Dear Colleagues,

Welcome to April and happy Friday! This week is an important one to our faith communities with observances for Passover, Good Friday, and Easter. Wellesley’s annual Town Meeting also kicked off this week with sessions on both Monday and Tuesday evenings. I’m pleased to report that our FY’27 WPS Budget passed by a vote of 184-10 during the second night of town meeting. In addition to our FY’27 budget, this year we also produced a longitudinal study of district costs over the past decade. This was driven by the question often posed around town: “Why do school budgets increase, even during times of declining student enrollment?” The resulting analysis showed that increases in non-discretionary spending, such as transportation, personnel costs, and mandated services such as special education, far exceed any savings from declining enrollment.   

Thank you to everyone who supported the development of our budget for next year. In particular, I want to give thanks to Assistant Superintendent of Finance and Operations, Cindy Mahr, for her exceptional work on the FY’27 budget as well as the aforementioned longitudinal analysis. I share the bittersweet news that Cindy will be leaving us at the end of the school year to begin a new chapter in her professional life as the Chief Financial Officer of the Hopkinton Public Schools. Please join me in thanking Cindy for her eight years of service to WPS and wishing her well in this next leg of her professional journey.  

I also want to congratulate WMS World Language teacher Rebecca Blouwolff and all of our WMS colleagues and parent volunteers who hosted the annual “French Fête” last week, which was a terrific celebration of French culture. (And my favorite, French line dancing!) Formidable! 

Thanks for what you do each day in support of our students. Have a great weekend!       

Best, David

April 3 – Good Friday (Schools Closed)

April 14 – School Committee Meeting

April 20-24 – April Break (Schools Closed)

May 5 – School Committee Meeting

Graduate credit courses offered through the Albion Center at Idaho State University will no longer be accepted for credit by Wellesley Public Schools. This decision follows a recent message from the Massachusetts School Superintendents’ Association indicating that the program is under review due to concerns about the rigor of its coursework. While Idaho State University courses may still be applied toward professional development points (PDPs), they will no longer count as graduate-level credit within WPS for lane changes. Please reach out to Sandy Trach, Assistant Superintendent of Teaching and Learning, with any questions.

Congratulations and best wishes to these amazing WPS teachers who will be running the Boston Marathon this month!

Have we missed any teachers or staff members? If so, please share with Allison DiRenzo at direnzoa@wellesleyps.org for inclusion in a future Bulletin

As we look toward the next school year, the district will be transitioning from Zoom to Google Meet as our primary video conferencing platform for general staff use. This shift, which will take effect this summer, allows us to be more fiscally responsible by fully utilizing our Google Education Plus license. In addition, Google Meet now offers several helpful new features, including Adaptive Audio, which eliminates echo when multiple staff members join a meeting from the same room, live translated captions in over 65 languages, and a picture-in-picture mode that allows the user to view the Meet and relevant documents at the same time.

This change won’t happen until this summer, which will give everyone the remainder of the school year to explore the platform and receive assistance from the Tech Dept. Please visit the Tech Dept. contact page to submit a Help Desk ticket or to find a member of the department assigned to your building.

In August 2026, there will be a three-week gap between pay periods. This occurs periodically due to how the school and payroll calendars align.

 

To help ensure a smooth transition through this period, we are sharing this notice well in advance so that all employees can plan accordingly. Staff may wish to set aside funds during the year to help cover personal expenses during this short gap.

 

Below is a summary of the upcoming schedule for the 2025–2026 school year:

 

No paychecks will be issued between August 17 and September 8, 2026.

 

If you have any questions about your individual pay schedule, please contact the Payroll Office for assistance.

The MTRS has many members who do not have a beneficiary on file. This Spring, these members will receive either an email or a mailed letter (if no email address on file) asking them to designate a beneficiary.

To designate or change a beneficiary, members must sign and mail the Beneficiary Designation Form to our Main Office.

If MTRS members have questions, please email annstmt@trb.state.ma.us.

Children of Unit A and B members residing outside of Wellesley shall be entitled to attend Wellesley Public Schools without charge for tuition on a space available basis (Article 14 WEA Unit A, Article 13 WEA Unit B).

March 6:  Interested eligible staff members may submit a letter of intent using the one-page application form online. 

May 1:  All applications are due to the District Registrar, late applications will not be accepted.

The district will review all applications in May and school placement decisions will be made in June. Placement decisions are made based on available space and staff will be notified of their school when decisions have been made. Once notified of a determination, applicants will be provided with access to the online registration forms. Registration of students is not completed until all forms have been received and approved by the District Registrar and Nurse.

If there are any questions, please reach out to the District Registrar, at registrar@wellesleyps.org. 

A survey will be sent out in mid-March to confirm currently enrolled faculty children will be returning in school year 2026-27.

For enrollment of younger faculty children, please contact Isabel Cashman cashmani@wellesleyps.org for PAWS Preschool, or Heidi Marquedant marquedanth@wellesleyps.org for the WHS Child Lab Program. Enrollment in Child Lab typically opens in the fall.

Preparation courses to review core material covered in the designated MTEL

Asynchronous and Hybrid options

1 undergraduate credit per course for $297

Register by May 1, 2026, by completing this form

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