School Committee discusses District Goals, Gender Identity Policy, Budget Surplus.
Angier awarded National Blue Ribbon
The September 23 regular School Committee meeting began with public comment and approval of the consent agenda, and then Superintendent Nolin began her regular update by announcing that Angier Elementary was one of only 9 Massachusetts schools, and 356 nationally, to win a 2024 Blue Ribbon Award by the U.S. Department of Education. Angier principal Orla Higgins-Averill provided Fig City News with a statement she had issued to the Angier community regarding the award, which referred to the Award as “the highest honor a school can receive in the United States.” According to the Department of Education website, Angier received the Blue Ribbon Award for being “Exemplary High Performing”: a public school having the highest achieving students (the top 15%) in English and mathematics, measured by state assessments.
The school’s full name: A.E. Angier School is alphabetized as the first school listed on the U.S. Department of Education web page of 2024 Blue Ribbon award winners. Later in the Superintendent’s Update, Dr. Nolin reported that Newton South High School had received National Banner Recognition from Special Olympics North America, one of only 202 schools nationally to received this recognition.
Gender Identity Support
The first regular School Committee discussion item was a recommendation for NPS to adopt Policy JB-B Gender Identity Support, which generally seeks for NPS to formally adopt policies that align with Massachusetts General Law c. 76, § 5, incorporating gender identity as a protected class from discrimination. M.G.L. c. 76, § 5 was passed into state law in 2012. The Committee discussion largely centered around privacy issues, as well as the rights of parents to be able to view their child’s NPS records (for example, a child’s request to change pronouns). The focus of Mayor Fuller and School Committee Chair Chris Brezski was ensuring that NPS policies follow state law. There was no vote, since the September 23 discussion was a planned “first read,” but all the members indicated support for the updated policy.
Systemwide Goals
The Committee next unanimously approved the 2024-2025 NPS Systemwide Goals that were initially posted to the public prior to the September 9th School Committee meeting. The final version of the goals contained minimal changes from the September 9th draft, but they did add the Newton SEPAC and Newton ELPAC to the goals as community partners to be consulted by NPS. Such partnership is arguably already required by state laws. During her comments, Dr. Nolin stated the omission of the SEPAC in the September 9th draft goals was a misunderstanding due to the SEPAC representative attending PTO Council meetings. Relative to prior years, the 2024-2025 goals place more emphasis on benchmarking, data collection, and community engagement.
Budget Surplus
Next, Assistant Superintendent and NPS Chief Financial Officer Liam Hurley shared the positive news that following the final closing of the accounting for the last NPS fiscal year (July 2023 – June 2024), the district has achieved approximately $6.7 million of carryforward funding into the current school year (Fiscal Year 2025). Since $3.0 million of this carryforward was already present in the FY 2025 budget approved last spring, the final $6.7 million figure represents $3.7 million of incremental resources above the currently approved NPS budget. Mr. Hurley indicated this surplus would be utilized largely to minimize FY 2025 withdrawals from the Education Stabilization Fund created last year from the City of Newton’s cash surplus. The remainder of Mr. Hurley’s memorandum contains detailed final NPS expense information from FY 2024.
Capital Improvement Plan
Following the budget presentation, Mr. Hurley turned to updating the Committee on facilities work being performed, as well as the current NPS Capital Improvement Plan (CIP). At the end of the discussion, the Committee alluded to a future vote on the CIP, however Paul Levy (Ward 6) raised a “jurisdictional” question regarding whether the School Committee had any authority over capital improvements, which are funded by the City of Newton outside of the NPS budget. Mayor Fuller’s response in the meeting was clarified for Fig City News by Newton’s Chief Operating Officer Jonathan Yeo:
The City of Newton Charter does not require that the School Committee vote on capital project recommendations. That said, Mayor Fuller supports the long tradition for the School Committee to review, discuss and vote annually on the list of NPS priority projects.
The staff at City Hall – in Public Buildings, Public Works, Parks, Recreation & Culture, and the Mayor’s Office – work very closely with NPS staff and leadership in developing the proposed capital list each year. That work is done all year, with even more attention over the summer. We work carefully on the prioritization and the schedule as funding for all City projects, including NPS projects, must fit within the City’s budgetary capabilities and funding sources (which range from City bonding, grants, one-time resources, to debt exclusion tax override votes).
The prioritized list is typically brought to the School Committee for their approval in the fall before the Mayor presents the CIP to the City Council.
— Jonathan Yeo, Chief Operating Officer
The meeting replay is available on NewTV.