Government

Watertown High School Students “Kick Butts” at State House

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A group of students from Watertown High School students went to Boston last week to join a march to express their concern about the marketing and availability of tobacco products. On March 16, 2016 five Watertown Youth Coalition Peer Leaders joined the 84 Movement in a Kick Butts Day march to the State House in Boston, to speak with their legislators and “spread awareness about the Big Tobacco and their sneaky tactics of targeting youth,” said WHS student Shanesha Christmas. The Peer Leaders spoke with, State Sen. William Brownsberger, State Rep. Jon Hecht, and State Rep. John Lawn’s aide about their concerns of tobacco products being Cheap, Sweet and Easy to get, Christmas said. The Peer Leaders were excited that they had a chance to have their voices heard about their concerns in their community. Find out more about the 84 Movement on its website, http://the84.org/

MSBA

School Officials Need a Vision for the New High School, Start Talking with Voters

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In their effort to get funding from the state to build a new high school, Watertown school officials toured a project in a town that was was successful in getting into the program. This week, the School Committee voted to have Superintendent Jean Fitzgerald submit an application to the Massachusetts School Building Authority to renovate of rebuild Watertown High School. To prepare for the application process, a number of School Committee members, school administrators and members of the town government went to Lexington’s Estabrook Elementary School to participate in the MSBA’s “Tale of a School” presentation. The three-story school replaced a traditional one-story building, said School Committee Chairman John Portz. School Committee member Kendra Foley said she had four major take aways from the presentation:

Districts need to know who they serve and where they are looking to go as a district
Districts need to be willing to make a strategic investments, both as district and as a community
The community really needs strong teamwork between the town and the school district to make the project work – most projects include joint facilities between the school and town
School design should be driven by teaching and learning in the classroom, not other way around

The district needs to include certain things in its plans, said School Committee member Elizabeth Yusem, but that should not stop officials from thinking big.

Government

UPDATED: High School Club Dives into Political Issues, Running Forum on ESL and Immigration

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{Please note, the date of the Forum on Language Learning and Immigration has been changed to March 28 due to snow on the 21st}

A group of students interested in politics and issues facing Watertown and the country has formed the Youth Political Action Committee or YPAC. Along with trying to get Watertown High School students more aware of politics, the group has taken on issues and next week will host a forum on one of them. On Monday, March 28 YPAC will help run the Forum on Language Learning and Immigration at the Watertown High School Lecture Hall from 7-9 p.m.

YPAC started last spring when one of the founders, junior Isaac Gibbons, was looking at a recent election. “It was after the 2012 elections. I was looking hard at the abysmal young voter turn out and it concerned me,” Gibbons said.

Entertainment

Fiddler on the Roof Coming to Watertown High School Stage This Weekend

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Whether you have plans or not this weekend, try to make some room on your schedule to come and see Watertown High School’s version of “Fiddler on the Roof.”

Come watch the troubling love story between a daughter and her father who doesn’t exactly accept her love for what it really is, just because the man is less fortunate! Can you imagine if we weren’t allowed to marry whoever we wanted to marry? Well come and see the show! The Watertown High School Theatre students are putting together a production of the musical Fiddler on the Roof at Watertown High School on March 17, 18, and 19. The students have been working since the end of December right before Winter Break.

Schools

Watertown Cheerleaders Competing at State Championships

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The Watertown Varsity Cheerleaders will compete against the best in the state on Sunday. 

The Raiders cheering squad finished second in the regional competition at Triton Regional on March 6, and this weekend they head to the Winter Cheerleading State Championship at Wachusett Regional High School. This is the first time in many years that the team has made it to states.

Schools

Info on Watertown High School Accreditation, Search for Special Ed Director

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The Watertown Public Schools announced the accreditation visit of Watertown High School beginning Sunday, March 13, as well as the timeline for appointing a new Director of Special Education. The Watertown Public Schools sent out the following announcements:
Accreditation Visit of Watertown High School
Sixteen educators will conduct an on-site accreditation visit of Watertown High School from March 13-16. The accreditation visit will be conducted under the direction of the Committee on Public Secondary Schools of the New England Association of Schools and Colleges (NEASC). The purpose of this accreditation visit is to review and determine from an outside professional viewpoint the extent to which the school is meeting NEASC’s Standards for Accreditation. As part of the evaluation, the visiting committee will:

Attend a welcome presentation intended to provide an overview of Watertown and Watertown High School, presented by teachers and students
Meet with school committee members
Meet with parents
Meet with teachers
Meet with students
Meet with administrators and curriculum coordinators
Shadow students during the school day
Review samples of student work
Visit classes
Review the school’s self-study

The members of the visiting committee are teachers and administrators from a variety of schools throughout Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Connecticut and Rhode Island.

Accreditation

Watertown High School Preparing for NEASC Accreditation Visit

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Every 10 years, Watertown High School goes through the accreditation process, and the staff has been busy preparing for a four-day visit by a team which begins on Sunday. A team from the New England Association of Schools and Colleges (NEASC) will be at Watertown High School starting March 13, said Maureen Regan, Grades 6-12 English Language Arts Coordinator, who co-chaired the accreditation preparation with guidance councilor Adrienne Eaton. Preparation
The preparation began three years ago when the school staff did a self study, Regan told the School Committee Monday night. The first step was to create school-wide learning expectations, which had two main focuses: effective oral and written communication, and college, career and life skills readiness. In the fall of 2014, the Endicott College Opinion Survey was given to students, parents and faculty.