Daily Buzz | What Are the Responsibilities of the School Committee?
Plus, learn how to attract butterflies to your yard
Good Morning, Burlington!
Of course, a day after launching the new newsletter platform, something crazy comes up and we have to shift back here for a day. No worries, you should be receiving email from the new spot from tomorrow moving forward, but we didn’t want to keep you waiting while we spent the time troubleshooting.
If you didn’t get yesterday’s Weekly Buzz, you can check out the content here. But, more importantly, if you didn’t get it, please (a) check your spam/junk folder and, if it’s there, mark the message as “NOT SPAM,” and (b) add hello@burlington.buzz to your list of approved senders/whitelist.
Learn How to Attract Butterflies to Your Yard this Wednesday
The Burlington Garden Club this Wednesday will be teaching anyone who is interested how to attract butterflies to their yard. Butterflies have begun migrating northward again, and you can make your home a welcoming place for butterflies, starting now.
From the Garden Club:
Butterflies are very important as pollinators as well as a food source to birds, insects, and reptiles. Unfortunately their numbers have decreasing rapidly, mainly due to the effects of climate change, loss of habitat, and the use of pesticides.
Alana Archangelo from the Butterfly Place in Westford will talk about the butterfly life cycle and feeding habitats, why some such as the Monarchs are endangered, and how we can help with the loss of habitat by creating sanctuaries for them using a variety of annual and perennial plants and not using pesticides in our yards. She'll supply a list of major food plants so that we can build our own pollinator or butterfly gardens.
Join the Garden Club this Wednesday at 7:00 PM in the Murray Kelly Wing at 61 Center Street (where the Civic Expo was held!). The presentation is free to all, and light refreshements will be served. For more information contact email the Garden Club or visit their website.
What Are the Responsibilities of the School Committee?
The School Committee is often held as the ultimate authority when it comes to issues in the schools. While the School Committee does have responsibility and control over creating and executing the long-term vision of Burlington Public Schools in conjunction with the Superintendent of Schools, the reality is that this Committee doesn’t get involved in the day-to-day operations of the School Department.
The main responsibilities of the School Committee are threefold: Hire and evaluate the superintendent, set policy, and set the budget. They also sit in on union contract negotiations, and they’re responsible for implementing Child Find to locate, identify, and evaluate all children with disabilities.
They don’t get into the day-to-day implementation of curriculum, discipline, or any of the other things schools are known to deal with. Of course, if they judge that a superintendent is not fulfilling their job responsibilities, they can respond by demanding improvement or by hiring a new superintendent who they feel would align with their priorities and vision for the school department.
Read more about the responsibilities of the School Committee, and learn about your candidates for the contested School Committee race this year.
Today in Burlington
Municipal Meetings and Community Events
6:00 PM - Recreation Commission will talk about the Land & Water Conservation Grant they’ve been working on, as well as a bathroom project at Park Playhouse and more. (Burlington High School)
6:00 PM - Select Board will see presentations about the MBTA Communities Law and capital project funding; they’ll also approve a donation to the Police Department, review and approve a Flag Policy, and more. (Town Hall and Virtual)
7:00 PM - Teen Event: Escape Room - Kids in grades 6-12 will collaborate to solve puzzles and win a sweet treat! (Burlington Public Library; Register)
7:00 PM - Virtual Trivia Night - Zoom - Gather some friends and/or family members, and compete against your neighbors in a good-natured game of trivia. (Burlington Public Library-zoom; Register)
Sports and Activities
The high school’s DevilBotz robotics team competed in their second and final qualifying meet this past weekend, and according to their Game Strategy Mentor, Rick O’Donnell, they’re well-positioned for an invitation to the District Championships.
The team “placed 13th of 38 teams in a very deep field,” says O’Donnell. “They were chosen by the 7th seed alliance captains and competed in the playoffs, falling to the 2nd seed. The DevilBotz also won the Excellence in Engineering award for the event!”
Congrats to the team on this payoff for all their hard work this season. The New England District Championships will be held April 3-6, and teams will know whether or not they’ve qualified by early next week.
That’s all for today. Have a great one, and we’ll see you tomorrow—hopefully on our new, permanent channel!
Nicci