School Committee Seeks Watertown Residents to Help Create Measures for District's Progress

[NOTE: The due date for the application letters was corrected to be Dec. 7.]

The School Committee wants help from residents in coming up with ways to measure how well the Watertown Public Schools are meeting the district's goals. 

A Citizens Advisory Committee will be created to develop the performance measurements, said School Committee Vice Chairman John Portz. 

"The Citizens Advisory Committee will assist it in the development of performance measures and related information that can be used to periodically assess the school district's progress in meeting its goals," Portz said at Tuesday's School Committee meeting. 

In 2009, the district came up with three primary goals, Portz said, but has yet to figure out a way to measure how well the schools are meeting the goals. The goals are: 

• Supporting high academic achievement
• Fostering self-actualization
• Promoting local and global citizenship 

The residents will be just a part of the committee, which will be made up of 10 to 12 members. Others members of the group will be school committee members, Town Councilors, teachers, school administrators and former students.

The advisory committee will likely meet three to five times over the next few months, and the meetings will be open to the public, Portz said. The committee will draft a report which will be presented to the School Committee in March. 

Those interested in participating on the advisory committee should send a letter to Superintendent Jean Fitzgerald by Friday, Dec. 7. Letters can be addressed to Superintendent of Schools, 30 Common St., Watertown, MA 02472.

The letter should include: 

• Reasons for seeking membership on the advisory committee
• Relationship to or involvement with the Watertown schools
• Background and experience with developing performance measurements

For more information, contact John Portz at 617-924-1899 or j.portz@neu.edu.