Belmont Public Schools

Last updated

Belmont Public Schools is a school district that serves Belmont, Massachusetts, United States. The district is highly regarded for the excellence of Belmont High School, the emphasis on the arts, and the quality of all-around education. The district also consistently scores above state average in reports of DESE. [1]

Contents

Belmont Public Schools
Underwood School Administration Building - Belmont, MA - DSC07881.jpg
The Underwood School Administration building entrance.
Address
644 Pleasant Street Belmont, MA 02478
Belmont, Massachusetts
Greater Boston
Belmont
, Middlesex, Massachusetts, 02478
District information
MottoLearn, Think, Create, Serve. Respectful, Responsible, Ready to Learn.
GradesK-12
Established1865
SuperintendentJill Geiser
School boardBelmont School Committee
Chair of the boardMeghan Moriarty
Governing agencyTown of Belmont
Accreditation(s)High student achievement.

Belmont High School consistently ranks among the top 15 high schools in Massachusetts. 99.7% high school graduation rate.

Butler and Burbank elementary schools named National Blue Ribbon School
Schools7
Budget$67,000,000
NCES District ID2502490
Affiliation(s)Foundation for Belmont Education, Belmont Education Association
Students and staff
Students4,378
Staff538
District mascotbear, whale, giraffe, cheetah, blue jay, marauder
Colorsblue, grey, maroon
Other information
WebsiteBelmont.k12.ma.us

Schools

There are four public elementary schools in Belmont: the Burbank, Butler, Winn Brook, and Wellington schools, with the Wellington Elementary having been rebuilt in 2011. Two other public elementary schools, Payson Park and Kendall, burned down in the 1970s and 1990s, respectively. There is one public upper elementary school that was a middle school until 2023, the Winthrop Louis Chenery Upper Elementary School (Chenery Upper Elementary School) which burned down in 1995 (when it was still a middle school) but was rebuilt later. There is one public middle school, Belmont Middle School, and one public high school, Belmont High School, they share one building, BMHS finished 2023 that is on the site of the former high school that was torn down. Belmont has had many school fires; in the town's history, four schools have been partially or completely destroyed by fire, as was one former school (the Kendall), which was being used as an arts center at the time.

Burbank School. Mary Lee Burbank Elementary School, 266 School Street, Belmont, MA - IMG 4718.JPG
Burbank School.

The transition from upper elementary school to middle school in Belmont occurs from 6th to 7th grade, slightly later than in most communities (which transition from 5th to 6th grade). The W.L. Chenery Upper Elementary school (then a middle school), slated for demolition and rebuilding at the time, was destroyed by fire in 1995. When the new school opened in the fall of 1997, it was expanded to include the 5th grade (which had previously been housed in the town's elementary schools) in addition to grades 6 through 8. After construction of a new middle school, the 7th and 8th grades were moved, and 4th grade was moved to Chenery, now an upper elementary.

In 2023, the town of Belmont rebuilt their high school building and made it into a 7-12th grade building. Chenery became a 4th to 6th grade school, and the four elementary schools became K through 3rd grade. The new building was split into two schools, the high school (9-12), and the middle school (7-8).

The Chenery Upper Elementary School's teams are all called the "Cheetahs", the Belmont Middle School's teams are all called the "Blue Jays" and Belmont High School's teams are all called the "Marauders". [2]

Controversies

While the district is highly regarded in education, during the construction of the BMHS campus, public backlash broke out when it was discovered that parts of the tax increase due to the project was "wasted" on heated sidewalks for ice. the project was completed just in time for the school year, [3] with finishing touched added throughout the year. Even after the tax increase for the project, an additional override was passed to keep Burbank school open. Along with the financial criticism, one of the sidewalks added around the campus ends directly in a sidewalk of a home, and monitors around the school incorrectly display the Belmont Middle School logo of New Hampshire, while the IT department refuses to respond to the matter.

