Watertown News (https://www.watertownmanews.com/tag/school-committee/page/12/)
My fellow Watertown Residents,
My name is Colleen Mahoney Faherty and I am excited to introduce myself and my campaignfor Watertown School Committee. I have lived in Watertown most of my life and I love it. I went to elementary school at St. Patrick’s and high school at Minuteman. I always knew I wanted to raise my family here.
Watertown Superintendent Dede Galdston. Superintendent Dede Galdston received high marks from the School Committee, especially for handling the return of students to school in the pandemic, during her annual performance evaluation. The School Committee announced the results of the annual performance review for the head of the Watertown Public Schools on Aug. 2. Six of the seven members of the School Committee gave Galdston the highest rating in overall performance, and all seven gave her top marks on the reopening of schools after being closed for the COVID-19 pandemic.
Charlie Breitrose
(Originally posted July 28. Updated July 3o at 12:50 p.m.)
Town Clerk Janet Murphy certified the candidates for Watertown’s Town Election, to be held on Nov. 2, 2021. There will be six contested races in the Town Election: Councilor At-Large, Council Districts A, B and D, School Committee and Board of Library Trustees. Constance Henry announced July 30 that she will run for District D Councilor.
Updated July 28 at 3 p.m.:
A late rush of candidates for the Town Election means that there will be enough people running for Councilor At-Large to fill the seats, and then some. There will be at least five contested races if all the candidates’ signatures are certified. Last Wednesday, only three people had put in papers to run for the four Councilor At-Large seats, but by the end of Tuesday — the last day to submit papers and signatures — there were seven people who had turned in papers to run, and a few more possible. The people who turned in their nomination papers with at least 100 signatures required to run are: Anthony Palomba, Caroline Bays, John Gannon, James Mello, Daniel D’Amico, Megan O’Halloran, and John Airasian. Three others have pulled papers but had not turned in the signatures as of early Tuesday afternoon.
School Committee candidate Jennifer Nicholson, her husband Ryan Nicholson (Assistant Fire Chief on the Watertown Fire Department), and their children. My name is Jennifer (Holt) Nicholson and as a lifelong resident of Watertown, I am thrilled to announce my candidacy for the Watertown School Committee. It would be a tremendous honor for me to serve with pride and give back to the community that has given so much to my entire family. My children, incoming third and first graders at Cunniff, are fourth generation students of Watertown Public Schools. My husband, who is currently Assistant Fire Chief for the Watertown Fire Department, and I both graduated from Watertown High School in 2003.
Charlie BreitroseWatertown government meetings returned to the Town Council Chamber this week for the first time since the COVID-19 restrictions in early 2020. (Above is a Town Council meeting in February 2020). One of the screens in the back of the room has a feed linking Zoom participants to meetings. Town government meetings have returned to Town Hall this week, with the School Committee convening there on Monday and the Town Council holding its meeting there on Tuesday night. The School Committee’s meeting was the first in person for more than a year-and-a-half, said Chair John Portz.
School Committee chair John Portz will not be seeking re-election in 2021. After 16 years on the Watertown School Committee, John Portz announced he will not be running for another term. The current School Committee chair announced his decision at Monday’s School Committee meeting. “As my term ends this year I will not be running for a new term,” Portz said. “It has been a privilege to serve on the committee, and to support our efforts, and build and maintain the best possible school system.”
Rachel Kay is running for Watertown School Committee. The following announcement was provided by Rachel Kay:
Over the past year, we have all experienced great challenges. Those of us caring for school-aged children have watched them struggle with isolation, academic losses and for too many students even harm to their mental health and well-being. As I have watched Watertown Public Schools grapple with the difficult decisions they had to make this year, I have felt obligated to advocate for the needs of all our children, as well as for working families. I learned that I have a unique perspective to share, and that I will add to discussions including the critical challenge our schools now face in overcoming the educational debt our students have sustained over what was for some of them a lost year.