Watertown Among School Districts Called Out By State

WATERTOWN, MA — Watertown was one of 16 communities highlighted by Education Commissioner Jeff Riley for its school districts decision to remain remote, despite low COVID-19 transmission rates.

Riley wrote to officials in Watertown and 15 other school districts, asking for the plans on transitioning to in-person learning. He cited a "stark discrepancy" between their reopening models and local public health metrics.

Riley asked for more information about their fall reopening plans and gave them 10 calendar days to respond.

Watertown has had a total of 502 confirmed cases of COVID-19 and 461 community members have recovered from the virus. Seven Town employees have had confirmed cases. Watertown has recorded 24 COVID-19 fatalities.

The state uses a color-coded metric system based on average daily COVID-19 incidence rates over a two-week period.

Red is for communities with an average daily case rate of more than eight per 100,000 residents, yellow is between four and eight, and green for less than four. Cities and towns with fewer than five cases in the two-week period, regardless of the rate, are in the "gray" or "unshaded" category.

Watertown Public School officials could not be reached for comment.

The push to get students in the classroom comes as several other districts in the Commonwealth juggle increases in COVID-19 cases and delays to classes due to parties thrown by high school students like in Dedham and Sudbury or students attending in-person classes despite testing positive for COVID-19, like in Attleboro.