Letters

LETTER: Watertown Middle and High Schools Need to Start Later

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Watertown should move the middle and high school start times to 8:30am or later to support students’ health and academic performance. Currently the middle school starts at 7:40 a.m. and the high schools starts at 7:55. The superintendent will report on a survey of Watertown parents, students and teachers regarding potential new school start times at the School Committee meeting to be held on Monday, May 2, 7 p.m. at Town Hall. Middlesex district superintendents released a statement in March agreeing to consider moving high school start times to between 8:00 and 8:30 a.m. by fall of 2017. Over the last decade, and increasingly across the country, school districts are looking at starting school later.

First Parish Church

LETTER: Group Invites Residents to Join Mother’s Day Walk for Peace

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On Mothers Day, May 8, 2016 please join a group from Watertown and thousands of other walkers for the annual Mother’s Day Walk for Peace. The walk will start in Fields Corner, Dorchester and end at Boston City Hall, a route of 6.8 miles. You are invited to walk for all or part of the route. Buses will leave Watertown for Fields Corner at 7:15 am from the parking lot at the First Parish of Watertown, 35 Church St., Watertown. Opening remarks begin at Fields Corner at 8 a.m.; the walk begins at 8:30.

Letters

LETTER: Watertown Parents Group Wants Solution to Overcrowded Schools, Soon

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For the past several years, the growing student enrollment numbers in Watertown, particularly at the elementary level, along with the demands of good quality 21st Century general and special education, have placed increasing space pressures on our school buildings.  We have reached a point where our three elementary schools are out of space. Addressing these space issues has been on the back burner for far too long; we need to make major progress in the near term. To date, we have placed the responsibility for managing these space constraints and for maintaining safe and effective learning environments on the school principals and faculty.  They have done and continue to do a tremendous job – showing remarkable flexibility, creativity, and care to try and give all students a positive educational experience. We have reached a point where the physical space limits exceed their ability to solve the problem in both the immediate and longer term at the school level. There are several classes in each Elementary school that are projected to be above Watertown’s unofficial class size guidelines (18-24 students depending on grade level) next year, and quite a few that are right on the cusp of turning into a situation like what the Cunniff is facing right now.

Letters

See Watertown Strong Schools’ ‘Unofficial Minutes’ on Overcrowding, Other Issues

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This is the first publication of the “Unofficial Minutes” created by Watertown Strong Schools. The group of concerned parents who follow the Watertown Public Schools attend meetings and write-up summaries, and at the end, provide their commentary on the issues of the night. 
Unofficial Minutes: Buildings & Grounds Subcommittee Meeting on 4/11/16 – Key Points and Commentary
Note: These are NOT official minutes. Subcommittee members: Jean Fitzgerald, Superintendent; Charles Kellner, Director of Business Services; Liz Yusem, Chair; Kendra Foley, Eileen Hsu-Balzer

Audience members: John Portz (SC), Candace Miller (SC), Guido Guidotti (SC), Mark Sideris (TC/SC), Vincent Piccirilli (TC), Aaron Dushku (TC), Michael Dattoli (TC), Lisa Feltner (TC), Tom Tracy (Auditor/Assistant Town Manager for Finance), Stephen Romanelli, Director of Facilities and Transportation, Brandt Brisson (WSS), James Cairns (WSS), Kate Coyne (WSS), Angelo DeFrancesco (WSS), Margo Guernesey (WSS), Diego Hammerschlag (WSS), Chris Lowry (WSS), David Stokes (WSS), Alyson Morales (WSS), Bob LaRoche, Hosmer Principal, Mena Ciarlone, Cunniff Principal, Robert Varnum, Lisa Hayward, Bruce Colton, Elaina Griffith, Mike Shepard, and others. Approximately 40 people were in attendance. Plaque Honoring Mr. John R. Burns

2 former students representing a much larger group came from NYC so that they could ask to place a plaque in the Middle School (to be chosen by WPS) honoring Mr. John R. Burns, a former Watertown Middle School teacher and principal, who passed away in October 2015.

Autism

LETTER: Resident Backs Library’s Decision to Host Autism Event

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To the Editor:

On Wednesday, the News published a letter protesting a program scheduled for Saturday, March 12, at the Watertown Free Public Library. The author, Julie Cotton, had already sent a version of the letter to the Library Director and Trustees and requested they cancel the program. The sponsoring organization, Talk About Curing Autism (TACA), was founded by parents who believe that certain unproven medical interventions can benefit, even cure, their autistic children. These therapies are controversial and widely believed to be ineffective, potentially dangerous, and supported by flawed research. In 2014, the FDA issued a consumer update on the subject under the headline “Beware of False or Misleading Claims for Treating Autism.”

I sympathize with the Ms. Cotton.

Letters

LETTER: Citizens Group Opposes Regulations on Watertown Homes

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To the Editor,

“I don’t want anyone telling me where to plant my roses”. That was the parting message John Labadini, President of the newly-established Concerned Watertown Homeowners Association at the end of a public meeting at the Library last Thursday evening. That meeting was arranged to acquaint Watertown residents of a new initiative being pursued by the Town’s Planning and Development office. The Department is drafting proposed Residential Guideline regulations setting design standards for the appearance of our homes and for owners who want to, or need to, tear down and replace an existing structure. The Association feels that property designs are ownership property rights, not the Town’s.

Letters

LETTER: Parent Says Autism Event at Library is ‘Dangerous Misinformation’

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To the Editor: 
I am writing in regards to the decision by the Watertown Free Public Library to host an event sharing and elevating dangerous misinformation about autism while promoting snake-oil “cures.”
On March 12, an organization called TACA (Talk About Curing Autism) has reserved a room in our library presenting Dr. Theoharis Theoharides so he can share his views on an unsubstantiated and unproven link between autism and “brain inflammation.” To be clear, TACA is an organization that preys upon families of autistic children by promising them a cure through the use of intensive therapies, including a number of highly controversial and dangerous treatments such as chelation therapy. These therapies have never been shown to have any effect on “curing” autism, a neurological condition that cannot be changed, and groups like TACA ensnare desperate parents and mislead them into spending significant amounts of money and potentially harming their children. Among the things TACA encourages, according to their website:

No vaccines or a delayed/selective vaccine schedule, despite overwhelming evidence that vaccines do not cause autism and that vaccines given as recommended are a necessary and critical component of overall public health. Chelation therapy, which is indicated only for removing heavy metals from the body (anti-vaccine proponents believe vaccines impart mercury and other metals into the bloodstream, which is untrue).