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My name is Matt MacDonald, I moved to Watertown, MA in the spring of 2010. I blog here, muck with municipal data at http://www.nearbyfyi.com and work at http://www.prx.orgI’m interested in learning more about how our world works. I love data, I write software and tools to help explain and visualize that data and I enjoy sharing what I find with others.
If a picture can speak a 1,000 words data visualization can speak 1,000,000. I think visualizations of data can help explain very complex topics and data does not lie.
Category Archives: Schools
What if adding more money to our school budget doesn’t help our children as much as we hope?
Someone questioned why I posted an article from The Onion in the Watertown Residents for Strong Schools Facebook group. Thought it might be useful to cross post it here. Hi, I was hoping that posting the satirical article from The … Continue reading
Posted in Budget, Government, Municipalities, Schools, Watertown
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I support our teachers – I don’t support the Teacher Contract
Hi, Below is an email response I recieved from Debra King the president of the Watertown Educators Association when I asked her to respond to my blog post about the meeting they are holding next week. The concept of giving … Continue reading
Posted in Budget, Government, Municipalities, Schools, Watertown
1 Comment
Visualization of the Watertown, MA Teachers Contract text 2006-2009
Hi, A number of parents have been invited to a meeting organized by Deb King the president of the Watertown Educators Association, to learn and discuss with the union about how the lack of a contract will be handled by … Continue reading
Posted in Government, Municipalities, Schools, Watertown
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Watertown, MA school district enrollment trends
Hi everyone, Hope you are enjoying a beautiful afternoon. I’ve been playing around with data from the Department of Education Office (DOE) http://finance1.doe.mass.edu/statistics/ trying to better understand the Watertown, MA enrollment trending data. During the School Committee presentation on Tuesday I was interested … Continue reading
Posted in Schools, Uncategorized, Visualizations, Watertown
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Access to Police Department crime reports and a suggestion to the Town Council about creating a Public Collaboration Committee
Hi Mr. Town Manager, Chief Deveau, members of the Honorable Town Council and other Town Department Heads, I could not find email addresses for all Department Heads on the Town website. Please forward as appropriate. As some of you may … Continue reading
Posted in Fire, FOIA, Government, Municipalities, Police, Schools, Watertown
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A proposal regarding food and milk choice in Watertown, MA schools
Hi, When Amy Vachon posted in the Watertown Parents for Strong Schools Facebook group about ‘sugary flavored milks‘ I would not have expected 30 comments from people quite firm on one side or the other. I think there are commonalities … Continue reading
Should our school system get more money, where will it go and how will it benefit our students?
Hi, This spring rumors about the impending collapse of our Watertown Massachusetts school budget were being circulated among parents, newspapers and community members. As a parent I became alarmed about the possibilities and have been spending the past several months … Continue reading
Posted in Budget, Fire, FOIA, Government, Healthcare, Municipalities, Pensions, Police, Schools, Uncategorized, Visualizations, Watertown
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Suggested criteria for selecting a new Watertown, MA Superintendent
With the coming work required to select a new superintendent in Watertown, MA I think we should begin work to narrow our selection criteria down to 5-7 items so as to reduce cognitive load during the decision making process. I … Continue reading
Posted in Municipalities, Schools, Watertown
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Give our schools more money! How can you argue with that?
I wanted to speak at the public hearing last night but needed some time to process the presentation, collect my thoughts and determine how I wanted to respond. After hearing the passionate statements from a number of students and citizens … Continue reading
Information about the iPod and iPad school budget line items
After the Memorandum of Agreement veto at the School Committee meeting on 4/4/11 there were a few presentations from students, teachers and principals. One of those presentations was from a group of English as a Second Language (ESL) teachers talking about the iRead … Continue reading
Posted in Schools, Watertown
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