Seventeen Educators Receive Professional Teaching Status

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Photo: Theresa Burke, a School Social Worker, being congratulated by Superintendent Dr. Jill Geiser for obtaining professional teaching status

Seventeen educators and staff members in the Belmont Public Schools can add “professional status” to their resume.

“Tonight we will recognize educators who have worked diligently over the last three years to earn this distinction,” said Mike McAllister, director of Human Capital who hosted the ceremony during a recent School Committee meeting.

Professional status is bestowed on teachers and other professional employees – including social workers, school librarians, nurses, counselors, and school psychologists – who have served in the School District for three consecutive years and have successfully completed the teacher induction and mentor-mentee programs, and pass the evaluation under a Developing Educator Plan. It provides added job security, allow them to pursue specialized training, and a path to move into school or district administration.

“It required not only that these educators teach successfully and work with their students, but also meet the high expectations of the community and the leadership of the Belmont schools,” said McAllister, who noted that this group faced challenges post-COVID – they were hired in 2021 – and excelled in their roles, often taking on tasks their predecessors didn’t expect.

“As we know, the journey from year one to three is an important time in a career,” said School Committee Chair Meg Moriarty. “Our work is to ensure that our early career teachers develop those skills that are needed to really meet our high standards.”

“The teachers who have earned these professional status have proven that they can consistently deliver on the district’s expectations around these practices,” Moriarty said.

Rebecca Burger Nurse
Nicole Budreau Grade 5 ELA/SS
Theresa Burke School Social Worker
Erin Collins Math Specialist
Jacqueline Duane Reading Specialist
Megan Gallo School Psychologist
Kathleen Harris School Nurse
Devon Kelleher Grade 4
Colleen Leary School Psychologist
Jeffrey Molk Chemisty & Biology
Meghan Newcombe English Language Arts
Ashley Peterson School Social Worker
Samantha Resnick School Social Worker/Adjustment Counselor
Sydney Skiba, Grade 4
Krista Urquhart Guidance Counselor
Oliver Ward Grade 5 (Math/Science)
Jason Zomick School Psychologist

Town, Select Board Proposing Major Change To Town Meeting Calendar For ’25

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Photo: Belmont annual Town Meeting will be a May event

In a move away from a more than decade long practice, the town administrator and Belmont Select Board are recommending “stream lining” the annual Town Meeting from two freestanding “segments” held in May and June into a single meeting on consecutive Monday and Wednesday nights beginning the first week of May and running straight though until all articles and citizen petitions have been acted on.

“What we’re looking to do is condense Town Meeting,” said Patrice Garvin, Belmont’s Town Administrator, as she was presenting to the Select Board the town-wide “budget calendar,” a detailed schedule for developing fiscal year 2026 town and school budgets from “now until the end of June.”

Gone will be separate chunks of articles exclusively for the budget (known as Segment B) and general articles (Segment A) with several weeks of inactivity between the two. The current set up was adopted in the early 2010s to allow the Meeting to have a clearer idea of the amount of fiscal aid the town and schools would be receiving in the state budget.

Garvin said while going over the that several of the annual meeting’s processes were “very cumbersome and just seem to go on and on for pretty much forever.” Working with Jennifer Hewitt, the town’s finance head/assistant Town Administrator, schools Superintendent Jill Geiser, Town Moderator Mike Widmer, and Town Clerk Ellen Cushman, the recommendation calls for the upcoming 2025 annual meeting will begin on May 5 and run for a proposed six meetings over three weeks, ending before Memorial Day. Garvin said at the request of the schools, the budgets will be taken up during the later part of the newly-schedule Town Meeting.

Select Board Chair Elizabeth Dionne noted that “those [June] evenings turned out to be really hard for people whether it was in terms of travel, or family, or graduations events.”

“Because it would be more efficient not to start and stop, we hope that we wouldn’t have quite as many sessions of Town Meeting, and ease the burden on Town Meeting [Members],” said Dionne, who supports the Garvin recommendation. She also noted when Town Meeting runs deep into June, it’s difficult for the town to close its books before the end of the fiscal year on June 30.

The recommendation was seconded by the official who has presided over the past 16 Town Meetings.

“It makes a lot of sense for all the reasons you’ve laid out,” said Widmer, who will retire from his post in April, 2025. “It will take some changes and cooperation but on balance these are the right steps.”

