1. Wellesley Public Schools Superintendent’s
40 Kingsbury Street Bulletin
Wellesley, Massachusetts 02481
www.wellesley.k12.ma.us/district/bulletins.
Bella T. Wong Bulletin #31
Superintendent of Schools May 6, 2011
The Superintendent’s Bulletin is posted weekly on Fridays on our website. It provides timely, relevant
information about meetings, professional development opportunities, curriculum and program development,
grant awards, and School Committee news. The bulletin is also the official vehicle for job postings. Please
read the bulletin regularly and use it to inform colleagues of meetings and other school news.
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Dear Colleagues,
On 9/11 when one plane and then another flew into the World Trade Center towers in New York City, I was at
my desk working in the Middle School. My sons were 6-months old at the time and at home with a babysitter.
My husband had left early that morning for a flight out of Logan airport.
People in the Central Office were quiet as we watched the replay of the impact and heard the news from New
York and then the Pentagon. The news seemed to be coming in too fast as my ability to comprehend seemed
to slow down. Then it was reported that the planes came out of Logan airport. I went back into my office and
tried to reach my husband by cell phone, but the call wouldn't go through and I hoped it was because the
circuits were overloaded. Irrationally rational, saying nothing to anyone, I went back to work on my computer
thinking I had work to finish if I was going to need to take time off from work.
Two Wellesley Public School families lost their husbands and fathers that day. One mother, similar to me, had
a husband who flew out of Logan Airport that day and must have been waiting like me that morning for the
news to evolve. She had a five year old and was pregnant with her second child. Unfortunately, her husband
was flying to California and was on one of the planes that crashed. Mine was traveling to and landed safely in
Canada. He arrived at home a week later in a rental car because all planes were still grounded but at least the
borders had re-opened. A mere inconvenience in light of what had just happened.
The first call I made the morning after Osama Bin Laden was killed was to this mother to let her know I was
thinking of her, remarking how strange it might be to wake up to this news after all these years. She
responded by email and wrote she was saddened to hear people were celebrating the killing of another.
Coincidentally, over the past few months I have been sharing a discourse with her about the development of a
Wellesley Public School vision for 21st Century skills. At the end of our email exchange we agreed that
the Wellesley Public Schools should be so bold as to aspire to 21st Century Skills that will foster World Peace.
Enjoy the weekend,
Calendar
Tues., 5/10 School Committee Meeting, 7:30 pm Town Hall
Wed., 5/18 Teachers for Safe Schools, 3:30 pm, WMS Room 245
Fri., 5/20 Deadline: Open Enrollment – Medical & Dental
Tues., 5/24 School Committee Meeting, 7:30 pm Town Hall
Wed., 6/1 Deadline: Graduate Course Reimbursement
2. Graduate Course Reimbursement
Course reimbursement funding of $22,500 is available to distribute in FY12 among qualified teachers for
graduate course work which is 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. To apply for this course reimbursement, please send, by June 1, 2011, your
name, evidence of your enrollment in an applicable master/doctoral degree program,
name and description of the course, evidence of course cost, proof of payment, and
transcript to Valerie Spruill, Administrative Assistant to the Assistant Superintendent,
Valerie_Spruill@wellesley.k12.ma.us. You will be notified of the amount awarded to you by July 1, 2011.
Teachers for Safe Schools – Final Meeting
Teachers for Safe Schools will meet at the Middle School in Room 245, from 3:30 – 4:30 p.m. on Wednesday,
May 18, 2011. The mission of Teachers for Safe Schools is to consciously create, support and encourage a
safe professional and emotional school climate that allows for staff of all sexual orientations to be
acknowledged and respected.
Professional Development Opportunities
Professional Development opportunities for 2010- 2011 are posted at
http://wps-professionaldev.wikispaces.com. Course descriptions and
registration instructions are included. This link can also be found on the
WPS website under 2010-2011 Professional Development Offerings.
WellesleyPD Launched!
WellesleyPD was launched on Monday, May 2, 2011. If you have not already done so, please
log on and change the default password to one of your choosing. As were sent out within the
last week with directions. If you did not receive these emails, please contact Janice Gross in
Central Office.
