Watertown News (https://www.watertownmanews.com/category/schools/page/158/)
Julie McMahon is running for reelection to the School Committee. The Watertown Election will be held on Tuesday, Nov. 3. 1) What inspired you to run for School Committee? Originally, I made the decision to run for school committee 4 years ago.
Kendra Foley is running for a seat on the School Committee. The election will be held on Tuesday, Nov. 3. 1) What inspired you to run for School Committee? I am running for School Committee because I value education – for my three young children, for the children and families in Watertown and for the health and vibrancy of our town.
Michael Shepard is running for reelection to the School Committee. The election will be held on Tuesday, Nov. 3. 1) What inspired you to run for School Committee? When I first ran for school committee in 2011, I was drawn to four main issues which I felt needed to be addressed: resolving the teacher’s contract, budget concerns, appointing a new superintendent and expanding special education programming.
Watertown’s students performed better or the same as the state average on the most recent MCAS test, except for in middle school science. The district has already started rolling out ways to improve those results. Watertown students fared better than the state average on the 10th grade MCAS math test with 82 percent compared to 78 percent for the state in the Proficient or Advanced categories, which are passing scores. The 10th graders were just below the state average on the MCAS English Language Arts (ELA) with 90 percent passing, compared to 91 for the state. In fifth grade math, Watertown was above the state on the MCAS, with 52 percent passing compared to 51 percent for the state.
Editor,
I am writing to express my support for the incumbents in the School Committee race; Eileen Hsu-Balzer, Michael Shepard and Julie McMahon. Thanks to their hard work, together with the rest of the School Committee members, the Watertown school district is in a much better place than it was four short years ago. In 2011, contract negotiations between the Watertown Educators Association (WEA), the School Committee and School Administration were at an impasse and teachers had been working without a contract for two years. Teachers were working to rule, and frustration on all sides was high. After the election, two new voices joined the discussion – Ms. McMahon and Mr. Shepard – and both sides resumed negotiations.
There’s a hot race for School Committee on the Watertown Town Election ballot, with five people running for three seats. What issue would you like to hear their opinions on? The candidates will take part in two School Committee Candidate Forums hosted by the Watertown Education Foundation and Watertown News. The organizers are gathering questions from Watertown parents and residents. What is the biggest issue facing the Watertown Schools?
Come learn about the five candidates for Watertown School Committee at two upcoming candidate forums.
The five candidates are incumbents Eileen Hsu-Balzer, Julie McMahon and Michael Shepard, and challengers Candace Miller and Kendra Foley. They are running for three seats in the Nov. 3 Town Election. The first will be held on Thursday, Oct. 15 from 7:30-9 p.m. at the Watertown Free Public Library in the Watertown Savings Bank Room.
Perkins School for the Blind has a top reputation for working with students with special needs, and that status has been confirmed by a national ranking of such schools.
The Masters’s in Special Education included Perkins in its list of top private schools in the nation for children with special needs. Along with providing itinerant services, independence courses for students who attend public schools, evaluations, and training for educators and other professionals, Perkins serves the world’s largest concentration of students with CHARGE syndrome, which causes complex birth defects including hearing and vision impairments, according to the site. The ranking were based on the following factors:
Schools were licensed and/or accredited by an appropriate entity relative to the types of services they provide. Schools offer a low faculty to student ratio allowing for individualized instruction when possible. In all programs, the opportunity for 1:1 intensive therapy and additional supports were evident.