School Committee votes 8-0 to endorse Overrides; Paul Levy abstains

The February 6 School Committee meeting contained another full agenda, with the headline item — a discussion and vote on endorsing the proposed overrides — pushed toward the end of the 4-hour session. Prior to the override topic, three NPS K-12 Arts educators gave a presentation describing the recovery of NPS theater, music, and art programs following the pandemic. Following this, five Angier Elementary School educators presented on student interventions. Mayor Fuller cited the Arts and Angier presentations as “the best of Newton and the Newton Public Schools.”

The School Committee Chair, Tamika Olszewksi (Ward 4), introduced a School Committee Resolution supporting the three ballot initiatives for an operating override and two debt exclusions. Mr. Levy, whose views frequently differ from Ms. Olszewski’s, began the discussion by reading a prepared comment in which he explained his abstention from the Resolution vote by stating he did not feel the School Committee had the standing to direct community sentiment. He said:

“There is no question that we’ve lost the confidence of our community. I hear this all the time from thoughtful and well-intentioned parents throughout the city. Our own district-wide survey documents that a vast majority of parents view the district as headed in the wrong direction. And many people are voting with their feet by enrolling their children in private schools.”

Mr. Levy appeared to be citing the NPS Superintendent Search Consultant, Hazard Young Attea, community survey report which reported that, among other findings, out of 1,542 NPS parents, 31% thought the district was “heading in the right direction” and 37% thought the district had “high performance standards for all students.” Later in the discussion, Ms. Olszewski addressed the HYA results by stating, “that data is reflective of a tiny fraction of our parent population” and “we don’t know who those folks are and don’t have any demographic information.” She then added “all of our parents probably have suggestions and…ways to improve and continue to provide excellent academic services. I don’t think that’s something any one group of our parents can claim. I certainly hope they wouldn’t be so bold as to try.”

This stance appears to represent an evolution of Ms. Olszewski’s views regarding the importance of the community feedback received via the HYA engagement. During the October 21 Special School Committee meeting to approve the Superintendent search process — in response to Mr. Levy’s proposal for the School Committee to be able to amend the Leadership Profile and Job Description that the Search Committee composed utilizing the HYA community survey and focus group data — Ms. Olszewski stated, “I worry that…we as the 9 appointed bodies of the School Committee would ever be in a position to invalidate…community feedback.” During that October 21 meeting, Ms. Olszewski was the only No vote to Mr. Levy’s proposal, which passed 6-1.

Other meeting topics included an expansion of the Horace Mann buffer zone and a detailed facilities update regarding several NPS capital projects.

The full meeting replay is available on NewTV.