School Committee OKs Three Year Superintendent Contract; ‘Interim’ Dropped From Student Services Director’s Title

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Photo: Belmont Schools Superinterndent Dr. Jill Geiser

It was smooth sailing for Schools Superintendent Dr. Jill Geiser as the Belmont School Committee voted unanimously to support a second employment agreement with Geiser to continue as the district’s leader for an additional three-year term.

“I want to acknowledge Dr. Geiser leadership and the work underway across the district that she has been spearheading,” said School Committee Chair Meg Moriarty, who noted the contract will run from July 1 through June 30, 2030, with a possible one-year extension. 

“The agreement that we’ve come to reflects that the school committee wishes to support the continuation of that work and your very strong district leadership. I think the contract provides important continuity for the Belmont public schools through June 2030, with a standard one-year extension,” said Moriarty.

Details of Gieser’s contract, including her salary and compensation which is being adjusted in year one, allowing her to be compensated at an equivilent level found in other districts, were not provided by Moriarty. Those changes are based on a third-year superintendent with a doctorate in education, followed by modest, predictable increases that reflect both other contract conditions in the district and the fiscal responsibility expected of the school committee.

After the vote, Geiser called out the committee’s “confidence in my work as a superintendent. I also convey that to the leadership team. It is the people on our team that really make things happen, and I want to extend appreciation in that direction as well.”

Geiser pointed out the experience of being a superintendent in a community where she lives “is really pretty incredible.”

“I get comments like, ‘Is that hard [working in Belmont]?’ I was like, ‘Actually, it’s good.’ It’s because I feel that I have much more investment in it, and it’s not hard to get out to certain events and things like that and see what’s going on,” she said.

“I appreciate very much the opportunity to do that here in Belmont, and I am looking forward to continuing on with the work,” said Geiser.

Libby Given the Full Time Job

The transitional title ‘interim’ was a prefix to Jonathan Libby’s title up until Tuesday, when the School Committee approved Libby’s appointment to be the district’s next full-time Director of Student Services through the coming three years.

The Department of Student Services encompasses guidance, nursing, and special education services from preschool through high school.

“I think that the school committee feels that the agreement supports the continuity and leadership in the Student Services Department, which is critical for many of our students and families,” said Moriarty.

Belmont School Committee OKs $88.3M Budget For FY ’27, A 9.3 Percent Annual Increase

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Photo: FY ’27 School Committee budget

The Belmont School Committee unanimously approved an $88.3 million fiscal year 2027 budget at its March 10 meeting.

The committee will ask the annual Town Meeting to approve the $74.0 million allocated to the schools from the town’s general fund. The remaining $14.3 million is made up of grants, revolving funds, and other accounts.

The all-in budget (the general fund and the other fund sources) is 9.3 percent above last fiscal year’s amount, while the town’s general funds allocation to the schools rose 4.8 percent, or $3.38 million.

There are two big-ticket items: educator and staff salaries making up three-quarters of the budget, followed by salaries, tuition, and transportation supporting special education at 18 percent.

“You’d see the vast majority of our funds are for staff salaries, which is typical for a [school] district in general,” said Tony DiCologero, director of Finance, Business and Operations.

“So after you look at those two categories together, that’s 93 percent of the school budget coming from the general fund. It doesn’t leave us a lot to do much beyond that,” said Amy Zuccarello, who chairs the finance subcommittee. “I do applaud that we’ve been able to do so much with so little, and I think it is due to where our focus has been.” 

The number of Belmont’s Full-Time Equivalent (FTEs) teaching and staff positions will exceed 600 in FY ’27, with the addition of 19 FTE’s from all sources, as the figure reaches 613.6.

Unlike pre-pandemic budgets, which were inherently completed late in the fiscal year as the town administration and school district sweated out final state-based local aid amounts, there is no surprise of what the school’s allocation will be after the town adopted a revenue-first budget process three years ago. 

There will be two one-time appropriations in the fiscal ’27 budget: $46,000 for the implementation of a Student Information System and funding for the continued adoption of the elementary-level curriculum plan, noted DiCologero.

Revolving funds – individual accounts for specific activities such as athletics, food services, and bus fees – will come in at $4.6 million, an increase of $700,000 from fiscal year ’26, reflecting greater
reliance on the fees for student activities and visual and performing arts, and so reducing the general
fund to this area.

