Superintendent's Update
March 11, 2021
Welcome!
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Information About the Preferred Learning Model Survey
Good Afternoon, Members of the Watertown Public Schools Community:
On Tuesday, I sent out an email through SurveyMonkey with the survey asking for your preference for your child(ren)'s learning model once we return to school five days a week. As it came from SurveyMonkey, many people didn't receive it, primarily due to email settings. If you didn't get the survey, here is the link that you can use. You only have to use one survey for all of your children in school.
As we will be discussing the return to full in-person learning at the School Committee meeting on Monday, March 15 at 5:00 pm, we are extending the survey deadline from Friday, March 12 to Tuesday, March 16 at midnight. This survey is very important for our planning purposes. If you already know your preference, please fill out the survey as soon as possible. If we don't hear back from you by March 16, we will assume that if your child(ren)'s current model is hybrid, they will move to five days in-person, and if they are remote, they will stay remote.
If you have individual concerns, please reach out to your child(ren)'s principal in the coming days to help in your decision-making. If you were not able to attend last night's parent forum, you can find the recording here.
We will be hosting a panel discussion on Tuesday night, March 16 at 7:30 with Alan Geller, an epidemiologist from the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, and Dr. Benjamin Weintraub, the Watertown Public Schools' pediatrician. During this event, we will discuss several important safety considerations for the return to school as well and the benefits of the return to more in-person learning. I will be there as well to answer additional questions and all members of the WPS Community are welcome. This will be a Zoom webinar. If you are unsure of your preference for your child(ren), I recommend attending this event.
Important Presentation for Parents and Caregivers on Monday Night
"To varying degrees, we all wear masks. We are conditioned to hide our true selves, out of fear of being rejected and/or judged. We are taught to devalue or ignore our pain, as if its utility is better served hidden than exposed. But what if this approach is ultimately to our detriment, not our survival? What if our authentic self is all we have, and our pain is the gift we use to change this world? And imagine… we are raised and trained to celebrate differences, as an inclusive process, not just a tolerable one.” -Mykee Fowlin
This event is sponsored by the Watertown Youth Coalition, the Watertown Community Foundation and the Watertown Public Schools. We are very appreciative of the support for this important event.