Schools

Mixed Results on MCAS for Watertown Middle, High School Students

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The MCAS scores at Watertown Middle School and Watertown High School showed both improvements and drops from prior years, as well as compared to the state average. The School Committee heard the report last week, and members were interested in what is being done to improve Watertown’s scores. Interpreting the scores is not as easy as past years, said Theresa McGuinness, Assistant Superintendent of Teaching, Learning and Assessment, because many students took the new version of the MCAS test last year, while others took the old one. At Watertown Middle School, the scores dropped in English Language Arts (ELA) in sixth, seventh and eighth grades, but remained ahead of state average in seventh and eighth grade, said Watertown Middle School principal Donna Martin. In math, the WMS scores were down from 2017.

Cunniff School

Architects Reveal New Design for Hosmer School, Parking Plan for Lowell School

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The designs for Watertown’s three elementary schools have started to become more solid, and in the near future school officials will present them to the communities in and around the schools. Architect Scott Dunlap from Ai3 presented the most recent designs at last week’s School Building Committee meeting. The biggest change comes at Hosmer Elementary School, where the latest design shows a large glassed in area on the northeast corner of the school. “It is an element we are introducing into the front of the building,” Dunlap said. “We are not saying that the glass will go all the way across.

Schools

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

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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.

School Buses

Watertown Schools Looking at 3 Busing Options, One Could Raise Fees $100

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Depending on which school busing option the School Committee adopts, transportation fees could remain the same as this year or increase by as much as $100, and not all students wanting to be transported is guaranteed a spot. The decision will be made with the help of college students participating in a “hack-a-thon.” The School Committee received an update on planning for busing during the 2018-19 school year on Monday night. Assistant Superintendent for Finance and Operations Mary DeLai said the district will enter a five year bus contract if the Town Council gives its approval Tuesday night, but the schedule will change from the current year because the high school and middle school are starting later next fall. Three options will be considered, DeLai said, with different numbers of buses and possibly requiring students to wait after school for the bus to arrive after school.

Ai3

Architect Hired to Design Renovation/Rebuilding of Watertown Elementary Schools

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The Town Council approved $1.378 million to hire an architect to do the schematic designs for rebuilding, renovating and/or adding on to Watertown’s three elementary schools. 

A committee of school and town officials put out a request for proposals and received two bids. The firm they chose was Ai3 of Wayland, the same group that was hired over the summer to advise the Town and Schools about how to proceed with modernizing the town’s schools. The Town Council voted unanimously to fund the architect’s contract on Tuesday night. School Committee Chairman John Portz thanked the Town Council for approving the funding. “It is an incredibly exciting project,” Portz said.

Schools

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

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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.

Ai3

Architect Assures School Committee That Renovated Schools Will be ‘Like New’

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The firm hired to advise the School Committee about renovating and rebuilding the town’s schools said a renovated school would be as good as a new one, and showed before and after photos of spaces that had been transformed at other schools the firm had worked on. On Monday night, the School Committee voted to take the first step toward renovating Watertown’s three elementary schools, tasking Superintendent Dede Galdston to work with officials on the Town side to hire an owner’s project manager and a design firm. In July, architectural firm Ai3 presented a potential plan for upgrading the town’s elementary schools which called mostly for renovation of the current campuses with some new additions to the buildings. School Committee Chairman John Portz said since then he has received questions from the community about whether the renovated parts would be redesigned to meet modern standards or just brought up to working condition. Town Council President Mark Sideris got similar calls, wondering why the schools are not being torn down and rebuilt.

Scott Dunlap, principal of architecture firm Ai3, brought some photos showing schools before and after renovations.