Watertown Unified School District receives over $1 million from Greater Watertown Community Health Foundation to promote SEL; uses grant to hire “Mental Health / SEL Coordinator” for district

A concerned community member alerted Parents Defending Education that the Greater Watertown Community Health Foundation provided the Watertown Unified School District with a grant to hire an employee to oversee Social Emotional Learning (SEL) initiatives in the district. A priority of this organization is to promote “health equity” in the local area: “Health equity will be at the center of our decisions, along with the voices of those with lived experience, as we target resources toward marginalized populations within our communities.”

PDE submitted a public records request to the Watertown Unified School District seeking grants that the organization has provided as well as this employee’s contract with the school district. One grant that PDE received had a start date of September 1, 2022, and end date of June 20, 2023. This grant was for $100,000 “to implement WUSD Mental Health / SEL Coordinator.” Another grant that PDE received had a start date of April 1, 2023, and end date of June 20, 2025. The grant was for $100,000 also “to implement WUSD Mental Health / SEL Coordinator.”

The district additionally provided PDE with a 2024-2025 employee contract for Kenda Roman. The contract had a start date of August 26, 2024, for a term of nine and a half months. The base salary was $85,500 with a sign on bonus of $3,000. This bonus is “in exchange for agreeing to work for the District for at least consecutive two (2) years commencing with 2024-2025 school year.”

The district provided PDE with another document labeled “Roman Joins WUSD as Mental Health Coordinator.”

PDE received a document from the district titled “100 Day Plan” that appeared to be from Kenda Roman. A major goal of this plan was to implement SEL into the curriculum taught to students: “Use SEL curriculum to teach empathy and cooperation, reinforcing these lessons with group activities that foster teamwork and positive social behaviors.”

The district further provided PDE with presentations that Kenda Roman appeared to provide to staff.

The Greater Watertown Community Health Foundation provided Watertown Unified School District with numerous grants dating back to 2017. The following are grants that the district received:

• May 18, 2017: $94,155 for “Active Recess for Watertown Unified School District’s Elementary Students – WUSD/Playworks”
• July 10, 2018: $87,290 for “extending the Playworks Active Recess grant”
• September 25, 2018: $96,000 for promoting “optimal social and emotional development and mental health”
• August 30, 2019: $137,500 for numerous projects including SEL and mental health
• July 24, 2020: $77,400 for “Year One of the Bridging the Gap – School-Based Mental Health Services for WUSD Elementary Students”
• August 31, 2020: $118,300 for numerous projects including for SEL
• August 2, 2021: $63,000 for implementing “Building Foundational Support and Plan for SEL”
• September 29, 2021: $30,000 for supporting “Building Foundational Support and Plan for SEL”
• February 25, 2022: $10,000 for supporting “Building Foundational Support and Plan for SEL”
• August 4, 2022: $22,500 for implementing “Playworks Active Recess”
• August 9, 2022: $75,000 for implementing “Bridging the Gap”
• September 21, 2022: $100,000 for hiring “WUSD Mental Health / SEL Coordinator”
• April 13, 2023: $100,000 for hiring “WUSD Mental Health / SEL Coordinator”
• September 7, 2023: $23,000 for implementing “Playworks Active Recess”

The district provided PDE with a “Request for Funding” form that appeared to be sent to the Greater Watertown Community Health Foundation.