COVID-19

LETTER: Call for Requirement for Watertown Teachers to be Vaccinated

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Editor,

As teachers return to school this week, and students joining them next week, we still do not know whether vaccines will be mandated for teachers and staff in Watertown Public Schools. We do know that the CDC, state government, and the largest teachers union in Massachusetts are all recommending school staff be vaccinated.  Medical professionals, including Dr. Fauci, are saying that the best way to protect children under 12 who are not yet vaccinated is to surround them with vaccinated people. Many school districts have already put this common sense requirement in place. We are fortunate to be in a community where the majority of adults are vaccinated, including the majority of teachers. But, the data from the last 18 months show that when there was Covid-19 transmission in schools, it was usually driven by unvaccinated school staff.

Homepage Featured

Timeline for Building New High School; Questions Posed About Ability to Use Moxley Field, Size of WHS Gym

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Ai3 ArchitectsA proposed layout of the temporary Watertown High School at Moxley Field. During the Community Forum on the new Watertown High School, questions were brought up about the use of Moxley Field for the temporary WHS site and about the size of the gym. Officials also updated the timeline for the design and construction of the new WHS. The high school project took a big step forward last week when the Massachusetts School Building Authority (MSBA) Board voted on Aug. 25 to let the project move into the schematic design phase.

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State Board Approves Design of New Watertown High School

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Ai3 ArchitectsA rendering of what the new Watertown High School could look like. The view is from Common Street. The design of the new Watertown High School got the endorsement of the Massachusetts School Building Authority on Wednesday. Superintendent Dede Galdston sent out a letter saying that the MSBA Board of Directors unanimously supported moving the WHS project to the schematic design phase. “At this time, the design team, the OPM, and the School Building Committee will prepare for the next big milestone, the Board approval of participation in our project,” Galdston said in a letter to school and town officials.

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Watertown Schools Opening In-Person, With Mask & Testing Requirements

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The opening of school in Watertown comes at a time when the cases of the Coronavirus are on the rise. In response, the School Committee voted to approve COVID-19 protocols for the 2021-22 school year on Monday night that includes requirements for regular testing of students and for masks to be worn when indoors. Some of the rules are the same as those that had been in place when school ended in June, said Watertown Superintendent Dede Galdston, while others have been changed. There will also be a shift in early October. School Committee Chair John Portz thanked the Watertown Public Schools staff and others who put together the COVID protocols.

Schools

Residents Appointed to New Architecture Committee, Will Advise on New High School

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Ai3 ArchitectsA rendering of what the new Watertown High School could look like. The view is from Common Street. A group of Watertown residents has been appointed to advise designers of the new Watertown High School. Town Council President Mark Sideris announced the creation of the new Architecture Committee of the School Building Committee, which will be chaired by Leo Patterson, an architect and member of the School Building Committee. Sideris, who chairs the School Building Committee, sent out the following announcement:

I am pleased to say that we had a number of residents apply to be on this committee.

Schools

Find Out the Latest About the Watertown High School Project at Upcoming Community Forum

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Ai3 ArchitectsA view from Columbia Street of what the new Watertown High School could look like. The progress of the Watertown High School project will be updated during a Community Forum on Aug. 25, 2021. The School Building Committee, which is overseeing the project design and construction, will host the virtual meeting, which begins at 6 p.m on Wednesday. The presentation will include design updates, the latest about the swing space at Moxley Field, and progress toward making the school zero net energy.

Around Town

Construction at Cunniff School Nearing Completion, See Photos Inside New Building

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Charlie BreitroseLight pours into the cafetorium at the new Cunniff Elementary School. The room has a stage as well as a full kitchen to prepare lunch for students. Watertown officials who got an inside look at the new Cunniff Elementary School gazed around in amazement at the nearly completed school building on Tuesday afternoon. Watertown Public School officials broke ground on the school on Warren Street on June 24, 2020, and the school is expected to open in mid-October 2021. Charlie BreitroseA view of the length of the new Cunniff Elementary School, with the cafetorium/gym entrance extending out at the end.

Letters

LETTER: Parent Urges School Committee to Mandate COVID Vaccinations

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Dear School Committee,

As far as I’m aware, Watertown has not yet announced a policy for COVID vaccination in schools. I’m writing today to urge you to adopt a mandate as many other jurisdictions are now doing. COVID vaccines are safe and effective, and are by far the most effective way to prevent COVID outbreaks in our schools and keep our teachers and students safe. I got vaccinated at the first opportunity and will get my children vaccinated as soon as they are eligible. 

Masks, ventilation, social distancing, and testing can help, but there is a limit to what ventilation can do, and in many ways masks, social distancing, and testing are far more burdensome than getting a vaccine because the vaccine is two doses at single points in time, whereas masks and social distancing restrict what people can do every single day. It seems incongruous to mandate the less effective, more burdensome intervention, while leaving the more effective, less burdensome intervention up to the individual.