Dear Colleagues,
Today I am reflecting on a challenging week with regard to our diversity, equity, and inclusion (DE&I) efforts. The hateful email received by one of our colleagues at WHS has once again raised our awareness that racism exists within our community and has a profound impact on our perceptions of school safety and inclusiveness. I am proud of efforts underway to rally in support of our colleague and to name this violation of our core values as unacceptable.
Last night, we also hosted our first School Committee meeting in Boston that provided a great chance for our Boston resident families to engage in dialogue with our School Committee and members of the senior staff. The conversation was extremely candid and families recounted numerous examples of when students and parents have experienced micro-aggressions and not felt welcome in our District. In particular, I was struck by an oft-repeated observation that our curricula need to focus more on issues of race, and that even our school hallways and classroom spaces must have more visible evidence of the diversity of our students.
I feel like our District has made great strides in making diversity, equity, and inclusion an ongoing priority, but it’s clear we have a long way to go. While we are hoping that our budget request for a new position to lead this work will be funded, that in and of itself will not be a silver bullet around these complex issues. Engaging in these issues is everyone’s responsibility and will take courage.
So I end the week feeling disheartened by recent events, but I also embrace the challenge before us because I know collectively we can make a difference. I hope you feel the same.
Thanks for all that you do for our students and don’t forget to set your clocks back Saturday night.
Best regards,
David
Calendar
03/10/19 – Daylight Savings Time Begins – Spring Forward!
03/12/19 – SC Meeting – Town Hall – 6:30 pm
03/14/19 – SC Office Hour – Great Hall, Town Hall – 9 am
03/25/19 – Annual Town Meeting Begins
Baby News!
Congratulations to Alee Rogers (Gr. 2 Teacher – Sprague) on the birth of her daughter, Penelope “Penny” Elizabeth, on February 28, 2019.
Congratulations to Wellesley High School and, in particular Robert Cohen, on earning the College Board’s AP® Computer Science Female Diversity Award for attaining female student representation in AP Computer Science Principles for 2018. Among the more than 18,000 secondary schools worldwide that offer AP courses, WHS is one of only 685 that have achieved this important result. Nicely done!
SAT/ACT Proctors Needed!
SAT/ACT proctors are needed for students with school based accommodations. Testing takes place at WHS the week following the Saturday national administration. Hours may vary, a 7:45 arrival is necessary and being a proctor does not commit one to every test administration; assignments are flexible. Responsibilities are to deliver instructions verbatim and monitor time and test-takers. Proctors will need to have a CORI which the District will facilitate.
Please direct interest and inquiries to Julia Sweet at sweetj@wellesleyps.org.
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.