Dear Colleagues,

As I wrote to everyone in the community last night, I know this has been a difficult week throughout the district as we mourn the loss of two of our Schofield students.  I did want to be sure to offer some heartfelt thanks to the members of our team who really stepped up in support of our community this week.  For their exceptional leadership within their respective school communities, I can’t say enough about Stephen Goodwin, Grant Smith, and Kristen Stacy. They managed an incredible level of care for their students, staff, and families while deeply feeling this loss themselves.  Midge Connolly was an extraordinary partner in helping to organize mental health supports from both internal and external partners and Sharon Gray helped manage press inquiries and a number of critical communications.  I have to give a huge shout-out to our school psychologists, school counselors, adjustment counselors, and nurses, who also provided critical mental health supports across the district this week. (And a special thank you to our colleagues who volunteered to come to Schofield on Monday and partner with our classroom teachers.) And last night, Kevin MacDonald used the WHS choral concert as an opportunity to lift us up at a time when we really needed it.  You get the idea. This has been an all-hands-on-deck moment, and your collective efforts have helped our community navigate through a difficult week.

Finally, I wanted to recognize a special colleague, Rabbi Rachel Saphire, who will be leaving her post at Temple Beth Elohim to lead her own congregation in Virginia beginning this summer.  Rachel has been an invaluable community partner to the district over the past 17 years and she will be deeply missed.    

Thanks for what you do each day in support of our students and have a great weekend.       

Best, David

May 5 – School Committee Meeting

May 19 – School Committee Meeting

May 25 – Memorial Day (Schools & Offices Closed)

June 2 – School Committee Meeting

Condolences to Patty MacLeod, Administrative Assistant for Fitness & Health and the Visual Arts Departments, on the passing of her Mother-in-Law, Lois C. Thomas.

Children of Unit A and B members residing outside of Wellesley shall be entitled to attend Wellesley Public Schools without charge for tuition on a space available basis (Article 14 WEA Unit A, Article 13 WEA Unit B).

March 6:  Interested eligible staff members may submit a letter of intent using the one-page application form online. 

May 1:  All applications are due to the District Registrar, late applications will not be accepted.

The district will review all applications in May and school placement decisions will be made in June. Placement decisions are made based on available space and staff will be notified of their school when decisions have been made. Once notified of a determination, applicants will be provided with access to the online registration forms. Registration of students is not completed until all forms have been received and approved by the District Registrar and Nurse.

If there are any questions, please reach out to the District Registrar, at registrar@wellesleyps.org. 

A survey will be sent out in mid-March to confirm currently enrolled faculty children will be returning in school year 2026-27.

For enrollment of younger faculty children, please contact Isabel Cashman cashmani@wellesleyps.org for PAWS Preschool, or Heidi Marquedant marquedanth@wellesleyps.org for the WHS Child Lab Program. Enrollment in Child Lab typically opens in the fall.

Graduate credit courses offered through the Albion Center at Idaho State University will no longer be accepted for credit by Wellesley Public Schools. This decision follows a recent message from the Massachusetts School Superintendents’ Association indicating that the program is under review due to concerns about the rigor of its coursework. While Idaho State University courses may still be applied toward professional development points (PDPs), they will no longer count as graduate-level credit within WPS for lane changes. Please reach out to Sandy Trach, Assistant Superintendent of Teaching and Learning, with any questions.

As we look toward the next school year, the district will be transitioning from Zoom to Google Meet as our primary video conferencing platform for general staff use. This shift, which will take effect this summer, allows us to be more fiscally responsible by fully utilizing our Google Education Plus license. In addition, Google Meet now offers several helpful new features, including Adaptive Audio, which eliminates echo when multiple staff members join a meeting from the same room, live translated captions in over 65 languages, and a picture-in-picture mode that allows the user to view the Meet and relevant documents at the same time.

This change won’t happen until this summer, which will give everyone the remainder of the school year to explore the platform and receive assistance from the Tech Dept. Please visit the Tech Dept. contact page to submit a Help Desk ticket or to find a member of the department assigned to your building.

In August 2026, there will be a three-week gap between pay periods. This occurs periodically due to how the school and payroll calendars align.

 

To help ensure a smooth transition through this period, we are sharing this notice well in advance so that all employees can plan accordingly. Staff may wish to set aside funds during the year to help cover personal expenses during this short gap.

 

Below is a summary of the upcoming schedule for the 2025–2026 school year:

 

No paychecks will be issued between August 17 and September 8, 2026.

 

If you have any questions about your individual pay schedule, please contact the Payroll Office for assistance.

The MTRS has many members who do not have a beneficiary on file. This Spring, these members will receive either an email or a mailed letter (if no email address on file) asking them to designate a beneficiary.

To designate or change a beneficiary, members must sign and mail the Beneficiary Designation Form to our Main Office.

If MTRS members have questions, please email annstmt@trb.state.ma.us.

Preparation courses to review core material covered in the designated MTEL

Asynchronous and Hybrid options

1 undergraduate credit per course for $297

Register by May 1, 2026, by completing this form

The Town of Wellesley offers an Employee Assistance Program (EAP) to support employees and their families.  Effective July 1, 2025, CMG Associates is the new EAP provider (see announcement). Employees may want to access the EAP because of emotional difficulties, life stress, family difficulties, concerns about substance abuse or other addictive behavior, legal or financial problems, or other personal issues. The EAP is completely free, confidential, and available at all times (day or night, weekdays, weekends, and holidays). Employees may call CMG Associates at 888-851-7032, or they may visit www.cmgassociates.com, click on the link entitled EAP Log-In, and use the User ID: WELL.

SMART Plan (457 Voluntary Retirement Savings) 

May make changes throughout the year through the company.

Work directly through US Omni and the SMART Plan.

Email AskHR@Wellesleyps.org. The Human Resources Department is happy to assist you.  

For all Internal Job Postings, please go to “Internal Job Postings” under the Faculty tab of the District’s website. How to Apply for WPS Internal Job Postings as a New Internal Applicant