Thursday’s Nor’easter: School Delayed Two Hours, Parking Ban Starts At Midnight

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Photo: Maybe not this much …

While the expected snow totals have been falling all night, the Town of Belmont isn’t taking any chances with the fourth potential Nor’easter in the past month. The town and school department have issued updates on possible closings and delays for Thursday, March 22:

  • There will be a two hour delayed opening for all Belmont Public Schools on Thursday.
  • There is a Snow Emergency Parking ban effective as of midnight Thursday until further notice. Vehicles must be off streets and out of municipal and school parking lots or they will be towed.
  • Trash and Recycling WILL be picked up Thursday as scheduled.
  • All town offices will open at  8 a.m. as scheduled.

Residents will be notified of any further changes based on updated weather conditions.

Please call 617-993-2698 with questions.

There’s Still Time To Nominate Educators For Outstanding Teacher Awards

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Photo:(from left) Janice Darius, Assistant Superintendent, BPS; Jennifer Pressey, 2017 OTA Honoree; and Danielle Betancourt, Principal, Butler Elementary School.

You have 10 days left to nominate a Belmont educator for the Foundation of Belmont Education’s Outstanding Teacher Awards. The awards are proudly sponsored by Belmont Savings Bank Foundation.

Belmont parents and community members, Belmont Public School colleagues, and high school and middle school students have until March 31 to submit nominations for teachers – of any grade, subject, or specialty – who deserve this special recognition.

To be eligible for nomination, a teacher must:

  • Have completed three consecutive years teaching in the Belmont Public Schools and currently teach in the Belmont public schools
  • Teach students on a regular basis (40% of the time)

Based on nominations from the community, teachers from Belmont’s six schools are chosen for this award. Each award winner will be honored, first at a surprise celebration at their school, and then at a district-wide awards ceremony to be held on Tuesday, May 1 at the Chenery Middle School.

Nominate an Outstanding Teacher Today! 

Nomination Criteria and Online Nomination Form (submit before March 31):
www.belmontsavings.com/FBEOutstandingTeacher

For more information:
www.fbe-belmont.org/outstandingteacher

Questions?
ota@fbe-belmont.org

Residents Invited to New High School Presentation, Design Update, Thursday, March 22

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Photo: The general outline of the new Belmont High School.

Just because the general design concept and class configuration have been decided, residents ideas and comments are still needed as the new Belmont High School starts to take shape.

The public is invited to join the Belmont High School Building Committee for an Education Vision Presentation and Project Design update on Thursday, March 22 at 7 p.m. at the Beech Street Center, 266 Beech St.

Thursday’s agenda includes:

  • a summary of School and Community Visioning Workshops.
  • Presentation on Belmont’s Vision of 21st Century Learning and Teaching Project Design updates.
  • Questions and comments.

Upcoming community meetings include:

  • Thursday, April 26, 7 p.m.: Project Design Update & Design Workshop, Wellington Elementary School Cafeteria
  • Tuesday, May 8, 7 p.m.: Design Update with Virtual Reality Presentation, a joint School Committee and High School Building Committee Meeting at the Chenery Middle School Community Room.
  • Wednesday, May 16, 7 p.m.: Traffic Solutions Discussion in the Wellington Elementary School cafeteria.

To sign up for email updates and to learn more about the Belmont High School Building Project, including project timelines, videos, meeting schedules, presentations, and more, please visit www.belmonthighschoolproject.org. Questions? Email quires to BHS-BC@belmont-ma.gov 

Belmont High School Bars Public, Town Officials, Press From Student Walkout

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 Photo: Poster of the event

A student-led protest at Belmont High School will be a private affair as education officials are barring the public, town officials and the press from attending the “National School Walkout to Protest Gun Violence” event taking place on Wednesday, March 21 at 10 a.m.

“As you are aware, the public is not permitted on school grounds during this event,” said Kristen Murphy, community engagement coordinator for the district. It’s reported police will prevent traffic and people from traveling on the public access road fronting the school. Murphy noted that principals Dan Richards of Belmont High School and Michael McAllister of the Chenery Middle School will be able to speak in the subject after the event.

According to John Phelan, Belmont’s School Superintendent, only students, and staff will attend the event taking place outdoors on public space. 

“[S]tudent safety is our main concern,” said Phelan in a letter responding to William Fick, the father of one of the student organizers. Phelan defended the restrictions of outsiders attendance out of “concerns regarding student safety and minimizing disruption to the education process.” The ban includes those who only wished to observe the protest and publications and broadcasters reporting on the event.

