Hello, Hive!

The year 2024 fooled us with a slow start, but everything came to a head this week with a very full calendar of events including the long-awaited (and by all accounts very successful) Civic Expo.

Even with such a busy week, town business has been pretty tame, so this Roundup will be shorter than most.

In this Hive Roundup:

• TownVote Issue of the Week
• Our First Column
• Town Meeting
• Local Election Talk
• School Cohesion
• Around Town
• Celebrating Excellence in Extracurriculars

TownVote Issue of the Week: Should Town Meeting Take a Position on Winn View Heights II?

If you’ve been following the Buzz or town issues for any length of time, you are probably familiar with Winn View Heights II. This proposed “Friendly 40B” development has been in front of the town for nearly five years now, with the Select Board voting to provide a letter of support, not to provide a letter of support, and then to provide one again. Now Town Meeting is being asked to take a position and ask the Zoning Board of Appeals (the permitting authority for a project like this one) to reject this project.

What do you think? Should Town Meeting be weighing in here? Answer that question in this week’s TownVote.

Don’t Miss Our First Column, Plants and Animals

In case you missed it, Hive member, nature advocate, and all-around great guy, Bill Boivin, is now a columnist at Burlington Buzz. Bill spoke so passionately about nature at one of our recent Town Meetings that I asked if he’d be interested in writing a column for us about conservation and nature. Lucky for us, he jumped at the chance!

If you know nothing about Bill, read his introductory post. If you just want to get to the fun stories, read Our Common Fishbowl now.

Town Meeting is Next Week

The first Town Meeting of 2024 is coming up in just a couple of days. The Warrant keeps shrinking, so there’s a strong likelihood the Meeting will begin and end on the same day—Monday, January 22. The two most controversial things (meaning, the two that will be most discussed) on the Warrant are Article 7, regarding whether to allow Herb Chambers Kia to expand into the two lots next door, where the Kwik Copy and Waltham Pest buildings are, and Article 15, which requests that Town Meeting go on record in opposition to the Winn View Heights II project and ask the Zoning Board of Appeals to reject the project.

After January’s Town Meeting, the FY25 budget season begins in earnest. Ways & Means committees have already started sharpening their pencils, and they’ll be working with town departments to review their budgetary needs for the next several months until May’s Town Meeting, known as the Annual Town Meeting, where the budget for the next fiscal year is set.

Local Candidates Have Begun Declaring Their Intentions

Nomination papers have been available for just over two weeks, and already many residents have stepped forward to declare their intent to run for office. As of now, the Select Board and School Committee look to be contested races, with Sarah Cawley and Meghan Nawoichik throwing their names in against the respective incumbents. Still, there is nearly a month to return those signed nomination papers, and the ballot won’t be set until that happens.

Here’s the current list of residents who have taken out papers. There are many new names on the list, which is exciting! It’s always great to see fresh faces want to get involved and make a difference.

The Town Meeting roster might look pretty short for now, but that’s because incumbent Town Meeting Members with good attendance can sign up to run again at Town Meeting next week, bypassing the need to secure nomination papers or signatures. Look for many names to be added after Town Meeting. As a reminder, 6 3-year Town Meeting seats open up each year. That means we need 6 candidates in each precinct in order to have a full ballot—more for a contested race. If you’re thinking about running for Town Meeting, read up on the Warrant and watch the Meeting on Monday on BCAT to get a feel for what Town Meeting is and does.

Important Local Election Dates:

• If you want nomination papers and don’t have them yet, you need to get them by February 14.
• If you have nomination papers, be sure to get your 50 (for town-wide races) or 10 (for Town Meeting) signatures and return the papers by February 16.
• The local election is on April 6, 2024. Burlington will hold early in-person voting and no-excuse vote-by-mail this year, though the availability of these offerings doesn’t seem to have affected turnout in recent years.

Ahead of going to the polls, look out for Buzz interviews of candidates (for contested races) and read the Local Government Profiles section of the Buzz to learn more about what these roles are responsible for.

In other news: This isn’t hyperlocal, but it does affect our district: Mara Dolan declared her intent to run once again against incumbent, Marilyn Petitto Devaney for Governor’s Council. This is the body that confirms judges and parole board members, and, if elected, Dolan would be the first public defender serving on the Council.

Schools Move Toward Transparency and Cohesion

I’ve covered School Committee for the last two years, and one thing that has come into focus in the last several months since Assistant Superintendent, Dr. Lisa Chen, began, is an increasing sense of cohesion. After having no Assistant Superintendent for all of last year, it feels refreshing to have someone in the role, and the comprehensive updates Dr. Chen gives at each School Committee meeting have made it easier than ever to see all the work the various departments in Burlington Public Schools are doing and how they all connect.

