welcome to belmont schools now my name is john phelan i'm the superintendent of the belmont public schools and today i'm joined by jim davis athletic director of the belmont public schools first i'd like to update everyone in the audience with the important issues and events going on in the belmont public schools and after that i will introduce jim davis and we'll have a great discussion about high school athletics first i wanna update everyone on the chenery principal screening committee search as you know kristen st george will not be back at the middle school next year and the committee has been formed to hire a new principal at the chenery we have a team of people that encompass two teachers three administrators three parents as well as the sitting principal to screen all the applicants who submitted their interest in belmont and will be having interviews soon and also be hosting parent nights and staff afternoons for them to get to know the finalists we will keep you posted on all this information so you too can attend the time for parents and the community members to interview and ask questions of our finalist candidates that will take place on april 11th and april 13th at the chenery middle school i also want to give you an update on the calendar conversation that was held at the school committee meeting over the last two meetings in april and in march the school committee did make a decision to have a calendar that kept with it's start time of the first wednesday in september as it has in the past also a calendar that recognizes a no school day for next year's national election due to the fact that safety issues are a concern as over sixteen thousand voters revolve through the three schools that hold voting precincts additionally the school committee decided in a very very deep conversation after reviewing the data and listening to many many conversations at the school committee table with the community to not recognize holidays as part of their school calendar the result is that there will be school in yom kippur next year in the sixteen seventeen school year and there will be a full day of school on good friday the decision by the school committee was not taken lightly and i believe as i sat at the table it was based on the true respect that we want to be able to hold for all of the different groups and families that we have and that represent the belmont community if you have any questions about the calendar please feel free to call the superintendents office and the new calendar is posted on our belmont public school website i lastly would like to thank at this time laurie slap who is the chairperson of the belmont school committee for all of her hard work over the last six years as a school committee member laurie slap is someone who prides herself on doing best by students and teachers at the belmont public schools and has invested hours and hours over the course of six years to do work on the school committee on the warren committee on the capital committee as well as her work on the policy committee throughout her time in tenure on the school committee so thank you very much to laurie slap and we look forward to the new members coming on the school committee when the election takes place next week in early april lastly i was very fortunate to be able to speak at a pto event at the wellington elementary school last week and the big topic of discussion from that group was space in the increase in enrollment this has been a theme that we've been addressing all year with shortterm planning and longterm planning for the district what i talked about at that meeting was the fact that we do look to add eleven classroom spaces in the two thousand and sixteen seventeen school year we will do so at the elementary level by reallocating some space at the burbank this will be the last square footage of space that we have at the elementary level and we feel that if we have an increase in class size at any of the grades catered for we will be able to add two classrooms to cut down on class size across the district at our elementary level at the middle school we will be looking to add six modular classrooms that will be procured by the town hopefully a town meeting this may at the cost of about fourteen million i presented this information along with jerry boyle director of facilities to the capital committee last week and we were very thankful to the school committee the capital committee the warren committee and the board of selectmen all of whom are working hard to create a financing package that will best suit the town to support this very very needed cause of extra space that is needed at the chenery and lastly at our high school as you know we are currently utilizing three modular spaces behind the high school and we will expand to move into three more spaces utilizing all the space behind the middle the high school for modular space this is a lot of work for our staff and our facilities and our teachers we truly look forward to this summer preparing those spaces to get ready for school in september of two thousand and sixteen and by the time you watch this episode we will have had our first meeting of the belmont high school building project committee which will meet on april 4th which is tonight the day of this filming to discuss how we will approach the work of building a new high school in belmont belmont has been awarded an eligibility period status to get materials into the msba to form a committee to create information so they can review our package to move forward with a new high school in belmont we look forward to the building committee and the work that they will do over the next few years to ensure