Schools

Minuteman High School Honored by State Reading Association

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The following information was provided by Minuteman High School:

Minuteman Regional Vocational Technical High School is pleased to announce that the Massachusetts Reading Association (MRA), an organization that promotes literacy, has honored Minuteman with its Exemplary Reading Program Award. “This award legitimizes the work we have done over the last 10 years to make sure we take care of the needs of the students,” said Minuteman High School Principal George Clement. “We recognized a need and stuck with it. It’s all been worthwhile.” For the first time in MRA history this award is being given to a secondary school. The previous recipients of this honor have been elementary schools. Minuteman was selected in a competitive process that involved 12 nominated schools from across the state. According to the MRA, the five objectives of this award program are: 

To improve literacy in our society;To recognize schools that demonstrate excellence in reading and literacy programs;To encourage the development and refinement of exemplary reading/language arts programs;To report to the public noteworthy efforts to improve reading/language arts, and;To disseminate specific information about high-quality programs so that other professionals can use it to improve their own instructional efforts.” 

 “We were very impressed with Minuteman,” said MRA Vice President-Elect Patricia Kelley. She specifically mentioned the media center situated at the hub of the school, the integration of reading skills in the school’s career and technical programs as well as in its academic programs, the outstanding reading program for freshmen, the multi-tiered system of support for the reading program throughout the school, and the allocation of financial resources to the reading program. “There is a lot of commitment from everyone at Minuteman,” Kelley said. “Literacy is being integrated across the curriculum.

Schools

Elementary School Projects Preparing for COVID-19 Issues; Will be Highly Energy Efficient

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The latest rendering of the new Cunniff Elementary School, with the solar array in the parking lot. Watertown will build two new elementary schools and, despite an estimated $1 million for additional costs of construction during the COVID-19 outbreak, the project came in under budget. The new Cunniff and Hosmer elementary schools will have enough solar panels to make them net-zero-energy buildings. Wednesday night, the School Building Committee voted to approve the hiring of Brait Building Corp. to construct the new Cunniff and Hosmer elementary schools.

Lt. Paul Sullivan

Winners of the 2020 Lt. Paul Sullivan Scholarships Revealed

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Lt. Paul Sullivan was killed in Vietnam in 1968, and a scholarship in his name has been given out for 52 years. The nine winners of a total of $25,000 in scholarships were announced on Sunday night. The scholarships are presented annually in memory an Army lieutenant from Watertown who was killed in Vietnam. The scholarships honor Lt. Paul Sullivan, who grew up in Watertown, and attended St. Mary’s High School in Waltham before going on to Boston College.

Around Town

Library & Other Facilities Remain Closed, Town Awaits Gov.’s New Order; Schools Feeding Hundreds Each Day & More

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The historic facade of the Watertown Free Public Library. The Town’s facilities, including the Library, Town Hall and the Senior Center will remain closed through at least Monday, as Town official await word from Gov. Charlie Baker about the state’s reopening plan. More details about the four phased reopening plan, discussed this week by Baker, are expected to be released Monday, Town Manager Michael Driscoll said in his latest Town Manager’s Update. In the first phase, “limited industries” will be allowed to reopen. The second and third phases will let more and more industries resume operation, and the fourth phase will be after a vaccine or therapy for COVID-19 is developed and the “new normal” can begin.

Building for the Future

Bids on Elementary School Projects Under Budget, But COVID-19 Creates Additional Costs

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The latest rendering of the new Cunniff Elementary School, with the solar array in the parking lot. The bids on the construction projects at two of Watertown’s elementary schools came in millions of dollars below budget, but the requirements for working in the COVID-19 world will mean some added costs. Hosmer and Cunniff schools will start construction in June, and the bids were recently opened, said Town Council President Mark Sideris. The project budget estimated the cost of the two schools at just over $100 million including the cost of adding solar on the school roofs ($5 million), Sideris said. “The good news is low bidder came in at $92,335,000 and all the solar came in at $2.6 million,” Sideris said.

Schools

Watertown Teachers Get Some Love With Car Parade

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Students and parents at Lowell Elementary School showed their love for the teachers during Teacher Appreciation Week. Teachers at Lowell School got a special celebration during Teacher Appreciation Week, which was May 4-8. A car parade, escorted by the Watertown Police Department, visited the school. They even had a surprise appearance by the Lowell Leopard, the school’s mascot, and Watertown’s resident sousaphone player (also known as the Tuba Guy)! “I believe we had about 100 cars of families lined up all the way down York Ave and out into Belmont Street,” said Lowell PTO Co-President Lauren Coughlin Unsworth.

Around Town

Watertown Woman Excited to Enter West Point Military Academy in the Fall

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Watertown’s Hannah MacDonald will be entering West Point Military Academy in the fall. She is holding the document informing her of her appointment to the Academy. This fall, high school senior Hannah MacDonald will begin her career at campus that few people from Watertown have ever attended. It’s not Harvard, or Yale or another prestigious college. She will be a cadet at the United States Military Academy at West Point. 

Gaining entry into West Point, or any of the military academies, is no simple feat, and MacDonald had to qualify in ways that those admitted to other institutions of higher learning do not have to worry about.