Schools

Architects Present First Visions for What Watertown’s Elementary Schools Could Look Like

By |

It will be a busy several years, but by 2023 Watertown will have built or newly renovated three elementary schools and the high school. Monday night the architect hired to do the schematic designs laid out the timeline to get there. The elementary schools and the high school are on different schedules, with the Hosmer, the Cunniff and the Lowell planned to be worked on simultaneously, and after those projects are complete it will be about time for construction to begin on Watertown High School, said Scott Dunlap, principal of Ai3, the district’s architects. Watertown school officials got a lot of good news last week. “Last week the most exciting time for a Superintendent occurred over a 24 hour period,” said Superintendent Dede Galdston.

Cunniff School

Schools Looking at Modular Classrooms, Crowding Still Concerns Parents

By |

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.

Cunniff School

Cunniff School Taking Drastic Measures to Relieve Crowded Classrooms

By |

Facing classes as large as 28 students, the teachers and staff at Cunniff Elementary School have turned the school’s art and music rooms into classrooms to split off a set of students and relieve crowding at the Westside school. Principal Mena Ciarlone told the School Committee Monday that the Cunniff has experienced unusual mid-year growth, and mostly in the upper grades – third through fifth. “The past two weeks we have noticed an increased enrollment, two stories each week in the upper grades.,” Ciarlone said. “Enrollment became a worry and class sizes were extremely high.” One of the fourth grade classes has 28 students and the other had 26.

Charity

Cunniff Hosting Event at Boston Basketball Raising Money for 5th Grade Class

By |

A fundraiser will be held at Boston Basketball on Saturday, Nov. 14 to raise money for the fifth-grade class at the Cunniff School . Come out to have some fun playing corn hole at Boston Basketball, Boston Basketball, 411 Waverley Oaks Road in Waltham, while raising money for the Cunniff School fifth grade class. Doors open at 6 p.m. and games begin at 7 p.m.

This is a 21+ only event with a cash bar, DJ and raffles. First place winner receives a prize!

Schools

Congresswoman Clark Visits New Class at Watertown School

By |

Congresswoman Katherine Clark recently made a special visit to Watertown’s Cunniff Elementary School to see a new program where special education and mainstream students work together in the same class. The inclusion class at the Cunniff, which started this fall, allows special education students to spend more time in with their classmates, and in some cases mean they do not have to go to specialized programs located outside of Watertown. In her latest email update, Clark references her visit to Watertown. “I had a great visit with students and teachers at Cunniff Elementary School in Watertown,” Clark’s email reads. “Cunniff’s mission is to provide a supportive and challenging learning environment to maximize academic achievement, social responsibility and lifelong learning by attending to the intellectual and developmental needs of all of our students.”