The Swellesley Report

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

Students walk out of Wellesley High School in support of reproductive rights

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A group of about 160 students walked out of class at Wellesley High School last week to call for the support of reproductive rights in wake of the recent Supreme Court draft opinion that would strike down Roe vs. Wade, the 1973 Supreme Court decision that affirmed the legality of a woman’s right to have an abortion. The final opinion on the case could be published as early as this month.

Wellesley abortion rights walkout
Organizers of the protest address the crowd. From left: Hannah Merritt, Skye Jacobs, and Lila Malek.

WHS student Skye Jacobs, one of the organizers of the protest and a Town Meeting member, along with students Lila Malek and Hannah Merritt, in an email said in addition to protesting the possible overturn of Roe vs. Wade, they wanted to demonstrate support for two abortion-related bills currently in the Massachusetts State legislature—An Act to Ensure Full-Spectrum Pregnancy Care, which would require that all Massachusetts-regulated health plans “cover the full spectrum of pregnancy-related care, including abortion care, prenatal care, childbirth, postpartum care, etc., without any cost-sharing or copays,” and An Act to Require Public Universities to Provide Medication Abortion to ensure access to what’s commonly referred to as the abortion pill or the morning-after pill.

Merritt in an email said, “Although we might not have the power to affect Supreme Court decisions, we can help to ensure that everyone in Massachusetts, regardless of race or class, will be treated as more than just
property. We can help to turn the bills that would offer women access to critically important health care–both for abortion and pregnancy–into the laws that ensure women their rights and safety.”

Wellesley abortion rights walkout
A crowd of WHS students attended an abortion rights walkout on the grounds of the school.

State Representative Alice Peisch attended the protest. “When organizers contacted me, I thought it was important to show support by being present as these high school students voiced their views,” she said.

Teachers and administrators did not directly join the protest, but a few watched from the nearby parking lot.

Although no counter-protesters attended, Jacobs said that students were urged not to attend the walkout via a social media post that appeared the day before the event. Despite that pushback, which organizers concede impacted their morale at first, they say they were happy with the turnout, and that another of their goals was achieved. “We wanted to encourage students to participate in the democratic process, and make their voices heard.”

After organizers spoke to the assembled crowd, students returned to their classes.

Linden Square, Wellesley
Riverbend, Natick

Norfolk County Sheriff to ride into Wellesley

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Learn more about the role of the Norfolk County Sheriff’s office and its work with local communities

Residents are invited to drop in for coffee and conversation with Sheriff Patrick McDermott on Friday, February 18 beginning at 8am at the Maugus Restaurant, 300 Washington Street, Wellesley.

This event is part of the Norfolk County diner tour, an effort to promote local restaurants and share public safety information.

The last high-profile visit to Wellesley from the sheriff’s office was back in October 2021 during Wellesley’s Wonderful Weekend, when representatives rolled down Washington Street as part of the parade.

Wellesley's Wonderful Weekend, sheriff, Norfolk
Norfolk sheriff department rep rolls down Washington Street during Wellesley’s Wonderful Weekend, October 2021.

Last spring, Wellesley police stopped a vehicle for speeding on Kingsbury Street and discovered during the stop that the driver was carrying a fake ID from the Sheriff’s Department. The driver was later summonsed to Dedham District Court for Uttering a False Document and Unauthorized Making or Possession of a Badge.

These are just two exciting Wellesley-related sheriff’s tales I came up with off the top of my head. Imagine the stories Sheriff McDermott can tell.

Page Waterman, Wellesley
London Harness, Wellesley
Wellesley Lacrosse

Both sides claim victory in settlement of federal suit vs. Wellesley Public Schools

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Both sides are publicly celebrating the settlement of a federal lawsuit filed this past fall by a national parents group on behalf of some local families vs. the Wellesley Public Schools system over WPS’s approach to handling racial and bias issues. (Notice of dismissal and settlement document embedded below.)

Parents Defending Education touted the settlement (in which the nonprofit voluntarily dismissed its complaint) and issued a statement dated Monday, Feb. 7 from its President Nicole Neily in which she said: “Parents Defending Education is thrilled that Wellesley Public Schools has agreed to respect both the First and Fourteenth Amendment rights of its students going forward. This settlement sends a clear message that racially segregating students in public schools is wrong—and there will be consequences. We have spent decades teaching our kids that racial segregation was and will always be wrong. We will not tolerate a return to segregation in 2022.”

