watch and listen to the talking news every day at twelve noon and six pm on channel ninety six comcast six finity and channel thirty verizon fi o's you can also be heard mondays and tuesdays at four thirty pm and wednesdays at twelve thirty pm on channel nine x finity and channel twenty nine fi o's listen any time on the b m c podcast network on sound cloud and i tunes just search for the belmont media p cast network and now on to the talking news meet the new belmont high school principal by joanna case of alephs belmont public school superintendent jo failon announced february th that isaac taylor as accepted the position of principal of belmont high school is work in the district will begin july the st taylor has been principal of north middlesex regional high school which has eight hundred and twelve students in grades nine through twelve his tenure at north middlesex has involved coordinating the building of and moving into a new school to help readers get to know him better the belmont citizen herald recently interviewed taylor via email about his new position how would you describe yourself and those who don't know you i am a hot i am a thoughtful person in a good lucena i focus on the positive my glass is always at least half full what kind of a principal do you strive to be i strive to create an environment where staff and students have the support and resources they need to do their best work i give everyone the opportunity to be heard and taken seriously and foster a culture of belief and trust in people what inspired you to get into this line of work i love being a teacher and i have an impact and have an impact on the students i taught when i took the decision to pursue a career in administration it was because i wanted to be able to support teachers to provide a loving challenging and supportive environment in every classroom how would you say belmont high is different or similar from north middlesex regional high school belmont dollars most students the north middlesex despite being a very small district judge graphically north middlesex spans about eighty square miles across three towns both communities have a lot of pride and respect for the schools and i am really excited to be a moron do you know do you know of any grade seven through twelve schools under one roof similar to the one belmont will be will be building and if so where there are a number of schools that have adopted this model for example the brumfield school in and in the hobbit and at belmont the two schools will have their own separate identity and expectations while at the same time sharing the fundamental belmont f o s what are you feeling about having a retail marijuana store will located near a high school or any school whatever towns decide to do with marijuana dispensary he's it needs to be clear that drugs of any description have no place in our schools this includes recreational marijuana which should not be possessed or used under any circumstances by minors was vague being an issue at your high school and how do you think it should be handled in twenty nine thousand nine hundred and eight being is a concern at every high school in america as with alcohol and drugs they ping has no place in schools and this is a message that must be reinforced now that they ping has been with us for a couple of years many schools are developing better strategies for tackling the epidemic and i'm excited to find more about the boat the diversion program that belmont has developed to support students who are struggling with nicotine addiction it's scary to send your child off to school and wonder will they be safe how can we be assured us students will be safe in a new seven by seven dollars to twelve dollars building student safety is my number one priority i will work closely with the superintendent the community and the police to ensure that we will do everything we can to keep us students safe without creating an oppressive atmosphere in the school at our new building is much more secure than the old school and having looked at the building plans for the high school i have no doubt that this will also be the case in belmont belmont high has been an open campus do you think it should change now that it's becoming a seven through twelve school and if so why there are many advantages to having some form of an open campus for juniors and seniors in high school for example giving students the opportunity to practice time management and self control open campuses also have their challenges with security and accountability any form of open campus in the new high school will need to be administered so as not to impact grades seven through ten what do you think your greatest challenges will be as belmont high's new principal my greatest and most exciting challenge will be to get to know the community of learners at belmont high so that i can best support our school through the changes and challenges of the coming months and years i plan on doing a lot of listening in my st few months as the principal what are you looking forward to most approach a new role and belmont my passion is supporting excellent institute instruction and learning i am excited about what i will learn about great teaching at belmont high and i look forward to leveraging my experience to further support belmont as a community of lifelong learners what attracted you to this position belmont is the only school that i applied to this year and i did so because this role offers such an exciting challenge to such an amazing community i feel truly blessed to have been offered this role what else do you plan to do to prepare yourself feel a new role july the st right now it seems like a long time until i started belmont but this gives me time to ensure that i complete work on a number of critical projects at north middlesex and finish the strong over the coming months i am looking forward to learning as much as i can about the students staff and parents but i'm belmont's phenomenal reputation and  over to my colleague claire thanks bob wasted time on warrants a backlog in massachusetts part one this is by eli sherman of wicked local and doug caruso and mike warg nor of the columbus dispatch brian vincent woke up one morning to a police officer knocking on his door they said we have a warrant for your arrest said vincent owner of vincent's country store in westminster the warrant was issued because vincent failed to renew his dog license a twenty five dollars fee he spent two days in  court st explaining he never checked the mailbox the nd was spent showing he had renewed his license i understand i was in the wrong but i didn't think that if you don't really know a dog license you could be heading to jail to await a judge like you rob the seven