Wellesley Public Schools students’ English MCAS scores remain lower post-pandemic; math & science mostly positive

October 24, 2024 by Jennifer Bonniwell

State-wide MCAS scores show that Wellesley elementary and middle school students still have not recovered to pre-pandemic levels in English and writing skills, while math and science scores are at the same or better than results before 2020.

Another area of concern was the performance at Upham and Schofield elementary schools, which are far below Wellesley’s other elementary schools.

In addition, wide disparities in MCAS performance persist among student groups by race/ethnicity and students identified as high-needs, meaning those with disabilities, low income, or English-language learners.

“In many cases, you’ll see students responding favorably to their learning and in other cases some student groups persisting with disparities in their learning,” Wellesley Public Schools Assistant Superintendent Sandy Trach told the School Committee during the Oct. 8 meeting (watch on Wellesley Media beginning at 32:32).

“There is much to acknowledge in the district, meeting and exceeding its accountability target. In the same vein we remain steadfast in closing the gap for students who have been historically underserved, it is only then that we will have fulfilled our promise of all means all,” Trach said.

MCAS English Results Still Lower than Before 2020

Students in grades 3 to 8 have not yet recovered to pre-pandemic levels in English, MCAS scores show. For grades 3-5, 71 percent met or exceeded expectations, compared with 83 percent in 2019. In middle school, 73 percent met or exceeded expectations, compared with 77 percent in 2019.

In contrast, 10th grade students have rebounded, with 84 percent of students met or exceeded expectations in English, compared with 85 percent in 2019.

Wellesley’s peer districts and across the state similarly seem to be struggling with English skills in grades 3 to 8. Only Carlisle, Weston and Lexington elementary schools topped Wellesley for grades 3 to 8. Among peer high schools, Wellesley was topped by Lexington, Dover-Sherborn, Weston, Concord-Carlisle and Winchester, and tied with Needham.

Math, Science Results Better

Scores in math and science show that Wellesley students are at or above pre-2020 levels. In math, 77 percent of students grade 3-5 met or exceeded expectations, compared with 76 percent in 2019. And in science, 78 percent of 5th grade students met or exceeded expectations, compared with 67 percent in 2019.

For grades 6-8, 74 percent of students met or exceeded expectations in math, compared with 73 percent in 2019. And in science, 78 percent of 8th grade students met or exceeded expectations compared with 79 percent in 2019.

The high school math score is troubling because scores have varied widely over the past five years. In 2024, 81 percent of students met or exceeded expectations in math, compared with 89 percent in 2023, 83 percent in 2022, and 88 percent in 2019.

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In science, 81 percent of high school students met or exceeded expectations, compared with 72 percent in 2022. This version of the science, technology and engineering test was first given to 10th graders in 2022, so there is no pre-pandemic comparison score.

Among peer districts in grades 3 to 8, Wellesley tied for third in math and science, while among high schools, Wellesley tied for 5th in both math and science.

Upham, Schofield Lowest Performing in WPS

Upham and Schofield elementary schools remained Wellesley’s lowest performing schools. Upham scored 82 percent, which is described by the Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education (DESE) as showing substantial progress towards targets. Bates Elementary School earned the highest marks for school accountability, with a 99 percent score and named a school of distinction by DESE.

The grades for elementary schools are based on accountability, which means how students performed on MCAS compared to peers around the state as well as how much students improved compared to how similar students have performed in past years.

The performance of Upham and Schofield was particularly concerning to School Committee members because it was “nearly 20 points lower” than Bates, which scored 99 percent on accountability. [Read more…]

New Hardy Elementary School Opens With Ribbon Cutting and Hardy the Husky

August 30, 2024 by Jennifer Bonniwell

By contributing reporter Jennifer Bonniwell

The newly constructed Hardy Elementary School opened for the first day of school Wednesday with cheers and applause from parents, students, teachers and the costumed school mascot Hardy.

