Wellesley names two elementary school principals

Superintendent Bella Wong has announced that MaryBeth Kinkead, currently principal at the Warren Elementary School in Ashland, will be the new Hardy School principal come July 1. Her background includes being a student teacher supervisor at Framingham State College, an educational consultant at Plimoth Plantation, a special educator in the Natick public schools and an administrator in the Hopkinton public school system. She'll be replacing Gayle Vonasek.

Over at Bates Elementary School, Michael Spencer will be Amber Bock's replacement come July 1 as Bock heads off to the Weston public school system. Spencer began his career as a teacher in Lexington and later was an assistant principal there. He currently is principal of the Charlotte A. Dunning Elementary School in Framingham.

Not so fast on new Wellesley High...

State treasurer Tim Cahill is talking tough about expensive new school projects, like Wellesley's.

"I'm a big believer in local control, but if no one is going to control it at the local level, that's what we're here for," Cahill said in an interview with the Boston Globe. "There is no blank check for this school or any that would come after it."

The article also quotes Wellesley Selectwoman Gig Babson:

"Our town is completely committed to controlled costs," she said. "And we have every intention . . . to build a school that's a reasonable and appropriate investment for both our town and the Commonwealth's investment in the project."

The Globe has some pretty good chatter going on at its blog about the WHS building plan.

Plowing through WellesleyWeston Magazine

Don't be intimidated by that shimmery 200-page summer edition of WellesleyWeston Magazine that arrived this week. As a public service, we've blasted through the magazine and present to you this summary (stories aren't online yet):

* Cover photo of a young girl with cucumbers over her eyes. A spa visit can't be far off for her...

* Cloying Q&A with MassBay Community College President Carole Berotte Joseph ("Thanks so much for talking with me, Carole. I know how incredibly busy you are, and how you're always on the go....") Though kinda nice to see her not getting beaten up in the press for once. Joseph has been a favorite target of the Boston Globe, which has documented her battles over inauguration party spending, the nursing program and more.

* Profiles of once-local writers Sylvia Plath and Anne Sexton (and yes, Katharine Lee Bates is up next). First reaction was: Oh no, not another story about them. Haven't we produced any other writers? But give writer Beth Hinchliffe credit for coming up with a fresh approach based on her personal experiences. She used to hang with Plath's mom. And as a Wellesley College student in the 1970s, she conducted an interview with Sexton shortly before the poet killed herself. Hinchliffe was even given a signed copy of an unpublished poem by Sexton called "The Sickness Unto Death." Overall, the stories of the two famous writers and their morbid bond are interesting and sad.

* Informative piece on Lyme Disease in the suburbs, including insights from Dr. Allen Steere, a Wellesley resident. Steere says in the article: "although higher incidences of Lyme are pretty new here in the western suburbs, I expect that it's going to spread and become even more of a problem, as it has in other locations."

* Ever wonder about where we get our water? Good overview, including history, on the Wellesley and Weston waterworks systems (story says we use 1 billion gallons annually in Wellesley). Upshot: Our water quality is pretty darn good but if we don't cool it on the fertilizer and lawn watering, we could be in for a rude awakening. The issue also includes a look back at Morses Pond's history.

* An extensive review of The Cottage restaurant in Linden Square, including this tidbit: Look for a full breakfast menu soon. 

Overheard at Wellesley College

The Internet is rife with Web sites called "Overheard in/at....." this place or that place. The big one is called Overheard in New York and is further divvied up into sections on snippets of conversation overheard at the office, beach, etc. A lot of the chatter is downright randy, if not X-rated. Bloggers in Boston have tried something similar, but with much less of a following. Meanwhile, lots of Overheard sites have popped up at colleges, and sure enough, one started at Wellesley College this spring (Sample: Student: I'm not your Lego toy! You can't just play with me!). We're going to pull up short of linking to the site, because it does tend toward the raunchy side, but if you're interested in finding it, it's easy enough to search for.

Bid on a BMW 

From the Wellesley Superintendent's newsletter:

The School Department for the Town of Wellesley will accept bids for the sale of a 1996 BMW Sedan. The BMW Sedan was worked on by Wellesley High School technology students during the 2007-08 academic year. Funds generated by the sale of the automobile will be used to support the high school technology program.

Even affordable housing feeling pinch

The Boston Globe reports on a slowdown in sales/rentals of low-income housing in Wellesley and elsewhere:

In Wellesley, where the affordable housing stock stands at 5.5 percent, several projects have met with mixed success, according to Thomas Schnorr, chairman of the Wellesley Housing Development Corporation's board of directors.

Last year, 45 people took part in the town agency's lottery to purchase either an affordable unit in the converted Walnut Street fire station or a refurbished affordable three-family home on Highland Road, Schnorr said. On Walnut Street, while "the two market-rate units got held up in the same slowdown in the housing market" that everyone else is experiencing, he said, the affordable unit sold almost immediately.

But that doesn't mean that the town hasn't encountered difficulties in getting tenants or buyers into affordable units. On Highland Road, the town got as far as starting to negotiate a purchase-and-sale agreement, but the family ultimately backed out of the deal.

Wireless technology in vogue at libraries

Wellesley Free Library is among a growing number in the state moving to an RFID (radio frequency identification) system for managing its inventory. Brookline could be next.