that belmont has an outstanding and longstanding high school that will serve the community for many years to come so more to come on the high school building project so i'd like to say today that i'm here with jim davis the director of athletics who's with me coming back from his miaa conference in the cape and another conference in connecticut where jim was named the president's award of merit by the massachusetts secondary school athletic directors this is an outstanding achievement that jim achieved within the state of his athletic director peers and is also being named as the representative to the regional new england new york new jersey post for the national association so jim congratulations well done and thank you very much for being here thanks thanks for having me so tell me about that process tell me who awarded you this distinction and how does it work to be in the national association so it's a unique honor in the sense that it's selected by my peers so the my peers here in the commonwealth saw the work that i've done and they were able to put forth my name and be recognized as a president's award of merit each one of the sections in the state have an opportunity to do that pick an outstanding athletic administrator from their district and they were all recognized this past week down at our state associations conference the opportunity to serve on the national at the national level on the national board is a distinct process in the sense that our state every twenty four years gets the opportunity to present a candidate to go on to serve across the country on the board of directors and so initially started with an interview process here in massachusetts that was selected and then it went onto the section meeting which was held two weeks ago in connecticut where my candidacy was reviewed by the members all the new england states as well as new york and new jersey and they gave a stamp of approval so the final step will be my application to the national and it will be approved and in december of two thousand and sixteen for my term to start in december of two thousand and seventeen very exciting very well deserved and on behalf of the belmont public schools in the community thank you for all the work you do and it's great to see it recognized not only throughout the state and throughout the league but also nationally so this is great for the belmont public schools so they're recognizing you because of all the good work we do and you do with coaches who do great work with students so can you tell me a little bit about how the athletic school year has gone fall season winter season and how we're preparing now for the spring season sure it's really kind of ironic that we're in taping today it's supposed to be a start of our spring sports our boys lacrosse team had a chance to get out on the field and play their first game on saturday and everybody else was slated open up today but we've got snow coming down we've got snow coming down outside so we'll deal with that what mother nature dishes out we'll work on rescheduling and getting the spring season going but we've had a tremendous year thus far if we look back in the fall we had league championships in field hockey and golf to kind of get the ball rolling those teams did very very well in the state tournament and then we had our girls swim team who had a tough sessional meet but had a lot of kids place really high to only go on the next week to the state championship and finished just a few points out of first place we had three young ladies that were recognized as all scholastics two on the swim team and one on our girls field hockey team this fall and we had a host of other programs that went on to compete at the state level our girls crosscountry team did a tremendous job this year they fought really hard and got into the state championship meet it's not an easy thing to do out of the number of teams and competitors but they represented our school and our community very very well and that momentum just rolled into the winter you know we had our girls hockey team come back on board here in belmont after being a coop for the last several years with watertown and we had strong numbers for the program which was really great to see two new hockey coaches in both the girls and the boys program and they both did a phenomenal job we had skiers qualify for the state ski championship we had two young ladies and one young man go and represent belmont high school at the state championship for ski and you think about it where we're located geographically not a lot of snow particularly this winter yet we had three of the top kids in our league go on and compete at the state level and represent belmont very very well i think probably the marquee programs that got probably the most airtime and the most press this winter were both our boys and girls basketball teams both had great runs in the tournament our boys team was action packed each time out they had a couple of milestones this year not only winning the league but also matt kerans who is our senior point guard broke the school record scoring a thousand points and also set the all time scoring record with one thousand three hundred and twenty two points over his four year career so great kudos to matt and all the hard work that he's done and our girl's basketball team we call them the road warriors they made it into the tournament they were a middle level c team and they met all comers their first game they had to travel up to marblehead not an easy place to get to but had a really tough start it was kind of rocky at the beginning but then they came away and they held that team to five points in the second half