The editorial board of the Wall Street Journal echoed Parents Defending Education’s conclusions, frustrating those at WPS.

The lawsuit zeroed in on the school system’s use of affinity groups to address concerns of students within certain minorities. It also targeted what the parents group called the school system’s “draconian” bias-based reporting procedures, which WPS revised late last year with the guidance of lawyers. Those critical of the procedures said they were too broad and could ensnare students for sharing differing opinions.

Wellesley Public Schools issued a statement on Tuesday in the wake of the settlement. WPS Supt. Dr. David Lussier, accompanied by a lawyer, read it as well as a second statement specific to affinity groups and bias reporting about 30 minutes into the Feb. 8 School Committee meeting (see Wellesley Media recording).

The initial statement reads in part: “Wellesley Public Schools (WPS) is pleased to announce that the lawsuit filed by Parents Defending Education (PDE) has been dismissed and that WPS has unequivocally protected its right to the use of affinity groups sessions in the Wellesley Public Schools and a bias-based reporting procedure. The dismissal is a win for Wellesley Public Schools and every school district engaged in important equity work.”

WPS concluded that: “As a result of this settlement, Wellesley Public Schools remains free to pursue its goal of providing a safe learning environment free of bias and discrimination for all students, faculty, and staff.”

After reading the statements, Lussier added that “Really between both of these statements I think we are affirming our strong belief in these equity tools that at times we need to have the ability to bring together affinity spaces, while open to all certainly, allow us to engage in conversations about issues that affect often marginalized members of our community that are really important for us to be able to lean into. Similarly, we want to be able to have a way for anonymous reporting of bias and discrimination…”

Several School Committee members followed this with informal statements of support. “I’m grateful to all of you for taking a strong stand yet again in support of the equity work that I know we consider so valuable and so foundational to our work with students,” said School Committee member Leda Eizenberg.

The settlement spells out 15 items of agreement between the parties, including that WPS will include a disclaimer in all announcements about affinity-based group sessions that reads: “This event is open to all students regardless of race, color, sex, gender, identity, religion, national origin, or sexual orientation.” The settlement states there is no admission of liability on the part of WPS or the administrators named in the suit.

WPS received criticism locally in March of 2021 after a teacher’s communication leaked in which middle and high school students who identify as white were discouraged from attending an online healing space in the wake of the Atlanta shooting spree. The school system followed up to stress that “No students or staff were turned away from participating in the healing space,” and acknowledged that the teacher’s intent was “imperfectly stated.”

It remains to be seen how much the lawsuit cost the school system financially, but each side is required to cover its own legal and other costs under the settlement. The town’s legal fees have been on the rise, in part due to school-related suits, as addressed at Town Meeting last year.

The school system has been under fire by some for not focusing enough on traditional academic issues. A citizen petition being mulled by the Advisory Committee on Wednesday night and on the warrant for Annual Town Meeting advises the Wellesley Public Schools superintendent and School Committee to prioritize academic excellence “over all other programs, policies, and initiatives with regard to curriculum, text book selection, staffing, and budgeting…with the goal to restore Wellesley High School to its historical top-five ranking…”

So while this lawsuit is now settled, this won’t be the last we hear of this subject in the weeks and months to come.

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Given that our commenting system allows for anonymous remarks, we’ve turned it off on this post in light of the topic.

Wellesley Friendly Aid

Wellesley lawyer’s HelloPrenup gets its shot on Shark Tank

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Wellesley’s Julia Rodgers and her team at HelloPrenup have launched an online service they say offers couples a relatively painless way to create a prenuptial agreement, a document they describe as being just as much of an emotional one as a legal one.

A lawyer by day, CEO Rodgers has joined forces with software engineer and Chief Technology Officer Sarabeth Jaffe to deliver HelloPrenup, which got its chance to wow the investors on ABC’s Shark Tank TV show for an episode debuting on Friday, Nov. 12, 8-9pm.

