The Waltham police chief and the city’s school superintendent on Monday evening announced that they had identified the source of a weekend threat against McDevitt Middle School and that the “investigation is still active and charges are pending.”

“The Waltham Police Department has identified the source of this threat as a juvenile student from Waltham. The threat was determined to be non-credible and there is no evidence of a shooting being planned or attempted,” the notice stated.

City officials continued: “We also addressed concerns circulating on social media about a perceived lack of presence of police at Waltham High School and whether their absence could lead to potential risks. It was always the plan for WHS School Resource Officers to remain at WHS and the Waltham Police Department placed additional officers due to these rumors circulating on social media. The WPD has confirmed that there was no credible threat to Waltham High School.”

The notice, which was posted on social media and distributed via email to the public school community, came after a tense day at the city’s schools following online threats that a shooting would take place at McDevitt. Those threats, which spread via social media app Snapchat over the weekend, left the community rattled. 

Dan Strafford, a father of three children in the city’s public schools, said he first heard about the threats Saturday night from a Waltham Police Department post. He said he spoke with his two older daughters on Sunday about the situation, adding that he let them decide whether to attend school on Monday. 

“In the end both of them decided, with anxiety and concern, that it was better to stay home,” Strafford said, noting that one daughter attends McDevitt, and the other is a high-schooler. 

Strafford said his youngest daughter, who attends Fitzgerald Elementary, attended school Monday.

Nancy Cotugno said she first heard about the threats when her daughter, a Waltham High student, received a warning about the threat on Snapchat. 

“Some of these kids were terrified, mine was one of them,” Cotugno said, pointing out that this was not the first threat of a school shooting in Waltham that her daughter has heard. 

Neither School Superintendent Marisa Mendonsa nor Waltham Police Chief Kevin O’Connell responded to Waltham Times reporter requests for additional comments.

However, they said in a statement on Sunday, “The safety of and well-being of our students, staff, and the entire school community are our top priorities.” 

They also detailed the additional safety measures implemented in the schools on Monday. Those measures included placing a police officer on every floor at McDevitt and increasing patrols around all Waltham schools. Additionally, McDevitt students were asked not to bring backpacks to school on Monday.

In their Monday evening announcement, Mendonsa and O’Connell said McDevitt students could bring their backpacks to school on Tuesday “as we return to our regular routine.” They also stated that they plan to maintain additional police presence during student arrival on Tuesday.

The post Police ID source of weekend shooting threat against McDevitt appeared first on Waltham News Alliance.

We at the Waltham News Alliance know Waltham is a great city. We also know that Waltham deserves a great newspaper. 

At our founding this spring, we set out to become Waltham’s go-to news source. To reach that goal, we recognized that we must communicate our vision and values to the entire Waltham community.  

To that end, we want to share the story behind our logo and design.

Logo

Our designer centered a historical Waltham Watch graphic within our paper’s name. We chose the watch to reflect our name, The Waltham Times. But more importantly, we chose this image to honor the city’s past, namely its world-renowned Waltham Watch Co. (which produced 40 million watches and timepieces while based in Waltham) as well as Waltham’s prominent role in the Industrial Revolution. 

The designer based the watch featured in the logo on an actual women’s driving watch from the 1930s. The watch hands, showing the time as 3:20, point toward the contemporarily written word “Times,” offering a nod to the city’s future. 

Tagline

Our tagline emphasizes the values that will govern this publication.

We feature the words “go-to news source” in a clear, bold type to draw the eye and emphasize our commitment to providing reliable, high-quality news coverage. 

The next part of our tagline – “nonprofit” – reflects our 501(c)3 tax-exempt status. 

Next is “unbiased,” which highlights our adherence to fact-based independent reporting and the Society of Professional Journalists Code of Ethics. 

Lastly, we feature the words “community-focused.” The Waltham News Alliance strongly believes in the power of local reporting to foster an engaged and informed community. 

Font

For the word “Waltham”, we chose Bodoni 72 Oldstyle Bold providing a classic and traditional aspect as a backbone of Waltham. “Times” is rendered in the font Stone Sans ITC TT Bold – Custom-tailored. The “i” sits sheltered under an adjusted “T.” The modern font of “Times” represents the young, multicultural, transient personality of Waltham today. 

Putting it all together

A one-point rule extends beyond the words creating a visual pulley to draw the eye and anchor the watch as it dips below the logo text and hovers over the tagline. The line draws everything together to compel a read-through from “The Waltham go-to news source” to “community-focused.”

The combination of the watch logo and the word “Times” emphasizes forward locomotion (they are roughly train-shaped). Everything together is meant to evoke Waltham’s industrial history, its current status as a vibrantly diverse community, and its future as a city on the rise.

The post The Waltham Times logo: Design choices link the city’s past and future appeared first on Waltham News Alliance.

A recent outreach event of note was our presence at the Waltham Farmers’ Market on June 22, where members of the nonprofit Waltham News Alliance team held an informational table.

At the market we talked with locals, sharing information about the Waltham News Alliance’s plans and values, such as our commitment to objective and nonpartisan coverage of the city. We shared recent accomplishments, including the creation of The Waltham Times logos and approval of our 501(c)3 nonprofit status. And we highlighted our goals for the future, discussing our timeline for building a professionally staffed newsroom and publishing launch dates.

Our Farmers’ Market event also gave us a chance to hear from other Watch City residents about what they want from a local news source. They shared plenty of ideas and insights on the topic, saying that they, too, thought there was a big need for a reliable source for news and features about Waltham happenings.

We will be at the Farmers’ Market again today, July 6. We’re looking forward to meeting more residents and hearing their perspectives on news coverage. So please stop by, say hello and take our community survey. Or feel free to complete our survey online here. 

To stay up to date on our actions and progress, subscribe to our e-newsletters here. 

The post At Farmers’ Market, the Waltham News Alliance shares plans for the future appeared first on Waltham News Alliance.