Wellesley schools update: Drive-thru high school graduation mulled; Hardy Elementary has new principal; School Committee office hours are back

April 29, 2020 by Bob Brown Leave a Comment

A round-up of the latest Wellesley, Mass., schools news:

Drive-thru high school graduation mulled

Town officials have begun discussing the possibility of a drive-thru Wellesley High School graduation that could involve families of graduates driving in a line that might snake through town (possibly Babson College to the high school). Graduation on the school calendar was slated for June 5, but of course the state has ordered school buildings closed through the rest of the school year.

Town officials, from the Board of Selectmen to Health Department to school, fire and police departments, will need to sort out whether such an event will be safe. Under one scenario, diplomas could be handed out as grads’ are driven by school administrators and teachers, socially distanced from each other.

WHS graduation will be on the agenda for the May 5 School Committee meeting.

Hardy Elementary has new principal

Hardy Elementary School, Wellesley The Wellesley Public School system has announced the hiring of Grant Smith as the next principal of Hardy Elementary School come July 1. He joins Wellesley from Winchester’s Vinson-Owen Elementary School, “which was named in honor of Winchester’s famous family of figure skaters, who died tragically in an air plane crash en route to an international competition.” Smith has served as principal there since 2011, and earlier in his career was an elementary school teacher.

Smith will succeed Charlene Smith, Hardy’s principal since 2013.

Wellesley Public Schools Superintendent David Lussier says the system had 2 very strong finalists to choose between (“A nice problem to have.”).

Smith appears to be a mild-mannered principal by day, but may have a secret life as a superhero. We’re just confused about how he could be BOTH Robin & Superman, as appears to be the case in the video below about this man of many disguises.

School Committee office hours are back

The School Committee has mastered Zoom and will be holding office hours with the public again. The next one will be May 4 at 10am. Here’s how to participate.

One topic for discussion could be surveys issued by the school system to parents/guardians and students (grades 7-12) about how the remote learning process is going.

Other big topics discussed at the School Committee this week included proposed budget cuts (furniture and tech purchases are likely to be held off to slash the capital budget by 25%, as requested by the town) and the complicated system of refunding families for fees associated with sports and more (the business office is going to have a huge workload in front of it).

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Hardy Elementary holds drive-by parade through Wellesley streets

April 25, 2020 by Bob Brown Leave a Comment

Hardy Elementary School community members, riding in decked-out vehicles and escorted by the police, paraded through the sunny streets of Wellesley on Saturday afternoon for the heck of it. A smattering of mostly masked spectators watched from the Fells area.

hardy car parade

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More: Wellesley’s Wonderful Weekend off for May 16-17, but hope alive for dates later in 2020

School Building Committee agrees to take 3-month hiatus on Hardy/Upham project planning

April 20, 2020 by Deborah Brown 1 Comment

What happened: The School Building Committee (SBC) during an April 16 Zoom meeting reached a consensus among its members to take a 3-month pause on Hardy/Upham Project work due to scheduling disruptions brought about by the COVID-19 pandemic.

Senior Project Manager Jeff D’Amico of Compass Project Management, the contracting firm tasked with the project, reported during the meeting that as of early March 2020, COVID-19 has interrupted the flow of scheduled benchmarks.

Most immediately affected is the schematic design of the project. D’Amico said “”We were trending toward getting a Preferred Schematic Recommendation (PSR) this month for submission in May” to the SBC.

That May submission date is considered no longer feasible because of a desire for full public participation in the process. A delay in the ability to solicit public participation on a PSR due to COVID-19 means that as a whole, the project benchmark dates are no longer feasible. In a domino effect, a delay of at least six months for the opening of a new school is therefore expected.

Although the public can comment and participate in public government meetings via Zoom, such meetings are not considered a replacement for traditional pubic forums. Because of social distancing measures, such forums cannot be scheduled for the foreseeable future, leading to an expected delay of at least six months — from an original date of August 2020 to a revised date of February 2025 — for the opening of a new school. The site on which a new Hardy or Upham school will be built is as yet undermined.