Julia and Sarabeth 2
HelloPrenup’s Julia Rodgers and Sarabeth Jaffe (Photo credit: Sarah Coppinger Photo, Boston @SarahKristinePhoto)

 

We’re guessing things must have gone reasonably well for HelloPrenup, or Rodgers wouldn’t have reached out to us. But we didn’t push her to give away the ending.

We did learn, though, that the occasion of flying to California for Shark Tank filming over the summer allowed Rodgers and her co-founder to meet in person for the first time. A classic pandemic time story for the two, who had been working remotely via Zoom from the start.

Shark Tank reached out to the self-funded HelloPrenup to audition for the show. “From there, my co-founder and I spent countless hours working on our audition and pitch videos, as well as gathering all of the background information required by the producers. It was not until about a month before the taping that we knew we were going to be filmed,” says Rodgers, a longtime fan of the show.

“I have always loved watching the different pitches and hearing from the entrepreneurs about how they came up with their idea or built their business,” she says. “Shark Tank has inspired a lot of people to pursue their dream of being an entrepreneur— including myself!”

Starting HelloPrenup

 

Rodgers, who moved from Cambridge to Wellesley last year as she and her husband began to raise a family, started developing HelloPrenup in late 2018. However, the startup really only got going this past summer, says Rodgers, who is a family law attorney in Boston.

Juggling it all is a huge challenge, though Rodgers says she’s always had an entrepreneurial spirit. The Suffolk University Law School alum even managed the firm she works for throughout law school, enjoying the business side of growing the outfit.

“I work on HelloPrenup in the afternoon and evenings, and luckily my HelloPrenup co-founder and team is on the west coast—so the time difference works to my advantage,” Rodgers says. “While building this business and working full time I have learned that there are a lot of sacrifices, and very little time off. I always say to my husband, I am having the most fun I have ever had—and I’m also the most tired I have ever been!”

HelloPrenup automates the prenuptial agreement process, and at $600 per prenup, is much less expensive than the traditional process. Even if a couple wants to seal the deal through a lawyer, HelloPrenup can get them most of the way there in advance, according to the legal tech startup, which operates in more than a dozen states.

Of those, Massachusetts is no pushover.

“Each state has its own standards when it comes to enforcement. I would say California is probably one of the strictest states, but Massachusetts follows closely behind,” Rodgers says. “MA will enforce a prenuptial agreement as long as it was fair and reasonable to the parties at the time of the execution and fair at the time of divorce.”

Rodgers advocates for couples headed toward marriage to get on their prenup sooner than later.

“We always recommend that couples start talking about their prenup as soon as they get engaged, or even before. You need ample time to make sure you are both on board with the concept of a prenup, to discuss the details, and then get it drafted and signed,” she says. “The absolute worst time to bring up a prenup is right before the wedding. You don’t want to surprise your fiancé last minute with something this important. Doing so goes against the spirit of a prenup being a collaborative process, and can really erode the trust you had in your relationship.”

You’d think Wellesley might be fertile territory for some pretty interesting prenups, but HelloPrenup hasn’t done any business here yet. Though the law firm Rodgers works for has represented many Wellesley clients negotiating prenups—and divorces. “But we can’t talk about those!” she says.

Of course I was obligated to ask Rodgers if she and her husband have a prenup themselves. She had a perfect answer: “[We] were the first beta users of HelloPrenup.”

wellesley ad invest

Wellesley School Committee talking legal strategy

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The Wellesley School Committee on Tuesday meets at 4pm for an executive session (behind closed doors after public speak) to discuss its strategy regarding a lawsuit filed by Parents Defending Education vs. Wellesley Public Schools.

Parents Defending Education, a national parents group supported by some Wellesley families, has followed up a May civil rights complaint against Wellesley Public Schools filed with the U.S. Department of Education with a federal lawsuit reemphasizing concerns about the school system’s approach to handling racial and bias issues.

The issue of paying for legal costs came up toward the end of Wellesley’s Special Town Meeting last week in Article 7, which called for an extra $150K over the budgeted $350K to cover legal fees in fiscal year ’22. In addition to legal expenses associated with school matters, COVID-19, building projects, union negotiations, and more have contributed to this anticipated need. Article 7 easily passed. (You can see discussion on Article 7 at about the 7-minute mark of the Wellesley Media recording.)

One Town Meeting member asked about where all the public record requests are coming from that Wellesley needs to handle,  and Executive Director Meghan Jop said their has been an increase of late on requests for school-related records. Those can often be involved, as names of minors are redacted, etc., to protect privacy.

Town Counsel Tom Harrington responded to a question about the recent federal suit filed against the public school system by stating “it’s very early days and we are still formulating strategy, and I’m not going to get into any of the specifics of that at all.” He noted as well that it’s not the only civil rights case being dealt with, as others might involve employee issues.

Harrington did say the town “is exploring joint defenses as they present themselves,” acknowledging that Wellesley probably isn’t the only community facing a suit like the one brought by the parents group.

Deland, Gibson, Wellesley
Rick Cram, leader

Wellesley Conservation Land Trust touts appeals court victory

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The nonprofit Wellesley Conservation Land Trust is highlighting a Massachusetts Appeals Court decision that could result in the trust receiving monetary damages stemming from destruction of protected property by Wellesley landowners.

The Pembroke Road landowners several years back had more than 20 mature trees removed to make way for a lighted sports court on property they acquired adjacent to the land on which their home sits.

The landowners acknowledged violating the Wellesley conservation restriction, and wound up removing the court and planting saplings to offset the clear-cutting, according to an Appeals Court document from Aug. 10, when the case was decided.

The decision establishes new case precedent under which such a defendant may be required to pay damages in addition to restoring land.

The Wellesley Conservation Land Trust, formerly known as Wellesley Conservation Council, initially brought the case to the Superior Court in its role as enforcer of a restriction put on the land’s use by the previous owners in the 1970s. Such restrictions give property owners a tax break since they can’t develop the land.

“The purpose of the Wellesley Conservation Land Trust is the conservation of open space for the enjoyment and benefit of the public.  Incidental to this purpose is monitoring of property directed to the care of the Trust in accord with the terms of a  Conservation Restriction if the property is not owned by the Trust,” says Fred Fortmiller, president of the land trust. Violations are uncommon, he says, and are usually due to ignorance, not done with intent.

The trust appealed the Superior Court’s ruling that the property owner’s effort to undo its conservation restriction violation was compensation enough. Now the case goes back to the Superior Court where the plaintiff plans to seek monetary damages that would be used for further conservation efforts.

Wellesley Conservation Land Trust was supported in its legal efforts by  The Trustees of Reservations and the Massachusetts Land Trust Alliance.

Ruth Bader Ginsburg’s 1998 Wellesley College speech: ‘The Supreme Court: A Place for Women’

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The late Supreme Court Associate Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg delivered the annual Wilson Lecture at Wellesley College in 1998, and titled it “The Supreme Court: A Place for Women.” That was five years after President Bill Clinton appointed her to the court.

WILSON LECTURE
“The Supreme Court: A Place for Women”
Delivered by
The Honorable Ruth Bader Ginsburg
Associate Justice
The Supreme Court of the United States
at
Wellesley College
November 13, 1998
Two frontrunners are responsible for my visit this evening: Diana Chapman Walsh, Wellesley’s President, highly regarded in academic, medical and management circles, and celebrated, too, in the pages of Runner’s World, and Barbara Preiskel, a dear friend whose extraordinary service on Fortune 500 boards is surpassed by just one thing – her devotion to making opportunities to aspire and achieve genuinely open to all people.

To gain an introduction to Wellesley, I watched in the company of my Court staff, a videotape called “Hillary’s Class,” a film made by a young woman I knew in her growing up years. It is a remarkable documentary of the way things were and an aid in thinking about the way things should be.

My talk tonight centers on the same themes—the way things were, are, and will be. The setting is the place I know best nowadays; the title, The Supreme Court: A Place for Women. Let me begin with a question Justice O’Connor and I are sometimes asked. Does it make any difference that you are there? Do women judges decide cases differently by virtue of being women? As a first response, I have several times quoted, as has Justice O’Connor, the words of Minnesota Supreme Court Justice Jeanne Coyne. In her experience, Justice Coyne said, “a wise old man and a wise old woman reach the same conclusion.”

And so they do. But it is also true, I am convinced, that women, like persons of different racial groups and ethnic origins, contribute to the United States judiciary what a fine jurist, the late Alvin B. Rubin of Louisiana, described as “a distinctive

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