welcome to belmont schools now my name is john phailin in the superintendent of the belmont public schools and we're very happy to be here in the belmont media station to bring to you some updates at all the things that are going on in the belmont public schools today we're going to address three items for the viewers at home the first will be full day kindergarten registration that has been introduced as an online mechanism this year the second will be the enrollment and space needs that the district is facing currently and in the future and lastly we'll be talking with principal dan richards of belmont high school about the news that we received that belmont high school will be introduced by the massachusetts school building authority as a new high school project here in belmont very exciting news on all accounts first i want to talk to you about online registration for years our kindergarten parents have been rolled in the belmont public schools by paper and we used to notify them with a letter that contain many forms to fill out and bring to the school to enroll their children we are very excited to announce that this year starting this past week in february we are announcing online registration for all of our kindergarten students only all parents of kindergarten age children received a postcard from the school system that gave them the website link to log onto and then log on as belmont public school parents families and children this process cuts the paperwork down significantly so we're not wasting paper and it also cuts down on the amount of work that the clerical staff have to do each school to process and put that work so what the parents need to look for who have kindergarten age children the first thing you need to do is look for that postcard in the mail that gives you that link in the web address or you can go right on our own website and look for the kindergarten page on the belmont public school website in the month of february w ask all parents to log on and guardians log on their children and all the information that we need to know to get you up and running and then in march will be reviewing more paperwork and more documents around residency and medical information that you can handle over to your local school at that point in time your principal will have a kindergarten information night sometime at the end of march and then in april will review all the folders of all the kindergarden enroll these and make assignment sue all parents and guardian s for their children in late may early june in preparation for september of two thousand and sixteen we're very excited to announce this process and i did run into a parent just yesterday on the c b s downtown who said that this was her fourth fourth child and that this was the easiest year of all to log in their kindergarten child to the belmore public schools so your feedback is helpful we're looking to learn from this online exercise so we can then have this process be for all new students of the district so any feedback is welcome from the parents in the community about this online process so thank you very much to the technology department led by steven sola and they can very much to all the folks at central office who have supported this process thus far the next thing we'd like to talk about is the space challenges that we're facing in the belmore public schools the enrollment as we know has been increasing over the years and there have been several studies done by the town and the school department to just predict how much in rome it will continue to increase over the coming years the district decided to take on some of those challenges this year by asking the high school principal dan richards in the middle school principal an elementary principals to find more space within the footprint of this school so the current year that we're in two thousand and fifteen sixteen we have added classroom space within the butler school for first grade that was new to the district we have added space to the middle school by putting a computer lab in the library and using that computer lab now as a classroom at the high school principal dan richards has utilized some of the modular space behind the high school to add space for his students daily this footprint space that we've been able to utilize this year has been further study by space task force that was put together earlier this year and had some recommendations moving forward for the two thousand and sixteen fifteen the two thousand and sixteen seventeen school year we're very excited to to look at the data going back all the way to nine hundred ninety five and see that we have seen a trend moving upward in our in rome and not just in the last few years of over four hundred or so students but over the last fifteen or twenty years from one nine hundred ninety two to two thousand and sixteen there has been a clear line of increase in romans in the belmore public schools so the space task force did a great job of looking backward in look at the historical trendin as well as looking forward in trying to make projections of what the robot will look like in the next five to ten years with that in mind the recommendation will be made to special town meeting next week that at the middle school we would like to p modular classrooms for the general to relieve some of the pressure on the middle school and to the teachers in the students in the class size these six spaces will be located on the tennis courts adjacent to the cherry middle school and will be purchased into a least after we do our analysis of what makes the best financial sense for the district in the town at the high school principal richards will continue to utilize more classrooms behind his building in the modular space provided  and be able to access three more additional classrooms as well at the elementary level we were lucky to find at the burbank school two or spaces within the school that we may be able to reallocate classroom space that was currently used for our afterschool program being in space that was used for a computer lab and shift that computer allowed to the library and use the computer lab space and also potentially ask our afterschool program to move to a different space so we can use those two spaces for classrooms this provides us in a short term plan to address some of the space needs we have immediately and those suggestions by the space taskforce that you may see on your screen will give us a loving classroom spaces going into next