Dear Colleagues,
On Monday and Tuesday evening next week, Annual Town Meeting will convene at the Middle School and we will be presenting the WPS budget for FY 2020. Earlier this week I provided an update to staff on the status of our budget and noted that our proposed 3.65 percent increase was reduced by the Board of Selectmen to a 3.5 percent increase, a cut of approximately $154,000. If we must make that adjustment, the District would not move forward with the proposed Director of Libraries and Innovation, as well as the full online subscription to the math enrichment tool, Dreambox. However, we are hoping that if there is a surplus in the District’s Circuit Breaker funds at the end of the year, we may be able to forego making these additional cuts to our budget. I will certainly keep you updated on what happens next week.
Thank you for all that you do for our students and enjoy our first weekend of spring!
Best regards,
David
Calendar
03/25 & 3/26/19 – Annual Town Meeting – Middle School Auditorium – 7 pm
04/15 -04/19/19 – Spring Break (no school)
Correction!
Apologies to Holly Holmes, whose name was inadvertently left off the Superintendent’s Bulletin last week when naming the WEF 25 Year Chair honorees. Holly has held a variety of positions in the Wellesley Public Schools, mostly at Bates, including Elementary building assistant, teaching assistant in a classroom, and Special Education elementary floating assistant throughout all 6 elementary schools. In 2003, she became the Instructional Library Assistant at Bates and in 2013, she moved from Bates to Hunnewell, where she continues to work in this capacity.
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Honorees from left to right: Debi Levine, Holly Holmes, MaryAnne MacDonald, Ilene Sharpe, Kirsten Blackwill, Jayne Byrne, Kathleen Derian, Jen MacPherson. Honorees missing from photo: Jenny Leung and Kristen Snyder.
Condolences to the following Sprague staff members: Jackie Decker (Gr 3 Teaching Assistant) on the loss of her grandmother, Kathleen Rooney, on March 15th; Emma McLean (Kindergarten Teacher) on the loss of her aunt, Carole Mastendino, on March 18, 2019; and to Joanna Doyle (Gr 5 Teacher) on the loss of her mother, Ann Marie Russo, on March 21, 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
For all Internal Job Postings, please go to “Internal Job Postings” under the Faculty tab of the District’s website.