I hope you each had a productive week as we marched into May! On Tuesday, we hosted the Massachusetts State Board of Education for their May meeting. By tradition, the Board has one of its final meetings of the year in the home district of the student representative. This year, that representative was WHS Senior Ela Gardiner, who was appropriately honored for her work to bring the voice of students across the Commonwealth to the Board鈥檚 proceedings. Another great example of our students becoming actively engaged in the world around them.

On Thursday night, we kicked off a wonderful month of music with the first of many spring concerts. The choral concert at WHS was a terrific showcase of our students鈥� talents under the expert direction of Dr. Kevin McDonald with help from our extraordinary accompanist, Chad Weirick. A terrific surprise was the inclusion of Fiske Music teacher and accomplished Oboe player, Julie Verret. So much talent in one evening! Please check out the Performing Arts web page for a listing of the other concerts coming up this month.

Thanks for all that you do to support our students and I hope you each have a great weekend!

Best, David

Calendar

May 7 – School Committee Meeting

May 20 – Family STEAM Night

May 20 – School Committee Meeting

May 21 – School Committee Meeting

May 27 – Memorial Day (Schools and Offices closed)

May 28 – School Committee Meeting

Youth Mental Health Workshop Series

Parents & caregivers are invited to take part in the workshop series, 鈥淏uilding Resilience: Supporting Youth Mental Health,鈥� held at the 无尽资源采集 Free Library鈥檚 Wakelin Room on May 8 and May 22 at 6:30 p.m.

The series is sponsored by Thrive 无尽资源采集 and will feature guest speakers from Newton-无尽资源采集 Hospital鈥檚 The Resilience Project. It is designed to help families – parents, guardians & caregivers – gain a better understanding of the skills, community support, and resources for developing positive mental health and connections within their families. Join for either or both sessions. .

• May 8 鈥� The Continuum of Care from Prevention to Treatment
• May 22 鈥� Building Resilience in Kids and Ourselves

Register now through the WFL website: . Thrive 无尽资源采集 is an Initiative of the Kiwanis Club of 无尽资源采集, in partnership with the 无尽资源采集 Youth Commision and 无尽资源采集 Health Department, and funded by the Community Fund for 无尽资源采集.

WPS Family STEAM Night

On Monday evening, May 20, 2024, WPS will host a Family STEAM evening for our PreK-12 families. We will have STEAM activities including coding, programming robots, science and math games, working with circuits and more. Additionally, Amon Millner, Associate Professor of Computing and Innovation at Olin College of Engineering will be our featured speaker. He will talk about a variety of technology and engineering topics including ways children can incorporate computing and programming into the way they play, learn and prepare for ways to help their community. Please join us for an evening immersed in STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Art and Math).

Please click on to learn more.

403(B)/457 Fund Contribution Limits

The limit for 403(b) and 457 contributions for calendar year 2024 will be $23,000.  Employees who are 50 years of age and older may chose to have an additional $7,500 in catch-up contributions, if eligible, bringing the limit to $30,500.  Changes to your contribution amounts must be made through Voya (457) or OMNI & TSACG for 403(b).  Contact information for the two programs are:

VOYA:  Bruce Coughlin PH: 781-237-3776 or at bruce.coughlin@voyafa.com

Additional information is available at: 

OMNI & TSACG:  PH: 877-544-OMNI

Additional Information is available at: 

Please use this link for .  If you have additional questions about these provisions, please reach out to OMNI/TSACG directly.  

If you have questions about payroll deductions, please contact Donna Kalinowski at ext. 5613.

Human Relation Services

The Human Relation Services (HRS) can help.  无尽资源采集 has contracted with HRS to provide up to ten free counseling visits for you and/or your family members.  This program is designed to help you deal with stresses of life and work 鈥搃ncluding personal and family issues, drug or alcohol problems, and job related tension.  It offers prevention and intervention to reduce these stresses and  improve coping skills.  

HRS is located at 11 Chapel Place in 无尽资源采集 and can be reached at 781-235-4950. This is a confidential service. 无尽资源采集 is not aware of the names of employees or their family members who utilize this service. 

Do you have a question for the WPS Human Resources Department? 

Email AskHR@无尽资源采集ps.org.  The Human Resources Department is happy to assist you.  

WPS Internal Job Postings on District Website

For all Internal Job Postings, please go to “” under the Faculty tab of the District鈥檚 website. 

