entering natick sign

entering natick sign

Natick Report

More than you really want to know about Natick, Mass.

  • Subscribe to daily email
  • About Us
  • Advertise
  • Eat
  • Schools
  • Summer Camp
  • Embracing diversity
  • Charities/Community
  • Arts
  • Kids
  • Business Buzz
  • Environment
  • Top 10 things to do (under normal circumstances)
  • The Swellesley Report
  • COVID-19
  • Beyond Natick
  • History
  • Government
  • Support independent journalism

Indigenous Peoples’ Day: Coming to a Natick calendar near you?

December 22, 2021 by Bob Brown Leave a Comment

Even as we speed toward Christmas and New Year’s, the holiday talk raised at the past two School Committee meetings has focused on the possibility of recognizing Indigenous Peoples’ Day (and its various spellings) rather than Columbus Day going forward.

The School Committee’s review of 2022-2023 Natick Public Schools calendar has in part raised the issue, which is one that communities across the state and country have grappled with in recent years upon closer review of history.

Nearby, the town of Wellesley this year, after lengthy and often contentious debate, formally switched from recognizing Columbus Day to Indigenous Peoples Day on the second Monday of October. Opponents to the change argued for celebrating Italian heritage on the second Monday in October and honoring Indigenous People on the Friday after Thanksgiving.

Natick has made numerous moves in recent years to address how Native Americans are depicted and acknowledged in town, from the mural at the downtown post office to the town seal, which is being reconsidered via a formal committee now. That Natick Historical Society has documented and promoted the history of Native Americans in this area.

Natick’s Select Board has been keeping its eyes on activity at the state level to formally acknowledge Indigenous Peoples’ Day.

natick school calendar

The issue of formally recognizing Indigenous Peoples’s Day was discussed at both the Dec. 15 (about 30 minutes into the Natick Pegasus recording) and Dec. 20 Natick School Committee meetings. Currently, school calendars list “Columbus Day/Indigenous People’s Day” (being changed to “Peoples'”), though School Committee member Dr. Donna McKenzie proposed at the Dec. 15 meeting that the schools “just get rid of the Columbus Day and go with Indigenous Peoples’ Day. If the library does it, the School Department can do it, and there are other departments in town that do it too. It seems like it’s high time.”

McKenzie did raise the issue of what sort of reaction Natick’s Italian community might have to such change. On a related note, she proposed that land acknowledgement could be the subject of future discussion.

School Committee Henry Haugland asked Natick Public Schools Supt. Dr. Anna Nolin during the Dec. 15 meeting if the committee might be able to get a presentation at some point from the schools on “the kind of information presented to our students on New England Indigenous Peoples and our history…” His concern is that students are unaware of Natick’s tragic history involving Native Americans sent to Deer Island. Nolin said genocide and Indigenous Peoples are subjects of the schools’ history curricula, and added at the Dec. 20 meeting that a summary of the teachings will be shared with the committee.

As noted at that meeting (about 32 minutes into the Natick Pegasus recording), a letter drafted by McKenzie is being finalized for discussion and possible approval at the next School Committee meeting, slated for Jan. 10. The intention is to send it to the Select Board if approved.

One member of the public, a longtime Natick resident and full tribal member of the Patawomeck Indians of Virgnia, called in during the Dec. 15 meeting to encourage Natick to take action on Indigenous Peoples’ Day, acknowledging that “these conversations aren’t easy.”

More comments from the public and discussion among committee members could ensue at the Jan. 10 School Committee meeting. Committee Chair Julie McDonough proposed that the letter be posted on the next agenda so that the public can view it.


Ask about Advertising on Natick Report.


Subscribe to our Natick Report daily email

Filed Under: Government, Holidays, Schools

In a long goodbye, Johnson Elementary School in Natick to close by 2025

November 16, 2021 by Deborah Brown Leave a Comment

The Natick School Committee (SC) on Nov. 15 voted 5-1 to close Johnson School after a motion put forth by SC Vice Chair Cathi Collins to “direct the superintendent to close Johnson Elementary School no later than June 30, 2025.”

natick johnson school

To remain open, Johnson would have needed a town commitment of over $3 million to address the building’s needs for extensive systems repairs, and to make the building accessible under the Americans with Disabilities Act.

During the over 4-hour long meeting during which the future of the 80 year-old K-4 school was decided, Superintendent Dr. Anna Nolin presented a plan in which she recommended a 3-year phased closure of the Johnson facility. This plan would coincide with an application with the Massachusetts School Building Authority for work on Memorial School, a future project which is expected in scope to be either a major renovation or a total rebuild project.

Check with Natick Pegasus to watch the meeting in full. The public access channel should have the meeting posted soon.

