Dear Colleagues,

I hope you each had a productive week. I can’t believe we are in October! I want to thank WMS Principal, Dr. Mark Ito, for all of his efforts (and those of his team) to provide safety training for staff on Monday in collaboration with the WPD. It’s never pleasant to think about safety scenarios such as those involving an active shooter, but it remains vital for all of us to know what to do in those moments to protect our students and each other. I also want to give a shout-out to our WMS colleague, Rich Chute, for adding to the realism of our WMS training this week. 

On Tuesday evening, our METCO Parent Council hosted a kickoff event in Boston for all of our Boston families. It was a great chance for many of our school leaders in attendance to connect with parents/caregivers. I’m grateful for Parent Council Co-Presidents, Dr. Joanne DaSilva-Moreira and Ludvie Victor-Ackerman for partnering with our METCO team to make this evening possible.  

Wednesday was Custodian Appreciation Day this week and I want to echo the well-deserved thanks to our exceptional custodians who take such good care of our schools throughout the district every day. Thank you, colleagues!

This week I joined a group of colleagues who began a professional development course, “History’s Double Helix: Parallel Histories of Israel/Palestine.”  The course is being taught by Dr. Dan Osborn, whom some of you may know from his previous work with Primary Source and more recently through Project Mosaics.  

A snippet of the course description: Teaching about Israel and Palestine, Israelis and Palestinians, Zionism and Palestinian nationalism, and Jewish and Arab histories can feel daunting. However, identifying themes, topics, texts, and pedagogical approaches to navigating controversy is necessary in order to teach with intentionality while avoiding silences in the classroom, silences that do not advance students’ understanding of these communities, their struggles, their anxieties, and the nature of their historical outlooks. Teaching about Israel-Palestine with an orientation towards interrogating competing narratives, in particular, is a vehicle for promoting constructive discourse in the classroom, even as this discourse may revolve around divergent interpretations of past and present realities in the lives of these communities.

Thank you to our WPS Teaching and Learning team for making this important topic available to our district educators.  

Lots of great things happening this weekend around the district.  Tonight, Sprague is hosting its annual Fall Festival and Movie Night from 5pm-8:30pm, and on Saturday, Bates will host its annual Pumpkin Fair from 12pm-4pm.  I’m hoping the beautiful weekend weather will help salve my disappointment with the Red Sox loss to the Yankees.  

Thanks for what you do for our students each day and have a great weekend! 

Best, David

October 7 – School Committee Meeting

October 13 – Indigenous Peoples Day (Schools & Offices Closed)

October 21 – Diwali (School in session)

October 21 – School Committee Meeting

November 5 – School Committee Meeting

The Lane Change Intention Form must be submitted by November 1st to indicate an intent to change lanes at the start of the following school year. You will receive a notification confirming the submission of your form. Please keep this for your records. The list does not carry over from year to year, so you must submit a new intention form each year until you successfully change lanes.

The Town of Wellesley offers an Employee Assistance Program (EAP) to support employees and their families.  Effective July 1, 2025, CMG Associates is the new EAP provider (see announcement). Employees may want to access the EAP because of emotional difficulties, life stress, family difficulties, concerns about substance abuse or other addictive behavior, legal or financial problems, or other personal issues. The EAP is completely free, confidential, and available at all times (day or night, weekdays, weekends, and holidays). Employees may call CMG Associates at 888-851-7032, or they may visit www.cmgassociates.com, click on the link entitled EAP Log-In, and use the User ID: WELL.

SMART Plan (457 Voluntary Retirement Savings) 

May make changes throughout the year through the company.

Work directly through US Omni and the SMART Plan.

Email AskHR@Wellesleyps.org. The Human Resources Department is happy to assist you.  

For all Internal Job Postings, please go to “Internal Job Postings” under the Faculty tab of the District’s website. How to Apply for WPS Internal Job Postings as a New Internal Applicant