Wellesley Public Schools
Learning • Caring • Innovating
Superintendent’s Bulletin
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Colleagues,
I hope everyone had a restful and enjoyable Thanksgiving. On Monday, we gathered throughout the district for our staff development day. It’s not often that we have an entire day without students to attend to our own professional learning and we continue to use your feedback on what you find most valuable to structure this time. In the morning I was able to join five of our elementary schools in listening to a terrific presentation by Jessica Minahan on effective strategies for supporting students with anxiety. Given the data we continue to see from surveys, this is a critical topic and one that staff reported was invaluable. At the Middle School, I saw the faculty engaged in powerful conversations about growth mindset that were carried over into smaller PLC work throughout the building. At the High School, the faculty led seminars that showcased master lessons and instruction on topics of interest. Separately, I know all staff also had the chance to engage in work around our new educator evaluation system, which I believe is leading to rich conversations among our staff about our practice. All in all, a great day of learning and I appreciate the many staff who organized and led sessions for their peers.
On a separate topic, I also want to update you on the development of our FY2016 budget. This has proven to be a challenging year with some significant new costs, particularly in special education. We expect a similar trend next year. The bottom line is that we anticipate the cost of “level service” will be significantly higher next year, which will continue to put pressure on us to find efficiencies in our operations to maximize our resources. All staff are invited to a preview of the budget we will present to the School Committee on Thursday, December 11th at 3:30PM in the Wellesley Middle School Auditorium. We will present to the School Committee on Tuesday, December 16th. I offer my thanks to the many staff members who have been working on this budget throughout the fall.
Enjoy the weekend and thank you for the important work you do each day to support our students.
Best regards,
David
Calendar
12/9/14 Town-wide Vote on School Building Projects
12/11/14 School Committee Working Meeting – Supt. Conference – 8:30 am
12/16/14 School Committee Meeting – Town Hall – 7 pm
12/24/14-1/2/14 – Winter Break
School Committee Notes for December 2, 2014 Meeting
At its December 2, 2014 meeting, School Committee:
Wellesley’s Annual Holiday Stroll and WHS Artists
In conjunction with the Wellesley Women Artisans and Wellesley Square merchants, artwork from high school artists will be on display in various storefronts during this weekend’s Annual Holiday Stroll on December 6 and 7.
Wedding News!!!
Congratulations to Genie Gledhill (Sprague Kindergarten Teacher) who married Brian Madden on November 28, 2014 in St. Thomas.
Sign Up for Flexible Spending and Save!
Open enrollment for flexible spending accounts runs from November 24th – December 12th, 2014. Putting money aside in one or both of these accounts (dependent and/or health care) allows you to lower your taxable income and to pay for items related to either dependent or medical expenses on a pre-tax basis. For calendar year 2015, you may put up to $2,550 into a health care account and/or up to $5,000 into a dependent care account for expenses incurred from January 1 through December 31, 2015. Not all expenses are covered and any money put aside in either account will need to be used for that specific purpose (i.e., dependent care funds cannot be used for medical expenses). Estimate your expenses carefully as any unused money will not be refunded back to you. Certain expenses may be covered in conjunction with the Town Health Reimbursement Account (HRA) if you are covered on one of the Town’s Health insurance policies. For information on how to sign up and which expenses are reimbursable, please contact Cafeteria Plan Advisors (CPA) at 781-848-9848 or visit their website at www.cpa125.com. You may also contact Human Resources at (781) 431-1019, ext. 2244 for general questions about the program.
New for Calendar 2015:
Ability to roll over up to $500 of unused funds from your medical spending account and new medical flexible spending maximum is $2,550
2014-15 Professional Development Opportunities
RETELL SEI Endorsement Course: Spring 2015
There is a new opportunity for eligible educators to enroll in the no-cost RETELL SEI Endorsement course in the Spring.
Participants must meet all eligibility requirements at the time of the SEI course:
- Must be a Core Academic Teacher
- Must currently be teaching in a classroom
- Must have at least one ELL enrolled in one or more courses being taught
Clck here to Register
Please note that you will need your MEPID (massachusetts Ed Personnel ID) number in order to register. Directions on how to locate this number are included at the registration link above.
Register now for Winter/Spring Professional Development Offerings on WellesleyPD!
WellesleyPD can be accessed from the WPS website. Under the “Faculty” tab, select “Professional Development”.
- Discovering the Artist Within
Instructors: Lynne Johnson & Diane Redfield
Participants: PreK-12 Educators and Non-Art Specialists
Dates/Times: 1/31/15, 2/28/15, 3/21/15, 4/11/15, 9:00a – 3:45p (snow dates: 2/7 & 3/7)
- Fitness for Life and the Classroom
Instructor: John Mulryan
Participants: K-12 Educators
Dates/Times: 4/1/15, 4/8/15, 4/15/15, 4/29/15, 5/6/15, 5/13/15, 5/20/15, 5/27/15, 3:30p – 6:45p
- Advanced iPad: 2nd Offering
Instructors: Rosey McQuillan & Ranjani Sriram
Participants: PreK-12 Educators
Dates/Times: Online Only – Weeks of 4/6/15 – 5/10/15
- Using Thinking Maps
Instructors: Lizzy Floyd & Sarah Fontaine
Participants: PreK-12 Classroom Teachers & Special Educators
Dates/Times: 6/23/15 and 6/24/15, 8 am – 5 pm; 6/25/15, 8 am – 4:30 pm
- CPI Restraint Training – Full Course WINTER
Instructors: Adam Diliberto, Elisa Buchsbaum & Jody Steinhilber
Participants: PreK-12 Educators, TAs & Paras
Dates/Times: 1/20/15, 1/21/15, 1/22/15, 3:45p – 6:45p
- CPI Restraint Training – Full Course SPRING
Instructors: Adam Diliberto, Elisa Buchsbaum & Jody Steinhilber
Participants: PreK-12 Educators, TAs & Paras
Dates/Times: 6/15/15, 6/16/15, 8:00a – 3:00p
- CPI Restraint Training – Refresher Course SPRING
Instructors: Adam Diliberto, Elisa Buchsbaum & Jody Steinhilber
Participants: PreK-12 Educators, TAs & Paras
Dates/Times: 3/31/15, 3:45p – 6:45p
WPS Internal Job Postings on District Website
Please be aware that we added a new feature called “Internal Job Postings” under the Faculty tab of the District’s website. We will post all of our internal jobs under this website tab. Therefore, you will no longer see internal job postings in the bulletin. This new way of posting will allow us to post internal positions any day of the week.
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Wellesley Public Schools • Wellesley, Massachusetts
www.wellesley.k12.ma.us/district/superintendent
David Lussier, Superintendent
The Superintendent’s Bulletin is posted weekly on Fridays on our website. It provides timely, relevant information about meetings, professional development opportunities, curriculum and program development, grant awards, and School Committee news. The bulletin is also the official vehicle for job postings. Please read the bulletin regularly and use it to inform colleagues of meetings and other school news.
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