We are just about halfway through the school year, deep into winter, and just beginning 2017. Thank you to the custodians, the Facilities department, and the Department of Public Works staff for all their help with the snow removal over the weekend of January 7 and 8 as well as their help in getting the schools ready to open on the following Monday.
I hope your new year is happy and healthy. Below is the first newsletter of the new year with the latest news and calendar items from the district.
“Intelligence plus character-that is the goal of true education.”
― Martin Luther King Jr.
SCHOOL COMMITTEE
- School Calendar: The School Committee voted at the January 10 meeting to begin school for students on Wednesday, September 6 in 2017-2018. This continues the School Committee policy of beginning school on the first Wednesday of September. The School Committee will discuss possible policy changes for future school years and will update the public in coming meetings. This will not affect the 2017-2018 school year. See the 2017-2018 school calendar on the BPS website.
- CMS Modulars: Teachers and students will be in the modulars starting the week of January 16. This past week teachers took students on a tour of the space so they could see the classrooms first hand. We would like to thank custodian Gene O'Brien and the teachers, who have done a tremendous amount of work packing and unpacking in order to make this transition seamless.
- CMS School Presentation: In an effort to showcase the work of our building principals, the School Committee is asking each principal to present at a School Committee meeting for the 2016-2017 school year. The first principal to present was Michael McAllister at the January 10 meeting. Principal McAllister did a great job of organizing his first year at Chenery and implementing operational changes to the school and staff to ensure a smooth start to the school year. See Principal McAllister's presentation on the BPS website.
- Space Task Force: The Space Task Force Committee (made up of our four elementary principals, Director of Visual and Performing Arts Arto Asadoorian, Anne Marie Mahoney from the Capital Budget Committee, Thomas Caputo and Susan Burgess-Cox of the School Committee, and parent Ellen Schreiber) met on January 12 to continue its work of reviewing class size, enrollment trends, and the need for space and teaching positions for the elementary level. The Space Task Force will be making a presentation to the School Committee at an upcoming meeting to inform the committee and community of the space needs of the district moving forward. Please see the Class Size Report presented to the School Committee on January 10. You can also go to the School Committee page on the BPS website to see the January 1 enrollment also presented at that meeting.
- Belmont High School Building Committee (BHS-BC): We are in the Module 2 phase of the Massachusetts School Building Authority (MSBA) process, which encompasses the hiring of the "owner project manager" and design architect. That work will come to a conclusion in April or May. We have hired an educational facilitator, Frank Locker, to meet with our educators and help guide the community meetings we will have this spring. These community and educator meetings will be held with the goal of reinforcing the vision for teaching and learning for our students in Belmont and will help outline the framework of each of the three grade configuration options (7-12, 8-12, 9-12) under consideration. The building committee and the School Committee are fully aware that the topic of these grade configurations requires a lot of thought and consideration, and we look forward to working with the community in the spring to help shape this work moving forward. Please see the BHS-BC website for more information.
- FY18 Budget: We have begun budget discussions for the school year 2017-2018. We are working with the Town and our Finance Committee as well as also our Leadership Council to determine the needs and priorities of the district. The Leadership Council has completed their zero-based budget meetings to help inform our budget process for next year. We will keep the public up to date on these budget discussions which will also be addressed at our School Committee meetings in January and February. The full budget for FY18 will be presented at the February 7 School Committee meeting.
TEACHING AND LEARNING
The Belmont Public Schools launched a district-wide Social and Emotional Learning (SEL) effort eighteen months ago (though some schools had been implementing components of SEL prior). Research makes it clear that effective self-management and interpersonal skills are needed by all students for school and life success, and that SEL skills improve academic learning experiences.
As part of our district's SEL initiative, we want to assess and enhance our progress. One long-established and highly regarded tool for this purpose is a school climate survey. Administering school climate surveys will give us insights regarding the degree to which the environment is conducive to learning SEL, and give us information about ways that SEL skills and principles are/aren't being demonstrated in the environment. The surveys are a tool for our own continuous learning, showing us patterns of success and areas for improvement.
Following best practices, we will invite all professional staff, all parents/guardians, and middle and high school students (selected grades) to fill out the school climate survey tailored to each group. The parent/guardian survey will be sent by email to each parent/guardian in the school. Those with students in more than one school will receive a separate email and survey link for each school. The parent/guardian survey will be emailed to you on January 30, and will remain open until February 10. Thank you in advance for taking the time to share your feedback to help us learn.
If you have questions or would like more information, please contact Assistant Superintendent Janice Darias (jdarias@belmont.k12.ma.us).
