Dear Colleagues,
As I write to you today with the “Bomb Cyclone” raging outside, the February break feels like a distant memory. Late last week, we mailed copies of our first District Progress Report to every household in Wellesley. (Copies for staff are in the process of being disseminated at each of our schools.) What seemed like a fairly straightforward task when we started was actually very complicated to complete. The team of staff and community partners working on the report attempted to tell the story of our district and tried to both highlight new and noteworthy activities, while also naming some of our ongoing challenges. While the report contains data on traditional measures such as MCAS and SAT Scores, what stands out to me is the breadth of amazing work that has occurred in WPS during the past year documented on each page. It’s not often that we can zoom out and view the scale of our efforts. I am reminded of the well-rounded education we provide to our students and the excellence and innovation of our team. I have no doubt that this report will evolve in future years and I welcome your feedback on what you liked and what you think can be improved.
Thank for your work with our students each day and have a safe (and dry) weekend!
Best regards,
David Lussier
Calendar
3/13/18 – SC Meeting – 6:30 pm – Town Hall
3/20/18 – SC Meeting – 6:30 pm – Town Hall
Congratulations to Mike McIntyre (WPS Out of District Coordinator) on the birth of his son, Rocco, on February 19, 2018; and to Marlene Schlesinger (PAWS Speech Pathologist) on the birth of her son, Evan Bradley, born on February 26, 2018.
Wanted: Seminar Day Presenters
Wellesley High School’s Seminar Day is just over a month away. This year we wanted to extend our speaker invitation to all who work in the District. Seminar Day will be held on Wednesday, March 7th, and if you (yes YOU!) or anyone you know (or meet in the near future) would love to share a passion with our students, please feel free to fill out or pass along the following form:
What is Seminar Day? What does the schedule look like?
Seminar day occurs on the March half day every year at WHS. Instead of classes, we plan three one-hour blocks of seminars, and our students (and staff!) attend the ones that align with their interests and passions. The schedule for the day is as follows:
Advisory: 8:05-8:15am
Block A: 8:20-9:20am
Block B: 9:25-10:25am
Block C: 10:30-11:30am
There are usually 100+ speakers, many of whom come from our very own staff (and some students!), and the speakers present on an extremely diverse set of passions and experiences. The goal is to ignite and spark inspiration in our students as they explore a number of seminars of interest OR ones in which they never even knew they’d be interested. Questions? Email Zach Nicol: nicolz@wellesleyps.org, or Carly Matarazzo: matarazzoc@wellesleyps.org.
WTA Health Insurance Forums
Our Health Insurance plan design will be changing. WTA will work tirelessly to ensure our members are educated and supported. To that end, the executive board and rep council will host forums on understanding these health plans and the financial mitigation offered. We kindly ask that you make every effort to attend any one of these forums.
WTA HEALTH INSURANCE FORUMS:
Bates Library, Tuesday 3/13 at 3:30pm
Middle School (location TBD), Wednesday 3/14 at 2:40pm
High School LIBRARY*, Thursday 3/15 at 3:30pm (after faculty meeting)
Fiske GYM*, Monday 3/19 at 3:30pm
Hunnewell Library, Tuesday 3/20 at 3:30pm
Sprague Library, Tuesday 3/20 at 3:30pm
Tentative Ratification Vote: Wednesday, 3/21, hosted in every building, locations TBD.
We apologize in advance for not getting to every school. Given our time constraints, we prioritized Wellesley geography and the availability of meeting places. You are welcome to attend ANY of these meetings, even if you cannot attend the one at your school.
*Note these locations differ from our initial email to member’s home accounts. The meetings had to move to accommodate special events.
Apply Now to Enroll Children of Non-Resident WTA Members in Wellesley Public Schools
Children of teachers or nurses residing outside of 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 2018-19 school year, please click registrar. The Application and Letter of Intent Deadline is May 1, 2018.
Graduate Course Reimbursement
Course reimbursement funding of $30,000 is available to distribute in FY19 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 and/or when a specialist teacher’s immediate supervisor, subject to the approval of the Assistant Superintendent, verifies that there are no further in-district courses available for recertification in that specialist’s field, that specialist may apply for tuition reimbursement. Any Unit A member for whom no DESE license exists, including but not limited to occupational and physical therapists, so long as that member maintains appropriate certification and/or licensure required to perform his or her duties, shall be eligible to apply for tuition reimbursement. To apply for this course reimbursement, please send, by no later June 1, 2018 the completed spruillv. You will be notified of the amount awarded to you sometime prior to the first paycheck in September 2018. Please note: all information must be received by June 1, 2018 or you will be disqualified for reimbursement. All courses must have occurred in the summer of 2017, fall of 2017 and spring of 2018 and have been completed by June 1, 2018. Any courses taken prior to the summer of 2017 will not count for reimbursement.
Insurance Benefits Information
Health and Dental Insurance Benefits information is handled by the Town Hall Benefits Office. 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.