and one running away and then next up we had to travel up to the north shore up to newbury port and the girls kept the magic running again and we were successful there and they advanced to the semifinals which is where we had been last year and they took on a really highly seated team in arlington catholic and our girls just played tremendous team authentic team defense very tenacious and they were victorious there and then we faced our cross town rivals in watertown and the north finals gave it all that we could and just came up a little bit short but the girls and the fans that came out to support them and represent them i mean one thing i can say about the community of belmont when our teams advanced to the state tournament everybody comes out not only a student body but the community and it's a great thing to see and witness it was that it happened to be at that game it was a great game the students were there in full force the parents were there and there were a lot of parents of non high school students that just came out to see the girls play phenomenal tell me what is getting ready for fall and then after that i wanted to i mean what's getting ready for spring and after that i want to talk about all the good work that our boosters and all of our friends have groups sure so we are getting geared up as i said earlier you know our boys lacrosse program has already stepped out they had their first contest this past saturday and all of our other teams are getting ready to roll i anticipate great seasons out of all of them of particular interest our tennis programs are always compete and very strong middlesex league but they always seem to find a way to advance to the state tournament i expect our baseball program as well as our softball program to come out of the gate i know our softball players this is a seasoned team they're looking for a breakout season this year and i anticipate that they'll do very very well our girls track program who last year captured the league championship which hadn't been captured in a very long time return a lot of those kids back and so i expect great things from them as well as our boys track program i anticipate they'll do very very well and then both of our lacrosse programs will be in the hunt they have great numbers you know those are some of the programs that down the road we could be looking at expanding that program adding another level whether it be a freshmen level program or a some of the schools are offering multi levels at the jv level so it's really really exciting good stuff and the spring season is always one of my favorite seasons because you can get outside after being indoors all winter long it's a chance to get outside and if anybody has the opportunity to come by belmont high school any afternoon you'll see hundreds of student athletes out there on all the different playing fields and surfaces doing what they love and that's being involved in our program you know jim we every year you give us information about how many students are participating as we start to prepare the budget and get ready for the next fiscal year and the enrollment's going up in the district but more importantly the enrollment of student athletes who are participating in afterschool activities in sports is huge and i would actually extend that in arturo assadourian who's your counterpart also seeing a rise in numbers of the students that are taking part in the music and performing arts after the school day tell me how important you feel it is for students to be involved in the cocurricular and extracurricular activities and what that means to a high school experience yeah for a lot of kids this is their opportunity to connect to the school and we try to find as many different avenues for that to take place whether it's through interscholastic athletics whether it's through a club or activity or one of the fine and performing arts programs that take place it's just a it's a way for our students to be connected but it's also an opportunity for the students to see teachers in a different light many of our coaches are teachers within the system and when that happens it just creates a great opportunity for both the teacher and the student to connect outside of the classroom and i would echo the fact that our numbers continue to rise i think it's indicative of our community and the passion that our students have for not only interscholastic athletics but also for the fine and performing arts and the different activities that take place and and i will mention that aside from the interscholastic athletic programs that we have taking place this spring we have three actual clubs that are athletic based the first being our ultimate frisbee which is a coed program mark wagner one of the parents in the community is the advisor for that and so we've been able to secure them some space in the town for them to compete as well as have some contests at belmont high school and then we have two rugby programs both a boys and a girls program that have been strong our girls program was established last year we really had some girls playing on a coed program for the last several years but last year was kind of the stepping off point for getting a critical mass to have that take place and we have it again in this year and on the boys side they have great strong numbers and that program it's been in existence for i think over seven years we've won some championships along those lines and both of those programs are due to come online through the mia as recognized sports next spring so that's an exciting time so if we looked at the numbers per se and participation whether it's through interscholastic athletics fine