hundred and eleven vincent said thousands of americans are a traffic stop away from being jailed for crimes as minor as not paying a traffic ticket according to an investigation of arrest warrants by wicked local and the columbus dispatch vincent had the means to pay these dogs license renewal plus a late fee and he avoided jail because he was able to sort the issue out quickly but the same can't be said for many americans data collected by the columbus dispatch shows warrants in ohio arthur kissed in the poorest neighborhoods and disproportionately affect racial and ethnic minorities the executive office of the mass trial courts denied a request for information showing off and says in biographic information making it impossible to break down the more than three hundred and ninety thousand outstanding warrants in massachusetts by geography through interviews with local and regional law enforcement along with lawyers judges  the dynamic plays out in massachusetts the dispatching gatehouse media contacted officials in all fifty states but did not receive data from the other twenty three it's a very serious problem and it's happening more or less in every state in the country every county and every city said matt mendez an attorney of the brandon brennan center for justice a nonpartisan public policy and law institute at new york university's school of law if this were impacting white middle class suburbs you would see quicker results and reforms clearing the decks prior efforts in massachusetts to a race old minor became the st to create a statewide twenty four hour real time orange database in the years after the w m s launched the number of open warrants increased arguably because the tracking system improved by nine hundred and ninety nine the backlog of open warrants was growing by more than five thousand monthly today there are still twenty three thousand two hundred and twenty four unserved warrants and the way that information is used the following year the number of open warm warrants accumulating each year started to lessen decreasing to nine thousand one hundred and seventeen in two thousand eleven since then the trend has reversed and the number of open warrants from two thousand and fourteen totaled eleven thousand four hundred and sixty nine in two thousand and seventeen there totaled nine hundred thousand three fifteen police departments periodically put together want to interest sweeps rounding up known offenders but it's challenging to maintain considering how many warrants are issued each day there are some special unit including the massachusetts state police violent fugitive apprehension section focused on tracking down fugitives but it's unclear how much the state unit is contributing to the effort because state police did not respond to multiple requests for comment it's an incredible backlog in the courts you wonder how many of these people have passed on said r former president of the mass bar association said the backlog indicates defendants are not taking the court system seriously a concern raised two decades ago by lawmakers this high percentage of default  indicates widespread disrespect for the court system wrote authors of the one thousand nine hundred and ninety nine report when somebody does not show up for a court date the default warrant is issued but the warranted person is not notified and often the warrant is never executed the message sent to scofflaws is that there are no real consequences for disregarding the commonwealth's court's now over to bob thank you for wicked local interviewed prosecutors judges and learn foresman from across the state in nearly every one echoed the same idea the ever mounting backlog of lawrence isn't entirely the responsibility of the of justice nearly everyone agreed it would take defendants cops court and law makers along with an influx of capital to reverse the trend if you want government to do something you have to fund it said retired boston judge raymond do then one can rail about poor public transportation bad schools or not enough drug we have both haitians and us but if the public wants these matters to be addressed it has to be willing to fund the action prior to an interview with wicked local norfolk district attorney michael w marashi floated the idea of a warrant amnesty program the program could theoretically minor offenses there are some people out there was serious warrants and they're not getting him a seat he said massachusetts registry of motor vehicles was also played a pilot in trying to address outstanding warrants a that is changing until two thousand and eighteen and arrest or default warrant would trigger a license suspension but the criminal justice reform act remove that part of the law other states are also working toward solutions especially for minor offenses new york city and philadelphia made certain minor offenses off limits for arrest by designating misdeeds such as having an open container of alcohol or creating loud noise from criminal to civil infractions caring a fine in two thousand and sixteen san francisco launched its financial justice program project working with  judges and other officials to adjust fines based on income and a limited ng driver's license suspension and now to my colleague bob thank you  including candidates for the thirteen year selectman seat to three a school committee seats and fifteen dollars the housing authority seat timothy flood filed his nomination papers of the board of selectmen natick most recently he started his own business east coast chip keys located for fifty eight propeller road in belmont flood believes belmont has lacked neutrality in key positions and said he brings that i'm not tied to any one political thing in town i think that gives me an advantage to understanding the communities outlook on all the items that they want to bring forward because i don't have a bias one way or another so i get to he a bowl sides and be a true neutral party where i don't think i've had that for quite some time he said he would like to see more information providing residence one issue such as an issue of being a district member of the middle of the minuteman regional high school he is also concerned about the community path route and providing a tax abatement for senior residents fled said people have encouraged him to run because he is known for listening to concerns and looking for solutions as a general rule he said he always tries to have some sort of solution to a problem before bringing it forward i think having the lines of communication open especially in a small town like this is super important he said he thinks a lot of smart people in belmont are belmont to host community workshop belmont will host a community workshop from three to five