Dear Colleagues,
It’s hard to believe it’s April 6th today as I watch the snow falling outside. Winter is over on the calendar but doesn’t appear to be done with us just yet.
This week, Town Meeting approved the proposed school budget for FY19. Our 3.5 percent increase over FY18 will primarily allow us to maintain our current work, while still offering opportunities for new investments in targeted areas. For example, I am pleased that we will be funding additional tiered supports for general education students at both the Middle and High Schools. Our Elementary World Language Program will continue its rollout next year at Grades K-5 at Hardy and Sprague, and expanding to K-4 at the remaining elementary schools. We are also increasing time for an Occupational Therapist at PAWS and have eliminated fees for Key Club and the National Honor Society at WHS. Again, these are just examples of what is included in the budget that was just passed. We remain grateful for the support of schools by the Wellesley community.
Additionally, there was a robust conversation at Town Meeting about adding new School Resource Officers (SROs). Officer Rosenberg does a great job of working with us, but we recommended the addition of another officer to better support all ten of our schools. We continue to believe that while the position of an SRO is an important one, so too are the many roles already in place (counselors, psychologists, social worker) that play a vital role in developing and maintaining healthy relationships with our students and their families.
Enjoy the weekend and thank you for all that you do to support our students each day.
Best regards,
David Lussier
Calendar
4/9 and 4/10/18 – Town Meeting (cont’d) – 7 pm – WMS
Insurance Open Enrollment Information Sessions – see below
4/16 to 4/20/18 – Spring Break!
5/1/18 – Student Enrollment Application Deadline for Non-Resident WTA Members
Important Insurance Open Enrollment Information Sessions Scheduled
This year, the Town of Wellesley will be offering many different insurance options to its benefit eligible employees. Some of the new offerings this benefit period are Accident Insurance, Critical Illness and Hospital Indemnity, all provided by AFLAC. Also newly being offered is an EyeMed benefit that will significantly reduce your out of pocket expenses for glasses and contacts.
To assist in the understanding of how these new offerings work, the Town of Wellesley will be hosting numerous informational sessions on a variety of topics. The “Understanding your Health Insurance Options” information sessions being presented by Fallon and will review the differences between the Benchmark Plan and the High Deductible Plan being offered this Open Enrollment to benefit eligible employees. These sessions in particular will be helpful to employees who are not sure which plan is right for them and may also assist in their considerations of the any or all of the additional insurances being offered as well.
Please click here for information on the dates/times of these important sessions. Please note: If you currently have a health insurance plan through the Town of Wellesley, you will need to take action to continue your health insurance after June 30th – regardless of whether you select any of the additional options being offered.
Information about all the offerings during this Open Enrollment period can be found at www.wellesleyma.gov/openenrollment.
Congratulations to Elisha Huff (Sprague Occupational Therapist) on the birth of her daughter, Nava, on Saturday, March 31, 2018!
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 be considered 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.