Neighbors Concerned About Proposal for New Hosmer School, Loss of Field Space

The School Building Committee debated what the new Hosmer School should look like, but for residents living near the school the more important issue is where the new building will go. The Hosmer School will have a new classroom building, which may or may not be attached to the building with the gym, auditorium and cafeteria. The current classroom building (closest to Chauncey Street), will be torn down eventually, but not until after the school serves as the temporary home for students from Lowell and Cunniff schools while their buildings are renovated. AnnMarie Cloonan lives Winthrop Street, across from the field next to Hosmer where the new school building is proposed to be built. She had not even heard about the plans for Hosmer until recently. Her husband Fred said he thinks the Town should have alerted neighbors about the project.

Timeline Set Out for Hiring Designer for Reconstruction of Watertown’s Elementary Schools

The School Committee set up a timeline for the planning for the reconstruction of Watertown’s three elementary schools. The Watertown Public Schools have taken the first small steps toward renovating all five schools, an effort known as Building for the Future. The Building for the Future team, a group of 10 school and town officials, laid the next steps in a time table that would have a designer in place by the beginning of December. In August, the School Committee and Town Council decided to start with the elementary schools, continue to seek state funding to help pay for renovation of Watertown High School and work on Watertown Middle School a few years down the line. The schools will likely be renovated rather than being replaced with new buildings, but there will probably be some new additions at some schools.

Watertown Schools Moving Toward Starting High School, Middle School Later

Students at Watertown High School and Watertown Middle School will likely have more time to sleep in beginning the fall of 2018, and that’s a good thing, school officials say. This week, the School Committee heard a presentation from a committee asked to look at the mechanisms for starting school early and what problems could arise from changing the start time at Watertown’s secondary schools. Last year the school’s Wellness Committee recommended that the district move to an 8:30 a.m. start time for middle and high school based on research about teens sleep habits and circadian rhythms, also known as the body clock. “Teen circadian rhythms shift later with the onset of puberty and causes them to stay alert until about 10:30 to 10:45 (at night),” said Watertown MiddleWatertown Middle School Principal Kimo Carter, who chaired the School Start Time Implementation Task Force. “The change happens as the get older, it just happens – they can’t control it.”