Schools

Taste Some Beer and Raise Money for Watertown Middle School

By |

Celebrate the kids return to school and benefit the Watertown Middle School at this adults-only PTO sponsored beer-tasting and fundraiser! 

The fundraiser will be held Tuesday, April 28 from 6:30-8:30 p.m. at Miller’s Ale House, 617 Arsenal St, Watertown

Your ticket includes:

• complimentary appetizers

• 4-flight beer-tasting (first flight starts at 7 p.m.)

• 50/50 raffle

• select batch of silent auction items ( 4 Red Sox Tickets behind home plate, 6 pack of passes to Patriots Place Hall, Local Restaurant Gift Cards, Golf Foursome at the Miller Tracy Golf Tourney June 11, Tupperware chip and dip set, and more!)

Buy tickets in advance for $18 or at the door for $20

https://tapintothewms-pto.eventbrite.com

This fun, community building event will raise funds to support WMS classrooms, students and teachers.

Charity

Win a Tesla Test Drive at the Pennies for Patients Basketball Game Tonight!

By |

On Thursday, March 27, at 6 p.m. Watertown Middle School hosts a charity basketball game to raise money for Pennies for Patients – which provides funds for the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society. The game between students and staff is a rematch of a contest earlier in the year which went to three overtimes and ended in a tie! Tesla of Watertown has donated a 24 hour Tesla test drive which will be awarded to the winners of a silent auction at the game. Tesla will have a car on display in our parking lot. The lobby and auditorium at the middle school are dedicated to Peter Clough who died at 32 of Lymphoma 20 years ago. Several members of the Clough family will be attending the event.

Government

Town Seeking State Money to Repair Watertown Middle School

By |

It’s time to replace the windows at Watertown Middle School and the town hopes to get help from the state to pay for the work. Superintendent Jean Fitzgerald told the Town Council that the school has 207 windows which are 36 years old. On Tuesday, the Council approved the School Department’s application to the School Building Authority’s accelerated repair program. The School Committee then approved the application at a special meeting on Thursday scheduled just to take the vote. The estimated cost of the project is $310,000. If successful, the town would get nearly half the project paid for by state funds.

Charity

Watertown Middle School Seeks Help in Effort to Win National Contest

By |

Watertown Middle School’s project to fix up an old home economics kitchen has been selected as a semifinalist in a national competition and now organizers need help from businesses and people in the community. The school entered the Ultimate Neighborhood Give Back Challenge, in which projects from around the country compete to be selected to win a $50,000 prize to help make the project a reality. The money would be used to buy new appliances, counters and more to fix up an unused home economics kitchen. The updated kitchen would be used in the Integrated Life Skills program, which teaches students with special needs to be self-sufficient by focusing on personal responsibility, independence and appropriate interactions. One part of the program is learning to cook.

Schools

School Committee to Discuss Raising Athletic Fees

By |

The Watertown High School athletics budget could be well in the negative next year, so the School Committee will discuss increasing the athletic fee on June 25. The athletics budget for the middle and high schools combined is over $890,000, but the shortfall could be in the $100,000s. The School Committee will discuss athletic fees at the meeting on Wednesday, June 25 at 7 p.m. in the Watertown High School Lecture Hall. The agenda also includes reviews of the Fiscal 2104 and 2015 budgets, and a discussion of having the school budget reviewed by an independent auditor. To see the whole agenda, click here.

Schools

Find Out How to Help Watertown Middle School Win $50,000!

By |

Watertown Middle School has entered a contest to win $50,000 so they can remodel an old home economics room so it can be used by the school, including special education students. The middle school is competing against projects in places across the country in the Ultimate Neighborhood Give Back Challenge run by Guaranteed Rate. The top project wins $50,000, and money is also given to the runner-up. Winners are chosen based on votes and the merits of the project. The Integrated Life Skills program at the middle school teaches students with special needs to be self-sufficient by focusing on personal responsibility, independence and appropriate interactions.

Around Town

Arabic Classes in Watertown Schools Returning for a Second Year

By |

Watertown middle and high school students have a rare opportunity to learn the Arabic language, and they will be able to for at least another year. The grant that brought a teacher from Egypt to Watertown has been renewed for a second year, said Watertown Middle School Principal Kimo Carter. The grant program is sponsored by the U.S. State Department and targets languages believed to be important for the future, including Arabic and Mandarin Chinese. “We got another grant from the Teachers of Critical Language Program,” Carter said. “Another teacher from Egypt will teach Arabic at the middle school and high school next year. The reason why we got it is because of the success of the program.”

Schools

Watertown Middle School Gym Roof Needs Replacing

By |

{Originally Posted on the Watertown News Facebook page on Feb. 12, 2014}

By Charlie Breitrose

The roof over Watertown Middle School’s gym has been leaking, and school officials will be applying to the state to get money to replace it. The project will cost about $605,000, the School Committee learned last week. Watertown will apply for money from the Massachusetts School Building Authority’s Accelerated Repair Program. The leaks have caused events at the gym to be canceled, said Superintendent Jean Fitzgerald, and there are fears that the floor will be damaged by water sitting on it for extended periods of time.