The Select Board delayed a vote on the recommendation until the School Committee discussed the proposed budget schedule.

The Town Meeting change will also impact the budget process of both the town and schools, which Dionne said would create “challenges” for the schools. Geiser said the change will actually be helpful by reducing the time distance between the release of the schools “final” budget in late March and a likely vote by Town Meeting in middle May, as it will be “further along” than in previous years.

Amy Zuccarello, school committee member and chair of its finance subcommittee, told the Select Board that in her opinion – the School Committee has yet to discuss Garvin’s recommendation – would like to come before Town Meeting in May with an article that “is very close to what our final budget is going to be.” A prompt deadline, she believes, will result in “more shifting” within its budget “as we won’t know earlier about staff resignations … and other things we haven’t accounted for.”

“The balancing act is that its a good thing to bring something before Town Meeting which represents the best efforts of the school administration and School Committee where we are at that moment. While [a budget] is a living document and there is potential of change, I would like to see it be as close to the budget we ultimately end up with,” Zuccarello said was her concern.

Filling Spaces: Belmont Announces ‘New’ Asst. Super, A First CUE Leader, Extended Elementary Principals Search

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Photo: The Belmont School District is filling leadership positions

The Belmont School District has taken the “interim” from assistant superintendent Lucia Sullivan’s title as the in-house candidate was hired to fill the post recently held by Janice Darias.

Sullivan’s appointment to the full-time post was one of two selections by Superintendent Jill Geiser in filling major leadership positions in the district over the past month. Sullivan’s promotion was hardly a surprise as she and Geiser have created an effective team after the superintendent arrived in Belmont this past July.

The second announcement was the appointment of Belmont educator Laura Smith as the first permanent principal of the Chenery Upper Elementary School – dubbed by the district as the “CUE” – which will take place July 1. Until then, Smith will continue serving as the CUE’s Elementary Curriculum Coordinator, a position she has held since September.

“I’m excited to step into the role of principal at the Chenery Upper Elementary School, the first leader of the school in its grades four, five and six configuration,” said Smith to the school committee on Feb. 28.

“One message came through really strongly to me is that Belmont really cares about education. And it was affirming to me to have the support of all of those community stakeholders,” Smith said. “I believe in open communication and collaboration; so, with that in mind, please, I encourage you to share your insights and concerns openly as we work together to build this new fourth to sixth [grade] school.”

Prior to coming to Belmont, Smith worked for two years as the district’s Literacy Coach in the Cambridge Public Schools. She brings previous experience as a Cultural Proficiency Facilitator (2015-2021, Cambridge Street Upper School), an Assistant Principal (2009-2015, Kennedy Middle School), and nearly a decade as a classroom teacher of English at Cambridge Rindge and Latin School.

She has a BA in English Literature from the University of Massachusetts at Boston, a MEd degree from the Harvard Graduate School of Education where she was honored as a James Bryant Conant Fellow, And she will soon be “Dr. Smith” as she anticipates earning a doctorate in Curricular Studies and Educational Leadership from the University of South Carolina sometime this year.

Still up in the air remains hiring principals at the Winn Brook and Burbank elementary schools in which the job postings remain open with interviews coming in the spring. Geiser told the committee the district is “still within the window” from January to the spring in which a larger candidate pool is emerging.

“There’s a lot of movement” among educators seeking new positions which places Belmont in “a good situation.”

Finally the hiring of an assistant principal at the Belmont Middle School (grades 7-8) is being led by BMS’s Principal Russ Kupperstein.

The 2024-25 Belmont School Year Starts After Labor Day As Committee Approves Calendar

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Photo: The 2024-5 school year calendar has been approved

Keeping with recent tradition, Belmont schools will open for the 2024-25 school year after Labor Day as the Belmont School Committee voted unanimously to start classes for first to 12th grade on Wednesday, Sept. 4, two days after the holiday.

There will be four recesses in 2024-2025:

  • Thanksgiving: Nov. 28-29.
  • Winter: Dec. 23 – Jan. 1.
  • February: Feb. 17-21.
  • April: Apr. 21-25.

As 2024 is a presidential year, schools will be closed on Election Day, Tuesday, Nov. 5.

Graduation for the class of 2025 will be held on Saturday, June 7.

