One area of discussion and concern with the New Wellington is with the impact of the siting of the building on parking and drop-off/pick up space. Some neighbors have voiced strong concerns about traffic on adjoining streets, and fire and public safety officials want to make sure that the new school will be easily accessible by emergency vehicles in the event of …well…an emergency. Now an important meeting has been called to help address the traffic concerns. Wednesday, September 16 at 7:30 PM in the Board of Selectmen’s room at Town Hall. It will involve members from the Planning Board, the Traffic Advisory Committee, the Board of Selectmen, the School Committee, Wellington PTO, the WBC and the Fire Chief, Police Chief, and Building Inspector.
Tag: Belmont Public Schools
Obama’s radical message to kids? Dream big. Study hard. Don’t quit!
The rancor over President Obama’s speech to children tomorrow doesn’t reflect well on either side. As is often the case in brush ups like this, the needs and opinions of the kids in question have been pushed to the side…the better to clear space for the grown ups to fight. Hopefully President Obama’s words will put the debate to rest. His message: dream big, study hard, and don’t give up – no matter the odds.
Comparing stimulus plans: Great Depression vs. Great Recession
$38 million in federal stimulus funds for Belmont? You betcha! That was the value, in today’s dollars, of a town plan, approved by the federal government, to rapidly modernize Belmont after World War II.
Are textbooks going the way of the horse and buggy?
An interesting article in yesterday’s New York Times on changes coming to a classroom near you: digital textbooks. The article, by Tamar Lewin, talks about pilot projects in school districts in Arizona, Louisiana and California that are replacing traditional printed textbooks with online, digital equivalents, or even “open source” texts compiled from materials and lessons generated by teachers or from public (and reliable) sources of information online.
Teaching jobs in Belmont: tougher (much) than getting into Harvard
At Winn Brook Elementary, for example, Principal Janet Carey wrote this week that she fielded around 700 applications for four open positions at that school to replace retiring staff or accomodate larger than expected classes: one first grade teacher, two, fourth grade teachers and an art teacher. That’s 175 applicants per position, or an acceptance rate of just over one half of one percent, on average. Compare that with Harvard University’s comparatively generous 7% acceptance rate (2,046 of 29,112 applicants) this year. No surprise: Belmont ended up with some top flight candidates to fill those open positions.
Wellington goodness…not so good
I’ve heard from the Wellington Building Committee that my recent post on Wellington goodness which presented some artist’s renderings and site plans for the new Wellington Elementary presented site plans that are not the latest and greatest and that there’s some confusion about some of the content of those drawings. I’ve been asked to take down both the site plans and the artist’s renderings of the school interior to avoid further confusion, and complied with that request.
Meeting tomorrow (Thur) to review Wellington site plans
There will be a public meeting tomorrow evening to discuss the progress of the New Wellington Elementary project.
Closed government? Questions hang over new Town-School consolidation plan
Belmont’s latest consolidation plan is the product of an informal and closed door group of the Town’s senior elected officials that some have dubbed the “Officers’ Group.” Is Belmont closing the doors on Open Government?
NYT: Literary legend Ray Bradbury fights for local libraries
With all the debate in town about preserving our elementary school libraries, I couldn’t help but note this story on the front page of today’s New York Times about sci-fi writer Ray Bradbury’s crusade to preserve public libraries in his home, Ventura County, California.
An open letter from the Save Our Libraries Committee
A letter from the Save Our Libraries Committee urges the School Committee to allocate funds recently diverted from the Town’s free cash to maintain Library Aide positions. Read the full letter.