What happened this week? (3/20-3/26)
This week included multiple exciting events at the local and national level, with students taking MCAS and starting spring sports, and national sports competition coming to light.
MCAS:
All 10th graders had their latest Massachusetts Comprehensive Assessment System (MCAS) exams on the mornings of Tuesday, March 22, and Wednesday, March 23 while the rest of the student body enjoyed a delayed start. Juniors had the opportunity to attend multiple guidance workshops on planning their post-high school experiences. The next MCAS exams will be sophomore math testing on May 17 and 18.
Start of spring sports:
The official 2022 spring season started on Monday, March 21, for baseball, crew, girls golf, lacrosse, outdoor track, rugby, softball, tennis, ultimate disc and boys volleyball. This marked the start of tryouts for sports requiring them. All athletes had to be cleared by Athletic Trainer Alex Jzyk before participating in any physical activity in the spring season.
Search for a new town administrator:
With Town Administrator Mel Kleckner choosing not to renew his contract (which will expire this Sep.), Select Board Chair Heather Hamilton and the Select Board announced on Friday, March 25 that Community Paradigm Associates is leading the search with the help of a community screening panel. Brookline residents and stakeholders are “invited and encouraged” to fill out a survey about their priorities for the next town administrator before April 22.
“The work of identifying our next Town Administrator will be an inclusive and thorough process that gives all of our community members a voice,” Hamilton said. “I am confident this deliberative effort will result in identifying the individual who is best suited for the role and who will support the town’s myriad initiatives and goals for the future.”
Ginni Thomas’s texts pushing to overturn 2020 election results exposed:
The House Select Committee responsible for investigating the Jan. 6 capitol riot possesses 29 text messages between Ginni Thomas, conservative activist and wife of Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas, and former Chief of Staff Mark Meadows in which she encouraged him to overturn the 2020 election results, as first reported by CNN on Thursday, March 24.
“Help This Great President stand firm, Mark!!! … You are the leader, with him, who is standing for America’s constitutional governance at the precipice. The majority knows Biden and the Left is attempting the greatest Heist of our History,” Thomas texted on Nov. 10, 2020.
Controversy around NCAA champion Lia Thomas:
Openly transgender University of Pennsylvania swimmer Lia Thomas has been facing disputes around her winning the 500-yard freestyle in the Division I National College Athletics Association (NCAA) championship on Thursday, March 17. She started using hormone replacement therapy in May 2019, meeting NCAA’s guidelines to be able to compete. On Tuesday, March 22, Florida governor Ron DeSantis proclaimed second-place finisher Emma Weyant to be the “rightful winner”. To learn more about the response to Thomas’s victory, read our article here.
March Madness:
NCAA March Madness continued to surprise viewers across the country, including when the 15th-seeded Saint Peter’s Peacocks defeated the Purdue Boilermakers in the Sweet 16 round. The national championship match is set to take place on April 4.
