The September 27 School Committee meeting began with several public commenters, including current students and Newton Public Schools (NPS) employees, advocating passionately for higher compensation for educators. One commenter, Jo-Louise Allen, whose LinkedIn profile states her profession as a Newton-focused special education services advocate, called for higher spending on student mental health services even if that led to cutting educator positions in the future.
Following public comment, the School Committee turned to its planned agenda. Chair Tamika Olszewski (Ward 4) provided a negotiations update regarding the Newton Teachers Association (NTA) contract, including the previous day’s state ruling regarding recent NTA actions. Chris Brezski (Ward 2) then proposed a School Committee resolution calling on the City Council and Mayor to increase the funding allocation to NPS. The resolution passed unanimously, including a Yes vote from Mayor Fuller. The resolution did not specify a dollar amount that the School Committee was requesting.
Additional agenda items included the additional expense of providing more busing to private school students, revisions to the Student Rights & Responsibilities Handbook, revisions to the District’s legal policies, approval of the District’s systemwide goals for the current academic year, and an update on the District’s capital improvement plan.
During the discussion regarding the Handbook, a School Committee Student Representative (a non-voting member whose name is not listed on the School Committee website) expressed frustration that NPS communication to students regarding recent hate incidents, including antisemitic vandalism, have not included the results of investigations nor consequences to the perpetrators of those actions.
Additionally, the revisions to the Handbook in the area of “cheating, plagiarism or forgery” in Article IV Section D-5 added an explicit prohibition on “the use of artificial intelligence without proper permission or citation.”
The meeting replay is available on NewTV.
