By AUBREY HAWKE
Waltham Times Contributing Writer
Updates on the new high school dominated last week’s brief School Committee meeting.
Superintendent Marisa Mendonsa told committee members at their Sept. 18 meeting that half-hour public tours are being offered at the recently opened Waltham High.
Tours are scheduled for Sunday, Oct. 6, noon to 4 p.m., and Saturday, Oct. 19, 1 p.m. to 5 p.m. National Honors Society members will lead the tours. School officials said they will add more tour dates in the future. More information can be found at the school’s website.
Mendonsa said all the vocational equipment has been installed at the high school.
Mayor Jeannette McCarthy said outdoor work at the high school continues during school hours but indoor work happens only when school is out of session.
In other school news, Mendonsa said an upcoming equity audit of the district will be conducted by The Leadership Academy. According to The Leadership Academy, a nonprofit organization, the “equity audit process enables school systems to diagnose the current state of equity and identify focal points and recommended strategies for making improvements.”
Mendonsa said she will solicit volunteers for the district equity team in a few weeks.
The School Committee meeting had a 50-minute delayed start, with members convening at the scheduled 7 p.m. start and immediately voting to return to executive session “to conduct strategy sessions in preparation for negotiations with nonunion personnel,” committee member John Frassica said.
The committee, which had been in a scheduled executive session prior to the 7 p.m. start to the public session, returned to public session at 7:50 and adjourned 16 minutes later.
The next School Committee meeting is scheduled for Oct. 9 at 7 p.m. School Committee meetings are held at 617 Lexington St. and open to the public.