thirty pm april th at the beach street santa two hundred and sixty six beach street in belmont the workshop new ways of working together to build a community robert putnam author of bowling alone and better together re storing the american community will kick off the event there are great programs happening in our library community organizing the nation's religious institutions in schools said coorg an isis matia samuels and mary power how can we build upon all we have done well pool our strengths as the town looks to the future spearheaded by the belmont library foundation and co sponsored by in a rave groups including the board of selectmen belmont public schools and more than twenty town organizations the workshop welcomes all citizens to join in the conversation town moderator mike widmer will guide the discussion i'm proud of the extraordinary level of community engagement  belmont said adam dash chair of the board of selectmen this workshop will bring many groups together to brainstorm how we can make our community even stronger by forging connections and working together communication and cooperation are the key to a cohesive community and this event will foster both this event is free and open to the public pre registration is encouraged and can be completed a belmont library foundation dot org over to bob now thank you claire lyons honored for dedication to town coach paul lyons who created towns youth head coach creator of the belmont youth basketball association amerada his association and his name added to the winner field house at belmont high school former players neighbors friends and current students filled the stands february friday february th friday during the official ceremony which lie and said it was hot want me to see during the ceremony lines thank the of people who work with him throughout the years to build up the basketball program in belmont in mention a quote he has tried to instill in his players throughout the years success is not a destination it's a journey that you take along the way lion said to the crowd it's more important what you did than what the outcome was lions guidance and coaching throughout the years is what round jones to recommend the school committee honor him jones work with mines in the early years of the programs and city found he set a strong moral example for the community you often see coaches flying off the handle and yelling at referees and really not sending a good example for the players and paul was not like that joe said paul was a very restrained and very professional when it came to dealing with the referees and i think that was important for setting the moral to former player and current men's basketball coach adam pritchard joined the b y b a the nd year was around and has been working with lions ever since from b purchase said he was proud to see lions former teammates and friends fill the stands for the ceremony and game this was a big chance to run a somebody who has given so much to a school and a program and set such a high example in such a positive way pritchard said coach lines never use foul language he always challenges players he would constantly teach them instead of demeaning them he tried to raise them up belmont prying to come into belmonte been involved with numerous collegiate and high school programs my unspent is college is playing for boston college and was part of a team that went to the end association and from the get go there were more than three hundred dollars students point basketball with lions when lions retired from coaching at belmont high school in two thousand he left with three hundred and thirty five wins in one state championship under his belt however in creating the b y b a lion simultaneously built the men's and women's programs in the town today two programs remain competitive even though women's basketball wasn't as big as the men's program was when he st that would be why be a lions created the program for both men and women jones said that's lyons lasting legacy derby rally race on february the nd the team currently has nine cuz four that were from last year and five purchased this shia four were four were purchased from a grant provided by the belmont savings bank one was purchased from center a middle school other tools and materials a purchased by chen or a student council the team is looking for an additional sponsors a donors to help support the afterschool program the team plans to get a booth at town day to showcase the ca's to the community the paint job on all the cars was provided for free from auto engineering bodyworks and events upcoming soap box derby races for the belmont team march th at the cambridge side mall april in waltham am and on june the st in arlington and now over t chose to spot like this contribution from belmont resident master jack of e d s our retired editor and journalist it's about how she met her husband as i walk down the hall in the harlem junior high school where i was newly teaching english in one thousand nine hundred and fifty nine i was following a young teacher of history that is the man i'm going to marry flashed into my head we did that come from i had into in my life nevertheless i went home to plot how to get his attention as a massachusetts native i was supportive of our senator john f kennedy who was now starting his run for president with a primary in west virginia and not given must much of a chance back in the teacher's break room i confronted the object of my desire quote kennedy is going to win next week i said no i continued you don't think so i'll bet you that he does if i win i will cook dinner for you in my apartment if you when you will buy the full beauty of the home house said woman's club co president wendy murphy the cooper was in serious disrepair and needed a new roof new painting cap meant to work at a new finial i think i love the developer had plans to tear the house down and build seven house lights on the land the club has volunteered to preserve the house ever since a five hundred and one c three charity the belmont's woman's club is an all volunteer organization of men and women that relies on membership fees and donations to cover repairs and expenses to maintain the property we desperately needed to repair the co but had no hope of being able to afford it without the c p a grant said murphy was so grateful to the town for approving the funds and the storage inside which made sure we did everything right we were very light lucky to work with architect gary wolfe and marshall white contractor and the people who helped us from town hall could not have been more supportive and helpful throughout the process the results are were return next week for another edition of local news happening around belmont