Phelan did not provide examples how observers and media outlets would constitute a safety concern or how their presence constituted a disruption of education. A week earlier thousands of schools across the US held 17-minute  rallies without incident, including Belmont Day School located off Concord Avenue. The private elementary/middle school also invited the press to view the middle school students in their protest.

Last May, Belmont High students organized by then junior Barbara Joseph, held an impromptu rally against racism that circled Clay Pit Pond and ended by the flagpole at the school’s entry. Despite a large number of students attending, there was no public safety incidents.

Phelan was responding to Fick who raised constitutional issues on eliminating the public from the protest, specifically when it come to barring the press, calling that decision “unlawful” as the protest is a “newsworthy event.”

“In light of the nearly unfettered access BHS affords to local media for other purposes (sports, Promenade, performances, etc), the exclusion of media from the walkout is transparent “content discrimination” unrelated to any permissible basis to regulate the “time, place and manner” of protected speech activity,” said Fick, who is a Boston-based defense attorney who frequently works in partnership with the ACLU of Massachusetts. 

While the students agreed to stay on school property to respect the Administration’s “expressed concerns for decorum and safety,” “… the purpose of the protest is not simply for students to talk to each other, which they can do all day within the walls of the school, but to make their voices heard in the community and among elected officials,” said Fick.

Fick noted to Phelan that while the public will be restricted from entering school property, the access road and sidewalk running in front of the school are public ways as is the community path around Clay Pit Pond. Fick requested the school department to inform him of the “purported legal basis for any such closing of outdoor public property.”

While Fick reminded Phelan of the Supreme Court decision, Tinker v. Des Moines, that “students do not ‘shed their constitutional rights to freedom of speech and expression at the schoolhouse gate,” Phelan stated that “Belmont recognizes” that ruling, “however, there is a well-recognized legal principle that administrators must ensure safety of all staff and students as well as minimize the disturbance to the educational process.” 

Sold In Belmont: A Brick House A Smart Pig Would Love and Updated Antebellum on Lake Street;

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Photo: A two-family that sold for nearly one and a quarter million dollars? 

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

• 60 Alexander Ave., Postwar Ranch (1951). Sold: $935,000. Listed at $850,000. Living area: 2,230 sq.-ft. 6 rooms, 4 bedrooms, 1.5 baths. On the market: 43 days. Last sold: Nov. 1976, $22,500.

• 140 Prospect St., Colonial (1940). Sold: $1,206,000. Listed at $895,000. Living area: 2,146 sq.-ft. 8 rooms, 4 bedrooms, 2.5 baths. On the market:  days. Last sold: July, 1941.

• 350 Lake St., Brick Colonial (1927). Sold: $905,000. Listed at $925,000. Living area: 1,598 sq.-ft. 8 rooms, 4 bedrooms, 2 baths. On the market: 64 days. Last sold: July, 2006, $590,000.

• 210 Waverley St., First-floor Condo townhouse (1880/Gut rehab 2016). Sold: $760,000. Listed at $799,999. Living area: 2,063 sq.-ft. 8 rooms, 4 bedrooms, 3 baths. On the market: 135 days. Last sold: Nov. 2016, $720,000.

• 55 Alma Ave. Unit 1, Condo (1916). Sold: $492,000. Listed at $499,000. Living area: 1,082 sq.-ft. 6 rooms, 2 bedrooms, 1 baths. On the market: 92 days. Last sold: Sept. 2017, for the building $855,000.

• 55 Alma Ave. Unit 2, Condo (1916). Sold: $520,000. Listed at $539,000. Living area: 1,301 sq.-ft. 7 rooms, 3 bedrooms, 1 baths. On the market: 91 days. Last sold: Sept. 2017, for the building $855,000.

• 354 Lake St., Antebellum Old-Style (1856). Sold: $1,150,000. Listed at $1,200,000. Living area: 2,800 sq.-ft. 10 rooms, 6 bedrooms, 2 baths. On the market: 127 days. Last sold: Oct. 2010, $525,000. 

The pair of Lake Street houses that sold last week may only be across the shortest street in Belmont from each other but they represent worlds of differences in terms of style and structure.