Hardy fifth graders Kennedy Coffey, William LaCombe Graf, Emily Lin and Eva Piazza helped Hardy Principal Grant Smith cut the ribbon while the students watched with their classes and teachers from the sidewalk. After, Smith welcomed the students and teachers to walk through the front doors for the first time.

hardy opening — Hardy the Husky along with Hardy Principal Grant Smith & fifth graders, from left, William LaCombe Graf, Kennedy Coffey, Emily Lin and Eva Piazza. (Photos by Jennifer Bonniwell)

“Today, we turn a page in Hardy’s history with the opening of this beautiful new school, which we hope will serve the children of Wellesley for the next 100 years, starting today,” Wellesley Superintendent David Lussier said.

School Committee Chairwoman Linda Chow said opening day was “extra special” because she has lived in the Hardy neighborhood for the past 30 years and her grown sons attended Hardy.

“I’m honored to be here today to take part in this wonderful and joyful milestone,” said Chow, whose mother still lives across the street from the school. “This is a wonderful reminder of how fortunate we are to be living in a community that values public education so highly.”

Faster Than a Wellesley Kitchen Reno

For those of you who left for the summer break when the old Hardy building was still standing, you may be wondering how this all happened so quick. It’s true, the old Hardy building was demolished July 9, just 50 days before the new building reopened to students (Yes, that’s faster than renovation time for most Wellesley kitchens). However, the new building is near the back of the school site, so construction began in February 2023 while students continued to use the old building. Students finished the 2023-24 school year in the old building and didn’t have to attend any other schools before the new Hardy opened. See the construction timeline and photos here.

The 18-classroom, all-new construction 80,039 square-foot Hardy building is designed for an enrollment of 365 students, with the flexibility for space to be reconfigured to include a 19th classroom in the case of a “bubble” year. The design includes purpose- built spaces for the district-wide Skills Program, a highly individualized and modified curriculum for students with autism spectrum disorder and/or other related disabilities that present with similar challenges.

The project is estimated to cost more than $72M, with a Massachusetts School Building Authority (MSBA) reimbursement that will keep the town’s share under $60M.

Two New Elementary Schools

Wellesley residents voted to approve debt exclusions to fund construction of new Hardy and Hunnewell elementary schools in December 2021. The special election followed Town Meeting’s approval for the projects’ funding in October 2021. The Hunnewell project began first, with demolition in summer 2022. Hunnewell reopened to students Feb. 26, 2024. Students from Hunnewell were distributed to the town’s other six elementary schools.

In Other School News: WPS Honored For School Budget

Kudos to the Wellesley Public Schools (WPS) business office that prepares the annual school budget! For the third year in a row, WPS has been nationally recognized for the quality of its annual budget document. WPS received the Meritorious Budget Award (MBA) from the Association of School Business Officials International for its Fiscal Year 2024-25 budget.

Only three Massachusetts school districts received the award: WPS, Worcester Public Schools and Springfield Public Schools.

The budget is prepared by the WPS business office team led by Cynthia D. Mahr, the WPS Assistant Superintendent for Finance and Operations.

A panel of school finance professionals reviewed the materials for compliance with the MBA criteria and noted in their comments that “the District’s budget document for another year meets or exceeds all MBA requirements. The document flows well and is an exceptional explanation in narrative and visual form of the District’s financial condition, goals, and long-term strategic financial management.”

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Wellesley High Senior Profile: Ela Gardiner is Passionate About Politics

May 22, 2024 by Jennifer Bonniwell

Ela Gardiner ’24 has been active in politics since before she could vote. In fact, that almost caused a problem when she was elected to the executive board of the Young Democrats of Massachusetts at age 15. All board members were required to be registered to vote as a Democrat. But Gardiner wasn’t registered to vote yet—in fact, she couldn’t even pre-register to vote until she was 16.

“I’m sitting there going, ‘What have I gotten myself into?’” Gardiner said.

Luckily, it worked out. She turned 16 in October 2021, in time to pre-register as a Democrat and take her seat as the youngest person ever elected to the executive board.

