Schools

Watertown Schools Start Planning to Keep Learning Going During Coronavirus Closure

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Watertown School officials sent out the following letter about how they are responding to the closing of the schools due to the Coronavirus outbreak, including finding ways to continue the learning while students are at home. The following statement was sent out by the Watertown Public Schools on Thursday evening:

Good Evening, WPS Families, and Staff:

Tomorrow as we welcome our incredible staff to join together in virtual spaces and begin to transition to providing continuous learning opportunities for students and families, I want to express my sincere gratitude to the entire community for understanding that shifting from face-to-face live instruction to this new virtual learning paradigm is challenging.  The next few weeks will be a time that we all learn and grow together.  Our teachers and staff are learning how best to keep continuity in learning for our students, and our families are learning how best to guide and support their children at home.  

Keeping Learning Moving

The Office of Teaching, Learning, & Assessment is continuing to develop excellent resources to support our families while schools are closed. On our new Extended Learning Opportunities webpage, we have posted educational resources for students from early childhood through grade 12. We hope you will find these resources to be helpful to stay engaged and provide opportunities for learning during the school closure. Please note that these activities are not intended to replace or substitute classroom instruction, but instead to keep our students engaged and thinking as much as possible while school is not in session. You may want to bookmark this site as we will be utilizing it and updating it throughout the period of closure.  As our teachers are preparing for course and/or grade level specific learning opportunities, please refer to this website as it provides deeply engaging resources for you to use with your children.

Schools

Watertown Schools Now Closed Thru April 7, Tips to Keep Students Learning

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With Gov. Baker’s announcement that schools statewide will be closed through early April as a response to the Coronavirus outbreak, the Watertown Public Schools will be closed longer than first announced. Students can still keep their mind active. On Thursday, Superintendent Dede Galdston announced the town’s schools would be shut for two weeks (originally March 27). Now that has been extended to April 7 with the Governor’s announcement Sunday night, which also impacts restaurants, and gatherings over 25 people. See the Watertown School’s entire update from Sunday night father below.

Schools

Schools to Provide Learning Opportunities During Coronavirus Closing, but Will Not be Business as Usual

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Watertown Public School students will have chances to continue learning from home while the schools are closed for two weeks in an effort to stop the spread of the Coronavirus, but Superintendent Dede Galdston said it will not be considered part of the regular classes, nor impact grades. Students at Watertown High School have the Chromebooks, and efforts will be made to get the laptop computers to all Watertown Middle School students to use while they are out of school. Teachers are planning activities for the elementary school students, Galdston added. “Our intent is to keep learning alive, but it is not mandatory and not considered instruction,” Galdston said. “In order to provide equity in access, we are not allowed to provide remote learning as a replacement to in person education.”

Schools

Watertown Schools Postpones Trip & Events Due to Coronavirus, Plans for Possible Remote Learning

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A Spring Break trip to Europe, a band performance, Mr. WHS and more Watertown Public Schools events have been postponed in the wake of the Coronavirus outbreak in Massachusetts. On Wednesday, Superintendent Dede Galdston sent a letter updating the situation in the Watertown schools as the COVID-19 virus spreads in the area. This comes a day after Gov. Charlie Baker declared a state of emergency in Massachusetts, and several area colleges announced that students would not be attending classes on campus for the rest of the academic year. In Watertown, a planned trip to Germany, Hungary and the Czech Republic has been postponed. About 60 WHS students had signed up to participate.

Around Town

Watertown School Staff Member Sent Home as Precautionary Measure Related to Coronavirus

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A teacher from Watertown High School who had recently traveled abroad, was sent home as a precaution measure after the possibility of having been exposed to the COVID-19 “Coronavirus,” the Watertown Public Schools announced. Watertown Superintendent Dede Galdston said the measure was taken out to be cautious, and was in line with recommendations by local, state and federal health officials. She also talked about a planned WHS trip to Europe during spring break. School officials said there has not been a confirmed case of the Coronavirus in the Watertown Public Schools, however, there is a staff member who went home just in case the person was exposed to the virus. “I can confirm there are no known or suspected cases of Coronavirus in Watertown,” said Galdston, who said she could not comment specifically about the case, or even if the person had been tested, due to federal HIPAA regulations protecting people’s medical records.

Schools

Watertown High School’s New Principal Introduced, Has Local Ties

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Watertown High School’s next principal, Joel Giacobozzi, right, shown with WHS students on the day he visited the school for his final interview in January. Watertown High School’s next principal has a wide breadth of educational experience, and also has ties to town. The School Committee formally met Joel Giacobozzi at Monday night’s meeting. Superintendent Dede Galdston picked Giacobozzi from the three finalists, who visited Watertown at the end of January. He currently serves as associate head master at Boston Latin, and previously was assistant principal at Scituate High School and took part in the principal internship program in the Boston Public Schools.

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?”