Monday, January 1, 2024, was a day of beginnings in Newton.
At noon on the first — bright, sunny — day of the new year, the recently elected City Council and School Committee joined the Mayor in the City Council chamber to launch the opening meeting of the 2024-2025 session (NewTV video). Six new members joined eighteen veterans on the Council. Two new members are part of the nine-person School Committee. Mayor Ruthanne Fuller officiated at the formal swearing-in ceremony. A new leadership team in both bodies — City Council President Marc Laredo and Vice President David Kalis and School Committee Chair Chris Brezski and Vice Chair Emily Prenner – promised to respond to and be guided by voters’ concerns and to work collaboratively with one another.
Master of Ceremonies President-Emeritus, Lisle Baker — Newton’s longest serving City Councilor — welcomed his colleagues, their families, friends, and other residents to the nearly full chamber. Rep. Jake Auchincloss, formerly a City Councilor from Ward 2, was on hand, as was former City Councilor Paul Coletti. Councilor Baker paid tribute to the contributions of elected officials’ families. In describing the day’s proceedings, he explained, “The business of the day is the orderly transfer of power from outgoing officials to newly elected ones….the peaceful transfer of power.” He also asked for a moment of silence in remembrance of former Ward Alderman George Mansfield, who died on December 5th.
Councilor Baker deputized Councilors Susan Albright and Lenny Gentile — both former School Committee members — to escort the new Committee into the chamber, and when they arrived, he invited Councilors Maria Greenberg and Tarik Lucas, as well as School Committee Chair-elect Chris Breszski, to accompany Mayor Fuller to join the proceedings. When all the participants were identified by a call of the roll, Councilor Baker invited Reverend Cheryl Kerr, Senior Minister, United Parish Church of Auburndale, to deliver the invocation. Reverend Kerr prayed for a spirit of selflessness, kindness, mutual communication, humility, unity, and love as the Council and School Committee embraces its work.
After the Police, Fire, and Scouts honor guards marched in and posted colors for the Pledge of Allegiance, and the National Anthem sung by Franklin Elementary School fifth grader Ares Lipetsker (NewTV video), Councilor Baker called upon Mayor Fuller to preside over the swearing-in of the 2024 City Council and School Committee.
Temple Shalom’s co-senior Rabbi, Allison Berry offered “a prayer for our community,” noting the increased threats and fears facing the Jewish community. Citing Jewish text, she called upon the elected leaders to commit to meeting the many needs of the city, promising that she and others would “work beside you, all of us will work beside one another… And, today, as you take on the sacred responsibility of guiding our beloved Newton community, it is you who will take charge.”
Mayor Fuller, following Rabbi Berry, echoed “the privilege, the honor and the responsibility to work together on behalf of a remarkable community” and said that “we are serving during a complicated, unsettled time.”
The Mayor noted that the City has broken ground for a new senior center; the Early Childhood Center has opened at the former Horace Mann School; and the City also broke ground for a new Lincoln-Eliot Elementary School with $21 million in state funding. The City is in the process of finalizing designs for three other schools: Horace Mann, Countryside, and Franklin. She commended the previous City Council for voting to upgrade Newton’s parks, including funds for the use of artificial turf, and announced that the work at Gath Pool will be completed with the official opening on June 10th. The Mayor also noted a list of infrastructure and environmental projects that are in the works or have been completed and highlighted the recently expanded Tree Canopy ordinance.
Included in her list of the City’s achievements was the recently passed zoning ordinance, with the promise of more federal and state funding to expand public transportation, particularly with the improvement of Newton’s three commuter rail stations. She also praised the Newton School Department and teachers, who are engaged in tense contract negotiations.
Concluding with a positive message, the Mayor reminded her audience that Newton is celebrating its 150th birthday as a city and noted that the incorporation in 1874 had prompted heated debate among those wanting to have Newton annexed to Boston and those supporting its independent designation as a city. She added, “Newton is a city defined by full throttled debate, where strong minded residents voice their opinions and committed elected officials marshal the resources to achieve our common good.”
After a season of similarly contentious debate in 2023, the City Council’s newly elected President, Marc Laredo, said in his inaugural remarks: “We have a duty to deliberate thoughtfully, and that means listening to each other. It also means we can disagree — and that’s healthy. We do a better job when we engage in vigorous debate so that we are exposed to different points of view. But it also means that, whenever possible, we should attempt to build a broad consensus to resolve an issue, regardless of how controversial it may be.”
Newton’s new School Committee chair, Chris Brezski, said he believes that Newton Public Schools “needs to be outcome driven …where our ideals will define expected outcomes and the implementation of our policies will produce them.”
To conclude the ceremony, Mayor Fuller called on Rev. Devlin Scott, Senior Pastor of the New City Church, to offer the benediction. Explaining that the day was the last of the seven days of Kwanzaa, Rev. Scott asked the elected officials to stand, clasp hands, and bow their heads as he offered to share Kwanzaa’s seven principles as the officials set forth on behalf of the community that elected them:
Umoja (Unity), Kujichagulia (Self determination), Ujima (Collective work and responsibility), Ujamba (Cooperative Economics), Nia (Purpose), Kuumba (Creativity), and Imani (Faith).
He concluded by saying: “Let us believe that our best days are still ahead of us. Encourage innovation. Inspire the exploration of new ideas and solutions and uplift our city.”