Front entrance to the Belmont High School. Belmont High School.jpg
Front entrance to the Belmont High School.

In addition, the districts branding, and web design is unclear. The elementary schools use a stylized version of their buildings (butler has slightly different text) except for Burbank, which uses a blocky letter B in a circle. All elementary schools share a website template. The Chenery website in outdated and doesn't share a style with another school, though the logo is in the elementary style, and the PTO has a separate logo. The BMS website is new but contains many typos and multiple pages are not public (no separate PTO logo) while the logo is stylized text with an orange version of the district icon. The compact version of the BMS logo/orange district logo (letter B with a tail that if half-filled, with the tail being partly filled too) has a different color for the filled part of the tail that the rest of the fill, while a blue/maroon version of the same flawed logo is used as a BMHS joint logo, district logo, and BMS/BHS school logos without distinction of which one it really is because both schools and the district have their own logos (district is the same as BMS but with grey and blue) while the main office of BMS uses the blue grey district logo as the BMS logo. The biggest issue with BMS branding is the mascot, the BMHS building has been color coded with blue and light blue for BHS and maroon and orange for BMS (door signage, seating, wall paint) and while the logos match, the mascot of BMS does not, the blue jay contains blue and grey instead. A competition was held for the mascot where teachers and students could submit designs. There were many submissions using correct colors, but they were removed before the public vote (which only contained mascot name and no design). After a push from 7th grade parents for unknown reasons, blue jay was selected even though it allegedly did not win the vote, the design was not even submitted, and was allegedly made afterward, making the whole competition false. School officials did not declare that this happened (school officials even debated on using existing copyrighted logos). This created a mini mascot scandal that was swept under the rug. The BMS website uses a new template that is shared with the unnecessary website of the BHS PTSO. BHS uses an outdated website that is not a template and has a stylized marauder logo with the district logo as a secondary one. The district uses an outdated website and both the Tech and Visual and Performing Arts departments have outdated unnecessary websites with outdated logos. [4]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Belmont, Massachusetts</span> Town in eastern Massachusetts

Belmont is a town in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, United States. It is a western suburb of Boston; and is part of the Greater Boston metropolitan area. At the 2020 U.S. census, its population was 27,295, an increase of 10.4% from 2010.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Wayzata Public Schools</span>

Wayzata Public Schools is a public school district in the northwestern area of Hennepin County, Minnesota, U.S. serving all or part of the cities of Corcoran, Maple Grove, Medicine Lake, Medina, Minnetonka, Orono, Plymouth, and Wayzata.

The Carroll Independent School District (Carroll ISD) is an independent PK-12 school district founded in 1959 serving the majority of the city of Southlake, Texas, and portions of northwest Grapevine, far northern Colleyville, and eastern Westlake.

Brazosport Independent School District is a school district based in Clute, Texas (USA) in Greater Houston. The district serves the cities, towns, and villages of Clute, Freeport, Jones Creek, Lake Jackson, Oyster Creek, Quintana, Richwood, and Surfside Beach. In addition it serves the unincorporated area of Turtle Cove.

The Upper Merion Area School District provides education to Upper Merion Township, Bridgeport, and West Conshohocken in Montgomery County, Pennsylvania. It consists of seven schools.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Livonia Public Schools</span> School district in Michigan

Livonia Public Schools (LPS) is a public school district in southeastern Michigan Metro Detroit area, serving most of the city of Livonia and the northernmost portions of Westland. The district was formed in 1944 with other areas consolidated into it later.

Harlingen Consolidated Independent School District is a school district headquartered in Harlingen, Texas, United States. It was founded August 5, 1950 via the merger of the Harlingen Independent School District and the Stuart Place Independent School District.

South San Antonio Independent School District is a public school district based in San Antonio, Texas (USA). The district serves southern and southwestern portions of the city. For the school year (2022-2023) the district served 7,872 students in 18 schools. This district was the 107th-largest by enrollment in the state of Texas.