year and the year after to support some of the enrollment challenges we have so we look forward to bringing that information to town meeting this february and we also look forward to presenting this issue to town meeting in may with more detail around the financial information in the ability to fund these modular purchases moving forward we have had great cooperation with the board of selectmen the school committee the capital committee and we really appreciate in value the collaborative work that we're doing to address the schools needs across the whole town and thank the all those departments for their work the biggest news that we've had in the last few weeks has been the news that the nasa tewson school building authority has approved the belmont high school project to move forward to be rebuilt renovated or built new over the next five to six years this is very exciting news for the district the town of belmont has provided application for over ten years in hopes to get a project approved by this must be a and we finally have received that approval so with me today as principal dan richards i welcome did thank you dan and i were together with large slab share of the school committee or generally twenty seventh in downtown boston at the v a headquarters to get the news it was a really big day for the town of belmont anything about that day that that you remember did as the good news was shared with not just belmont but probably twenty six other districts well it certainly was a memorable day there were twenty six other districts there that were on pens and needles waiting to hear whether they were accepted it was kind of winning the lottery sort of speaking has been a long time coming as you mentioned and i couldn't get the news out fast enough along with the news media but we were very excited and we're ready for this process we have been for years and we're anxious to get this going that's great before we talk about moving forward in the new high school i want to take advantage of having dan here to talk about just what are the good things that are happening at the high school right now and what would you like to let us let the community know about the good things that are happening every day about more like you said the building project we're looking forward to getting involved in the car in the last couple of years we've been working on preparing our students for the twenty first century to be successful college career whatever their plans are after high school and we've been working on preparing kids with what we'd done a five is for essential skills we teach them many skills but we can't measure all of them but we decided to focus on creativity collaboration and critical thinking and that's the critical thinking collaboration great to vittie and are the main ones that we're focusing on what the teachers have done is pretty remarkable they haven't done a five skills that they feel is important to measure they've done it by the skills then they have to find the skills and that was a work we did last year and this year they're working on measuring the skills that we're working on the actually measure them and this will actually be folded into the work that they're currently doing so we're not revamping our curriculum we're adding it to our current where identifying areas within our curriculum that we're teaching the skills for kids so with that said we feel as if not only are we preparing kids for the content but also the skills to be successful at the high school so that's been initiative that we've had for the past two years this year we've had a scheduling committee put together to take a look at our schedule to see if it's an appropriate schedule for our kids how we modify it the current schedule take a look at creative sketch that are out there and so it really is a fluid group looking at scheduling for students and what is best for our students and making how the brain works why are you language words and how we speak to each other so we're well on our way and get ready for a march second professional development day to focus on the social motion learning of both the adults and the kids there's a couple things are working on it seems like the four c's in the vision of your visionary work that's been going on with your teachers around creativity collaboration innovation those are not always measurable things and it's really exciting that your school is taking on that kind of a challenge it's it's not just about math science and english in social studies but it's about measuring the those types of quality so i applaud the faculty in yourself for bringing that level of the next level of learning experiences for  didn't into your point it does fit in with the social emotional learning because students do need to be able to express their creativity learn in different ways express what they know in different ways in the collaboration which i was so impressed with last year walking through your school seeing what you did with the library which is now more like a small college setting in a student center where students have collaborative space all those small pieces add up to a students getting a very different experience a bit more high than they probably would at twenty seventh when they announced that schools districts that were receiving building programs they said that they picked the school district that had applications that focused on the students and when we filled out that application last year dan richards was a big part of that application process  india and jerry focused on the facilities part but d n did tremendous amount of work over what with this new building look like in mean to students and when we sat down to write that application together d n was the author of those parts of the application and it was very refreshing to hear and generate twenty seven from the board members that the school districts that were receiving the approval were the school districts that focused on students so the work that you have been doing  belmont high the work that you are hoping to vision will belmont high will look like in the future feels like it's already started a little bit and while i i always have hope that the application would be accepted and we want to be prepared for it so  work currently and has been for the last few years as students focus on a student needs as our population shifts as we're stepping into this new realm of hopes for a new building whatever that may look like i've described it to the