I hope you each had a productive week.  It was very exciting to participate in the open house for parents last night at the new Hunnewell School.  They marveled at the new building and were so grateful for the work of our swing space schools and our Hunnewell team to get us to this point.  Our ribbon cutting is on February 26^th, when we return from break!

I also wanted to give a special shout-out to WMS Chinese Language Teacher, Min Zhou for organizing another wonderful Lunar New Year celebration this week.  The Middle School Cafeteria was transformed into an amazing celebration of our vibrant Asian Culture.  I know these types of events are essential in allowing our Asian students to feel seen and valued in WPS.  

Finally, I hope you each enjoy a well-deserved February break.  Whether you are vacationing or 鈥渟tay鈥漜ationing, I hope it鈥檚 a restful week to recharge your batteries.  

Thanks for your support of our students each day and enjoy the break! 

Best, David

Calendar

February 19 – 23 – February Break     

Timeline for WPS Enrollment of Faculty Children (Kindergarten 鈥� Grade 12)

Children of Unit A and B members residing outside of 无尽资源采集 shall be entitled to attend 无尽资源采集 without charge for tuition on a space available basis (Article 12, WEA, Unit A and B Contract).

Below is the timeline for submitting applications:

March 1:聽聽Interested applicants may submit a letter of intent with the one-page application to Dana Zakak, District Registrar, at聽.
Eligible staff members can also access the聽聽on the WPS website.

May 1:聽聽All applications are due to Dana Zakak,聽late applications will not be accepted.

The district will review all聽聽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.聽 Once notified of a determination, applicants will be provided with access to the online registration forms.聽 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 Dana Zakak 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 2024-2025.

American Red Cross Blood Drive 

Sponsored by:
无尽资源采集 Educators Association and 无尽资源采集 Fitness and Health Department
Sprague Elementary School
401 School Street
无尽资源采集, MA 02482

Wednesday, March 20th
12pm-6pm

To schedule an appointment, please visit  and enter sponsor code: Sprague
Or click 

If you have any questions, please feel free to email Margaret Flitsch or Kari Sciera for more information flitschm@wellesleyps.org and scierak@wellesleyps.org

403(B)/457 Fund Contribution Limits

The limit for 403(b) and 457 contributions for calendar year 2024 will be $23,000.  Employees who are 50 years of age and older may chose to have an additional $7,500 in catch-up contributions, if eligible, bringing the limit to $30,500.  Changes to your contribution amounts must be made through Voya (457) or OMNI & TSACG for 403(b).  Contact information for the two programs are:

VOYA:  Bruce Coughlin PH: 781-237-3776 or at bruce.coughlin@voyafa.com

Additional information is available at: 

OMNI & TSACG:  PH: 877-544-OMNI

Additional Information is available at: 

Please use this link for .  If you have additional questions about these provisions, please reach out to OMNI/TSACG directly.  

If you have questions about payroll deductions, please contact Donna Kalinowski at ext. 5613.

Human Relation Services

The Human Relation Services (HRS) can help.  无尽资源采集 has contracted with HRS to provide up to ten free counseling visits for you and/or your family members.  This program is designed to help you deal with stresses of life and work 鈥搃ncluding personal and family issues, drug or alcohol problems, and job related tension.  It offers prevention and intervention to reduce these stresses and  improve coping skills.  

HRS is located at 11 Chapel Place in 无尽资源采集 and can be reached at 781-235-4950. This is a confidential service. 无尽资源采集 is not aware of the names of employees or their family members who utilize this service. 

Do you have a question for the WPS Human Resources Department? 

Email AskHR@无尽资源采集ps.org.  The Human Resources Department is happy to assist you.  

WPS Internal Job Postings on District Website

For all Internal Job Postings, please go to “” under the Faculty tab of the District鈥檚 website. 

I hope you each had a productive week.  We were saddened to learn the news this week that longtime 无尽资源采集 resident, John Schuler, had passed away.  John was born in 1932 and attended the Warren School and later graduated from 无尽资源采集 High School.  He became an educator and taught at Dana Hall for more than 40 years.  John is probably best known for his incredible community service.  He became a Town Meeting member at the age of 21 and was a fixture at every Town Meeting, including our Special Town Meeting in November.  Through his work on Kiwanis, John was often the emcee of new teacher luncheons for incoming WPS teachers.  If you attended one of these luncheons, you were in for a treat as John reveled in sharing 无尽资源采集 history and he always wanted to learn more about each of our new teachers.  What a wonderful way to welcome new educators to our community! And each year John always made sure I was among his bell ringers for the Salvation Army in front of Roche Brothers.  John鈥檚 92 years truly represent a life well-lived.  I will miss my friend but I am so grateful that he was part of my life.  

