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Local Business
BrightPath Maynard
Families with young children in the MetroWest area are glad to have another option for high-quality early learning and child care with the opening of BrightPath Maynard. Located at 13Digital Way in the Maynard Crossing Plaza, the brand-new school offers enriching and nurturing programs designed to give children six weeks to five years old the best start in life.
BrightPath Early Learning and Child Care is part of Busy Bees, one of the world’s largest providers of early childhood education and care. This new facility is the sixth BrightPath school in the Greater Boston area.
“Maynard is a fantastic community, and we know families are looking for high-quality early years education that enriches the lives of their children and sets them up for success. At BrightPath, our experiential learning programs – led by skilled teachers – are carefully designed to do just that,” says Mary Otts-Farraher, BrightPath Area Director. “BrightPath is beloved throughout Boston, and we are eager to serve even more children and families in Maynard.”
BrightPath offers programs for infants, toddlers, preschoolers, and pre-kindergarten students. The center blends child-initiated activities with its signature BeeCurious Curriculum that fosters cognitive, social, and emotional development. Curriculum focus areas include language and literacy, math discovery, global citizenship, building connections, social skills and adaptability, creative discovery, STEM discovery, physical literacy, and environmental stewardship.
BrightPath Maynard is now enrolling for the 2024-25 school year with spots filling up quickly! Contact the school to day to schedule a tour.
Level Up Gymnastics
Maynard’s new rhythmic gymnastics school
The owner is Maya Mashatina, an elite athlete with the degree of Master of Sport. Maya has taught gymnastics for over 15 years! Her students are multiple state, national, and regional champions of the United States. She is a well-known coach and a true professional. Maya is passionate about introducing this fascinating Olympic sport to the community of Maynard! Her longtime dream was to create a special place for girls where they would feel a welcoming atmosphere, a clean, beautiful environment, and learn all about boosting their confidence, improving flexibility and coordination, and just having a great time! On March 7th, Maya found the perfect space for her dream to come true in the beautiful town of Maynard! She especially loved the neighborhood and everything Maynard had to offer! Cute little shops, great restaurants and plenty of parking for her students.
After some renovation with the help of friends and family, her doors are now open for the new students!
Maya has a 2-year-old daughter of her own, and that’s why she made a special zone for the younger siblings to play while the older ones or their parents participate in the class.
“Level Up Gymnastics” offers classes from 2.5 years old to adults! (stretching class and work out)
Birthday parties, summer camps and private lessons.
Located at 100 Main Street, Maynard, MA. Feel free to stop by or email/call for more information and a free try out lesson.
617-759-5006 coach Maya
Town Hall
Upcoming Major Financial Decisions and You
Town leaders are holding a follow-up group meeting on the evening of July 30 (meeting location TBA) to continue pushing an initiative to provide more context for major financial priorities facing the town. Previous meetings indicate a growing need to assess and communicate longer term consequences of major budget investments we make as a community, both for capital and general budget expenditures as well as fees (e.g. Water and Sewer fees). A number of warrant articles in the upcoming Special Town Meeting on October 7, 2024 and next May’s Annual Town meeting will require a lot of citizen involvement and deliberation.
The boards involved in the joint meeting are the Select Board (SB), Capital Planning Committee (CapCom), School Committee (SC) and Finance Committee (FC) and all have meeting agenda items leading up to July 30 to prepare for the joint meeting. See agenda items on Board Docs
On Tuesday July 16th the Select Board has a number of agenda items on this topic including:
Item 10B – Recommended Action: Provide direction in consideration of the proposed joint meeting scheduled for July 30, 2024.
Item 11A – Move to set the date, time and location of the 2024 Special Town Meeting as Monday, October 7, 2024 beginning at 7:00pm at the Fowler School Auditorium, 3 Tiger Drive, Maynard.
Item 13A – Planning, Senior Center
Source: Bob McCarthy
Maynard Advantage Special Edition
Look for the next Special Edition on Water Resources issues, a quarterly series by the Maynard Advantage Team. It will publish within a week of our next newsletter on August 15, 2024.
Community Voices
Jenna Dargie
What are some of the ways in which you have in the past or are currently volunteering your time in Maynard?
I am currently chair of the Maynard Cultural Council and Cultural District, and I’m programs chair for the Maynard Community Gardeners (MCG).
What are some of the activities involved with what you do?
With the Cultural Council, our main charge is distributing state funding as local grants for cultural projects and events.
With the Cultural District, we work to support arts and culture within Maynard by sponsoring projects such as the Jazzfest, crosswalks, murals, Winter fest, etc. In particular, I’m on the organizational committee for Jazzfest.
With MCG, I organize programs for the group throughout the year, trying to bring in a mix of social, educational, and community events. We do casual garden tours, a quarterly educational meeting with speakers, a yearly member celebration breakfast (with waffles!), and lots more. Shameless plug: join us! Membership is only $20/year and you get access to so many fun programs, plus fees go to support the buckets program and maintenance to keep our town beautiful. [email protected]
What compelled you to start volunteer work?