The final day of the school year for K-11 will be Tuesday, June 24 which includes five “snow” days added. If schools are not postponed during the year due to the weather, the final day will be pushed up to Tuesday, June 17.

No Arrest During Belmont PD/State Police Action On Channing Road

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Photo: A screenshot from a video on several social media sites showing the police action that took place on Channing Road in Belmont on Saturday, Feb. 10.

For residents of Cross Street and Channing Road, Saturday’s false spring was greeted with a phalanx of law enforcement blocking the roadways as several police agencies descended on the neighborhood adjacent to Belmont Center, seeking a possible suspect in a suspected shooting that took place 65 miles away the night before.

At approximately 9:30 a.m., on Feb. 10, a tactical vehicle from the Massachusetts State Police was parked in the middle of the intersection of Channing and Cross with heavily armed officers in combat gear directing people from a residence. One person in a video uploaded to social media was assisted away from the house.

As of Sunday morning, no arrests were reported as part of the action.

“Today, the Belmont Police Department assisted the Massachusetts State Police in executing a search warrant at a residence in Belmont,” said Belmont Police Chief James MacIsaac in a press release on Saturday.

MacIsaac said ”the circumstances prompting the issuance of the search warrant did not transpire within Belmont’s jurisdiction, [c]onsequently, there is no cause for concern regarding criminal activity in Belmont.” MacIsaac referred all inquires to the Bristol County District Attorney, which has yet to make a statement.

Social media has been actively speculating on the “Who, What, When, Why and Where” of Saturday’s action incident. Many agreed with noted attorney Wendy Murphy who wrote that it was “Related to a gang murder in Fall Riverr.”

The most recent shooting in Fall River occurred on Friday, Feb. 9, where a 34-year-old man was found suffering from gunshot wounds, according to Fall River police. The victim was taken to a trauma center in critical condition.

The last murder in Fall River occurred on Dec. 23 when a 44-year-old man was shot and killed on a porch, according to the Fall River Herald. A Connecticut man was later arrested in that case.

Select Board Sends $8.4M Override To Voters With A Compact In Tow

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Photo: The Select Board voting to present a $8.4 million override to voters at the town’s annual Election in April

After Belmont’s Select Board voted unanimously on Tuesday morning, Jan. 30 to place an $8.4 million override on the ballot at the annual Town Election, Board Chair Roy Epstein believed their decision will be seen by the town’s voters as the necessary course to take.

“We’re relying basically on our experiences what might work,” said Epstein after the vote. “Some people have indicated they would like it to be smaller [amount]. Others said they would like it to be larger. So I’m hoping that means we landed at the right place.”

After nearly six months of meetings, public events, and the decision to pegging how much the “ask” of residents came down to two competing figures: a $7.5 million override that would protect the current level of full-time positions in the town and schools, and $8.4 million, which will allow the town and schools to invest in specific area. In the end, the Select Board settled on what they consider is necessary to carry the town over the next three years.

“We appreciate the concerns that some residents have expressed to me,” said Mark Paolillo, who will be retiring from the board at the April election. “But I think [the override] is absolutely needed in order for us to continue to serve the residents and provide services that they expect.”

“This is not an irresponsible number,” said Elizabeth Dionne to the half dozen residents attending the Town Hall meeting. “It is a painful number.”

According to Jennifer Hewitt, the town’s financial director and assistant town administrator, with the town committed to the override, the town and school district can now release their fiscal year 2025 budgets, on Friday, Feb. 2. The Select Board, School and Warrant Committee will meet Thursday, Feb. 8 at 7 p.m. at Town Hall for the fourth Budget Summit at which time the fiscal ’25 budget will be presented.

The expected override is by no means a surprise, as the town has been struggling for more than a decade with a structural budget deficit created by ever-increasing expenses and a difficulty to raise sufficient revenue with annual property tax increases capped at 2 1/2 percent. Add to that, the board has inherited a number of costly such as a large and growing pension fund liability.

With a $6 million cliff facing the town in fiscal ’25, even a “level” budget that seeks to keep personnel and services at the previous year’s proportions would require a significant increase in funding.

