Dear Colleagues,
Some of you may be familiar with the Marshall Memo, a weekly summary of recent education research and articles that provides a great overview of timely topics in our field. In this week’s edition, there is a great review of Linda Flanagan’s article in Mindshift, titled, “What teachers and sports coaches can learn from each other.” Flanagan highlights the reality that fewer teachers are coaching athletic teams than in the past. With a growing separation between classrooms and coaching, we may be losing important areas of mutual reinforcement. For example, coaches often tie learning to performance in very specific ways through timely feedback. Coaches also often reinforce the notion of team rather than individual learning. And, of course, coaches often see students in a different context from the classroom where a struggling student may shine. After reading Kim Marshall’s great summary of Flanagan’s article, I am reminded of how fortunate we are to have so many coaches who are also excellent teachers. With such a high percentage of our students who participate in athletics, I hope that we continue to find ways to connect the adults who are supporting our students in the many types of learning environments that define our common work.
Please enjoy a safe and restful February break and thank you for all that you do to support our students.
Best regards,
David
Calendar
2/18-2/22/19 – Winter Break – No School
2/26/19 – School Committee Meeting – 6:30 pm – Town Hall
Baby News!
Congratulations to Kate Wilson (ELL Teacher at Schofield & Sprague) on the birth of her son, Graham, on February 10, 2019.
Condolences to Kim Rickard (Bates Library TA) on the loss of her father-in-law, Robert Rickard, on February 1, 2019.
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.