The ’27 fiscal year will see the return of the federal and state grants line item account. During the COVID pandemic era, the district received a significant amount of one-time federal funds along with state recurring grants. That line item has been a considerable jump from $6.3 million to $9.5 million, which is largely due to the anticipated reimbursement and the district’s reliance on state “circuit breaker” funds based on Belmont’s special education tuition and transportation expenses, said DiCologero. 

“Ultimately, I think that this is a very good budget in light of what our available resources are,” said Zuccarello. “We can never predict exactly what the future is going to look like, but this is an educated, informed budget that I feel very happy to support.”

Middle School, Chenery Activity Fees Jump 47 Percent For ’25-’26 School Year; Follows New HS Fee Structure

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Photo: Belmont Middle School

Students at Belmont Middle School and Chenery Upper Elementary School will face a nearly 50 percent jump in the cost to participate in many clubs, after-school activities, theater, and sports after the Belmont School Committee unanimously approved a $70 increase in extracurricular fees for the coming school year.

These new fees come three weeks after the School Committee sets a new fee structure for Belmont High School students participating in Visual and Performing Arts programs, which will also begin in September [See more information at the bottom of the article]

The committee believes the annual increase from $150 to $220 per student will reduce the extracurricular program’s reliance on the general school fund.

“We really are moving towards this concept that we want to decrease reliance on the general fund for these kinds of expenses,” said Amy Zuccarello, chair of the School Committee’s Finance subcommittee.

Screenshot

The activities fee increase comes as the Fiscal Year ’26 budget has a $100,000 reduction in the extracurricular line item for all schools.

“It is potentially helpful to offset that reduction [in the budget] so that we don’t have to impact programming as much,” said Superintendent Jill Geiser.

The higher fees in fiscal ’26 will increase the estimated revenue by $6,615 at the Chenery and $11,953 at the Middle School, resulting in a positive return of $3,160 at the CUE and $6,294. According to the district, these gains can be used to offset increased program costs and/or general fund expenses.

“[A]ny increase in fees will help to offset those projected deficits,” said Tony DiCologero, the district’s director of finance, business, and operations.

The committee had few options, with a likely stipend increase for the educators and staff leading the activities and increases in the general costs of running these programs.

“We don’t want to cut $100,000 from our activities,” said School Committee Chair Meg Moriarty, pointing to fees filling the funding gap. While she is empathetic to “parents who come forward and say ‘I pay taxes and I don’t want to pay another fee’ … But unfortunately in our community and with our budget, I think these are some of the hard choices we have to make” to keep extracurriculars at the two schools.

Committee member Zehra Abid-Wood asked if a process had been established to reach out to families unable to meet the new fee requirement. Zuccarello said there is a current waiver process that is being streamlined “to make it easier to access … which should help … where this is more difficult to pay.”

Moriarty also discussed how the committee could best deliver the news to the school communities: “I think we owe the community an explanation about how this increase in fees actually hits our budget. What are we doing with that money, and what does it still provide students? And if we didn’t [increase fees], what would we have to take away?”

“I think the School Committee can do a better job of providing that context publicly,” She said.

The new high school fee structure for VPA participants is a three-tier system, with levels aligning with participation.

  • Music – $335 / year
    • Marching Band/Color Guard, BMHS Winds, Jazz Ensemble/Jazz Combo, Chamber Music small ensembles, Madrigal Singers, a Cappella, Winter Percussion/Winter Guard
  • Performing Arts – $500 / year
    • Fall Semester: Broadway Night, Fall Play, Improv
    • Spring Semester: Musical, One Acts, Improv
  • Music and Performing Arts – $600 / year
    • All activities in music and performing arts

Belmont Town Election: Yates Takes Select Board Race, Crowley Squeaks In As Moderator, Donner Elected To Library Trustees

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Photo: Tyler Yates arrives at Town Hall to hear he was elected to the Belmont Select Board

With more than three of four Belmont voters deciding to take a pass, there was a good chance a few surprises were in store from the 2025 annual Town Election held April 1, April Fool’s Day.

Despite contested races in four town-wide offices, voter participation was just 23.6 percent—the lowest numbers since 2018, when a minuscule 16.5 percent came out to cast ballots, which made the landscape ripe for challengers. In the town-wide races, a long-serving elected official was edged out by just 10 votes by a rival who lost his bid last year by a wide margin. At the same time, a venerable incumbent was outed by a candidate who was unceremoniously dumped from her seat on another committee just five years ago.