The role—Vice President of Communications—also was her first experience in political communications.

“At this point, I had no experience in communications under my belt, but I was like, ‘Sure, I’ll try.’ Thankfully, there were a lot of people around me coaching,” she said.

Gardiner loves talking about politics: why she loves it, how to get involved, what issues she cares most about. She lights up when she talks about founding the high school’s Young Democrats Club, or building a TikTok account for state Rep. Ryan Hamilton of Metheun, for whom she is interning as her senior project. She leans in and uses her hands to emphasize how important each activity is to her. Her excitement is infectious: Yes, I think as she talks, maybe the future of America is like a bright and shiny city on a hill.

“What keeps me moving is I want to make people, especially young people, feel as passionate about the issues they care about as I do,” she said. “For me, that was Trump, that was the abortion issue, that was gun violence.”

Political Since Before She Could Vote

Gardiner lived in London from 2009 to 2019, when her father worked for Deutsche Bank. Her family kept in touch with American politics through television, internet and family friends who were politically active. Even in the UK, Gardiner remembers her mom listening to President Obama’s press conference after the Sandy Hook school shooting—“I was the same age as the kids.” She also heard about family friends who attended American campaign rallies for Hillary Clinton and watched the Women’s March on Washington after the 2016 election.

“Trump’s election had a really big impact on me. I remember thinking, ‘I can’t believe she lost to this guy.’ Even as a fifth grader I had some idea of how bad he was,” she said.

Gardiner started with the Young Democrats in 2019, when her family moved from London to western Massachusetts. Though born in Boston, Gardiner moved around the
world with her family, including stops in New York, Tokyo, Hong Kong, Ohio, and finally London from age 3 to 13.

“I’d been in this lull of wanting to get involved in American politics and hadn’t had the opportunities,” Gardiner said. “Then we moved back. I joined these organizations to educate myself, to find a community, to learn more.”

Her first role was as secretary to the Young Democrats political committee, which approved candidate endorsements. When her family moved to Wellesley in 2020, she also became a delegate for the committee, which meant she voted on which candidates would receive endorsements.

She became Vice President of Communications in 2021, launching a new website and email newsletter, and upgrading the group’s social media presence.

Since 2022, Gardiner has also worked as a freelance political strategist, helping Democratically aligned organizations and campaigns with political communications and strategy. In spring 2022, Gardiner was a Senate District Captain for Maura Healey’s gubernatorial campaign.

“There’s something about being an agent of change and also empowering young people to get involved,” she said. “Something I hear a lot, from my friends, ‘How do I make a difference? How do I make my voice heard, especially before you can vote?’ You feel passionate, so do something.”

Student’s POV for the Board of Ed

One of Gardiner’s other big roles during high school has been as the only student member of the 11-person Massachusetts Board of Elementary and Secondary
Education (BESE). Massachusetts is one of only six states (and the District of Columbia) to have a student board member. Gardiner was elected in June 2023.

The BESE approves learning standards, voting on charter school applications, deciding when to intervene in the state's lowest-performing districts, and hiring the K-12 education commissioner.

The April 30 board meeting was held at Wellesley High as part of the board’s tradition to hold one meeting each year at the student member’s home school. The meeting also served as a Netflix-roast-worthy shower of praise for Gardiner, who will be leaving the board at the end of the school year.

“Ela Gardiner is such a great representation of a student who is not only sharp academically, but has such a big heart in compassion, and most importantly channels both of those into action, on this board and more broadly,” Superintendent David Lussier said during the meeting (see recording beginning at 1:00:00). “I have little doubt that Ela is going to be making continued contributions after her graduation.”

What She’ll Remember from Wellesley High Gardiner moved to Wellesley during the summer of 2020—the height of the pandemic—and her freshman year at WHS began online.

“Having spent only a year in a new country, moving to a new town, starting school at a school I had never been to: It was a tough time for everyone,” she said.

However, four years later, she wishes she could tell her ninth grade self: “It’s all going to be alright.”

