Police/Fire

Watertown Police Arrest 16-Year Old for School Threat Made on Social Media

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Watertown Police arrested a 16-year-old Watertown boy for allegedly making threats toward a school on Friday, May 31 after the teen sent a Snapchat message that was received by students at Watertown High School and Watertown Middle School. Watertown Police received word of the threat from Watertown Public School officials Friday morning, said Watertown Police Lt. James O’Connor. The message was sent via the Snapchat social media app, and contained a list of emojis, O’Connor said. “From what police could tell, the Snapchat message went to over 100 students at Watertown Middle School and Watertown High School,” O’Connor said. “It contained emojis of a picture of a school, a bomb, an explosion, a gun and an emoji of someone running.”

Election 2020

Watertown High School Students Got Up Close and Personal with a Presidential Candidate

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Presidential candidate Wayne Messam, mayor of Mirimar, Fla., stopped by Watertown High School on Wednesday to speak with some students. On Wednesday morning, a group of Watertown High School students got to have their questions answered by someone who could become the Commander in Chief and Leader of the Free World. The WHS students took time away from their normal lessons to hear from presidential hopeful Mayor Wayne Messam. The Florida Democrat stopped by between campaigning in New Hampshire and an interview with a Boston Public Radio station. Messam shared his story of how he went from humble beginnings to being a football player at Florida State University, then started his own environmentally conscious construction company, become mayor of Mirmar, Fla., and now is running for the highest office in the land.

Around Town

Watertown Teens Tackle the Tough Issues at Recent Town Hall Meeting

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Three of the Watertown Youth Peer Leaders act out a scene where the boy in the middle asks his friend for money so he can buy drugs from the student in front of him. The group spreads awareness of substance abuse and other issues facing teens. Showing that teens do care about more than video games and shopping, a group of Watertown High School students presented a Town Hall meeting about issues facing youth in Town: addiction, depression, racism, and sexual identity. The Watertown Youth Coalition’s Youth Peer Leaders helped organize the Well-Being of Watertown Youth Town Hall meeting, held at the Watertown Free Public Library on Wednesday. It was also sponsored by the Watertown Youth Coalition.

Entertainment

UPDATED: Catch the Watertown High Musical, “Urinetown,” This Weekend

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Watertown High School will present the musical “Urinetown” three times this weekend. (The time of the Sunday production of Urinetown has been updated.)

Watertown High School will present three productions of the musical, Urinetown, this weekend. The WHS spring musical will be performed at the Watertown High School on Friday, March 8 at 7:00 p.m., Saturday, March 9 at 7:00 p.m., and Sunday, March 10 at 2:00 p.m.

Musical Theatre International had the following description of the show:

Urinetown, is in fact, a satire of almost every musical you can think of. More than this it parodies the traditions of musicals as a whole in terms of style, structure and story. It also jabs at the legal system, capitalism, corrupt corporation, waste in terms of the environment and our sense of entitlement (amongst other things).

Perfection Towing

New Phys. Ed. Option to be Offered for Watertown High Students

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A requirement by the state that Massachusetts students must take a physical education class each year of high school has complicated schedules, especially for seniors, but Waterotwn school officials are introduced new alternatives to help the situation. On Monday, Joe Lampman, the district’s Coordinator of Health, Physical Education and Wellness, and WHS Principal Shirley Lundberg presented a new alternative to the School Committee that could allow students to take an alternative class, while still fulling the PE requirement. They also presented new classes that include wellness as well as physical education as part of the change to the WHS Program of Studies. When the requirement that students must have at least a semester of physical education each year of high school started five years ago it was not popular, Lampman recalled. “I taught senior PE when I first started five years ago,” Lampman said.

Asbestos

School Officials Confident Asbestos Hazards Have Been Dealt With, Schools are Safe

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Responding to concerns of parents and staff, the Watertown Public Schools administration presented a report on asbestos in the town’s schools on Monday night. Afterward, School Committee members said they are confident that Watertown’s students and teachers are safe from asbestos exposure. Many of the calls and emails came after an online petition started by people concerned about asbestos in the Watertown Public Schools. The petition cites the suffering of a former Watertown teacher, and calls for the closing of the Watertown High School and Watertown Middle School buildings until the asbestos hazards are identified and dealt with. Because Watertown’s schools were built during the “age of asbestos,” Superintendent Dede Galdston said, asbestos is certainly something to be concerned with.

MSBA

Rebuilding of Watertown High School Moves a Step Forward with State Board’s Vote

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Plans to renovate or rebuild Watertown High School cleared a major hurdle Wednesday when State officials voted to move the project to the next step — doing a feasibility study and create a schematic design

The Massachusetts School Building Authority (MSBA) Board voted at a meeting held in Boston on Wednesday. The WHS project now moves to the second step in a series of eight. The School Building Committee will hire an owner’s project manager to oversee the design and construction, and hire a project designer. 

Watertown Superintendent Dede Galdston announced vote on Wednesday in a statement in which she wrote:

I am pleased to share with you that the Massachusetts School Building Authority unanimously voted to invite the Watertown High School building project into Feasibility at their board meeting today.  In attendance were Senator Brownsberger, Mark Sideris, Michael Driscoll, Shirley Lundberg, Heidi Perkins, Steve Magoon and me.The next step in the process is the selection of the Owner’s Project Manager which will begin soon.  Once the OPM is in place, the designer will be selected through the MSBA’s Designer Selection Panel process.  These steps are considered Module 2, which should be complete within four to six months.  This is great news for our community!  

The MSBA’s vote came after the Town Council voted to spend up to $1.6 million on an owner’s project manager and to hire a designer at a meeting in late November. At that meeting, Galdston showed what she called a “best case scenario” timeline, in which students and staff would move into the new school in the fall of 2023. A feasibility study will be created, which will include examining possible locations for the school and what the new construction and/or renovation will include.

Schools

Big Shift Coming to Watertown High School Class Schedule

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Watertown High School students and teachers will have to adjust to a very different class schedule beginning in the fall of 2019. School officials say the new schedule will allow for more projects, longer times for labs and pefromances. Currently, the high school has a schedule with six equal length class periods which meet in the same order every day. It is on a seven-day cycle in which advisory meets once a week. 

The current schedule has been in place for 20 years, but there has been a desire for some time to change it, Watertown High School Principal Shirley Lundberg told the School Committee Monday night. Discussions began last year, but the decision was made to delay making the change until the fall of 2019.