Dear Colleagues,
I hope you each had a productive week. On Wednesday evening, Athletic Director John Brown and I joined colleagues from the School Committee, Natural Resource Commission, and the Department of Public Works to present the Special Town Meeting Warrant article on bringing team rooms to the Hunnewell Track and Field. Many members of our community may not be aware that when the new high school opened in 2012, it had substantially less gym and locker room space than the old high school. Given our exceptionally high participation rate in athletics, it’s long been difficult for our athletes to have an appropriate changing and storage location at the school. (You may have also seen visiting teams changing in the cafeteria.) The proposed team rooms would create a two-sided locker room out at the track and field with approximately 60 lockers on each side. In the fall, this would be used by our football team and in the spring, would be used by the girl’s lacrosse and softball teams. That, in turn, will free up locker room space in the high school for our other athletes. Special thanks to Linda Chow and Jay McHale for their leadership as this process has moved through the vetting process over many years.
Last night, I joined many Wellesley residents and Town leaders at Mass Bay Community College to learn more about a proposal to utilize some of the college’s land for housing, which would bring in funds for the college to build a new cybersecurity and health/wellness facility at the school. The issues raised by those in attendance primarily focused on the loss of recreational and green space around Centennial Park, traffic congestion, as well as concerns about the town’s ability to absorb this potential growth with our current infrastructure. On the school side, those concerns included student enrollment and the loss of our location to house our yellow buses. The counterpoints raised included the significant need for more housing options in Metro West Boston as well as a desire to support the facility needs of the college. No decisions were made, but we’ll be tracking this effort very closely in the months ahead to ensure we understand the impact of any proposal on WPS.
I also want to give a shout-out to WHS Visual Arts teacher Amie Larson and her ceramics intensive students, who gave up their holiday this week to sell ceramic bowls at a charity event for Vineyard Haven. This organization helps support local families who are battling childhood cancer. Collectively, the Ceramics Intensive program raised over $400 at this event. All proceeds go directly to Vineyard Havens and their organization. Please join me in thanking Amie and her students for a job well done!
