Around Town

Watertown’s Galdston Joins Superintendents Asking for Educators to Get Vaccine Sooner

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Watertown’s Superintendent of Schools joined school leaders from around the region who are urging Gov. Charlie Baker to move educators to a higher priority in Massachusetts’ COVID-19 vaccination plan. Currently, the Watertown Public Schools are operating with a hybrid learning model, where students are split into two cohorts and alternate days they attend school in-person. Some have also chosen to go all remote. At the Jan. 26 School Committee meeting, Superintendent Dede Galdston said that a survey found that parents and teachers would like to see increased in-person learning, but she said under current restrictions that would be difficult. She mentioned that vaccination of teachers and staff could help the move toward bringing more students back into school.

Schools

COVID-19 Numbers Low in Watertown Schools, Officials Look at When to Increase In-School Time

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The Watertown Public Schools have significantly lower COVID-19 positive test rates than the Town, and more than two-thirds of students and staff are participating in the district’s free testing program. Superintendent Dede Galdston said that the staff and students tested in the district’s pool testing is 0.15 percent, which is below the most recent positivity rate Townwide, which was 4.4 percent as of Dec. 28. She discussed the COVID-19 rates and the testing program, along with what factors will be considered when looking at increasing the amount of in-school learning during Monday’s School Committee meeting. Galdston credits staff and students taking the COVID-19 protocols seriously for the low rates of the virus.

Schools

School Officials Announce Efforts to Stop Racism, Bullying in Schools

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School officials said they heard the parents and community members loud and clear at a recent forum held in response to the report by a Watertown Middle School student the she had been racially harassed at school and online. This week, School administration and the School Committee announced some steps they would be taking to stop this from happening again. On Monday, Superintendent Dede Galdston acknowledged that the Watertown Public Schools have much work to do. “I think we share the same goals which include making the Watertown Schools the safest, most welcoming and most inclusive learning environment for all our students and families,” Galdston said. “They and you deserve nothing less.”

Bullying

Residents Call for Action to Stop Racial Harassment in Watertown Schools During Forum

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The 150-plus people who attended Superintendent Dede Galdston’s forum on racial harassment and bullying last week heard from the girl who brought the issue to the forefront, and other attendees called for action to make sure such incidents do not occur in the future. Galdston scheduled the Dec. 3 forum after a Watertown Middle School student named Lialah spoke to Fox 25 News about her experience of being called the N-word at school and being harassed by classmates on social media and on the phone. Harassment Reports

The 13-year-old spoke during the forum, and said that she does not trust the teachers and administrators at the middle school after she reported her experiences and said no action was taken, and people at the school denied her reports. “Why are people spreading misinformation.

COVID-19

Watertown Middle School Moving to Hybrid Next Week

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Watertown Middle School

Students at Watertown Middle School will start to attend classes in-person two days a week next week with the beginning of hybrid learning. Superintendent Dede Galdston sent out an announcement Friday evening saying that hybrid learning would start at WMS on Thursday, Nov. 12 for half the students and Friday, Nov. 13 for the other half. The school has been teaching remotely since school started in late September.

Government

Watertown Schools Respond to State Letter; Gov. Relaxing Restrictions

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Watertown School officials responded to the letter from state education officials asking them to reopen the schools to in-person learning, saying the Town’s school will remain on their schedule to have students return to elementary schools in late October and to secondary schools in November. Meanwhile, Gov. Charlie Baker announced the relaxing of some of the state’s COVID-19 rules. Last week, the Watertown Schools, and 15 other districts, received a letter from Department of Elementary and Secondary Education Commissioner Jeffrey Riley strongly urging the schools to return to in-person learning because the communities have low rates of Coronavirus infections. Watertown remains a “green” community, meaning it is at lower risk of COVID-19 spread. The latest weekly statistics released by the State, as of Sept.

Around Town

School Officials Discuss Construction Projects, Remote Learning on Cable Show

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The latest episode of Inside Watertown focuses on the Watertown Public Schools during COVID-19, and what’s going on with the school construction projects. Superintendent Dede Galdston and Town Council President Mark Sideris joined co-hosts Charlie Breitrose and John Airasian via Zoom to talk about the schools. Galdston discussed the evolution of remote learning in Watertown after the COVID-19 outbreak closed the schools. She also touched on planning for next fall, when she hopes students and teachers will be back in their classrooms.

Meanwhile, the construction of the new Cunniff and Hosmer schools are moving full speed ahead. The episode was filmed before the School Building Committee approved the $103 million contract with Brait Building Corp.

Schools

Schools to Provide Learning Opportunities During Coronavirus Closing, but Will Not be Business as Usual

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Watertown Public School students will have chances to continue learning from home while the schools are closed for two weeks in an effort to stop the spread of the Coronavirus, but Superintendent Dede Galdston said it will not be considered part of the regular classes, nor impact grades. Students at Watertown High School have the Chromebooks, and efforts will be made to get the laptop computers to all Watertown Middle School students to use while they are out of school. Teachers are planning activities for the elementary school students, Galdston added. “Our intent is to keep learning alive, but it is not mandatory and not considered instruction,” Galdston said. “In order to provide equity in access, we are not allowed to provide remote learning as a replacement to in person education.”