Schools

Watertown Schools to Conduct Outside Review of Bullying & Discipline Policies After Racially-Motivated Incident

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The Watertown Public Schools hired outside experts to review the district’s bullying and disciplinary policies following a student’s report of racially-motivated bullying. In November, a 13-year-old girl who attends Watertown Middle School reported being harassed online and by phone after putting up posts supporting the Black Lives Matter movement. In another response to the incident, the Watertown schools will host a community forum to discuss racism and bullying in the Watertown Schools on Thursday, Dec. 3 at 6:30 p.m. The public can join the form, which is being held virtually on Zoom, by using this link: https://watertown-k12-ma-us.zoom.us/j/94875621016

Superintendent Dede Galdston said the decision to have a review of how the district handles bullying, and specifically racially-motivated incidents, was made after hearing about the experience of Watertown Middle School student. “Recent events have given me significant pause, and while I do not believe the Watertown Public Schools is alone in responding to acts of hate and racism, it is simply not enough to say ‘we did our best’ or ‘we followed our usual policies,’ We must be willing to review our practices and procedures,” Galdston said.

Schools

Design of New High School Changed to Reduce Impact on Neighbors, Drop-off Areas & Parking Discussed

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A conceptual design of the preferred option for the New Watertown High School, looking down Common Street toward Mt. Auburn Street. Architects working on the new Watertown High School tweaked the designs to make them less obtrusive to neighbors, and showed potential pickup and drop off areas around the two buildings on either side of Common Street. Ai3 Architects presented the conceptual designs at the fifth Community Forum for the high school project held virtually on Monday night. On Dec.

Charity

Minuteman Students Cook Meals for 200 in Need for Thanksgiving

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The following announcement was provided by Food Link:

This Thanksgiving, 200 food insecure residents of eastern Massachusetts will receive a traditional Thanksgiving meal with ingredients rescued by Food Link, cooked by students from Minuteman High School, and delivered by Food Link volunteers. Food Link, a food rescue organization serving eastern Massachusetts, has partnered for the 2020-21 school year with Minuteman High School, a regional career technical education high school in Lexington, to create nutritious meals for neighboring communities that are grappling with food insecurity. Through this collaboration, Food Link is rescuing food from grocery stores, produce markets, farms, and distributors and delivering it to Minuteman High School where culinary arts students create meals based on the ingredients they receive. These meals will then be shared with organizations feeding those in need. 

“Food Link has rescued 820,000 pounds of food since the pandemic began to address the growing need in our communities,” said DeAnne Dupont, Executive Director of Food Link. “This partnership allows us to take fresh, nutritious food and create meals to share with organizations such as after, low-income housing facilities and food pantries.”

Minuteman’s culinary arts students operate a restaurant at the school, which is typically open to the public but is only open to staff temporarily due to COVID-19 protocols. The partnership with Food Link provides culinary arts students a different population base for which to cook and bake meals.

Schools

Community Forum on Watertown High School Project Planned for Nov. 30

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The Watertown School Building Committee will be hosting its fifth Community Forum on Monday, Nov. 30, 2020 at 6 p.m. via Zoom Meeting. The School Building Committee’s the announcement said: “This is an opportunity for community members to learn more about the option that has been advanced for further study leading up to a final decision and vote of preferred option at the next School Building Committee meeting on December 2.” The presentation for the forum will be posted to the Watertown Building for the Future site prior to the forum to allow the Community to review it in advance or use it to follow along. Here is the link to all agendas and presentations organized by date:https://www.watertown.k12.ma.us/building_for_the_future/meeting_info

To tune in and participate, click use link or telephone number for the meeting below.

Schools

Schools Rolling Out Student COVID-19 Testing Week After Thanksgiving

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Watertown students will be able to be tested for COVID-19 for free starting the week after Thanksgiving, in an effort to keep schools open for in-person learning and to stop the spread of the virus in the school and broader community. Galdston told the School Committee about the district’s testing program on Monday, the same night that a piece on the Watertown Public Schools’ COVID-19 testing program (for which she was interviewed) aired on the NBC Nightly News. “In the 45 minute interview, that was cut to 30 seconds, we spent a lot of time talking about how Watertown has really gone above and beyond to keep our students and our staff safe,” Galdston said. “Here is just another safety net we have for all of our people within our community.” School Committee member Lily Rayman-Read, who teaches in the Cambridge Public Schools, said the NBC story caught the interest of educators in other communities.

Schools

NBC News Features Watertown School’s COVID-19 Testing Program

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A screenshot of Watertown Superintendent Dede Galdston’s appearance in an NBC Nightly News piece. A national newscast spotlighted the Watertown Public School’s COVID-19 testing program on Monday. Wearing a Watertown Middle School face mask, Superintendent Dede Galdston was interviewed by NBC Nightly News about the testing program, where students can be tested for free. She described the return of the schools to partial in-person teaching with the district’s hybrid program. “People haven’t said we can’t do this, they said, wow, this is hard, but how can are we going do it?”

Schools

Minuteman Superintendent Wins Award for Commitment to Safety

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Minuteman High School Superintendent Dr. Edward Bouquillon accepts the Schettini Award during the virtual ceremony on November 17, 2020. The following announcement was provided by Minuteman High School:

Edward A. Bouquillon, Superintendent-Director for the Minuteman Regional Vocational Technical School District, received the eleventh-annual Dr. Patrick A. Schettini Jr. Memorial Award from the Massachusetts Partnerships for Youth (MPY), Inc., for his longstanding commitment to safety of the students and staff at Minuteman. 

More than 120 school superintendents, police chiefs and fire chiefs joined Middlesex District Attorney Marian Ryan and members of MPY to honor Dr. Bouquillon in a virtual ceremony. The annual event brings together staff from the district attorney’s office, law enforcement, educators, and community leaders to collaborate on student safety, juvenile justice, and crime prevention strategies. 

“It’s a tremendous honor to be recognized for our commitment to the safety and health of our students and staff,” Bouquillon said. 

In selecting Dr. Bouquillon for the 2020 award, MPY cited the integration of security cameras, tap-card systems, information technology infrastructure, and other innovative and cost-effective security features in the new Minuteman High School building that opened in September 2019. 

“Security and safety were foremost in our minds as we worked with students, staff and our architects, from Kaestle Boos Associates, to create a welcoming, yet secure, learning environment,” Bouquillon said. “It’s the work of my committed team, and our shared dedication to fostering a safe environment, which has allowed Minuteman to become a leader in school safety design and implementation. We thank our partners in the law enforcement, first responders, and firefighting communities for their collaboration in this important effort.” 

The Schettini Award, named after the late Reading schools superintendent, is presented annually to a school superintendent, fire chief or police chief for their commitment to the health and safety of students in their communities. 

“We are continually impressed with Minuteman’s commitment to proactively address safety and social-emotional support for students,” said Margie Daniels, executive director of MPY.