Entertainment

Watertown MusicFest Coming Up – Performers Wanted!

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Now it its fourth year, the Friends of Watertown MusicFest will be held in March, and musicians are still being sought to play at the event. The fundraiser for the music program in the Watertown Public Schools will be held Friday, March 6, from 5:30-9:30 p.m., at the Watertown Middle School, 68 Waverly Ave. in Watertown. The event features over 50 performances by musicians of all ages, musical styles, and abilities, and an instrument petting zoo. “MusicFest is a lively, eclectic evening of music for the whole community,” says FoWM Board Member Heidi Greisch.

Schools

Teachers Added to Reduce Class Sizes, Other Positions Unfilled

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Each of Watertown’s elementary schools received a new teacher to help reduce the size of classes, but the district did not hire all the teachers it had hoped. Superintendent Jean Fitzgerald discussed school enrollment and new hires at Monday’s School Committee meeting. Hosmer School has 850 students this fall, Lowell School has 388 students and there are 312 children at Cunniff School. “At each school, class size was something very important to parents – and to all of us,” Fitzgerald said. “Each school got an additional general education teacher to help with class size.”

Schools

School Officials Have Plan to Avoid Financial Problems This Year

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Last school year, the Watertown Public Schools had to freeze spending when they had a major mid-year deficit, but they ended up with a large surplus. The Fiscal 2014 budget looked like it could be a major problem for Watertown school officials, who froze spending in January when the school budget ran $926,000 in the red, said Superintendent Jean Fitzgerald. The district turned it around, but officials still appeared to have a major problem in June when they though they needed to make up a shortfall in the special education budget of about $640,000. It turns out the money was not needed. At Monday’s School Committee meeting, Watertown Director of Business Services Charles Kellner said the district ended the year with a $770,00 surplus.

Letters

LETTER: Parent Urges Officials to Prioritize Keeping Class Sizes Low

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To the Editor:

Watertown Strong Schools has spent a lot of time focused on understanding the state of Watertown Public Schools. We analyzed data, met with town leaders and residents, interviewed administrators, and surveyed teachers. What we have concluded and have worked to clearly and objectively explain, is that the schools are at a crisis point. If left unchecked and underfunded, the problems will continue to get worse. While the Town Manager’s current education budget has made many positive steps and is larger than it has been in the past, it will not address class size in any meaningful way.

Around Town

Watertown School Supporters Call for Stabilization of Special Education Costs

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By Charlie Breitrose

The uncertainty of how much special education will cost the Watertown Public Schools each year has been a thorn in the side of school administrators and parents alike, and now supporters of the school want to establish a stabilization fund to deal with unexpected costs. The town must provide education for students with special needs from the age of 3 through high school, and in some cases until the age of 22. Some students attend programs in Watertown, but others attend schools outside of town which often have high price tags. This year alone, the district got 12 students who they had not anticipated who required out-of-district programs, said Student Services Director Arlene Shainker said at the School Committee Budget and Finance Subcommittee meeting on Monday night. That number is higher than most years.

Around Town

Shortage of ESL Teachers in Watertown Schools

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By Charlie Breitrose

One in ten students in the Watertown Public Schools are in English as a Second Language classes, but more than half are not getting the ESL (now known as English Language Learner) instruction that is required by state law.The students are in all five Watertown schools, and they come in speaking one of 27 different languages, said ESL Program Director Allison Levit said during a School Committee Budget and Finance Subcommittee meeting. Students who know the least amount of English are supposed to get 150 minutes a day of ESL instruction. That amount drops to 60-120 minutes for mid-level students and 30 minutes for those close to moving into a regular classroom full time, Levit said. A couple years ago Watertown Middle School received an award for its ESL program, but now the system is struggling. Levit, who is in her second year as director, asked for more staff last year, and did not receive any more instructors.