Watertown News (https://www.watertownmanews.com/tag/watertown-schools/page/11/)
The start of classes for the Watertown Public Schools is just around the corner, and teachers and staff will be in training starting Wednesday. School starts for students on Tuesday, Sept. 5, the day after Labor Day. There will be six early release days for all schools, the first of which will be on Wednesday, Sept. 20.
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.
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.”
Kindergarten classes at two of Watertown’s three elementary schools are close to full, and school officials will put enrollment for kindergarten at those schools on hold.
Monday night, Interim Superintendent John Brackett told the School Committee that enrollment projections at Hosmer and Cunniff elementary schools show that the classes could be on the top end of the class size guidelines. “We want to make sure we don’t get caught short on enrollment and class size,” Brackett said. “We are most closely following kindergarten projections, which are up quite considerably.” At Hosmer the current projection is 112 kindergartners, Brackett said, which would mean 6 classes of 18 or 19 students. At Cunniff, the number of kindergartners is projected to be 57.
The Fiscal Year 2018 Watertown budget presented by Town Manager Michael Driscoll is nearly 4 percent higher than Fiscal 2017 and includes a 5 percent increase for the Watertown Public Schools and new positions for a handful of municipal departments, including the Police Department and Library. Tuesday night Driscoll presented the budget to the Town Council for the 25th time, see the presentation here. The town budget totals $132.6 million, which is $5 million more than the previous year. Local real estate and personal property taxes total $94.8 million and State Aide accounts for $12.1 million. Local receipts – inspection fees, motor vehicle excise taxes and hotel excise taxes – provide $11.9 million for the budget.
The last superintendent’s coffee for this school year is scheduled for April 26, from 9-10:30 a.m. and from 7-8:30 p.m., in the Data and Innovation Lab on the 3rd Floor of the Phillips Building, announced interim Superintendent John Brackett. This coffee will be a superintendents’ coffee. Joining me at each session will be incoming superintendent Dr. Deanne Galdston. We can chat about current issues but will allow ample time for Dr. Galdston to share reflections on her transition and entry plan and to get to meet those in attendance. I hope you will be able to join us.
The Watertown Schools will lose several positions in the 2017-18 school year as school officials look to control the increasing costs, but classes will still be under the class-size guidelines in the elementary schools. Interim Superintendent John Brackett presented the budget to the School Committee Monday night. The total budget would be $45.71 million, which is 5 percent above the current year’s budget. It comes in more than $700,000 below the requests from principals and department heads. Interim Business Manager Mary DeLai said that four percent of the increase comes from staff salary and compensation.
This school year, some of Watertown’s youngest students have added a new component to their curriculum—events with the town’s senior citizens. Preschool and elementary school students have trick-or-treated, performed a Thanksgiving play, listened to “Mrs. Mittens” read a winter story, and delivered valentines. With the Phillips School building (adjacent to the Senior Center) now being used for some preschool classes, the partnership was welcomed and convenient, said Karen Feeney, Watertown’s Early Childhood director. “We are thrilled to collaborate with our neighbors as a way to foster community. The seniors have so much fun and the students love it.