Down goes the Hunnewell school white oak tree

January 11, 2020 by Bob Brown 3 Comments

With its fate sealed at a Wellesley School Committee meeting earlier in the week, the estimated 200-plus-year-old white oak at Hunnewell Elementary School property was chopped down by the Department of Public Works on Saturday. The crew started the job at 7am and expected to be working past noon.

When I arrived a DPW worker in a cherry picker was carving up limbs on the 30-foot-high-ish tree. “We’ve already taken care of the hard part,” said one employee, keeping me behind the cones and tape.

A report commissioned by the Wellesley Natural Resources Commission recently deemed the oak a “high risk tree,” unsafe for its location. The tree’s future had already been in question as a result of plans to re-do the Hunnewell Elementary School itself, but now the tree’s part in that equation is no longer a factor.

While the tree has been used in the past as part of science lessons, perhaps it will now find its way into history classes. Hunnewell Principal Ellen Quirk wrote to the school community the day before the tree went down that “We are hoping that we will be able to save some large cross sections and limbs of the tree, so that they can be milled and crafted into several items that will memorialize and celebrate the life of this majestic tree. Many people have wonderful suggestions for the use of the wood and we will be sure to capture all of the ideas before making final decisions. [Art teacher] Peter Knapp attended the meeting this morning, and is considering some art projects for the students, too.”

Support Swellesley: I spent about an hour on Saturday morning running out to snap photos, then posting this here and on social media (then swung by Sunday for the “after” photos). If this sort of local journalism is valuable to you, please consider contributing to The Swellesley Report.

Hunnewell school white oak

hunnewell oak tree — Section of trunk that will be preserved for educational use and hopefully an artifact for the new school, according to the town.

Here are the “after” photos:

hunnewell white oak

The before picture:

Beloved Hunnewell School White Oak tree gets “high risk” safety grade

January 2, 2020 by Deborah Brown Leave a Comment

Hunnewell Elementary School’s venerable 200+ year-old White Oak tree that stands sentry outside the front entrance of the 28 Cameron Street school in Wellesley Square has been deemed a “high risk tree” in a report commissioned by the Natural Resources Commission. The report is embedded at the bottom of this post.

Update 1/7/20: The School Committee has given the Department of Public Works the go-ahead to cut down the tree.

The dire news has led Principal Ellen Quirk to make the front entrance of the school off limits, which includes the entire courtyard area, so that students, faculty and staff, and visitors will not have to pass near the tree to enter the building. Quirk has alerted families on alternative ways to access the school.

Visitors to the school should enter through the original 1938 entrance. The door will be locked for security reasons, and a monitor will be there to assist visitors.

The over 30-foot tall tree serves many purposes from providing shade to teaching tool to wildlife home. With the report from arborists Carl and Dan Cathcart from Plant Healthcare Consultants, it seems likely that the deciduous landmark may not survive to celebrate its tricentennial. The full report will be available shortly, and we will update this post accordingly.

Risk/benefit analysis

NRC Director Brandon Schmitt said, “A high-risk tree implies that there are structural or other issues with the tree that make it more likely to fail, either in-part or completely, PLUS a clearly defined target — in this case the school building itself and the students, parents teachers and staff who occupy it. It’s really a measure of the probability of failure combined with the consequences of that failure.”

Schmitt noted that although White Oaks have an average life span of 300 years, their longevity depends on location and care.

For example, out in an open meadow subject to minimal people-pressures, a White Oak can thrive. The White Oak at Hunnewell however, has been subject to many people-pressures such as a limited root growth zone, and soil compaction from foot traffic as well as the 1995 construction of the school wing.

Town Landscape Planner Cricket Vlass said the Cathcarts performed an International Society of Arboriculture Level III Tree Risk Assessment, which includes a visual assessment and measurements from a Resistograph, a high-resolution needle drill resistance measurement device.

“They determine the tree to be at High Risk due to a 3’ vertical trunk crack on the west side, which has formed within the past six months, with several crack beginning to form on the east, slow compartmentalization of old pruning cuts, cavities in the limbs, included bark at branch unions, stress cracks in several major limbs and a lean toward the building without the supporting buttress roots. All of these factors, along with the school as a target, have led the assessors to deem the tree to be High Risk, ” Vlass said.

As part of the School Committee (SC) meeting on Tuesday, January 7, 6:30pm - 9pm in the Juliani Room at Town Hall, the SC will discuss the arborists’ report on the tree and the appropriate next steps.

Although the NRC was involved in commissioning the report, any decision on the tree’s fate will ultimately be up to the SC because the tree is located on school property and is not considered a public shade tree. Neither the NRC, the Park and Tree Division, nor the Planning Board are decision-making agencies regarding the potential removal of trees on school property.