or performing arts or the clubs or activities we're up in the high eighties to low ninety of at least having students involved in at least one of those types of activities which is really outstanding i couldn't agree more that the success in your academics in a lot of ways can be measured by the success outside the classroom connecting to school connecting to coaches club advisors whether it be the drama teacher or the ultimate frisbee advisor all of that brings the students connected to school which then brings them connected to the classroom we have a lot of community members that help out the sports programs and all the friends of groups really highlighted last year by the amount of money raised by the community to do the majority of the field house floor for our volleyball and boys and girls basketball seasons and indoor track which will be then completed by the capital funds this summer tell me how important and how valuable the parents are and the friends of groups and the boosters are to the programming at belmont high yeah they're the kind of the unsung heroes i would say they're critically important in the sense of not only supporting their own student athlete but the everybody else within those programs from doing team dinners to hosting end of the season dinners and such they're just they're the backbone of the program and such they also make things happen that we can't get through our regular operating budget and they're able to provide some financial resources to acquire whether it's equipment or special items that the programs are looking to add it's just been immense and you spoke about the fact that the boosters have kicked in and helped out for example with the floor project at belmont high school last year they've been instrumental and refurbishing the fitness center at bhs as well as doing yeoman's work over at the whitefield house they continue to look for projects to get involved with and team with and they certainly have the resources within the community the network to make those things happen they have a couple of things coming up that if i could mention please do this coming sunday on the 10th of april is the first annual becca pizzi family fun run and the boosters are there behind that getting that up and running no pun intended and then they have a their annual patriots charity basketball game which is going to take place on monday may 16th so they've got a couple of significant events that help bring in dollars to their coffer so that they can do more for our student athletes here at bhs well jim thank you very much it's great to hear all the success that we're having on the fields on the courts in the classroom the success of the teams i truly appreciate your leadership within the community and within the school and you are responsible also for the middle school sports program we should note and also for the wellness your our director of wellness which is a huge part of our sel work in the belmont public schools recently and i appreciate your work on that front as well so we'd like to end this meeting in session of belmont schools now with some great footage of the boys and girls varsity playoff run that took place this year as well as a great highlight film of the other sports and our student athletes performing for belmont high school thank you very much and have a great day just to forward to jenny call jenny call gets a bucket for two over to tan back to christofori over to call call goes up four three out to christofori christofori goes up the middle over to nikolaidis nikolaidis to tan for three fourteen fifteen we got ourselves a ball game five minutes to play three for carly christofori winklaar puts it up for two and draws the foul to jenny call call to winklaar winklaar will go in she goes up for two and she gets it nikolaidis to christofori to call call goes up for three and she gets to three christofori goes in back out to call call goes for three that's her second three for jenny call belmont retains possession christofori for three and it's good winklaar to call call goes in call goes up and it's good for two christofori ten seconds on the shortcut christofori goes up for three there's three for christofori so winklaar winklaar going there's two by sarah stewart to call call goes up no good nickolaidis goes up for two and she is fouled call to tan tan for three and it's good for three belmont up by one forty thirty nine irini makes her first forty five forty five tie ballgame she makes her second belmont is now off by one forty seven forty eight less than a minute to play belmont will get possession with thirty nine seconds to play up buy one there is a bucket for becca ten there is the game your belmont marauders win the game forty nine to forty seven very close game very winklaar bakes hit's it out to call call down the lane around and in eight seven winklaar for three bang belmont goes up ten eight crossed to stewart inside to tan tan drives and puts it up with her left hand nice shot for another cutter ball in the corner to tan tan puts up a three pointer it's good and ties the ballgame at twenty a piece cross ahead to stewart and she misses puts it up a second time and it's good belmont goes up twenty two twenty three point attempt no good rebound by winklaar winklaar puts it up it is good at the buzzer christofori driving to the hoop hit's it up and it's good that's the next one up it's around no good rebound by the cougars and the ball game is over belmont wins and goes to the finals against the winner of the triton watertown game welcome to carl j torres gymnasium here at woburn memorial high school for tonight's division two north final mass madness miaa tournament