She says the friends she’s made at WHS are some of the best things she’ll take away from her time here.

She also is proud that she has learned to have civil conversations with people who she doesn’t agree with, without screaming and shouting. She credits the teachers, and a school curriculum encouraged discussion-based learning across all kinds of classes.

“In biology, we would have conversations about cancer, and how to handle ethical dilemmas, and Henrietta Lacks. Some kids had differing opinions. But there was a fostered class discussion that was always kept civil even when you felt passionate about it,” she said. “My teachers have taught me so much outside of the material we learned in class. I always say that I learned the curriculum I have to learn, but I also learned life skills.”

Gardiner’s younger sister is in seventh grade and often asks her what to expect at WHS.

“Wellesley has given me so much, more than I thought it would. I’ve loved it here. I’m so excited for my sister to experience it,” she said.

Gardiner is heading to Hobart & William Smith Colleges this fall. She plans to major in politics with a minor in Spanish.

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US News Ranks Wellesley High #28 Among Mass. Public High Schools, Down from #15

April 27, 2024 by Jennifer Bonniwell

You think spring in New England is a roller coaster? Just check out the latest high school rankings.

Wellesley High School ranked 28th among Massachusetts public high schools in the 2024 Best High Schools released by U.S. News & World Report this week.

In 2023, WHS was #15.

WHS ranked 703rd in the nation in 2024, down from 539th last year. See the full U.S. News rankings list here.

The annual rankings evaluated more than 350 public high schools in Massachusetts and more than 17,000 across the country on factors including performance on state assessment tests, how many students took AP tests and how many passed, graduation rate, and performance of Black, Hispanic and low-income students.

Boston Latin School was once again #1 in the state (#27 in the nation, up from #50 last year), followed by Pioneer Valley Chinese Immersion Charter School in Hadley, Mass., (#100 in nation) and Lexington High School (#192 in nation).

The top-ranked high school in the nation was BASIS Peoria, a 263-student public charter school in Peoria, Ariz., which was not in the U.S. News top 10 in 2023. Notably, all of the top 20 public high schools in the country have selective enrollment, meaning students must apply via an exam or lottery, or have a GPA minimum.

For those of you keeping track, yes, this is just six months after Boston Magazine named Wellesley High as 11th among public high schools in the Boston area. On that list, Lexington ranked 15th and Boston Latin School ranked 25th.

But there is some good news: WHS grabbed the #60 spot in the U.S. News STEM Rankings, which evaluates public high schools for a “robust curriculum of college-level math and science courses” and performance on AP math and science exams.

And, at least we beat Wellesley’s 2022 U.S. News ranking of #32. Still, some of us remember the good old days of 2014, when we captured #4 in the state on the U.S. News list.

With all this up and down, do rankings mean anything?

“Wellesley Public Schools has never used any external ranking services as a benchmark of our progress,” Superintendent David Lussier said in an email response to questions from the Swellesley Report. “It is also worth mentioning that U.S. News & World Report is just one ranking system – there are a number of different rankings with differing methodologies and results. Over the years, we have seen that even small differences in school data can result in significant changes to the rankings that are produced by these entities.”

Lussier noted that Wellesley High is among the top performing schools in the state according to the MCAS state assessment tests and has been named a School of Recognition by the state for its performance.

And in case you were wondering, Lussier did his homework about the 2024 U.S. News ranking. In his email to the Swellesley Report, Lussier noted that the 2024 rankings are based on student performance during the 2021-22 academic year. We checked–-he is right.

“Please know that we do pay close attention to all the metrics that factor into the various rankings,” Lussier said. “It is also worth mentioning that the scope of these ranking services are limited. None of them measure the depth or breadth of the outstanding classes, sports, and extracurricular activities we offer at the high school. We have incredible teachers and students who are constantly demonstrating excellence on any number of fronts – in academics, athletics, performing arts, and more.”

