March 18, 2016

Dear Colleagues,
One of our great traditions in Wellesley is to honor our staff members who have served for 25 years in the Wellesley Public Schools.  In partnership with Wellesley College and the Wellesley Education Foundation, we recognize these individuals at a wonderful evening reception at Wellesley College and each honoree also receives a chair from the Wellesley Education Foundation as a token of our community’s appreciation.  Our “Chair” ceremony was held last night, where we honored six members of our team for their service.  I’d like to use my bulletin space this week to share a sampling of the remarks from last night:
Donna Chaff – Upham School – Music Teacher  Donna Chaff was the Music Teacher at Upham Elementary for the past 26 years.  During her years in Wellesley she also taught at 6 of the 7 elementary schools (except for Schofield).  She taught music for a total of 35 years including a stint in Athens, Greece.  In 2011, Donna was chosen as the Massachusetts recipient for the Society of General Music “Excellence in Music” award.  She recently retired from her position at Upham and is traveling with her favorite husband Bob (which is where she is at this moment!).
Beth Gillespie – Central Office Production Center Associate   A true Wellesley native, Beth Gillespie has deep roots in this community.  Born and raised in Wellesley, she married her high school sweetheart, Tom and settled in town.  Her two children attended Hardy Elementary, the same school Beth enjoyed as a youth.   Beth’s WPS professional career began in 1991 in Food Services in the Middle School.  In 2000 she transferred to her current position at the Central Office Production Center.  Beth’s positive attitude and diligent work ethic has helped provide our teachers and staff with the limitless paper materials needed to serve the students and families of Wellesley.
Jane Lord – WHS Global Marketing/Business Teacher   Jane Lord is a “business-ista”!  She is devoted to the field of business, education and is a follower of the latest business trends. She challenges her students to think critically and outside the box.    Jane’s love for business has motivated her students to study business in college.  Yearly, she will write more than 25 college recommendations.  Jane is devoted to the high school and its students.  She is a class advisor for two classes and has watched them dance freshmen year in the cafeteria through to their senior prom.  She is a favorite senior project advisor who cannot say no to her students even when we limit advisors to two students. Wellesley High School is fortunate to have Jane as a colleague, teacher and advisor.
Beth Watson – Secretary, Fiske School  Beth Watson also grew up in Wellesley and graduated from Wellesley Public Schools.  She has happily worked as Fiske School’s secretary for the past 26 years. The focus of her work is to ensure the students are safe so they can learn, and staff has the supports needed to be the best educators they can be.  Often times, when walking by her office, you will see Beth reading with a child and celebrating their accomplishments.  Other times, you will see Beth going down the hall to gather a child for early dismissal or to check that all duties are covered.  Beth Watson takes pride in her work and is dedicated to the success of the entire Fiske community.

Donna Arcudi – WMS Fitness & Health Teacher  Donna started her career in WPS during school year 1982-83.  Due to declining enrollment, she left teaching for 4 years, and returned as a part time teacher for the 1988-89 school year, and then the 1989-90 school year.  She was awarded a full time position in 1991 and has been here since.  Each time Donna was hired, she was required to attend the “New Teacher Training” program, earning her the distinction of being the most frequent “New Teacher” in the district!   (Donna was introduced by Joyce Tolken.)

Suzanne Chmielinski – WMS English Teacher   Suzanne Chmielinski began her career with Wellesley Public Schools at Bates Elementary School as a grade 4 teacher.  After two years she joined the Middle School to teach grade 6 ELA and Science, and she completed her career as a Grade 8 English teacher in 2015.  (Suzanne was introduced by Diane Campbell.)
Please join me in recognizing our colleagues for their outstanding work!
Best regards,
David


​​Calendar
  
03/22/16 – School Committee Meeting – 7 pm – Town Hall
03/25/16 – No School – Good Friday
03/31/16 – Deadline for C & I Proposals
03/31/16 – Deadline for WellesleyPD Course Proposals


Wellesley Board of Health
Upcoming Trainings
Fire Safety – Tuesday, April 5, 2016 6:00 – 8:00 pm, Warren Building (90 Washington Street, Wellesley).  Clickhere for more information on Fire Safety.

Please contact Cheryl Lefman in Health Department to RSVP:  clefman@wellesleyma.gov or 781-235-0135.


Professional Development Opportunities
WellesleyPD
Registration is open for the following  courses through WellesleyPD:

New Dates! – “Special Education for General Educators: A 5 Part Series”

  • Instructors: Astrid Mazariegos & Kristen Stacy
  • Participants: K-5 Educators
  • Dates/Times: 04/30/16, 8:30am – 3:00pm; 05/02/16, 05/09/16 & 05/17/16, 3:30pm – 6:30pm
  • To Register: Login to WellesleyPD and select “Offerings” from the menu on the left, then select “Special Education Courses” from the pull-down menu.