While the funds will fill the budget deficit in the next three years, the board views the largest override in Belmont’s history in terms of an investment that in the long run will benefit both the town and schools. Epstein noted “a potential for restructuring certain activities to free up monies to deploy them more effectively.” Case in point: School Superintendent Jill Geiser plans to use the extra funding to lay a foundation with added Special Education staffing and planning with the goal to reduce the number of students being placed “out-of-district” for their schooling, which Dionne said is the greatest financial burdens facing future school budgets.

Agreeing to the larger override amount “is the starting point of making that investment with potential long-term benefits,” said Warrant Committee Chair Geoff Lubien.

“That’s why I believe the $8.4 million is necessary to make that even a possibility,” said Epstein.

The alternative to the override would be cataclysmic to all municipal and educational functions in Belmont. A forecasting exercise on the impact of a “no” vote would force painful cuts in staffing and programs in public safety, public works, library and all other town services while the schools would see significant reduction in staff as students will be without extra curriculum activities, the elimination of popular classes and higher students-to-teacher ratios.

“It’s really easy to destroy institutions, it’s very difficult to rebuild,” said Dionne. “If we don’t have a successful override, we will lose a cadre of talent we cannot replace easily. It will cost us far more to rebuild and to maintain.”

Acknowledging the large “ask” of residents, the Select Board will attempt to placate voters anxiety voting for the override by “hammering out” what is being called a compact with the community. Under this informal agreement, the board, school committee and other town entities will work together to implement policies – such as revamping zoning bylaws to facilitate business creation – and initiatives to manage expenses in an attempt to “bend the curve” of ever rising costs all the while look for ways to maximize revenues.

“What we [as a town] have to be … is faster, better, smarter,” said Dionne.

Under the compact, the Select Board will commit funds to specific public concerns. One discussed Tuesday is appropriating override dollars to repair and replace the town’s threadbare and increasingly unsafe sidewalks, which have been a lament among residents for nearly two decades.

The compact will also “force us to be more fiscally disciplined” using one-time funds such as free cash and from out-of-town sources such as government grants, according to Lubien.

Let’s Have Coffee And A Chat With The New School Supers: Jill Geiser and Lucia Sullivan

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Photo: (from left) Belmont School District’s new superintendents: Jill Geiser and assistant Lucia Sullivan

The Belmont School District invites residents for a coffee and conversation with its new superintendents: Jill Geiser and Assistant Lucia Sullivan.

You can attend the meet and greet in person at the School Administration Building, 644 Pleasant St. on the following days and times:

  • Wednesday, Aug. 9: 4 p.m. to 5:30 p.m.
  • Friday, Aug. 11: 8 a.m. to 9:30 a.m.
  • Thursday, Sept. 14: 4 p.m. to 5:30 p.m.

Light refreshments will be served!

Virtual Meeting Zoom: Click here to Join

  • Tuesday, Sept. 26: Noon to 1:30 p.m.

Please RSVP for Planning Purposes: Meet & Greet RSVP

More meeting opportunities with Jill and Lucia to come.

Belmont High Graduates 315 In The Misty Chill Of Harris Field

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Photo: Caps tossed into the overcast as Belmont High School graduated 315 in the Class of 2023.

In weather more attuned for a fall football game, parents, siblings, relatives, and friends bundled up to witness the graduation of the members of the senior class of Belmont High School on Saturday, June 3.

The anticipated rain never came during the event, but the mist, wind, and 50-degree weather put an unseasonable chill on the ceremony underway at 10 a.m. outdoors at Harris Field. Retiring Superintendent John Phelan and retiring Assistant Superintendent Janice Darias (“I’m finally graduating,” she said before the ceremony) lead the long crimson procession for a final time from the high school to the field with the Belmont High School Wind Symphony playing Elgar’s “Pomp and Circumstance.”

With parents and friends taking photos and umbrellas opening in the stands and on the field, the graduates strode down the 50-yard line to their seats in the center of the field, where the ceremony began with the Belmont High Chorus performing the National Anthem.

In his speech, Belmont High School Principal Issac Taylor addressed the assemblage the “fear and uncertainty in a world that is undergoing enormous changes compressed into one generation.” And while these “new tools are powerful and where there is power, there is both opportunity and danger.”

“Technology responds to you, and you respond to it. And the ease with which you navigate the modern world is a dynamic tool that will help you succeed. You will also be the people who helped steer the direction we take as a species, how we use this technology, and to what ends. This is an enormous responsibility and a great opportunity,” said Taylor.