How Nearby Schools Fared

Massachusetts once again took the lead for the state with the largest proportion of schools in the top 25 percent of the U.S. News rankings: 154 high schools were in the top quarter of the list, or 44 percent of Mass. schools.

Here’s how some of our rivals, ahem I mean, peer schools ranked:

#3 Lexington (#6 in 2023)
#8 Dover-Sherborn (#5 in 2023)
#11 Wayland (#24 in 2023)

#12 Weston (#10 in 2023)
#20 Concord-Carlisle (#25 in 2023)
#23 Needham (#19 in 2023)

#38 Brookline (#35 in 2023)
#43 Newton North (#43 in 2023)
#46 Newton South (#37 in 2023)

How Schools Get Ranked

“The highest ranked public schools in U.S. News & World Report‘s 2024 Best High Schools rankings are those whose students demonstrated outstanding outcomes above expectations in math, reading and science state assessments, earned qualifying scores on an array of college-level exams, and graduated in high proportions,” according to U.S. News’ methodology.

Among the factors considered in ranking, and how Wellesley measured up:

student-to-teacher ratio: 12:1

math proficiency: 85%
reading proficiency: 83% (keep in mind, these are from 2021-22, and we know the more recent MCAS results show WHS bouncing back from the pandemic)
percentage that participate in AP exams: 71%

graduation rate: 98%

One interesting note to help put the rankings into context relates to AP tests. U.S. News ranks college readiness based on how many 12th graders take AP exams, how many tests they take, and how they do.

At WHS, 71 percent of 12th graders took at least one AP exam with a passing rate of 88 percent. Pretty good, except overall at WHS just 62 percent of 12th graders earned a passing score on at least one AP exam.

In comparison, at exam-entrance-required Boston Latin School, 98 percent of students took an AP exam with a pass rate of just 79 percent. However, 95 percent of the senior class earned a passing grade on at least one AP exam. That means BLS students took more AP exams than WHS students, another factor rewarded by U.S. News.

Another ranking factor is performance on state math, reading and science tests by students who are typically underserved, meaning students who are Black, Hispanic, or from low-income families.

At WHS, 47.3 percent of underserved students are proficient on math, reading and science assessment tests, compared with 83 percent of non-underserved students.

In comparison at Boston Latin School, 95.7 percent of underserved students at Boston Latin School are proficient and 93.5 percent of non-underserved students are proficient. That ranked Boston Latin as #1 in the nation (tie) in that category.

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Wellesley eliminates 5th grade math placement test; Students can still skip some 6th grade math

March 21, 2024 by Jennifer Bonniwell

Wellesley Public Schools is ending the fifth grade math placement test and instead will use the first term of sixth grade to determine if any students are ready to jump ahead to seventh grade math, according to a new policy presented to the School Committee during its March 12 meeting.

The new policy will still allow Wellesley Middle School students who already know sixth grade math to skip a full year of math in middle school. The difference is that students will be assessed using multiple measures in the first few months of middle school rather than on a single 90-minute test in fifth grade, WMS Principal Mark Ito and Math Department Head Elizabeth Gentes told the School Committee (see Wellesley Media video beginning at 1:05).

Sixth grade students who qualify will switch into seventh grade math class at the beginning of the second term, which begins in late October.

“There is an emphasis on meeting the needs of students in the grade level they are at. If we can give appropriate challenge to the students in their grade level, then we should be doing that,” Ito said. “We’re really talking about extenuating circumstances where a student is not getting that, so we have to accelerate that student.”

WMS will assess sixth graders’ math skills using their scores from the MCAS, MAP and IXL standardized math tests, teacher recommendations, and the school’s own placement test, Gentes said.

It wasn’t clear if all incoming sixth grade students would be offered the opportunity to take a placement test like the one offered to 5th grade students. Gentes referred to a placement assessment several times in presenting to the School Committee, and the WMS Math Acceleration one-pager also references a “Placement Assessment.” An email to WMS and Ito on Wednesday was not immediately returned.

