More than you really want to know about Wellesley, Mass.
Fiske’s annual Wild West Round-up fun fair is one of the PTO’s primary fund raising events. The funds provide additional programs, services and learning opportunities above and beyond what the school system can provide.
This year’s event, featuring food, games, and more, takes place on Saturday, Sept. 25 from 10am-2pm. All are welcome.
Got school news to share with us and the wider Wellesley community? [email protected]
Congratulations to John D. Hardy Elementary School, 1 of 325 institutions across the country to earn honors from the US Department of Education as a National Blue Ribbon School.
The Education Department recognizes schools in 1 of 2 performance categories—Exemplary High-Performing Schools and Exemplary Achievement Gap-Closing Schools—based on all student scores, subgroup student scores, and graduation rates. Hardy earned its recognition in the first category.
The physical Hardy School is set to be rebuilt as part of Wellesley’s elementary school plan, and funding this project and the Hunnewell Elementary School rebuild are highlights of this fall’s Special Town Meeting.
Blue Ribbon awards have been doled out since 1982, and 4 other Massachusetts schools garnered them this year in addition to Hardy. Sprague Elementary School earned one in 2010.
Wellesley schools have also earned a green ribbon in recent years for strong sustainability practices. Might as well go for all the different colored ribbons at this point.
We’ve embedded the Hardy application below that impressed the US Education Department. In it, Hardy’s administration touts the school community’s diversity, including the fact that 11 different language are spoken. Coaching and volunteer programs that aid students and staff are among the unique programs Hardy points to in its application.
Our roundup of the latest news from Wellesley’s colleges:
President Dr. Paula Johnson said during a recent panel discussion with peers that colleges and universities need to support one another and the wider community.
“This experience has made it very clear that we’re not islands,” said Johnson, as reported by The Wellesley News student news site. “It’s not just about keeping our campus safe. It’s about how we can improve the health of our entire community. And we’re not going to get beyond this pandemic until that is the feeling that we have across the country, and quite frankly across the world.”
According to the article, Johnson said Wellesley College offered dorm space to first responders in COVID-19 isolation.
Students are doing their part to support the wider community by again offering to create customized signs for Boston Marathon runners. It will be interesting to see what the Scream Tunnel— where some students typically aren’t shy about smooching sweaty runners—looks like this Oct. 11 in light of the college’s efforts to protect its community from the virus.
We have confirmed that Wellesley Repertory Theatre remains on pause for live indoor performances for the public while the campus is closed to the public. Though the theatre company will be ready when public performances are allowed—it has joined with other Boston-area theatre companies in requiring proof of COVID-19 vaccination or a negative test for all those performing in, working at, or attending such performances.
Artistic Director Marta Rainer assures us that “we are devoted to creating compelling student work this semester… We’ll be interpreting a selection of plays from Pulitzer Prize-winner Suzan-Lori Parks’ ‘365 Plays in 365 Days’ collection—which will have live audiences who have sanctioned campus access —both in the Ruth Nagel Jones black box, and outdoors throughout the semester.”
The college is exploring ways to stream performances to a wider audience.
Babson College has named 1987 alum Jeffrey Perry, who as a Cleveland teen learned about Babson through an early access management expo, as its Board of Trustees chair.
He becomes the first Black chair, as well as the first chair to have a child attending the school at the same time.
Perry founded the firm Lead Mandates after a long career as partner with professional services firms EY and A.T. Kearney.
The presidents of Wellesley’s MassBay Community College and other community colleges across the state have declared that they will require students, faculty and staff to be fully vaccinated against COVID-19 by January, 2022. An exception will be made for students taking fully remote classes and that have no plans to visit campus.
According to a statement issued by the schools: “During the last eighteen months, the Massachusetts Community Colleges have prioritized the health and safety of our communities while also recognizing that many of our students have been disproportionally impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic. While a significant number of students, faculty, and staff are already vaccinated or are in the process of becoming vaccinated, the fifteen colleges are seeking to increase the health and safety of the learning and working environment in light of the ongoing public health concerns and current guidance from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.”
MassBay and the other schools will continue to make vaccine clinics available on site.
Wellesley MA police log for the week of Sept. 6-12:
On September 9, 2021 at 9:05 p.m. Officer Misho was dispatched to a business on Washington Street for a suspicious male party. The male party had been hired by a 3rd party company to work an event at the business. The male party was found asleep in a closet in the building and left the building at approximately 9:05 p.m. The male party damaged the front doors of the building by prying them open. The male party was located outside the property and was taken into custody, transported to the station, booked in the usual manner, afforded all rights and later released on personal recognizance.