There’s the house at 350 which a smart little piggy would love own to keep the huffing, puffing wolf at bay. Talk about a brick house! This must have been a bear to construct compared to your typical wood frame around the area – it’s one of a pair with its sister just across Lake Street – even the garage and ornamentation is red brick with the roof slate and clay. A house of the earth, to say the least. It’s a relatively modest 1,600 sq.-ft.; it’s relatively easy to understand why there has been no expansion as it would mean carving out a hole in a wall of bricks. And while brick is the most popular exterior in the US, repointing this structure must be a constant drudgery. While there are lots of half brick Colonials and all brick Georgian Revival and Tudors around town, these two stand out in terms of location and the overwhelming use of the material. There has to be a story behind the twins but Dick Betts never got around mentioning it in his books. The interior is a bit tight but there’s a lot of original detail (doors, beams) remaining and it’s so solid it will be one of the few structures still standing if a meteor strikes the vicinity.

The second house at 354 on Lake that sold was built when the street was part of Arlington (then known as West Cambridge) as it predates Belmont’s creation by three years. Known as “old style” by the town’s assessors, it’s just that, a wood frame with strong corner treatment. While having a Lake Street address, the front porch now faces Belmont’s shortest street, Milton Street (Did you know that only one house (#15) has a Milton Street address?) although some may quibble and note Belmont Circle being smaller, it’s a dead end and edges into Watertown. While some people are wary of “old” homes and the surprises they hold, in the past decade the owners put a modern face on it. The renovations began with striping and reroofing ($34,100, yes, it’s expensive), replace all the windows ($25,000) and replastering walls and ceilings. Two years ago the big money ($79,000) went to remodeling the kitchen and baths. and last year $5,000 to renovate the front p0rch. Take a look inside and its actually quite nice, bright and spacy. Worth more than twice for it sold eight years ago as it lies a Tom Brady pass from the Route 2 on-ramp? Someone thought so.

Belmont’s ‘Talk Of The Town’ Set For Tuesday, March 20

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Photo: Barbara Joseph

There still is time to register to attend the Second annual Meet Belmont “Talk of the Town” event on Tuesday, March 20 presented by the Vision 21 Implementation Committee and co-sponsored by Belmont Public Schools.

Four notable Belmont residents will provided fascinating speeches in a “TED-talk” like format.  An exciting new development this year is that there will be two Belmont Public Schools students speaking.  

The event is free, but please reserve a ticket at the link below and forward to anyone you think might be interested; last year there were more than 400 registrants.  

WHEN: Tuesday, March 20, 7 p.m. to 9 p.m.

WHERE: Chenery Middle School Auditorium

TICKETS:  https://belmonttalk.eventbrite.com or through Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/meetbelmont

COST:   None!

Host:
Jane Clayson Johnson

Journalist, Author and Radio Host

Speakers:

Graham Allison

American Political Scientist and
Douglas Dillon Professor of Government, Harvard Kennedy School

Debra Cash
Executive Director, Boston Dance Alliance

Barbara Joseph
12th-grade student, Belmont High School

Mariam Soliman

8th-grade student, Chenery Middle School

Preston Williams

Houghton Professor of Theology and Contemporary Change Emeritus,
Harvard Divinity School

Belmont World Films Opens 17th International Film Series Sunday, March 18

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Photo: From the movie “The Workshop” which opens the 17th annual Belmont World Film’s 17th annual International Film Series.

Nine films from the world’s top international film festivals will premiere at Belmont World Film’s 17th annual International Film Series, which runs to May 14 at Belmont’s historic Studio Cinema, 376 Trapelo Rd.

Opening night on Sunday, March 18, at 7:30 p.m. features the New England premiere of The Workshop, (“L’ateliera”) by French director Laurent Cantet that premiered at the Cannes Film Festival.

After the festival’s opening screening, films take place mostly on Mondays at 7:30 p.m. All films are followed by thought-provoking discussions led by expert speakers and occasionally cultural performances. The opening and closing night films are preceded by dinner receptions featuring culturally-relevant cuisine at the theater.

This year’s series, “Bound by Beliefs,” features films that show how difficult it is to implement change in the face of long-held societal or community beliefs. All but one film is either a North American, East Coast or New England premiere and several are also their countries’ submissions to the Academy Awards’ Best Foreign Language Film category. As in the last several years, a third of the films are directed by women. The festival also includes the most recent work by several well-known directors, including French director Laurent Cantet (Foxfire, The Class), Laurence Ferrerira Barbosa (Normal People Are Nothing Exceptional), and Tony Gatlif (Latcho Drom, Gadjo Dilo).