faculty this way is that we're first going to be looking at our student population who do we have in front of us and it does change frequently and we need to constantly remind ourselves so first let's take a look at our students and once we fill that bucket let's go to a second one what programs are we offering for students and we need to reflect on what we're currently doing and what we can be doing so once that bucket is full then we'll talk about building and what it looks like and how it's design but i want to keep the focus on the first bucket which is the students and we will have that active discussion with the community with parents with students and teachers and in that will always be the focus of how we move forward through this phase with them a speech so i'm happy to say that there are three buckets the first one the most important students moving on to program and then eventually building so you can see behind me a schedule of how the building program works for the massachusetts school building authority and we are currently in the eligibility period into the principal richards point we're moving into that period next in the fall will form a team with an architect in a project building manager inside to work with professional people to to to really have that conversation about what the school looks like dean and i were in attendance at a meeting last week with the m s p a along with david on administrator phyllis marshall administrator where we were hearing about other school districts right from superintendents right from principals who were describing their experiences moving through the process and for me it was great to hear them talk about keeping their eye in the students and what's important to this whole building what's important in this whole process students have to be center in that conversation not just while we talk about the vision but while we're talking about what the school should look like kind of the kind of spaces that we could use really keep it teacher student engagement where does that work what does that work look like and how do we want space to support that work and actually enrich that work so the thinking that you have is the thinking that's been successful in other districts and i think it's important for the community to know that we're going to be reaching out to other communities to look at their high schools and to look at how they manage the process and really keep an eye on who did it well and what lessons were learned in this again via four to five to six year process and when we look at working our way through planning visioning and then potential options for the high school we'll have a lot of help along the way with the massachusetts school building authority and we'll have a lot of feedback from the community so it's interesting when i met him last year some of the first things we talked about was the potential of a new high school and it's really gratifying to know that the  community is excited about this office opportunity that we have and that this opportunities in front of the community so we're very fortunate to be able to say out loud that will go in front of the town meeting on february twenty second in ask them permission to move forward with creating a school building authority and now that we are formally in that eligibility period i think we can show on the screen the list of tasks that we need to do in the next two hundred seventy days d n and i will be providing the state the roman data we will also be supporting the time moderator and choosing a school building authority which will be made up of about twelve to fifteen community members and we will then start the work of having that committee choose this process so we couldn't be more thankful to the the state of massachusetts for affording this this opportunity and we'll be coming back to the public with open forms to get their feedback and also coming up with the the votes that will need to take place it's how meeting for funding for each component of this so it's a very exciting time to be in the belmont community very exciting time to be principal of the high school and very exciting time to be part of this process of bringing this new new work to to belmont what was the reaction did and of the administrators in the teachers after the announcement was made at the high school that's a great question there was a sense of disbelief what does this mean does it mean that were finalists and i had to go back to them and describe a few times over what it means as we move through this phase and i think once i had the faculty meeting and i guess or all those questions publicly people realize that this is really happening and it's been years of waiting for it to be accepted into m s p a so i think everyone was rushing to what school look like how do we teach what what does that look  like so it was it was a very active faculty meeting and i think we've had time to digest it a little bit and slow down because everyone rushes to design and what with the classroom look like and i explained how we're going to start with students first and everyone seemed to agree the process is a thoughtful one what does it look like for them and then move on to the building but the excitement is it's you can feel when you go in the building everyone is asking questions about the process will continue to explain as we move through it there is a keen interest in all the faces especially those teachers that live in belmont it's part of the community but it looks like and how we create these programs so they are invested they're excited we continue to explain where we are in the process and they are they just a bit in disbelief  the it's such a big project it will it will be a very expensive project and i have to say that the excitement that we have with our staff and without parents for this project in it is large in scope it's exciting to know that we have support in two ways and belmont the first support is the massachusetts school building authority has a pretty tight guideline set of guidelines in a script that every district has to follow that's actually very helpful and they've been in existence for over ten to twenty years and they really have it down well so we'll lean on them very heavily and the taxpayers in the community should know that we're doing this with a great deal of support from the state in the second asset that the town has that you need to belmont is that they have a permanent building committee  folks like me who