Belmont Snowstorm Update: Schools Delayed Opening, Parking Ban Lifted, Trash/Recycling Starts Tuesday

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Photo: Opening the roads in Belmont after the two-day storm that left 20 inches of snow.

After weathering a powerful storm that wreaked havoc across the country and dumped more than 20 inches over Sunday and Monday, Belmont is getting back to business.

The Belmont Department of Public Works reports the Snow Emergency Parking Ban will be lifted at 6 p.m. on Tuesday, Jan. 27.

Trash and recycling collection will begin on Tuesday, with the pickup schedule delayed a day as if Monday was a holiday: If your collection day is Monday this week, it will be picked up on Tuesday, etc.

To the relief of parents, Belmont Public Schools will reopen on Tuesday, but with a two-hour delay.

All town offices – including the Belmont Public Library, the Beech Street Center, and Town Hall – will be up and running Tuesday under normal times of operation. 

New Principals Named For Winn Brook, Burbank Elementary

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Photo: The Winn Brook Elementary School

Two of Belmont’s four elementary schools will have new principals for the start of the 2020-21 school year starting in September, according to an email from Belmont Superintendent John Phelan.

Anita Mecklenburg, an assistant principal and curriculum director in Norfolk, will become principal of the Winn Brook, and J. Seeley Okie, the interim principal of the Burbank since July, 2019 will take over the position permanently. Both educators will officially start on July 1.

For the past six years, Mecklenburg has been the assistant principal at the H. Olive Day School, a Pre-K to second grade facility, and director of curriculum and instruction in English Language Arts and History and Social Science for Pre-K to 6th grade.

Before her stay in Norfolk, Mecklenburg spent 22 years at the John F. Kennedy Elementary School in Franklin, 13 years as a first grade teacher. Mecklenburg received her BA in Elementary Education from the University of Iowa and an Master’s degree in organizational management from Endicott College.

A resident of Norfolk, Mecklenburg is a candidate for Norfolk’s Select Board in its upcoming election.

Before coming to Belmont, Okie was an assistant principal at the MacArthur Elementary School in Waltham for seven years. Prior to becoming an administrator, Okie taught third and fourth grade in the Natick Public Schools, the Charles River School in Dover, and the Keys School in Palo Alto, Calif. Okie began his career in education as a K-12 science teacher in the Foothills Academy, Wheatridge, Colo.

Okie earned a Bachelor of Arts in American Studies from Colby College. He obtained a Master’s Degree in School Leadership from Harvard Graduate School of Education and a Master’s Degree in Elementary Education from Lesley College.