Schools

Superintendent Reviewed Areas Where Watertown Fared Well in the State Accountability Results & Areas that Need More Focus

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Watertown had some highlights from the 2025 MCAS test and other accountability measures, including being recognized for the results in some areas, but school officials also identified areas that need more work. Superintendent Dede Galdston presented a report on the 2025 Department of Elementary and Secondary Education (DESE) accountability results at the Oct. 6 School Committee meeting. The accountability presentation included results of the MCAS tests, as well as measures such as absenteeism and the results of the ACCESS for students who come into schools not speaking English as their primary language, called English Learners. Last week, the Watertown Public Schools announced that Watertown was one of 63 districts across the state that the state DESE recognized for returning to pre-pandemic achievement levels in grades 3-8, and one of 41 recognized for meeting or exceeding achievement levels in math.

Around Town

Hear About the Mass. Cultural Council, an Arts Roundtable & Watertown’s Oldest Home on Little Local Conversations

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Matt Hanna, the voice behind “Little Local Conversations” podcast, spoke with Michael Bobbitt, the executive director of the Mass Cultural Council; led an arts and culture roundtable; and the administrator of Historic New England which overseas the Browne House. In “Little Local Conversations,” discover the people, places, stories, and ideas of Watertown. Hanna has conversations with various businesses owners, community leaders, creatives, and other interesting folks in Watertown to learn about what they do and get to know a bit about the people behind the work. 

Episode 64: Michael Bobbitt (Mass Cultural Council)

Michael Bobbitt

Meet Michael Bobbitt! He’s a Watertown resident and the Executive Director of the Mass Cultural Council along with being a distinguished theater artist in many ways himselfIn this conversation we talk about how art saved him in his early years, his early successes from being the “best Hansel” to touring nationally to perform, his time in children’s theater and building Adventure Theatre in the DC area from 15,000 patrons to 100,000 patrons, co-writing musicals with Bob Marley and Jim Davis, and eventually making his way to New Repertory Theater in Watertown and his current role at the Mass Cultural Council. 

We dig into topics such as the challenges of arts advocacy in Massachusetts, how and why the arts sector needs to change its beliefs, values and behavior, possible policy changes such as STEM to STEAM, how the arts in Massachusetts are saving healthcare money with the first in the nation arts prescribing program, his thoughts on Watertown arts, how the MCC has redesigned their grant programs to make them more accessible for all artists, and what’s the day-to-day like for an executive director while also juggling his personal artistic projects. Listen to the episode by clicking here.

Government

State of the City: Manager’s New Goals, Charter Review & a Downtown Post Office

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The City of Watertown will have a new set of goals used to create the annual budget and make decisions about how municipal departments operate, City Manager City Manager George Proakis said during Tuesday’s State of the City presentation. During the address, he and City Council President Mark Sideris also discussed the Charter Review set to happen in 2026, and the possibility of having a Post Office in the center of town. This is the second story on the 2025 State of the City Address. See the first story, focused on the factors that could impact Watertown’s economic future, and in turn the City’s budget, by clicking here. New Goals

Proakis has been in town for three years, and has worked with the City Council to create the budget.

Elections

Catch the Replay of the Library Trustee Candidate Forum

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A screenshot from the Watertown Cable broadcast of the Library Board of Trustees Candidate Forum. The four hopefuls for the Watertown Free Public Library Board of Trustees appeared at a live forum on Monday night co-sponsored by Watertown News and Watertown Cable Access TV. You can watch the replay of the forum on WCA-TV. The candidates include incumbent Leanne Hammonds, and three challengers, Fowler Brown, Xin Peng and Pia Owens. They answered a series of questions from moderator and WCA-TV anchor Maya Shwayder about issues including: what they’d like to see added at the library, how to fund programs if the budget gets tight, their favorite programs at the library, and how they would like to see the Summer Reading List created and vetted in the future.