The potential destruction of the Hunnewell White Oak has been a hot-button topic since 2018. At that time during a joint meeting at Town Hall of the School Building Committee and the Board of Selectmen, stakeholders including concerned Hunnewell School neighbors and parents voiced their opposition to a Hunnewell School construction project that would lead to the destruction of the tree.

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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.”

[Read more…]

Wellesley Special Town meeting votes ‘Yes’ on Hunnewell question

December 10, 2019 by Deborah Brown Leave a Comment

Hunnewell Elementary School in Wellesley The Board of Selectmen (BOS) on Monday, Dec. 9 convened a Special Town Meeting (STM) at the Wellesley Middle School Auditorium. The 199 STM members in attendance voted on whether the Town should allocation $5 million for design development funds for the Hunnewell Elementary School construction project.

162 members voted Yes to allocate the design funds. 35 voted No. There were 2 abstentions. Therefore, the two-thirds vote needed for the article to pass was achieved, and the design process for a new Hunnewell School will go forward. (Wellesley Public Media recording of meeting embedded below.)

Town Meeting is made up of 240 elected voting members in eight precincts.

For the first time, electronic voting devices were used to tabulate votes. Town Meeting members took a test run with the devices by doing some practice voting ahead of time. One of the practice questions was whether the Patriots would be one of the two teams in the Super Bowl. That question passed by a yes majority, but not by as wide a margin as the Hunnewell Design Funds vote.

Superintendent David Lussier in a tweet said, “Thank you to Wellesley Town Meeting for your overwhelming vote of support tonight to move forward with the detailed design of a new Hunnewell School. One more important step in bringing much-needed, new elementary schools online in Wellesley.”

Wording of Article 2:

“To see if the Town will vote to raise and appropriate, transfer from available funds, or borrow a sum of money, to be expended under the direction of the Permanent Building Committee, for architectural and engineering designs, plans, and other specifications, bid documents, permitting, and any associated costs related to the reconstruction or replacement of the Hunnewell School located a t 28 Cameron Street, and for any other services in connection therewith and, for the purpose of meeting such appropriation, to authorize the Town Treasurer, with the approval of the Board of Selectmen, to borrow said sum in accordance with Chapter 44, Section 7(7) of the Massachusetts General Laws, or any other enabling authority and to issue bonds or note of the Town therefor, and that any premium received by the Town upon the sale of any bonds or notes approved by this vote, less any such premium applied to the payment of the costs of the issuance of such bonds or notes, may be applied to payment of costs approved by this vote in accordance with Chapter 44, Section 20, of the Massachusetts General Laws, thereby reducing the amount to be borrowed to pay such costs by a like amount; or to take any other action in relation thereto.”

Special Town Meeting to answer $5 million Hunnewell question

Special Town meeting to answer $5M Hunnewell school question

December 8, 2019 by Deborah Brown Leave a Comment

The Board of Selectmen (BOS) will convene a Special Town Meeting (STM) on Monday, Dec. 9 at the Wellesley Middle School Auditorium, 50 Kingsbury St., at 7pm. The major topic: to discuss the Hunnewell School building project. The warrant was posted on Nov. 6 at Town Hall.

Town meeting members will be asked to vote on whether to allocate $5 million for design development funds for the Hunnewell Elementary School construction project.

Hunnewell School, Wellesley — Hunnewell Elementary School

In June 2018, Town meeting members voted to OK $1 million for a Hunnewell feasibility study put together by Compass Project Management. The study examined the question of whether the 80-year-old school could be renovated. The study was completed in March 2019 and determined that a renovation was not feasible due to structural problems with the school. Specifically, the study found that the HVAC systems are beyond their life expectancy; code deficiencies exist throughout the facility; and an antiquated and inefficient control system can’t maintain temperature appropriately throughout the building.

Hunnewell Elementary School is a 36,000 square-foot, one-level, 15-classroom building that currently holds 260 students. If Town Meeting approves the design development funds, a plan will be put together by Compass for a new 75,000 square-foot, two-story, 19-classroom building that will educate 350 – 375 students, with a maximum capability of 400 -425 students.

Not everyone agrees that the design should go forward

A ballot question proposal for the 2020 annual Town election has been submitted to the BOS. The proposed text 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.”

Wellesley’s seven elementary schools are: Bates, Fiske, Hardy, Hunnewell, Schofield, Sprague, and Upham.

The following schools are not currently under discussion for closing or for major renovation: Bates, Fiske, Schofield, and Sprague.

If the BOS agrees that this question should be put to voters, it would appear at the polls on Tuesday, March 17, 2020.

