schools

Belmont ranked a paltry 29th out of 150 in last year's high school rankings, despite landing numerous, national awards, including a Silver Medal on the U.S. News and World Report list of Best High Schools and an award from Forbes Magazine and Great Schools that listed Belmont as the top district among towns with...
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I’ve been out of town and not keeping up with the morning papers like I usually do, so thanks to Blogging Belmont reader Rita for pointing me to this recent article in the New York Times about the difference that excellent early education – especially kindergarten – can have in the trajectory of children’s...
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Faced with a roomful of worried parents, the School Committee bends (a bit), giving tepid approval to an effort to raise private funds to maintain athletic programs that fell victim to a failed override effort. That's good for Freshmen...maybe...but is it sustainable?
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The School Committee has tacked on an extra meeting onto its calendar to address the pressing issue of funding Freshman Athletics at Belmont High School. The meeting will be held on Monday, July 12, 2010 between 6:00pm and 10:00pm in the Community Room at Chenery. Are we seeing the beginning of a grass...
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A study of home values in Bay State towns finds that home owners reap far more financial gain from passing overrides that benefit local school systems through increased property values than they save in taxes. What will be the price of this month's "NO" vote for Belmont home owners?
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Clearly there was a lot of anger out there - and maybe the "YES" campaign misread it, or maybe there was nothing to be done. In an environment in which so many private sector employees are losing their jobs, maybe some folks will find it cathartic to fire some public sector employees, so their...
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Belmont votes today for a $2 million override of Proposition 2 ½. I'm going to be voting yes and I encourage you to, also. I've been deeply involved in the YES campaign, OneBelmont, and there's much that I could say about why I think its critical to for Belmont to start to correct its...
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With a vote on a proposition 2 1/2 override due on the ballot on June 14, its time to get organized and make sure that the override passes. There's an important meeting of the Warrant Committee, School Committee and Board of Selectman on Wednesday and an organizational meeting tonight for those interested in joining...
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The annual school spelling bee is approaching and volunteers are needed (adults and student volunteers, both). Please help make this year's spelling bee a success.
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NPR's Speaking of Faith featured a great discussion with UCLA Prof. Mike Rose this week. Rose asks the big questions: "What is the role of education in a democracy?" "Why do discussions about education tend to fall into the same ruts?" "How do we balance a need for accountability with a definition of education...
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