Once presented for public comment, the PSR, which would lay out the physical drawings of the space including a complete description of the building’s structural, mechanical, HVAC, plumbing and electrical systems, as well as the interior and exterior finishes, and the siting of the building, will then presumably be submitted to the Massachusetts School Building Authority (MSBA).

The original date for submission to the MSBA was expected to be Dec, 31, 2020. The new submission date is now expected to be July 7, 2021.

D’Amico said that given these expected delays, “We’re suggesting that perhaps a hiatus should be taken over the next three months,” from work on the project, essentially from the middle of April through the middle of July. At that point the SBC would have the consultants continue the process from where it left off.

The hope is that by September, COVID-19 restrictions will have been lifted and the consultants and the SBC may then engage with the public through community forums to seek feedback on the project.

D’Amico’s main ask was for agreement from the SBC that a shift of approximately six months for the dates of all benchmarks is necessary and realistic. Due to the uncertain nature of COVID-19, D’Amico said the main thing was to work toward Oct 27, 2020 as a date for a Preferred Schematic Report submission.

The SBC agreed that a vote on pushing out the PSR submission date was not needed, and that simple agreement was adequate. The members agreed that as a Committee they had reached a consensus to take a pause on the Hardy/Upham Project until July 2020 due to scheduling disruptions brought about by the COVID-19 pandemic.

Wellesley Schools ballot item: Yes or No

March 2, 2020 by Deborah Brown 4 Comments

The League of Women Voters of Wellesley sponsored a School Referendum Forum on February 26th at the Wellesley Free Library. The event, which was live broadcasted by Wellesley Public Media, was attended by about 60 residents. The topic of discussion was a citizen-led non-binding referendum question that will ask residents to recommend either a six or seven elementary school model to the School Committee. The question will appear on the Town Election ballot on March 17th.

Wellesley League of Women Voters Forum — The “yes” side, from left: Jim Marett; Richard Howes; and Helen Hamel, members of the Friends of the HHU Ballot Question group.

The Forum, moderated by former Town Moderator and current Natick resident Peg Metzger, followed a debate-style format in which three residents represented the “yes” side, and three representative represented the “no” side.

The yes side advocates for keeping seven elementary schools open to retain the neighborhood school model as it currently stands.

The no side advocates for building two schools at three classrooms per grade, and for moving from seven schools to six due to declining enrollment.

Each side first made a 10-minute presentation to put forth their positions on the issue. They then answered questions, which each side saw in advance, put to them by the League of Women Voters Wellesley. Finally, they answered audience members’ questions to which the two sides did not have pre-Forum access.

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The ballot question:

“Do you believe the Town of Wellesley should keep our current seven neighborhood elementary school model by rebuilding and/or renovating the Hardy, Hunnewell and Upham Elementary Schools, instead of closing one school and redistricting all of our elementary students into six schools? Please vote YES or NO.

A YES vote would advise the Town of Wellesley to retain our current neighborhood school model by renovating and/or rebuilding the Hardy, Hunnewell and Upham Elementary Schools.

A NO vote would advise the Town of Wellesley to close either Hardy Elementary School or Upham Elementary School, without voter input on which school to close, and to redistrict all our town’s elementary students into six schools.”

The yes side was represented by Helen Hamel, Richard Howes, and Jim Marett, members of the Friends of the HHU Ballot Question volunteer group.

The no side was represented by Wellesley resident Jud Jaffe; and Wellesley School Committee members Melissa Martin and Matt Kelley; who also are volunteers.

The “no” side:

Kelley spoke first for the no side, saying that when the School Committee and stakeholders considered how to best manage the school buildings projects, fiscal responsibility and declining enrollment were two factors that drove the decision to move from seven schools to six. “The town has always expanded and contracted its school capacity based on enrollment. We had six very successful neighborhood schools as recently as 2002, before Sprague re-opened.”

Kelley noted that Bates, Fiske, and Schofield have all been renovated and expanded. “Getting to a minimum of 18 classrooms per school has been a 20-year effort in this town,” Kelley said.

Regarding declining enrollment, Wellesley kindergarten through grade 5 numbers were 2,480 in 2008 – 2009. For the 2019 – 2020 school year, Wellesley elementary schools are at 2,094 students. Enrollment projections indicate declines in the years ahead. For that reason, Kelley said, Wellesley should build two schools now — one at Hunnewell and one at either Hardy or Upham, subject to feasibility study recommendation — and a third school when enrollment exceeds 2,350 or is otherwise needed for educational reasons.

