Schools

Consultant Reveals Options for Expanding Watertown’s Elementary Schools

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The process for coming up with a master plan to remodel or rebuild Watertown’s schools to handle more children and modern education is nearing its end and Wednesday night the district’s consultant discussed ways the current schools could be renovated to do the job. 

One major change will be making the number of students at each elementary school more even. Cunniff would have more than 100 additional students with about 400 students. Lowell would have a capacity of 450 students, about 30 more than this fall. Hosmer, on the other hand, would drop by about 80 students to 500. All the schools would get reconfigured classroom wings, where the traditional rooms coming off a hallway would be changed to have rooms of different sizes and community space to allow classes to be brought together.

Schools

Watertown Student Receives Nursing Scholarship from Mount Auburn Hospital

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Each year, Mount Auburn Hospital awards scholarships to local high school graduates from surrounding towns that are enrolled in nursing school, and one of those receiving the scholarship was a Watertown student. Kelly Flynn, a Watertown High School graduate and Watertown resident, recently received a scholarship from Mount Auburn Hospital to study nursing at the University of Vermont in the fall.

School Master Plan

Residents Worry if Renovated Schools Will be Big Enough for Future Enrollment

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Watertown’s current school buildings don’t have to be torn down to make room for the all of Watertown’s students, but rather can be reconfigured and have some additions. However, parents and residents at Wednesday’s Schools Master Planning Community Forum worried whether they will be able to handle the growing enrollments. The forum was led by architects from SMMA, a Cambridge firm hired to put together the master plan, which will be a “50,000 foot view” of the school facilities and needs. Eventually the plan will help guide Watertown to renovating or rebuilding the schools so they can provide an education fit for the 21st Century. Michael van Hamel of SMMA said he used guides for size of classroom as laid out by the Massachusetts School Building Authority (MSBA), which oversees school projects and provides some money for districts to build or renovate schools.

School Master Plan

Voice Your Opinion on the Renovation of Watertown Schools Wednesday

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This summer the Watertown Public Schools and the Watertown community are working with the Cambridge architectural firm SMMA (Symmes Maini & McKee Associates) to develop a
School Facilities Master Plan. This is the first important step to review and assess the capacity
of our school buildings to support the teaching and learning needs of the district. The limitations of the school district’s current buildings have become increasingly apparent with the need for special program spaces, pressure from increasing enrollments, and a goal of maintaining appropriate class sizes. Watertown’s current school buildings are at least 60
years old and were designed for a time with very different educational needs than the present. This first phase of planning includes an extensive look at each school building and the
development of alternative options for renovation, additions, or building replacements.

Letters

LETTER: Current State of Watertown Schools, Prepping for July 27 Community Forum

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Watertown Strong School parents group provides detailed highlights of and a commentary about the most recent School Master Planning Design process. Unofficial Minutes: Meeting of the Steering Committee of the Master Planning Design Process on July 19, 2016 – Key Points and Commentary

Note: These are NOT official minutes. Commentary can be found at the bottom of the minutes. Written by: Kate Coyne and David Stokes

Committee members: John Portz, Co-chair; Dr. Jean Fitzgerald, Superintendent; Vincent Piccirilli, Town Council Vice-President; Michael Dattoli, Town Councilor; Steve Magoon, Assistant Town Manager and Director, Community Development and Planning; Toni Carlson, K-12 Educational Technology and Library Coordinator; Alyson Morales; Mike Shepard; Elaina Griffith; Chris Lowry; and Lindsay Mosca. Absent members: Liz Yusem, Co-chair; Charles Kellner, Director, Business Services; Deb King, WEA President and WMS teacher; Dr. Kimo Carter, WMS Principal; and Pete Caron.

Letters

LETTER: Thoughts on Superintendent Evaluation, District Goals & Enrollment Projects

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This is the account of the most recent School Committee meeting provided by the Watertown Strong Schools parents group. Look at the end for commentary. Unofficial Minutes: School Committee Meeting 7/18/16 – Key Points and Commentary

Note: These are NOT official minutes. Commentary can be found at the bottom of the minutes. Written by: Kate Coyne, Alyson Morales, and David Stokes.

Letters

LETTER: Important Meeting on Future of Watertown Schools Coming Up

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What’s Going On? Watertown Public Schools: Second Community Forum, Wednesday, July 27, 7 p.m., High School Auditorium, 50 Columbia St. Whether you have kids in the WPS or not, these meetings are very important. SMMA, an architectural firm specializing in educational facilities, has been hired to evaluate all our school facilities given: changing educational instructional needs and state/federal mandates; our old, tired buildings; and increasing student enrollment numbers. Can buildings be renovated within the same footprint, will they require new additions, be retired, or need to be built from the ground up, i.e., new construction?

Schools

Find Out Why Campers Were Evacuated from Middle School Monday

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A blown fuse resulted in the evacuation of children from Camp Pequosette to be evacuated on Monday. 

The fuse blew while workers were doing work on the on the roof of Watertown Middle School, said Superintendent Jean Fitzgerald at Monday’s School Committee meeting. When the electricity went out, not only the lights but also the air conditioning went down. Workers started to restore air conditioning on Monday, Fitzgerald said, but she was not sure if the work had been completed that day.