“We don’t have to look much farther than the Hollywood sexual harassment scandal to understand how long it takes or how hard it is to change the status quo,” says Belmont World Film Executive Director Ellen Gitelman. “The characters in each of the nine films are not always successful in standing up to their societies’ beliefs, and even when they are, it is often an uphill battle.”

The festival opener, The Workshop, takes place in the once bustling port town of La Ciotat on the Mediterranean where a group of young writers with multiple backgrounds is trying to reflect the town’s current rundown state in their group written thriller. The hostility and disturbing vision of one particular workshop participant soon alarm his peers and the instructor, a famous Parisian mystery writer. The screening is part of the Month of Francophonie sponsored by the French Consulate in Boston.

The rest of the line-up includes:

  • Monday, March 26: The Wound directed by John Trengrove (South Africa) New England premiere
  • Monday, April 2: All the Dreams in the World directed by Laurence Ferreira Barbosa (France, Portugal) North American premiere
  • Monday, April 9: Marlina the Murderer in Four Acts directed by Mouly Surya (Indonesia, France, Malaysia, Thailand) New England premiere
  • Sunday, April 16: Streaker directed by Peter Luisi (Switzerland) East Coast premiere
  • Monday, April 23: What Will People Say directed by Iram Haq (Norway, Germany, Sweden) East Coast premiere
  • Monday, April 30: Disappearance directed by Ali Asgari (Iran, Qatar)
  • Monday, May 7: Under the Tree directed by Hafsteinn Gunnar Sigurðsson (Iceland) New England premiere
  • Monday, May 14: Djam directed by Tony Gatlif (France) North American premiere

The Grass To Be Greener Along Sidewalks As Town Focuses On Separating People, Cars

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Photo: Along Bartlett Avenue.

Grass is good, according to Belmont Office of Community Development Director Glenn Clancy.

No, the longtime town engineer is not expressing his opinion on the future of marijuana sales in Belmont, but rather the grass strip between sidewalks and the roadways which are located on a majority of the town’s byways.

Now under a new approach prompted by the complaints of residents along Bartlett Avenue in the PQ Park neighborhood, the 10 percent of roads lacking a vegetative median can expect a greenway within five years, Clancy told the Belmont Board of Selectmen at its Monday, March 12 meeting.

The new initiative is a change in the town’s current sidewalk policy, said Selectman Adam Dash, coming after a comprehensive study rating the town’s sidewalks – which showed a majority of concrete paths were in good condition – was presented in the fall and after the public voiced concerns that walkways were being neglected in favor of roadway repair. 

The new policy, written by Clancy, will address the real issue facing not just the residents on Bartlett Avenue but throughout town is “the lack of adequate separation between the roadway and the sidewalks.”

After Bartlett Avenue was reconstructed, there was no buffer between the roadway and sidewalk which allowed vehicles to park or even drive onto the walkway, posing a dangerous condition for pedestrians especially so close to the Butler Elementary School.

In his research, Clancy found that the vast majority of streets have some curbing – either asphalt or granite – or/ and including a grass shoulder, as seen on most neighborhood side streets, which separates the road and sidewalk. 

“What I came to realize is the importance of that shoulder treatment,” said Clancy, noting that Bartlett Avenue only has an asphalt shoulder. “And that shoulder treatment must provide a buffer for pedestrians.”

He noted that only grass strip barriers without a curb do an excellent job keeping cars from creeping onto sidewalks. Grass also allow for trees to be planted in the barrier adding an “additional element as a buffer between automobiles and the sidewalk.”

In the new policy, “under no circumstances is an asphalt shoulder ever a good idea and that is the condition we are trying to get to the most,” Clancy said.

Clancy told the board that of the town’s 400 roadway “segments” (basically the road between intersections), only 10 percent or 40 portions of streets “have the need for either granite curbing because they are a major road (Cross Street and segments of Grove and School streets) … and 30 neighborhood streets that have asphalt shoulders where we want to reestablish [barriers].”

With the scope of work established, Clancy’s most significant question was funding. He told the board with updated data on roadway and sidewalk conditions and has made a considerable dent (of nearly 50 percent) in the cost of repairing the backlog of roads, his department has an adequate amount in its pavement management program to meet its current reconstruction cycle but also have “an additional $300,000 of capacity that we can put to curbing and sidewalks” over the next five years. 

