Wellesley Public Schools

The Wellesley Public Schools has issued a Request for Proposal (RFP) for a Food Service Management Company. A mandatory pre-bid meeting and tour of facilities is scheduled for Thursday, February 20, 2025 at 9:00 AM. All questions are due to schoolbids@wellesleyma.gov by February 26, 2025. Answers will be posted to the web site on March 4, 2025. Proposals are due to Wellesley Public Schools by 10:00 AM on March 13, 2025. School Committee is scheduled to approve the award of the RFP on April 3, 2025.

Kindergarten: For children 5 years of age on or before August 31, 2025. Please see the Kindergarten registration page for Forms, Required Documents and More Information.

Grades 1-12:  Registration For Grades 1 through 12 opened March 1. Please see the Grades 1-12 Registration page for information and document requirements.

Child Find: Under federal and state special education regulations, the Wellesley Public Schools has a responsibility to locate, identify, refer, evaluate, and if eligible, provide a free, appropriate, public education to students with disabilities who reside in the town of Wellesley. Click for more information.

WPS is seeing a significant rise in illnesses. Students should stay home when they have a fever (100 F), vomiting/diarrhea within past 24 hours, been placed on antibiotics in the past 24 hours, are unable to manage profuse nasal drainage, or have a persistent cough that is keeping the student awake at night. Students may return when they have been fever-free for 24 hours without medication, have had no vomiting/diarrhea within past 24 hours, have more than 24 hours on a prescribed antibiotic, and they are feeling well and back to their routine. If your child never develops a fever, and symptoms are mild and do not interfere with normal activity, he or she can continue to attend school. Isolation is no longer required for those testing positive with COVID-19. Please see this Frequently Asked Questions document on the WPS Nursing website for further information and guidance.

Please see this Frequently Asked Questions document for the latest information on the PowerSchool data breach that came to light in January 2025. In addition, PowerSchool is offering identify protection services for impacted individuals. Please see this letter to families & staff for details.

• FY26 School Committee Voted Budget posted January 28, 2025 (447 pages)
• FY26 School Committee Budget Discussion (January 28, 2025)
• FY26 School Committee Budget Discussion (January 7 and 21, 2025)
• FY26 Administration’s Recommended Budget posted December 6, 2024 (455 pages)

The FY26 Recommended Budget was presented to the School Committee at its December 10 meeting (see presentation slides and meeting recording). The budget hearing was held on January 21 and voted on January 28.

The School Committee voted December 10 to adopt a new model for the inclusion of religious and cultural holidays in the academic calendar, starting with the 2025-26 school year. After deliberating for more than a month on the recommendations of the Academic Calendar Task Force (ACTF), discussing many of the available options, and hearing further feedback from the community, the Committee voted to support the model known as “Rotating Model 3.” This model retains Rosh Hashanah, Yom Kippur, and Good Friday as no-school days every year; and adds an additional one or two holidays, either Diwali, Lunar New Year, and/or Eid Al-Fitr, depending on the year. In the 25-26 WPS Academic Calendar, approved separately last night by the Committee, Eid Al-Fitr will be a day off school, while Lunar New Year falls during February break, and school will be in session for Diwali. 

The Joseph E. Fiske Elementary School is one of 356 schools nationwide that has been recognized by U.S. Secretary of Education Miguel Cardona as a 2024 National Blue Ribbon Schools award winner! The prestigious awards are handed out each year to top-performing public and private schools. Fiske was designated an Exemplary High-Performing School, awarded to schools that are among their state’s highest performing as measured by state assessments or nationally formed tests. Fiske, which serves approximately 278 students in grades K-5, is the third WPS school to earn the National Blue Ribbon designation, following Sprague (2010) and Hardy (2021). Read more here.

Important updates to the WPS attendance procedures will become effective with the start of the 2024-25 school year. These updates include detailed new procedures on absences and tardies that will be included in all school handbooks. Improving student attendance is an important goal for WPS during the upcoming school year. Please read this post for more information on the district’s new attendance procedures.

With Lights Installed, Focus is on Preparing for New Buildings by Hunnewell Track & Field

School Committee’s proposal to install bathrooms, a concession stand, team rooms, lights and an improved sound system – collectively known as Phase II Enhancements to the Hunnewell Track & Field – has seen significant progress since the end of 2023, as outlined in this update dated 4/23/24. With lights installed and a new sound system to follow, much of the recent activity has been on preparing the site for the installation of prefabricated bathrooms and a concession stand, expected by Fall 2024. The Committee voted on May 21 to move forward into Design and Permitting with an enhanced modular building option for the Team Rooms and with DPW as the implementation partner. Read more on the T&F Projects page.

The School Committee is considering revisions to policies AC and ACAB that will bring the policies into full alignment with current federal and state laws. The Committee discussed these policies in its March 11, 2025 meeting. A vote is scheduled for March 18.

The updated, draft policies are:

POLICY AC – NON-DISCRIMINATION POLICY INCLUDING HARASSMENT AND RETALIATION

AC-R – CIVIL RIGHTS GRIEVANCE PROCEDURE

POLICY ACAB – SEXUAL HARASSMENT/TITLE IX POLICY

ACAB-R: Grievance Procedure for Complaints of Sexual Harassment under Title IX of the
Education Amendments of 1972

Click here for all School Committee Policies. The advanced search feature allows you to search all policies by keyword or phrase.