Donna Martin

New Middle School Principal Thrilled to be in Town, Looking Forward to Working with Students, Staff

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While some may shy away from kids in their preadolescence and early teens, Watertown Middle School’s new principal said she enjoys working with students in those grades, and believes they can be successful as long as they make connections with adults at the school. Donna Martin comes to Watertown after serving as assistant principal at McCarthy Middle School in Chelmsford for a dozen years. When she looked for her first principalship, she wanted to be closer to her home. “Chelmsford is a great community, too,” Martin said. “When I was looking for a principalship I wanted something a little different.”

Schools

Perkins Announces Additions to the School’s Board of Trustees

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The following announcement was provided by Perkins School for the Blind:

Perkins School for the Blind, the first school for the blind in the U.S. and the international leader in blindness education has added long-time Members of the
Corporation Jim Down and Stephen Pelletier to its Board of Trustees, alongside Katherine McGaugh and Jo Frances Meyer, who was appointed by the Massachusetts Governor’s Office. Prior to his retirement, Down was vice chairman of Mercer Management Consulting (now Oliver Wyman), responsible for the overall direction and management of the firm. Over the course of his career, Down has been a senior advisor on strategic issues to a multitude of organizations including UPS, CSX/Seal-Land, AT&T, Agility, The Centers for Disease Control (CDC) and
Merck. Down will become chair of Perkins’ International Committee. Pelletier is executive vice president and chief operating officer of Prudential’s U.S.-based businesses, comprising more than $1.3 trillion in assets under management as of June 30, 2018.

Schools

School Building Committee Split Over What New Hosmer School Should Look Like

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A vision for what the new Hosmer Elementary School might look like was presented to the School Building Committee last week, and members had a variety of opinions. There are already a mix of styles on the site, including the Brigham House (formerly East Junior High and before that Watertown High School), along with the 1960s era section with the auditorium, and the 2002 addition that connects that area to the old classroom building. That building will be torn down and a new building will be constructed. Architect Scott Dunlap of Ai3 presented conceptual drawings for the new building, which showed a three story building with clapboard style siding  — red is some areas and white in others —  topped by pitched roofs and a cupola. “We are not attempting to match it with the Brigham House or the exiting Hosmer,” Dunlap said.

Schools

Neighbors Concerned About Proposal for New Hosmer School, Loss of Field Space

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The School Building Committee debated what the new Hosmer School should look like, but for residents living near the school the more important issue is where the new building will go. The Hosmer School will have a new classroom building, which may or may not be attached to the building with the gym, auditorium and cafeteria. The current classroom building (closest to Chauncey Street), will be torn down eventually, but not until after the school serves as the temporary home for students from Lowell and Cunniff schools while their buildings are renovated. AnnMarie Cloonan lives Winthrop Street, across from the field next to Hosmer where the new school building is proposed to be built. She had not even heard about the plans for Hosmer until recently. Her husband Fred said he thinks the Town should have alerted neighbors about the project.

School Bus

School Committee Changes Rules for Who Gets Priority on School Buses

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Students who live farther from school will get priority for seats on the school bus under the changes to the Watertown Public School’s Transportation Policy, passed by the School Committee last week. The state requires districts to provide free transportation for students in grades K-5 who live 2 miles or more walking distance from school, said School Committee member Eileen Hsu-Balzer, who is chair of the Policy Subcommittee. In Watertown the limit for free bus transportation is dropped to 1.5 miles for those going to Hosmer Elementary School. Also, sixth graders who live 2 miles or more from Watertown Middle School get to ride for free. The Watertown Schools also provide free transportation for students attending the Minuteman Regional Vocational Technical High School in Lexington.

Schools

School Building Committee Meeting Three Times in August

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School may be out for summer, but the planning for the reconstruction of Watertown’s three elementary schools will still be in session. The School Building Committee, which oversees the design and construction of Hosmer, Lowell and Cunniff elementary schools, has three meetings scheduled in August. The group is scheduled to meet on Aug. 1, 15 and 29, but the meeting on the 15th may conflict with a School Committee meeting. The School Building Committee meets at 6 p.m. in the Council Chamber in Town Hall.

Schools

Watertown Weighing Whether to Join Minuteman Vocational District, Parent Says More Urgency Needed

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Watertown Public School officials must decide whether it makes more sense for the town to join the Minuteman Vocational Technical High School District, continue to send children as a non-member, or find some other option for vocational education. At Monday’s School Committee meeting, Superintendent Dede Galdston said the district continues to research what will be best for the students of Watertown, but one parent advocate for joining Minuteman said the district is not moving fast enough. Watertown currently sends dozens of students to the vocational high school in Lexington. Last year, there were so many students that they more than filled a 53-student school bus. The Watertown Public Schools pay the tuition for the students to attend Minuteman.

Schools

As Kindergarten Changes, Superintendent Assures That Children Will Have Recess, Unstructured Time

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With Watertown Public Schools officials’ efforts to add programs such as Spanish lessons and social and emotional learning to the day of kindergartners, many parents in town worried that their children will not have enough unstructured time or recess. 

More than 360 parents signed a letter written by a Lowell School parent who was concerned that kindergartners in Watertown would only have one recess each day and no free-choice, unstructured time. Rachel Danford, who wrote the letter, spoke at Monday’s School Committee meeting, saying that research shows that kindergartners do better when they have two recesses each day. Superintendent Dede Galdston responded in a letter she sent to parents and posted on the Watertown Public Schools website, and spoke at Monday’s meeting. She said a misconception about the schedule for Watertown kindergartners changing may have arisen due to a sample schedule shared with parents in the spring. She added that the district has not done a good job explaining how the new curriculum initiatives will fit into the kindergarten day.