Set to take the reins at the Newton Public Schools on July 1, Dr. Anna Nolin will be the first permanent female superintendent in the city, overseeing a district of 11,717 students that is still getting back to a place of normalcy since the Covid pandemic.
She begins her job with the district facing significant financial woes – including a $4.9 million gap – as the fiscal 2024 school budget process begins.
No stranger to making difficult financial decisions as the current Natick Public Schools superintendent, Nolin said she’s grappled with cut lists before.
“There’s real trauma when those situations occur,” the Upton resident said during an interview before the proposed Newton budget came out. “It reduces psychological safety for students and staff.”
The proposed city budget recently presented by Interim Superintendent Kathy Smith includes “systemwide cuts to close the [$4.9 million] funding gap. This includes the loss of 56.4 full time equivalent positions, program cuts, increased class sizes, and an increase of fees,” according to Mayor Ruthanne Fuller’s March 31 email update.
“No proposal to reduce services and staff was taken lightly,” said Smith in a message to the community. “However, with a $5 million budget shortfall, we were forced to look at reductions across the district.”
Acknowledging the difficulties of having to make those choices, Nolin said, “It’s like [the movie] Sophie’s Choice – what are you going to cut?”
Nolin predicted that children in general education that need extra help will likely be most impacted by the reductions.
The proposed fiscal 2024 Newton school budget is $271.8 million, an increase of $9.7 million, or 3.73 percent, over last year’s budget of $262 million, said Fuller. There is also an additional $1.4 million from the city for a bridge grant to address out-of-district tuitions, according to her email.
Smith said the district “cannot keep up with rising costs that include out of district tuition increases (14%), health insurance (5%), van transportation (20%) and gas and electric utilities (25%) and rising student needs,” according to Fuller’s email. This means that even though the fiscal 2024 budget is more than the fiscal 2023 budget, there is still a massive gap.
Nolin said to help address the problem, “We’ll be advocating at the state level,” for more funds, as well as looking into grants. She said it’s important to have other types of recurring revenue and not have to keep asking taxpayers for overrides, like the one that was defeated on March 14.
The School Committee will be holding regular budget review meetings throughout April.
Covid consequences
Covid changed the way schools function and most, if not all, districts are still struggling to help students catch up academically.
“The impact of the pandemic will be felt for years to come. We have seen some immediate impacts in our early elementary grades where students have come to school with less experience in preschool settings,” said Nolin. “This has impacted their academic preparation, but just as importantly, their ability to regulate their feelings and behavior in a school setting. They simply did not have the preschool experience that they typically would have had.”
In her application to lead Newton, Nolin noted several issues school districts are facing in the post-pandemic era and offered some potential solutions.
“In the current educational landscape, stakeholders are showing signs that they are more polarized than ever,” she wrote. “There is more generational distrust for schools than ever before. I believe that this is because we try to wash all students and families with the same values, learning, listening and teaching strategies and we do not personalize our approaches.
“We are not ‘following the learners’ and, for efficiency and ‘fairness’’ sake, we are trying to apply the same strategies for recovery and challenge to all students, families and schools,” she said.
Compounding the problem of some kids lagging behind is the lack of fairness created when some families can afford to pay for extra academic assistance, and others cannot.
“A ‘tutor culture’ creates inherent inequities,” said Nolin. “And while I understand families who can and want to, will hire tutors, I want to make sure the district is doing everything possible so that this is not necessary for students to achieve.”
Her strategy for creating an equal playing field?
“We need to scale personalized learning experiences that take each student to their next best selves,” said Nolin. “All students … learn differently, they need different supports, they have different family experiences. That is why I believe we need to personalize our learning so that all students are getting what they need to be successful.”
Listening to parents’ input and getting them involved with the schools is also essential, she said.
Nolin, a working mother herself, said parents “have to trust that we’re going to listen to them.”
In the end, “every kid and family should feel like they’ve got a shot at the American dream through the schools.”