Schools

Details of Asbestos Report at High School, District Will Hire Firm to Remediate

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Superintendent Dede Galdston announced details of the report about the asbestos found in the Watertown Public Schools, Monday evening, including plans to remove some found in plaster on the walls of classrooms at Watertown High School. The study was conducted by EFI Global, the consultant hired to do the work as part of the district’s requirement under the Asbestos Hazardous Emergency Response Act (AHERA). The schools must do the inspection every three years, and last week Galdston said that more powerful testing methods found asbestos not detected in prior years. Asbestos was discovered in skim coat plaster at the high school. Air quality was also tested in the rooms where damaged plaster was found, and Galdston said that it came in 10 times lower than the limit allowed by the EPA.

Schools

Start Time for Watertown High School Moving Later Starting Fall of 2018

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Watertown High School will start 35 minutes later starting in the fall of 2018 after the School Committee voted to approve the school start time change on Monday night. 
Both the high school and Watertown Middle School will start at 8:30 a.m., while Cunniff, Hosmer and Lowell elementary schools will start at 8:15 a.m.

Research shows benefit of moving the start of school later is that high school students will be more ready to learn because it is more inline with adolescents’ biological clocks, said School Committee Chairman John Portz. “In the education world often times with research you have conflicting opinions. This is an issue where there is very little conflict,” Portz said. The change was made after more than two years of discussion and research by Watertown School officials. After an initial study by the School Start Time Task Force, the same group was asked to come up with recommendations for how to implement a time change and how it would impact other schools in town.

Schools

Asbestos Found in Walls of Watertown High School, Effort to Remove it Underway

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An inspection of Watertown High School discovered that the plaster on the walls contain asbestos, Superintendent Dede Galdston announced Monday, and the district has started determining the best way to deal with the hazardous material. 

The inspection was conducted by a firm hired by the Watertown Public Schools as part of complying with the Asbestos Hazard Emergency Response Act (AHERA). Galdston sent a letter about the asbestos to Watertown High School parents, and read it at Monday’s School Committee meeting. “During these inspections it was determined that the skim coat plaster at the high school contains some amount of asbestos,” Galdston said. “While previous reports did not identify asbestos in the plaster, more recent sampling and analytical methods have improved such that the levels of asbestos in plaster can now be detected.” All the plaster in the school is being examined to determine the extent of the asbestos, Galdston told the School Committee.

Schools

High School Moves a Step Closer to Being Accepted Into State Building Program

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For the fourth time this year Watertown Public School officials applied to have the renovation Watertown High School partially funded by the state, and this time the project has caught the eye of state officials who will come take a closer look at the aging campus. While WHS has not yet been invited to be part of the MSBA program, in which close to half the cost would be reimbursed by the state, Superintendent Dede Galdston said she is excited to see it being considered. “A group from the state will come to the district to interview people and have an architect come look at the building to determine if it’s one of the buildings that will get funding,” Galdston told the School Committee Monday night. “It is pretty exciting we made the first cut.” If the school makes the list of schools to be accepted into the state program, the work really begins for Watertown officials.

Charity

Watertown-Belmont Chamber Awards Four Scholarships to High School Seniors

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The Watertown-Belmont Chamber of Commerce awards scholarships annually to Belmont and Watertown high school seniors planning to attend college. The WBCC announced the winners. This year the Chamber received multiple applications from Watertown and Belmont seniors. A volunteer scholarship committee comprising members of the Chamber’s board of directors, Katherine Rafferty, Mount Auburn Hospital; Pamela Giannatsis, Tufts Health Plan; and Sandy Penchansky, of Watertown Savings Bank read each application and selected the award recipients. Here are this year’s award recipients:

WBCC Scholarship

o   $1,000 to a Watertown High School (WHS) senior and Watertown Resident: Bailey Herrera Samayoa

o   $1,000 to a Belmont High School (BHS) senior and Belmont Resident: Colleen Murphy

The Barclay Good Citizen Scholarship

o   $500 to a High School senior boy and Watertown Resident: Sam Carton

o   $500 to a High School senior girl and Watertown Resident: Stella Varnum

Congratulations to our recipients!

Mascot

Committee Narrows Down Possible Mascots/Logos for Watertown High School

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Knights, Colonists, American Indians, foxes, bobcats, and many more – these are some of the choices that the Watertown High School Mascot Screening Committee has to choose from for the school’s new logo. 

The group of students, alumni, parents and school staff met Tuesday night to review the 17 submissions for the new WHS mascot/logo, and shortened the list for the graphic designer working with the group to have some ideas. The submissions came from students and others in town, said School Committee Vice Chair Kendra Foley, who is chairing the Mascot Screening Committee. One even came from a fifth grader. The group was asked what characteristics they wanted the mascot to have. One of the students on the committee, Abbie Peterson, said she wanted to show that Watertown is “a strong community, we don’t let anything hold us back and we strive to be the best.”

Schools

WHS Student Overcomes Learning Challenges to Graduate with Honors

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Rosdom Kaligian, center, overcame dyslexia and autism to graduate from Watertown High School with honors. When the seniors at Watertown High School graduated on Friday, there was one graduate who overcame some major challenges to not only finish high school but do so with honors. 

Rosdom Kaligian has severe dyslexia and also is autistic. His parents considered placing him in an out-of-district special education program, his mother Barbara Aghamianz said, but he convinced them to keep him at WHS. “I think people forget how hard it is for these kids to graduate, let alone be successful.” Barbara said.