Principal's Newsletter

December 16, 2021

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winter concert

Congratulations to our musical groups that worked incredibly hard to produce our first in-person concert in a long time. We especially want to celebrate our newest ensemble, World Percussion, that took us on a world tour through the art of drumming.

December Break

I want to wish you all a happy and healthy December break as this will likely be my last newsletter before the New Year. School is in session Monday - Thursday of next week, full days.

It is an honor and privilege to serve you and your students. Happy New Year!

progress reports

Student progress reports are being distributed starting December 17th. Please take this opportunity to check in with your student and discuss their progress and any needed adjustments. Students should remember that this is only the midterm and there is still time to improve their grades. If your student is unhappy with their progress, please have them connect with their teacher to discuss possible interventions.

Guidance newsletter

Please find our Guidance newsletter here. This newsletter contains information about the "Coffee with Counselors" events in January as well as Special Opportunities and Scholarships for students.

a message from our superintendent

Good afternoon, WPS Parents and Caregivers,

This is a reminder that we are asking parents and caregivers to complete a culture and climate survey based on their experiences in the Watertown Public Schools. The purpose of this focused dive into our current reality is to provide the District with accurate information about what we have accomplished and where we need to go next as we begin the process of our next round of improvement strategy planning. Your participation in this survey is greatly appreciated, especially during these challenging times. Here you will find the link to the survey. The survey window is open now until December 23.

The survey requires no more than 10 minutes for parents to complete. The parent/caregiver survey is shorter in length and is a supplement to the 5Es survey that educators and students take. Please fill out one survey for each of your children. The survey is available in English and Spanish. If you need the survey translated, please reach out to the ESL department for translations.

Thank you in advance for taking the time to fill out this very important and informative survey.

Dede Galdston, Superintendent of Schools

WhS Art Show

The WHS Art Department is excited to announce that for the month of December there will be a selection of student artwork on display at the Watertown Public Library. The excellent variety of WHS art electives available will be represented by a combination of digital and traditional artworks (drawing, painting and sculpture) from students in grades 9-12. Come see what some of our talented students have been creating and get a sneak peak of what will be shown at our annual WPS Art Show this April, 2022 at the Watertown Mall.

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Pooled covid testing details

I wanted to clarify our process for pooled COVID testing and the associated follow-up. In the event that your student is part of a positive pool after Monday's weekly testing, we will notify you that your student is in a positive pool and will be rapid testing your student to identify if they were the positive case in the pool. All of this testing is free but does require you to fill out a consent form. We ask that you fill out this form in order for us to expedite your student's return to class.

tutoring in the library

Free tutoring is available before and after school in the library. The hours are Monday through Thursday afternoon from 3:15-4:15 and Tuesday through Friday mornings from 7:25-8:25. In addition to the teachers on duty, there are also multitalented National Honor Society students who tutor in a wide variety of areas including Social Studies, Physics, Chemistry, Biology, Spanish, English, Italian, Math and SAT prep.

New building update

The school building committee met this week to approve our most recent design that will move forward to the MSBA. This is a huge step forward in finalizing what our new school will look like! We appreciate the School Building Committee and everyone on the design team for their hard work on Watertown's upcoming flagship campus. Here is a link to a website that gives frequent updates and upcoming meeting notices about our new building project.