An Update from the School Committee

In the face of executive orders that threaten the safety, security, health, and humanity of the LGBTQ community, our committee unanimously reaffirmed our 2018 resolution supporting LGBTQ students and staff. Every student and staff member of the WPS community is entitled to an environment that feels safe, respectful, and welcoming, in which they can learn and work free from bullying, harassment, intimidation, threats, and violence. The WPS School Committee is committed to providing such an environment, and it will stand up to actions made by individuals or institutions to threaten, intimidate, or harm transgender and gender nonconforming students and staff. This commitment is grounded not only in our shared values but also in our adherence to Massachusetts General Law, Chapter 76, Section 5, which ensures that "no person shall be excluded or discriminated against in our schools based on race, color, sex, gender identity, religion, national origin, or sexual orientation.”

Budget season is underway. Initial numbers show that, with the city’s annual 3.5 percent funding increase, WPS would still be on pace for a shortfall of $495,000 to meet a level services budget. This comes in large part due to an uptick in the number of out-of-district special education placements. In the coming weeks, administrators will be looking at ways to close this gap. Public budget deliberations will be held on February 27 and March 6 at 5:30PM.

Collective bargaining with the WEA (Watertown Educators Association) is moving along smoothly. We started planning, in partnership with the WEA, last summer to set a schedule and ground rules to help ensure timely discussions. We started formally negotiating in November and have been meeting consistently since. We welcomed City Manager George Proakis to a meeting last month to discuss the City Budget and answer questions from the WEA. Our goal is to provide competitive salaries for our educators within a budget that maintains our programs for students. We are grateful to the WEA for these continued thoughtful conversations.

The Committee has created a task force to evaluate cell phone usage in schools. This comes as state leaders are evaluating new laws and policies surrounding cell phones in public schools. This task force will meet in March, April, and May, with the goal of putting forward a recommendation to the School Committee in June. The task force will be made up of educators, students, parents, administrators, school committee, and a community member with content knowledge. More information and an invitation to apply will be sent out within the next week.

We reviewed the 2025-2026 school year calendar. A one-time change of note is that the administration is proposing a full two-week winter break, beginning Monday, December 22, 2025 with a return to school on Monday, January 5, 2026. Historically, winter break has begun with a half day on December 23. We welcome feedback from the community before we vote on the calendar at our March 3rd meeting.

Construction at Watertown High School remains on track, with the building more than 60% complete. Also, the Watertown School Building Committee has selected Ai3 Architects as the designer for the potential Watertown Middle School project.

We heard an update on Extended Day programming. Last year, our committee approved a series of pay raises in an attempt to attract and retain staff. We were thrilled to hear that this effort has worked, with the program hiring 27 new staff members dating back to August, by far the highest number of new hires in years. Current staffing levels allow the Extended Day program to serve 400 students. Roughly 30 students are on a waiting list to join the program.

Early Steps Principal Dr. Theresa McGuinness shared an update on Pre-K and Preschool for the 2025-2026 school year, and walked us through how students learn through play. Plans call for relocating some of the classrooms at Early Steps to the Cunniff, Hosmer and Lowell schools, which will allow for PreK students and families to begin building relationships within their future elementary school and provide expanded access to Extended Day programming.

The Committee approved a 3% annual tuition increase for Preschool to cover annual cost increases associated with the program. Historically, increases have been done every few years, causing large increases for families. We prefer to give families a more stable and consistent cost structure.

WPS caregivers have received the 5 Essentials Survey. Please take a few minutes to fill it out - your feedback is important!

The Watertown School Committee wishes you a safe, happy, and healthy February vacation.

Kendra Foley

Chair, Watertown School Committee