Colleagues,
Our budget work continued this week with several days of detailed conversations with the School Committee going through the major areas of our budget proposals for next year. I’m so appreciative that our committee takes the time to understand these requests as part of the vetting process. I know I’ll have much more to report on our budget in the month of January.
Another important activity that will continue in the new year is our goal of developing an annual District Progress Report. Our intent is to produce a document that showcases our work related to our strategic priorities. We would love your input in determining the measures, particularly around academics and social and emotional learning, that are most meaningful to include throughout our PreK-12 scope. Please engage your principals or department heads with ideas or feel free to contact me directly.
Finally, as we head into the holiday break, I hope the greatest gift you receive this season is the gift of time with your family and friends. It’s my additional hope that most, if not all, of this time will be “unplugged” from work (and maybe even your electronic devices!).
Thanks to everyone for the amazing work you do each day in our District. I look forward to seeing you when we return in 2017!
Best,
David
Calendar
12/26/16-1/2/17: Winter Break
1/10/17 – School Committee Meeting – 7 pm – Town Hall
1/16/17 – Martin Luther King Jr Day – No School
1/24/17 – School Committee Meeting and Budget Public Hearing – 7 pm – Town Hall
Board of Selectmen Annual Diversity Program Panel Discussion on Respect and Diversity – January 9, 2017
The Board of Selectmen invites the Wellesley community to join us for a panel discussion on respect and diversity to be held on Monday, January 9, 2017 at 7:00 PM in the Juliani Room at Town Hall.
At its meeting on December 12, 2016, the Board of Selectmen adopted the following pledge:
The Wellesley Board of Selectmen reaffirms its position that Wellesley is a town that highly values diversity, dignity and respect for all individuals. Wellesley strives to be a welcoming town; therefore, the Board opposes expressions of hate, intolerance and discrimination. The Board encourages the entire Wellesley community to continue to exhibit caring and supportive actions in support of our diversity.
We invite the public to join us for this important conversation as we hear from members of our community about their experiences and perspectives, reflect on how we as a town respond to differences and discuss what we can do to promote tolerance, inclusion and a welcoming environment for all.
2017-18 WPS Academic Calendar Approved
Click here to view next year’s calendar.
Attention Core Academic Teachers: Important Licensure Information
If you are a core academic teacher and you currently hold a preliminary license, you must take the RETELL course and obtain the SEI Teacher Endorsement in order to renew your license as an initial license. For RETELL purposes, a core academic teacher is an early childhood, elementary, special education, English, reading, mathematics, science, civics and government, economics, history or geography teacher. The requirement to take the RETELL course applies to teachers with preliminary licenses, regardless of whether or not they had an ELL student in their classroom.
If you are unsure about what type of license you are working under (preliminary, initial or professional), please go on your DESE ELAR account and check your license type. https://gateway.edu.state.ma.us/elar/common/EducatorWelcomePagePageControl.ser
RETELL Information
Working in collaboration with the Wellesley Teachers’ Association, tentative arrangements have been made to offer the RETELL course in-District during the Spring 2017 semester. Please watch for additional information in upcoming Superintendent’s Bulletins.
All Benefits Information
Benefits information is handled by the Town Hall Benefits Office. All benefit inquiries should be directed to Joanne Liburd at JLiburd or by calling 781-431-1019 extension 2244.
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.