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.
Tag: Belmont
Opinion: One person’s ideas on Waverley Square
What change should be promoted to encourage a more pedestrian friendly environment in Waverley Square?
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.
Vigil in support of diversity, tolerance in Watertown this Saturday
Vandals burned a Rainbow flag flying in front of the Unitarian Church in Watertown. Was it a hate crime? The Church is sponsoring a vigil this Saturday evening (July 25) in support of tolerance and diversity.
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.
Town: officials didn’t violate Open Meeting (but will meet publicly anyway)
The Belmont Citizen Herald is reporting that Belmont’s legal counsel has issued a response to the Middlesex District Attorney that claims town officials who met behind closed doors to formulate plans to discuss the consolidation of School and Town services were not doing so in violation of the State’s Open Meeting Laws.
Bike path plans rolling along
The planned bike path construction between Brighton Street and Alewife Station is set to move ahead, along with other, more extensive bike and pedestrian access projects. Now about that extension into Belmont Center…!
Cultural Council announces grant recipients, seeks input
The Belmont Cultural Council has sponsored an online poll to get your feedback on how it can better server the community. Take part! This year, the Council’s grants will support a variety of artistic projects and activities in Belmont, including exhibits, festivals, short-term artist residencies and performances in schools.
More ideas for greening Belmont
An interesting article in the Sunday Globe presents some ideas on making cities (and suburbs?) greeener by “retrofitting” existing infrastructure. Check it out.