I grew up being actively involved in a small town, and after I moved to Maynard I was itching to get back into that. Luckily there was an opening on the cultural council shortly after the move, which ended up being a great fit! It’s a fabulous way to get acquainted with people in town and learn about all the fun things Maynard has to offer.
Shameless plug #2: we have an opening right now for a new cultural council member! If interested, please email [email protected]
How did end up living/working in Maynard?
I was renting in Arlington with my husband, and we started looking for a house in 2018. Maynard was not on our list at first, we wanted something more city…and then the pandemic hit and we realized we should expand our radius to try to get more more space and land for gardening (I was a total pandemic cliche, that’s when my interest in gardening started! I won’t even talk about the sourdough phase….). I’ll be forever grateful to Jeff Swanberg, who at the time worked with my husband, and was our introduction to Maynard. I still can’t believe there is a town that you can get space for a garden and still be able to walk to restaurants, the theater, even groceries now with the co-op! It is such a gem, and so happy we found our way here.
Can you talk about one or two of your best/most rewarding experiences as a volunteer?
Hmm it’s probably a tie between Jazzfest and the garden club member breakfast. Both take a village to plan and organize…countless meetings…hundreds of decisions…and it’s such an incredible feeling to watch people at the events enjoying them, knowing the effort was worth it.
Events
Martha Redbone Singer of R&B, folk, soul, and more!
July 20th, 2-4PM in Memorial Park
Free event presented by The Maynard Public Library
Martha Redbone is a vocalist, songwriter, composer, and music educator, celebrated for her tasty gumbo of roots music embodying the folk and mountain blues sounds of her childhood in the Appalachian hills of Kentucky, mixed with the eclectic grit of her teenage years in Brooklyn. Inheriting her powerful gospel-singing father’s voice and the resilient spirit of her mother’s Southeastern Indigenous culture, Redbone broadens the boundaries of American Roots music.
Author Talk: Cathy Stanton, “Food Margins: Lessons from an Unlikely Grocer”
July 25th, 7-8:30PM
Maynard Public Library, Roosevelt Room
Author Cathy Stanton will visit the library to discuss her new book Food Margins: Lessons from an Unlikely Grocer. Food Margins tells the story of a small food co-op in Orange, Mass, a former mill town searching for its place in the twenty-first century economy. Part memoir and part history lesson, the book traces the tangled economic and political histories of the plantation, the factory and the supermarket through the life of one New England town and tells the story of a rural community imagining and creating a viable alternative to the mainstream in a time of increasingly urgent need to build a more socially and ecologically just food system.
“A piercing, passionate, and profoundly braided account” -Julian Agyeman, co-editor of Cultivating Food Justice: Race, Class, and Sustainability
Cathy Stanton is a Distinguished Senior Lecturer in Anthropology and Environmental Studies at Tufts University. She has written widely about industrial and agricultural history and historic sites in the American northeast, none of which prepared her for the challenges of actually trying to stay afloat in the grocery business. She is excited to share her experiences and insights with audiences!
This is a free event but please register here.
Shakespeare in The Park
Saturday August 3rd & Sunday August 4th, 5-7PM
Veterans Memorial Park
The Maynard Cultural District Committee is proud to sponsor Shakespeare in the Park in Veterans Memorial Park!
Join The World’s a Stage, Concord Players’ traveling troupe of thespians whose love for the Bard knows no equal! They will bring us The Eras Tour, monologues and scenes from some of Shakespeare’s most famous works.
Music on Main
Open Table
Thursdays starting July 11th – August 15th
The Maynard Cultural District Committee is bringing back Music On Main this summer, extending to six weeks in July and August!
Take a stroll downtown or grab something to eat at one of the outdoor dining options on select Thursday evenings in July and August and enjoy some fantastic musicians!
We are very grateful to Open Table for allowing us to use their front patio for this program.
For more on events, shopping, things to do, and dining head over to Discover Maynard
Education
Rochelle Lerner
I had a conversation with Rochelle Lerner, a long term Maynard High School (MHS) Chemistry teacher, after this year’s Senior Project Presentations and became intrigued about the changes she has been instituting in her classes over the last few years. While there has been an overall push in recent years to add social/emotional learning to academic curricula at Maynard schools, it can be a challenge to find time to make a meaningful impact in this area when teaching a course like chemistry. It relies on deeply learning the fundamentals on a subject that is often the very first time most students are being exposed to it. We sat down for a short interview and here is a summary of our discussion:
How have classroom dynamics changed in your tenure at MHS?
Classroom dynamics have changed in the last twenty years as learning has become less teacher centered and employs more group dynamics. I still do a fair amount of lectures because students need a fundamental basis before they can understand the material. Afterwards I let them work together to reinforce the learning. I also give less homework than I used to as students seem to be more stressed these days. Students at MHS are very active in extracurricular activities and don’t have as much free time as they had 20 years ago. I have had to adapt to these changes.
