Dear Colleagues,
It appears that my hopes for a near snowless winter will not come to pass. Fortunately, the storm will be coming in over the weekend, which will create the least disruption to our schedule and give us a great reason to stay cozy at home and root for the Patriots!
This past week approximately 50 educators from our district came together for a three-day project based learning (PBL) leadership series. Facilitated by the Buck Institute of Education, our teachers and administrators engaged in strategic planning for how PBL will bring our Profile of a Graduate to life in classrooms as it promotes deep and meaningful learning for all students both within and beyond school. A special thanks to the Wellesley Education Foundation for funding this professional learning.
I wanted to remind everyone that the School Committee will be holding a public hearing on the FY20 Budget on Tuesday at 7 PM at the Wellesley Police Station. (A vote is slated at the February 5th School Committee meeting.)
Finally, on Monday the nation will pause to honor the life and legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. You have likely heard me share my belief that access to a high quality education remains the central civil rights issue of our time. As educators working in public education, you are civil rights warriors supporting the dream that Dr. King so eloquently framed for our nation. I hope we can continue to be inspired by that dream as we support the academic and social/emotional development of our students each day.
Thank you for all of your efforts and have a great weekend.
Best regards,
David
Calendar
1/21/19 – Martin Luther King Jr. Day – No School
1/22/19 – School Committee Meeting – 6:30 pm (7 pm public hearing on FY20 Budget) – WPD Kingsbury Room
2/05/19 – School Committee Meeting – 6:30 pm – Town Hall
2/18-2/22/19 – Winter Break – No School
Job Opportunity
Wellesley Public Schools seeks a Director of the Extended School Year Program for 2019. This position will be responsible for all aspects of planning, hiring, advertising and implementing the extended school year program. The Director’s responsibilities begin in January 2019 and will run until the completion of the program in August 2019. This position pays a stipend of $8500. Please apply on Schoolspring if you are interested.
Apply Now to enroll children of non-resident WTA members in WPS
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 2019-20 school year, please click here to access the form. Once completed, please return the form, along with a letter of intent, to District Registrar Nancy Costigliola in Central Office in person or by email at registrar@wellesleyps.org. The application and letter of intent deadline is May 1, 2019.
Graduate Course Reimbursement
Course reimbursement funding of $30,000 is available to distribute in FY20 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 3, 2019, the completed reimbursement form, along with 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 to Valerie Spruill, Administrative Assistant to the Director of Human Resources, spruillv@wellesleyps.org. You will be notified of the amount awarded to you some time prior to the first paycheck in September 2019. Please note: all information must be received by June 3, 2019 or you will be disqualified for reimbursement. All courses must have occurred in the summer of 2018, fall of 2018 and spring of 2019 and have been completed by June 3, 2019. Any courses taken prior to the summer of 2018 will not count for reimbursement.
Renewing Your Educator’s License?
Information about requirements to renew your educator license is available on the WPS website. Click here to go to the HR Licensure tab. When you apply for your license on the DESE website under ELAR, the DESE will send you an electronic communication about what is missing from your licensure file in order to renew. The HR licensure tab and your ELAR account are two tools to assist you with information about licensure renewal.
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@wellesleyma.gov 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.