Schools

See How You Can Support the Friends of Watertown Music

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To support music in Watertown’s schools, Friends of Watertown Music was formed in the summer of 2011 in response to severe budget cuts in the Watertown Public Schools music program, the said in an announcement. Since then, through the generosity of our donors, we have awarded three major grants and several small grants totaling over $18,000 to the Watertown Public Schools in order to expand and enhance music instruction. Additionally, through grants from outside institutions, we have acquired approximately $15,000 worth of new instruments to be used by students in all of Watertown’s public schools. Friends of Watertown Music continues to prioritize using donations to make grants that expand teaching staff and support teacher-student interaction. We also seek grants from outside sources to provide instruments to expand opportunities for students to learn to play instruments. As this year comes to a close, won’t you please consider joining us in our efforts to continue to enrich, sustain, and develop the music program in the Watertown Public Schools?  We have five donor levels:  Soprano (up to $25), Alto ($50), Tenor ($75), Bass ($100), Conductor ($250) or Maestro ($500 and up) and your generous contribution will be acknowledged in our Sixth Annual MusicFest program book.  (Save the date:  March 31, 2017!) You can donate with PayPal or any credit card on our website: https://watertownmusic.org/donate/ or checks may be sent to Friends of Watertown Music, 43 Paul St., Watertown, MA 02472
Thank you all for your support,
Friends of Watertown Music

Highlights from 2016
• Our 2015-16 grant for a 0.1 FTE (full-time equivalent) teacher for adaptive music has been incorporated into the school budget for 2016-17.

Belmont

Lowell School Students Send a Message of Peace Before Thanksgiving

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Lowell School took one of their core values and ran with it, creating a bit of a Facebook sensation. The day before Thanksgiving, the school held a kindness assembly, said Lowell’s interim principal Phil Oates. “It was facilitated by Eileen Donahue, our physical education teacher,” Oates said. “She taught the kids a rhyming kindness message that we all said together as a school.” Donahue, who is also coach of the Watertown High School field hockey team, took photos of children doing acts of kindness and featured them during the presentation.

Schools

School Committee Chooses Same Search Firm That Found Last Superintendent

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The Watertown School Committee decided to use the same search firm that they used the last time the town sought a new superintendent. 

After interviewing three firms, the School Committee members agreed on using the Massachusetts Association of School Committees as the consultant in the superintendent search. This was also the firm Watertown used when they promoted Jean Fitzgerald from interim superintendent to permanent superintendent in 2012. She retired in October after 4.5 years as superintendent, and following a tumultuous summer when a group of parents called for a vote of no confidence in her by the School Committee. Along with MASC, the School Committee also heard from representatives from the New England School Development Council and Hazard, Young, Attea & Associates. Town Council President and School Committee member Mark Sideris said he knows MASC Executive Director Glenn Koocher, who will lead the search, because he deals with him frequently as the head of the group that assists School Committees.

Letters

LETTER: Watertown Schools Could be Renovated Without Major Tax Increase

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To the Editor,

Why is a tax override or debt exclusion needed to fund the renovation and upgrade of the 5 Watertown Public Schools? During this recent election season, tax increases were discussed with a lot of passion both for and against the proposed surcharge to fund the Conservation Preservation Act (CPA). Another discussion conflated the CPA tax and a tax override or debt exclusion to pay for proposed renovations to Watertown’s aging schools. The message presented was that if the CPA passed, residents would be facing a second tax increase to pay for the schools. I disagreed with the premise that an override/exclusion was necessary and the only option to fund the school upgrades (http://www.mass.gov/dor/docs/dls/publ/misc/levylimits.pdf).

Alcohol

Watertown Middle, High School Students to be Screened for Drug Use Next Year

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Tuesday night, the School Committee approved a policy for screening middle and high school students to see if they are using drugs or alcohol. 

Known as SBIRT (Screening, Brief Intervention, Referral to Treatment), the screening will be required for all schools in Massachusetts, said Donna Ruseckas, Director of Wellness and Extended Services for the Watertown Public Schools. She told the School Committee about the screenings during a special School Committee meeting Monday night (see the slide presentation here). The screenings will be verbal ones, and will be done in seventh and ninth grades, Ruseckas said. The purpose is to catch drug and alcohol use early, so that it does not become a further problem. National data shows that 32 percent of people who started drinking at age 15 went on to become alcoholics, Ruseckas said, compared to just 9 percent of those who started at age 21.

Letters

LETTER: Commentary on School Drug Screening, Interim Superintendent Search

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The Watertown Strong Schools group attended the School Committee’s Policy Subcommittee Meeting and added commentary at the end. 

Unofficial Minutes: Policy Subcommittee Meeting

10/20/16 – Key Points and Commentary

Note: These are NOT official minutes. Commentary can be found at the end of the minutes. Written by: Kate Coyne

Subcommittee members: Guido Guidotti, Chair; Eileen Hsu-Balzer; Liz Yusem; Dr. Theresa McGuinness, Acting Superintendent; Others present: Donna Ruseckas, Director of Wellness & Extended Services; and Kate Coyne (WSS). Drug Screening and Intervention Policy

Donna Ruseckas presented on the new state mandated drug screening law. She presented what she would like to have changed in the policy.

Schools

BC Study Looks for Ways Watertown Schools Can Connect with Non-English Speakers

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Students from a wide variety of cultures and nations fill the classrooms of the Watertown Public Schools, and a study by Boston College researchers seeks to make sure all families are included in what is going on at school. Wednesday night, Rebecca Lowenhaupt, an assistant professor at BC’s Lynch School of Education, told the School Committee that Watertown parents, in general, have a high participation rate in school activities, but the story is different for recent immigrants. “You have a high attendance of parents at back to school night of PreK through eighth grade – 95 percent were in attendance or reached out at that time,” Lowenhaupt said. “While there is a high attendance rate for PreK-8, there is a lower rate for those who first language is not English.” About 11 percent of the students in the Watertown schools are in the English Language Learner (also known as ESL) program, and they speak 28 different languages, with the most common being Portuguese, Spanish, Armenian, Arabic and Pashto.

Schools

See the Qualities the School Committee Wants the Interim Superintendent to Have

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Experience, good communicator and someone who learns fast are some of the qualities the School Committee is looking for in an interim superintendent. Monday night, the School Committee discussed finding a temporary head of schools until a permanent replacement can be found for retiring Superintendent Jean Fitzgerald. School Committee Vice Chair Kendra Foley said she would like to find someone with experience and is a good leader. “I do not just want the person to play a role of superintendent, but guide the community through the process of finding a new superintendent,” Foley said. School Committee Chairman John Portz agreed with the need for experience, because there is always a learning curve when a superintendent comes to a new community.