Tamika Olszewski grew up in upstate New York, in Farmington, “the gateway to the Finger Lakes,” not far from Rochester. Like Newton, Farmington is suburban, with a sizable upper-middle-class population. In a predominantly white high school, she said that “everyone looked the same except me. I had to go to college (University of Pittsburgh) before making my first Black friend.” She later graduated from the University of Baltimore Law School.
Tamika and her husband chose Newton “for the greenery but mostly for the schools,” and the Burr School district for their twins. “I was like many parents who could volunteer in my kids’ school,” and quickly became involved in the PTO.
Antisemitic incidents at Day Middle School transformed Tamika into a social justice activist, organizing the community response to antisemitism and racism. In recognition of her community leadership, Mayor Fuller appointed Tamika to the Human Rights Commission — a position she still holds. She worked with Human Rights commissioners and residents to develop programs to promote diversity and repair the hurt caused by incidents of discrimination. She also volunteered for Newton’s Understanding Our Differences, a school-based program designed to teach students about people with disabilities.
The antisemitic incidents at Day “shook me out of my bubble and made me realize we needed to do something. Parents made the difference,” she said. Motivated by her desire to find or develop a school-based program to deal with racism and antisemitism, Tamika reached out to Roland Davis, former Associate Dean of Diversity and Inclusion at Harvard and a Newton resident, as well as Rabbi Allison Berry of Temple Shalom, to create the Burr “Diversity Chat,” sponsored by the Burr PTO. The event engaged parents in efforts to combat racism and antisemitism. “We as parents can do so much to help teach our children to celebrate diversity and refrain from harmful behaviors,” she said.
Urged to run for the Ward 4 School Committee seat, replacing the out-going Diana Fisher Gomberg, Tamika won in November 2019 and took her place in January 2020 — just in time to confront the pandemic and its seismic disruption of school life. “As we know, the impact on education was terrible, I was learning the ropes when we didn’t know what was around the corner. Education is so much more than the classroom. Students needed the interaction and development of social relationships, and the pandemic strained those normal pathways crucial to learning.” In spite of the pandemic’s negative effect on Newton students, Tamika feels that “our students are well on their way to recovering from disrupted learning.”
In 2021, Tamika’s School Committee colleagues chose her as their chair. She says the schools are dealing with the need to support students who have more social issues because of the pandemic’s disruptions, and everyone needs more support in trying to rebuild the system. Moreover, she noted the reduction in the number of people who are choosing teaching as a profession.
Although the School Committee is the most diverse elected body in Newton, with four non-white members, Tamika said that when she was running for office, people were surprised that she was running in Newton — an experience City Councilor Tarik Lucas encountered in his campaign. The School Committee’s diversity makes it stronger and better, Tamika believes, because “it is a window and mirror for students who can see themselves in us.” Dedicated to developing a more engaged and diverse community, Tamika is a founding member of the Newton Coalition of Black Residents, a group that aims to connect Newton’s Black residents through shared information and advocacy on local social issues.
As a parent, community activist, and School Committee chair, Tamika believes “You can’t really access education if you think of yourself as different, as an outsider. It’s important to feel accepted and valued.”
