The Swellesley Report

More than you really want to know about Wellesley, Mass.

Wellesley Schools Round-Up: Hardy/Upham meeting; congrats Nat’l Merit scholars; Step-Up Day; Dana Hall Open House; authors visit Tenacre

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Wellesley Schools news:

Hardy/Upham feasibility study meeting, October 15th

The School Building Committee (SBC) invites all members of the community on Tuesday, October 15, 7:30pm, at the Wellesley Middle School Auditorium to come hear about the Hardy/Upham feasibility study process and timeline, ask questions of the project consultants, and learn about future opportunities to engage and provide feedback.

Topics will include the educational visioning process, key features of today’s elementary schools, the approach to sustainability and ways stakeholders will be included as the Town develops its plan to rebuild either the Hardy or Upham School in partnership with the Massachusetts School Building Authority. The SBC welcomes your comments and input Email

Congratulations, National Merit Scholars

Four Wellesley students have been named semi-finalists for the 2020 National Merit Scholarship Program. The semi-finalists who are among 16,000 high-school seniors who will go on to compete for the scholarships that will be offered next spring are:

  • Abigail Litvak – Dana Hall School
  • Rowan de Peyster – Wellesley High School
  • Faith Ellis, Newton Country Day School
  • Andrew Kung
  • Gary Shou

More than 1.5 million students applied for the highly competitive scholarship, and the 16k semi-finalists represent fewer than 1 percent of all U.S. high-school seniors. For each state, the number of semi-finalists is proportional to that state’s percentage of the total graduating seniors in the country. Students will find out in February whether they make it to the finalist stage. The scholarship winners will be announced in April 2020.

Step-Up Day at Wellesley High School for sophomores and juniors, October 16th

Step-Up Day is Wednesday, October 16 for WHS sophomores and juniors. On Step-Up Day students come to school at 8am to take either the PreACT (10th graders) or the PSAT (11th graders). While no students will be turned away from testing, all students must pay for the exam in order to receive their scores.  Visit the WPS Fee Payment System to register for the exam.

Upper School Open House at Dana Hall School, October 20th

Dana Hall School, WellesleyDana Hall School will hold its fall Upper School Open House on Sunday, October 20, 1pm – 3pm. The event will provide prospective students for grades 9-12 and their families with introduction to the breadth and depth of the Upper School curriculum. Students and parents can visit demo classes to experience Dana Hall School’s dynamic teaching and learning. They will also have the opportunity to hear from current students, alumnae and administrators, and explore the School’s 55-acre Wellesley campus. Register here or contact the Admission Office at (781) 489-1331 or [email protected].

Tenacre School hosts young adult authors

Tenacre School, Wellesley
Tenacre School, in conjunction with Wellesley Books, welcomed young adult authors Veronica Roth and Sara Farizan to campus. Ms. Roth, the best-selling author of The Divergent series, spoke about her new book, The End and Other Beginnings. Ms. Farizan, a 1997 alumna of Tenacre School, moderated the lively, humorous, and engaging discussion.

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Wellesley HHU project — current status 2019

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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

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Welcome back to school, Wellesley

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hunnewell school puzzleWellesley 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

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Hunnewell School, WellesleyIt’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.

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Let Wellesley House & Garden Club help make your garden happy with geraniums

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The Wellesley House & Garden Club will hold its annual geranium sale on Saturday, May 4, 7am – 11am, at the Captain Marden’s parking lot and at the books drop-off area at the Recycling and Disposal Facility.

The club, which is celebrating 60 years of digging in the dirt, puts all the proceeds toward maintaining the butterfly gardens at three of Wellesley’s elementary schools — Hunnewell, Upham, and Schofield.

Last year the club raised over $2,000 for plants, mulch, and other materials needed to maintain the gardens.

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Upham Sports Carnival set for Saturday, Oct. 13

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The annual Upham Sports Carnival is on Saturday, Oct. 13, 2018 from 10 AM – 2 PM at the Ernest F. Upham Elementary School, 35 Wynnewood Rd, Wellesley.  This is a fun day filled with carnival games and prizes for the kids, a one-of-a-kind Upham Challenge obstacle course, food and treats, a basket raffle, and the grand prize raffle.

All funds raised by this event are used by the Upham PTO to offer enrichment programs to Upham students, make investments in classroom technology, provide mini-grants to our teachers, and more.

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