The Massachusetts School Building Authority (MSBA) has invited Wellesley into its grant program for the Hardy/Upham project. So in effect, the elementary schools project is split into two projects. The first project is for a new Hunnewell School, which the town will fund on its own. The second project is for Hardy/Upham. The MSBA his will provide roughly 35% of the Hardy/Upham eligible costs, currently estimated at approximately $13 million.

Currently, an expected timeline would be a request for construction funding at Town Meeting in Spring 2021, followed by a a town-wide vote on whether to OK a debt exclusion for the school projects. If Town Meeting agrees to fund construction, and if voters agree to a debt exclusion, then it is estimated that the two new schools would be ready by September 2024.

Jud Jaffe said the plan “…would finally give the 700+ children in the HHU district the benefits of three-class per grade schools that all other Wellesley elementary students already benefit from. Voting no is voting for a plan that is fiscally responsible. Voting no is voting for a plan that recognizes that we can’t rebuild all our schools at once and that it’s natural to have staggered rebuilding schedules…We’re investing in buildings that we are gong to rely on for 50 to 100 years, well beyond the current enrollment cycle.”

The “yes” side:

When Helen Hamel from the yes side presented, she said, “We agree that the HHU schools are in disrepair. We disagree in significant ways with our counterparts and with the Superintendent’s educational plan. They believe you shouldn’t have an elementary school unless it has three classes per grade level. We find nothing wrong with three classrooms per grade level but we also believe that two sections work just fine, as do split classrooms.”

Hamel pointed out that student enrollment experiences peaks and valleys, and estimated that construction of denser housing in town due to 40B projects could lead to an uptick in enrollment. “The bottom line is, we believe it’s important to find solutions to save Wellesley’s seven neighborhood schools.”

Hamel also brought up redistricting and the challenges that Wellesley’s geography poses to such an effort. “Our streets curve, our boundaries are uneven, some neighborhoods are more densely populated than others. But our neighborhoods within them are vibrant and cohesive and it’s important to families in town to keep neighborhood children together in elementary school. Families would rather keep their children in their neighborhood school than move to a fancier brand-new one.”

She pointed out that at Hunnewell, enrollment is projected in 2024 to be at 289 students. “At three sections per grade, that is 16 children per classroom, which is below district guidelines for class size. That’s not an 18 section school, that’s a 15-section school.”

Richard Howes, speaking for the yes side, objected to the amenities proposed for Hunnewell, the size of the proposed 75k square-foot building, and the cost. “The closure plan has taxpayers footing a $12o million bill for two schools so that less than a third of Wellesley’s elementary students can learn math in a STEM room, meet in small groups in their neighborhood learning commons, and go to the learning stairs, whatever those are, while the vast majority of elementary students continue on without access to all those amenities.”

When each side finished its 10-minute presentation, Metzger gave each side two minutes to respond to three audience questions. Those questions had been submitted in advance, and the yes and no sides had seen the questions.

Forum question 1

[Read more…]

Wellesley schools: Hardy/Upham decision looms; redistricting in 2024

February 13, 2020 by Deborah Brown 5 Comments

The Wellesley School Committee meeting on Feb 11 at Town Hall covered updates on the Hardy, Hunnewell, Upham (HHU) project and a discussion on the schools redistricting, which is expected to take place in 2024 (see Wellesley Media’s recording of meeting below). There is still an ongoing feasibility study that will lead to a recommendation on building at either the Hardy or the Upham site. Based on the study results, the School Committee expects to make a recommendation to the School Building Committee by April 2 on whether a school should be built at either Hardy or Upham.

The School Committee supports a scenario in the HHU project in which two schools would be rebuilt (Hunnewell and either Hardy or Upham). The School Committee would retain ownership of the third school. The building would be put to use to educate students if enrollment, which is currently trending downwards, trends back upward to 2,350 students.