All courses for June 2011 and the 2011-2012 school year are posted on the WellesleyPD website.
Registration for courses will be done through this site only.
https://cfweb3.smartedu.net/wellesley/pd/
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3. Special Education Seminars
A series of five seminar sessions is being offered to cover various topics regarding special education. Each
session covers a specific topic allowing participants to attend one or more sessions as desired. The intent
of each session is to provide background information to generate active discussions. Participants attending
all five sessions will be awarded 10 PDPs.
All sessions will be held at the Middle School in Room 251 from 3:30 – 5:30 p.m.
To participate, go to this link and register online: http://wps-professionaldev.wikispaces.com/
Session 5 – May 10, 2011: Transition Planning for Students with Disabilities Age 14+
The requirements of IDEA specific to the issue of transition planning for life after high school or age 21 are
vast. Transition has been the focus of many special education court hearings and cases across the country
and is considered the current “hot topic”. This session will address the requirements of the law and review the
components of effective transition planning.
BABY NEWS!!
Congratulations to Caryn Berkowitz and her husband Joe on the birth of their
second child, Maya, on April 14, 2011. She joins big brother, Max.
Condolences to the family and former colleagues of Sherry Birkholz who passed
away on Monday, May 2, 2011. Sherry was a long time second grade teacher at Fiske School. She retired four
years ago.
Wellesley Education Foundation Spring 2011 Awards
The Wellesley Education Foundation (WEF) is pleased to award $86,850 in Spring 2011 grants
to benefit the Wellesley Public Schools. Approved grants will provide widespread benefits to
large numbers of students across entire grades: at WHS in ninth grade Earth Science
classrooms and tenth grade Chemistry labs, and at WMS in sixth grade Music and Woodworking
classes. In addition, grants approved for elective courses will offer opportunities for students to work on more
complex projects: at WHS in Jewelry, Woodworking, and Photography courses, and at WMS in Robotics and
Woodworking. At the elementary level, several new initiatives in the areas of math and engineering will serve as
pilot programs for the future. On a district level, WEF funds will spearhead the launch of a new pilot Tablet
program.
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4. Every Spring grants are awarded under the Ruth Walter Environmental Education Fund. Recipients this year
include two new garden projects, at Sprague School and WMS.
WEF’s stated mission is to enrich, enhance and maintain excellence in the Wellesley Public Schools, and grant
awards are the primary vehicle for fulfilling this important mission. To learn more about WEF please visit our
website at wellesleyeducationfoundation.org.
District-wide Awards LEGOS Robotics: A Science,
Technology, Engineering and
Tablet Pilot Program Mathematics (STEM) Initiative
WEF will fund a pilot Tablet program in one classroom to help assess
WEF will help enhance a STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering,
this new technology and to determine the potential for wider use within
and Mathematics) initiative at Sprague Elementary School by providing
our school system. Participation in the pilot will be determined on a
funds for a new LEGOS Robotics program. LEGOS robotic
blind application process. The technology department will work
programming will be introduced into all the K-5 classes and will also be
alongside the teacher to help prepare an implementation plan and to
offered as an after school activity. Purchases of NXT and Simple
train students. Critical assessments throughout the year will enable the
Machine kits are the tools that students will use to construct various
school district to gain greater insight into the value that this new
models and devices that will improve their understanding of
technology can provide to our learning environment. The pilot funding
engineering principles and supporting science, math, and technical
covers twenty-seven Tablets, a variety of educational apps, a storage
skills.
cart, and related professional development.
