Wellesley School Committee meeting: calendar, enrollment, and more

With the start of school, the Wellesley School Committee is also back in full swing with a full slate of topics to cover. Discussion points included the school calendar; unofficial enrollment numbers; hiring staff to serve the district’s multilingual learners; and more.

As Supt. David Lussier greeted his colleagues, he offered a “global thank you” to the many people who work to make the first day a success, especially given the opening of the new Hardy Elementary School. “Each year the start of school feels like a barn raising,” Lussier said.

The district welcomed 40 new professional staff members this year with a two-day onboarding process. In addition, Kristen Stacy has been welcomed as the new interim head of Preschool at Wellesley (PAWS). And Jeff Dees changed jobs but not hats, settling into his new office at Hunnewell School after serving 12 years as principal at the now-closed Upham School.

School calendar and religious, cultural holidays

School Committee member Niki Ofenloch, who serves on the Academic Calendar Task Force, gave an update on the plan of action for the fall.

The Task Force was created last spring after the School Committee in Dec. 2023 voted to add three holidays to the 2024-25 academic calendar—Diwali, Lunar New Year, and Eid al-Fitr joined Rosh Hashanah, Yom Kippur, and Good Friday as religious/cultural days off for students, faculty, and staff. Families who celebrate Diwali, Lunar New Year, and Eid al-Fitr had been lobbying for the past few years for consideration. School Committee members during the December meeting agreed that their pleas had gone unheard for too long, thus the vote for the additional holidays, despite what some called a rushed process.

The Task Force was then assembled to include additional voices to weigh in on recommendations to the School Committee for more permanent changes to the academic calendar regarding cultural and religious holidays. The 20+ member Task Force includes School Committee members, parents, students, school administrators, and members of the teacher’s union. Meetings are public and recorded.

Ofenloch reported that the Task Force has a flurry of four more meetings this fall, and that a survey will be going out to the school community soon. Next, a community forum will be held in mid-October. After the Academic Task Force’s final October 24 meeting, recommendations for the school calendar will be brought to the School Committee for discussion. The School Committee will then take a vote on the Task Force’s recommendations, perhaps during the same meeting as the presentation, or perhaps during a subsequent meeting, depending on how much discussion is needed.

Enrollment update for 2024-25 school year

First the caveat—this is not, repeat not—the official enrollment report. Due to the fluid nature of the start of the school year, with some families skidding in at the last minute while others exit, the true numbers continue to be a moving target.

The official enrollment numbers will be released later in the fall based on the Oct. 1 “snapshot,” a day when all students must hold still and be officially counted.

But because we’re all dying to know, here’s a sneak peek at some preliminary numbers, as reported by Assistant Superintendent for Finance and Operations Cindy Mahr. You can see the report at the 37 minute mark on Wellesley Media.

Students across grades K-12 number 3,942. (The projected number was 3,889.)

At the K-5 level there are 1,727 students; grades 6-8 has 942 kids; and 1,273 attend WHS. The only enrollment decline is at the high school (77 fewer than last year).

This initial look at enrollment reflects that the numbers are 53 students above projection, and 53 students below School Year 2023-24 Oct. 1 figures. “I can’t make the number any better than this. It’s perfect” Mahr crowed.

The greatest variance is at the elementary and middle school levels. The district budgeted for 91 sections. Currently there are 93 sections due to the need for two additional kindergarten sections.

At this count, there are several elementary sections that are at or over guideline (18-22 students per classroom for K-2; 22-24 students per classroom for grades 3, 4, 5). That may change by Oct. 1.

Teaching assistants wanted to work with multilingual learners

A new job description and its wording for a new position in the schools was brought forward by Human Resources Director David Turcotte. The district is looking for teaching assistants to address the needs of what he called “our newcomer multilingual learners.”

As an aside, many readers may remember the term “English as a Second Language (ESL)” used to refer to non-native speakers. I dropped that from my education reporting years ago, because who am I to decide whether English is someone’s second language? It could be their fourth language for all I know. Instead, I started using the phrase “English as an additional language.” A little clunky, but it served the purpose. But I’m all in on the phrase “multilingual learners.” It takes the emphasis off words, words, words, and lands it squarely on learning as a holistic concept. If we believe that all students can learn, and all students can succeed, why not remind everyone of that starting with the very terms we use?

During discussion, a question about the number of students requiring such teaching assistance didn’t yield a number. Most multilingual learners in WPS currently are at the primary level, and as of now the schools are not seeing a big influx. Still, there are enough students who need services to warrant a Teaching Assistant job description separate from the blanket Teaching Assistant description the district currently uses. The idea is to customize the job description so that TA applicants will be clear that what they are applying for is to help multilingual learners specifically.

A School Committee member asked if positions were open to all, or if candidates needed to have a specific language capacity. Dr. Jorge Allen, Director of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion, took that one explaining that as Wellesley is an immersion district—meaning the program is structured using English as the main medium of communication—the position is open to all. However, if a TA and a student share a language other than English, the TA is not prohibited from facilitating comprehension by using the shared language.

The wording of the job description will be put to a vote at a later meeting.

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