Moving and shaking: Brookline Public Schools prepare for coming year

Wicked Local staff photo by Kate Flock

Emily Almeida, a fifth-grade teacher the Runkle School and Brookline resident,
prepares her curriculum for the new school year, Aug. 31, 2010.

By Laura Paine/staff writer

Wicked Local Brookline
Posted Sep 03, 2010 @ 05:00 AM
Brookline —

Preparing a school for the upcoming academic year is no easy task, whether it means setting up
shop in the same location or relocating to accommodate schoolhouse renovations. This year,
Brookline Public Schools have done a little of both, but administrators still eagerly await the first
days of school on Sept. 7 and 8.

The John D. Runkle School will be undergoing serious renovation over the next two years and as
a result, students will be matriculating in the Old Lincoln School building on Boylston Street.
Principal Vanessa Beauchaine said a lot of work went into the facility — which recently was
used as a performance space for an interactive theater production — including painting, flooring
in the cafeteria, installing shelves and activating Internet ports in different classrooms and fixing
lighting.

“[We want] to provide the same type of learning environment we had at the Runkle School on
Druce Street,” Beauchaine said. “[It took] a lot of work with the School Department and town
Building Department to make sure everything was in place. Everyone pulled together to make
sure the school was ready to get down to the business of teaching and learning.”

Beauchaine said the move was really well organized and moving supplies “worked out well for
everyone.”

“This is my first year at Runkle School, but I will say, from having to open buildings in the past,
over the summer there is a sense that there is a lot to do and organize. We really pulled together
as a team across the town to make sure things could happen for us,” she said. “It was more in the
sense that, rather than setting up classrooms, we had to physically move furniture, but since
everyone pulled together so well, it made it a manageable task.”

The moving process has been completed and the main focus now is making sure the classrooms
are ready to go on the first day of school.

“There is a very positive energy and people are excited about this new space,” Beauchaine said.
“We’re nearing the end of the transition and we’re nearly ready to begin.”

Brookline High School Headmaster Robert Weintraub said their faculty and staff are also in the
process of getting the classrooms ready before the start of school, making sure that everything is
clean and in place. He said supplies were ordered in the spring by department heads, as they
know what is needed better than he does. On Aug. 31, training sessions were held for student and
teacher mentors and advisers.   

“This is to get ready for opening school next week so everyone knows what they are supposed to
be doing for the 425 freshmen and 425 sophomores,” Weintraub said. “The assistant headmaster,
the deans [and I] are all looking over students schedules to make sure all the kids are in the right
place at the right time.”

In a recent article to the parent community in the parent newsletter, “News and Views,”
Weintraub wrote about getting everyone on the same page so the mission and culture of BHS is
clear at the start of school. He recently sent out a newsletter to the faculty and finished the
student handbook, which outlines the code of conduct and academic policies.

“I don’t want anyone confused,” Weintraub said. “So much of this has to do with
communication. It’s hugely important, in a big community like this, that we communicate well to
the students, faculty and staff and parent community.”

The student body is made up of a large international population, which is one of the things
Weintraub finds to be so exciting about working at Brookline High School, but also helps set a
clear vision for the year ahead.

“It’s not a homogeneous group of people,” he said. “We have kids from 75 countries. This place
is exciting. We have a feeling here that if we can make this place work, maybe the world can
work. We want to be a model for global society.”

Weintraub said he feels very lucky to do this work in his hometown, that it’s exciting and
Brookline is the best community to work for from an education standpoint, and he is
“absolutely” excited for the start of the school year.

“We’ve said this before but it is still true,” Weintraub wrote in an Aug. 26 letter to parents. “Not
everyone in their right minds would invite 1,750 adolescents to one place at one time.  We do so
with enthusiasm and without equivocation.” 
Laura Paine can be reached at lpaine@cnc.com.

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