Watertown Schools Approve $75,000 Career Grant

School Committee · Meeting of October 5, 2026

Watertown's School Committee weighed a raise for its retiring superintendent after parents demanded faster fixes to special education failures. Dr. Galston, in her tenth and final year, could see a 5 percent raise to $237,352 plus a $5,000 stipend, though no roll-call vote was captured on the record; member Kendra Foley said "longevity matters in the district," while member Mark Sedaris backed the stipends but not the base increase.

Eight residents used public forum to describe stalled special education records requests, an inoperative parent advisory council, and a student denied school access over missing nursing paperwork, with one parent citing 59 district settlement agreements since last year. The committee separately approved a $75,000 state career-pathways grant 6-0, raised school building rental fees for the first time in seven years, and heard that Watertown met 60 percent of its state accountability targets this year, up from 47 percent, ahead of a city council vote on a new $113,000-square-foot middle school building.

In the full story:

• Who Was There
• Organizations And Documents Referenced
• The complete report — 3,249 words

Source: the School Committee meeting of October 5, 2026, reported from the official video recording and transcript.