On September 6, 2021 at 8:52 p.m. Officer Scopa spoke with a female reporting party who stated on September 5th a truck drove over plants on her property and damaged them. She stated she believed the truck at made a delivery at a business next door. Officer Scopa contacted the store and they will review their delivery orders to try to determine what truck may have caused the damage.
On September 6, 2021 at 5:19 p.m. Officer Dennehy was dispatched to the police station for a report of attempted fraud. The reporting party stated she noticed that a book she purchased was downloaded to her phone rather than her tablet, she googled the number for Amazon support and called a number that came up in the search. The individual that answered the phone advised her that her account had been hacked and if she added him and another individual to her contact list on her phone they could assist her. A short time later she received 2 notifications from her bank for attempts to withdraw funds. The transactions were denied. Officer Dennehy advised her to file a fraud report with the bank.
On September 7, 2021 at 4:30 p.m. Officer Mankavech spoke with a male reporting party regarding a stolen package. The USPS indicated the package had been delivered and the company he placed the order with was willing to ship a replacement order if he filed a police report. The contents of the package were valued at $285.00. There are no cameras in the area that would have captured the theft.
On September 8, 2021 at 11:36 a.m. Officer Collins was dispatched to a garage on Walnut Street for a report of a damage to her motor vehicle. It appeared someone had intentionally scratched her vehicle with the words “DO NOT” on the rear passenger door. There did not appear to be any cameras in the area and she was not aware of anyone who would want to intentionally vandalize her vehicle. She stated she would contact her insurance company.
On September 8, 2021 at 5:30 p.m. Officer DiCenso spoke with a male reporting party regarding identity theft. The male party received two video game systems that he had not purchased. A credit card had been opened in his name. He contacted the bank and they indicated they would close the account and investigate the fraudulent purchases. The reporting party had filed an identity fraud report through identitytheft.gov as well.
On September 9, 2021 at 11:34 p.m. Officer Mankavech spoke with a female reporting party regarding identity theft and credit card fraud. She stated in July 2020 someone attempted to make charges on her credit card at “whynotleaseit” in New Hampshire. She learned that in addition to attempted charges on her credit card an account had been opened with “whynotleaseit” and $562.00 was charged and was now in collection. She had spoken with Experian about the potential impact this would have on her credit rating. The incident is under investigation.
On September 11, 2021 at 2:24 p.m. a male and female party entered the police station and were arguing. An officer spoke to both individuals and learned that the male party uses a metal detector as a hobby and had dug about ½ dozen holes in the open field across from 500 Washington Street which the female party thought could damage the grass. The female party followed the male party back to his apartment on Washington Street and commented that she now knew where he lived which made him uncomfortable. The female party was advised there is no prohibition against metal-detecting or digging but there is a prohibition about damaging turf. The officer suggested that the male party try to find a new location to avoid damaging the turf, which he agreed to.
On September 11, 2021 at 3:48 p.m. an officer spoke with a male and female party in a vehicle on Worcester Street who had gotten into a verbal argument and the male party refused to get out of the female party’s vehicle. The two had been working on an irrigation system and the male party dug too deeply and damaged an irrigation line. The female party advised him he would have to compensate her for the replacement of the line which led to the argument. The officer was able to verbally deescalate the situation and restore the peace.
On September 12, 2021 at 8:30 p.m. Officer Lucenta spoke with a male reporting party regarding credit card fraud. The male party stated that his credit card company contacted him about some fraudulent activity. There were 4 charges made on September 11th and 12th totaling $333.24 that he did not make. Officer Lucenta is investigating.
Our roundup of the latest Wellesley MA business news:
Papa Wheelies is moving its bike shop from 1400 Worcester St. (Rte. 9) in Natick to 8 Church Square in Wellesley. Sunday was a busy day, as moving trucks were stuffed at the Rte. 9 location, and the former Lyn Evans space started to fill with bikes and accessories. The Natick store closed this weekend, and the Wellesley store is slated to open this week.
Papa Wheelies also has locations in the Back Bay and Portsmouth, NH, where it offers bike sales, rentals, services and accessories.
The shop offers road, mountain, electric, and other bike styles, with prices starting at less than $1,000 and ranging up to 5 figures. Kids’ bikes start at about $125.
We’ve shot a few questions to the business about why it is moving, etc., and will update this past if they get a chance to answer us between the move.
