Enrollment

Policy Changes Will Allow Superintendent to Place Students to Avoid Overcrowding

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In hopes of avoiding situations like last year at Cunniff School when classes got overcrowded the School Committee’s Policy Subcommittee approved recommendations to allow the superintendent to place students out of their neighborhood school if it avoids large class sizes. In June, the School Committee requested that Superintendent Jean Fitzgerald freeze enrollment at the town’s three elementary schools, and not place students coming in over the summer until August. They also requested that the Policy Subcommittee come up with a policy to place the students. On Wednesday afternoon, the Fitzgerald told the subcommittee she thought that the current policies regarding attendance areas and assignment of students to schools gave her the tools she needed to make the placement. Students will still be placed in their neighborhood school when possible, Fitzgerald said, but if classes are too large at the school, they will be placed in other schools.

Letters

LETTER: Parents Group Writes About Overcrowding, Enrollment and More

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The Watertown Strong Schools parent group followed the School Committee meeting on June 13, which tackled some key issues, such as overcrowding, enrollment projections and where dozens of students were honored. Unofficial Minutes: School Committee Meeting 6/13/16 – Key Points and Commentary

Note: These are NOT official minutes. Commentary can be found at the bottom of the minutes. Written by: Pete Caron, Julie Cotton, Kate Coyne, Alyson Morales, and David Stokes. Committee members: John Portz, Chair; Kendra Foley, Vice-Chair; Guido Guidotti, Secretary; Eileen Hsu-Balzer; Candace Miller; Mark Sideris; Liz Yusem; Dr. Fitzgerald, Superintendent; Charles Kellner, Director, Business Services; and Craig Hardimon, Human Resources Director.

Schools

Watertown School Enrollment Projected to Grow Faster in the Next 10 Years

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Watertown’s schools could grow twice as fast in the next decade as it did the previous 10 years, with new enrollment projections anticipating more than 200 coming to town schools by 2025. On Tuesday night the School Committee heard from John M. Kennedy from the New England School Development Council (NESDEC), who provided some historical data and looked to the future. Over the last 10 years, enrollment has risen quite steadily, Kennedy said, from 2,377 for grades K-12 in 2005-06 to 2,474 in 2015-16, or an average of nearly 10 a year. He noted there have been some blips along the way, including dropping by 138 students in 2014-15 and adding back 43 in 2015-16. Kennedy looked at future enrollment, and used births, the number of building permits issued for housing and the demand for housing to make his projections.

Schools

Watertown Public Schools Growing Faster Than Projected

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Watertown’s schools grew slightly over the past year, according to the district’s enrollment report, and were significantly higher than projected. 

The Watertown Public Schools had 35 more students on Oct. 1, 2015 than a year before, with a total of 2,640. The district still is 68 students smaller than two years ago – the highest enrollment over the past five years. Not all the schools grew, however. Watertown High School has 700 students, seven more than 2014.

Schools

Watertown Schools Preparing for Growing Enrollment

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Watertown’s schools will grow by more than 180 students over the next 10 years, according to projections by school officials, and the district will have to figure ways to fit these students into the schools. 

First priority is figuring out next year, the 2015-16 school year, when the school are expected to have four fewer students than the enrollment for the 2014-15 school year – 2,579 for PreK-12. The challenge next year will be the larger than normal grades at Cunniff and Hosmer schools, school officials said at Monday’s School Committee Budget and Finance Subcommittee meeting. Cunniff’s two fourth grade classes are projected at 25 and 26 in 2015-16, and Hosmer’s third grade is projected to have three classes of 26 and one of 25. Superintendent Jean Fitzgerald said the district plans to add a teacher to each of the schools, but not to create a new class. “Both principals will use the teachers for smaller instructional groups,” Fitzgerald said.

Around Town

School Officials Say $6 million Hike Needed to Provide Excellent Education

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Superintendent Jean Fitzgerald, second from left, Assistant Superintendent Dari Donovan, second from right and financial specialist Frank Colvario presented the first draft of the Fiscal 2015 Watertown School Budget. Director of Student Services Arlene Shainker also participated. Photo by Charlie Breitrose

By Charlie Breitrose

School officials discussed a very preliminary school budget for the 2014-15 school year, but one number stuck out – an increase of $6 million or 16 percent officials said they need to provide the education that Watertown’s students need. The increase is based on what principals and program directors said they needed to run their school or program right, said Assistant Superintendent Dari Donovan said during Thursday’s School Committee Budget and Finance Subcommittee meeting. “This is what people really feel like that need to proved an excellent education to students next year,” Donovan said.