Nolin said, “A phased closure would allow families, and staff, and students to slowly transition…there’s a lot of divergent opinions about what the next best phase for students and families would be. We would go directly to families, and guide that closure” as students move toward integration into other Natick elementary schools.

A downward trend

Nolin pointed to downward enrollment trends as one reason against investing in a building with significant repair needs. Throughout the meeting Memorial School loomed large as another facility that requires work. Nolin noted that closing Johnson would allow the district to focus on Memorial, a facility that she said must be renovated or rebuilt no matter which way the SC vote went on Johnson.

SC members brought up concerns about the district’s ability to integrate Johnson students into Memorial, Brown and Lilja schools and still maintain small class sizes.

“The only thing I can say to you is that all signs point to the fact that we can, and they’re low for the next four years…I cannot predict if there’s going to be some sort of housing surge that is in the offing,” Nolin said, giving an example that since 2017 there have been 13 new developments in town which she said resulted in the fairly low number of 200 additional enrolled students since 2017.

The people speak

About a dozen residents took turns at the microphone or via Zoom to address the SC before their final vote. One resident said that although the potential closure of Johnson has been a part of planning meetings for years, “… it will always feel rushed to some. For me, this is solely about the Johnson School building and its viability moving forward. It would take a lot of money over the coming years to bring Johnson up to code, and that would mean significant tradeoffs elsewhere across the district.”

One resident in advocating for Johnson to remain open brought up issues of equity. “Johnson is a walking school…it has historically had the first or the second highest percentage of economically disadvantaged students of all the elementary schools in town…students from low income backgrounds are not being bused into Johnson. They live in that neighborhood.”

With the SC’s 5-1 vote to close Johnson, the most immediate action will be that the current kindergarten class enrolled at Johnson will be its last. Going forward, interviews with current K-3 Johnson families will commence, and interviews with staff relative to placements within the district will take place.


Please send tips, photos, ideas to natickreport@gmail.com

Filed Under: Community, Education, Kids, Schools

Natick schools recognized by state for being cyber aware

October 26, 2021 by Admin Leave a Comment

Massachusetts has recognized 34 municipalities and public school districts, including Natick Public Schools, as being Cyber Aware Communities. The announcement was made at an online event hosted during National Cybersecurity Awareness Month by the Executive Office of Technology Services and Security (EOTSS).

Those recognized were the top performing participants in this year’s round of the Municipal Cybersecurity Awareness Grant Program.

Natick Public Schools outlines its data privacy & security efforts as well as the Technology Services Department’s mission.

wilson middle school trees


Ask about Advertising on Natick Report.


Subscribe to our Natick Report daily email

Filed Under: Government, Schools, Technology

US News & World Report 2021 elementary & middle school rankings: Where Natick fits in

October 13, 2021 by Deborah Brown Leave a Comment

US News & World Report for years now has ranked and sorted the nation’s public high schools, based on how students perform on state-required tests, graduation rates, and how well schools prepare students for college.

Now the media company has put out its first-ever rankings of K-8 public schools.

John F. Kennedy Middle School, Natick

According to US & News Report’s website, “Scoring was almost entirely rooted in students’ performance on mathematics and reading/language arts State assessments.”

The Report sourced its data from numbers put out by the U.S. Department of Education from the 2018-2019 academic year, before COVID impacted education. Here’s a link to the methodology.

Here’s where US & News placed Natick among the 1,104 public elementary schools it ranked:

Memorial—79
Johnson—103
Brown—157
Lilja—331
Bennett-Hemenway—373

Ranked 1, 2, 3 in Massachusetts elementary schools

Martha Jones, Westwood,
Horace Mann, Melrose
Woodward Memorial, Southborough

Nearby elementary schools in the top 40:

Chickory, Dover, 7th
Fiske, Wellesley—15th
Loker, Wayland, 19th
Hardy, Wellesley—25th
Josiah Haynes, Sudbury, 26th
Woodland, Weston, 27th
Sprague, Wellesley—33rd
Schofield, Wellesley—35th

Middle school rankings

Wilson Middle School came in at 113, and Kennedy was slotted at 119 out of the 527 the Massachusetts public middle schools that were included in the rankings.

Prince in Princeton, Boston Latin, and Heath in Chestnut Hill got the 1, 2, and 3 slots, respectively.

Nearby middle schools that cracked the top 40 list—Pollard in Needham was ranked 8th; Charles E. Brown, Newton Centre was 14; Hopkinton Middle School was 17; and High Rock in Needham was 24.

Including “K” students kind of bothers us

We remember a casual conversation years ago with a kindergarten teacher on the subject of school rankings. “Well, there’s another reason I love teaching this age. They haven’t started ranking kindergarteners. Yet.”

Looks like “yet” has arrived.

We’re not sure where the best kindergarteners in all the land attend school. For now, US News & World keeps the elementary school comparisons on a state-by-state basis.