Under the new five year plan, the sidewalks with non-grass, no curb barriers given the highest priority are along roadways which are:

  • School walking routes which will be retrofitted with curbing and a grass median. 
  • General walking routes – the main roads you use from neighborhood roads to main “collecting” roads (with granite curbs) leading to a destination site. 
  • Use-demand routes leading to parks, shops etc.
  • neighborhood roads, to re-establish a grass shoulder. 

With funding secured and a needed policy change before it, the Selectmen approved the changes unanimously. 

Blizzard Delays Belmont High Students ‘Enough’ School Walkout To March 21

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Photo: Poster image.

Tuesday’s blizzard has placed a hold on town high schoolers joining fellow students from across the country on Wednesday to collectively say “enough is enough.” 

According to the local student campaigners, nearly two feet of snow and the cancelation of schools on Wednesday will delay by a week Belmont High School’s participation in “ENOUGH: National School Walkout” by a week.

“Some … will go to the [Massachusetts] statehouse, but the walkout will be postponed until [Wednesday] March 21,” said Belmont High School senior Seneca Hart, who with Lydia Fick, Georgia Sundahl, and Gayané Kaligian is organizing the Belmont action.

The walkout – conceived and promoted by EMPOWER, the youth branch of the Woman’s March – will take place across the country on Wednesday, March 14, at 10 a.m. and last for 17 minutes to honor the students and teachers murdered at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School exactly one month since the crime.

When Hart – who is also the student liaison to the Belmont Human Rights Commission – first heard of the walkout, she felt Belmont High students should participate in the action happening.

“I used the Action Network to see if there was an event at my school because I knew I wanted to participate, but there wasn’t yet one. I saw a need and I filled it because this movement is important to me, and more than that, it’s really empowering students across America,” said Hart.
 
The senior believes the time is now for teenagers and students to speak up on the issue of gun violence and safety at school.
 
“So often we’re dismissed because of our age, and this is the first time a lot of us feel like we can finally prove we’re serious about change and know what we’re talking about,” she said
 
Hart said she and her colleagues’ efforts have been met favorably by their fellow students.
 
“So far most of the students I’ve talked to have been supportive and eager to help. I have encountered a few students who disagree with our goal— that we need stronger gun control on a state and national level — but for the most part those people have expressed that they still respect what we’re doing because this is democracy at work,” said Hart.
 
The walkout’s agenda in Belmont and around the country will be short and simple.
 
“We will not be having ‘speakers’ per say, but we will have a moment of silence, a reminder of why we’re walking out, and the student volunteers will be reading anonymous statements from students,” said Hart.

Chenery’s Soap Box Derby Club Impress In First-Ever Competition

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Photo: The first ever Chenery Middle School Soap Box Derby Team.

The Chenery Middle School’s Soap Box Derby Team, led by Coach Leon Dyer, had a lot of fun on its first-ever competition in the Indoor Rally Race held in the parking garage of the Cambridgeside Galleria Mall the weekend of March 3. The team competed in the morning race on Sunday, March 4.

The team fared well in its first-ever event. Liam Mitchell came in 2nd (with Liam’s last race being a difference of .03 second), James Barmakian came in 5th and Ian Goentzel came in 8th (taking over the spot of Eamon Khan, a 7th grader who had to leave early).

The Chenery Team started almost a year ago taking a field trip in June 2017 to the Arlington Soap Box Derby Championship. After seeing that event, the group of students was sold in building a few cars. Over the past few months, Barmakian, Goentzel, Mitchell and Khan and coach Leon Dyer built four Super Stock Soap Box Derby cars in the Tech Ed classroom at Chenery Middle School.

Ryan Bauer, a Chenery 7th grader who has been participating in Soap Box Derby racing for roughly four years, served as the team’s racing advisor. He was first in his Stock division at the Cambridge race. Ryan was great at answering questions about the cars and competitions.

The team is planning to compete in one or two additional events before the Championship Race in Arlington on June 2. Moving forward, we are looking to add up to six additional cars to the fleet and a trailer giving a total of 8 to 10 students the opportunity to build, learn, race, and compete in Soap Box Derby.

If interested in sponsoring a Soap Box Derby Car, please email Dyer at ldyer@belmont.k12.ma.us.

The Soap Box Derby is a youth soapbox car racing program which has been run in the United States since 1934. World Championship finals are held each July at Derby Downs in Akron, Ohio. Cars competing in this and related events are unpowered, relying completely upon gravity to move. There are three types of Soap Box Derby Cars. Stock, Super Stock, and Master’s Class.