Schools

Community Forum to be Held on Watertown High School Project This Week

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Ai3 ArchitectsAn illustration of what the outside of the new Watertown High School will look like. A Community Forum to discuss the Watertown High School project will be held on Wednesday, Feb. 2 at 6 p.m.

The meeting will be held virtually on Zoom, and will also be broadcast on Watertown Cable. The forum is the ninth one focused on the new WHS, according to the announcement from the School Building Committee. The most recent plan, which would cost an estimated $198 million, calls for the old school to be torn down and the new one constructed on the same site.

COVID-19

Watertown Schools Offering Free At-Home COVID Tests

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Students in the Watertown Public Schools will be able to get at-home testing using kits provided by the State beginning Feb. 7. Last week, Superintendent Dede Galdston sent out an announcement about the at-home antigen testing. This will be done in addition to the weekly pool testing conducted by the Watertown Schools. The at-home testing is voluntary, and Galdston encouraged students to sign up by Feb.

Charity

Watertown Community Foundation Awards $35,000 in Educational Grants

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The Watertown Community Foundation (WCF) in collaboration with Life Sciences Cares and four life science companies has awarded grants totaling $35,000 for Watertown Public Schools. The addition of the STEM Fund this year builds on Watertown Community Foundation’s annual school- based educational grants program and increases total funding for the foundation’s grants in support of funding science, technology, engineering, and math programming. “We are grateful for this new partnership and funding to expand our ability to support Watertown teachers through our annual education grant program. It truly helps transform our grant giving capacity and provides teachers and our schools with more resources to support students in the classroom.” said Eleanor Donato, Watertown Community Foundation School Grant co-chair. This collective giving program also allows companies, leaders, and employees in the burgeoning Watertown life sciences field to learn about Watertown Public Schools and forge deeper relationships with the school STEM community.

Schools

New Hosmer to be Rededicated to Include Artist Harriet, Lowell School Moving Pair of Interim Spots

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Hosmer SchoolThe new Hosmer Elementary School is nearly finished and the ribbon cutting will be held on Feb. 1. Construction will soon be complete on the new Hosmer Elementary School, and the public will get a chance to tour the new building. The school will be rededicated to the original Hosmers, along with their daughter, a renowned artist. The ribbon cutting ceremony for the new Hosmer School will take place on Tuesday, Feb.

CTE

Committee Looking at Vocational, Technical Education to Include Parents & Residents

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The Watertown Public Schools will form a committee to look at the options for vocational and technical education available inside and outside the district, and the group will include parents and community members. For many years, Watertown has sent dozens of students to Minuteman High School in Lexington for vocational and technical education. Superintendent Dede Galdston said that the City is not part of the Minuteman High School District, but rather pays tuition for each resident to attend. “Watertown is a non-member, tuition-paying entity for Minuteman, which has worked for decades, but that changed with new (Minuteman) school — there are not as many students who can go to Minuteman,” Galdston said. Other vocational schools in the area, including Medford and Somerville, have vocational programs which are open to students who do not live in the district.

Schools

COVID Cases in Watertown Schools Went Beyond What Officials Expected, New Protocols Discussed

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The number of COVID-19 cases in the Watertown Public Schools was beyond what officials expected, and the way that pool testing will be administered has changed so not as many students need to be retested. Superintendent Dede Galdston discussed the upsurge in COVID-19 cases in the schools, and the steps being taken to prevent the spread. She added that the number of positive cases in the week after Winter Break, 193, was by far the most seen in the Watertown Schools since the pandemic began. “What we experienced last week was not something any of us were prepared for. I am not sure any of us in any district were truly prepared for what happened last week,” Galdston said, who told the School Committee that she is in quarantine herself after testing positive for COVID-19.

Around Town

Teen Trip to Poland & Israel Complements Massachusetts’ New Genocide Education Law

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March of the Living participants pray at entrance to Auschwitz concentration camp. The following information was provided by New England Friends of the March of the Living:

Genocide education will be compulsory in all Massachusetts middle and high schools under a bill Gov. Charlie Baker recently signed into law. The new bill underscores the serious knowledge gap among young Americans that is growing – and becoming more frightening! Examples from recent surveys:                                                                                                                                                       

A high school student asks ‘What’s Auschwitz?’

Two-thirds of millennials admit not knowing what Auschwitz was.                                                                       

41% of adults don’t know what the Nazi concentration camp was known for. Half of millennials and Gen Z’ers have seen Holocaust denial posts online.              

22% think the Holocaust was associated with World War I. 10% weren’t sure, 5% said the Civil War, and 3% said the Vietnam War.

Schools

Watertown Schools Opening Late Wednesday, Over 100 Positive COVID Tests

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The Watertown Public Schools had more than 100 positive COVID-19 tests after retesting on Tuesday. Classes will start late on Wednesday. The positive tests were more than 10 times more than has been seen in the Watertown Schools, said Superintendent Dede Galdston. The arrival time for Watertown Schools are: 10 a.m. for Early Steps Preschool, 10:15 a.m. for the elementary schools, and 10:30 a.m. for the middle and high schools. See more details in the letter sent out by Galdston on Tuesday:

Good evening, WPS Community:

We deeply appreciate your patience today as we appropriately responded to the overnight Covid pool test results.