Watertown News (https://www.watertownmanews.com/category/schools/page/139/)
Two Watertown residents graduated from Eastern Nazarene College recently, receiving a diploma during ENC’s 94th spring commencement exercises held May 7 at the college’s main campus in Quincy, Mass. Nicole Greer graduated with a Bachelor of Science degree. Heather Morely graduated with a Bachelor of Arts degree.
Watertown Strong Schools, the parent group, attended the Superintendent’s meeting about plans to move some PreK and preschool classes to the Phillips Building. Unofficial Minutes: Superintendent’s Meeting Concerning Short Term Space Proposals 6/8/16 – Key Points And Commentary
Note: These are NOT official minutes. Commentary can be found at the bottom of the minutes. Written by: Kate Coyne
School Administration members attending: Dr. Fitzgerald, Superintendent; Beth Sahakian, Community Education Director; Bob LaRoche, Hosmer Principal; and April Romano, Early Steps preschool Director. School Committee members attending: John Portz, Chair; Kendra Foley, Vice-Chair; Guido Guidotti, Secretary; Candace Miller; and Liz Yusem.
Watertown Middle School
Hundreds of windows that leak, let in breezes and do not connect well to the building will be replaced at Watertown Middle School in a project jointly paid for by the town and the state.
Tuesday night, the Town Council approved the town borrowing $3.08 million, of which 48.47 percent will be reimbursed by the Massachusetts School Building Authority. The price of the project grew from about $300,000 to over $3 million after the state’s project manager, Gale Associates, examined the school and found that 207 windows, instead of just a few dozen, needed replacing. Some windows let in water, others have gaps that let in the cold in the winter and some are permanently closed, said Siva Sivalogan, of exPERTcon Inc., who will serve as owner’s project manger on behalf of the Watertown Public Schools. “(The middle school) is solidly built, unfortunately the windows are not in good shape, to the extent that they are not compliant (with state standards),” Sivalogan said. Sivalogan showed photos of windows that show they are not well connected to the building.
Here are the student award winners and teacher honorees from the 2016 Watertown High School graduation ceremony. ACADEMIC EXCELLENCE
Valedictorian
Zoe Grodsky
Salutatorian
Christopher Rohlicek
CUMULATIVE G.P.A. OF 4.0 OR HIGHER
Kareem Alhady Julia Harrington
Olivia Almeida Sasha Helfner
Niko Carvajal-Janke Jeremy Holt
Karl Elbakian Robert Kennedy
Sofia Farhadi Christa Knell
Gabriella Fiorentino Austin Lin
Kyle Foley Hannah McCall
Karina Franca Cristopher Patvakanian
Sara Fulton Kira Peterson
Tyler Gardiner Rachel Quinlivan
Briana Guillory Melissa Rose
Arshdeep Singh
2016 TEACHER HONOREES
Cunniff School Ms. Maryann Fitzpatrick & Ms. MaryKate Fitzpatrick
Hosmer School Mrs. Susan Bellis
Lowell School Ms. Debra Garabedian
Watertown Middle School Ms. Eleanor Donato
2016 RETIREMENTS
Mrs. Joan Corkery, School Nurse
Mrs. Gaylene Fantasia, Ceremony Coordinator
2016 ABCD AWARD (Above and Beyond the Call of Duty)
Ms. Adrienne Eaton, Lead Guidance Counselor
2016 TEACHER OF THE YEAR
Mr. Charles Duggan, Physics
2016 CLASS OFFICERS & EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE
Farid Mawanda, President Katelyn Rourke, Vice-President
Tyler Gardiner, Treasurer Jeremy Breen, Secretary
Kyle Foley, Robert Kennedy, Ally McCall, Hannah McCall, Steven Mey
2016 GRADUATION CEREMONY STUDENT PERFORMERS
Rivers and Roads – Zoe Grodsky & Kira Peterson
Never Alone – Jeremy Breen, Niko Carvajal-Janke & Ivana Mendez Juliao
The Call – Dominika Bondaryk & Hannah Cook
See the names of all the graduates here, and check out photos and highlights from the ceremony here.
A packed room at Watertown High School erupted in cheers and applause when it was announced that Lowell Elementary School’s Continental Math League team finished in first place in the national competition during Monday’s School Committee meeting. The 27 fifth graders from Lowell took part in five meets through the course of the year, in which they tackle six questions that require “high-level mathematical skills, critical, intuitive and abstract thinking,” said fifth-grade teacher Debra Garabedian, who oversees the Math League at Lowell. Nationally, more than 400 schools and over 15,000 students participated in the competition. To qualify as a national winner, a school must have a perfect cumulative score of 180 points. This year, the Lowell was one of 13 schools to reach that mark and finish in first place.
Parent group Watertown Strong Schools submitted this roundup of the School Committee meeting on June 6, where the overcrowding plan, facilities master plan, enrollment and many other items were discussed.
Note: These are NOT official minutes. Commentary can be found at the bottom of the minutes. Written by: Alyson Morales
Committee members: John Portz, Chair; Kendra Foley, Vice-Chair; Guido Guidotti, Secretary; Eileen Hsu-Balzer; Candace Miller; Mark Sideris; Liz Yusem; Dr. Fitzgerald, Superintendent; Charles Kellner, Director, Business Services; and Craig Hardimon, Human Resources Director. Audience members: Mena Ciarlone, Cunniff Principal; Elizabeth Kaplan, Lowell Principal; Bob LaRoche, Hosmer Principal; Donna Ruseckas, Director of Wellness & Extended Services; Adam Silverberg, World Languages Coordinator; Lauren Harwood, Accountability Data Manager; Vincent Piccirilli, Town Council Vice President; Aaron Dushku, Town Councilor; Lisa Feltner, Town Councilor; Jim Cairns, WSS; Pete Caron, WSS; Julie Cotton, WSS; Kate Coyne, WSS; Rebecca Grow, WSS; Diego Hammerschlag, WSS; David Stokes, WSS; Alyson Morales, WSS, Mike Shephard; and many other parents and community members. Math Olympiad
The Lowell 5th grade Math League was honored along with their teacher Mrs. Debra Garabedian for placing first in the nation in the Continental Math Leauge.
Commencement exercises were held for the Class of 2016 from Minuteman High School in Lexington on June 3 at the Tsongas Center at UMass-Lowell. See the Watertown grads below.The occasion featured memorable speeches filled with farewells to dedicated teachers, sage advice for the future, expressions of appreciation to Minuteman for the valuable education it provided and heartfelt final words for the young men and women who have shared the excitement and challenges of the past four years, the school announced. Valedictorian Rachel Toups of Boxborough gave an address that imaginatively compared the function and movement of each finger to each student’s own distinctive history and destiny. “No matter the path we choose, be it a career, continued education, or undecided as of yet, I encourage you to see your hand as a symbol of your life,” she told her peers. “Just as our hands are all unique, so too will be the paths we take from here.”
“This school has been our wonderland, because we have done the impossible,” said salutatorian Tristin O’Connor of Bolton, making a reference to Alice in Wonderland.
The Class of 2016 bid farewell to Watertown High School in a way that seemed to fit their class, and the school in general – with some humor, good spirit and kindness. Principal Shirley Lundberg noted that the school had been examined thoroughly by a team of accreditors this spring, who looked at all parts of the school, the classes, the teachers, along with the students and their work. Many of the accreditor team’s tours were lead by WHS students, and afterward they told Lundberg one thing that stood out about Watertown High. “They said their entire team had one large impression. They found community of Watertown High School to be extraordinarily kind,” Lunberg said.