Wellesley Advisory Committee makes its recs for Special Town Meeting

November 25, 2019 by Bob Brown Leave a Comment

The Wellesley Advisory Committee has issued its recommendations to Town Meeting members on articles to be discussed at the Special Town Meeting set for Dec. 9. Or actually, make that “recommendation,” singular.

Advisory voted 11-2 in favor of about $4,700,000 in funds for designing a new Hunnewell Elementary School building that could cost a total of more than $57M.

On the other article on this Special Town Meeting warrant, regarding the the appointment of a committee to evaluate governance of the Council on Aging, Advisory was awaiting a presentation the proponent of this citizens petition. So Advisory did not have the info needed to make a recommendation. If it does get the info before the meeting and votes on a recommendation, that will be available to Town Meeting members in a supplemental report.

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Wellesley HHU project — current status 2019

September 7, 2019 by Deborah Brown 5 Comments

A series of school briefings on the Hunnewell Hardy Upham (HHU) elementary schools project is scheduled over the next few weeks. The purpose of the meetings is to focus on the internal swing space plan for the Hunnewell School and how this will involve elementary schools throughout the Wellesley Public Schools district; overall timelines and process; as well as redistricting efforts that will impact the entire district and require the participation of each elementary school.

School briefings schedule:

Sept. 9, 2019: Hunnewell School Library 6:30 pm
Sept. 10, 2019: Bates School Library 6:30 pm
Sept. 12, 2019: Fiske School Library 6:00 pm
Sept. 16, 2019: Schofield School Library 7:30 pm
Sept. 23, 2019: Hardy School Library 6:30 pm
Sept. 24, 2019: Upham School Library 6:30 pm

The School Committee has identified the following as key factors of the Hunnewell Project:

A new school cannot be built while occupying the current school, therefore off-site swing space is needed. The District has conducted an exhaustive search, but no viable external swing space options exist. The School Committee wants to do an internal swing space distribution of Hunnewell students during construction. That means space would be utilized at other WPS elementary schools to host Hunnewell students for 1.5 – 2 years while the new Hunnewell School is being built. How long that would last depends on whether Hunnewell opens with four years from the start of construction (January or Fall of 2023) or seven years from the start of construction (January or Fall of 2026). See the below project timeline:

Hunnewell project timeline

Welcome back to school, Wellesley

August 25, 2019 by Bob Brown Leave a Comment

hunnewell school puzzle Wellesley Public Schools Superintendent Dr. David Lussier has issued a welcome back memo to the community, highlighting some of the big things coming up for the 2019-2020 school year:

*A new strategic plan designed to support competencies that graduates are expected to master. These include critical thinking, creativity, collaboration, engaging locally and globally, respecting human differences and challenging inequities, and attending to social, physical and emotional health.

*Requesting design development funds for the Hunnewell Elementary School construction project at a Special Town Meeting in December.

*The feasibility phase of the Hardy/Upham elementary school project, which should result in a recommendation next spring as to which site will host construction of a new school.

*Planning for elementary school redistricting. This will entail visits and updates at individual schools, as the town seeks to match school capacity with population changes resulting from new housing projects in town as well as general population trends.

school districts wellesley

*Wellesley Middle School is due for exterior, kitchen, and other renovations, with an anticipated funding request coming next fall.

Meanwhile, our kids have now graduated from the Wellesley Public Schools system. So we’ll need all the help we can get from you in keeping us up with the latest goings-on at the schools. Please pass along your ideas: [email protected]

More: Wellesley Public Schools intros diversity director candidates

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Wellesley School Committee votes for a teardown/rebuild of Hunnewell

June 28, 2019 by Deborah Brown 1 Comment

Hunnewell School, Wellesley It’s the news story that isn’t surprising news. The votes are in, and they say that the one-level, 15-classroom Hunnewell Elementary School that currently holds 260 students should be torn down and replaced with a new two-story, 19-classroom building that will educate 350 – 375 students.

Earlier this month the Board of Selectmen (BOS) voted to affirm the School Building Committee’s (SBC) recommendation that Hunnewell be a from-scratch project. Then on June 24 the School Committee agreed with the BOS and the SBC and voted 4 – 0 for a new structure.

The voting isn’t over yet, however. Next, the question of funding must be put to Town Meeting. In addition, an as-yet unresolved issue is the question of where to educate students during construction.

As for the Hardy and Upham Schools, the emphasis right now is on doing a Feasibility Study on both sites.

Wellesley has seven elementary schools. Hardy, Hunnewell, and Upham are the three schools that have been under consideration for either renovation or teardown/rebuild.