Around Town

Watertown Journalist, Teacher Being Honored at South by Southwest

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John Vitti, center, will receive a Community Service Award at the South by Southwest festival in March for his work with school newspapers in Watertown and many other communities. Here he is shown with students on Watertown Splash, the newspaper at Watertown Middle School. John Vitti’s professional life has been all about journalism, and since his children’s elementary school days he has shared his love and knowledge for reporting with students in Watertown. An editor with the Boston Globe, Vitti helped create the school newspapers at all five of Watertown’s public schools, and his venture now stretches more than 125 schools around the Boston area. For his work, he will receive a Community Service Award at South by Southwest Conference in Austin, Texas, in March.

Dede Galdston

Universal PreK in Watertown: the Superintendent Would Like to See That

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Watertown Superintendent Dede Galdston spoke at the 2020 Unity Breakfast about her desire to have universal PreK. Equity has been a big push for the Watertown Public Schools, and Superintendent Dede Galdston said that part of giving students an equal opportunity is to provide universal Pre-kindergarten to the students of Watertown. Galdston spoke of universal PreK during her talk a the 2020 Watertown Unity Breakfast, of which she was the honorary host. She said Martin Luther King Jr. not only inspired her with his Civil Rights work, but also in his study of education. “Why not give every child equal opportunity to start school at an equal level?”

Choir

Watertown Student Touring Europe with St. Paul’s Choir School

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Watertown’s Mateo Cachimuel will be touring Europe with the St. Paul’s Choir School. The following piece was provided by St. Paul’s Choir School:

Watertown’s Mateo Cachimuel, a student at St. Paul’s Choir School | Harvard Square, will tour Europe performing with the school’s Boys’ Choir of St.

Schools

Three High School Principal Finalists Coming to Watertown This Week

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The three finalists to fill the Watertown High School principal position will be visiting the school this week, and the public can meet them and attend the interviews. The three finalists are Jennifer Hamilton, a dean at Cambridge Rindge & Latin; Joel Giacobozzi, assistant headmaster at Boston Latin, and Matthew Poska, principal of Beverly Middle School, said Watertown Superintendent Dede Galdston. Longer bios of each candidate can be seen below. The finalists were chosen from 16 candidates that were interviewed by the WHS Principal Screening Committee last week, Galdston said. The 17-member committee was led by Assistant Superintendent Theresa McGuinness and included parents, teachers, two School Committee members and a pair of students.

Charity

Watertown Schools Collecting Gift Cards, Donations for Fire Victims

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After the devastating fire that displaced 31 Watertown residents on Friday, the Parent Teacher Organizations (PTOs) at the schools in town leapt into action to collect items to help those affected. The parent-teacher groups at the town’s three elementary schools, the Middle School and the High school all started collections over the weekend. “I am beyond overwhelmed with the response we have received to our call for donations!!!” wrote School Committee member Lily Rayman-Read on Facebook. “****A HUGE shout out to all the PTOs and the WHS PTSO for their incredibly hard work on organizing and setting everything up for donations.

Schools

Two from Watertown Named Student of the Term at Minuteman High School

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Pictured from left, Senior Nicholas Moy of Concord, sophomore Carter Gruca of Lancaster, Minuteman Principal George Clement, junior Zoha Bibi of Watertown and freshman Saleena Khan of Watertown. The following announcement was provided by Minuteman High School:

Minuteman High School has selected four outstanding students as Students of the Term for Term 1 of the current school year. The honorees are freshman Saleena Khan of Watertown, sophomore Carter Gruca of Lancaster, junior Zoha Bibi of Watertown, and senior Nicholas Moy of Concord. This honor is awarded every term to one student from each grade level based upon nominations from the staff. The criteria include character, attendance, improvement and academic success, according to Assistant Principal Brian Tildsley.

Fire Safety

Watertown Granted Money to Teach Fire Safety to Students & Seniors

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The following announcement came from the Watertown Fire Department:

State Fire Marshal Peter J. Ostroskey and Watertown Fire Chief Robert Quinn announced that the Watertown Fire Department has been awarded $5,663 for the FY ’20 Student Awareness of Fire Education or S.A.F.E. Program and $2,730 for the Senior SAFE Program by the state Department of Fire Services. Chief Quinn said, “Our firefighters enjoy working closely with our school teachers to help youngsters learn what they can do to prevent fires, to survive those that do occur, and how to respond correctly to fires and other emergencies.”

The S.A.F.E. Program was expanded to offer funds to local communities in support of senior fire prevention training. “The Senior SAFE Program will help us work with the seniors in our community who are most at risk of dying in a fire,” said Chief Quinn. “Seniors are the age group most at risk of dying in a fire. This program educates seniors on fire prevention, general home safety and how to be better prepared in the event of a fire.

Schools

Residents Disagree Over Spot for New Watertown High School

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An illustration of how a new high school building with a four story academic wing could fit on the current WHS site. Architect Scott Dunlap stressed this is just a mock up to see if it would fit, not a design. Residents attending Tuesday’s Community Forum about the new Watertown High School project could not agree on which of the locations they would like to see the new school built.

The two most likely spots are the current WHS location on Columbia Street or building a school on part of the Victory Field complex on Orchard Street. Designers have eliminated the possibility of building on the Moxley Field site because it is too small, and said renovating the current building would be more costly than erecting a new school. Also, the design of the school, which dates back to the 1920s, would not work for modern teaching techniques.