Schools

Suggestions Wanted for Names of New High School Gym & Auditorium

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Ai3 ArchitectsA rendering of the designs for the new Watertown High School viewed from Columbia Street. The School Committee seeks recommendations from the public for what to name the gym and auditorium at the new Watertown High School. People can send in their ideas to School Committee Chair Kendra Foley, she said at Monday’s School Committee meeting. “I’d like to invite members of the community to make any suggestions for names of the new high school gym and auditorium. Those suggestions should be sent to me at kendra.foley@watertown.k12.ma.us,” Foley said.

Around Town

Agreement Reached to Allow Day Care to Stay in Boys & Girls Club Until New Home is Ready

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The Watertown Boys & Girls Club building also houses First Path Day Care Center. First Path Day Care Center and the Watertown Boys & Girls Club have negotiated an agreement which would allow First Path to remain in the Club’s building so that children can attend the day care while construction is finished on its new facility. The day care center has been located in the Boys & Girls Club building since 1998, but the Club has plans to expand its program so in 2021 it informed First Path that its lease would not be renewed. The lease was supposed to end on May 31, 2024, and the Club’s board gave an extension to June 30, but First Path wanted two more months to allow work on their new facility to be finished. First Path declared bankruptcy in an effort to prevent an eviction, and the Boys & Girls Club filed a motion in Federal Court to remove the eviction protection.

Around Town

Watertown Gifted BlueBike Station, Also Using Grant to Expand System

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Arsenal YardsThe BlueBike station outside Arsenal Yards. Watertown will have up to four new BlueBike stations after being gifted one bikeshare docking station and receiving a grant for up to three more. A 19-bike station was donated to the City of Watertown by BlueCross BlueShield and Lyft, City Manager George Proakis announced at Tuesday night’s City Council meeting. “They ended up with a spare station, and communities could apply for it,” Proakis said. “We responded and this is a free station being granted to us as a gift.

Government

See When the Rescheduled State of the City Will Take Place

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The City of Watertown announced the new date and location for the rescheduled State of the City Address by City Council President Mark Sideris and City Manager George Proakis. The State of the City had originally been scheduled to be a live broadcast from the Watertown Cable Access studio on Sept. 4, but was postponed because Proakis tested positive for COVID-19. The City provided the following announcement:

The Watertown State of the City address has been rescheduled for September 19, 2024, from 6:00-7:30 p.m. and will be held at the Watertown Free Public Library, at 123 Main St, in the Watertown Savings Bank Room (please note the new location). City Council President Mark Sideris and City Manager George Proakis will deliver the State of the City together, before transitioning to Q+A and answering resident-submitted questions.

Around Town

Residents Share Their Desires for Watertown Square with City’s Economic Development Planner

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Residents on a tour of Watertown Square shared their vision for the area with Watertown’s Senior Planner for Economic Development Erin Rathe. (Photo by Charlie Breitrose)

Two members of the City of Watertown staff who will be designing the new Watertown Square led a group of more than a dozen people on a walk through the area to get an idea of what residents want to see in the center of town. The walk, held on Sept. 5, was part of Live Well Watertown’s Walk N Talk series, and was led by Erin Rathe, the City’s Senior Planner for Economic Development. Joining her was the Director of Community Design, Erika Oliver Jerram.

Entertainment

Actors’ Shakespeare Project Begins Partnership With Watertown’s Mosesian Center

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Chloe McFarlane and Paula Plum as Juliet and the Nurse in Actors’ Shakespeare Project’s production of “Romeo and Juliet.” Photo by Maggie Hall Photography. The Mosesian Center for the Arts will once again have a resident company when the Actors’ Shakespeare Project moves in this fall. The theater company’s inaugural event at the MCA will be Refresh, a celebration of ASP and a preview of the season, which includes plays by three giants of stage and literature: Jane Austen, August Wilson, and William Shakespeare. See more information and get tickets here.

Schools

Watertown High School Students Could Sit on School Committee

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The sign for the temporary Watertown High School at PFC Ricard Moxley Field. (Courtesy by City of Watertown)

Members of the School Committee may have Watertown High School students sitting with them during meetings, and the students may even be able to propose motions at meetings if policy changes being considered by the Committee are approved. Currently, WSH has two student representatives, who typically provide updates on student life at the high school, including the flow of the academic year and updates on extracurricular activities. A proposed change to the Watertown Public Schools’ policies would give the students a more significant role, School Committee Vice Chair Lily Rayman Read said at the Aug. 26 School Committee meeting.