Wellesley Inn out, The Durant in

Get your online invitation to check out the "19 exceptional residences" of The Durant, the long-awaited replacement for the Wellesley Inn at 576 Washington St. (the place is named after Wellesley College founder Henry Fowle Durant). The invite, which includes an artist/architect's rendering of what the residences will look like from the street, reads:

The wait is over. We are ready to meet with you to unveil our plans for Wellesley Square's most exciting new address — The Durant. Make a private appointment to view floor plans, finishes and receive information about preconstruction pricing.

The Durant's developers hope to break ground late next month, with a completion target of late 2009/early 2010. In addition to the residences, the 2 buildings going up will include some small retail space on the first floor of the Washington St. side. A sales office is located at 31 Washington St. on the 2nd floor of the Bank of America building.

Newsweek rates public high schools, including WHS

Wellesley High School is the 13th best public school in the state (behind the likes of Hopkinton and Weston) and No. 652 in the country, down from No. 508 in 2007 and 355 in 2006, according to Newsweek's ranking of top high schools in the U.S. The rankings are based on a ratio resulting from "the number of Advanced Placement, Intl. Baccalaureate and/or Cambridge tests taken by all students at a school in 2007 divided by the number of graduating seniors. All of the schools on the list have an index of at least 1.000; they are in the top 5 percent of public schools measured this way."

A reader who pointed us to the results noted: Wellesley drops again in the ratings. Is there a funding (or lack there of) correlation here?

Meanwhile, Newsweek focused on the fact that smaller schools -- those with hundreds instead of 1,000-plus students -- had an especially strong showing this year. 

College beauty pageant

Wellesley College ranks as the 10th most beautiful college campus, according to this list of the top 20 published on the CollegeFinder web site. The site includes a very nice slideshow of the campus. Princeton took top honors on this list




Fundraiser targets WHS grads/college students

A program called "Proven Ways to Get the Life, Job, Love of Your Dreams" is being offered on May 28 from 2-9pm by Positive Psychology expert Christine Duvivier. The program, which encourages a $50 donation that will all go to the Wellesley Friendly Aid Camp Fund, will be held at the Italo-American Club at 75 Pleasant St. in Wellesley. The program is targeted at 18-24-year-olds. Contact Julie@positiveleaders.com for more info.  

Where to get gas

A couple of links (here and here) to web sites that let you plug in your zip code and find the cheapest gas around. 

MassBay commencement details

Approximately 350 students will gather on Massachusetts Bay Community College’s (MassBay) Wellesley Hills Campus Thursday, May 29, 2008 to celebrate its 46^th commencement exercises beginning at 7:00 p.m. Dr. Guillermo Linares, Commissioner of the New York Mayor’s Office of Immigrant Affairs, will deliver the keynote address.

Pond Rd. closed for paving Tues/Weds

Those of you who use Pond Rd. to get between Rtes. 16 and 135 will need to find another route Tuesday and Wednesday this week. Unless you're a resident of the road. 

Controversial Cottage Street house on the market

Some of you might recall news (see Townsman story, homeowner's letter) from last fall about a pink/salmon-colored house at 39 Cottage St. in Wellesley that was at the center of a battle between the owner and some neighbors. Neighbors argued that the house, doubling in size to about 5,000 sq. ft., would be out of character in that historic district. The owner countered that given the large lot size -- 26,000 sq. ft. -- that even a bigger house would be well within town limits.

Well, now the house is on the market, listed at 2,882 sq. ft. and priced at about $1.9 million.

Artist inspired by fairy houses in Wellesley

Artist Virginia Fitzgerald ("the Dress Project") blogs about building fairy houses at a Wellesley Conservation Council event in Wellesley over the weekend and how it sparked some backyard creativity on her part.

Parade vs. author

Author Karen Day ("No Cream Puffs") had a book signing at Wellesley Booksmith Sunday...right during the Wellesley parade. She blogs about it here: Imagine the hysterics when I found out last night that the streets are blocked off, hundreds and hundreds of people will be lining the street and parking will be a challenge. Yikes! But I’m still going to be there...

Maybe next year she'll just get a float in the parade and toss book pages to onlookers.

Parents: Incoming Wellesley Middle School principal wants to meet you 

Josh Frank will be at the school several afternoons this week and mornings the week of June 9-13, according to interim principal Adam Blumer. More info from Frank here.

Good vibrations

Wellesley defied Mother Nature and pulled off an unblemished Wonderful Weekend celebration capped by a 2-hour Beach Boys concert and fireworks (click here to play fireworks video) Sunday night. An anonymous donor sponsored the concert and we were kicking ourselves for not thinking ahead of time to wear "Anonymous Donor" T-shirts to the event.

The highlight of the Beach Boys concert, which drew thousands of fans young and old to balmy Hunnewell Field, was an appearance on stage by the Wellesley High cheerleaders, who did their thing while the band played "Be True to Your School" (as kind of seen above from our vantage point in the cheap seats).

Here are a couple of much nicer photos from the show, from the front row, courtesy of Richard Gastwirt (who tells us Bruce Johnston, top, was sporting a Wellesley hat).

Earlier in the weekend, town departments including the police and fire departments, had open houses. Chief Terry Cunningham couldn't be at the police station open house because he was recovering from foot surgery, so here's hoping he has a speedy recovery.