Schools

See Which Groups Got Education Grants from the Watertown Community Foundation

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The Watertown Community Foundation announced it has awarded grants totaling $34,385 to initiatives supporting Watertown Public Schools. Grantees were notified this week just before the end of the 2019 school year. Grants will be implemented in spring of 2020 and or fall of 2020. 

The funds distributed through the School Based Grant Program focus on solely on Watertown’s public schools to support activities that improve instruction and learning.  

2019-2020 Education Grants  

21 School based grants totaling $34,385 were given for: 

WHS College VisitsWHS Robotics TeamWHS SPEAK ProgramWHS WCAMP – Watertown College Application Mentoring ProgramWHS/WMS/General Public Undocumented and Unafraid: Lessons from a DreamerWHS/District Musical Instrument Purchase and Repair ProgramWMS One School One BookWMS Grade 8 Dynamic Earth Heat Flow Traveling Program through Museum of ScienceWMS Garden/ Nature Club Spring /Fall 2020WMS 7th Grade Thematic Social StudiesWMS 3Doodle Modeling in Middle School Technology Education and EngineeringLowell -Grade 1 – Discovery Museum Traveling Science Workshop -SoundCunniff- Grade 5 – 10 Oculus Go Devices for Virtual Field Trips and Immersive EducationLowell PreK -5-Len Cabral Storytelling AssemblyLowell- K -Force and Motion Workshop presented by the Discovery MuseumCunniff ESL -After-School Enrichment Activities for ESL StudentsDistrict Grade 3- Gore PlaceDistrict PreK-5 – Purchase of the book One World, One Day, by Barbara KerleDistrict Pre-K- Districtwide Pre-K Science EnrichmentHosmer Gr. 5- The Courage Campaign: Movement & Self-Discovery WorkshopHosmer – International Week 2020

For questions, please contact Jan Singer at jan.singer@watertownfoundation.org.  

The Watertown Community Foundation, a public, 501(c)(3) tax-exempt organization, works to build and sustain a vibrant, close-knit community in Watertown – now, and for future generations. To accomplish this, WCF raises funds from individuals, families, businesses, and foundations; awards grants to nonprofits and community projects; and builds networks of donors, grantees, program participants, and stakeholders. 

WCF Board of Directors 

David Siegel and Darshna Varia, Co-Presidents; Robert Airasian; Albrik Avanessian; Emily Barclay; Eleanor Donato; William B. Ford; Ashley Morris; Mary Ann Mulligan; Antonia O’Hara; Anthony Paolillo; Maria Panaggio-Phillips; Lora Sabin; Robert Shay; Elaina Themistos; Lauren Coughlin Unsworth; and Kathryn White.

Eileen Hsu-Balzer

School Committee Member Departs After 24 Years of Devotion to Watertown’s Children

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School Committee member Eileen Hsu-Balzer left the board after serving for nearly a quarter century. Few people have touched the lives of as many Watertown children as retiring School Committee member Hsu-Balzer. Last week, the School Committee honored her during her final meeting on the board on which she served six terms.

“Eileen is stepping down after 24 years — an amazing commitment to the Town’s Schools.,” said School Committee Chair John Portz. “You have to go back to 1896 to find anyone who served as along as Eileen has on the Watertown School Committee.” Former School Committee member Tony Paolillo served 12 years with Hsu-Balzer.

Schools

Deadline for Watertown Parents to Enter Student Information Online Approaching

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The Watertown Public Schools is going digital when it comes to registration forms filled out by parents and guardians about their children. The deadline for filling out the online forms is Friday, Dec. 13, 2019. School Committee member Amy Donohue reminded her colleagues, and parents, about the upcoming deadline to fill out the forms on the Watertown Public School’s online system. Superintendent Dede Galdston said the effort is to get all the information on the district computer system, and will make it easier in the future.

Cunniff School

School Officials Detail Reasons for MCAS Improvement, Areas of Concern

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Watertown Middle School teachers and staff have a plan in place to raise the MCAS scores at the school after a poor performance in 2018. Monday night, the School Committee heard about the strategies being used in the Watertown Schools that led to improvements for the town’s schools on the 2019 MCAS test. The Watertown Schools have made an effort to use data to drive lessons and to address weaknesses in classrooms and even for individual students, said Theresa McGuinness, the district’s Assistant Superintendent for Teaching, Learning & Assessment. “Student performance data is used to identify areas of strength and areas of opportunity, as a district, grade level, cohort and individual in English Language Arts (ELA), mathematics, and science,” McGuinness said. She added that the MCAS data is used in conjunction with other assessment tools used in the Watertown Schools.

Around Town

Design of Watertown’s Elementary Schools Taking Shape

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A view of the approved addition to Lowell School, seen on the right, which has tall windows, including on the corners. The designs of Watertown’s three elementary school projects solidified Wednesday night, with the School Building Committee selecting its preferred options for Lowell School, and they got previews of the two new schools at Hosmer and Cunniff. While the Hosmer and Cunniff schools will get brand new schools, Lowell School will undergo a major renovation, plus a large addition will be made to the east side of the building. This area will include the library/media center. The look of the addition to the Lowell School was the big sticking point at the Committee’s previous meeting, with members splitting evenly over the two choices.

Around Town

School Committee Gives Superintendent Good Evaluation

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Dede Galdston, current assistant superintendent in Billerica, interviewed for the Watertown Superintendent’s job Monday night. Superintendent Dede Galdston received good marks from the School Committee in the evaluation of her second year as the head of the Watertown Public Schools. The School Committee gave Galdston ratings of “proficient” across the board for her overall rating from the seven School Committee members. The ratings required by the state have four levels, from “unsatisfactory” to “exemplary” with proficient second highest. Galdston was also measured on how well she met the six goals agreed to by the School Committee and herself earlier this year.

Schools

Watertown Youth Sports Groups Concerned About Being Charged to Use School Gyms

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The School Committee is examining its policy for charging groups to use school facilities, such as the gyms. Watertown youth sports groups oppose any fees, saying it could prevent some kids from participating in their programs.

A proposal to charge town youth groups to use the gyms at the Watertown Public Schools has parents and youth sports groups concerned. The subject came up last year because School officials had heard that Watertown youth groups were getting squeezed out of the gyms by for-profit renters. A policy was created to create a priority list for users of the school facilities, and fees were examined and increased on for-profit users. At a joint meeting of the School Committee’s Budget & Finance and Buildings & Grounds subcommittees, School officials found that the fees had not always been charged. “As the fees were implemented, it became clear that past practice had not followed the past fee policy and there were significant inconsistencies regarding who was charged and at what level,” said School Committee Vice Chair Kendra Foley.

Letters

LETTER: Resident Not Happy With District’s Response to Asbestos in Schools

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Dear Editor,

In the concluding paragraph of your February 7, 2019 “… Schools are Safe” article, Town Council President Mark Sideris proffered a blanket criticism:

“I see comments that are completely false and people take it as what is true, but it’s not.”

In fairness, can you ask Council President Sideris to be specific? Whose comments? What’s “not true”? Can Mary Russo – or anyone who is being accused of making “completely false” statements – be given a chance to respond? Please note that Mary Russo, a long-time respected teacher and resident, forced the Watertown Public Schools administration to comply with the law by filing a complaint in 2017 with the state Department of Labor Standards. The state issued sanctions and fines. The school administration did not just “decide to do another survey” as the Superintendent claims.  Watertown had no choice. Leaving out that context disrespects Ms. Russo and undermines the ability of citizens and the press to fairly judge the credibility of the parties making statements about these issues. 

Thanks for your consideration. Sincerely,Paul Davis