Results of the 2025 Belmont Town Elections can be found here

In the race for Select Board, Planning Board Chair Taylor Yates topped each of Belmont’s eight precincts to capture the seat vacated by Roy Epstein, defeating another first-time candidate, Economic Development Committee Chair Paul Joy, 2,533 to 1,738. Several observers noted the similarities of the pair – both relatively recent residents with young children (Yates welcoming a newborn last year) who ran on their accomplishments and new vision – and how this race represents a generational “changing of the guard” in town leadership.

“I feel extraordinary gratitude to all the voters, to my campaign team, the volunteers, the donors, and my family. A lot of people came together to make tonight happen,” said Yates, who witnessed his victory in the packed second-floor lobby of Town Hall. Candidates, observers, four or five children, and a crew from Belmont Media Center came to hear the traditional reading of results just after 9 p.m.

Yates said his positive vision of Belmont’s future brought out voters. “Our best days are ahead of us if we have leaders willing to push forward on our biggest priorities,” he said.

In a bit of an upsetting of the political apple cart, former School Committee member Micheal Crowley in his second go around for the post, squeaked by four-term Select Board member Mark Paolillo by the razor thin of margins, a mere 10 votes, 2,133 to 2,123. While both candidates ran on making changes to the office held for nearly two decades by Mike Widmer, Crowley said he believed voters saw him as the greater reformer.

“I have a great deal of work ahead of me [because] I promised a lot of change,” said Crowley, specifically on the focus of the job, “that the moderator will be much more engaged with the community.” One concrete example will be establishing a citizens’ advisory board and a commitment to virtual Town Meetings.

It was a good night for former School Committee members as Tara Donner placed second in a tight three-way race for two seats on the Board of Library Trustees, defeating long-time member Mike McCarthy, who placed third. Donner lost her school committee seat in the 2021 post-pandemic lockdown election, in which voters locally and nationally placed their frustrations onto incumbents. However, the public school educator and Town Meeting member since 2007 wanted to be involved in town government. With her background teaching English, “libraries have always been a place I love, where I’ve taken my kids and where I have been a heavy user.”

As with the Select Board race, Donner believed “people are just interested in what the next generation of Belmont leaders might bring to the library.” She said that once the new library building opens in early 2026, “we also need to have the programming and have the resources to fill it with the services that people are looking for in Belmont.” Joining Donnor on the committee will be Edward Barker, the candidate who topped the field, in which 142 votes separated the three candidates.

Talking about the school committee, that group now has two new members with newcomers Zehra Abid-Wood, who scored an impressive 45 percent of the total ballots cast with 3,213 votes, and Brian Palmer, each winning a three-year term.

The final competitive race saw Julie LeMay easily securing a fourth term on the Board of Health, defeating first-time candidate Michael Todd Thompson. Thompson also ran for a seat on the School Committee.

The big surprise on the Town Meeting ledger was the number of seats that write-ins will fill: In Precinct 3, Wendy Etkind, Ashley Addington, and Constantin Lichi won three-year terms via write-in votes, while Andrea Carrillo-Rhodes and Franceny Johnson will be attending Town Meeting as write-ins. And in Precinct 7, Mary Rock got 26 of her friends and neighbors to write in her name to secure the 12th spot on the ballot.

Among Town Meeting incumbents, Marie Warner placed 13th in Precinct 6 despite garnering 388 votes, which would have comfortably secured a seat in the seven other precincts.

Write-in Sally Martin took the one-year seat in Precinct 1, while over at Precinct 7, James Reynolds will need to choose whether to select a three-year or a two-year term, as he secured that final spot for a three-year seat and topped the field for a two-year term.

School Committee Sets ’25-’26 Calendar: Opening Day Wednesday, Sept. 3

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Photo: Belmont School Committee approves 2025-26 calendar

The Belmont School Committee voted unanimously to approve the 2025-26 calendar at its scheduled meeting on Feb. 11.

So parents and students can start planning this year’s summer break plans as opening day for the district has been set.

“That means that the start of the school year for 2025-26 will be Wednesday, Sept. 3 for grades 1 to 12,” declared School Committee Chair Meg Moriarity. Belmont continues its long standing tradition of beginning the year after Labor Day. The first day will also be a half day for students.

Half of the kindergarteners will report on Sept. 4 and Sept 5. Preschoolers will be welcomed to visit their schools on Sept. 5 with their first day on Sept. 8.

