Lowell School

Students from a Watertown School Place First in National Math Competition

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A packed room at Watertown High School erupted in cheers and applause when it was announced that Lowell Elementary School’s Continental Math League team finished in first place in the national competition during Monday’s School Committee meeting. The 27 fifth graders from Lowell took part in five meets through the course of the year, in which they tackle six questions that require “high-level mathematical skills, critical, intuitive and abstract thinking,” said fifth-grade teacher Debra Garabedian, who oversees the Math League at Lowell. Nationally, more than 400 schools and over 15,000 students participated in the competition. To qualify as a national winner, a school must have a perfect cumulative score of 180 points. This year, the Lowell was one of 13 schools to reach that mark and finish in first place.

Around Town

New England Patriots Honor Watertown Charity That Helps the Troops

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Operation American Soldier received an award from the New England Patriots Charitable Foundation for its work sending care packages to American servicemen and women across the globe from its base at the Marine Corps League’s Charles J. Shutt Detachment in Watertown. Founder Wendy Rocca was one of 26 recipients of the Myra Kraft Community MVP Award at a luncheon held on June 2 at Gillette Stadium. Among those on hand were Patriots Owner Bob Kraft, QB Tom Brady and tight end Rob Gonkowski. “It was a wonderful, memorable experience!” Rocca said.

Around Town

School Officials Have New Plan for Addressing Overcrowding Next Fall

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After hearing the concerns of parents about a proposal to move preschool, Pre-K and even kindergarten classes around the district, Watertown School officials presented a second plan, which got better – but still mixed – reviews at a packed meeting at Watertown High School Monday night. The new plan calls for moving one Early Steps Integrated Preschool class from Hosmer Elementary School to the Phillips Building (an old school on Common Street) which along with another Early Steps class already slated to be at the Phillips. In addition, one PreK class each from Cunniff, Lowell and Hosmer elementary schools would move to the Phillips, too, Superintendent Jean Fitzgerald said. The first proposal was more complicated, and called for more moves, including moving all the Early Steps classes from the Hosmer to the Phillips, and moving Pre-K classes from the Lowell and the Cunniff. It also proposed moving a Cunniff kindergarten over to the Hosmer, and later a second Cunniff kindergarten was proposed to move, too.

Animal Cruelty

Watertown Police Seeking Owner of Starving Dog Found at Home Depot

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Watertown Police seek help finding the owners of the severely undernourished dog that was found at Home Depot in town. 

The pit bull was found early Saturday morning and was “all skin and bones,” according to a report on WHDH Channel 7 (read the whole story and see a picture here). The dog, which is being called “Sully Doe” also had other injuries, according to police. “He has numerous lesions that may be cigarette burns and each ear has had a small notch cut into them. He weighs in at 26 pounds which is less than half of what a healthy weight would be for this breed,” Police announced. Once Sully gains enough weight, he will be put up for adoption.

Government

Forum Will Educate Public About Transportation & Traffic Issues in Town

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A local group wants to give residents a voice in how transportation and traffic in Watertown looks in the future, and will hold a forum to educate residents about transportation planning. Traffic and public transportation have become big issues in Watertown, and will be even more vital as developments go up on Arsenal and Pleasant streets. So, the Watertown Public Transit Task Force, the Town Council and the Watertown Community Development and Planning Department will organize a forum on Thursday, June 16 at 6:30 p.m. at the Watertown Free Public Library. The event is free and open to the all residents, employees and business owners in Watertown. The goal of the forum is to increase the shared knowledge about what modern transportation planning can do in municipalities like Watertown to improve local transportation and ease traffic congestion.

Sports

Two Area Basketball Experts Speaking at Boston Basketball Clinics

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Boston Basketball announced two speakers who will work with players at clinics this summer, Newton North Head Coach Paul Connolly and Bentley University Assistant Women’s Coach C White. The Shot Dr.
Paul Connolly is one of the most well renowned coaches in the region and earned the nickname the “Shot Dr.” for his tremendous ability to teach proper mechanics of shooting the basketball. Coach Connolly is the head boys basketball coach at Newton North High School, where he has amassed a career record of 251-59 in 13 seasons. Coach Connolly guided the Tigers to back to back State Championships in 2005 and 2006, and nine Bay State Conference championships (2005, 06, 07, 08, 09, 10, 12, 13, &14).

Boys Lacrosse

WHS Sports: See How the Raiders’ Track, Boys Lacrosse & Girls Tennis Teams Fared

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Watertown’s athletic teams wound up a successful spring season with state competitions this weekend. 
Track & Field
Watertown senior Austin Lin turned in another fine performance, running the 400 meters in 48.84 to take third place Saturday at the All-State Meet at Westfield State College. Lin will run again for the Raiders as part of the Watertown sprint relay team going to Outdoor High School Nationals in North Carolina later this month. The boys 4 x 400 relay came in 11th in the meet, and senior Jeremy Breen finished 21st in the 800 meters. On the girls’ side, Watertown sophomore Emily Koufos got 14th in the mile run, and senior Katherine Tolman finished 18th in the 400 meters. The Raiders boys squad finished 43rd with six points.

Around Town

Police Log: Man Causes Four Car Accident, Hundreds Worth of Underwear Stolen

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The following information was provided by the Watertown Police Department. Arrests
May 28, 12:05 a.m.: A man driving down Main Street struck a car parked near Whites Avenue, which then struck two more parked vehicles. Police arrived and saw a man standing next to the vehicle that triggered the accident. The man told police said he looked down to find a cigarette lighter and he crashed into the parked vehicle. The officer smelled alcohol on the man’s breath and gave field sobriety tests.