Watertown panel tables voting policy, advances restraint rules

School Committee · Meeting of August 17, 2026

Watertown Policy Subcommittee tables voting-rules rewrite, advances restraint policy to full committee. Members Rachel Kay, Sheila Krishnan and Jessica Middlebrook voted unanimously to table policy BEDF, on how abstentions and "present" votes count toward a quorum, until the district's attorneys weigh in, after Kay cited a past vote in which five members voted present and two voted yes with an unclear outcome. The subcommittee also voted unanimously to send a revised agenda-format policy and a rewritten seclusion and physical restraint policy, aligned with new state regulations effective August 17, to the full School Committee for first readings.

The superintendent said restraints must be administered in a "least to most" restrictive manner, with continuous monitoring of a student's breathing and skin color, and that written parent notification must now come by the next school working day rather than within 48 hours. "Ninety percent of people are not going to be doing this," the superintendent said of physical restraints.

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Source: the School Committee meeting of August 17, 2026, reported from the official video recording and transcript.