Schools

Meet the Finalists for Watertown Assistant Superintendent

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Parents, residents and others are invited to hear from the finalists for the position of Assistant Superintendent of the Watertown Public Schools at an upcoming meeting. School officials sent out the following information:

The initial interview process for the Assistant Superintendent position at Watertown Public Schools has been completed. Members of the community can meet the three finalists at a public forum on March 10 at 6 p.m. at the Watertown High School Lecture Hall. In addition, special thanks go to the interview committee members for their thoughtful work during this process. The members of the team included: Barbara Barry, Toni Carlson, Craig Hardimon, Liz Hopkinson, Barbara Gortych, Debra King, Lynsey Kraemer, Shirley Lundberg, Donna Ruseckas, and Magen Slesigner.

Schools

Lowell School PTO’s Annual Silent Auction Starts March 1

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The Lowell PTO is hosting it’s annual Silent Auction fundraiser from March 1-12. The Lowell PTO sent out the following information:

Auction items include:

Restaurant Gift Cards, Summer Camp weeks, Ski Tickets & season rentals, Salon Gift Cards, Many Family Activities

Museum Admissions, Movie Gift cards, Yoga, Dance, Zumba passes, Legal Services, Auto Services

Retail Gift Cards, Martial Arts, Kids Birthday Party Venues. Watertown Youth Sports Registrations, Recycle & Compost Bins

Sporting Tickets, And so much more…. Visit: https://www.32auctions.com/2016-lowell-auction

Charity

Man Running 100 Mile Ultra Marathon to Raise Money for Lupus Foundation

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A man who works for Watertown-based FORMA Therapeutics will run a 100-mile race to raise money to find a cure for Lupus. Thomas Tan wrote the following donation request for his effort to raise $10,000 for the Lupus Foundation of America (See his fundraising page here):

Did you know that an estimated 1.5 million Americans, and at least five million people worldwide, have some form of lupus? A chronic, unpredictable and debilitating autoimmune disease, lupus can affect a major organ such as the heart, lungs, kidneys or brain in approximately half of the patients. To appreciate how devastating this disease is, please watch this heart-breaking story: http://youtu.be/_7P1UNCMG00?list=UUPVIIwfYm5i5JniLtVhu1JA

There is no cure for lupus and scientists are working hard to develop better and safer therapies for lupus: https://lnkd.in/eiwDsiY

But, drug discovery and development can take many years, which is why it’s important to consider other ways to impact patient lives. Raising awareness and engaging the public is an important way to make an impact on research priorities, while inspiring the next generation of healthcare providers to tackle unmet medical needs.

Charity

Watertown Middle School Kicks Off Pennies for Patients Fundraiser

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This year, the Watertown Middle School will again be participating in the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society’s School & Youth Program, Pennies for Patients — a three-week coin, cash, and check drive to raise funds to find cures for blood cancers. Our drive will run from February 29 through March 21. As you may know, leukemia causes more deaths than any other cancer among children and young adults under the age of 20. Mr. Johnson, our physical education teacher, is a lymphoma survivor. Our fundraising is in honor of him and in memory of two other WMS teachers, Pat Stayn and Peter Clough, who died as a result of lymphoma.

Around Town

Contest for Name, Logo for Cable Show by Overcoming Addiction Groups

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Watertown Overcoming Addiction and Belmont Overcoming Addiction need your help! We have teamed together to help raise more awareness, education, support and hope for those suffering from Substance Use Disorder and for their loved ones. We will bring these efforts forward with a new cable show addressing this crisis. We are asking Belmont and Watertown High School students to come up with 1) a name for the show; and 2) a logo for the show. Both should communicate the challenges of Substance Use Disorder and recovery for the individual and their loved ones.

Boston Marathon Bombing

LETTER: Mother Worries About Impact of ‘Patriots Day’ Filming in Watertown

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Esteemed Councilors,

I’m a resident of District C, and I’m writing to you today to urge you to register your opposition to the filming of Patriots Day in the Laurel/Dexter Street neighborhood. At the time of the shootout — in which over 200 rounds were fired, one person was killed in a particularly gruesome way and a police officer was injured, I lived in that neighborhood. The garage of the home where I lived was about 75 feet from the shootout. My children still live there half the week, as my former husband and I share custody of them. I want to tell you that it’s not just about recreating a traumatic event with pyrotechnics late at night in the same neighborhood that witnessed these horrible events.

Around Town

LETTER: Resident Opposes Filming Recreation of Watertown Shootout

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Dear Mr. Driscoll and Councilors Sideris, Dattoli, Falkoff, Palomba, Kounelis, Feltner, Piccirilli, Woodland, and Dushku,

I am writing to oppose the re-creation and filming of gun battle scenes for the movie “Patriots Day” on Laurel Street in Watertown. I live near-by on Boylston Street — close enough that my husband heard the sound of the shootout as it happened, close enough to be woken by the sounds of helicopters over my house that night. When I learned that the five nights of filming planned on Laurel Street within ear shot of my home would be loud, including gunshots until midnight, I felt angry and anxious. I wondered — who would allow this to happen in our town?! As I learned more, I felt the tears fill my eyes.

Elections

LETTER: Tree Advocates Brace for Tree Prunings by Eversource

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Hi, Trees for Watertown members and friends:

Eversource (formerly NSTAR) is coming back to Watertown to utility-prune our street trees starting Monday, February 29.  Citizen attention can really help to protect our street trees from damaging and disfiguring pruning during this utility pruning cycle. The Problem

Eversource’s official utility pruning standard specifies removal of all tree branches within 10 to 15 feet of high voltage wires. Utility pruning to Eversource’s standard results in canopy removal far in excess of recommended aboricultural guidelines for preserving street tree health. Arboricultural guidelines recommend pruning no more than 25 percent of a young tree’s healthy canopy, less in older trees, and even less — if any — in mature trees stressed by poor soil or confined soil volume and limited moisture access. The majority of trees providing vital canopy over our urban streets fall in this category.