he llo everyone welcome to the belmont journal own local program for hyper local news and community events i'm your host roger coulton eight days ago hurricane michael hit the gulf coast of florida causing extensive damage twenty six people died belmont lite sent a crew to florida to tallahassee florida to help with cleanup and restoration efforts i had an opportunity to speak with aaron gre on the telephone about what he saw when he went to tallahassee i'm speaking with aaron greeley today a st class wind line walker with light derren has gone to tallahassee florida to help clean up after hurricane michel thanks for joining  that's great well thanks for joining us on the telephone today i have been speaking with derren greeley who is a st class line walker for light derren has joined members of the new england public power she ation to travel to tallahassee florida to help clean up from the destruction from hurricane michel the town of belmont is looking for new school crossing guards crossing guards are the men and women who help our kids cross busy street such as school street common street  the media center talked with crossing guard ruben wheeler about what his job entails and why he enjoys it please stay tuned after this journal for us national edition of the journal where i kids as much as i do to the elementary kids all  welcome to this week in the belmont county i have with me today franklin tucker who is the editor and publisher of the bama antone and belmont online source for hyper local news thanks for stopping over oh thank you for having me there is an issue that just keeps on giving is the right word the regulation of marijuana tell us what the planning board just decided well the planning board has been well as you know the marijuana was declared it  was marijuana by law was passed at the town meeting and we had a special town meeting back in september where passed so marijuana is coming to belmont it's just where it's going to be and that's where the plane board comes in it's going in basically was assigned to decide where on the map a belmont you're going to place these marijuana but i've been hearing now what they're calling pot shops in belmont now the popular will now it is  planning board really wanted to place them in different areas and what they found is that that the best place to put them is far away from residential five hundred feet from a school zone so these two realize they're there excludes the business centers that's right  the excludes belmont center way we square cushing coaching square where busy they found that this is basically where they can put is on south pleasant street which there were a developing also so that seems like a good place and also what is called the delta and that's on bright marijuana was going next to the high school going next to lie school and so we have film crews people are asking questions there's a large contingency of people who are gun to the playing board who who have real issues they say look we really don't want to put it anywhere near near the high school and you know that that's there that's a valid that's a valid you know criticism that there where is that science is actually right in the planning board at the time said look we have to really spread it out we have to put it in different places to get it to  a competition you don't want twelve you don't want to to part shops in belmont to be next to each other you don't want to segregate it you want to spread it out ok that's happened on october nd the next meaning that they had they  had between that meeting and the october nd meeting they got a decision from george hall which is our town council and he said no no no you know you place them in an area just make sure that it's there's an ability for the businesses to go in and ask and request you know the landlord if they can you know rent space and planning board and also right and then they also that decision they also got some research that stated that  colorado pot shops are really close to each other and they and they thrive so all the sudden what looked like a to play to a location map for marijuana really flipped over o in the special town meeting warrant and so that means it needs two thirds vote now you're seeing is that there are there are a number of people who said well we're going to put a citizens petition you know why not you know let's put that put that through it's more likely than not that the time moderator will say sorry you really can't do ready this so now the now the last thing when the rumor we heard is that people are going to say look let's just anything that yet even it could be even a special town meeting a week before christmas we have been speaking with franklin tucker who is the editor and publisher of the belmont county and belmont's online source for hyper local  news o and welcome to this week in the belmont's innocent hero i have with me today joanna jubilance who is the senior multimedia journalist for the citizen herald now months online and print media source thanks for stopping  happy to be here as always roger we always think about belmont schools excelling but the test results are out and we now know the numbers the numbers tell us a lot don't they  assistant superintendent janice darrius recently gave a report at the october th school committee meeting on the accountability data which is posted on the department of special of the department of secondary and elementary education let's just call it dessie ok you know when people are looking at where they want to raise their family a lot of people go to that website the dessie website to see where the schools rank and that's why a lot of people do choose belmont as their place to raise their children because classifications that we can fall in we fall into the one that's not requiring assistance or intervention but the the percentiles are really high burbank is th percentile which which means they perform better than ninety eight percent of the the state the other schools in the state and belmont highs th percentile with which also means they perform better than eighty six percent of the schools and state and that includes english language learners