On June 2, eight out of the School Committee’s nine members held their regularly scheduled meeting and discussed student cell phone policy, physical education curriculum, policies on gifts and support organizations like PTOs, the five-year strategic plan, and the Superintendent’s evaluation. (Ward 8 Committee Member Barry Greenstein was absent.)
The meeting opened with public comment; after a unanimous vote to approve the Committee’s consent agenda, Superintendent Dr. Anna Nolin provided her regular Superintendent’s Update.
She reminded Newton Public Schools (NPS) families of the district’s “soft close” for the summer, explaining that administrators and full-year staff would not be responsive to emails between July 1 and July 11, and she spoke briefly about the district’s partnership with Lasell College to provide certification for educators.
Student Cell Phone Policy
Assistant Superintendent for Secondary Education and Special Programs Dr. Gene Roundtree, Newton North High School Digital Literacy Coordinator Rob Greenfield, and all NPS middle school principals spoke about their experiences with the district’s current policy on students’ use of cell phones, which was gradually implemented beginning in the 2024-2025 school year.
The policy requires that all middle school students place their phones in locked pouches for the entirety of the school day; high schoolers are required to place their phones in phone holders during classes.
Dr. Roundtree said that the vast majority of teachers who had responded to district surveys found the policy to be effective.
“We are pretty unanimous in keeping the policy as written,” Dr. Roundtree told the Committee.
After some discussion, the Committee opted to leave the policy unchanged for the 2025-2026 school year. No formal vote was taken.
Physical Education Curriculum Review
Next, Assistant Superintendent for Teaching and Learning Dr. Gina Flanagan and outside educational consultant Dr. Sarah Benes presented a district-wide “self study” of physical education, health, and wellness (PEHW) courses available to NPS students. They outlined four key findings to the Committee:
- The currently implemented PEHW curriculum is consistent with NPS values; however, the written portion of its curriculum is not consistent across school levels.
- PEHW educators and NPS students have outstanding, positive relationships, which serve as a strong starting point for further professional development.
- Across school levels, the amount of time allotted during the school day for PEHW education does not meet national standards. Additionally, some schools need facility improvements.
- The district must begin to “document coverage of social and emotional competencies.”
NPS describes self-studies like this one as the first step in a 4-phase, 2-year-long process of curriculum review.
The full 82-page report — complete with the study’s findings and recommendations — can be found here.
Changes to Policies on Gifts and Support Organizations
The Committee then began a discussion regarding proposed updates to the district’s policies on gifts and support organizations, such as Parent-Teacher Organizations (PTOs).
The recommended changes in policy were submitted by Director of Business Operations Amy Mistrot. They made amendments to policies regarding the following:
- Student Fund-Raising Activities
- Student Gifts and Solicitations
- Relations with Parent/Booster Organizations
- Gifts and Donations
- Online Fundraising and Solicitations — Crowdfunding
- Public Solicitations in the Schools
- Staff Gift and Solicitation Policy
Dr. Nolin said that the district sought to find a “middle ground” with PTOs through the policy changes.
The full list of amendments can be found here. The Committee voted unanimously to approve the changes.
Five-Year Strategic Plan
The Committee then discussed the district’s five-year strategic plan. The plan was developed through a partnership with strategic planning consultants, which began in Winter 2025.
According to the 50-page report that was reviewed during the meeting, the Strategic Planning team considered a variety of data points during the plan-development process.
These factors included student and school data, information gathered through forums and listening sessions, and the perspectives of a Strategic Planning Committee comprised of representatives from across the district.
The plan outlines its four key goals: learning and well-being, community engagement, financial resources and facilities, and human resources.
School Committee Chair Chris Brezski (Ward 2) referred to the plan as a “blueprint,” emphasizing that more discussions surrounding its implementation would take place over the summer.
The Committee voted unanimously to approve the plan.
Superintendent Evaluation
The meeting concluded with a brief summary of the Committee’s superintendent evaluation: all members had been asked to evaluate Dr. Nolin’s performance individually, and Committee members were not permitted to read other members’ comments before submitting their own.
Some Committee members chose to comment on the Committee’s collective evaluation, which identified common themes and points of disagreement among the individual evaluations. It was compiled by Vice Chair Emily Prenner (Ward 5).
Committee Member Anping Shen (Ward 3) objected to the inclusion of a particular sentence in the summary, which stated that “some members also mentioned that Dr. Nolin can ‘shoot from the hip’ too often, leading to misunderstandings.” He said that he worried that the inclusion of the phrase “shoot from the hip” would “defeat our overall exemplary rating.”
Brezski, who had included the comment in his evaluation, explained his reasoning for doing so.
“Dr. Nolin can, at times, have the tendency to shoot from the hip, which I think is a fair critical assessment,” he said. “That does not, in my mind, in any way, defeat what exemplary communications have taken place here …if maybe having too quick of a response is the price we pay for the level of transparency we’re getting, I am perfectly happy with that area of improvement.”
Committee Member Paul Levy (Ward 6) noted that the summary was, overall, extremely positive.
“I would hate for the public watching this to forget that the vast, vast majority of what was written in all of our individual assessments and in the summation was extremely, extremely positive about Dr. Nolin’s performance,” he said.
Theo Younkin is a Fig City News student reporter, a rising senior at Newton South High School, and former Co-Managing Editor of the NSHS Lion’s Roar.