BURBANK SAFETY NOTE
Wednesday the Burbank crossing guard was hit by a car before school started while many children were walking to school. His injuries were not life-threatening, but serious enough for him to be taken to the hospital. He was bruised with no broken bones and was released to go home. Principal Tricia Clifford says he will be back to the Burbank soon. The police believe it was an accident not due to speed.
The cross walk and traffic concerns at the Burbank have been an issue, and parents and Principal Clifford have been looking at ideas and solutions for some time. The Town Planning Department has made some recommendations to the Capital Committee for funds for a set of improvements to the area. I went to the Burbank on Thursday morning to meet with parents, and I will be meeting on Friday with the police and Planning Department leaders to discuss the issue. The safety of our students and staff is of primary concern, and I want to thank Principal Clifford for her swift action and communication.
NURSES NOTE
Here is a message from your child's school nurse:
- Tis the season: At this time of year we expect to see both influenza and gastrointestinal (GI) illness occurring in our schools. Please know that your child’s school nurses takes time to monitor the absentee rate, as well as the reason each child is out sick. This way she can see if there is an increase in flu like illness or GI illness. By doing so, efforts can be taken to work to prevent the further spread of any contagious illness and keep your child in school and learning. What can you do to help? Please remember to keep your child home from school for 24 hours following any vomiting, diarrhea, and/or a temperature greater than 100.0 without fever reducing medication and when calling to report your child absent from school, please include any of these symptoms to assist us in monitoring illnesses affecting your child’s school.
- Extended absences or hospitalizations: If your child is out of school for a prolonged period of time or is hospitalized, please call your child’s school nurse before returning to school so plans can be made to ensure the safest and smooth transition of your child back to school.
- School Year 2017-2018: Once the first of the new year comes, your school nurse begins preparing to ensure that all current students have what is required to enroll in the next school year. Massachusetts General Law requires periodic physical exams for all students. Students entering grade 4, 7 and 10 must present a current physical examination and updated immunization record. Please remember to provide your school nurse with a copy of your child’s most current physical exam dated after August 1, 2016. To know if your child’s immunizations are up to date, please consult with your pediatrician.
SCHOOL NEWS
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More than 7,800 items were collected by Chenery students and families during their annual December Food Drive for the Belmont Food Pantry. A great annual event that serves many families in Belmont. See our website for the full story.
- Congratulations to Gabriel Sui, grade 7 student at Chenery Middle School for earning a perfect score on the American Mathematics Competition Math Exam (AMC 8). This is a 25-question, 40-minute, multiple choice examination in middle school mathematics designed to promote the development of problem-solving skills. This is a highly recognized national competition. Earning a perfect score ranks Gabriel in the top of the country. He joins other Chenery Middle School standouts Ziling Zhou (2009) and Sergei Bernstein (2004) in the perfect score category. All the CMS students who participated are to be congratulated on their accomplishments and hard work. Here is the contest summary:190 CMS Students participated; 105 CMS Students earned double digits (10 or more questions correct); 58 CMS Students scored better than 50%; 20 CMS Students scored better than 80%; one CMS Student score 100%.
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Three seniors, Xinyi (Cindy) Zhang, Eileen You, and Daphne Kaxiras, earned third place at this year’s Women of Science competition on Saturday, December 10, held in Bedford. Daphne’s “Slow Roller” placed first out of 40 teams. Each of these students won $500. Congratulations to these students.
- Congratulations again to Xinyi (Cindy) Zhang, who was chosen as a 2017 National Honorable Mention recipient of the National Center for Women and Information Technology (NCWIT) Award for Aspirations in Computing.
- Lindsay Rinder, Director of English, ELL, and Reading, announced BHS Chinese language teachers Mu Qing Gu and Yu Chen Chung Swallom are going to co-teach a class on Chinese language and culture designed to help teachers make their new Chinese students feel at home and have an easier transition from going to school in China to going to school in Belmont. There will be two sessions of seven classes available for teachers in late February.
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Eric Fisher, Chief Meteorologist at CBS Boston WBZ-TV news, visited first graders at Butler and spoke about why he became a meteorologist and his work as such. The visit was shown on his newscast on December 13. Reports are he delighted the students by showing a video explaining how the weather reporting is produced for television.
- Butler fourth graders went to the Tsongas Industrial History Center (aka Lowell Mills) on December 5 as part of the curriculum about immigration into the U.S. They took a guided tour of the mill and explored workers’ lives. A great way to have history come alive.
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Wellington second graders had a visit from author/illustrator Brian Lies. He read one of his best-selling picture books to each class. He is a return guest author, whose work includes the New York Times bestselling "bats" series.