As with any organization, there’s a lot to be done and not all of it can be done at once, but the transparency goes a long way toward trust, and toward all of us being better aware of the work the schools are doing.

There is a push for vertical alignment (being sure that each grade level is preparing students for what they’ll need to know in the next grade level, all building to the skills and knowledge a high school graduate needs in order to be successful on the next step in their path. This has been happening across curriculum areas, including math, computer science, science, social studies, and reading. Efforts are being made to better visualize (and therefore utilize) the data provided by the various assessment tools in the district. And, there’s been a focus on ensuring students have adequate access points into the curriculum, including those with additional needs.

We also have a Director of Mental Health who is kind of a big deal. Christine Conceison has been director for a couple of school years, and in that time she has become known as a leader in promoting mental health in schools. The Buzz hopes to interview her soon to learn more about her role and her vision for mental health in Burlington Public Schools.

The English Language Development Director, Kerry Lamprey, has worked with the district and other agencies to ensure our students who are learning English, who often have limited school experience or have just arrived in the United States, are being honored and receiving the services they need—whether it’s housing, basic needs, alternative coursework, or vaccinations. She even took a trip to Guatemala this winter to meet some students’ families and better understand their culture.

Missing so far is the posting for the Director of Diversity Equity and Inclusion (DEI) role, which was vacated in September of 2022 after being filled for a single year. Community members have been pushing for this role to be posted, and Superintendent Conti last spring stated he’d work with Dr. Chen to review the Equity Audit and craft a job description that will meet the district’s needs. So far, none has been offered. Dismantled for the last several years, as well, is the DEI Committee, a collaborative group of teachers, students, parents, and school/district administration. The district mentions the equity audit at most meetings, and they seem to be using the results to inform their work with curricular alignment, but results of the recent School Climate Survey point to the need for more focus on cultural acceptance, as well—something that hasn’t been mentioned in any profound way.

Around Town: Pigs and Snow Plows

The Sculpture Park Committee this week unveiled their plan to populate the Town Common with pig sculptures this summer. After beginning in 2020, the Sculpture Park has come to be a distinguishing feature of Burlington, a peaceful haven at times and event venue at others. The Park is hoping to become fully self-funded, and as a first step they plan to have a fundraiser this summer whereby businesses can purchase a pig sculpture for around $2000 and have it painted to represent their business. The pigs will be spread out around the common (similar to the Cow Parades you might have seen elsewhere) from June through September. The plan for what to do with the pigs after September hasn’t been solidified yet, but one idea was to have the business take the pig and then create a map of where all the pigs are located for a little scavenger hunt. This would also have the added benefit of distributing art throughout town. Pigs were chosen because of Burlington’s history as a pig farming town.

In other town news, the Board of Health met with Brixmor Property Group to hear their plan to mitigate the flooding at 111 Middlesex Turnpike, where geese and ducks can often be seen floating through the parking lot. In a meeting that was contentious at times, Brixmor representatives alleged that the persistent state of flooding occurred when the town turned off the pumps at Vine Brook and that they’ve spent a considerable amount of money (most recently, $150,000 to remove the water and fish from the area and clean out the drain pipes) on attempts to fix the problem. The property group has contracted with an engineer (not the first they’ve hired) to try and create an updated site plan to try and elevate the grade of that area (but in so doing, they’ll need to lower the grade somewhere else since this property is in a flood plain. They’ll be back before the Board of Health in June to present what they come up with.

Celebrating Extracurricular Excellence

Senior and Basketball Team Captain, Cedric Rodriguez, scored his 1000th point as a Red Devil recently, eliciting cheers from a packed BHS gymnasium. The girls’ hockey team is having a winning season, currently sitting 8-1. The boys’ track team clinched the Middlesex League Freedom title with a win this week and will continue moving along to championship meets as the winter season continues.

The president of DECA (the business and entrepreneurship club at BHS) reported at School Committee about the recent conference, where 67 DECA members qualified for the state competition in March. The Robotics team, the DevilBotz, started their season a couple of weeks ago, and I owe you a story about the cool work they’re doing, and about the Poetry Out Loud competition I had the privilege of judging. Look out for those next week!

Alright, that’s it for this Roundup. Reply to this email or leave a comment on the post to let me know what you liked about the Roundup and what you’d like to see in a future edition!

See you tomorrow,

Nicci