Arabic

Watertown Student a Winner in the National ‘I Speak Arabic’ Contest

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It was no easy assignment to complete – or language to learn – but after more than 90 online video submissions, and over 55,000 votes tallied, three American students have been named as winners of Qatar Foundation International’s (QFI) I Speak Arabic web contest, including one from Watertown! Qatar Foundation International sent out the following information:

Anderson Wang, from Roseland, New Jersey, and current student at New York University, who submitted a video expressing his love for the Arabic language and his excitement to study Arabic at NYU Abu Dhabi, won QFI’s grand prize, receiving a $500 award and QFI “I Speak Arabic” memorabilia. Teacher Georges Chahwan’s Arabic language students from Choate Rosemary Hall in Wallingford, Connecticut, and Sana Rafiq from Watertown, Massachusetts, also received second and third place prizes. In celebration of the diversity of languages across the globe, QFI announced the winners on April 16, World Languages Day. Maggie Mitchell Salem, QFI’s Executive Director said:

“We have been absolutely thrilled with the level of interest and number of submissions that we received since launching the I Speak Arabic web contest in December.

Schools

Three Watertown Students Honored in the Will McDonough Writing Contest

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Watertown High School had three students selected as honorees in the Will McDonough Writing Contest, including two first place winners. 

The contest, named after the former Boston Globe sportswriter, received more than 1,200 entries from students around the area this year, and Watertown had its share of success. Watertown’s Sofia Farhadi received first place in the 12th grade contest, and Nicole Frisoli got first place in the 11th grade competition. Also honored was senior Nathan Ryan, who received an honorable mention. The first place winners were honored at a ceremony at the The Sports Museum at the TD Garden in Boston. Longtime sportscaster Sean McDonough (son of Will McDonough) spoke to the winners and the ceremony also featured appearances and speeches from his sister Erin McDonough, sportswriter Jackie MacMullan, and Celtics Vice President of Media Services/Alumni Relations Jeff Twiss, according to The Sports Museum.

Schools

Watertown Alums Want to Honor Former Principal With Plaque at Middle School

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A group of students who attended the old West Junior High School wanted to honor their former principal, Jack Burns, and decided to pay for a plaque at the middle school. Earlier this month June Ford and Mike Younger, who attended West Junior High from about 1975-77, appeared at the School Committee’s Building and Grounds Subcommittee and Ford made an emotional plea for permission to install the plaque. “You were never a number for him. He cared about you,” Ford said. “He not only cared about you as a student, but as a person.”

Letters

LETTER: Watertown Parents Group Wants Solution to Overcrowded Schools, Soon

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For the past several years, the growing student enrollment numbers in Watertown, particularly at the elementary level, along with the demands of good quality 21st Century general and special education, have placed increasing space pressures on our school buildings.  We have reached a point where our three elementary schools are out of space. Addressing these space issues has been on the back burner for far too long; we need to make major progress in the near term. To date, we have placed the responsibility for managing these space constraints and for maintaining safe and effective learning environments on the school principals and faculty.  They have done and continue to do a tremendous job – showing remarkable flexibility, creativity, and care to try and give all students a positive educational experience. We have reached a point where the physical space limits exceed their ability to solve the problem in both the immediate and longer term at the school level. There are several classes in each Elementary school that are projected to be above Watertown’s unofficial class size guidelines (18-24 students depending on grade level) next year, and quite a few that are right on the cusp of turning into a situation like what the Cunniff is facing right now.

Letters

See Watertown Strong Schools’ ‘Unofficial Minutes’ on Overcrowding, Other Issues

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This is the first publication of the “Unofficial Minutes” created by Watertown Strong Schools. The group of concerned parents who follow the Watertown Public Schools attend meetings and write-up summaries, and at the end, provide their commentary on the issues of the night. 
Unofficial Minutes: Buildings & Grounds Subcommittee Meeting on 4/11/16 – Key Points and Commentary
Note: These are NOT official minutes. Subcommittee members: Jean Fitzgerald, Superintendent; Charles Kellner, Director of Business Services; Liz Yusem, Chair; Kendra Foley, Eileen Hsu-Balzer

Audience members: John Portz (SC), Candace Miller (SC), Guido Guidotti (SC), Mark Sideris (TC/SC), Vincent Piccirilli (TC), Aaron Dushku (TC), Michael Dattoli (TC), Lisa Feltner (TC), Tom Tracy (Auditor/Assistant Town Manager for Finance), Stephen Romanelli, Director of Facilities and Transportation, Brandt Brisson (WSS), James Cairns (WSS), Kate Coyne (WSS), Angelo DeFrancesco (WSS), Margo Guernesey (WSS), Diego Hammerschlag (WSS), Chris Lowry (WSS), David Stokes (WSS), Alyson Morales (WSS), Bob LaRoche, Hosmer Principal, Mena Ciarlone, Cunniff Principal, Robert Varnum, Lisa Hayward, Bruce Colton, Elaina Griffith, Mike Shepard, and others. Approximately 40 people were in attendance. Plaque Honoring Mr. John R. Burns

2 former students representing a much larger group came from NYC so that they could ask to place a plaque in the Middle School (to be chosen by WPS) honoring Mr. John R. Burns, a former Watertown Middle School teacher and principal, who passed away in October 2015.

Boston Globe Art Awards

Two Watertown Students Honored in Boston Globe Art Awards

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Two Watertown High School students received honors in the most prestigious statewide art contest in Massachusetts. Seniors Julia Harrington and Emily Hart received awards in the 2o16 Boston Globe Scholastic Art and Writing Awards, run in conjunction with the School of the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston. Harrington received a Gold Key, the highest honor, in the drawing competition and Hart got two honorable mentions in the painting competition, said their teacher, Donna Calleja at a recent School Committee meeting. The contest is the oldest in the nation, at 93, and the Boston Globe competition feeds into the National Medalists in Art and Writing  awards. Competition is a tough one, Calleja said.

Cunniff School

Schools Looking at Modular Classrooms, Crowding Still Concerns Parents

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School officials do not yet have a concrete plan for dealing with overcrowded classrooms in Watertown next fall, but modular classrooms could be part of the solution. Meanwhile, parents continue to worry about large class sizes or classes being taught in unorthodox spaces. Monday night, the School Committee’s Building and Grounds Subcommittee discussed the short and long term solutions to the space problem in Watertown’s schools at the meeting at the Watertown High School Library. Superintendent Jean Fitzgerald said, looking at the current projections, the schools would be OK, and classes in the three elementary schools would not be overcrowded. The biggest class would be one at Hosmer Elementary School with 24 students.

Schools

Watertown Musicians, Young and Old, Perform at MusicFest

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Music permeated the halls of Watertown Middle School Friday night during the fifth annual MusicFest. Each year, the Friends of Watertown Music gives local musicians the chance to showcase their musical talent, and this year, more than 50 acts took part in the festivities. The event raises money for Friends of Watertown Music, a group of volunteer parents and friends of the music program established in the summer of 2011 to raise the funds necessary to maintain and sustain the music programs in the Watertown Public Schools. While many performers were students in the Watertown Public Schools, the event drew outside groups, Watertown music teachers and other groups from the community. Attendees could choose from four stages – from the small one in the WMS art room to the large stage of the Middle School Auditorium.