Dean's List

310 Endicott College Athletes Make Dean’s List, Including One from Watertown

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A total of 310 Endicott College club and varsity student-athletes have been named to the 2017 Fall Semester Dean’s List for obtaining a minimum grade point average (GPA) of 3.50 in the fall semester, including Watertown’s Gabriella Coppola who plays basketball for the Gulls. 

All 21 Endicott varsity programs and all seven club programs are represented throughout the list, Endicott Athletics announced. The breakdown of student-athletes named to the Dean’s List is solely based on the information provided by the Endicott Athletics Compliance Office, which reflects grades posted as of February 12, 2018. The list provided by the Endicott Athletics Compliance Office is subject to change at any time. NOTE: In order to qualify for the Dean’s List, a student must obtain a minimum grade point average of 3.5, receive no grade below a “C”, have no withdrawal grades, and be enrolled in a minimum of 12 credits for the semester. See the full list of athletes from Endicott who made the Dean’s list by clicking here.

Schools

Town Seeking 2 Residents to Be Part of School Building Committee

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Tuesday night, Town Manager Michael Driscoll announced the members of the School Building Committee, which will include school and town officials, as well as two members of the public. 

The Building Committee will represent the town/school in the projects to renovate or rebuild the three elementary schools and Watertown High School. The town will fund the three elementary school projects, while the it will work with the state to fund the high school renovation/reconstruction. The members of the School Building Committee will be:

Two Town Councilors
Two School Committee members
Town Manager Michael Driscoll or his representative
Superintendent of Schools Deanne Galdston
Assistant Superintendent for Finance and Operations Mary DeLai
Town Auditor Tom Tracy
Director of Public Buildings Lori Kabel
School Principals as ex officio members, and
Two members of the public with architectural or engineering experience

Selecting the Two Members of the Public
The Town Manager sent out the following announcement:

Town Manager Michael Driscoll is seeking two Watertown citizens interested in serving on the School Building Committee. The committee is being formed to oversee the renovation and expansion of Watertown School buildings related to the Building for the Future initiative. Building for the Future is a comprehensive, forward-looking initiative to address learning, operational, and capacity improvements for all school facilities.

Schools

School Committee Looks to Change Policies on Sports Banners; Non-WHS Students Attending Dances, Events

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{Updated Feb. 14, 2018 at 5:04 p.m.}

Changes to the policies for how Watertown High School athletics banners are awarded, and for allowing non-WHS students to attend events – such as dances – are being examined by the School Committee. 

At last week’s School Committee meeting the board had first readings for the policy changes. The final votes are expected to be made at the School Committee’s March 5 meeting. Athletic Banners
The policy about when a banner goes up the gymnasium at Watertown High School is being examined because there are all several types of banners, some for teams, some for individual athletes and they are not all the same. “There is a confusion because there are inconsistencies,” said School Committee member Eileen Hsu-Balzer, who chairs the Policy Subcommittee.

Schools

School Committee Takes Lowell Site Out of Play for High School Spot, Approves Early Childhood Center

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The Lowell Elementary School site will not be considered as a possible location for a new Watertown High School, and the School Committee endorsed the idea of building a central location for the district’s preschool and pre-kindergarten programs.

The vote came Monday night, a week after the board discussed those two items during a public meeting. The decisions needed to be made so architects hired by the district can begin planning the renovation or rebuilding of Watertown’s three elementary schools. Also Monday night, the School Committee approved a peak capacity for the elementary schools when the building project is complete. Lowell Site
Last week, architects from Ai3 gave a presentation about the possibility of using the Lowell site – including the playground area – for a new high school building. 

“Ai3 did a great job in its memo and it’s presentation to us explaining why the site would not work – the site itself, the size of the site and the slope,” said Town Council President and School Committee member Mark Sideris. Architects said the site would be smaller than recommended for a high school and the property slopes significantly, making it difficult to build a school without having many level changes.

Schools

WHS Students Team Building Robot from Scratch for Annual FIRST Robotics Competition

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Four nights a week and on weekends, a group of Watertown High School students work intensely bolting pieces of metal frame together, wiring electrical circuits and even sewing fabric. These members of the WHS Robotics Team have been working on their entry to the 2018 FIRST Robotics Competition for the past month and only have a few weeks left to finish their creation. During the build season the Robotics Team, also known as the KwarQs, has six and a half weeks to build a robot from scratch to take part in the competition. Each year the goal of the game is different, so the robot must be able to perform different tasks. This year’s competition, called FIRST Power Up!, is designed to be like a video game, with robots from three schools teaming up to compete against a trio of other robots.

Government

OP-ED: School Funding Formula Not Fair to Communities Like Watertown

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Submitted by State Sen. Will Brownsberger, whose district includes Watertown, Belmont and parts of Boston. Overall, state aid to schools is inadequate and, although the current distribution formula works out well for Belmont and Boston, it is unfair to many communities, including Watertown. I hope we can pass the “millionaire’s tax” this November and use the proceeds to increase school aid under a simpler, more rational formula. The state distributes approximately $5 billion annually in unrestricted aid for local schools, known as “Chapter 70” aid, covering on average roughly 1/3 of total local school costs. Aside from MassHealth, unrestricted local school aid is the single largest item in the state budget — roughly 20% of state tax revenue.

Schools

School Committee Weighing Whether to Have Centralized PreK, Preschool Program

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On a recent winter morning, parents of 3 and 4 year olds line up before dawn in hopes of getting one of the spots in the Watertown Public Schools’ Pre-Kindergarten program. This PreK program is one of half of the district’s programs being considered to go into a new early childhood education center as part of the elementary school building projects. On Monday night, the School Committee discussed whether Watertown should have a centralized location for Watertown’s preschool and PreK programs.

Today, the district runs one PreK class at each of the three elementary schools, along with seven classes of preschool – five at Hosmer Elementary School and two at the former Phillips School (which is also the location of the school administration offices). If an early childhood center is built, the plan is to put it next to the Hosmer after some of the buildings on the west side of campus are torn down, said Scott Dunlap of Ai3 – the architect designing the three elementary schools. The proposed center would be able to handle more children, with five PreK classes and eight preschool classes.

Business

Belmont Savings Donates to Watertown Education Foundation at Spelling Bee

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Belmont Savings Bank recently presented the Watertown Education Foundation (WEF) with a contribution of $2,250, which was provided by the Watertown Education Rewards Checking accounts opened with BSB in 2017, the bank announced. The check was presented during the foundation’s annual Elementary School Spelling Bee. For every new Watertown Education Rewards Checking account opened through Belmont Savings, the bank gives both the WEF and the account owner $50, and .25% annual interest on the average monthly balance in the account is put toward school programs.
Founded in 1990 by engaged citizens of Watertown, the WEF is a nonprofit organization dedicated to promoting improvements in the town’s education system by assisting school programs and encouraging support from citizens and businesses of Watertown.