Schools

Gala Raising Money for Group that Helps Families 11 Communities, Including Watertown

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Communities United, Inc. (CUI), a non-profit organization that provides high-quality education and family services throughout eleven MetroWest cities and towns, announced today that its 5th annual gala fundraiser – ‘Back on Track: Funding our Children’s Futures’ – will take place virtually this year on Thursday, October 15, 2020 at 6:00 p.m.

The gala is free to attend and open to the public.Teachers and staff from CUI will be speaking on the daily challenges they face as they prepare to teach in the new age of COVID-19. WCVB-TV Channel 5, Boston’s news and community leader, serves as the exclusive media partner and News Center 5 Anchor Ed Harding will emcee. There will also be a special guest performance by Emmy Award-winning singer and songwriter Rachel Platten who will sing her hit, ‘Fight Song.’

During the approximately forty-five-minute-long virtual event, members of CUI will share with viewers the amazing and innovative ways they supported children and families such as sending home the book of week with activities each week and what life is like for their teachers and staff during this challenging time. They will also ask for donations to help purchase supplies suitable for maintaining social distancing guidelines that will keep the teachers and students safe and in class. Sponsorship opportunities for the virtual gala are still available as well. 

“This year presents a different challenge for CUI with the many restrictions of COVID-19, but I am confident that our teachers and staff will make this school year our most effective one to date,” said Terri Natale, Executive Director at Communities United, Inc. “Our teachers rose to the challenge with innovative solutions when we had to close mid-March, and we want to equip them with the necessary funds and resources as they prepare for what will most likely be a challenging school year, as home distance learning will be the primary mode of education for nearly half of our children.”

Communities United, Inc. provides educational programs and family services to families within the local community. The team is made up of 80 employees including teachers, social workers and administrators.

Community Forum

Designs for New High School Discussed, Community Forum Being Held Thursday

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One of the options for how Watertown High School may sit on the current site, on the left, and across the street where now the Phillips Building and the Senior Center sit. The architect said the illustration is for massing, and not the design of the buildings. Questions about the impact of a four story high school, and parking at the new Watertown High School arose at Wednesday’s School Building Committee meeting. Designers of the new high school showed more detailed ideas of how the new school could be constructed on the current site during the online meeting. The planned Watertown High School project will be discussed at a virtual Community Forum on Thursday, Oct.

Schools

School Officials Hold to Hybrid Start Date for Elementary Schools, Looking at Moving Date for WMS, WHS

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Lowell School in Watertown. After hearing from several parents anxious to see the Watertown Public Schools open for in-person learning as soon as possible, the School Committee did not adjust the Oct. 27 reopening date for elementary schools. However, they will look into moving up the date for middle and high school students from late November. Monday night, about a dozen people spoke during public forum during the virtual School Committee meeting.

Schools

Parent Starts Petition Asking Schools to Move to Hybrid Earlier

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A screenshot of the parent petition asking for the Watertown Schools to reopen earlier. The Watertown Public Schools will not be moving to a hybrid model with a mix of in-person and remote learning, until Oct. 26 at the earliest, but a Hosmer Elementary School parent has started a petition asking officials to reconsider. The decision to start the year remotely, and move to hybrid later in the fall, was made in August. School officials have been under pressure from the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education (DESE) to open earlier because COVID-19 rates put the Town into the lower-risk category (green) in the state’s Community Level COVID Data Reporting system.

Government

Watertown Schools Respond to State Letter; Gov. Relaxing Restrictions

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Watertown School officials responded to the letter from state education officials asking them to reopen the schools to in-person learning, saying the Town’s school will remain on their schedule to have students return to elementary schools in late October and to secondary schools in November. Meanwhile, Gov. Charlie Baker announced the relaxing of some of the state’s COVID-19 rules. Last week, the Watertown Schools, and 15 other districts, received a letter from Department of Elementary and Secondary Education Commissioner Jeffrey Riley strongly urging the schools to return to in-person learning because the communities have low rates of Coronavirus infections. Watertown remains a “green” community, meaning it is at lower risk of COVID-19 spread. The latest weekly statistics released by the State, as of Sept.

Around Town

LETTER: Watertown Teachers Union Responds to State’s Letter on Starting In-Person Classes

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The Watertown Educators Association supports the School Committee and Superintendent Deanne Galdston in their decision to begin the school year with a robust remote learning plan and a strategic return to in-person learning using sensible health and safety protocols. Educators are dismayed by Commissioner Jeff Riley and Governor Charlie Baker’s threatening directive to recklessly force students and educators back into school buildings. How the school year unfolds is a local decision arrived at democratically, and stakeholders in the community have made clear that beginning with remote learning is the best way to meet the needs of students while preventing the spread of COVID-19 to our students, our school staff, and the community. https://www.watertownmanews.com/2020/09/22/watertown-among-districts-encouraged-by-state-to-return-to-in-person-learning/

Educators want nothing more than to be back in classrooms with their students. However, the risk of COVID-19 makes that impossible, and is particularly concerning in Watertown where school buildings present health and safety issues to address before a physical return makes sense.

Cunniff School

Dirt Removal Caused Messy Streets, Increased Cost for School Projects

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A view of the design for the new Cunniff Elementary School. The old building has been demolished, and the first parts of the steel for the new school has been delivered. Dirt from excavation getting on the street has been an issue at both Cunniff and Hosmer, in East Watertown. Hundreds of truckloads of soil have been removed from the building sites of the new Hosmer and Cunniff elementary schools, which has caused a bit of a mess on nearby streets and added to the cost of the project. Last week, the School Building Committee received a report on the progress of the projects, and also approved a change order that added nearly $450,000 to the project (but was still within the total project budget).

Schools

Watertown Among Districts Encouraged by State to Return to In-Person Learning

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The Watertown Public Schools welcomed students back Tuesday with classes being taught remotely via computer. On Monday, the Massachusetts education officials sent a letter to Watertown and other districts running virtual classes asking when they will start running in-person classes. The letter, sent by Department of Elementary and Secondary Education (DESE) Commissioner Jeffrey Riley, asked 16 school districts where the rate of COVID-19 infections are low, to return to in-person learning. Belmont was one of the other districts to receive the letter from the state. State officials said that DESE only recommended remote learning for communities with high risk of COVID-19 infection.