Teachers as Scholars Snowshoeing in WPS
WEF funding will ensure the continuation of this highly popular
WEF funds will help diversify the winter physical education curriculum
professional development program for teachers. The program provides
and change its focus to outdoor aerobic activities, by introducing
approximately thirty teachers a year the opportunity to attend
snowshoes. To offer access to this lifelong sport, forty sets of
workshops and classes in a variety of topics, all taught by experts in
snowshoes will be shared by Hardy and Hunnewell Elementary
the field primarily at the university level. While not always in the Schools.
teacher’s subject matter, the classes receive extremely high marks
from teachers who find the immersion in these scholarly subjects to be
reinvigorating. Sprague School’s Edible Garden &
Outdoor Classroom
EMI – Empowering Multicultural Recipient of a Ruth S. Walter Environmental Educational Fund
Initiatives Award
This Environmental Grant will support a Sprague School initiative to
This WEF grant will help to strengthen the WHS and WMS
bring the school community together in a garden on the grounds of
communities’ understanding of racial challenges by offering training
School. The goal is to develop a community of students, teachers, and
session for fifty students at the middle school and high school levels.
administrators working together to learn about plants, insects, and
EMI is a highly praised, powerful anti-racism course that has been
healthy food. The Sprague School staff plan to incorporate the garden
offered to teachers as part of professional development offerings.
in all aspects of the curriculum across all grade levels, including
WEF will fund this leadership course for a selected group of middle
Fitness and Health, Science, Social Studies and Art.
school and high school students. In turn, these students can take the
lead to share their stories and help educate their peers.
Middle School Awards
Elementary School Awards
Percussion Equipment for WMS Band
Do the Math & Music Classes
WEF funds will enable the expansion of an existing mathematics early This grant will help to replace old equipment in need of repair, will
intervention skills program to all grade levels at the Fiske Elementary engage more students playing percussion in band activities, and will
School. Struggling students will be chosen for this training to improve allow the band to perform music written for a wider range of percussion
their critical foundation of conceptual mathematics. “Do the Math” is a instruments. In addition, percussion instrument purchases will be used
series of modules that reinforce basic math skills. Module topics range widely by all sixth grade students who take a required general music
from basic multiplication/division to numbers greater than 100, class. Purchases will include several varieties of cymbals, wind
dividends to 1,000, factors greater than 12. The program will serve as chimes, tambourines, orchestra bells, and triangle beaters. A small
a pilot, with potential future expansion to other elementary schools. portion of this grant funded percussion instruments to be used by an
after school rhythmic music gathering.
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5. Fundamentals of Wood Carving Earth Science Lab Equipment
WEF ‘s grant will add another dimension to the sixth and seventh A WEF grant will provide extra equipment to insure that all ninth grade
grade Technology and Engineering classes, by funding a new initiative earth science students incorporate hands-on inquiry based lab
for projects that are dominated by the use of carving and other hand investigations. Due to higher enrollments and tighter scheduling
tools. New activities will include carving wooden spoons, small boxes requirements, the extra sets of equipment will also help teachers use
and low relief decorative projects. their time more efficiently and lessen the need to transport heavy lab
equipment among classrooms on different floors. Lab equipment
Equipment for Robotics Classroom purchases include astronomy power boxes and gas tubes for
spectroscopy; ring stands and lamps for meteorology; beakers,
WEF funds will augment current stocks of Lego NXT processors and
cylinders and scales for measurements; rock sets for geology; and
parts as well as replenish damaged items for eight grade Robotics globes, carts and hotplates.
classroom. Greater stocks will allow more flexibility in team formation
and will make it possible to develop more complex projects.
B&W Photography and Digital
Wellesley Middle School Community Photography Cameras
Garden A WEF grant will enable this popular elective to expand the program’s
strengths in traditional black and white photography by adding four
Recipient of a Ruth S. Walter Environmental Educational Fund
additional Pentax cameras. In addition, the purchase of four Canon
Award digital cameras will launch the program into the future with digital
Funds will support the Wellesley Middle School Green Team's efforts photography training.
to create a school-wide community garden. The first phase of the
project is to construct a raised bed box to locate the garden which will
allow the Green Team and interested students to grow, maintain and iPod Touch for WHS Study Skills
harvest vegetables, herbs and flowers. The team hopes to promote a WEF funds will help special education students develop new strategies
more complete educational experience by enhancing the health for organization and test preparation by using new mobile technology
curriculum and offering useful agricultural skills that are currently not techniques. Ten iPod touch devices will be used in the learning center
offered. to aid students by using applications to help them access the
curriculum such as study guides, flash cards, vocabulary development,
and math practice.