Superintendent David Lussier described cost savings of going to a six-school model. He put forth an estimated projected cost savings for FY2020 of $410,831 due to staffing reductions. Closing a school would mean that the salaries for a principal, secretary, librarian, and several other positions would be eliminated, resulting in the savings, which were also broken down through FY2025.

Not all are sold

This scenario is not popular with some residents, who would like to see all seven schools remain open. A non-binding referendum has been placed on the ballot for the March 17th annual Town election. The referendum was put together by a volunteer team which collected signatures of at least 10% of Wellesley’s registered voters.

The referendum reads:

Do you believe the Town of Wellesley should keep our current seven neighborhood elementary school model by rebuilding and/or renovating the Hardy, Hunnewell and Upham Elementary Schools, instead of closing one school and redistricting all of our elementary students into six schools? Please vote YES or NO.

A YES vote would advise the Town of Wellesley to retain our current neighborhood school model by renovating and/or rebuilding the Hardy, Hunnewell and Upham Elementary Schools.

A NO vote would advise the Town of Wellesley to close either Hardy Elementary School or Upham Elementary School, without voter input on which school to close, and to re-district all our town’s elementary school students into six schools.

Regarding the referendum question, School Committee member Sharon Gray said, “The School Committee has a position statement that has guided our work on the HHU project for building two schools at a 3-sections per grade level, and a third school when enrollment is at or trending above 2,350 students.”

The School Committee’s position statement leads with, “Foremost, the School Committee will advocate for facilities that will best serve the elementary students of Wellesley by meeting their educational programming needs, and will work to provide those facilities in the most fiscally responsible manner.”

You can see the entire position statement here.

From there, the meeting went over to the issue of redistricting.

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Redistricting puzzle

Wellesley Public Schools last month asked for input on elementary school redistricting maps. The maps were developed by the Redistricting Advisory Committee and shared with the community in January. After input from residents at two community forums, a survey (which 600 residents responded to), and other communications, the committee refined and updated map options.

School Committee Chair Melissa Martin said, “We are looking to come to two maps — one that would reflect a Hardy build, and one that would reflect an Upham build.”

David Lussier noted, “Implementation of redistricting won’t take place until 2024. Planning must take place now due to the schools construction project.”

The community feedback that was reflected in the survey, the forums, and through emails to the School Committee and the School Building Committee brought up concerns of a school closure; of safety, particularly Route 9 crossings; walkability; and specific neighborhood assignments.

During Citizen Speak, Kelly Friendly said that Route 9 was a reality in town and that “50% of Wellesley’s middle school and high school kids cross Route 9.”

Amy Gottschalk read a petition, which she then presented to the School Committee. The approximately 400-word document was signed by 125 residents, most of whom live in the area south of Lowell Road between Sprague Road and Cliff Road and are currently districted to attend Upham School. The petitioners would, under the the Hardy map scenario, be redistricted to Sprague School. Gottaschalk read, “we recognize the need to redistribute residents to the various elementary schools in order to maintain a minimum building usage capacity when redistricting from seven to six schools. However, requiring students who prefer to walk or bike to school to cross a busy highway such as Route 9 with vehicles traveling at speeds of 50 mph is short sighted…we support the safety of our children and we support a map that keeps the current Upham district attending an elementary school north of Route 9.”

Other parents spoke up to voice their concerns about students having to cross Route 9 to get to school. Kate Sullivan said, “We specifically moved to our neighborhood because of the walkability and because we did not have to cross Route 9.”

Other parents said that redistricting would pull them away from their community and that such an action would have a negative effect on their ability to really get to know their neighbors. Another parent pointed out that Linden Street was also not a safe street.

The next School Committee meeting will be Tue., Feb 25, at Town Hall. The expectation is that the maps will be voted on at that meeting.

The School Committee acknowledged that none of the maps is perfect and the goal was to balance enrollment, walkability, and respect for natural neighborhood boundaries.

Speaking as a School Committee member, Jim Roberti noted that people want their children to stay in their neighborhoods: “We’re going to have a problem with the voters.”

The School Committee’s Gray asked for clarification from Roberti: “Are you suggesting we close Hunnewell? Is that what I’m hearing from you?”

“I would certainly look at it after seeing these maps,” said Roberti, who also serves on the Planning Board.