The planned final day of the school year is Thursday, June 25. That date includes five ‘snow days’ added to the proposed day in anticipation of the schools being closed for bad weather. If there are no day closures in 2025-26, the last day of school will be Thursday, June 18, as June 19 is the Juneteenth Independence Day holiday.

Notable breaks in the school year include:

  • Nov. 27-28: Thanksgiving Recess
  • Nov. 22-Jan. 2: Winter Recess
  • Feb. 16-20: February Recess
  • April 20-24: April Recess

Town Election: Yes On Override; Wins For Taylor, Widmer, Moriarty And Kraft; Assessors Question Too Close To Call

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Photo: Warden Robert McKie reads out the preliminary results from precinct 2 on Tuesday night

Belmont voters approved a record $8.4 million Proposition 2 1/2 override by a comfortable 1,000-plus vote margin at the annual Town Election held on Tuesday, April 2.

The final tally was 5,120 in the yes column and 4,050 nos as voters accepted the positive argument from the “yes” campaigners to preserve public services and safety and protect Belmont schools from losing educators and maintain its outstanding reputation.

“I think it’s that people love their community,” said Erin Rowland, the campaign manager for Invest In Belmont, the “yes” campaign, when asked the compelling reason voters where willing to increase the property tax just three years after rejecting a smaller override request.

”We want the to see the town thrive and continue to be successful, and that’s the reason people came together. What was so heartwarming about working on the campaign was the outpouring of support from a wide range of residents,” she said in a crowded second floor lobby in Town Hall where candidates, observers and many candidates came after the polls closed at 8 p.m.

Invest in Belmont Chair David Lind said the town has “been through a hard few years and we were in a tough spot financially. I believe that [the override] gets us back onto a better track so we can all work together and keep Belmont as the town that we all know land love.”

Rowland, who was a winner in her race to be selected to Town Meeting from Precinct 6, said she fully understood that Tuesday’s results will be difficult for many residents, especially senior on fixed incomes.

”We are one community and we want to do everything we can to see Belmont implement senior [property] tax relief. We understand that need and it’s very real and we’ll do everything that we can to promote that,” she said.

In the night’s nail biter, voters approved making the Board of Assessors an appointed body by a mere eight votes, 4,218 to 4,210. With 50 ballots – from residents overseas and in the military as well as provisional ballots – yet to be counted, the race is too close to be called.

Final results will be released by the Town Clerk’s office by Friday or Saturday. Unofficial results as of Tuesday at 10 p.m. can be seen here.

In the race to replace Mark Paolillo on the Select Board, Matt Taylor defeated his Warrant Committee colleague Geoff Lubien by 600 votes, 3,851 to 3,248, with newcomer Alex Howard taking home 659 votes.

“I began [this campaign] genuinely wanting to connect with people and doing that in a deeply personal way,” said Taylor after feeling “so separated from our local government and our residents coming out of the pandemic. So I knocked on nearly 1,700 doors. I had a lot of one-on-one conversations. It was very grassroots.”

”I have a lot of hope and I’m ready to work because this is a level where you get to make a real positive difference about the people around you,” said Taylor. “We have to reach out to residents and invite them in to have a broader two-way discussion. It brings us together. This is an “us” thing.”

Voters acknowledged incumbent Meg Moriarty’s successful tenure as the two-term chair of the School Committee by returning her to the board. Moriarty topped the three-person field for the two available three-year seats garnering 5,354 votes.

“[Winning] means I get to keep talking about all of our great students and it’s all about doing best for every single student in our schools,” Moriarty said at Town Hall Tuesday night after the results were read by Belmont Town Clerk Ellen Cushman.

With her return to the School Committee, Moriarty will provide a continuity on the six member body “that helps tremendously” as it “helps keeps the momentum moving forward” on several of initiatives that Superintendent Jill Geiser has proposed.

Joining her on the committee will be first-time candidate Matt Kraft. The Brown University professor took home 5,176 votes, while recent Belmont High School graduate, current Emerson College student and Town Meeting member Angus Abercrombie collected 2,792 votes.

“I hope to take the opportunity to listen and learn both from my fellow school committee members and Belmont residents about our priorities and build on the three year strategic plan that the district is developing,” said Kraft who arrived to Town Hall with his wife and two kids after enjoying Taco Tuesday.

