To the Editor:
Last night’s Special Town Meeting voted overwhelmingly in favor of Article 2 (a new Hunnewell) and Article 3 (a new Hardy).
Town Meeting Members came together and voted to invest in our children, invest in our teachers and invest in the future of Wellesley by providing appropriate infrastructure for Wellesley’s young learners.
Education has always been a sound investment for the Town of Wellesley and we fervently believe it still is today. Anyone who has stepped foot into Hunnewell, Hardy or Upham knows that these buildings are in desperate need of replacement.
Our students can no longer wait. The time to build is now. Let’s put the decade of studying, debate, and planning to work and open two new schools in 2024.
On December 7, all Wellesley citizens will have the chance to vote for Hunnewell and Hardy.
We hope you will join us in voting YES for Hunnewell and Hardy so another cohort of children will not be left to learn in dated and dilapidated schools. Visit www.yesforwellesleystudents.com and learn more about the upcoming vote and how you can get involved.
Niki Brinkman-Ofenloch
Hunnewell parent
TMM Precinct F
Kelly Friendly
Former Hardy parent
TMM Precinct B
Stacy Braatz
Former Upham parent
Precinct C
This letter puts the cart well in front of the horse. While of course education is of utmost importance to our community, throwing good money after bad by rewarding a failing school system is not the way to improve the education of our kids. People are living in the past, when Wellesley’s school system was the crown jewel of our town and a key to our childrens’ future and our rising property values. Unfortunately, such is no longer the case. A few facts: between 2019 and 2021, the crucial elementary school enrollment declined by 15%, or 309 students and overall enrollment has declined precipitously as well (and this is not due to COVID because in 2021 WPS returned to full in-person learning), Wellesley residents are voting with their feet; in 2014 Wellesley High ranked as the #4 best public high school in Mass., but by 2019 it sunk to #19 and in 2021 it is now down to a dismal #26; the Middle School is ranked #46; no elementary school in Wellesley is in the top 10, one came in at #99 and one even failed to crack the top 120; Sprague (in a wonderful, modern facility) failed to even hit the “Meets Expectations” level of the State in the most recent MCAS 3rd grade math test scores and just barely hit that level in language arts; District-wide MCAS and SAT scores have steadily declined over several years relative to peer communities; Russian Math and tutoring companies have opened shop in town (if the schools are doing such a good job, why?); and all of this is happening in the context of one of the very highest per pupil taxpayer expenditures in the Commonwealth. Simply put, our public schools have failed our kids and our taxpayers, with no end in sight. Under the current administration they have veered away from academic excellence and rigor, stifling creativity and critical thinking with indoctrination instead of education. They emphasize mediocrity or leveling of results (in the guise of “equity”) and they spend their time on segregated affinity spaces, CRT and political programs, student “snitch lines” and constant efforts to racially and ethnically divide students in the Orwellian names of “diversity” and “inclusion.” The once golden reputation of Wellesley Public Schools, which realtors have told us for many years every time there is an override proposed is the backbone of property values, is now badly tarnished by national and regional media attention on student violence and lawsuits by fed-up parents. It will take years of hard work– not shiny new buildings– to restore what has been lost. It is time to say no. Let the schools show us the need for their planned capital expenditures in the form of actual rising student headcount (not self-serving consultant projections) and better performance in testing metrics and rankings. Then — and only then– can we all proudly and justifiably talk about tens of millions of increased debt. For more information on what is really happening today in Wellesley’s schools (not back in the mists of a bygone era of excellence) visit wellesleyconcernedparents.org.
Safe and adequate school facilities are not some “reward” for best-in-class state academic rankings. If they were, then why weren’t Wellesley’s sad antiquated dilapidated hundred-year-old grade schools replaced earlier?
Have you seen these shocking Hardy & Hunnewell walk-through videos?
https://wellesleyma.gov/1728/Special-Town-Meeting-Presentations
Very valid statements, Wellesely rankings are bad. Are you proposing that we send our kids to crumbling buildings (I have 2 in Hunewell), because the education level isn’t up to par? This makes 0 sense. I am sure in this town we can figure out how to fix 2 problems at the same time!
Your point is well taken and we agree that in a perfect world the town would indeed figure out how to fix the two problems at the same time. The problem is that we do not live in that perfect world. For a decade now Wellesley Public Schools has failed to address the primary problem of test scores, rankings and academic quality of curriculum falling like a rock, but it certainly has tried to mask that failure with demands that taxpayers pay for new facilities. Where is the balance?
I am in complete agreement with Mr. Glick’s comments. To support the expansion of a service that is facing continuously reduced demand as a result of its ongoing decline in quality and its moral/political invasiveness is not logical. I certainly support the repair of the existing facilities and, more importantly, the repair of the service they provide by changing the direction of our school system’s leadership, but not this gigantic construction project. I can see a lot of people benefiting from this proposal, except our children.
Adequate? Actually, Hardy was ranked by US News as the second best school in the District, and higher than such shinier facilities as Sprague, Bates or the “state of the art” HS. Clearly, Hardy is quite adequate for its stated purpose– the education of our children. Safe? Are you suggesting that Wellesley Public Schools has been putting students and faculty in danger? That’s a strong indictment of the competence of WPS which I assume that they would deny. I agree that a wonderful physical plant is not necessarily a “reward” for performance, but hopefully we can also agree that academic excellence has to be Job 1 for WPS and taxpayers should not be asked to dole out tens of millions of dollars for physical improvements to a school district that is clearly underperforming in its most essential mission. We are talking about priorities here. WPS: Show us that you are restoring order to your academic house and then we will gladly help you put your physical house in order, rather than the other way around. As for “shocking videos,” anyone can make any structure look bad on a video at any time. Videos are not necessarily reflective of reality. The consistently declining test results, rankings and watered-down curricula of our schools are real and are far more shocking. They must be our primary focus. For more information on those key factors, check out Wellesleyconcernedparents.org.