“I hope that you all find your version of success. In a world that is changing so quickly, defining a successful life can be elusive. Like happiness, success comes from within. Partly success and happiness comes from the skills that we develop. Partly they come from the experiences that we have. But mostly being successful comes not from the pride of what we know and what we can do.”

Class of 2023 President Nicky Mosharaf reminded her classmates and graduates, “the most abundant challenge for us this year was making a tough decision. Deciding which college you’re going to go to, if you’re going to go to college.”

“However, we haven’t gotten to life’s hardest decisions yet. From what I’ve seen, I think the most difficult life decisions are the ones where you have to decide whether to give up or not. Usually the first thing that comes to mind is never give up,” said Mosharaf, using her mother’s decision to return to school to seek her MBA with two small children and an infant.

“On the other hand, there’s a second option to give up. I know it doesn’t sound as motivational as never give up. But I think sometimes it can be better to scrap the current plan and go down a new path. Maybe sometimes it is better to give up.,” she said, remembering how she decided gymnastics wasn’t her cup of tea.

“So deciding between the two options is tough, and there’s no specific Tiktok that’s gonna give us the right answer,” she said. “Whether we give up or not … is not as important as we think. The most important thing is to make your decision positively and take joy in your decision and what you do.”

The Belmont School Committee awards for outstanding achievement and scholarship were presented to seniors Leo Son and Ana Lehmann. Son, whose accomplishments in the classroom and as a student leader run an entire printed page: he is a math and STEM scholar, took 11 AP courses, and plays and teaches chess, among numerous other accomplishments.

“And I’m sure many of us were thinking about this idea on our last day of high school, navigating thethe hallways for the last time on route from yellow to light blue to pink, already missing the comfort of a weekly club, where you found a community that you belong to.”

“But as this meeting place for all of us comes to an end … be proud of how far you’ve come. Remember all the connections and routines we’ve let slip by, and we look forward to the opportunity to find a new lunch table for the first time and new club communities again next year or sooner. Do not let go of what you’ve gained from the sources of joy that you once knew and grasp more tightly onto the experiences we have now.”

When Lehmann – an international Math Olympian, a harrier, and a talented German speaker whose language proficiency is at the university level – heard she would be receiving the award and expected to make a speech, “I procrastinated.” While admitting she was “mostly excited and honored to be speaking,” the suggested subject concerning the future was “nerve-racking.”

“What can I, a 17-year-old, impart to an audience – at least half of which has much more life experience than me – about the future? I don’t even know which college I’m going to in the fall!” Instead, Lehmann decided to speak “about the uncertainty of it all.”

Lehmann spoke of her parent’s immigration story – her Serbian mother and German father who came to the US and met in Pennsylvania – and how their journey became hers. “I’ll technically follow in their footsteps as immigrants. They didn’t know what to expect when they came here. And like many of us here today, we don’t know exactly what’s awaiting us at college.”

“On the journey into our inherantly uncertain futures, we can choose familiar constants to keep with us and help us along the way, whether it be family, friends, mentors, pets, or even hobbies. We’re not all about to be immigrants, but we are all starting an exciting and unknown new chapter in a new environment with new labels of high school, graduate or college students,” she said.

A rendition of “Landslide” by the Belmont High A Capella was followed by the presentation of diplomas – the names masterfully handled by Mosharaf – then the moving of tallases and tossing of caps into the air. And it wasn’t surprising that not that many people stuck around Harris Field as the chilly wind picked up had the clouds grew dark.

All District Art Show Opening Reception Tuesday, May 2 At Belmont High

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Photo: By Adam Arredouani, AP 2D Design

The Belmont school district’s annual K-12 Art Show will hold its opening reception at 5 p.m. on Tuesday, May 2, at the Belmont High School lobby and cafeteria.

Here is an opportunity to view the artistic talent in all 13 grades in Belmont in visual, photographic, and ceramic arts.

Frankie Edmonds

Schools Leave Empty Handed As Select Board/Warrant Committee To Place Added Local Aid To Free Cash

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Photo: Educators attend a recent Select Board/Warrant Committee joint meeting at Town Hall

On March 1, Massachusetts Gov. Maura Healey filed her state budget proposal with increases in Chapter 70 local aid, in which Belmont would receive an additional $1.4 million net for fiscal ’24, which begins July 1. And the boost in aid could not have come at a better time for the schools, the largest of the town’s departments.

