School Year 2021-2022
Class Placement and Request to Voluntarily Transfer
Student Placement
Dear Lowell Families,
In May, we will create classes for next year. As parents or guardians, you may have insights and information that will aid in the placement process. If you have information that the classroom teacher may not be aware of, you may share it in writing no later than Monday, May 3rd. Please do not feel compelled to write unless there is something beyond our knowledge you feel will directly impact our work in creating a placement for your child. Please submit letters via email to Melina Jacovides, our guidance counselor. Please be aware we will share your letters with the placement team.
To support the needs of all children, requests for specific teachers will not be honored. Please do not request specific teachers by name. Additionally, please do not send requests to place your child with particular friends, as all students will arrive in their new class seeing a “familiar face.” However, if an older sibling has had a teacher and wishes to have the younger sibling have a different teacher, we will try our best to honor that request. Your support is requested to ensure a fair and credible placement process for all of our students.
In constructing each class, we examine numerous factors to achieve balanced classrooms, including gender balance, students’ academic strengths and challenges, and personalities of individuals and groups. We recognize some children contribute to their friends’ learning while others may inhibit it. Therefore, some children may do well together while others may be better served if separated. Your child’s current teachers will take an active role in the formation of next year’s classes. Their knowledge of the student's academic strengths and needs, personalities, learning styles, class size, and productive peer groups is invaluable in this process. Support staff members and special subject teachers will offer assistance, and information from all of these sources will be considered as we work together to create new groupings.
We so appreciate working with families who take such a keen interest in their children’s education. I hope I have articulated the depth of thought that goes into planning a sound learning experience for every child. Whether you write to Ms. Jacovides or not, you can be sure your child will be placed in a classroom where they can grow academically, emotionally, and socially. We thank you for your understanding and your ongoing support.
Sincerely,
Stacy A. Phelan
Contact Information:
Assistant Principal - Candice Whitmore at Candice.whitmore@watertown.k12.ma.us
Principal- Stacy Phelan at Stacy.phelan@watertown.k12.ma.us
Proposed Swing Space Plan Beginning in February 2022
OVERVIEW
Lowell School will begin the building renovation project over February Break of 2022. During construction, the school will need to relocate to two locations to accommodate student enrollment and staff based upon grade and developmental age. In February 2022, Our youngest students in kindergarten and first grade will relocate to the newly renovated Phillips Building. Students in grades 2, 3, 4, and 5 will move to “Lowell West," the former St. Jude’s School in Waltham, just over the Watertown line. In September 2022, kindergarten through grade 2 will be located at the Phillips Building, and grades 3, 4, and 5 will be located at Lowell West. The district will be offering transportation for students to their assigned school during this period.
Construction will begin in February 2022 after we vacate the premises and continue for 18 months. By starting the project in February 2022, we ensure the building project will culminate in the summer of 2023, allowing us a smooth transition back to the building in September 2023 to begin the year.
GOALS
Limit transition to one transition during the renovation project.
Maintain a K - 5 elementary school (keeping fifth grade with Lowell during the renovation)
Support staff and students by maximizing existing resources
SPECIFICATIONS
Phillips Building will consist of three to four kindergarten classrooms and three first-grade classrooms, depending on enrollment.
February 2022- June 2022
Kindergarten: 3 classrooms
First-grade: 3 classrooms
ISP: 1 classroom
September 2022- June 2023
Kindergarten: 3 classrooms
First-grade: 3 classrooms
Second-grade: 3 classrooms
Lowell West (St. Jude’s School) will consist of four second-grade classrooms, four third-grade classrooms, four fourth-grade classrooms, three fifth-grade classrooms, and two ISP classrooms.
February 2022 - June 2022
Second-grade: 4 classrooms
Third-grade: 4 classrooms
Fourth-grade: 3 or 4 classrooms
Fifth-grade: 3 classrooms
ISP: 1 Classroom
September 2022 - 2023
Third-grade: 4 classrooms
Fourth-grade: 4 classrooms
Fifth-grade: 4 classrooms
ISP: 1 classroom
MILESTONES
February vacation 2022 Lowell will relocate
We will use February vacation to move grades k and one into the Phillips Building and grades 2, 3, 4, and 5 into the St. Jude’s School. Fortunately, we won’t need to bring the majority of our furniture with us. We will use the furniture and fixtures Cunniff used during their stay at St. Judes.
School Year 2022-2023
The Lowell will remain on the two sites for the entire school year.
School Year 2023-2024
The students and staff will return to Lowell to reopen our beautiful K - 5 school.
Lowell is offering parents a choice to transfer their child to Cunniff or Hosmer voluntarily. These requests will be granted as long as there is enough space in the desired school. Requests must be in by May 3rd.
Lowell School
Lowell Mission Statement
The Lowell School, with the active involvement of its families and neighbors, seeks to provide a supportive learning environment that fosters academic excellence, encourages individual and collaborative endeavors as well as promoting social responsibility and respect for diversity. We seek to support students in developing the knowledge, skills, and attitudes that will serve them well during their lifetime. This requires the ability to effectively engage and contribute to society and the imagination and sense of activism to change it for the better.
Core Values:
Kindness, Cooperation, Integrity, and Perseverance
School Pledge:
We as the Lowell Community show cooperation and kindness when we work and play together, we show integrity by being honest, perseverance by never giving up, and we work for equity, we may not all get the same, but we all get what we need and do our personal best every day.
School Description
The Lowell School serves approximately 420 students in grades pre-K-5. The school has one pre-K classroom, four grade-level classrooms in K-1, and three grade-level classrooms in grades 2-5. The school also has an integrated support program (ISP program) for students with social and emotional disabilities. In addition to the classroom teachers, we have specialists in art, music, physical education, library/media, Spanish, ESL, reading, math, and special education staff based on the number of students needing services. The school has seven co-taught classrooms for students receiving inclusion support. Lowell has a strong student support team comprised of a guidance counselor, a school psychologist, a team chair, a behavior specialist, a speech and language pathologist, an occupational therapist, and a physical therapist. The school offers extended daycare for all students before and after school. The school has on-site cafeteria services for breakfast and lunch.
Location: 175 Orchard Street, Watertown, MA, USA
Phone: 1-617-926-7770