Real Estate

See All the Open Houses Around Watertown This Week

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Plenty of open houses around Watertown this weekend. $745,000 – 199 Coolidge Ave. Unit 105, 5 room, 2 bed, 2.5 bath high-rise, Open Houses: Saturday 11:30-1 Sunday 11:30-1

$799,900 – 199 Coolidge Ave. Unit 302, 5 room, 2 bed, 2 bath mid-rise, Open Houses: Saturday 11:30-1 Sunday 11:30-1

$1,099,900 – 12 Vivian Dr., 2 unit, 15 total room, 7 total bedroom, Open Houses: Friday 3-4 Saturday 12-1:30

$829,000 – 57 Spruce St., 9 room, 4 bed, 2 bath colonial, Open House: Sunday 12-1:30

$1,150,000 – 87 Summer St., 4 unit, 16 total room, 5 total bedroom 4 family, Open Houses: Friday 12:30-2 Saturday 12:30-2:30

$1,049,000 – 29 Birch Road, 2 unit, 10 total room, 6 total bedroom 2 family, Open House: Sunday 12:30-2

$389,900 – 10 Riverside Street Unit 3-1, 4 room, 2 bed, 1 bath low-rise, Open Houses: Saturday 1:30-3:30 Sunday 1:30-3:30

$869,000 – 17 Standish Road, 8 room, 4 bed, 1.5 bath colonial, Open House: Sunday 1:30-2:30

$849,000 = 15-17 Hardy Ave., 2 unit, 11 total room, 5 total bedroom, Open House: Sunday 11:30-1:30

Sponsored by:

$1,300,000 – 53 Shattuck Road, 12 room, 7 bed, 3.5 bath shingle, Open House: Saturday 12:30-2 Sunday 12:30-2

$639,000 – 64 Bigelow Ave. Unit 27, 5 room, 2 bed, 2 bath low-rise, Handicap Access/Equipped, Open House: Saturday 11-1 Sunday 11:30-1:30

$649,000 – 256 Sycamore Unit 1, 7 room, 3 bed, 2 bath 2/3 family, Open Houses: Saturday 12-1:30 Sunday 12-1:30

$669,900 – 155 Highland Ave.,7 room, 3 bed, 2 bath colonial, Open House: Saturday 11:30-1

$595,000 – 151 Coolidge Ave.

Schools

Parking, Drop Off at Lowell School Concern Residents, Some Oppose Location of Additions

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Parking dominated the discussion of the plans to renovate and expand Lowell Elementary School at Wednesday night’s community meeting. The School Building Committee presented the latest designs for the renovated Lowell School at the community meeting. The school will be expanded so it can handle up to 550 students (the school currently has about 420), and update the current classrooms and facilities to provide a 21st century education, said Superintendent Dede Galdston. The Lowell library was filled with both parents and nearby residents. The topic of parking, and the drop off and pickup of students, were among the topics discussed by the attendees.

Arts

Watertown School Staff Putting on Play with 1 Day Prep to Raise Money for Band Trip

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Some familiar faces in the Watertown Public Schools will have just one day to prepare a play for a performance on Saturday night. The proceeds from the event will help defer cost of the Watertown High School music program’s trip to New York. 

The Mystery Staff Show features 16 members of the WPS staff, who will not know what they will be performing until just 27.5 hours before they go on stage at the Watertown High School auditorium on Saturday, Dec. 1 at 7 p.m.

Tickets cost $10, and the money raised will help cut the cost of the every-other-year trip to New York by Watertown High School’s music program. Members of the band, orchestra and chorus head to the Big Apple for a weekend that includes performances, a trip to a play, and visits to tourist spots. The cast includes: Zack Allen, Heidi Baildon, Laurie Brackett, Culley Byham, Holly Cachimuel, Megan DiDuca, Aine Dirrane, Jess Donato, Amy Donohue, Chad Foster, Chris McDermott, Pat O’Neill, Nyssa Patten, Magen Slesinger, Siran Tamakian, and Sarah Thiemann.

Government

Town Council Adopts Regulations for Retail Marijuana with Buffers Zones, Cap on Number

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At the same time as Massachusetts began allowing the retail sale of marijuana for recreational use, the Watertown Town Council adopted regulations for selling, creating and testing recreational cannabis products. The discussion of the new regulations took more than two hours during Tuesday’s Town Council meeting, with councilors concerned about the where the retail establishments can be located, the number of establishments, and how to regulate labs that test marijuana. Towns can vote to ban all recreational marijuana establishments, said Town Attorney Mark Reich. However, because Watertown voters supported Question 4 in 2016, the town would have to put an ordinance to ban retail marijuana on the ballot and have it approved by the voters. Sixty percent of voters voted Yes on the question to legalize the sale of marijuana for recreational use.

Break ins

Three Watertown Homes Broken Into Tuesday Night, Latest in Spate of Break Ins

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Police investigated three home break ins on Tuesday night, which are the latest in a spate of home burglaries in Watertown. Two break ins occurred on Winsor Avenue and one on School Street. In these cases, like previous ones, no one was home at the time of the break in. All of the break ins occurred in the neighborhoods around the Oakley Country Club. Watertown Police Lt. James O’Connor said that detectives are investigating the break ins, and are compiling a list of missing items from Tuesday’s break ins.

Schools

School Committee Votes Against Seeking Membership to Minuteman Vocational District

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The Town of Watertown will not seek to join the Minuteman Regional Vocational Technical School District, at least not this year. 

The School Committee voted last week to follow the recommendation of a subcommittee that looked into whether to join the regional district which runs the vocational high school in Lexington. Watertown has consistently sent more than 50 students to Minuteman each year over the past 10 years. This year there are 56 students, or more than 10 percent of the total enrollment (516) and sends more students than all but one community. Arlington, a member community, sends 119 students this year. There are 10 member towns, and students from those communities are accepted before the school looks at out-of-district applicants, Minuteman Superintendent Edward Bouquillon said at the joint Budget & Finance and Curriculum subcommittee meeting.

Schools

Mixed Results on MCAS for Watertown Middle, High School Students

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The MCAS scores at Watertown Middle School and Watertown High School showed both improvements and drops from prior years, as well as compared to the state average. The School Committee heard the report last week, and members were interested in what is being done to improve Watertown’s scores. Interpreting the scores is not as easy as past years, said Theresa McGuinness, Assistant Superintendent of Teaching, Learning and Assessment, because many students took the new version of the MCAS test last year, while others took the old one. At Watertown Middle School, the scores dropped in English Language Arts (ELA) in sixth, seventh and eighth grades, but remained ahead of state average in seventh and eighth grade, said Watertown Middle School principal Donna Martin. In math, the WMS scores were down from 2017.