Colleagues,
Happy New Year! I hope you had a relaxing winter break and that your first week back in 2017 was a productive one. Over the break, I kept my promise—or at least my intention—of being unplugged, and while I was tempted many times to catch up on work or engage in ongoing issues, I resisted the temptation, spent more time with my family and was better for it. I’m resolving to spend more time “off-the-grid” in 2017. I hope you can do the same.
On a related front, this week I had an excellent brown-bag lunch conversation with our Technology Department. Some of our colleagues are extremely visible at our schools helping to empower our students and staff with technology. Other colleagues are perhaps less visible to you because their important work occurs behind the scenes ensuring that our many systems and devices are operational. Regardless of role, I was so impressed with the thoughtful colleagues we have shepherding our technology vision and implementation throughout the district. They are constantly thinking of the best ways to support teaching and learning, which devices best meet our needs, and how to balance the many opportunities and tradeoffs that are inherent in the digital age. We are in very good hands indeed!
Thanks to everyone for the important work you do each day in our district and I wish you each a safe, productive, and happy new year!
Best,
David
Calendar
1/10/17 – School Committee Meeting – 7 pm – Town Hall
1/16/17 – Martin Luther King Jr Day – No School
1/16/17 – World of Wellesley MLK Breaksfast (See Details Below)
1/24/17 – School Committee Meeting and Budget Public Hearing – 7 pm – Town Hall
1/31/17 – School Committee Meeting – 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.
World of Wellesley MLK Jr 17th Annual Breakfast – January 16, 2017
Annual breakfast in honor of Martin Luther King Day sponsored by World of Wellesley and Wellesley College. Breakfast available at 8:00 AM and the program will run from 8:30 AM to 10:00 AM featuring keynote by Chuck Collins and performances by The Kuumba Singers of Harvard College and the Wellesley High School Thunder Step Squad. RSVP by January 15, 2017 to worldofwellesley@yahoo.com or call 781-591-9435.
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.