Speaking as the new body on the committee, “I think part of the hard work is to work collaboratively and collectively. And I look forward to those conversations that I know some will be difficult. But that’s the job. We all have a shared commitment towards strengthening our schools for all the students and in building towards, frankly, a brighter future.”

Challenged for the first time in 16 years, long-time Town Moderator Mike Widmer defeated former Warrant and School Committee member Mike Crowley, 4,656 to 3,248.

”People understood that experience is really important, and that running Town Meeting is very demanding. I’ve done it for all these years and voters felt that I had done well in the position,” said Widmer who announced earlier in the year that this term would be his final one as moderator.

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.

Belmont Town Election Ballot Set With Three Competitive Town-Wide Races And Two Big-Time Questions

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Photo: The town election will take place on April 2

It’s official. Belmont Town Clerk Ellen Cushman announced last week she had certified the candidates who will be on the ballot for the annual Town Election on Tuesday, April 2.

Voters will ponder over three competitive town-wide races with half of the eight Town Meeting precincts along with two big-time questions on the ballot.

In the race for the all-important town body, two well-known members of the town’s financial watchdog will take on an absolute newbie. Colleagues Geoff Lubien and Matt Taylor on the Warrant Committee are out campaigning along with newcomer Alex Howard.

There’s an exciting mix for two seats on the school committee. Incumbent and current chair Meg Moriarty is seeking to return for her second stint on the board. At the same time, first-time candidates for town-wide office, Gen Z Town Meeting member Angus Abercrombie and noted education economist and professor Matt Kraft, are in the three-person race.

In his first competitive race on the ballot in more than 15 years in the post, Mike Widmer will face former school and warrant committee member Mike Crowley for town moderator.

On the legislative side of the ballot, half of the eight precincts – in a weird coincidence, they are the first four precincts, 1-4 – have exactly 12 residents running for a dozen three-year seats. A single precinct, number 5, came up short with only ten on the ballot. Surprisingly, precinct 7, which historically had difficulty finding candidates, will have 14 running with five non-incumbents, while precincts 6 and 8 will have 13 seeking 12 seats. Some of the best races will be for several partial-term seats: three will be running for a single-year post in Precinct 1, with two campaigning for the seats in Precincts 6 and 8.

In many ways, it will be the ballot questions that will bring out the voters in April. The outcome of the $8.4 million Prop 2 1/2 override to supplement the capital budget and the town and school operating budgets – Question 1 – will have long-term consequences for town and school services as well as personal finances. There are advocacy committees for yes and no votes. The second question will change the elected board of assessors to an appointed one. That measure passed at the January Special Town Meeting.

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.

School Committee Race Gets Competitive With Incumbent, Newcomer In The Mix

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Photo: Meg Moriarty and Matt Kraft

It’s now three candidates seeking two open seats on the Belmont School Committee in the annual Town Election as the incumbent chair of the committee and a prominent professor in education submitted the necessary papers to the Town Clerk this past week.

Meg Moriarty is seeking a second three-year term on the board. While in her initial stint on the board, Moriarty has been chair since April 2022, garnering praise from her colleagues on her leadership and collaborative skills when negotiating educators and staff contracts, navigating the district through two budget cycles, managed the transfer to the committee of the new Belmont Middle and High School and helping in the hiring of Dr. Jill Geiser as Superintendent of Belmont School District.

The mother of two who attend Belmont Public Schools, Moriarty runs MegMor Research and Evaluation which helps organizations assess the impact of Science Technology Engineering & Math (STEM) programming. The Precinct 2 Town Meeting Member matriculated at Brown and earned her master’s and doctorate in education (science education) from Boston University.

Newcomer Matt Kraft enters the Belmont political scene from academia as a leading scholar in education economics. The St. Louis native is an associate Professor of Education and Economics at Brown University with a focus on efforts to improve educator and organizational effectiveness in public schools. He is also a research associate at the National Bureau of Economic Research.

“I care deeply about Belmont public schools because my two children will be in the [Belmont schools] for the next decade,” Kraft said. The schools are at the heart of the town and I am excited tp serve and add a voice that brings experience and knowledge to addressing the challenges we face

Kraft received his B.A. from Stanford while earning a M.A. and doctorate from Harvard. Kraft taught 8th grade English as a long-term substitute teacher in Oakland, CA, while receiving his M.A. than teaching 9th grade humanities at Berkeley High School.

Moriarty and Kraft will join Emerson student Angus Abercrombie on the ballot for the annual Town Election being held on April 2.