Schools

School Committee to Embark on 2 Superintendent Searches This School Year

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The Watertown Public Schools will go through two superintendent searches this school year – an interim and a permanent replacement – but the timeline for the searches remains up in the air. 

Monday night, the School Committee discussed their game plan for replacing Superintendent Jean Fitzgerald, who is retiring in the beginning of October. The search for an interim superintendent will start immediately, while process of finding a permanent replacement will begin in late November or early December, said School Committee Chairman John Portz. The School Committee came close to just having one search for the permanent superintendent. Member Eileen Hsu-Balzer said she would feel more comfortable focusing on that search and have the current administrators run the district rather than someone brought in for the school year. “I question the idea of even having an interim.”

Dr. Bernard Lafayette

Teachers, Students & Police Team Up to Teach Nonviolence to Watertown Staff

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Crammed into a small conference room at the Westin Hotel in Waltham Thursday, a group of teachers took part in the first of its kind professional training where students joined other teachers and police officers to demonstrate the principles of Martin Luther King Jr.’s non-violence approach to conflict resolution. The Kingian Nonviolence Training was one of the sessions teachers and staff of the Watertown Public Schools could select as part of their professional training during the first two days back at work this year. The first of three trainings on Thursday was attended by teachers from all levels, special education and English Language Learner (formerly ESL) teachers, a dean of students and a reading specialist. Many said they hoped to find ways to resolve conflicts in their classes, both between students and with themselves and students. When conflict arises sometimes people have to resist their first reaction, said Harold Physic, a Watertown Police officer who helped lead the professional training.

Jean Fitzgerald

See the First Issue of the Watertown Public Schools Bulletin

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The first ever Watertown Public Schools Bulletin was released by Superintendent Jean Fitzgerald this week, with news, information and updates about the schools. 

Here is the “The Superintendent’s Word,” by Fitzgerald, which is part of the WPS Bulletin. You can see more stories and view the complete WPS Bulletin by clicking here. The Superintendent’s Word
Thank you for taking a few minutes to read the first issue of the WPS Bulletin. My address in this Bulletin will focus on the learning environment in our schools. We are in a new world that requires diverse, flexible, and highly technological environments that can be customized for the different ways in which students learn.

Charity

Woman Biking 200 Miles to Put a Salad Bar in the Watertown Public Schools

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Jenn LaVardera of Dole will cycle approximately 200 miles from Napa Valley to Monterey, Calif. on behalf of Watertown Public Schools to raise funds to donate a salad bar to the district. They will both ride as part of the third-annual Tour de Fresh Cycling Event benefitting the Let’s Move Salad Bars to Schools campaign, which has provided more than 100 salad bars to schools across the country in the last two years – providing tens of thousands of students with fresh produce options on a daily basis. The event, a collaborative effort by fresh produce industry professionals and presented by The California Giant Foundation, will begin in Napa Valley on July 26 and conclude in Monterey, Calif. on July 28 just before the industry’s annual PMA Foodservice Conference.

Art

See Artwork from Watertown Students at the Watertown Mall

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The annual Watertown Public Schools Art Show will be held at the Watertown Mall beginning April 1. The show features artwork from students in the elementary schools, middle school and the high school. This exhibition is open to the public during mall hours. The exhibition will run from Friday, April 1 to Monday, April 25. A reception to celebrate the work of WPS art students in all schools will be held on Monday, April 4 from 5-7 p.m.

The artworks were created by students in the following teacher’s classes:

Donna Calleja, Watertown High
Dan Dressler, Watertown High
Elizabeth Donnellan, Watertown Middle School
Haein Kim, Hosmer School
AnnaMaria Lochiatto, Lowell School
Jaclyn Meyer, Cunniff School

Schools

Public Invited to Screening of Movie, Discussion on Schools of the Future

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Watertown Community Foundation and the Watertown Public Schools are pleased to present a screening of “Most Likely to Succeed.” Come see this ground breaking movie about education, and be a part of the discussion about the future of education in Watertown – with parents, other residents, students and faculty. Schools systems around the nations are using the ideas from the movie to drive discussions about re-imagining education and what our students are capable of. Sal Khan of the Khan Academy says of this movie: “The 21st century is going to be all about building, creating, and innovating. This remarkable film shows a path of how we can empower all of our children to do that.” Two show times will be held at Watertown High School’s auditorium on Feb.

Government

Schools, Development, Transportation Priorities for Town in Next Two Years

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Among the key areas of focus for the Town Council in the new term will be improving Watertown’s schools, deal with the development boom and seek to improve transportation, Town Council President Mark Sideris announced at Monday’s inauguration ceremony. Sideris, the Town Council (Michael Dattoli, Aaron Dushku, Susan Falkoff, Lisa Feltner, Angeline Kounelis, Anthony Palomba, Vincent Piccirilli and Kenneth Woodland) and the elected or re-elected School Committee members (Eileen Hsu-Balzer, Kendra Medville Foley and Candace Miller) and Library Trustees (Sheppard Ferguson, Penelope Peoples and Timothy Tracy) were sworn in at the event held at the Arsenal Center for the Arts’ Charles Mosesian Theater. Development has been the top issue in town, particularly in the areas east of Watertown Square along Arsenal Street. Two major apartment projects have been approved along Arsenal Street and a new hotel is going up near the malls. Zoning for two areas that could change the town significantly continue to subjects of hot discussion: the Regional Mixed Use District (RMUD) in the area of the two malls in town, and the redevelopment of the Arsenal on the Charles.

Schools

Watertown Teaming with Boston College to Encourage Parent Participation

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In an effort to encourage more participation among families in their children’s schools, Watertown Public Schools is forming a pilot-program partnership with faculty at the Boston College Lynch School of Education to identify how to attract more diversity among families who actively participate in school programs and events, according to an announcement from BC. The first research collaboration of its kind between the town and the Lynch School is made possible through a grant by the Collaborative Fellows Program of the Lynch School. “I’m delighted to be partnering with the Boston College Lynch School on this important initiative,” said Dr. Jean Fitzgerald, Superintendent of Watertown Public Schools. “I believe that a strong school community is built through the positive connections we make with the families of our students.  The collaboration between the Lynch School and the Watertown Public Schools will shine a light on the strengths and opportunities for increasing those connections and expanding family engagement here in Watertown.”

“Administrators in the school district have noticed that some families, often those more established in the community, are very engaged in schools – they come to all the parent-teacher conferences and are active members in parent-teacher organizations, the school-site council, that kind of thing,” said Lynch School Assistant Professor of Educational Leadership Rebecca Lowenhaupt, Ph.D., lead researcher in this project. “But other community members are much less likely to become involved.”

Dr. Lowenhaupt said her team, which includes middle school assistant principal Jason Del Porto, school district administrators, and researchers from the Lynch School, will undertake a system-wide needs assessment of family engagement using focus groups, data analysis, and conversations.