At the December 10 meeting, the School Committee received and discussed the following presentations:

The Committee heard the FY’26 Budget Presentation given by Dr. David Lussier, WPS Superintendent, and Cynthia Mahr, WPS Assistant Superintendent for Finance and Operations. The Committee will be holding Working Meetings on 12/18 and 12/19 during which members’ questions will be addressed. Discussion on the budget will continue during upcoming School Committee meetings on 1/7, 1/21 and 1/28. The Public Hearing on the budget is scheduled for the 1/21 meeting.

The Committee discussed the School Committee 2024-25 Work Plan and takeaways from the November 2024 MASC (Massachusetts Association of School Committees) Conference.

The Committee continued discussion on the Annual Town Meeting Warrant Articles. The Committee voted and approved both Warrant Articles to move forward for action at the Annual Town Meeting in April 2025.

Warrant Article Climate Control: Funding request for a Feasibility Study for climate control improvements at Bates, Fiske, Schofield & WMS.
Warrant Article: Funding request to implement Hunnewell Track & Field Team Rooms.

The Committee discussed a New Job Description for Assistant Superintendent of Student Services.

The Committee continued discussion on the Academic Calendar model options. The Committee had several conversations following the October 24th Task Force Recommendation about the inclusion of religious and cultural holidays into the Academic Calendar. At the November 19th School Committee meeting, the Committee asked the Administration to model the specific calendars related to the two rotating options Models #3 and #4 discussed at that meeting. Both models actually result in the same calendar for next year. This calendar is attached for your review.

The Committee voted to approve the Rotating Model 3: 3 Static + 1 Rotating for Max # of 4 Holidays.

The Committee voted to approve the specific calendar for SY2025-26 based on Rotating Model 3.

Associated changes to calendar-related policies (IC/ICA and IMDA) will be discussed at a future meeting.The Policy Subcommittee will meet and draft proposed edits to bring back to the full School Committee, which will review and vote on the updated policies.

Coming up…..

1/23 7pm School Committee Community Conversation with METCO Parent Council (Zoom)

School Committee Meetings:

12/18 & 12/19 School Committee Budget Working Meetings

1/7 School Committee Meeting 6:30pm (Zoom)

1/21 School Committee Meeting and Public Hearing on FY26 Budget 6:30pm (Zoom)

School Committee Office Hours:

1/15 10:00am (Zoom)

Click to access documents from the December 10, 2024 meeting.

Click to watch the meeting on Wellesley Media.

Click to sign up for upcoming School Committee Office Hours.