High School Awards Purchase of SnapScan Scanner to
Netbooks to Support Vernier Sensor Allow Digitization of Documents
WEF funds will help science teachers’ improve efficiency within their
Series Chemistry Labs office space by converting paper documents to electronic copies. A
Following previous WEF grants for Chemistry Vernier Series lab SnapScan machine will allow paper copies to be converted easily into
probes, sensors, and computers, WEF funds will continue to provide PDF files. Teachers can then make documents available to students
critical financial support to ensure that all Chemistry students have the online, benefiting students who may be absent. Also, digitalization will
opportunity to be engaged in these quantitative lab experiences. Again, help free up filing cabinets and create a larger office work space.
due to higher enrollments and expansion to all class levels, WEF will
fund twelve additional netbook computers along with a storage cart to
help alleviate current shortages.
The Color of Fire
Funding from WEF will enhance the jewelry curriculum by adding a
new dimension, the design of color on metal. The kiln, torches, tanks
and material funded by this grant will enable students in advanced
Purchase of a Modern Woodworking jewelry classes to create flame worked glass beads to enhance their
Lathe for the Wood Shop creative designs.
This WEF grant will allow woodworking students to create a wider
range of products using advanced turning techniques. The purchase of Books on Demand with Kindles
a newer, safer and more intricate lathe will replace an existing forty Funding was approved to purchase these electronic devices in order to
year old model currently in use. A lathe is used for turning wood, deepen the library’s collection and to improve library service. Adding
creating anything from a bowl to a table leg. twelve Kindles to the library will enhance the fiction collection at a
lower cost per e-book, provide immediate access to books in demand,
Hydraulic Press Techniques give reading specialists access to special listening/reading features,
and will better support the tenth grade American author thesis project.
WEF funds will expand the opportunities in jewelry/metals courses by
enabling students, using the hydraulic press, to produce a series of
related works for a theme based project. The press will allow students
to create a die that can be repeated in multiples of the same basic
shape, thereby creating more complex designs.
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Coaching Positions
Fall Season 2011
Head Coach – Varsity Field Hockey
Head Coach – Girls Volleyball
Winter Season 2011-12
Head Coach – WHS Dance Team
Contact Athletic Director: John_Brown@wellesley.k12.ma.us
Wellesley Public Schools
2011-2012 Anticipated Openings
Middle School (6-8)
District Wide English Teacher (1.0 FTE)
Network Manager (1.0 FTE)
Teacher of Visually Impaired (0.6 FTE) Gr. 8 Mathematics Teacher (1.0 FTE)
(Search Re-opened) (dual certification in Math and Special Education)
Elementary High School (9-12)
Fitness/Health Teacher (1.0 FTE) Special Educator (1.0 FTE) (Moderate Sped)
Literacy Specialist (1.0 FTE) T. V. Video Teacher (.5 FTE)
Mathematics Paraprofessional (1.0FTE)
Please send a cover letter, resume, three letters of reference, transcripts, and licensure by May 20, 2011 to
Salvatore Petralia, Asst. Supt., Wellesley Public Schools, 40 Kingsbury Street, Wellesley, MA 02481.
Elementary Reading Intervention Paraprofessional
Reading Intervention Paraprofessional to work with first grade students. Knowledge of early reading acquisition is
essential for this position. Onsite training provided. Mornings – 19.50 hours/week. Salary $22.53 - $27.39/hr.
(salary will be increased when FY 12 salaries are voted). Not a benefit eligible position. Send cover letter, resume,
and three letters of reference to Personnel @wellesley.k12.ma.us or mail to Personnel, Wellesley Public Schools, 40
Kingsbury Street, Wellesley, MA 02481.
Please send a cover letter, resume, three letters of reference, transcripts, and licensure by May 20, 2011 to
Salvatore Petralia, Asst. Supt., Wellesley Public Schools, 40 Kingsbury Street, Wellesley, MA 02481.
Wellesley Public Schools Actively Seeks to Increase the Diversity of its Workforce
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