​New Online ELL Course
“Promoting Mastery of ESL Standards with Technology Usage”
This course provides 45 PDPs, fulfilling the DESE requirement of at least 15 PDPs related to SEI or ESL (effective July 1, 2016 for professional licensure renewal. The cost of the course is $99.   Go to www.quikitech.com/mass to enroll.

Share Your Expertise with Colleagues
Teach a WellesleyPD course this summer or during the 2016-2017 school year! The rate of pay is $60 per course hour for non-graduate level courses or $100 per course hour if the course is approved for graduate credit. The rate of pay is adjusted for multiple instructors.
We are especially interested in courses that align with and support the WPS Strategic Plan and District goals in the following areas:

  • Social and Emotional Learning
  • Differentiation
  • The 4 Cs

To propose a course, please submit a completed WellesleyPD Course Proposal to Chelsea Bailow, Professional Development Coordinator, no later than Thursday, March 31st.
​​
C&I Proposals Now Being Accepted for Summer 2016 and the 2016-2017 School Year

Regular Education
We are seeking C&I proposals whose focus is to develop curricula and/or innovative teaching practices resulting in products that can be shared with colleagues. Priority will be given to Proposals related to current Curriculum Review Cycles or aligned to the Strategic Plan and District goals.
Special Education
We are seeking C&I Proposals whose focus is on specialized instructional inclusive practices, e.g., co-teaching models, and/or emotional/social/behavioral support systems.

To access a fillable C&I Proposal Form, please click C&I Proposal.  Proposals can be initiated by administrators or by teacher groups who have worked with your department head.
C&I Proposals are due no later than Thursday, March 31, 2016.  For Regular Education proposals, please submit to Anne Allieri, Teaching & Learning Department.  For Special Educationproposals, please submit to Lori Cimeno, Director of Student Services.
Approval notifications will be sent prior to April Vacation.

Other Opportunities
TEC Online, Self-Paced Courses Free to WPS Educators
WPS has partnered with The Education Cooperative (TEC) to offer two online, self-paced courses free of charge to Wellesley educators. Please note that the ELL course is NOT an endorsement course.

  • Engaging All Students with Differentiated Instruction    (Click here for more details.)
  • Strategies to Enhance Instruction for English Language Learners in the Classroom    (Click here for more details.)

    To Register: Go to tec.registration.etlo.org and complete the registration page. You’ll receive an email with a URL for the course you’ve selected, as well as instructions on enrolling in the course.

PDPs: Upon completion of the course, participants will receive a certificate of completion. Submit the certificate to Chelsea Bailow, Professional Development Coordinator, in order for the course to appear in your WellesleyPD records.​​

BU Leadership Program
Boston University launched its Institute for Creative Educational Leadership in the summer of 2015.  An extraordinary and diverse cohort of aspiring education leaders are now engaged in a unique 16-credit Certificate of Educational Leadership program that can, with additional coursework, lead to Ed.M. and CAGS degrees in Educational Leadership and Policy Studies.  The initial reviews by the students have been extremely positive.  For additional information on this program, please click here.


Apply Now to Enroll Children
of Non-Resident WTA Members in Wellesley Schools.  
Children of teachers or nurses residing outside Wellesley shall be entitled to attend Wellesley Public Schools without charge for tuition on a space available basis (Article 12, WTA Unit A Contract).  If you are interested in this benefit for the 2016-17 school year, please click here to access the form.  Once complete, please return it to District Registrar Nancy Costigliola in Central Office or email it back to her at registrar@wellesleyps.org.  The Application Deadline is May 1, 2016.

Graduate Course Reimbursement
Course reimbursement funding of $30,000 is available to distribute in FY17 among qualified teachers.  This funding is for graduate course work done as part of a master’s degree program to fulfill a teacher’s obligations for the Massachusetts Educators Professional License and for course work required to achieve the next stage of licensure culminating in a professional license.  To apply for this course reimbursement, please send the following information to Valerie Spruill, Administrative Assistant to the HR Director,spruillv@wellesleyps.org:   your name, evidence of your enrollment in an applicable master/doctoral degree program, name and description of the course, evidence of course cost (a billing statement), proof of payment (i.e. credit card statement, canceled check or receipt of payment), and transcript.  The deadline for submissions is June 1, 2016.  You will be notified of the amount awarded to you some time prior to the first paycheck in September 2016.  Please note:  all information must be received by June 1, 2016 or you will be disqualified for reimbursement.  All courses must have occurred in the summer of 2015, fall of 2015 and spring of 2016 and have been completed by June 1, 2016.   Any courses taken prior to the summer of 2015 will not be considered reimbursement.

Thinking About Retirement?
For WTA members interested in retiring in 2016: Contact a representative from MTRS at 617-679-6877.
If you plan to retire this year, please send a signed letter (four months prior to retirement) indicating your intention to Director of Human Resources Gayle McCracken, Wellesley Public Schools, 40 Kingsbury Street, Wellesley, Massachusetts 02481.

​​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.
Superintendent’s Bulletin 3/18/16