Elections

Watch the Video from the District C Councilor Candidate Forum

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The candidates for District C City Councilor appeared on a forum at the Watertown Cable studios on Oct. 9. See how to watch the replay of the event, which was co-hosted by WCA-TV and Watertown News. Incumbent Vincent Piccirilli and challenger Andres Guzman appeared on the live broadcast from WCA-TV Thursday night. They answered questions about Watertown Square, the winter parking ban, improving transportation, and more.

Elections

See What the City Councilor At-Large Hopefuls Spoke About During the Candidate Forum

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The five candidates for City Councilor At-Large appeared at the candidate forum hosted by Watertown News and Watertown Cable. The replay of the forum is available from WCA-TV. The candidates running for the four spots on the Council are Tom Tracy, Tony Palomba, Theo Offei, John Gannon, and Caroline Bays. They spoke about a variety of subjects, including property taxes, the future of Watertown Square, what to do with Watertown Middle School, housing, and City staffing priorities. Click here to watch the video: http://vodwcatv.org/internetchannel/show/4134?site=1

More Forums

Thursday night, the candidates running for District C City Councilor will take appear in a live broadcast from the WCA-TV studio.

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.