What are some of the most positive changes that you have witnessed there?
Some of the most positive things that have happened in the last few years include our brand new state of the art building. It is much nicer and larger than our previous high school. The maintenance staff does a great job of making sure everything works. We have many more AP classes for students to choose from. Several years ago a previous principal introduced a graduation requirement called Senior Project and under that initiative we have had students get real world experiences as high school students. Our Senior Project showcase each Spring highlights all of the seniors’ work and it is wonderful. We have introduced business classes and a computer science pathway this past year, among many other new initiatives.
Have changes stemming from the pandemic altered your approach to teaching?
The pandemic’s effects are still being felt throughout all school districts. Students have lost developmental opportunities and it is hard to get those years back. Many students are experiencing problems that schools are not equipped for. At MHS, we have hired a teacher to implement Tier 2 programs to help struggling students. As a result of this, I have been incorporating Social Emotional Learning in my curriculum because even though my students are upperclassmen, they missed out on some important things during COVID. It’s not just about teaching them Chemistry. I am trying to teach them some basic skills that they didn’t get. I was trying to find a way to incorporate these skills into my classroom and I came upon a facebook group called Kindness 101 by Steve Hartman. A couple of videos from CBS “On the Road with Steve Hartman” are provided here and here.
Mrs. Lerner invited me to view some of the videos and describe the innovative strategy she tried as a result of this inspiration. In a nutshell, this series explores deep human connections and spontaneous joy, sometimes triggered simply by actively practicing kindness. Mrs. Lerner began an experiment in the 2023-2024 school year she calls ‘Thoughtful Tuesdays’ . She took time out of the packed chemistry classwork to show videos on topics like empathy, honesty, respect and human kindness. Then she asked students to write monthly in a journal notebook to describe making positive choices and giving and receiving expressions of kindness and how that changes them. This resonates deeply with most students and Mrs. Lerner hopes she and other teachers can keep refining experiments like this as part of an overall commitment to helping MHS students adapt and evolve successfully in a rapidly changing world .
What are the biggest challenges ahead in education and what do you think are the most beneficial opportunities to focus on?
The biggest challenges ahead are turning out students who are ready for the changing marketplace and have the skills to be positively engaged and productive citizens in the future. They need to have more experiences that prepare them. As a district we need to provide those experiences and also recognize that things have changed since pre-COVID. We can’t expect that things are going to go back to the way they were. We need to try new things to get them back on track and it is going to take work. There are new teachers entering the workforce and they will continue what we started.
For more on new approaches to learning…
Source: Bob McCarthy
Around Town
Welcome to The Bagel Table
At The Bagel Table, we offer a variety of more than 14 flavors of “crispy on the outside, chewy on the inside” bagels. We also offer a variety of cream cheese flavors and all the “fixings”. In addition, The Bagel Table serves breakfast sandwiches, deli sandwiches, and a mouthwatering selection of cookies and pastries.
The Bagel Table has its origin in the farmers markets we’ve served in and around Greater Boston and MetroWest since 2014. Our loyal customers continue to come to markets to buy delicious bagels.
Come on into one of our stores. We can’t wait to welcome you to The Bagel Table! Located in Maynard at 1 Nason Street, for all other locations please visit The Bagel Table website here.
Maynard Historical Commission
Summer is a great time to walk around Maynard and see all the history our town has to
offer. To see all the highlights, the Historical Commission has recently updated our
series of historic walking tours across all different parts of town.
Enjoy all the historical areas in Maynard including:
- Assabet River National Wildlife Refuge Walking Tour
- Assabet Village Historic Waling Tour
- Glenwood Cemetery Walking Tour
- Great Road Historic Walking Tour
- Main Street and The Mill Walking Tour
- New Village and Maynard Mill Walking Tour
Scan this QR code to go directly to the tours on your phone or tablet
Or visit our website here!
Come see us at The Farmers’ Market
The Maynard Marketing Task Force will be at The Farmers’ Market on Saturday, July 27th. We’ll be there to answer questions, encourage readership, and hear any of your feedback. Make sure to stop by and say hello!
This is an invaluable resource! I have lived in maynard 14 years and this feels like an essential welcome to Maynard or Welcome again to Maynard resource!
Wish it was more well-known! More posts with QR codes around town?!
Thank you!
Thank you for your comment and we agree. We are looking to coordinate with other groups interested in promoting and informing Maynard and sharing info at the Farmers’ Market and other venues but are very interested in ideas on how to increase subscribers and spread the word(s) !
Bob McCarthy, Maynard Marketing Task Force
Hello,
Thank you again for an interesting read across a variety of topics. I thoroughly enjoy reading about the people, and some of the latest news. All very much appreciated.