Ask about Advertising on Natick Report.


Subscribe to our Natick Report daily email

Filed Under: Schools

Update: Gun searched for in Natick found on Rte. 128

September 23, 2021 by Bob Brown 2 Comments

Update: Natick Police on Monday night issued the following brief update regarding the gun that they and state police had been searching for in town:

The missing firearm was located on Rte. 128 by the Massachusetts State Police. This event remains under investigation.


Natick Police issued an alert on social media Thursday morning regarding a missing gun that may have fallen from atop a vehicle being driven through town.

The warning reads: “A person has reported that they inadvertently left a firearm on top of their vehicle and it may have fallen off in the area of Lilja School. The area has been thoroughly searched by police and is being searched again. If you see anything, please do not handle it and call 911 immediately. As a precaution Officers will be stationed in the area for the start of school today.”

Lilja Elementary School parents and guardians were notified of the situation as well by the school via email on Thursday morning, for some as they were arriving at bus stops.

lilja school natick

Some residents were alerted by a text from the police and Natick Public Schools superintendent:

Dear Lilja Families,
A person has reported that they inadvertently left a firearm on top of their vehicle and it may have fallen off the car in the area of Lilja. The area has been thoroughly searched by police all night long and is being searched again. If you see anything please do not handle it and call 911 right away. As a precaution Officers will be stationed in the area for the start of school today.
– Natick Police and Superintendent of Schools

The police department Facebook post set off a serious of comments from concerned parents and general rabble-rousers, with obligatory gun rights debate.

The police post went on to say that the incident involved a visitor to a private residence in Natick who reported the situation. Natick and state police K-9 unit searched the area near Lilja and along the driver’s route throughout the night and early hours. The gun was not lost on school grounds, according to the police.


  • Ask about Advertising on Natick Report.
  • Subscribe to our Natick Report daily email

Filed Under: Police & crime, Schools

  • « Previous Page
  • 1
  • 2
  • 3
  • 4
  • 5
  • …
  • 10
  • Next Page »

Tip us off!

Please send tips, photos, ideas to natickreport@gmail.com

Advertisements

Categories

  • Animals
  • Art
  • Bacon Free Library
  • Beyond Natick
  • Books
  • Boston Marathon
  • Business
  • Camps
  • Charity/Fundraising
  • Churches
  • Community
  • Construction
  • COVID-19
  • Education
  • Election
  • Embracing diversity
  • Entertainment
  • Environment
  • Fashion
  • Firefighters
  • Food
  • Gardens
  • Government
  • Health
  • History
  • Holidays
  • Kids
  • Media
  • Military
  • Morse Institute Library
  • Natick Election 2022
  • Natick Historical Society
  • Natick track
  • Neighbors
  • Obituaries & remembrances
  • Outdoors
  • Parents
  • Police & crime
  • Real estate
  • Recycling Center
  • Religion
  • Restaurants
  • Schools
  • Seniors
  • Shopping
  • Sports
  • Technology
  • Theater
  • Town election 2021
  • Transportation
  • Travel
  • Uncategorized
  • Veterans
  • Volunteering
  • Voting
  • Weather
lion publishers
  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • Twitter

Get our email newsletter

* indicates required

Most Read Posts

  • From BYOB to seating rules, big changes for Natick alcoholic beverage licenses up for discussion
  • Natick IMAX 3D theater reopening on May 27 with Top Gun: Maverick
  • Natick firefighters graduate from academy
  • Natick Select Board nomination papers available June 1
  • Natick Relay for Life comes up big with donations during "rebuilding year"

Click image to read The Swellesley Report

The Swellesley Report

Events calendar

  1. Public reading of Frederick Douglass’ 1852 speech, “What to a Slave is the Fourth of July?”

    June 26 @ 6:00 pm - 7:00 pm

View All Events

Pages

  • Private Schools in Natick (and beyond)
  • Natick Summer Camps (and beyond)
  • Where to Eat in Natick, Mass
  • Natick, Mass., history
  • Natick government
  • Natick No-Nos
  • Embracing diversity in Natick
  • Where to worship in Natick
  • Kid stuff (sports, clubs, activities in Natick, Mass.)
  • Contribute to Natick Report
  • Natick public schools
  • Where to sled in Natick, Mass.
  • Natick COVID-19 & vaccine news
  • Natick’s zip code & post offices
  • Natick charitable and community action groups
  • Top 10 things to do in Natick, Mass.
  • Natick Arts/Entertainment
  • About Natick Report
  • Advertise on Natick Report
  • Natick rules: Chickens yes, roosters no
  • Natick Election 2022, political candidates advertising
  • Natick election 2022—candidate interviews

© 2022 Natick Report
Site by Tech-Tamer · Login