Wayland HRDEI committee delegates 2024 festival grant work, tables holiday calendar

WAYLAND — May 16, 2023 — Wayland's HRDEI committee tabled a unified cultural holiday calendar and locked in its 2024 festival grant lead. Chair Yamini led members through unanimous approval of April 4 and April 18 minutes and a unanimous vote delegating Jessica Schendel to file the Mass Cultural Council grant application by the June 8 deadline; this year's award came in at the $2,500 maximum. Karen Blumenfeld reported the Select Board voted Monday to co-sponsor the U.S. Department of Justice Community Relations Service SPIRIT program and named member Anne Brensley as the committee's new liaison. High School Principal Allyson Mizoguchi detailed unleveled ninth-grade English, elimination of weighted GPA and a new lottery-based Innovation Pathway, while Middle School Principal Betsy Gavron and teacher Jada Williams described eliminating level-one math and new lessons on the history of the N-word. Yawu cautioned that an informational calendar "is easy," but expanding its purpose is "much harder."