Pete Davis, Wakefield School Committee

06/06/2026

Congratulations WMHS Class of 2026 Graduates

05/29/2026

Today we spoke with our Seniors who participated in internships. Through this experience, some became even more convinced about their future career plans and others learned that they didn’t necessarily like what they thought they did. Some students learned that expectations at a real job are high and returned back to school, instead of completing an internship.

Last year was the initial pilot for this program and this year there was both an increase in participation and improved outcomes from participating as we learn what works well and doesn’t work.

I look forward to hearing about this program again from next year’s participants. In my opinion, this type of early work experience is invaluable and I was thrilled to learn we were piloting this last year and that the program was continuing.

05/22/2026

We were joined by some of our Town Councilors and our Town Administrator for one of my favorite events each year, the Student Presentations from the WMHS Engineering Design & Development class.

Students this year worked on ideas including student work scheduling, Lake Q water quality, Bag design for the elements, and ways to restore clothes to give them a second life.

Thank you also to our friends at WEF for helping to provide funding for these projects.

05/15/2026

NOTE: There has been an updated the artists and the food.

Please join the WHRC in celebrating the second annual Asian Art & Food Truck Festival!

Mark your calendars to come out to our festival. We have a full line up of entertainment, activities for kids, and food truck goodness. Come out and support the Wakefield community. We look forward to seeing you.

List of vendors & artists:

• Artist Cat Cheseldine
• Chinese Cultural Connection
• Clara Wu (and author Vincent Yee)
• Face Painting by Nini
• Little Ant World (and author Windy Pham)
• Tangerine & Jade Press (author Tracy Guan)
• Lucius Beebe Library
• Children’s Activities (Make your own flower bouquet, Lantern making, Fan making, Chopstick challenge, 12 zodiac animal headbands, Calligraphy)
• Demonstrations (Chinese Ribbon Dancing, Asian Fashion, etc.)
• Mahjong

List of Food Trucks:

• Tandoor and Curry Food Truck
• Hometown Poke Food Truck
• Bao’s Kitchen
• Sakura Organic
• Boba Tea & Snow Ice House Wakefield
• Gong Cha
• Tanghulu by Beijing Taste

Program Line-up:

• 11:30 a.m.- Welcome (Hyon Leon, WHRC Commissioner)- Cafeteria
• 11:35 a.m.- Land Acknowledgement (Ericca Sadler, WHRC Commissioner)- Cafeteria
• 12:25 p.m.- Chinese Musical Instruments (Gu Yun Yue Fang)- Auditorium
• 12:45 p.m.- Diablo Yo-yo- Auditorium
• 1:00 p.m.- Artisan Dance Academy- Auditorium
• 1:15 p.m.- Story Telling with Windy Pham- Auditorium
• 1:30 p.m.- Asian Fashion Show- Auditorium
• 1:45 p.m.- Nabil Ata Oud Performance- Auditorium
• 2:00 p.m.- Artisan Dance Academy- Auditorium
• 2:15 p.m.- Lion Dance- Auditorium
• 2:25 p.m.- Closing (Hyon Leon, WHRC Commissioner)- Auditorium

Wakefield Public Schools@followersLucius Beebe Memorial LibraryWakefield Youth Council

05/01/2026

IMPORTANT ASK - Wakefield Town Meeting begins Monday 5/4 at 7PM in the Galvin auditorium. Finance Committee will be recommending that Town Meeting vote to underfund the FY27 SC approved Level Service WPS budget by $300K. If this reduction is approved at Town Meeting, this will result in losses of critical student facing services as this will be the only way to close this gap.

As a member of the Wakefield School Committee, Parent of WPS students, and Wakefield homeowner & taxpayer, I am asking for your support to show up at town meeting to vote YES in support of the full WPS School Committee approved Level Service budget and to spread the word to all Wakefield registered voters to do the same.

Throughout my time on School Committee, many of you have reached out to ask us to negotiate fair contracts with our staff and we take this mission seriously. Of the total budget year over year cost increase:
+$2.68M (4.84% y/y) is to cover previously negotiated salary increases

As part of budget planning, WPS team examines every possible source of funding outside of the local tax levy to reduce the burden on Wakefield residents. In FY27, we are increasing the financial burden on WPS families by asking them to pay increased user fees for students to participate in athletics, music and other activities, we are increasing pre-K tuition (done annually), and we are spending down money from revolving accounts in every way legally possible to offset expenses and to provide money back to the town.
$300K will be returned to the town from Food Services Revolving account subject to SC approval
$282K is being spent from revolving accounts to offset expenses that would otherwise come back to the town

Unfortunately we are not immune to significant cost escalations being felt by all districts while State and Federal reimbursements have not come close to keeping up.

Special education (out of district tuition & contracted services) +$443K
Transportation & technology fixed costs +$258K
Supplies and copier costs +$76K

WPS Administration and School Committee has been hard at work planning the FY27 budget for almost 6 months. As part of the budget planning process, critical requests in the district are reviewed and ~90% of those important requests were turned down due to financial constraints.

I appreciate all of the hard work being done by my peers on the Finance Committee, and also want to additionally thank Town Treasurer Dombroski who has been able to improve the return on Wakefield’s cash holdings. Through his hard work, Wakefield has been able to recognize additional one time revenue through much higher interest rates on our cash holdings (including High School unspent bond money).

I recognize that there will likely be some difficult decisions ahead that need to be made in FY28/FY29 and beyond based on current projections. With months of time to plan vs. days/weeks, we will continue to do everything possible to plan thoughtfully for Wakefield Public Schools and the Town of Wakefield.

Presentation:
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1nXRMZrwvLp14AlQ43xV3xnwOkbmjH2NC/view

Budget Book:
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1TR6DczPxu1lknzUqXKChll5sNrekw5wS/view

Thank You!

04/29/2026

Thank you Wakefield for putting your trust in me to help represent you on the School Committee for 3 more years and congratulations to Kevin Piskadlo, Wakefield School Committee on his reelection!

04/28/2026

Proud of Wakefield Public Schools for their commitment to Music Education for our students. Thank you to our amazing educators who have made this honor possible for many years.

For the 15th time the Wakefield Public Schools Music Department has been honored with the Best Communities for Music Education designation from The NAMM Foundation for its outstanding commitment to music education.

The program spotlights and celebrates school districts across the United States for their exemplary dedication to music education and their ongoing efforts to ensure equitable access to music learning as part of a well-rounded education. Wakefield was selected through a comprehensive application and review process that evaluates key indicators, including funding, instructional time, participationrates, facilities and community support.

04/27/2026

Tomorrow, Tue 4/28 is town Election Day in Wakefield from 7a-8p at the Galvin. https://www.wakefieldma.gov/458/Voting-Elections

Please show up for a few minutes to cast your vote for the volunteers you want to represent you.

04/09/2026

Progress continues at the new WMHS

03/03/2026

Dear Parents, Registration is now open for new students for the Doyle Early Childhood Center at both Doyle and Woodville locations for 2026-2027 school year. Please complete the below information by Friday March 13th. Completing this form enters your child into our lottery. All students must be thre...