Fiscal 2022 Budget

Town Budget: Watertown Will Pay for New High School Without Tax Override, Fund to Buy Land to be Created

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Ai3 ArchitectsA view from Columbia Street of what the new Watertown High School could look like. The new Watertown High School will be built without a tax increase from a debt exclusion, Town Manager Michael Driscoll announced during Tuesday night’s presentation of the Fiscal Year 2022 budget. The FY22 budget will total $164.43 million, which is an increase of $976,720 — or 0.6 percent — above the current fiscal year. The budget includes a $1.5 million increase in State Aid from FY21, but does not include an expected $10 million that Watertown will receive as part of the Federal American Rescue Plan Act in FY22 and FY23. High School Funding

Driscoll saved the announcement of the high school project funding to the end of his budget highlights.

Schools

School Building Committee Delays Submitting High School Project, Looking Closer at Where to Put Temporary Site

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Ai3 ArchitectsA rendering of what a two-story modular building could look like on Moxley Field. It could be the temporary location for Watertown High School while a new school is constructed. The submission of the Watertown High School project to the State has been delayed in an effort to look at where the temporary location of the high school will be during construction. 

The School Building Committee had been scheduled to vote on submitting the plan for the WHS project, including the use of Moxley Field as a site for a temporary school site, on Wednesday. Instead, Town Council President Mark Sideris announced the delay of the submission of the project. 

“We have a number of things we have to work out. A lot of concerns have been raised, and we believe the prudent thing to do is to continue talking, continue investigating and continue to have conversations with people to figure out the best approach that will get us a good high school and a good plan to get to that,” Sideris said. 

The proposal called for building the new high school on the current WHS, and moving the students to a temporary school made up of two-story modular classrooms at Moxley Field.

Environment

WHS Students Looking to Plant 150 Trees in Watertown, Selling Seedlings

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Two types of trees are available from the Watertown High School Environmental Club, the River Birch and Eastern Redbud. The following announcement was provided by the Watertown High School Environmental Club:

The Watertown High School Environmental Club needs your help to offset school paper usage in the community! During a normal school year, WHS uses up to 1.2 million sheets of paper, which is equivalent to 150 trees. The club has teamed up with Tree-Plenish to sponsor an event in which you can purchase a sapling for $5, and opt to have volunteers plant it in your yard. Tree-Plenish’s mission is to create more sustainable schools by replenishing the environment with these lost resources. 

“As a member of the WHS Environmental Club, I am very proud to be working with Tree-Plenish to help our community,” said Cooper Petrie.

Schools

State Officials Have Questions About High School Project, May Delay Final Vote

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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. The date of the public vote on funding for the Watertown High School project may have to be pushed back after state officials had questions about the size and design of the proposed new school. After reviewing the preferred design of the new WHS, the Facilities Assessment Subcommittee of the Mass. School Building Authority sent back comments, and request for more investigation into other options after their meeting on Jan.

Around Town

UPDATE: Dozens of Pairs of Shoes Donated by Watertown Native, Rec. Dept. Will Distribute

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Watertown native Robert Marra with Peter Centola, who was Marra’s fold coach at WHS and is now Director of Watertown’s Recreation Department. Marra donated 60 pairs of shoes to the Town, which will give them away to residents. (Updated Jan. 13, 2021 at 8:45 a.m.)

Watertown residents can get a free pair of shoes thanks to a Watertown native who wanted to help his hometown. Robert Marra works and lives in Ashland now, but he grew up in Town.

Around Town

School Committee Opposes MCAS as Graduation Requirement During Pandemic

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The Watertown School Committee passed a resolution opposing the graduation requirement of passing the MCAS for the Class of 2022 because the students were adversely impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic. The subject came up when the School Committee considered a resolution from the Massachusetts Association of School Committees (MASC) that opposed requiring the Class of 2022 who missed the MCAS having to make up the test and pass it in order to graduate. It also called for a moratorium on high-stakes testing during the 2020-21 school year as well as the following three years. While School Committee members agreed that the pandemic adversely impacted students learning, not all agreed that the testing should be suspended for three years. The resolution was brought to the attention of the School Committee by Lily Rayman-Read, who is one of Watertown’s representatives to the MASC.

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

Students Traveling Out-of-State for Thanksgiving Must be Tested or Quarantine

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Watertown students who travel outside of Massachusetts to a high-risk area must either get a negative test for COVID-19 or quarantine for 14 days before returning to school for in-person learning, Superintendent Dede Galdston announced Wednesday. Most states have been put on the the Massachusetts Restricted Travel list, but three of the lower risk ones are in New England — Maine, New Hampshire and Vermont — along with Hawaii. When returning from a high-risk state, students must get a negative PCR test prior to returning to school according to the Massachusetts regulations, Galdston wrote. Students must quarantine while waiting for test results. Galdston also wrote that the schools will have two remote days after the Thanksgiving break, on Nov.