matchups between the belmont marauders and their rivals the watertown raiders half court picks the dribble up now to christofori back to call good look at it three it's up and it's good shama lama ding dong otis day and the knights do you mind if we dance with your dates big three g in this room a lot of anxiety for these kids christofori with the line drive three and it falls good ball movement there ball protection as she tries to take the baseline strong take it's up and one count it and that's just the senior knowing no help was coming and it's excuse me nikolaidis nikolaidis back to christofori christofori now using that offhand to get space there's the long shot and it's good they're going to give it a long two for senior captain sarah stewart christofori handling up top using the screen back she goes to call call will take the stewart screen around good look at a shot there it's a log too and rattles it home that's just quality offense love her coming off that screen by stewart loved what i saw there and the long pass to murphy was knocked away by call she'll flip it to christofori what a nifty move twinkle toes all the way to the hoop to pass outside unafraid to pull the trigger there was christofori there's winklaar with the rainbow three it's the rainbow connection and it's a tie ball game with one nice little pass to giorgio back to stuart stuart shoots and belmont leads the game thirty one to twenty nine scrambling here's call has to get it in she does to christofori antonel is guarding her christofori's by her lefthand up and good just like you said kim just like antonell is guarding her as we see samari winklaar getting up and making moves to the table nifty spin by christofori and it's good for good christophori finds call call uses the screen puts up at three and it's good forty six to forty one the score timeout bell press call to a jumpstart for christofori christofori shoots in and out no good watertown up with it that could be the ball game and time ticks down ladies and gentlemen the watertown raiders are the d two north girls basketball champions congratulations to them congratulations to the belmont marauders for a hard fought basketball game forty six forty one the final score welcome to winter field house for miaa tournament basketball featuring the hometown belmont marauders against the visiting brighton bengals two fifty four to go on the first period karen's from the corner bingo bingo bingo three points good balls on the floor nice play by ramsey ramsey the dirt dog they're going to find bartle's in the corner in this shot and it is silky smooth here's wagner backing them down up top to karen's long shots good then he's with karen's and giving him the ball karen's with the drive there's the paul pierce look bartel's up top binds karen's karen's for three shot's good forty one thirty two belmont the grand man strikes again uses the wagner stream long pass to ramsey skips to shaughnessy shaughnessy to ramsey ramsey to bartels here's the movement up with shaughnessy and it's good and one bartles working kicks it out to ramsey ramsey up top to karens karens will stop and pop and it's good yes he's on fire karens to ramsey ramsey to bartles bartles inside to shaughnessy shaughnessy and it's good they are really trying to shoot from the perimeter now skip pass to ramsey ramsey with an open look and it's good switches it up with bartels inside to shaughnessy shaughnessy up with it that's your game lucky sixty five sixty three as we close on two minutes here's karens nice feed there from wagner cross over from karens right to the rack a great game by the brighton bengals welldeserved win seventy two to six tough way to end the season for the belmont marauders four years ago a bunch of people saying oh there's this guy at belmont he's a freshman course number four boys so good you gotta go see him so i went and saw him and he was excellent and i don't do a whole lot of like recruiting you know but i asked him to come be a part of my team and he's like no thank you i already have a team and i was like oh wow he's got like you know he's loyal and he was good you know it may have irked me a little bit but i said wow good for him so i stayed connected to him and he called me later in the fall and said i think your program would actually be really good for me so i said well i appreciate that you stayed loyal but i think it would be too so come on over and matt was one of the easiest guys to coach for four years because he's just the best he does what you ask him to do and he is a basketball kid and i know everyone here is but i get to coach a lot of guys and some girls now too that you can really tell when it matters to somebody in a profound way and it's not everything that matt is i think he's a wonderful kid a very well rounded young man but it's part about how he will be identified and being that kind of person myself my whole life i just stayed in basketball all my life i guess but it was great to see it and for it to be a guy from my home town who wore my number and scored way more points than me it was a source of pride when you can really get to know him then to develop our relationship has been it's what coaching is about to me and i know that i'll be connected with him for decades and decades to come so when coach pritchard asked me to come here and present him with his banner for becoming the alltime leading scorer at belmont high i was honored to do it myself every guy with a banner up there playing they're remarkable players you belong right beside them i'm proud of you and looking forward to your future and i care about you a lot buddy so come on up here let me give you this banner