which is i think pretty impressive but in the star of the schools is the butler yes butler is designated by dessie as a school of recognition based on high achievement high growth and exceeding targets and only fifty two schools in the state receive this recognition so it's very impressive and the butler has received national recognition and also yes in two thousand and sixteen they were recognized as a national blue ribbon school for being an exemplary high performing school so hats off to the teachers and students they're definitely doing something right at the bottom and congratulations to all the all the schools in belmont's for doing well and as an aside now my schools have released the  states so people should check the belmont school website and plan their vacations this definitely a range of dates so you want to plan around that range of dates of the exact dates haven't been publicized yet but they will be just got to be careful  away in the spring you want to be around for the test it's not simply test scores let's change topics a little here it's not simply test scores but the boston business journal has released its rankings  schools yes i thought it was worth mentioning you know they they released a list of the top twenty five public high school in the top twenty five elementary public schools yeah and belmont made the list we're number eight in the on that list  public high schools and this is based on data from nisha dot com which looks at not just academics and caste corps and all that accountability down it looks at s a t s scores a p classes how students do on a p exams diversity racial and economic diversity the belmont has three elementary schools and the top twenty five butlers number twenty burbank's number sixteen and when brooks number nine i think that's yes pretty impressive phyllis she did resign the end of may and since then that position has been vacant it's been vacant it hasn't been open or posted because i think patrice garvey the town administrator has been figuring out what she wants to do and she recently announced what she wants to do in the plans are to fill that position and devote that position largely to recreation that's right ninety percent of the responsibilities of this new assistant town administrator will be the recreation department overseeing the program everything to do with recreation which is huge because belmont lost its recreation director a while ago and never replaced it i think due to funding they just didn't have the funding so they just never replaced that position and what they did instead is they put it under the department of public works which so it's been jame our cots responsibility has plenty on his plate anyway right so now hoby have more time for public other public works things that's great exciting happenings in in the money as reported by the belmont citizen herald belmont's online and print source of news thanks for stopping over to talk with us once again joanna jubilance the senior multimedia journalist for the belmont since now here's jane peters with a look at what there is to do in the coming week in belmont on community counter hi everybody i'm jane in this is your community calendar for this week belmont police will be presenting on pedestrian safety at the beat street center on tuesday at seven pm when the laws pertaining to cross walks and pedestrians lessons learned from preston crashes and how you can plan safe walking routes around town the be a chess masquerade music for food concert will take place at the beach us auditorium on wednesday from seven to nine pm bring a donation for the belmont food pantry cash or nonperishable food item and enjoy a night of music and hunger education don't forget to wear your costume for this family friendly concert event get in the spooky spirit with a hollowing staple at belmont public library on friday from three dollars to five dollars grades k through three can decorate their pumpkins and grades for an up can have the option to carve this party is bring your own pumpkin register on the library's website or by calling the children's department and on friday night students in grades five and six can enjoy a hollowing dance party as a beat street center from seventy nine pm space is limited tickets can be purchased on the recreation department's website or at the door visit the waldorf school for an open house on saturday from one to three pm have the opportunity that tore the school hear from current students in the q and a session and meet faculty parents and alumni you can register for the open house at the website on screen teens and adults can register for frankenstein escape room at the library on saturday at various times play as a team of mad scientists racing the clock to bring your own frankenstein style creation to life follow the clues and gather the body parts to assemble your creature before forty five minutes is up and the life giving storm passes sign ups are required on the library's website mad science brings a mixture of science and magic to their free hollowing then on sunday watch as a wicked witch is melted right before your eyes and explore the eerie world of dry ice making bubble potions and fearsome fog help the friends of the library volunteers for beautification clean up the library in the fall cleanup on sunday from two to four pm cleanup takes place rain or shine volunteers should bring gloves clippers and waste bags physical libraries website to sign up to help and children can don their costumes and head to the town hall complex on october th for trick or treating trick or treating will take place from four to six pm and that's it for this week if you like your event featured in belmont journal unity calendar you can e mail your event info to jane media dot org fire department through its doors open this week to allow the public inside to see what happens to any jubal and spoke with fire department officials about what they hope to accomplish through that open house that it for this week's edition of the journal let's take a look now at what's happening on other b m c channels this is roger colton you've been watching about my journal i'll talk to you again next time