Schools

Find Out When the Superintendent Finalists Will Visit, How You Can Participate

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The Watertown School Committee will host two candidates for the position of Watertown School Superintendent, school officials announced. Arthur Unobskey, Assistant Superintendent of the Gloucester Public Schools, will visit Watertown on March 2, and Deanne Galdston, Assistant Superintendent of the Billerica Public Schools, will visit on March 6. The candidates will visit each of the district’s five schools, meeting the principal, teachers, staff, and students. The candidates also will meet a group of high school students, town officials, and will hold a question-and-answer session with teachers and other educators in the district. An open public forum will be held each day from 6 to 7 p.m. in the Town Council chambers in Town Hall.

Government

Community Meeting Planned for Proposed Medical Marijuana Dispensary

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The applicants seeking to open a medical marijuana dispensary in East Watertown will host a community meeting to discuss their proposal. The following information was distributed by town officials:

Natural Selections invites you to a community meeting to review and discuss its proposed Medical Marijuana Treatment Center project at 23 Elm Street, Building 2.  The project will occupy approximately 2,755 square feet of existing space within Building 2, and will not include any exterior or structural work. The community meeting will be held at Watertown Town Hall from 7 p.m. to 8 p.m. on Monday, February 27, 2017, in the Town Council Chamber on the 2nd floor. If you have questions, please contact Stephanie L. Haughey, Esq., Prince Lobel Tye, LLP at shaughey@princelobel.com or 617-456-8053.

Brigham House

Watertown Students Bond with Seniors Through Intergenerational Activities

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This school year, some of Watertown’s youngest students have added a new component to their curriculum—events with the town’s senior citizens. Preschool and elementary school students have trick-or-treated, performed a Thanksgiving play, listened to “Mrs. Mittens” read a winter story, and delivered valentines. With the Phillips School building (adjacent to the Senior Center) now being used for some preschool classes, the partnership was welcomed and convenient, said Karen Feeney, Watertown’s Early Childhood director. “We are thrilled to collaborate with our neighbors as a way to foster community. The seniors have so much fun and the students love it.

Business

Watertown Savings Announces Winners of Customer Choice Awards

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On Tuesday, March 28, Watertown Savings Bank (WSB) will distribute $75,000 to the 30 local community organizations chosen by its banking customers, in the bank’s 21st annual Customer Choice Awards, bank officials announced. “Our Customer Choice Awards program is one of which we are particularly proud,” said CEO Ronald Dean. “The list of winners reflects the important work being done by non-profits and volunteer organizations throughout the communities we serve.”

Dollars awarded are based on the number of votes each organization received. All organizations that received one percent of the total number of votes are being awarded funds. The bank divided $75,000 by the percentage of votes received, with $3,500 as the maximum amount and $5,000 awarded to the organization with the most votes. Congratulations to all the winners, and thank you for all that you do in our communities!

Entertainment

Watertown Library’s One Book, One Watertown Explores U.S. Race Relations

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This year, the Watertown Free Public Library has chosen Homegoing for its One Book, One Watertown title, a book that touches on race relations in the United States. The Library has several related events and activities planned in March. Homegoing by Yaa Gyasi is a novel that tells multiple stories, in multiple voices, about two half-sisters and their descendants in Ghana and the U.S. While these characters’ lives may seem far removed from 21st-century Watertown, their humanity speaks across centuries and continents to our own deeply human fears and hopes. Their history is our history, and confronting it—along with the painful legacies of slavery, colonialism, and racism—is the goal of the WFPL’s 2017 One Book, One Watertown program. Join us in March for events and discussions that will explore the historical and cultural touchpoints of the book while also looking at the current state of race relations in the U.S.

Community Book Discussion of Homegoing

Wednesday, March 1 | 7 p.m.

Join your neighbors for a casual book discussion.

Around Town

Watertown Community Foundation’s Affirms its Mission to Serve a Diverse Town

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The Watertown Community Foundation released the following statement. 

Watertown thrives as a community because of the people who have come to it, for 387 years, from all corners of the world. Within the town’s small geographic footprint is an incredible diversity of cultures, heritages, and languages, each contributing to the strength and richness of our town. The mission of the Watertown Community Foundation is to build and sustain a vibrant, close-knit community in Watertown, Massachusetts — now and for future generations. We are proud to support the role of every member of this community, new or old, regardless of where they have come from, what languages they speak, how they worship, or who they love. Watertown Community Foundation: Here for good.

Around Town

Watertown Boys & Girls Club Open With Extended Hours During February Break

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Watertown Boys & Girls Club announced it will be open with extended hours for most of February Vacation Week! Monday, Feb. 20: CLOSED for Presidents’ Day

Tuesday to Friday, Feb. 21 to Feb. 24: OPEN 8:30 a.m. to 6:00 p.m.

The Club will be open for drop-in programs Tuesday through Friday, 8:30 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. Activities will include free swim, arts & crafts, gym games, games room tournaments, computer time, and more!

Letters

LETTER: Councilor Believes New Developments Not Causing School Overcrowding

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I want to preface this article by saying that there will always be more work to do when it comes to improving our schools and class sizes in general. I don’t believe there is a definite line we could ever reach where I would say there is no more work to be done. I think that is simply true as we are part of an ever-evolving and changing world.  With that being said, the standards I use to measure our class sizes and school population are both comparative and historic. I write this because almost every action taken by the Town and/or School Committee comes back to a widely held belief that our schools are overcrowded and class sizes are too high. Part of that belief is that development in town is the main cause of this.