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]
| Belmont Public Schools | |
|---|---|
 The Underwood School Administration building entrance. | |
| Address | |
644 Pleasant Street
Belmont, MA 02478 Belmont, Massachusetts Greater Boston
Belmont , Middlesex, Massachusetts, 02478 | |
| District information | |
| Motto | Learn, Think, Create, Serve. Respectful, Responsible, Ready to Learn. |
| Grades | K-12 |
| Established | 1865 |
| Superintendent | Jill Geiser |
| School board | Belmont School Committee |
| Chair of the board | Meghan Moriarty |
| Governing agency | Town 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 |
| Schools | 7 |
| Budget | $67,000,000 |
| NCES District ID | 2502490 |
| Affiliation(s) | Foundation for Belmont Education, Belmont Education Association |
| Students and staff | |
| Students | 4,378 |
| Staff | 538 |
| District mascot | bear, whale, giraffe, cheetah, blue jay, marauder |
| Colors | blue, grey, maroon |
| Other information | |
| Website | Belmont.k12.ma.us |
Schools edit
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.
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 edit
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.
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]
References edit
- ^ "Contact Information - Belmont (00260000)". profiles.doe.mass.edu. Retrieved 2024-05-05.
- ^ "Welcome to the Belmont Public Schools". belmont.k12.ma.us. Retrieved 2024-05-05.
- ^ Tzouvelis, Joanna K. "Let the countdown begin: Less than 12 weeks to get new high school ready". Wicked Local. Retrieved 2024-05-05.
- ^ "Welcome to the Belmont Public Schools". www.belmont.k12.ma.us. Retrieved 2024-05-06.