Letters

LETTER: School Committee Member Proposing Change to Athletic Subcommittee

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School Committee member Candace Miller will propose the following change to the Athletic Subcommittee into a Student Development Subcommittee at Thursday’s Policy Subcommittee at 10 a.m. in the Phillips Building. I am proposing to broaden the current Athletic subcommittee into a Student Development subcommittee which would focus on health and development issues that are fundamental to student academic performance and achievement. Topics to consider include social-emotional learning, physical and mental health, and extracurricular activities such as athletics, the arts, and other clubs and teams. I envision the subcommittee would strengthen existing partnerships and forge new links between WPS, town departments, Wayside Youth Services, the Watertown Boys and Girls Club and other public and private groups across Watertown working to improve student health and development from early childhood to young adulthood. Within the education field, there is a growing body of evidence on the fundamental importance of social-emotional learning and optimal health to students’ academic performance and long- term success. [Footnotes 1,2] Put simply, happy and healthy students learn better.

Schools

Find Out About a New Early Childhood Preschool at Event at Library

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The Goddard School will host a enrollment event on Saturday, May 21 at the Watertown Free Public Library. The public is invited to the free event from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. in the Lucia Mastrangelo Room at the library, 123 Main St., Watertown. Learn more about The Goddard School and its programs for Infants, Toddlers, Preschoolers, and Pre-Kindergartners. Explore how the F.L.EX. Learning Program, a proprietary curriculum, fosters a love of learning and promotes emotional, social, intellectual and physical development.

Overcrowding

School Officials Planning to Use Phillips School to Stop Overcrowding

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Monday night, Superintendent Jean Fitzgerald shared a plan to renovate rooms at the Phillips School to move pre-school classes to free up spaces at an elementary school to relieve the enrollment pressures at all three elementary schools. The shuffling of plans is a complicated one, Fitzgerald explained at the School Committee Building and Grounds Subcommittee meeting. It begins with the Early Steps Preschool program from Hosmer School to the Phillips Building. Three classes will go into a renovated maintenance area on the first floor
one class will go into a room used as a conference room by the Watertown Public Schools
a full-day preschool class and a Connections class (which includes mainstream and  special needs students) will use two classrooms that had been used by the Growing Places preschool before it moved out

The rooms at Hosmer that had been used for the preschool will house four classes, including some from other schools:

a Lowell Pre-K class,
a Cunniff Pre-K class
a Cunniff kindergarten
a Hosmer English Language Learner (ELL) class
one extra room at Hosmer will remain and could take another room if enrollment keeps growing

Meanwhile, the spaces freed up at the elementary schools will allow for additional classes. the Lowell Pre-K room will become a new first grade classroom
the Cunniff Pre-K room will become a special education classroom
the Cunniff kindergarten room will become a new third grade classroom
the Hosmer ELL room will become a new fourth grade classroom

Fitzgerald said she would rather spend money on property the district owned, rather than renting space or modular classrooms. She added that she expects the Phillips School – which has two more floors – to become a school down the line as the district grows.

Business

Watertown Savings Photo Contest Winners Include 3 WHS Students

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Three Watertown High School (WHS) students are among the 12 winners in Watertown Savings Bank’s (WSB) Annual High School Photo Contest. The winning photographs will comprise WSB’s 2017 calendar, available to bank customers each December. Honorable Mentions and $100 Amazon gift cards will be awarded to: Junior James DeRocher for his photo Randy’s Car Wash, which will appear with February; Freshman Catherine Holt for Garden Gates, appearing with September; and Senior Erika Libertini for her photo Team celebrates record-setting win, which will appear with March. Nearly 150 photographs were received from students who live or attend school in Arlington, Belmont, Lexington, Newton, Waltham, and Watertown. WSB employees selected the 12 finalists.

Around Town

The Townwide Yard Sale is Coming Up This Weekend!

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Get ready for the annual Townwide Yard Sale on Saturday, May 14. 
There will be more than 70 yard sales at addresses around Watertown. The annual event benefits Watertown Community Education. Address lists will be available on May 13 at the Watertown Free Public Library, at Watertown Town Hall and at www.watertown.k12.ma.us/dept/wce. Sponsored by Watertown Community Education

Schools

See the ‘Unofficial’ Minutes from the Last School Committee Meeting

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Watertown Strong Schools puts together a detailed summary of School Committee meetings, and adds its own commentary at the end. The parent group wrote these minutes for the May 2 School Committee meeting. Unofficial Minutes: School Committee Meeting 5/2/16 – Key Points and Commentary

Note: These are NOT official minutes. Commentary can be found at the end of the minutes. Committee members: Marc Sideris, Craig Hardimon, Candace Miller, Guido Guidotti, John Portz, Elizabeth Yusem, Kendra Foley, Eileen Hsu-Balzer, Charles Kellner, Dr. Jean Fitzgerald

Remembrance

A moment of silence was observed in memory of Robert Galante, site coordinator for the Lowell School Extended Day program and director for Camp Pequossette – RIP Bob!

Schools

Two Watertown Students at Minuteman High School Earn Book Awards

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Twenty-five juniors from Minuteman High School in Lexington have were recently honored with book awards from various colleges and universities for demonstrating outstanding scholarship, leadership, community service and achievement in specific academic areas. The honorees and their awards are as follows:

The Air Force awards the Math and Science Award to a student who excels in math and science. Michael Whitmore (Arlington)

The Sage Colleges recognize two students who embody the Sage College motto: “To Be, To Know, To Do.” The recipients will receive a scholarship of at least $5000 per year to attend the Sage Colleges. Mitchell Cupp (Concord) and Rustam Ragin (Needham)

The Regis College Book Award goes to a student who demonstrates excellent written and oral communication skills, displays outstanding academic promise and exhibits exceptional leadership quality. Dominic DeCampo (Arlington)

In recognition of the value that the St. Lawrence community places on service to others, the St.

School Start Time

School Committee Looking at Starting Day Later at the High School & Middle School

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Watertown High School and Middle School students may get to sleep in later as the School Committee considers moving the start of school later in the morning. 

Teens have different body clocks that younger students (or their parents) and research into sleep patterns find that they do not start functioning at full capacity until later in the morning, said Donna Ruseckas, the schools’ Director of Wellness and Extended Services, at Monday’s School Committee meeting. High school students need nine hours sleep and their typical sleep cycle is from 11 p.m. to 8 a.m., Ruseckas said. Studies found about 2/3 of high school students get get less than 8 hours of sleep. Ruseckas was part of the Wellness Committee that looked at the issue, and surveyed students and parents. The high school starts at 7:55 a.m. and the middle school begins the day at 7:40 a.m.
Students and Parents Surveyed
The survey found a majority of high school students (61 percent) and parents (53 percent) responded positively pushing the school start time back by 15 minutes.