5 thoughts on “School Officials Planning to Use Phillips School to Stop Overcrowding

  1. Thank you for the info. We in Watertown need to face the change that is here already- overcrowding in the schools.

  2. Wake up Watertown seniors – There appears to be a deliberate movement to once again pit seiors vs children. First they say the Senior center does not recognize the needs of seniors. Then they ignore the fact that we share the Gym and the parking lot with the Phillips school and demand more programs at the Senior center . Then the Seniors are not informed of the plans to reopen the school or ask us for any input.
    When do we have the transparency the Town asks for?

  3. I would say that it is less a issue of transparency in this case then communication and proactively getting this issue dealt with last January(or years before!). This change was spelled out in one open forum sub committee meeting, but not advertised widely, nor all the stake holders informed(and not just the seniors but the parents of children who will be affected and the Watertown Family Network). All stakeholders(seniors/parents/WFN/residents) should have been fully notified of the possible change and encouraged to come out to the subcommittee meeting(which did not happen). There needs to be many more meetings to engage parents/residents and allow for dialog. Some parents were sent a very brief(two lines maybe) letter stating their pre-k will be moving to Phillips(that was all folks). The Administration and SC need to work proactively to get the information out and engage residents/parents when big changes are going to occur(or even possibly occur) not keep them in the dark until things have changed!

  4. I am a neighbor (and a senior) and look forward to the Phillips School being used as a school again. How about the school department moving into the old police station with storage for the library. The maker space HATCH could go into the old branch libraries sharing daytime space with people who need offices part of the day. All it takes is money, I know, but Watertown has a new chance to be vibrant and responsive. Let’s go with it. It is a wonderful thing to have lots of children in families that want them to grow up here, as we wanted for our kids. My sons, in their late thirties and early forties are still very close friends with kids they grew up with here, though they live all over the country. Something about this town and the relationships it fosters. How wonderful is that?

  5. I remember Barbara Watertown’s kids growing up at the Phillips School…her dogs waited patiently for that bell to ring and then affectionately greeted all the kids as they walked home from school.

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