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The Burbank community donated over 200 toys during its annual Burbank Giving Days toy drive, held in December. The toys were delivered to Children's Hospital in Boston and distributed to patients spending the holidays in the hospital. A great community effort of giving.
- The Foundation for Belmont Education (FBE) announced the awards granted for Cycle 1 for 2016-2017. Fifteen learning grants totaling $43,962 were awarded. There are two cycles for the learning grants; one in the fall and one in the spring. Congratulations to the educators on their grants, and we thank the FBE for providing them.
ATHLETICS
- Congratulations to the Boosters Athletes of the month for November and December:
November: Female Athlete of the Month is Nichole Kalavantis of the BHS Girls Swim and Dive Team; Male Athlete of the Month is Ed Stafford of the Boys Soccer Team
December: Female Athlete of the Month is Rachel Iler- Keniston of the BHS Girls Ice Hockey Team; Male Athlete of the Month for December is Kevin Dacey of the BHS Boys Ice Hockey Team
- Despite the snowy conditions, the Brendan Grant Wrestling tournament held on January 7 was a huge success. Many thanks to the Brendan Grant Foundation, Friends of Belmont Wrestling, the BHS wrestling team,the BHS custodial staff, and the Belmont Light Company.
Here is the Athletics Schedule for this weekend:
Friday, January 13
3:30 PM Boys Freshman Basketball Winchester High School Away
3:30 PM Girls Freshman Basketball Winchester High School Home
3:30 PM Coed Varsity Skiing OPEN DATE League Race S Make up Away
4:00 PM Boys Varsity Swimming Winchester High School Home
5:15 PM Boys Junior Varsity Basketball Winchester High School Away
5:15 PM Girls Junior Varsity Basketball Winchester High School Home
7:00 PM Boys Varsity Basketball Winchester High School Away
7:00 PM Girls Varsity Basketball Winchester High School Home
Saturday, January 14
9:00 AM Boys Varsity Indoor Track MSTCA Relay Away
9:00 AM Boys Varsity Wrestling WOBURN tournament Away
10:00 AM Girls Varsity Indoor Track OPEN DATE MSTCA Relay Away
1:00 PM Boys Varsity Ice Hockey Winchester High School Home
2:00 PM Girls Varsity Ice Hockey Winchester High School Away
BELMONT SCHOOLS NOW
The second show is up and running with guest Chenery Principal Michael McAllister. See the BPS website for information on this episode's content. This edition of Belmont Schools Now is available from Belmont Media Center on Channels 8 and 28 on Saturdays at 10:00 a.m.; Tuesdays at 6:00 p.m.; and Wednesdays at 5:00 p.m. The show will be repeated during those time slots, and can be viewed anytime online.
BELMONT LIBRARY NEWS
Please see the January Belmont Library Newsletter for news and programs.
CALENDAR
Below are some of the numerous events going on through the end of January. Please check school websites and communications for more events and any additional information or changes in dates, times, and venues.
DATE/TIME - PLACE EVENT
January 16 - All Schools Closed - Martin Luther King, Jr. Day
January 16 - BHS Cafeteria - 9:00 a.m. to 11:00 a.m. - The 23rd Annual Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Community Breakfast (Registration at the door from 8:45 a.m. to 9:00 a.m.)
January 18 - 7:00 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. - Wellington Community Room - Belmont Special Education Parent Advisory Council (SEPAC) January Parents Information session
January 18 - 7:00 p.m. - BHS Auditorium - BHS Sing-A-Rama
January 18 - 6:30 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. - CMS Auditorium - Parent/Guardian Presentation: "Navigating the Cyber World"
January 19 - 7:00 p.m. to 9:00 p.m. - CMS Auditorium - CMS Honors Chamber Concert
January 20 - 7:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m. - Viglirolo Rink - Burbank Skating Party
January 20 - 5:45 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. - BHS - Wellington PTO Bingo Night
January 20 - 6:30 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. - Winn Brook Movie Night
January 21 - BHS - SAT Testing
January 21 - MMEA All State Auditions (away from BPS)
January 24 - 7:00 p.m. - CMS Community Room - School Committee Meeting
January 24 - 6:30 p.m. - BHS Auditorium - SAT/ACT Information Night
January 27 - 7:00 p.m. - Viglirolo Rink - CMS Skate Night (rescheduled from 1/20)
January 28 - 7:00 p.m. to 9:00 p.m. - BHS Cafeteria - BHS Semi-Formal Homecoming Dance
January 28 - MMEA Junior District Auditions (away from BPS)
January 30 - 7:00 p.m. to 9:00 p.m. - CMS Auditorium - CMS Honors Concert; Chamber Orchestra, Chamber Singers, Chenery Winds and Jazz Ensemble