have been through this process before in building the wellington and building the chain or i was with them at a meeting this morning with there's just so the wealth of knowledge from people like emory who will add to the experience base that when we walk through each step of this long this long journey that they have been there before they know what it looks like and their guides and their leadership will be valued tremendously much for being here thank you we have a great way to go into a segway which is belmont community media did our reach into seven excuse me eleventh grade english classes and did some work with teacher student projects around this i believe and we have some great footage of our students in action at belmont high that would like to leave you with us on this afternoon or this evening so thank you very much from belmont schools now thank you to dan rivers for being here and we wish you a great day thank you i believe in asking for directions because find being completely honest a lot of the time i have absolutely no idea where i am going i would say that i have a terrible sense of direction  like everyone else there are times when i am completely and totally lost although today there are many digital ways to find your way i have found that there isn't anything quite like asking another person for directions i hadn't truly understood this power of asking other for directions until i got my driver's license however experiencing that freedom has caused me to get hopelessly lost multiple times once i was driving to a friend's house which i thought was really a destination and ended up in some remote corner of my own town that had never even knew existed at first i was alarmed as i didn't think it was possible to be so lost in the town where i had lived my entire life but as i continued to drive into what felt like oblivion an idea popped into my head i can ask for directions immediately i pulled over and began to look for someone who seemed to know their surroundings better than i did after a few minutes of feeling isolated and alone i saw her a tall woman walking her little dog the woman had dark hair and kind eyes and was just casually in a pair of blue jeans she was smiling and laughing at her dog and had a stack of pink flyers in her hand that looked to be for a neighborhood block party she seems to know what she's doing i thought i rolled down my window and politely asked for directions to the street where i was trying to get to and the woman was kind enough to explain to me the way as i drove off i was not only struck by the kindness women had shown me but i was even more impressed my by myself and the child that i placed another individual to get me to my destination i got excited when a freshman asked me where physics classroom is because i have the chance to help someone the way i've been helped before actions speak louder than words now i'm a huge fan of folks sometimes to the point where it's completely irritating which is ok it seems like how they're going to be a socialist second when the few decades it's a dying breed but if you think about it there's nothing wrong with hugs aside from the fact that as a generation people are less comfortable with physical affection towards our if you think about a completely made up system of sounds that are meant to convey what otherwise body language could do but there's a reason why songs  second of resting your head on the shoulder it signals a sense of complete trust and studies to show that even ten seconds of hugging a day can boost your immune system and make you more energetic and happy in second grade for an assignment that asked students unique creation i designed a machine that made communication between humans and cats possible i would say on one side in the cat would sit on the other and the machine would translate both the lead which i speak in the kathleen so we can have a conversation together so prevent stress as much as you can become a cat for once occasionally take some time off do what you love to do in start the next day fresh and ready to face more obstacles by ponderous starts quickly took a why even get better tomorrow why even live tomorrow with school even exist tomorrow were there even be a tomorrow all this is that moment realize how little people are how vast our ignorance is how limited our knowledge about the future is i believe in horoscopes well kind of there's always the inevitable question lingering in the back of my head why do i believe this where in my life that i've become the type of girl that staples all her essay same stapler it because you really think that makes for a better grade and the reality is that i don't believe in it because it gives my life some sort of egg essential meaning or that it finds me to the celestial movements of the sky it's more just but it's kind of fun this isn't some human to steal but it makes you feel important it's not like i really believe that everything is set out and meant to be but it's reassuring to find something that has a kooky explanation for all the ups and downs you go through it's nice to forget all the logic level headedness i've been taught to use and to feel like the chaotic tumble jai that is my life has some sort of order organization am a penny a day keeps the devil away actually my grandmother when she saw me throw a penny down the drain pennies or good luck regardless of the position  in some people only pick up a penny the head for a stone pennies are still money and money's worth something they're lucky and show a sign of wealth pennies increase in wealth even if it is only by one side this is why i believe in picking up pennies and always phrase no such thing as free lunch finally reveals more about human nature other than our increasing need for greed the habit started around five years old and i openly admit now that it was pretty disgusting catch up my childhood addiction and unnecessary amount of catch up on every possible food group eggs chicken bread and even maybe even ask lloyd to the point that i was using ketchup a salad dressing no doubt probably thinking along with their courage and face as you imagine loads of ketchup on your every day meals the phrase with age comes wisdom has passed around for years however this is greatly flawed why is it us show do we go for what we want and as adults we go for it was acceptable to society the answer lies with an extra sauce my next phase or the extra sauce came with a more moderate amount and so on the side extra