Avery School Breaks Ground; Police Investigating Armed Robbery

The big news to take away from this week has to be the groundbreaking of the new Avery School by about a dozen Avery students. The project is expected to last until March 2012 with students moving into their new home by that April.

While the groundbreaking was a giant success, school officials were hit with a minor delay on Wednesday as the Planning Board declined to vote on  the district's traffic site plan for the new school, citing a lack of statistics for cars, buses and pedestrians.

The Board of Selectmen are eager to begin work on a Dedham Square project, but first the town needs word on two grant applications for nearly $1.5 million. Winners of a $1.2 million grant are expected to be announced this month.

Members of the Dedham 375 committee met to begin outlining how the town would celebrate its 375th birthday next year. Several ideas are in the works, but the committee is always looking for more help. 

With the November 2 election approaching, state Senate candidates Brad Williams and Michael Rush dueled in a forum in Norwood on Thursday evening. On Wednesday, Stephen Lynch addressed concerns surrounding his health care vote at a Milton senior center.

Dedham Police made drug and warrant arrests over the long holiday weekend, and then found themselves busy investigating a Wednesday armed robbery at the T-Mobile in Dedham Plaza. The suspect made away with two trash bags full of cell phones.

In sports, Dedham girls soccer notched two wins in three games this week. The first against cross-town rival Ursuline and the second win came against Norwood on Thursday. Ursuline rebounded from the Monday defeat to Dedham to notch wins against Marian on Thursday and West Roxbury on Friday. Nobles girls soccer shutout St. Mark's Wednesday.

Nobles boys soccer knocked off St. Mark's 5-3 Wednesday, and the Dedham boys lost on Tuesday to Newton North High School at home. 

The Dedham football team continued its struggles Saturday against Milton, as the 1-6 Marauders lost 40-6.