some measure to a more cordial and respectful working relationship with other committees but one that is not only less tense but which also produces positive results and outcomes for our students,” Graham told the Belmontonian. 

Her departure will likely result in three seats being filled at the 2016 Town Election on Tuesday, April 5. While traditionally, the seat of someone who resigns is occupied by a nominee selected by a joint meeting of the School Committee and Board of Selectmen, with the resignation coming within four months of Town Election, it is likely the two bodies will allow the one-year position to be picked by the voters. 

The other two seats are three-year appointments currently held by incumbents Laurie Slap, the current committee chair, and Elyse Shuster. Both have told the Belmontonian they would wait until the New Year before announcing if they will run for re-election. 

Graham, who won three town-wide elections starting in 2008 while, topped the school committee ticket in 2014 with 3,640 votes.

For the past six years, Graham worked out of her home as a contractor with a group of independent publishers reps and that has given her the flexibility to attend day-time sub-committee meetings as well as participate as a school committee liaison or appointed to other committees in town for both day and evening meetings.

That changed when she started a new job, as an office manager in a tax office, in downtown Boston. It has become clear to me that with a commute, no real time to attend meetings back in Belmont as well as the busy time coming these next few months that it made sense for me to step down now and not wait until the upcoming April election. 

“It has become clear to me that with a commute, no real time to attend meetings back in Belmont as well as the busy time coming these next few months that it made sense for me to step down now and not wait until the upcoming April election,” she said.