Prosper Independent School District is a public school district based in Prosper, Texas, United States. Located in Collin County, a portion of the district extends into Denton County.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bremerton High School</span> Public school in Bremerton, Kitsap county, Washington, United States

Bremerton High School is four-year public secondary school in the port city of Bremerton, Washington, west across Puget Sound from Seattle, in the Bremerton School District. Between 1993 and 2007, Bremerton High School contained grades 10–12 for enrolled students, but starting in the 2008 school year, the school facilitates grades 9–12, where grade 9 was previously contained at Bremerton Junior High School. Several changes in the district's grade configuration have meant freshmen have been in and out of the building.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Pleasanton Unified School District</span> School district in California, United States

The Pleasanton Unified School District (PUSD) is a public primary and secondary education school district located in Pleasanton, California, United States, a suburban town east of San Francisco. It consists of nine elementary schools, three middle schools, two comprehensive high schools, and one alternative high school.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">South Point High School (North Carolina)</span> Public high school in Belmont, North Carolina, United States

South Point High School is a public high school in Belmont, North Carolina, United States. It was established in 1964 and is part of the Gaston County Schools district.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Billerica Memorial High School</span> Public school in the United States

Billerica Memorial High School (BMHS), formerly Howe High School, is a public secondary school in the town of Billerica, Massachusetts. It is the only high school under the purview of the Billerica Public Schools district, and serves approximately 1,600 students between grades 8 and 12. The school is supervised by a district superintendent who reports to an elected school committee for the town. As of January 2023, Thomas Murphy, an alumnus of BMHS, is the school's principal. The administration consists of assistant principals responsible for a specific grade-year. In athletics, Billerica's arch-rival is Chelmsford High School. The colors of BMHS are green and white, and the school's emblem is the Indian Head.

North Boone Community Unit School District 200 is a unified school district based in the central region of the county of its namesake, Boone County; more specifically, in the village of Poplar Grove, Illinois. Five of the six schools in the district are located here, with the other being eastwards in the village of Capron.

Warwick High School is a public secondary school in the Warwick School District located in Lititz, Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, United States.

Ponca City Public Schools is the public school district in Ponca City, Oklahoma. It operates seven elementary schools, two middle schools, and Ponca City High School. It employs 760 people and has over 5,000 students. The entire school system shares the Wildcat mascot.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Comstock Public School District</span> School district in Michigan

The Comstock Public School District resides in Comstock Charter Township near the city of Kalamazoo, Michigan, and is part of the Kalamazoo RESA Intermediate School District.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Berea–Midpark High School</span> Public, coeducational school in Berea, Ohio, United States

Berea–Midpark High School (BMHS) is a public high school in Berea, Ohio, United States, and is the only high school in the Berea City School District. The school was formed in 2013 from a consolidation of Berea High School and Midpark High School due to declining enrollment. It is located on a campus immediately east of Baldwin Wallace University and is housed in a building that opened in August 2020.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Briarcliff Manor Union Free School District</span> School district in Briarcliff Manor, New York

The Briarcliff Manor Union Free School District is the public school district of Briarcliff Manor, New York. The district is an independent public entity, and is governed by the district Board of Education, whose members are elected in non-partisan elections for staggered, three-year terms. The board selects a superintendent, who is the district's chief administrative official. The district's offices are located in Todd Elementary School.

References

  1. ↑ "Contact Information - Belmont (00260000)". profiles.doe.mass.edu. Retrieved 2024-05-05.
  2. ↑ "Welcome to the Belmont Public Schools". belmont.k12.ma.us. Retrieved 2024-05-05.
  3. ↑ Tzouvelis, Joanna K. "Let the countdown begin: Less than 12 weeks to get new high school ready". Wicked Local. Retrieved 2024-05-05.
  4. ↑ "Welcome to the Belmont Public Schools". www.belmont.k12.ma.us. Retrieved 2024-05-06.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.