Several School Committee members asked about how sixth grade students are acclimated into classes with older students. Ito said students who switch into seventh grade math will have the rest of their core classes with their homeroom cohort as much as possible. In addition, Gentes said sixth grade students who switch into seventh grade math classes usually have at least one other sixth grade student in the same class.

Why It Matters

Skipping a grade of math in middle school is extremely uncommon, however it allows those students to advance in the math curriculum faster. That means they could take calculus in 11th grade rather than 12th , opening up additional space in their schedule for other advanced classes.

Since each math class is a full school year, there doesn’t appear to be any other way for a student to take calculus in 11th grade except by skipping a year of math. (See WHS
pathways website)

Students who do not skip a grade of math are still able to take calculus in 12th grade so long as they take Honors Precalculus before (usually in 11th grade). That means students don’t have the be in honors math in eighth grade or during the first two years of high school–so long as they are recommended to take Honors Precalculus in 11th grade.

No More Fifth Grade Test

Previously, all fifth grade students were offered an optional math placement test in May. Students who scored 70 percent or above would have the option to skip sixth grade math and start seventh grade math when they begin middle school.

However, Gentes said there were multiple flaws with the fifth grade placement test, including that it was only one data point, not all students could take the test after school, and students were coming from different fifth grade math classrooms so teaching varied.

It also caused a lot of anxiety for students, she said, especially because it asked a lot of questions about sixth grade math that had never come up in their fifth grade classroom.

“Many students come into this unprepared for it, and they shouldn’t be prepared for it because they are still fifth graders. Which results in a lot of stress, a lot of feelings of failure when they face it,” Gentes said. “I’ve had a lot of kids very visibly upset taking this test and it is heartbreaking to see that. To see a student come in and feel that they are not prepared for something and that they are not good at math because of it.”

What’s Next

WMS plans to roll out the plan to elementary school principals and 5th grade math teachers next, followed by communication to 5th grade parents.

Several School Committee members asked that WMS disclose the range of scores needed on standardized tests to be considered for acceleration. While Gentes said WMS has not prepared that yet, “We will make that transparent.”

Considering a Wellesley School-Organized Trip: Tips for Families

March 19, 2024 by Jennifer Bonniwell

Leave the flip-flops, take the snow pants.

That’s what packing looked like for a group of Wellesley High School students who signed up to visit the Galapagos Islands for February vacation but went to Iceland instead due to political unrest in Ecuador.

The STEM-focused Iceland trip was still a trip-of-a-lifetime for my son and the other eight kids who went. But it caused headaches for a lot of parents who had already paid the $4,300 cost and could either join up for the Iceland trip or get a credit for a future trip.

So, what can parents do? We reached out to WHS teachers who regularly shuttle students around the world to get their tips for parents considering school-organized international trips.

1. Pay for the top-tier travel insurance.

Spoiler alert: I didn’t buy the more expensive insurance.

For Galapagos, EF Tours offered two tiers of insurance: $190 for Global Travel Protection and $590 for Global Travel Protection Plus. The trip was canceled on Jan. 15 after the president of Ecuador declared a state of emergency. However, because the U.S. State Department didn’t change its travel advisory for the country, the lower-tier EF insurance only offered trip credit.

With the lower-tier insurance, my son had the choice of Iceland – at the same cost as Galapagos – or a credit for future travel. My son is in 11th grade, so he could have used the credit next year (seniors who signed up who were not as lucky). Still, my son decided to go anyway—that the trip included no parents may have swayed him—and loved it.

Wellesley parent Tatiana Novobrantseva similarly was frustrated that the second-tier travel insurance from EF didn’t offer a refund. Rather than taking a travel credit, her 11th grade daughter decided to go to Iceland even though she had already been.

“Life happens, we all know this. What really makes it into a very complicated and unmanageable arrangement, we’re paying the money but it’s the school that actually interacts with EF Tours and has to be in the middle,” Novobrantseva said. “On top of all this, Iceland tours cannot cost the same as Galapagos. How can it cost this much?”

