Wellesley schools Director of Diversity: the search continues

July 11, 2019 by Deborah Brown 1 Comment

Wellesley Public Schools offices The Wellesley Public Schools has re-opened its search for a Director of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion. In May 2019, the field had been narrowed to three finalists, but none of those candidates has been hired for the position. Funding for the new job was approved by Town Meeting in March, and Superintendent Dr. David Lussier informed the Wellesley School Committee that he hoped to appoint a director by the end of the recently completed school year.

According to the job listing for the Director of Diversity, some of the responsibilities will include formulating a strategic plan to support district diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives; deepen community awareness, understanding, and respect for diversity, equity and inclusion; oversee the METCO program; and work collaboratively with the A Better Chance program. You can see the complete listing here (and please let WPS know that you heard about it on Swellesley if you apply).

The initial search yielded three candidates:

Dr. Roland Davis, a consultant with college and high school administrative experience. He served at Harvard as Associate Dean for Diversity and Inclusion, but stepped down after one year for personal reasons, according to the Harvard Crimson.
Kimberlee Henry, an administrator whose most recently listed job on her resume was that of school principal in Oxford, Massachusetts. According to Worcester news source telegram.com, Henry was in October 2018 put on paid leave from that position.
Wellesley High School Social Studies teacher Jackie Katz, who was one of the speakers at May’s WHS graduation ceremonies.

You can see their cover letters and resumes here.

Davis in an email said, “I was offered the position with WPS but declined it because I was also offered a position with an educational non-profit in the area and elected to accept this position instead.”

Katz in an email said that she was not offered the position.

It is unknown at this time whether Katz or Henry was offered the job.

Superintendent Lussier said in an email, “Our search is still ongoing for a Director of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion.” He had nothing further to add regarding whether the job had been offered to any of the candidates.

The Wellesley community had opportunities to meet and comment on each of the candidates during afternoon and evening meetings in late May.

Wellesley High created a special award just for this grad

June 21, 2019 by Lara Smith Leave a Comment

When new Wellesley High School graduate Austin Pineau heads to the University of Wisconsin this fall he’ll be leaving behind two families: His immediate family as well as the WHS Unified Track Team he co-founded 3 years ago for students with disabilities.

“I’ve learned so much through my experience with Unified Track,” Pineau says. I’ve really come to think of them as family.”

Wellesley High’s athletics department recognized Pineau’s dedication to this program at the Raider Pride ceremony just before graduation by honoring him with the Athletic Award of Distinction. This award was created specifically for Pineau by Athletic Director John Brown to recognize Pineau’s role in co-founding, managing, and coaching the WHS Unified Track Team.

austin p new award — Austin Pineau receives special award at Raider Pride night

Pineau co-founded the program during his sophomore year with the help of WHS Coach Jesse Davis, and they’ve watched it grow since. The team started with 5 members, and that number tripled this season. The team has 3 to 4 track meets each season and participates in regional and state tournaments.

Pineau emphasized that other students, including classmate Simon Ellis, played important roles in making the program a success. This included coaching, training and running with athletes during their races.

Always a sports lover, Pineau made the varsity boys’ soccer team as a freshman, and joined the track team his junior year. But he saw an opportunity for more students to get involved across the school.

“I realized WHS did not have any athletic programs that included everybody, and I wanted to give all kids a chance to enjoy sports” Pineau explains.

One of the Unified Track coaches, Ashley Pierce, says Pineau makes all the students feel safe and is much loved for this. “Austin has a real altruistic desire to help others. He truly wants our students to feel included in their high school – and Unified Track gives them a great opportunity to be involved.”

Pineau’s devotion to the team is obvious as he speaks of it, but also in his actions. The last meet of the season happened to fall on the same day as Pineau’s senior prom, and he says, “the choice was simple” to stay for the meet and arrive at prom a few hours late.

Looking ahead, Pineau is considering the idea of trying out for the soccer team at the University of Wisconsin and hopes to someday become a math teacher. Coach Pierce supports this dream, though believes Pineau would also make an amazing special education teacher.

“He truly wants to make a difference in others’ lives and has a sincerity about the way he interacts with everyone that makes his presence an asset” she says.

Pineau graduates WHS with a special award of distinction and as a role model for those that follow him.

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Wellesley High Raiders athletes not quite done yet

June 15, 2019 by bbrown Leave a Comment

The Wellesley High girls’ tennis team continues on its season-long roll, meeting Acton-Boxborough in the Division 1 state semi-finals Monday June 17 at 3:30pm at Newton North High School.

The doubles team of Haley Genta and Maria Laso topped Algonquin’s best pair for the state title over the weekend, while freshman Harry Collomb beat a competitor from Boston Latin in 3 sets for the boys’ singles title.

pic.twitter.com/Gi1F3ZivoF

— Wellesley Raiders (@wellesleysports) June 16, 2019

Freshman Harry Collomb of Wellesley wins the 2019 Individual Boys Singles title with a 6-4, 4-6, 6-2 win over Derek Shen of Boston Latin School#gameonmiaa @MIAA033 pic.twitter.com/oVQDQhkmmd

— C Bohmiller_MIAA (@CBohmiller) June 15, 2019

Separately, Anna Jordahl-Henry of the state champion Wellesley High girls’ track team earned All-American honors at the New Balance Nationals Outdoors in North Carolina with a personal best high jump of 5 feet, 10.5 inches. That was good for 6th overall at the event.

A big “T-H-U-M’s Up” to Wellesley High student speaker Matt Haverty

June 10, 2019 by bbrown 3 Comments

The Wellesley Public Schools’ administrators and teachers took care of the heavy stuff at Wellesley High School’s 150th graduation ceremony on Friday, ticking off sobering facts and urging the Class of 2019 to do its part to improve the state of world affairs.

That left Senior Class Speaker Matt Haverty to handle the entertainment. Gamely sniffling his way through a cold, Matt both amused those in attendance and worked in a message about learning from your mistakes. You can view the speech at about the 20-minute mark of the Wellesley Public Media recording and read the transcript below: