The Swellesley Report

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

Opinion: Massachusetts needs to introduce renewable energy programs in every town and city

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Massachusetts was a leader in the fight against climate change, but now it’s not.

If Massachusetts wants to get back to the top, we need to take action, and we need to take it now.There are 294 towns and 57 cities in the Commonwealth, each of them needs a renewable energy program.

Climate change is the biggest crisis of current and future generations. Renewable energy must be the energy of the future. If not, the climate will continue to rise, animals will continue to go extinct, and economies will collapse.

These programs change the energy sources of consumers from fossil fuels to renewable energy(solar, wind, hydro, etc.) In the Town of Wellesley, the “Voluntary Renewable Energy Program”,or VREP, gives residents the option to have 50% or 100% renewable energy used in their homes. However, in June, the Wellesley Town Meeting passed an article to enroll all of the town’s electricity customers in the VREP, effective January 1, 2021. Ultimately, making it an opt-out program.

The need for renewable energy programs in Massachusetts is a large one. These programs do not require the installation of solar panels or anything else of the kind. All it takes is the click of a button, a couple of forms, and that’s it. Renewable energy is easier to access if we make it available.

Our Commonwealth has experienced a temperature rise of 2 degrees Fahrenheit. Animals are going extinct, the forests are being cut down, but the least our leaders can do is give us an  option to prevent further damage done by this terrible crisis. Massachusetts will eventually experience, firsthand, the terrible effects of climate change. Places like the Cape & the Islands, Duxbury, Rockport, and Gloucester will have the worst of it.

Renewable energy is one of our only ways out of this crisis. We must use it while we can, all we need is an option for the people. No state-mandated regulations, no forced programs, just an option. However, these programs need to be advertised. Wellesley’s only promotion of their renewable energy program was to put it in the fine print of residents’ energy bills.

All we need is for every town and city in Massachusetts to do the right thing and attempt to affect real change in the world.

By Kourosh Farboodmanesh (a Wellesley resident and 7th grader attending Wellan Montessori School in Newton).

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Linden Square, Wellesley
Write Ahead

Odessa Sanchez announces candidacy for election to Wellesley Select Board

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It is with great pleasure that I announce my intent to run again for an open seat on the Wellesley Select Board. 

Just five months ago, I asked for your vote at the September 1st election.  Thanks to your interest and support, I was a close runner-up, garnering over 35% of the vote.  Since then, I have actively continued to advance my mission for making a positive difference in our community through building relationships and opening dialogues for change. I would like to continue to be the voice of concern for people of all colors in Wellesley. I would like to share legislative processes with a section of our town that I feel is often neglected or left out of the conversation. I am a keen listener, and I have continued to work within my community to find out what issues impact the citizens of Wellesley the most.

Despite COVID-19 affecting my own household last fall, I have been diligently preparing for the role for which I am running. I have participated in and observed meetings for the School Committee, Planning Board, Board of Health, Select Board, Housing Authority, and MBTA/ Metro West Transportation. I have also collaborated with community groups and committee members via zoom to see what my future constituents would need from my representation. I founded a Veterans Cheer team called Barton B.A.T.T.L.E. Cheer, to celebrate fitness and recreation for the children who live in the Barton Road neighborhood, as well as to honor the veterans in our town. 

To serve the immediate issue of food insecurity, I am leading a coalition to start a Community Fridge Project right here in Wellesley. Once opened, it will be the first of its kind in the MetroWest area.  To serve the families that suffered financially due to COVID-19, I co-founded a community-based Meal and Gift Drive, which along with a small team of friends and neighbors, provided joy and relief to dozens of households during the recent holiday season. 

To address the concerns I hear about economic stability for our youth, I recently organized a Youth Financial Workshop Zoom that will be held in February 2021. 

I have 12 years of experience as a Wellesley resident, as the parent of a blended family of seven children, and as an active community volunteer.  I am fair-minded and would listen to multiple viewpoints.  I would bring the collaboration skills that I have developed over my lifetime of service to the Select Board.  As a coach, I understand the importance of teamwork. 

I have a degree in biomedical technology and have worked for biotech companies and hospitals as a laboratory technician. Today, I teach and coach at St John’s School and Wellesley High School, as well as volunteer in several organizations in our town.  For more than a decade, I have been an active volunteer and advocate in Wellesley for housing, education, youth, seniors, and women.  Family, community, service, and equity are all things I care about deeply.  My goals include keeping Wellesley affordable for young families and senior citizens, supporting small businesses, and increasing the level of inclusion of multi-cultural residents.

I would bring financial common sense to the town budget and a fresh set of eyes to articles that affect the interest and welfare of our town.  I would like to be the independent voice that represents you, because your voice matters. What I bring to the table is the unique ability to be passionate about ideas, while remaining open to hearing and understanding other points of view on all topics.  I stand for all parties having a voice at a time when diverse voices and ideas are needed more than ever.

Our country seems to be divided right now with many issues impacting us all politically, health-wise, and socially. This is a major part of what is driving me to run for the Select Board:  We are all in this together. I know that with education and a willingness to have important dialogues, our town can truly reflect the Wellesley that we have all been visualizing we are. I believe that we can make a difference on our streets, our neighborhoods, our town, and then our nation. 

I would be honored to serve as your next Select Board member. I respectfully ask for your vote on March 2nd, and thank you for your consideration!

Odessa Sanchez 

Barton Road

[email protected]

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Page Waterman, Wellesley
London Harness, Wellesley

Colette Aufranc announces candidacy for re-election to Wellesley Select Board

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I would like to announce my candidacy for re-election to the Select Board

If you feel I asked for your vote just a short time ago, you are right!  I was elected to the Select Board in the September 1st special election, and am now running for re-election to that same seat for a three-year term.

Since joining the Board, I have been directly involved in decisions surrounding elementary school buildings and engaged in challenging discussions about the Town’s capital and operating budgets and town wide financial plan, among a myriad of other undertakings. I am the Board’s representative on the Town’s Mobility Committee and represent Wellesley on the MBTA and MWRTA Advisory Boards. I also represent Wellesley on the Metropolitan Area Planning Council and The MetroWest Regional Collaborative. Engagement in these groups has allowed me to use my strength as a collaborator to form relationships with our neighboring towns and to advocate strongly on Wellesley’s behalf on transit and other matters. I was recently asked by the MBTA Advisory Board to join their Budgetary Committee.

I served as chair of Wellesley’s Audit Committee and am a Town Meeting Member.  I have twelve years of experience as a Chartered Accountant, working with PricewaterhouseCoopers in the UK and the US.

I have been very engaged in civic activities for over a decade. I was a neighborhood representative in the redevelopment of Linden Square, have supported our schools as treasurer of Sprague PTO and of Central Council of PTOs, and was Co-President of Wellesley High School PTSO.  I also served as treasurer for Sustainable Wellesley. I have a history of cooperative, constructive, and respectful engagement with the people and organizations I have worked with.

My experience on the Select Board combined with my role as a Town Meeting Member, career as an accountant, and work as a civic volunteer gives me a strong foundation to continue my service on the Select Board. If reelected, I would further the work I have begun on sustainable mobility and in budget development during this challenging fiscal climate.

I respectfully ask for your vote on March 2nd.

Colette Aufranc

Hill Top Road

www.electcoletteaufranc.com

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Stretch Lab, Wellesley

Letter to the editors: WPS parents frustrated with reopening plan

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September 3, 2020

Dear Mr. Gekopi and Dr. Lussier,

We are the parents of Wellesley Public Schools (“WPS”) elementary school children and children with special education needs. We write in response to the stance of the Wellesley Educators Association (“WEA”) regarding full time remote instruction until certain requests are satisfied, despite the fact that COVID-19 is at all-time low rates in Wellesley and throughout Massachusetts. This letter will address (i) our frustrations with the situation, including the new tentative agreement, (ii) why we need our elementary schools and special needs children to return to school in person, not just in a hybrid model, but full time, and (iii) a plea to the WEA and its members to work with WPS to make this right.

Our Frustrations

We are disappointed with the WEA’s elevation of fear over science at the expense of our children. We understand why the teachers are concerned for their safety and empathize with the desire to keep yourselves and your families healthy. At-risk teachers should be permitted to work remotely, and those reporting in-person need to teach in classrooms that are safe. But our understanding is that all of the WPS buildings, even the oldest buildings, have exceeded DESE standards for a safe return. Rather than focusing on what realistic measures could have been taken earlier this summer to make everyone feel safer returning in person, the WEA instead chose to fall in lockstep with the Massachusetts Teachers Association and other state unions, who have made a concerted effort to exacerbate teachers’ fears and ignore the recommendations of scientists and doctors.

Although the recently announced “tentative” agreement between WPS and WEA plans for the hybrid model to begin on October 1, that agreement remains exceedingly vague and appears to be contingent on the viral testing program, which is expensive and unfunded as of yet, and could face delays in its implementation given that it is a pilot program. The vast majority of other towns in New England that have agreed to return in person do not have a testing program in place. We hope the testing program in Wellesley will succeed, and we are going to make pledges to try to ensure it gets funded. But if it does not succeed, it is not clear if the WEA will ever agree to in-person teaching, absent the total elimination of COVID-19, as it has not
proposed any metrics for when it believes in-person learning will be safe. So here we are, the week when our children were initially supposed to start school, with no idea of when they will be back in the classroom.

Elementary Schools and Special Needs Students Need to Return In Person

Many of us were disappointed when the Reopening Plan proposed a one-size-fits-all hybrid model for all age groups. We were even more disappointed when the hybrid program was delayed. Pursuant to the new tentative agreement, it is our understanding that even if the viral testing plan is put into place, all students will go back in the hybrid model. We believe it is safe for children to go back full time in person now, but especially if the testing plan is implemented.

Neither full remote nor the hybrid model are the right solution for many of us. Children in kindergarten through second or third grade, along with special needs students, are incapable of being educated remotely. Period. Everyone is sweeping this under the rug—from the Reopening Advisory Committee, to the School Committee, to the WPS administration, to the WEA. We believe the teachers will do their best to make remote learning better this fall. But we parents, who witnessed our children struggling last spring, know it will not work. Young children and special needs children do not have the attention span, ability, or motivation to learn remotely and complete asynchronous assignments at home. We are worried that our young children will suffer long-term academic repercussions if in-person school is further delayed.

In both the full remote and hybrid models, children in kindergarten through at least third or fourth grade, and special needs students, will need a parent or tutor sitting next to them for the entire school day, guiding them through the assignments. Parents who work full time are faced with either quitting their jobs or hiring a tutor for seven hours per day. Children whose parents cannot afford a tutor or stay-at-home parent will essentially miss out on an entire year of education. The disparity in achievement gaps along racial and socioeconomic lines that remote learning will exacerbate is heartbreaking. How can it be acceptable to put families in this position, when the rates of COVID-19 are so low in this area? The low risk of spreading
COVID-19 in the classroom in Massachusetts at this time is significantly outweighed by the serious harms caused by remote learning.

WEA, You Hold The Power—Please Help Fix This Situation

When the WEA pushes an agenda on behalf of the teachers that comes at the expense of our children and public school system, something is wrong. Please listen to the scientific data and make decisions based on that, rather than fear. Camps, daycares, and schools in Europe have been operating with no significant outbreaks. Isolated cases of infection are dealt with quickly and successfully before others have become infected. The Wellesley Board of Health believes it is safe for our children and low-risk teachers to go back to school in person full time with these low infection rates. Reputable articles by scientists and doctors, including several recent New England Journal of Medicine articles – one just published this week – have drawn the same conclusion for states like Massachusetts. The science shows that children under 10 are less likely to get sick from the virus and less likely to spread it to adults. Given that this is the age group of children who cannot learn well remotely, and given the low infection rates in Massachusetts currently, the WEA needs to reconsider its position.

While we ideally want children in all grades to return in person, if that is not possible initially, then prioritize bringing back the youngest children in grades K-2 or K-3 and special education students regardless of whether the viral testing plan is implemented. These children need to be in school in person full time. Use space in the newest and safest school buildings for these age groups. Remote learning is detrimental for older children and teenagers as well. If reopening schools for the youngest students is successful and infection rates continue to be low, the older grades can be phased in gradually. This model has already been adopted in a number of communities. And if the testing plan is implemented and is successful, we should be bringing back all students full time, not remaining in the hybrid model all year. But you hold the power, WEA and WPS. We parents do not. Work together and make it happen, because it is the right thing to do. For the sake of our children, the public school system, and our community.

Respectfully,
140 Wellesley Families

cc Wellesley School Committee
Wellesley Town Committee Advisory Board
Wellesley Selectman’s Office
Wellesley Board of Health
Reopening Advisory Committee
WPS Elementary School Principals
WPS Director of Special Education
Governor Baker
Commissioner Riley
Massachusetts Teachers Association

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Letter to the editors: Wellesley Educators Association’s stance on reopening schools

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Wellesley Educators AssociationThe Swellesley Report received an email from Kyle Gekopi, president of the Wellesley Educators Association, regarding the upcoming school year.

Gekopi says that the Association is in agreement with Dr. Lussier and the administration’s recommendation to develop a workable hybrid model for the fall (see Wellesley School Committee meeting: schools will likely take on a hybrid model for fall 2020) However, the Association maintains that the best approach is to start school in a remote setting and transition to a hybrid model after appropriate staff training, safety, and needs assessments.

The following letter is to the members of the Wellesley Public Schools Community, on behalf of the Wellesley Educators Association:

Our job is inherently interpersonal, and we want to return to our buildings as soon as possible. Every conversation we explored started with in-person learning, either full-in or a hybrid model.

Our work analyzed every aspect of our practice under the various safety guidelines, faced with two persistent guiding principles: keep our practice developmentally appropriate, and balance the educational benefits of a specific in-person practice against the risk aversion of a remote alternative.

In most, but not all cases, we found ourselves to lack the data or experience to successfully answer the final question that students and educators are asking: is it safe to return to school?

In an effort to gather that data, the Association believes a phased-in approach best positions the community and educators to construct the safest school environment for the following reasons:

1) A remote start is sensitive to the broad, systemic health and safety concerns and emerging research of how the virus is spread and who is at-risk. Combined with educator testing and any necessary modifications to our facilities, we are confident the Wellesley Public Schools will be able to develop a safe environment that engages in mindful risk-management.

2) A remote start keeps our work and learning schedules consistent, and addresses the reality that fluid movement between hybrid and remote models is necessary to maintain the health of students and staff. The current (July 20) DESE guidance is to recommend that students and staff stay home at the first sign of any symptoms related to COVID-19. However, many of these symptoms are combined with seasonal change or other health conditions. Adding this broad symptomatic anxiety will make our school community more susceptible to illness, and it is our hope that further research will result in a responsible revision of self-monitoring practices, allowing the WPS Community to gradually return students to in-person instruction in a phased-in approach, starting with our most vulnerable and youngest learners.

3) A remote start allows educators to get to build initial relationships with students without wearing a mask. We know that facial feedback and learning new faces and voices is important for all levels and all students. Our first impressions must be our authentic selves as educators.

4) A remote start removes the immediate anxiety of policing students’ behaviors and hygiene in a live setting. In consultation with public health experts, a remote start provides educators time to learn behavior management strategies to support healthy hygienic practice in the school setting, especially for our youngest learners.

5) A remote start teaches both educators and the community best practices for the seasonal likelihood of an all-remote setting. A growing chorus of experts is predicting a difficult autumn and flu season, and starting remotely would develop firm behaviors and practices to serve as a foundation in the event of another full shutdown.

6) A remote start fully allows educators to personalize online learning needs, working with students and families by responding to the needs of diverse learners. As we identify learners and practices best served by in-person school supports, educators can work with their colleagues to implement necessary interventions for students who need it most, and at regular intervals.

[Read more…]

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Letter to the editors: ‘Let’s follow the rules in 2020’

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Dear Friends,

Every person who lives in Massachusetts can be proud that our state has gone from having one of the highest number of COVID-19 cases and deaths in the United States to one of the lowest. It took lots of sacrifice and time and commitment to ourselves and our neighbors to get where we are today.

This great accomplishment is the reason we can now slowly open up our local economy again. No matter where we stand politically, we have accomplished something significant together here in Massachusetts that very few states can match.

Sadly, however, I have noticed that many of us have begun to take to the sidewalks and paths of Wellesley without masks and without social distancing. We are all feeling fatigued by the rules and restrictions on our freedoms but it is clear from what is happening in Texas, Florida and other states that when we disregard the rules to prevent the spread of COVID-19, we only hurt ourselves and delay re-openings or even worse, cause a surge and re-closings.

That is why I am reaching out to you, my neighbors, friends, and parents of the same to wear a mask and ensure there is 6’ between you and those you see running, walking, or biking outside. When we breathe heavily within a foot or two of others, we are telling them we don’t care what happens to them or whether there is another surge or lockdown.

I agree we all have the right to do what we want, and we all want to enjoy everything life has to offer. And, it isn’t always fun to follow the rules. But this is no hoax. During World War II, Americans didn’t get tired of fighting until the end. Even though they paid dearly in human lives, their determination outweighed the price. Let’s all step up and do the right thing like they did. It’s not that hard, it’s the right thing to do, and it will get us out of this mess faster. Please, from one neighbor to another, let’s follow the rules in 2020. It won’t be for forever if we do. See you on the trails.

Susan Glynn

Wellesley Resident

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