I hope you each have a great Superbowl weekend! 

Best, David

Calendar

February 19 – 23 – February Break     

Condolences

To Katy Comstock, 3rd grade teacher at Bates, for the passing of her mother Jean Comstock on January 22

Timeline for WPS Enrollment of Faculty Children (Kindergarten 鈥� Grade 12)

Children of Unit A and B members residing outside of 无尽资源采集 shall be entitled to attend 无尽资源采集 without charge for tuition on a space available basis (Article 12, WEA, Unit A and B Contract).

Below is the timeline for submitting applications:

March 1:  Interested applicants may submit a letter of intent with the one-page application to Dana Zakak, District Registrar, at .
Eligible staff members can also access the  on the WPS website.

May 1:  All applications are due to Dana Zakak, late applications will not be accepted.

The district will review all  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 Dana Zakak 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 2024-2025.

American Red Cross Blood Drive 

Sponsored by:

无尽资源采集 Educators Association and 无尽资源采集 Fitness and Health Department

Sprague Elementary School

401 School Street

无尽资源采集, MA 02482

Wednesday, March 20th

12pm-6pm

To schedule an appointment, please visit  and enter sponsor code: Sprague

Or click 

403(B)/457 Fund Contribution Limits

The limit for 403(b) and 457 contributions for calendar year 2024 will be $23,000.  Employees who are 50 years of age and older may chose to have an additional $7,500 in catch-up contributions, if eligible, bringing the limit to $30,500.  Changes to your contribution amounts must be made through Voya (457) or OMNI & TSACG for 403(b).  Contact information for the two programs are:

VOYA:  Bruce Coughlin PH: 781-237-3776 or at bruce.coughlin@voyafa.com

Additional information is available at: 

OMNI & TSACG:  PH: 877-544-OMNI

Additional Information is available at: 

Please use this link for .  If you have additional questions about these provisions, please reach out to OMNI/TSACG directly.  

If you have questions about payroll deductions, please contact Donna Kalinowski at ext. 5613.

Human Relation Services

The Human Relation Services (HRS) can help.  无尽资源采集 has contracted with HRS to provide up to ten free counseling visits for you and/or your family members.  This program is designed to help you deal with stresses of life and work 鈥搃ncluding personal and family issues, drug or alcohol problems, and job related tension.  It offers prevention and intervention to reduce these stresses and  improve coping skills.  

HRS is located at 11 Chapel Place in 无尽资源采集 and can be reached at 781-235-4950. This is a confidential service. 无尽资源采集 is not aware of the names of employees or their family members who utilize this service. 

Do you have a question for the WPS Human Resources Department? 

Email AskHR@无尽资源采集ps.org.  The Human Resources Department is happy to assist you.  

WPS Internal Job Postings on District Website

For all Internal Job Postings, please go to “” under the Faculty tab of the District鈥檚 website.   

Spring 2022 MCAS Results

Dear Members of the 无尽资源采集 Community,

I hope everyone is enjoying our beautiful August weather and the remaining days of summer.聽 We are eager to welcome all of our students on Wednesday, August 30^th, for the first day of the 2017-2018 school year.聽 (Please note that Wednesday is a half-day for our elementary students only.)

Summer is always a busy time for WPS with critical building improvements facilitated by the incredible team from the Town鈥檚 Facilities Maintenance Department (FMD). This year, our major project was adding security infrastructure to the buildings that had not yet received these updates.聽 This work will continue into the school year and will help provide a safe and healthy learning environment for our students and staff.聽 Of course, our custodians perform a deep cleaning of each of our schools to ensure that our buildings are looking their best when students walk in on the first day.聽 When you see our school custodians, please take a moment to thank them for their tremendous efforts.

