Watertown News (https://www.watertownmanews.com/category/schools/page/153/)
The PTO at Hosmer School will be holding a raffle for a chance to ride on a Watertown Fire truck.
The raffle will raise money for the fifth grade class at Hosmer School. Tickets cost $5 per entry. The drawing will be held in March, and you do not need to be present to win. A waiver must be signed before the date of the ride. Pickups will only be made from Watertown addresses. Checks should be made to the Hosmer School PTO.
Watertown Community Foundation and the Watertown Public Schools are pleased to present a screening of “Most Likely to Succeed.” Come see this ground breaking movie about education, and be a part of the discussion about the future of education in Watertown – with parents, other residents, students and faculty. Schools systems around the nations are using the ideas from the movie to drive discussions about re-imagining education and what our students are capable of. Sal Khan of the Khan Academy says of this movie: “The 21st century is going to be all about building, creating, and innovating. This remarkable film shows a path of how we can empower all of our children to do that.” Two show times will be held at Watertown High School’s auditorium on Feb.
Perkins School for the Blind is hosting a workshop on Assistive Technology for Disability Services Staff on Feb. 1. This workshop training provides:
An overview of low vision, blindness, deaf/hard of hearing, and literacy related hardware and software
Hands-on sessions with a variety of assistive technology software and devices, including innovative products new to the market within the last 12 months
Presentation and discussion of case studies involving students with visual, hearing and multiple disabilities
Introduction/discussion of accessibility features for iPhones, iPads and other Apple devices
Website and course content accessibility including review and preparation for WCAG 2.0 guidelines
An opportunity to meet and network with other professionals from local colleges and universities who are involved in disability services
There is a $75 fee for this workshop, which includes lunch. For more information contact Ellen Hall, Business Development Manager, Perkins Solutions, 617-972-7748, ellen.hall@perkins.org
Watertown SEPAC (Special Education Parents Advisory Council) will host a clinical psychologist and a therapist who works with children with developmental and medical differences at the next meeting. The meeting will be held Jan. 27, at 7 p.m. at the Cunniff School Library, 246 Warren St. in Watertown. The meeting is free and open to the public.
It’s time to sign up for the annual Watertown Education Foundation Spelling Bee! The WEF sent out the following information:
The Watertown Education Foundation in conjunction with the three Elementary PTO’s, is hosting the 6th annual Spelling Bee on Sunday, Jan. 31, 2016 for grades 1-5. All of the funds generated will go directly back to the respective PTOs. The format for this Bee is different than the popular notion of a “traditional” spelling bee – one child standing alone on a stage in front an auditorium full of people.
Watertown’s schools could grow twice as fast in the next decade as it did the previous 10 years, with new enrollment projections anticipating more than 200 coming to town schools by 2025. On Tuesday night the School Committee heard from John M. Kennedy from the New England School Development Council (NESDEC), who provided some historical data and looked to the future. Over the last 10 years, enrollment has risen quite steadily, Kennedy said, from 2,377 for grades K-12 in 2005-06 to 2,474 in 2015-16, or an average of nearly 10 a year. He noted there have been some blips along the way, including dropping by 138 students in 2014-15 and adding back 43 in 2015-16. Kennedy looked at future enrollment, and used births, the number of building permits issued for housing and the demand for housing to make his projections.
The Watertown schools started an effort to not only include students learning English as their second tongue in school, but to celebrate their first language and their culture. And the Bilingualism is a Gift campaign has been a hit. Two instructors have spearheaded the effort: Hosmer English Language Learner teacher Lauren Harrison and Maryann MacDougall, team leader of the Speech and Language program the Watertown Public Schools preschool program. The pair told the School Committee Tuesday nigh that they have received high marks not just from people in Watertown, but from educators across the United States and around the globe. In the fall, the Bilingualism is a Gift (or BiG) campaign started with a poster put up around the Watertown Schools.
Among the key areas of focus for the Town Council in the new term will be improving Watertown’s schools, deal with the development boom and seek to improve transportation, Town Council President Mark Sideris announced at Monday’s inauguration ceremony. Sideris, the Town Council (Michael Dattoli, Aaron Dushku, Susan Falkoff, Lisa Feltner, Angeline Kounelis, Anthony Palomba, Vincent Piccirilli and Kenneth Woodland) and the elected or re-elected School Committee members (Eileen Hsu-Balzer, Kendra Medville Foley and Candace Miller) and Library Trustees (Sheppard Ferguson, Penelope Peoples and Timothy Tracy) were sworn in at the event held at the Arsenal Center for the Arts’ Charles Mosesian Theater. Development has been the top issue in town, particularly in the areas east of Watertown Square along Arsenal Street. Two major apartment projects have been approved along Arsenal Street and a new hotel is going up near the malls. Zoning for two areas that could change the town significantly continue to subjects of hot discussion: the Regional Mixed Use District (RMUD) in the area of the two malls in town, and the redevelopment of the Arsenal on the Charles.