The week ahead: School Committee invites public input on renaming Northeast Elementary

The Waltham School Committee will hold a public hearing for community members to weigh in on whether to rename Northeast Elementary School after former superintendent John J. Daddona at its meeting this week.

Mayor Jeannette A. McCarthy brought forward a request from a Waltham resident to rename the school. Daddona, who died this February at the age of 93, worked as a teacher and principal of the Warrendale School before serving for many years as district superintendent.

The request met with some resistance at City Council’s Licenses and Franchises Committee last month, when Councilor-at-Large Emma Tzioumis said she had seen “no desire” for the name change from Northeast families with whom she discussed it, suggesting the city should make sure the school community has a say in the change.

The council agreed to refer the issue to the School Committee for further discussion.

Below is a chronological rundown of other city meetings scheduled this week.

City Council committees

This week, City Council’s Economic and Community Development Committee will meet to get an update from City Engineer Robert Winn, Director of Public Health Michelle Feeley and Director of Public Works Michael Chiasson on the city’s rat mitigation strategy. It will also hear from members of 22Mohawks, a veterans and first responders suicide prevention group, about the group’s work; this will be the last in a series of presentations from mental health advocacy groups the committee began last year.

The Committee of the Whole will discuss the possible acquisition of a building at 14-16 Spring St. as part of the expansion of the Waltham Public LIbrary; information from the Municipal Area Planning council about parking and traffic in Metro Boston housing developments; and the city’s licensing agreements with three community farms.

The Licenses and Franchises Committee will consider granting three secondhand store license renewals and a summer outdoor dining permit. The Finance Committee will meet to discuss a series of donations to the City Hall’s museum room, as well as $1.3 million in additional funding to the Public Works Department for the winter’s snowstorms. The Ordinances and Rules Committee will discuss a proposal from Winn to amend the council’s procedure for granting zoning amendments

The council’s committees will meet Monday, May 4, at 7 p.m.

Zoning Board of Appeals

The ZBA is a five-person board charged with reviewing new and existing buildings that might violate the city’s zoning code. 

The board has the power to grant project-specific variances to the code, overrule judgments made by the building inspector and grant specific types of special permits, including the comprehensive residential permits outlined by the state’s Chapter 40B statute.

This week, it will discuss two cases: a case about a house at 14 Villa St., and the continuation of a public hearing on a 323-unit residential development at 245-265 Winter St. proposed under Chapter 40B of the state’s general laws, which allows developers to fast-forward the zoning process in order to create more affordable housing. This hearing has been ongoing since last July; last week, the board approved a similar-sized development at Totten Pond Road after initially rejecting the same building’s Chapter 40B application in April.

The ZBA will meet at 7 p.m. on Tuesday, May 5, at the Arthur Clark Government Center, 119 School St.

Parks-Recreation Board

The Parks-Recration Board is an eight-person board that oversees the city’s public recreational spaces and programming. This week, it will hear a presentation from the Waltham Youth Hockey program and discuss summer staffing.

The board will meet Wednesday, May 6, at 5:30 p.m. at the Waltham Recreation Department at 510 Moody St.

Board of Survey and Planning

The Board of Survey and Planning regulates public and private ways and makes decisions on the status and boundaries of lots in the city.

This week, it will discuss a proposal from a local landowner to repave part of Fir Avenue. This plan, initially proposed last December, has met some resistance among neighbors concerned with some features of the repaving plan, including stormwater runoff and road width.

It will also discuss amendments to the city’s zoning code pertaining to affordable housing and pet grooming proposed at the April 13 joint public hearing of the council and the Board of Survey and Planning.

The board will meet at 6 p.m. on Wednesday in the auditorium of the Clark Government Center.

School Committee

The Waltham School Committee, an elected six-member committee chaired by Mayor Jeannette A. McCarthy, makes policy and oversight decisions for the Waltham Public Schools.

The committee this week, after its hearing on the Northeast School name change, will discuss changes to staff for the district’s special education and ESL programs, as well as updates on enrollment and the Waltham Family School. It also plans to vote on the district’s budget, which has raised concerns from educators because of cuts to special education and ESL programs.

The committee will meet at 7 p.m. on Wednesday in the James J. Cannon Lecture Hall at Waltham High School, 617 Lexington St.

Waltham Cultural Council

The Waltham Cultural Council is a part of the Massachusetts Cultural Council local council program. It allocates funds for arts, sciences and humanities projects and events focusing on Waltham’s cultural diversity and local history.

The WCC will meet at 7 p.m. on Thursday, May 7, via Zoom.