During the 2017-2018 school year, we will maintain a focus on four priority areas in our work.聽 The first is social and emotional learning (SEL), which aims to develop resiliency, responsible decision-making, healthy relationships, and empathy.聽 Research continues to show that social and emotional learning not only creates a healthy context for learning to take place, but that these skills actually enhance academic rigor.聽 Along with SEL, we will continue our work to develop tiered supports for students that allow us to differentiate our practice to meet the diverse needs of our students.聽 Next, we will continue with efforts to calibrate our practice with the 21^st Century Learning competencies that our students will need to be successful in college, careers, and life. Finally, we will sustain the momentum that was created last year around cultural competence.聽 Of particular importance, will be the formal assessment that we will conduct of the climate of race and diversity in WPS.聽 This will help us establish a baseline and inform a multi-year plan in response to these data.聽 We are especially grateful to the 无尽资源采集 Education Foundation (WEF) for providing critical resources to make this assessment possible.

As we prepare to open school next week, it鈥檚 impossible to ignore the national context and dialogue defined by the recent events in Charlottesville, VA. In college, I remember studying the impact that hate and division could have when coupled with political opportunism.聽 As a student, and later a teacher, of history, I always felt, perhaps naively, that the lessons of the past would prevent similar occurrences from happening in the present.聽 I was wrong.聽 Watching as Nazi flags, slogans, and the language of white supremacy and hate were being used proudly by Americans in this country, I was left feeling shocked and angry.聽 These feelings were only amplified by the tepid, ambiguous response by our national leaders.聽 In the past year, our core values as a community have been put to the test.聽 Recent events suggest that we find ourselves at a larger inflection point for our nation.聽 History teaches us that we cannot remain silent at such a time.聽 The 无尽资源采集 remain steadfast in our belief that our core values of Academic Excellence, Commitment to Community, Respect for Human Differences, and Cooperative and Caring Relationships, must continue to form the compass that guides our work.聽 More than ever, our students need the skills to make meaning of our past and our current complex and rapidly-changing environment, where access to information and opinion are never more than one swipe away.聽 I have no doubt that these topics will be discussed and debated in our classrooms in the coming weeks and months.聽 I encourage our parents to be equally engaged at home.聽 We all need to work together to reinforce the bonds and beliefs of our community. With this in mind, I hope our WPS community will be well-represented at the World of 无尽资源采集 celebration of community on Sunday, August 27^th, from 2-4PM at the Warren Park Playground at 90 Washington Street.

With the many announcements and scheduling information forthcoming from our district and schools, I encourage you to visit our website for frequent updates: www.wellesley.k12.ma.us.聽 I also invite you to follow me on Twitter@无尽资源采集Supt for updates throughout the year.聽 Finally, if you have not done so already, please update your contact information through our .

On behalf of the incredible team of educators and support staff who serve the children of the 无尽资源采集, thank you for putting your faith in us to provide your children with a world-class education.聽 We look forward to working with you throughout the year to ensure the success of all of our students.

Best regards,
Dr. David Lussier

The 无尽资源采集 has long been guided by its core values of academic excellence, commitment to community, respect for human differences, and cooperative and caring relationships.聽 During the past year, these values have been challenged by events at both the local and national level.聽 With the incredible support of our broader community, it has, and remains vital, to reaffirm our commitment to these values in the face of adversity.聽 One such time is now.

The ongoing rhetoric and actions emanating from our national leaders continues to draw divisions across the country leaving some individuals and groups feeling targeted and disenfranchised.聽 The aggregate result of this trend has left members of our own school community feeling shaken and vulnerable.

With this in mind, it is important to provide our students, parents, and staff with a level of assuredness that, regardless of the current national discourse, the 无尽资源采集 remains a district in which we view our diversity as a strength and we continue to build bridges鈥攏ot walls鈥攖o understanding and mutual respect.

More specifically, it is important for our families to know that ALL residents of our community have a right to attend and thrive in our schools regardless of citizenship, nationality, race, religion, or sexual orientation.聽 Additionally, and in light of last week鈥檚 federal rollback of protections for transgender students, it is important to underscore that both our state law and local practice will continue to afford these protections to transgender students in our schools.聽 If anyone has questions about our approach/ practice in any of these areas, please don鈥檛 hesitate to contact my office.

We certainly do not have a perfect record in adhering to the aforementioned ideals, but I remain firmly convinced that our core values represent an important compass that must continue to guide us through these uncertain times where moral equivalency appears to be given to what is politically expedient.聽 That will not be happening in our district on our watch.

Thank you for your ongoing support of our students and of each other in the days ahead.

David Lussier, Superintendent of Schools