WHS science teacher Ken Bateman, who led the Galapagos-turned-Iceland trip, said he will spend more time discussing insurance with parents during the planning stages of future trips.

“Definitely buy the higher-end insurance in case something happens, like what happened here,” said Bateman, who has taught at WHS since 2006. “Or if you’re not willing to spend the extra money, be flexible and just know that your son or daughter will go on a trip but you’ll have to be flexible as to if something were to occur there might have to be a pivot.”

Wellesley Public Schools Director of Art Thom Carter, whose Peru school trip in 2022 was canceled, agreed.

“Some people are like, ‘Oh, it’s another couple hundred dollars.’ That’s better than losing $5,000,” said Carter, who has been teaching at WHS for 20 years and led school trips for 16 years to everywhere from Morocco and China to London, Spain and India. “We’ve had kids who got sick the day they leave. That’s what insurance is for.”

2. Be flexible (and patient).

On a WHS art department trip to Spain a few years ago, the group was on the bus and almost to Barcelona when they realized they left 10 passports in the hotel safe in Madrid.

“They were going to overnight them, but it was a huge book holiday, so there was no mail,” Carter said. So, the group pivoted and, yada-yada-yada, “We got two free days in Barcelona!”

Carter and Bateman both said it’s key for parents to be patient and flexible with the schedule. In addition to unexpected changes–like delays while waiting for new passports–school trips also can include unpopular flight times or layovers. For the Iceland trip, the students had 12-hour layovers in Baltimore both ways. (Bateman said that was due to the late change to Iceland; tickets for the big group were purchased three weeks before departure.)

Also, school trip operators often won’t release the exact dates of travel until 4-6 weeks before departure. Instead, parents are told students will miss several days of school—but you don’t find out which days until a month before the trip.

For art trips, Carter said students usually miss three days of school in the week before vacation starts. For the Iceland trip, the return flight arrived in the morning on the Monday after vacation, so the kids missed one school day.

“You’ve got to be flexible because you never know. Something is going to change or go wrong. Our itinerary is going to change. Something might be closed,” Carter said.

3. Make sure the passport doesn’t expire within 6 months.

On the Iceland trip, one of the Wellesley students flew to Baltimore with the group but was denied boarding on the international connecting flight to Reykjavik because her passport expired within six months. Ecuador doesn’t have the same requirement, so it seems like this was overlooked when the trip was changed.

This has happened on other trips too, when the itinerary changed and required stopping in a different country, Carter said.

The best way to protect against it?

“Make sure the passport doesn’t expire for six months and a day,” he said.

4. What if my child is quiet or doesn’t know anyone on the trip?

Nervous about sending your student on a trip far, far away? That’s pretty normal, the teachers said. For many kids, this is their first international trip, or maybe it’s their first trip without family.

“I love the power of travel,” Carter said. “If your kid is shy and never traveled overseas, don’t be afraid to send them on one of our trips. It changes them and shows them how different life can be somewhere else. It just opens them up.”

For Bateman, school trips forge stronger connections between teachers and students.

“It’s all about connections when you’re teaching. Traveling together is a really great way to learn about them, what their goals in life are, and what gets them excited,” Bateman said. One of his favorite moments was during the 2023 Panama school trip, when one of the students so impressed the local tour guide that she offered the Wellesley student a job anytime in the future.

5. Leave the homework at home.

When a trip leaves before school vacation starts, Carter said he requires that students finish any homework that will be due. It’s a better experience for everyone if the kids don’t have any lingering schoolwork or deadlines.

But of course, there are always exceptions. Carter says on one trip, a student had a 12-page paper due a few days after the trip started. He didn’t bring his laptop–so that it wouldn’t get lost–but that meant he typed the whole thing on his phone.

“I couldn’t believe it, but he did the whole paper typing away with two fingers and turned it in on time,” Carter laughed. “He was so glad when it was done.”

6. Bring a travel umbrella. And two pairs of shoes.

These might be good tips for any travelers.

