The Swellesley Report

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

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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Wellesley Special Town Meeting approves $2.5M feasibility study on future of Upham/Hardy Elementary Schools

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The Yes votes loudly outnumbered No votes at Wellesley’s Special Town Meeting Tuesday night at Wellesley Middle School to approve the borrowing of $2.5 million to fund a feasibility study and schematic design for the Hardy and Upham Elementary School project. The question now is whether the study will recommend that either of the schools be renovated or rebuilt, or whether an entirely new facility should replace them both.

The meeting took a bit under 3 hours, with discussions touching on topics such as redistricting that will inevitably take place in the wake of whatever school building decision is made. (Disclosure: We just caught the end of the meeting on Wellesley Public Media, which will replay the action and make a record available on demand in the days to come.

The Town intends to execute this project in partnership with the Massachusetts School Building Authority, which could issue the town a grant.

The town approved $1 million in funding earlier this year for a feasibility study related to Hunnewell Elementary School’s possible renovation.

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