The May 6 regular School Committee meeting lasted three and a half hours while covering a busy agenda, culminating in the Committee’s vote to continue the Newton Public Schools (NPS) policy of opting-out of the Massachusetts Inter-District School Choice Program.
Committee Chair Chris Brezski (Ward 2) and Committee members Rajeev Parlikar (Ward 1) and Tamika Olszewski (Ward 4) each submitted their own memorandums regarding School Choice to the meeting materials — not a common practice by individual School Committee members. The three members’ memos were published alongside the NPS administration’s memo, which was released on Friday, April 26. NPS administration advocated for a pilot of School Choice with 70 students for the 2024-2025 school year, Mr. Brezski recommended 30 students, and Mr. Parlikar and Ms. Olszewski’s memoranda were generally skeptical of the program for Newton.
Mr. Brezski’s memo stated the challenge the current Superintendent and School Committee face due to previous management of the district: “Enrollment had been trending lower even before the pandemic, but then moved sharply lower during the pandemic as private schools remained open to teach students in person and NPS did not.”
The School Committee voted 6-1-1 for NPS to continue to opt-out of the School Choice program, meaning the district will not participate in the program for the next school year. Mr. Brezski was the only Yes vote, with Anping Shen (Ward 3) abstaining. Committee member Amy Davenport (Ward 7) spoke favorably of the program but conveyed that this was not the right time for NPS to initiate participation given the challenges of the current school year. She added, “Our primary goal has to be getting more Newton families to choose Newton, and I don’t think we will achieve that by further dividing the community right now.”
At the beginning of the meeting, two members of the Massachusetts Society of the Cincinnati, attending the School Committee meeting dressed in historical clothing, presented a teaching award to Brown Middle School social science teacher Sam McGraw.