Parents, caregivers sought for task force on Wellesley Public Schools holidays

March 4, 2024 by Jennifer Bonniwell

After adding three holidays to the 2024-25 academic calendar in a process that one parent called rushed and not transparent, the Wellesley School Committee has launched a task force to review and recommend changes to the religious and cultural holidays for the 2025-26 academic calendar.

The task force will come up with proposed academic calendar and “criteria for determining” religious holidays, said committee chairman Craig Mack during the Feb. 27 School Committee meeting (beginning at about 54 minutes into the Wellesley Media recording).

Member Leda Eizenberg agreed that a key purpose of the task force was to create a clear and transparent process for deciding which holidays the town observes in its school calendar.

“Is it because they are days of low attendance, are they days of religious significance, are they federal holidays, so that it can be applied going forward,” Eizenberg said.

Parents Wanted For Taskforce

The School Committee is seeking up to seven parents or caregivers to serve on the task force. Meetings will be on Thursdays at 7 p.m. beginning April 4. Most meetings will be held remotely. Five meetings will be held April to June, then another four meetings will be held in September and October. The goal is for the task force to present a report and recommendation to the School Committee in November 2024.

Parents can apply using this form. Applications are due by Friday, March 8 at 5 p.m. The School Committee plans to select parents and caregivers with a “broad array of backgrounds, experiences, including dual-working families, diverse views of calendar, and various grades/schools,” according to the School Committee’s presentation on the task force.

Direct questions about the application or the process should be directed to Linda Chow at chowl@wellesleyps.org. Parents will be notified by March 15 if they are selected.

How We Got Here

In December 2023, the School Committee approved six religious and cultural holidays for the 2024-25 academic calendar. Three holidays were added this year—Diwali, Lunar New Year, and Eid al-Fitr—which join Rosh Hashanah, Yom Kippur, and Good Friday as days off for students, faculty, and staff.

The task force was first recommended during the Jan. 9 meeting, in which Superintendent David Lussier said the teachers’ union had asked for a say in school holidays for the 2025-26 academic calendar. Also during that meeting, a parent spoke during citizen speak to say the process seemed rushed and characterized by a lack of transparency.

In presenting the task force charge and details to the committee on Feb. 27, Chow repeatedly emphasized that the calendar meetings would be subject to open meetings laws to keep the process transparent to the public. All task force meetings will be recorded.

Details of Full Charge

Here is the full charge approved by the School Committee:

In an increasingly diverse community in which WPS strives to ensure a shared sense of value and belonging among students, staff, and families, how should the district
approach determining the academic calendar, particularly given the importance of religious and cultural holidays among its stakeholders?

As part of its process of creating recommendations for the School Committee, the Task Force, composed of a cross-section of community stakeholders, will consider a range of factors associated with any changes to the WPS Calendar and their impact operationally and programmatically to the district as well as to its culture and climate.

The Task Force will develop a report and recommendations for the School Committee’s consideration no later than November 2024.

The task force also will consider whether homework can be assigned on religious and cultural holidays.

New Faith/Cultural Leader Advisory Council

The School Committee recommended creating a new Faith/Cultural Leader Advisory Council that would attend some of the task force meetings and provide guidance to the task force, as requested.

The School Committee recommended the advisory council instead of adding a specific number of faith leaders onto the task force.

“The question was would we include faith leaders on the task force, but that ultimately felt like it would be unwieldy and a big time commitment,” Eizenberg said. “We are hoping to identify members of different religious and cultural communities that could sort of share with us what these holidays mean, why they might be of value, how they are observed, just to help frame thinking and make sure everyone has an understanding of the diverse cultures and religions that we’re taking into account.”

The new task force will be led by a School Committee member and include 23-27 members. In total, the breakout of the task force is expected to include:

2 members of School Committee
5-7 parents/caregivers

3-4 WHS students
1-2 members of Wellesley town leadership
6 WPS administrators

1 elementary school principal
1 secondary principal
4 members of the teachers’ union (Wellesley Educators Association).