School supplies swap at RDF
Bring your gently used school supplies in good condition (folders, markers, scissors, plastic binders, sheets, etc.) to the Reusables Area at the Wellesley Recycling and Disposal Facility for the next few weeks. While you’re there, if you need supplies, take what you need.
It’s a casual affair, so if you see supplies you need but you didn’t bring anything to donate, no worries. The point is to keep as much out of the landfill as possible. So you’re doing the environment a favor by helping yourself to whatever supplies or your family needs to help ensure back-to-school success. Sponsored by Sustainable Wellesley and the RDF.
The Reusables Area hours are Wednesday, 7am-11:30am and Thursday-Saturday from 7am- 3pm. It is CLOSED Sunday through Tuesday. Hours to drop off your recycling, trash, yard waste and more are longer. Full information on RDF hours here.
Walk, bike, roll to school day is Oct. 12
Get ready to participate in walk, bike and roll to school day on Wednesday, Oct. 12. It’s a healthy, safe, and fun way to start the school year. If enough people participate, the event also potentially reduces traffic and emissions in town for the day.
Wellesley’s elementary schools — Bates, Fiske, Hardy, Schofield, Sprague, and Upham — are regular participants in the yearly effort, as are the middle and high schools.
Take the school bus
Seats are still available on some Wellesley Public Schools bus routes. Email WPS Transportation Director Deane McGoldrick at mcgoldrickd@wellesleyps.org
How to get the bus for free
- due to the Hunnewell Swing Space project, all Hunnewell students may receive school bus transportation to their assigned schools at no cost, per School Committee policy for SY22-23.
- if you live two or more miles from the school and your public school child is in kindergarten–6th grade, there is no fee by state law.
For the 2022-23 school year, bus service for your grade 7-12 kids who live under two miles from their school is $500 per student. Upham students are not eligible for bus service.
How to get your kids (or yourself) on a different kind of bus for free
A no-cost option is the CatchConnect, an on-demand micro transit service from the Metrowest Regional Transit Authority (MWRTA) operating between 6:45am and 6:45pm weekdays. This service is available to all, but unaccompanied youth must be 12 or older to ride. Download the MWRTA CatchConnect app and request a pick-up anywhere in Wellesley. In addition, the service provides transportation to the Woodland MBTA and to a few locations in bordering towns.
The service is free for now. In the future, the MWRTA will launch a new fare system, but an official launch date has not yet been revealed.
Learn more about CatchConnect here.
Global Climate Strike Day
A group of Wellesley residents concerned about the environment will demonstrate in front of Town Hall as a way to make the climate concerns visible to as many people as possible on Sept. 23, 3-4pm. The event is put forth by Fridays for the Future, a group which according to its website works “…to provide loss and damage finance to the communities most affected by the climate crisis.”
All are welcome to demonstrate.