The business did post on its Facebook page that: “We are moving in order to be in a more community oriented location. & Plenty of parking in the FREE lot behind us.”
In the wake of Eastern Bank announcing plans to gobble up Century Bank earlier this year, the Century Bank branch at 258 Washington St., in Wellesley Hills is becoming an Eastern Bank branch.
As with all bank mergers, the institutions say everyone’s a winner, everyone gets access to more services, and family values survive.
Contact MetroWest Property Maintenance
The Babson Graduate Experiential Learning program is seeking proposals for its spring 2022 semester. The Wellesley-based school is looking forward to returning to an in-person model of student consulting kicking off in January. If interested, submit a proposal by Oct. 1.
The Wellesley Fire Department on Friday shortly before 9pm responded to a car fire next to a house on Hawthorne Road, which is off of Cliff Road.
Deputy Chief Matt Corda says the department “struck a box” for the car fire, meaning that the deputy, 2 fire engines and a ladder truck responded to the emergency in the event the fire spread from the car, a 2009 Subaru Forester, to the house. “On arrival, the car was fully involved in fire and small explosions as the tires overheated and blew. Firefighters worked together and made an aggressive attack and quickly knocked down the fire within minutes. The fire was kept to the vehicle and there was no damage to the house,” Corda says.
Firefighters used non-PFAS foam to extinguish any remaining smoldering fire in the engine and in the upholstery. “Just by coincidence, earlier that afternoon firefighters trained with the foam and reviewed foam tactics,” Corda says.
The cause of the fire is under investigation.
More: A cat’s eye view of Rte. 9 car fire in Wellesley
Coming off a summer of odd-even watering rules in Wellesley as a result of elevated PFAS (aka, forever chemicals) found in public drinking water, we’re now starting to hear more details about how the town plans to address this public health issue.
Wellesley shut down its Morses Pond treatment plant in early May, and has since been relying on its other two plants, plus water supplied by the Massachusetts Water Resources Authority, to deliver safe water to customers. The Morses Pond plant usually supplies over 1 million gallons of water a day, so the town was facing a possible shortage that could have threatened available water for fighting fires and other uses (of course the seemingly non-stop summer rain might have helped Wellesley out on that front, too).
Wellesley DPW Director David Cohen is scheduled to give a PFAS update at the Select Board meeting on Monday, Sept. 20, where discussion will focus on the possible use of American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) funds to cover some of the cost of PFAS mitigation solutions (and possibly to restore some some capital funds).
Cohen is fresh off of a PFAS update on possible interim and long-term solutions before the Advisory Committee on Sept. 8 (near start of Wellesley Media recording).
All this prefaces Special Town Meeting in late October, when Town Meeting members will vote on funding new water treatment approaches.
Cohen summarized the PFAS update at the Board of Public Works meeting on Sept. 14 (view Wellesley Media recording).
The DPW has been working with consultant Environmental Partners on developing plans to treat PFAS at the Morses Pond plant, and is currently digesting a proposal received this week. The interim approach being proposed involves granulated carbon treatment that dechlorinates the water before it goes through the PFAS treatment, a resin-filtered ion exchange process. The permanent solution relies on granulated, activated carbon to filter the water.
An interim solution, which could cost $1.5M and be online by February, entails rented “containerized, trailer-mounted treatment vessels,” that would be pulled up aside the treatment plan and connected by pipes, Cohen said.
A permanent solution would consist of 4 large vessels installed next to the treatment plant and enclosed in a structure to match the existing building, he said. The estimate for this is $5.3M, and assuming favorable lead times, wouldn’t be ready to go until May of 2023.
The bidding process has yet to begin on this gear, which you might imagine demand is rising for as more communities seek to rid their water supplies of PFAS in the face of stricter state standards.
The DPW is working to refine the plan and have firmer figures to share at Special Town Meeting. The treatment equipment would be paid for through borrowing, grants, and gifts. Cohen’s team is “looking under every stone,” for funding options, he said.
One major goal with the treatment plans is to enable Wellesley to have “a broad portfolio of water,” Cohen says. The town doesn’t want to over-rely on Massachusetts Water Resources Authority (MWRA) water, which Wellesley is using to replace the Morses Pond treatment plant supply, both because it costs 3 or 4 times what it costs the town to produce its own water, and in case anything ever happened to the MWRA system.
Finally, to wrap up with some good news, the August PFAS sampling results are in for August for Wellesley’s plants other than Morses Pond and the numbers are slightly down.