Facing a $2.1 million deficit that could see nearly two dozen teachers, educators, and administrators losing their jobs and positions failing to be hired, the school district and Belmont School Committee placed their hopes that some portion of the governor’s largess would be directed to education.

But in a joint meeting held Monday night, March 20, the Belmont Select Board and the Warrant Committee (the Town Meeting’s fiscal watchdog) voted to cap the amount of free cash to use in the fiscal ’24 budget – which tops off at $138.3 million – at slightly more than $10 million. As for the added money coming from the governor’s budget, $600,000 would be allocated to the district’s depleted Special Education reserve account, with the remainder carried forward into the town’s free cash account.

At the end of the night, the schools will be asked to fill the $2.1 million deficit with the planned job cuts.

John Sullivan, head of the Belmont Education Association, who attended the meeting with two dozen teachers and administrators carrying signs calling to keep current staff, said the decision, if unaltered, will be felt in the classrooms.

“Free cash should be spent on what we need right now, and right now, we need it for staffing,” Sullivan said after the meeting. “Your kids are the ones that are ultimately impacted by these cuts.”

The town has allocated more than two-thirds of the $15 million in free cash it stockpiled over the past decade into the general budget with the schools being the chief driver, having witnessed an unprecedented 12.7 percent increase in expenses in fiscal ’24. The School District points out the record rise as a combination of two significant factors: the cost of opening the new Middle School on Concord Avenue and a historic jump in Special Education expenditures, specifically Out-of-District placement of students, that hit the budget hard.

The decision to squirrel away all future state funds is due to the realities the town is facing that it will be facing an $11 million shortfall in fiscal ’25 and $12 million in fiscal ’26. Current calculations show the town will have $5 million in the rainy day fund in fiscal ’25.

By marshaling all available state aid into free cash now, according to town officials, reduce the size of the Proposition 2 1/2 override request set to be on the ballot next April. Observers believe voters will not be amenable to a double-digit request, pointing to the rejected override this month by Newton voters that would have closed its school district’s $6 million budget gap.

“We know we need to have an override for fiscal ’25,” said Jennifer Hewitt, the town’s assistant town administrator and finance director. “But the goal is to try to make that number a winnable number” so the town isn’t stuck with “really, really bad decisions” if the override fails.

“We need to think about next year,” said Mark Paolillo, Select Board chair.

And having reserves in free cash will be critical in the worst-case scenario if voters bail on an override. The account will be used to mitigate what soon-to-be Select Board member Elizabeth Dionne described as a possible “blood bath” where the town and school district will see entire departments and services decimated with a back of the envelope calculations predicting a 10 percent cut in teaching positions.

While sympathetic to town and schools requests, Adam Dash – who will be giving up his seat on the board on April 4 – said “it’s a very dire situation, and unfortunately, it’s a bit of a zero-sum game at this point” as the town seeks a fiscally prudent solution. “The problem is that we need to bank some money and not deplete the entire savings account, what free cash is.”

But to School and Warrant Committee member Michael Crowley, the policy is a Faustian pact in which educators and programs are put on the chopping block to prepare for a future unknown. And like Oliver Twist with a bowl in hand, Crowley urged the town to find “just $500,000” to preserve posts such as teacher assistants in the elementary schools that the district has targeted for redundancy.

“Another half million in the spirit of compromise won’t destroy the bank,” said Crowley as educators in the room applauded.

But Garvin warned funds transferred from free cash to the schools would need to be offset with cuts elsewhere.

The one glimmer of hope for school advocates and educators is the likelihood that the Massachusetts House and Senate will join Healey in boosting local aid allocations in the next iteration of their budgets in the coming month. While Garvin stood firm on the town’s intention to slot any additional local aid to free cash, Select Board’s Roy Epstein was receptive to using a portion of any additional revenue from Beacon Hill towards the schools.

Steve Sloan, a Goden Street resident with a child in the district, said it’s honestly disrespectful to the parents to talk about putting all this extra money into free cash without even knowing how much you have” until the state budget is finalized.

“When you’ve got all these cuts on the table. I think that’s a bad optic and you’re sending a terrible message. At least take a compromise solution when you know how much you have.”