Dear BHS Students and Families,

On Monday through Wednesday next week, the New England Association of Schools and Colleges NEASC will be at the high school for our decennial visit. NEASC provides voluntary accreditation for schools, and most public high schools in Massachusetts opt in. Beginning in 2019, NEASC adopted a new framework for school accreditation, and this is the first time that Belmont has been through this updated process. You may remember that we had our initial collaborative conference visit as part of this process in April 2023, and that last year a group of educators, parents, students, and community members developed a vision of a graduate, which will continue to guide our philosophy of teaching and learning at BHS.

We go into next week’s visit very confident about the strengths of our school, and clear on our goals for the next few years. It will be business as usual during the visit, and I will share the visit report with the community as soon as it is released.

On another note, I have been receiving a steady stream of concerns about ebikes, mopeds, and motorized scooters on and around the campus. After consulting with the Belmont Police Department, I want to remind everyone that riding any of these vehicles on sidewalks is not permitted (unlike peddle bikes which can be used on sidewalks) and that all bikes, ebikes, mopeds, and scooters need to follow traffic rules. Officer Nichols shared a police bulletin HERE with some useful information about rules for operating ebikes, mopeds, and scooters. I would also like to take the opportunity to remind motor vehicle drivers to drive slowly and carefully on campus. I’ve noticed that speeds have been creeping up on campus in recent weeks. The 10mph speed limit is in place to protect the 3000+ people who come and go from our campus every day.

Isaac Taylor, Principal

Scenes from our Cultural Exposition Day & Pep Rally 2025, Photo Credit: Patrick Nguyen

Exam Details: 

SAT Practice Exam: Saturday, December 13, 2025 | 9:00 AM -12:00 PM | Proctored online via Zoom

SAT Practice Exam: Saturday, January 31, 2026 | 9:00 AM -12:00 PM | Proctored online via Zoom

*Please note that these live exams are proctored in standard time only. If you have been approved for an extended time accommodation, go ahead and register for the exam, then use this self-proctoring guide to walk you through the process of using our on-demand video proctor with extended time.

Step 1: Register here: https://www.revolutionprep.com/partners/626       

Step 2: Schedule a free 30-minute score report review with a Revolution Prep testing expert to help you interpret the results and develop a customized plan to prepare. Please schedule this appointment for the few days after the exam. You can pre-schedule this Score Report Review here: https://www.revolutionprep.com/vasilios-kostakis  

Step 3: Attend the mock exam and instantly receive our best-in-class score report, illustrating three high-impact areas to focus on for each section of the test.

Questions? If you have questions or want to learn more about Revolution Prep, you can reach out to Vasilios Kostakis at (781) 916-8668 or by email at vasilios.kostakis@revolutionprep.com.

Dear BHS Seniors and Families,

BHS graduation is June 6th, and seniors should order their cap & gown ($34.50) from Balfour before Friday, December 19th.  Balfour also has extra tassels available for purchase for $6.50.  Please place your order online at https://www.buildagrad.com/belmont. 

If you have any questions, please reach out to John Sullivan (senior class advisor) jsullivan@belmontschools.net

Thank you.

The Belmont Human Rights Commission is looking for volunteers to staff the upcoming MLK Breakfast on Monday, January 19th from 9a-12:30pm. We are in need of the following positions:

Food servers

Greeters

Photographers

Childcare

Interested students can contact us at belmont.hrc@gmail.com. We will of course provide ample community service hours for those students in need.

Kimberly Haley-Jackson

Belmont Human Rights Commission, Chair

Town Meeting Member, Precinct 5

Belmont Diversity Task Force, Chair

Belmont Against Racism, Board Member

Congratulations to our BHS band members! They we will be participating in Western International Band Clinic (WIBC) in Seattle, Washington. Article by the Belmont Voice and be found here.

Student Club Grants: Deadline Today!

Student Leaders: The PTSO is sponsoring BHS Student Club Grants again this year! Please see the form for application guidelines. The deadline to submit applications is Friday, December 5, at 5pm. The PTSO will be in touch directly with club leaders regarding next steps once applications have been submitted. View the application here: https://forms.gle/F9ix7DPGKZsgKf1g7 

Student Volunteer Opportunity: Snow Shoveling

Help area seniors with snow removal for community service credit! Get matched with a older adult in your neighborhood who could use a hand with sidewalk snow removal this winter. Receive community service credit and help your community.

For details reach out to Aimée LeBrun at the Beech Street Center: alebrun@belmont-ma.gov

Teacher & Staff Holiday Treat Day

Dear Parents, 

Please sign up to send in treats (homemade or store-bought) for the teachers and staff on Tuesday, 12/16. Let's fill the staff room with delicious goodies to raise spirits as the holidays approach! Thank you so much for your generosity. 

Hi BHS!

The Climate Action Club is thrilled to introduce the BHS compost initiative! If you haven’t heard, the Climate Action Club has set up a compost bin at lunch. The compost station will be located in the cafeteria in front of the windows by the lunch line during all 3 lunches. We are eager to get compost bins set up during lunch time, but we must avoid contamination (disposal of non-compostable items in the compost bin). To do this, we are recruiting volunteers to monitor the bins as a part of the BHS Climate Action Club’s Green Team. Volunteers can earn an hour of community service per lunch monitored, which can total to three hours for the entirety of D block! Please fill out the following form for monitoring the bin:

https://www.signupgenius.com/go/10C0544AAAF2AA6F9C43-60076262-compost  

We are starting with one composting station every day for now, but depending on student and community feedback, we may be able to scale up and expand compost to multiple locations. We cannot proceed with our composting efforts without consistent support from the school community, so please grab a friend and join the BHS Green Team.

Belmont Wellness Coalition’s Parent Group meets next (over zoom) on Wed., Dec. 17 at 7:00 PM. Topic: How letting our kids fail fosters resilience, develops problem solving skills, and builds character.

Zoom link: https://waysideyouth-org.zoom.us/j/81523616493?pwd=d2hPPy44DhRc3OZbGgcVkrFBrz6XQQ.1

Marauders of the Week: The Marauders of the Week are BHS seniors nominated by their teachers for their outstanding accomplishments in and out of the classroom. This week, we are recognizing Quincy Crockett, Saira Samir, and Tamarha Impert.  Learn more about these impressive students on our website: https://www.belmont.k12.ma.us/o/bhs/page/marauders-of-the-week-profiles