Supt. Lussier said, “If Hunnewell doesn’t exist, we’d be pushing through the worst chokepoints in town to go to other schools. Hunnewell may not be the ideal site. We have to have a school somewhere in this area to serve that geographic area. Without a school there, it would wreak havoc on the other districts.”

You can see the redistricting maps here.

More: Wellesley citizen petitions: Keeping Town Meeting lively, current, worldly

Wellesley’s Hardy School principal to step down

February 4, 2020 by Deborah Brown Leave a Comment

Hardy Elementary School Principal Charlene Cook will be retiring at the end of the academic year, the Superintendent’s office has announced. Cook has led the K – 5 Weston Rd. school since 2013, capping off a career devoted to public education.

Before coming to Hardy, she served as principal at the J.L. Mulready Elementary School in Hudson, Mass. for nine years. Before that, she was as assistant director for teaching and learning in the Boston Public Schools and was a classroom teacher at the Mather Elementary School in Dorchester.

In a message to the school community, Supt. Lussier said, “We remain grateful for Charlene’s strong leadership at Hardy during the past seven years and for her 34 years of service in public education in Massachusetts. Charlene has touched the lives of thousands of students during her career, and she will be sorely missed both at Hardy and as a member of our District leadership team.”

As the search process for a new Hardy principal begins, Lussier will be working with PTO leaders and parent representatives as part of the interview team. A candidate pool is expected to be winnowed down to a selection of finalists by March, in hopes that a final appointment will be made by the beginning of April.

The last new principal hire for the Wellesley Public Schools was in summer 2019, when Leigh Petrowsky was appointed as principal of Sprague Elementary School. Petrowsky replaced Susan Snyder, who served as principal 2015 – 19. At that time, potential principals were clamoring to get into the WPS system. Petrowsky beat out 51 applicants for the position.

Wellesley has had little turnover among school principals in recent years.

Tensions rise over Wellesley elementary schools’ future

December 18, 2019 by Deborah Brown 8 Comments

If you left or tuned out of this past Monday’s epically long Board of Selectmen’s (BoS) meeting early, then you missed an informative and often tense discussion over the town’s elementary school plans.

The penultimate agenda item focused on whether the BoS would support a Citizens Petition for a non-binding referendum about keeping Wellesley a 7-elementary-school town rather than eliminating one under the Hardy-Hunnewell-Upham plan that’s been taking shape for years. Backers of the petition are looking to get the referendum on the March ballot.

The petition text was proposed as follows: “Do you believe the Town of Wellesley should keep our current seven neighborhood elementary school model by rebuilding and/or renovating the Hardy, Hunnewell and Upham Elementary Schools, instead of closing one school and redistricting all of our elementary students into six schools? Please vote YES or NO.”

The BoS voted 4-1 against the petition as worded, which means that as things stand, this question will not appear at the polls on Tuesday, March 17, 2020.

However, should the request receive signatures from 10% of Wellesley’s registered voters (approximately 1,800 signatures) by Feb. 4, 2020, the ballot question must by law be permitted to appear.

Pointed words

During Citizen’s Speak, Wellesley resident Mari Passananti, said that the plans for a new Hunnewell School represent an “extravagant, ludicrously priced plan” which “eliminates green space.”

“By 2021 I’m highly confident that every registered voter in this town will understand that a vote for the massive tax hike will also equal a vote to close the Hardy School, and that is what I think many people at Town Meeting didn’t totally grasp,” Passananti said. “That vote for a big Hunnewell was a vote to close Hardy…Don’t let a School Committee and a Superintendent with a Father Knows Best attitude push through a contentious proposal.”

BoS Secretary Jack Morgan in comments addressed to Passananti said, “You are casting aspersions on our Superintendent as well as our School Committee. We have talked about the decline in civil discourse here in Wellesley. You are disrespecting the School Committee, this Board, and the 80% of Town Meeting members who voted in a way that you didn’t want.”

After some more back-and-forth, Passananti said, “If you turn us down, we’ll get the signatures we need and the question will appear on the 2020 ballot. You have a chance to stand up for democracy. Please do so. The citizens deserve a vote.”